Dreams do come true.

So, this is the end. The last and final post. And it's about time, too. Basically, I had an amazing last few days in Florida. My family and I visited the parks (which was super cool as both my brother and I could let them in, doubling the amount of free passes for them) ... (and also super cool because we know the nooks and crannies of each park and the fastest way to get to the best places, also making the experience freaking awesome!) I had my graduation ceremony (which you can see below - yes, I got grad Ears!) and that last night watching the Wishes fireworks show in the Magic Kingdom with every special person that I met this summer really did make me cry. And I'm not a huge crier. So it was certainly *magical*. We received these neat little boxes with room for a photo on the lid, graduation diplomas, and took pics with Mickey and Minnie one last time, then we jumped on the monorail, stopped at the Polynesian for some final Dole Whips, jumped back on the monorail, and caught the beginning of the light parade (which I watched twice - once with Jeremy and friends and again with my Brits!) I ALSO bought some Magic Kingdom ice cream on top of that, and mine was a sugar-free flavour - I actually believe it was soy. My trip home wasn't too eventful, I flew home with my father and then Mom, Jeremy, and Liam drove home a few days later. Ben and Abbi left before my program completed. To all the future cast members (or hopeful applicants) who are reading this; it's an unbelievable experience that you will NEVER EVER duplicate or match. Seriously, I was at odds about doing it right up until April but I cannot stress enough about what an UNFORGETTABLE, CRAZY, WONDERFUL, and of course MAGICAL time I had in Florida. It was so worth it. And so here is the closure to my blog, Memoirs of a Cast Member. It's October, and life has moved on, but literally every single day I get a comment or a "like" or a friendly photo from SOMEONE that I met and befriended at Disney, and I can't help but smile with every reminder I get of my three months down south. Oh, and one last thing: I now work seasonal at the Disney Store near my school. Let the magical moments never end! ------------------------------------------- (here are some random photos that weren't included; pics from a lovely day with Carissa and Dylan, a joy ride on Space Mountain, some Grad pics, my home of three months, a Disney Dollar that I gave to my roomies and Brits as a souvenir, my fellow CP coworkers and me, and Christmas in July. Have a great one everybody! Thanks for coming along for the trip!)

The Famjam's in Town

So a couple of days ago Mom, Ben (older brother), Liam (younger brother), and Abbi (girlfriend of Ben)drove down and have been staying at my grandparents' condo in Clearwater. They've been driving an hour and a half every day to come see me at the Contemporary and go to the parks, and boy do they take a lot of energy! Not the company of course, I love having them around, but walking in the sun around Magic Kingdom all day and then heading off for a 6 hour evening shift is a bit draining. Jer and I bestowed Liam with our supply of gifts and took him pin-trading and getting sorcerer cards. We even were able to take the famjam into Cast Connections! Today we're all taking a break from eachother, and storing up our energy for another adventurous day tomorrow. They'll be moving house to a townhouse close to Vista Way, and I'll spend my morning at work followed by an afternoon in the park and spending the night at the townhouse. Tuesday is an evening out with my roomies(the group I went to Miami with), Wednesday is my last day of work, Thursday is our official graduation, Dad's arrival in Florida, and a huge group event of watching the Wishes fireworks show one last time at MK, and finally Friday brings the teary goodbyes and flights home (or for my lucky Brits, an excursion to New York City. So jealous!)Afterwards the family will vacation in Florida for a few more days and then finally I shall return home to Canada. There's A LOT waiting for me to do when I get back, so I think I'll be sure to spend lots of time socializing and relaxing in the Florida sun here before I leave once and for all. In the meantime, this evening Amy, Charlie, and I have been busying about cleaning (and I mean REALLY cleaning) our apartment as we have an inspection tomorrow. If we fail the inspection, we all have to pay 25 bucks. If we pass with flying colours - a free box of Ferrero Rocher truffles! My hands are prunish and all I smell is chemicals, but I've got my eyes on the prize. Off to work!

