Gobble! Gobble!

Well folks, I've done it again. I've successfully made a fool of myself believing rumors of free food.
But enough about that, let's start at the beginning of this tale before I get ahead of myself!

Yesterday was my first and only day off this week since I decided to be a tool and pick up extra hours at work. And I knew that I wanted to do something fun. Some of the girls that I work with and I had made plans to hang out and go to Cast Connections, to buy some cheap Disney stuff. The only problem with this plan was that the night before (9/21/10) I had made the decision to stay up and finish all that is out of True Blood, now that's a lot of True Blood. But guess, when 4AM rolled around, I was finally up-to-date on the show. Now, when the next morning (9/22/10) rolled around, I was not awake. In fact, I awoke at 12:30PM to my roommate Brooke using my bathroom. What a lazy kind of day, good thing it was my day off!

This is True Blood. The show that I have become obsessed with, and am finally caught up on.

Anywho, so I got up, called my friends, and we met up. Indecisive people have a problem though, in that well they in indecisive; what I mean to say is that I took us about 2 hours to decide what we were going to do that day. In the end, we did something none of us had planned on doing, we went back to the place where we work: the Magic Kingdom. Things that I need to tell you about this group I was with, we are all a mess. A good kind of mess, but nevertheless, a mess!

It takes us about an hour to make our way to the kingdom while driving aimlessly about listening the Ke$ha and weird techno, but we made it. While there, we got to meet Pooh and Tigger, eat ice cream at Edy's on Main Street, ride Pirates of the Caribbean, and laugh our way through it all. Now if you recall from the very beginning of this post, I talked a little bit about Gobble, Gobble! This became our anthem for the day, as someone had told Dakotah that if you acted like a turkey, one of the turkey leg stands would give you a free (normally eight dollar) turkey leg. So, being the girl that I am, I jumped at the opportunity to make a fool out of myself for free stuff. Sadly, this rumor is not true. Do not attempt to get a free leg by playing turkey, it doesn't work. But, at least now I know what my Halloween costume will be...a turkey! Gobble Gobble.

Meeting the Greats: Pooh and Tigger

Ladies at the Magic Kingdom

Around the time of fireworks starting, we decided to peace out and head over to watch the fireworks display over at Epcot, Illuminations from Earth. Unfortunately, the monorail was having some technical difficulties, so we were politely told to get off. Instead of seeing fireworks that night, we ended up over at Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is made up of a bunch of shops, arcades, musicians, Cirque de Soleil, an ACM movie theater, Pleasure Island, and some more shops. We walked around it for a few hours thinking of things that we want to do there once we have more money saved up. My favorite part of the night was when we saw a living statue. Now this man had been doing a superb job of not having moved at all until we decided we get our picture taken with them, then BAM there he was poking our necks, grabbing my hand, moving all over the place. It was quite entertaining! Eventually, we had to call it a day, but never fear I will return there to see Cirque before I leave.

Real Man Statue

Lego Woody at Downtown Disney

 

Practicing our jumps at Downtown Disney.

Things I Thought Were Myths About The South

So I had a rude awaking this fine morrow, as I walked into my bathroom and what do I spy with my little eye? A GAINT COCKROACH! '

No, this is not me holding the cockroach, but this is a google image letting you know how big it was!

Number 1, waking up with a cockroach in your bathroom is truely disgusting. Walking out into my apartment shouting obscenities, also probably not the best approach. Hearing that my roommate say it, but didn't want to do anything about for fear that she would wake me up, also NOT cool.  Now, I guess the problem that I have been suffering with is that I am from Minnesota, land of mice running around ones house, not cockroaches. Yes, I do have a cat thank you for asking. No, my cat does not kill mice, it will play with them and then the mice will escape; my cat equates to nothing more than a mangy little ball of fur. Now don't get my wrong, I will love that thing to the bitter end, but seriously Cat get your "cat" together.

Number 2, I think the worse part is that I don't even know anything about cockroaches. I have been having nightmares recently ever since a co-worker told me about her apartment having them, and I thought to myself "Geez, I hope that never happens to me." Karma, kids this is karma. Now I have to spend my time up until work today freaking out and learning all that I can about these gross critters. For instance, I don't even know what they eat! Uh oh.