I was in Miami, trick

And it was AWESOME! Here's how it happened - me and my roommates who were going were sitting in our room around 6pm painting our toenails and sharing a bucket of frozen yogurt (or Froyo, as my British friends call it) and waiting around for Wil the Photographer to text. The Brits were promoters for the trip, so they had to deliver the names on their guest list and money to the guy who arranged the whole thing, Wil. At around 9pm we all finally had gotten our stuff ready and finished what we needed to do, then went to bed to get as much sleep as possible before our 2am start. I was so excited I hardly slept, but I didn't even feel fatigued until the next day because of how much went on during our day. We dolled ourselves up, donned our swimsuits and clothes, and met up with the others who were coming with us before heading out at 3:30am. After picking up snacks and waiting at the Wendys where the EIGHT buses were supposed to pick us up, my Canadian roommate Sarah realised as her contact suddenly popped out that she had left her glasses at the apartment. She is even more blind than me without her glasses, so I went with her to guide her through our complex and we ran back as fast as we could. The buses were just arriving at the time, and despite pushing to the front of every group, we still ended up on the last bus. Four hours, multiple pit stops, and a lot of dozing on the bus and we were there! Yes, I did listen to LMFAO's song as we arrived in the city. We all did.

Before setting up camp on the beach, we all got together for an enormous group photo. Following that, we got our "free" t-shirts then slathered on some sunscreen and spent the next few hours in the sea and soaking up the Miami sun.

(These pics were taken by none other than Wil himself.) On our list of things to do was also visit Dash, a store owned and decorating by the Kardashian sisters, and lunch at TGI Fridays. First of course came shampooing and rinsing off the salt from our hair in the shower, an accomplishment in itself.Then we split up, as some of us wanted to do a little extra shopping, and I ended up joining Amy and Vicky as we ventured the fashion streets of the city. We passed a cop car that had Miami Beach printed on its side and stopped for a quick photo. Here's mine:

(thanks to Amy for the photo.) Two hours later, as we were sitting down for one of the most delicious restaurant meals I have ever consumed, a familiar face from the first Miami trip of Amy and Vicky popped up at the window - a not-so-normal man dressed in a leopard print bikini as well as polka dot bra underneath and matching pink lipstick shook what his Momma gave him in front of the dining guests. We went out to say hi and ended up having a lovely (if not completely true) conversation with him about all the countries he's visited and radio stations that have him state the weather and the news on his little headset there. I have to say, he was QUITE the fella.

After our long drive home, we quickly got changed and re-made up our faces for a night out at B-Dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings.) My hands practically glowed with the big black exes on them declaring that I am under 21, but I still had a great time dancing and meeting some cool people. Not to mention, our taxi ride home was only 6 bucks. After being up for a solid and unforgettable 24 hours, I hit the sack and slept soundly.

Pirates and Pals

So here's what's been happening recently: I have been finally working a bunch of 8 hour night shifts and spending a lot of mornings at Jer's playing magic, neopets, and talking about home. Also, he cooks me breakfast and makes hazelnut coffee everytime I go over, which is a plus. Some mornings (well, early afternoon as I get up around 10:30 everyday) I go walking in the sunshine or lay outside by the pool with my roommate Amy, but every afternoon always ends in an evening at the Contemporary. I can honestly say that I enjoy my job, as I have really gotten to know my coworkers and coordinators and learned the ins and outs. I think it's going to be hard to say goodbye to everybody, despite how much I'm looking forward to being home again. Last night was a new experience, as I got to participate in Pirates and Pals. It's a little thing done by the resort where adults and children alike can dress up like pirates, meet and greet Hook and Smee form Peter Pan, eat pirate cake and other free food, then go on a cruise boat to watch the fireworks in the middle of the lake. Outside of the conference room where this all happens, some Merchandise Cast Members set up a small area of pirate merchandise, also dress in costume, and play around with the kids. I was beaten in two separate sword fights, and even tackled to the ground by one energetic boy. It's alright though, I met a family of Canadians from Thunder Bay whose daughter shares the same name as me, and was rewarded with a hug from her :)Tonight is my last night of work until Miami on Wednesday! I. Am. So. Excited!

So today at work a man asked me about a Merida doll and before long I had learned his daughter studied french and went to Switzerland, his other studies german and is in Germany now, and he studies Gaelic and has traveled all over Europe for his job. Then he came back with his daughter and we spoke in french which attracted a family from Quebec and for about 20 minutes we were all standing around talking in Greek, French and English (his wife is Greek) and yeah. It was epic.

A Date in Downtown Disney

So, I know I haven't posted in a while and I'm sorry for that. Time has been going by really fast in the last week, and I have been out more often than usual. Without further ado, here is my update: I managed to catch a summer cold, went Downtown Disney twice and played around enjoying the warm, summer evenings, finished my deployment at the Grand Floridian and must now somehow find time to return my costume, and I've signed up for a bus trip to Miami! Kim and I, a fellow friend form York who is also on the program, met by accident at Cast Connections on one of my days off. We got our groceries and decided to spend the rest of our day together, and so met up again on the bus to Downtown Disney. We had made plans to go see a movie and after much deliberation, decided on the Amazing Spiderman. It was around 8:30pm by the time we actually arrived downtown, and since we had the options of any three showings around 10 o clock, we ventured to seek out Cap'n Jacks, a cheap but cute little seafood restaurant for dinner. Despite it being a Monday evening the wait time was still 5 minutes, so we put our names down and went to play around until it was time to eat. First we went to Ghiradelli's, a delicious chocolate shop where there is always a nice lady standing by the entrance with a basket of free chocolate samples. We quickly learned through observation that if you say "Thank you" to the first sample, she'll hand you another. We went there twice, just for that :P Next we wandered off to Basin, an equally-delicious smelling soap shop of custom, hand-made soaps, soaks, scrubs, and more. As is custom, we washed our hands using the shea scub testers at the provided sinks and once our hands were fragranced and soft went around smelling and admiring all the shop had to offer. We managed to pass half an hour in there, and so by the time we exited the shop realised it was time to head back to Cap'n Jacks. When we got there, the hostess was about to ask us to wait another 15 minutes when a particularly friendly waiter told us he had one of there nicest seats in the house available. Apparently, these seats are so grand because they are situated just in front of a view over the lake that shows the bright lights of the other side of Downtown Disney. It also shows the EPCOT fireworks off in the distance, which we sat down just in time to see. After our spectacular meal of crab cakes and salmon, (at a discounted price thanks to us being Cast Members!) we slowly made our to the AMC theatre and bought tickets for the final showing of Spiderman at 10:55. By the time we had gotten our drinks and sat down in a still-empty theatre, it was only 10:30, so we each raised the arm bar of the seats to either side of us and fashioned a sort of couch to lounger on as we watched the movie. It was on of the most comfortable movies I have ever enjoyed watching. Also, the Amazing Spiderman was not at all disappointing, so I would recommend it to anyone who is still on the fence :) We left the cinema at just after 1am and by the time we made it home, showered, and to bed, it was after three and I fell asleep immediately. The perfect end to another wonderful day.

Working at the Grand Floridian??

So, this week I am yet again deployed - this time at the grandest of them all, the Grand Floridian! I needed to get my costume, a period-themed green suit, from the costuming used by the Polynesian and GF, so I left early and met a girl from Australia while on the bus. She walked with me across the sweltering parking lot (why do they make these places so far away? I'll never know) and by the time we got to the building, we were both sweating. I found a skirt and blouse for my) costume just fine, and when I went to try on the jacket(which also fit fine) the lady who worked there insisted that I try another one the next size up. When I got to my work location, my coworkers mentioned that my jacket looked a little loose and thanks to the padded shoulders, makes me look like a box on top. Oh well, I find besides the awkward jacket, the costume is quite lovely. I promise I'll get a picture of myself soon! In the meantime, here's a few online photos of my new work location and costume :)

So I worked at their merchandise shop Mickey Mouse Merchantile, where if you simply stand outside the doors to greet guests, you can see down to the first floor and hear the gorgeous piano music being played, switched routinely with a jazzy band that consists of a cellist, pianist, bassist, trombone, and trumpet. Man, can that trumpet handle a solo. I couldn't stop myself from dancing along several times. With that costume, I felt like I was on broadway! :P At one point, the piano played three songs in a row that came straight off ne of my playlists on my iPod. It was really cool. Going back to the Contemporary where they play the same CD all day long is going to be hard. Fifteen minutes before close, we had a family(or rather, group of several families) come in and drop 1,050 dollars one one purchase! WITHOUT discount of any kind! Apparently, the lady who headed the group and paid for the order was married to a prince of some kind, and they had rented out an entire floor for their party! They cleaned us out, let me tell you. At the end of the night, when we were sitting at the bus stop, a bride and her party of bridesmaids and other guests came walking down the sidewalk right behind us! Apparently, this is a regular occurrence at the Grand Floridian. An average of three weddings a day or so I've heard. It's like another world!