Number 3, coming from the Midwest to be honest, I kind of thought cockroaches were a a myth, now I know. Its like hurricane season, I had no idea that was such a real thing! Oh no, looks like we'll just have to wait and see how this all plays out. Wish me luck and cleaning supplies.

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!

Hey there kibbles and bits,
So last night was our second not-so-scary Halloween party, that's right we start early here in the Magic Kingdom! Reasons why the not-so-scary party is different than general admission to the park:
1. There is a Headless Horseman.
2. And he is the start of a different parade than you would see during the day. Its called Mickey's "Boo-to-You" Halloween Parade. Which is pretty stellar, it stars a lot of the villains from the movies and has grave diggers from the Haunted Mansion do choreography with their shovels that makes sparks on the ground!
3. There is a special fireworks display: Happy HalloWishes.
4. All 7 of the 7 Dwarfs are out for meet-and-greet.
5. I get to wear a different costume, which is super cute!
6. You get to go trick-or-treating with all your favorites, and favorite villains.
7. As of now, there are way less people going to the party than the average amount that go to the park each day, so the lines for the rides are pretty short.
8. The rides are open until midnight, so once you get your not-so-scary on, you can get your scared on some of the rides.
9. Overall, its just a spooky, not-so-scary night. The park goes all out with decorations to make it feel like it really is Halloween.

Me all dressed up to the nines after the party.

More about my days off!

Ok, well now that I've filled you in on the fun times that I had with my family. I suppose I can fill you in on what's happened since they left.

I mentioned in passing that I went to Typhoon Lagoon and work, but both of these things have a bit more background than just that. Went to Typhoon Lagoon with my roommates since I hadn't seen them in what seemed like a long time, but in actuality was only three days. Anywho, I left like I had been missing a lot by not having seen them, so I went along to the water park. Which was pretty cool, we got to go down some sweet water slides, go snorkeling with sharks and sting rays, and have the experience of high waves that one would get at the ocean in the contained safety net of Disney.

After the rain began, we departed from Typhoon and went home where I then got ready for work. Then I worked and worked until the 15th rolled around, basically my next day off work.

On that Wednesday, Hilary convinced me to go to the Magic Kingdom, so we did the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Swiss Family Robinson House Adventure, Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, the Country Bear Jamboree, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain. We also met some characters like Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story), Ariel and Prince Eric (Little Mermaid), and Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen (Princess and the Frog). After all these meet and greets we decided to go meet our good friend Cast Member Brooke at the Confectionery and buy some sweets! I got some Halloween themed-rice krispy treats and a Mickey Mouse pecan caramel cluster. Mmmmhhmmm....yummy! When the clock struck nine, Hilary and I were ready to watch the fireworks display of Wishes then went home.

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

Eric and Ariel

Tiana and Naveen

 The next day was Zhuoyang's 21st Birthday, so in celebration we went to Norway in Epcot to have lunch with the Princesses at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. We once again had a splendid meal where several of the princess came to our table to wish Zhuoyang a "Happy Birthday" and were kind enough to take some photos with us. The people we met were Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Ariel (Little Mermaid), Mary Poppins, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), and Jasmine (Aladdin). After our nom noms we meandered over to Germany in hopes of meeting Snow White, but alas she was done for the day. So, instead we took a few pictures in China and had Zhuoyang tell us about it. Eventually, we left Epcot and changed into people clothes and went to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom just in the nick of time to see the Celebrate a Dream Come parade, and from there we got to meet the Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit! Once again in my quest for characters I met some twice, like I re-met Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Tiana, and Naveen. But then came the hardship of the day, waiting in line to meet Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. After about half an hour of standing and watching the workers put up Christmas lights on Cinderella's Castle the time came, and we finally got to met them! After meeting them, we moved right along to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride and then to the Dumbo Ride. Since the Main Street Electrical Parade was occurring this night, my roommates all wanted to watch it, so I got to view it for once not from the PAC perspective, but from a regular guests viewpoint. Its pretty cool to see I have to admit! After that was over, we stayed for Wishes and returned home once that was over.

My roommates and I with Princess Belle at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall!

NOM NOM NOM

Putting up the Christmas Lights in September.

Getting a delectable snack at Edy's Ice Cream

And BAM! You are caught up on my life and I am caught up with my blog!
Oh side note, I got to jump rope today with Chip and Dale. Hate to admit it, but my life is pretty cool.





 

The Family Makes There Way Down South

By the time September 4th rolled around, the Geis family decided to make their way to Florida! This was also the day of my Park Greeter Assessment, so a lot happened that day. I got done with the assessment, aka I passed! And then got back to the apartment and waiting for my family to get their stuff together and find my apartment. They found it after getting a little lost and we went out to dinner at Shoney's. Then I gave them a tour of my apartment, and said goodnight since I had to work the next day and they had gotten up early for their flights.


So before I went to work on the 5th, Joan thought it would be a good idea to go to some dodgey place called ShellWorld because they had a coupon for a free shell necklace. Well we went, Jason slept because well, we couldn't wake him. Now again, this place was sketchy! So shady in fact that the woman working there convinced my mother to hold her hand which she had filled with many a ring to her heart and had my mom hold her other hand perpendicular to her body to see if she was allergic to the metal. Joke. Needless to say, we got out of there without buying anything and with our free shell bracelet, since apparently they no longer gave out necklaces. Then I said good day to my family, they went to Cocoa Beach to visit the Ocean and I went to work.

Joan and Coconut Man at ShellWorld

The next day, we met up to go to the Magic Kingdom, but since my main entrance pass had not yet come it was a bit of a fiasco. It was also Labor Day meaning that I wasn't able to buy discounted tickets. Just as we were about to give up and go to Epcot to buy tickets, someone helped us out and my family got to go to the kingdom. I wish you had all seen my mother's face, I had never seen her so happy! She got to meet the choir director of Main Street USA who made me sing, what fun! We were luckily enough to meet the Ugly Stepmother and stepsisters and the Fairy Godmother. Plus, we got to view the Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it Parade. From there, we rode took Mom on Space Mountain, which she did not like, turns out its a roller coaster that is all mostly in the dark! Anywho, we had lunch and I ran, yes literally I ran from one end of the park to the other and back again, to get to work on time! While I was doing this, my family left the park to venture forth to the land of Epcot.

Jason, Mom, Joan, and I at the Magic Kingdom

Jason trying to get the sword from the stone

Jason, Joan, and Mom at the Dumbo Ride

Cinderella's Family

All Aboard!

The next day was something that had become habitual to me. We drove to Tallahasse to visit Jenny, and since I had spent about 4 days in a car with her driving from MN to FL, I was pretty used to long car rides, so this one seemed like a breeze. We got to Tallahassee just in time for lunch and we went to the ever classic Barnacle Bills. After the meal, Jenny proceeded to give us a driving tour of the capital. Then it was nap time for some, so Jenny, Joan, and I went to Old Navy and got some clothes, came back to the apartment to find the others still sleeping. Sadly we awoke them for a delicious meal at Bonefish. Yummy, it was a great day for seafood lovers, sorry Jason! A tour of Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College followed the meal, and then Joan, Mom, and I went back to the hotel, swam, and went to sleep.

Looking Good at Barnacle Bill's.

Yep, this is my family minus Dad.

When we awoke the next day, we went on to tour more of Tallahassee. To be honest, there's not a whole lot there, but it was still interesting to hear Jenny's perspective on it. Jenny had to run a few errands so we found ourselves at my favorite, Target. And right next to Target was Sonney's where we dinned for a splendid southern bbq meal. Needless to say, when I eat out, I am going to eat out at good places! Since the clock was still a ticking, Jenny had class to attend, so we dropped her off and split ways as we continued back to Orlando. In Orlando, the question of what to do arised, and somehow watching Fargo came out. It was quite enjoyable to watch a movie about Minnesota with my family who was on vacation in Florida.

Saying Goodbye to Jenny in her apartment with Murrs.

 The next day was the best yet! We went to the Kennedy Space Center. As Buzz Lightyear would say, "To infinity and beyond!" There we met a real astronaut and got to hear his story about flying in space with Sally Ride and two international men. We also got to see the launch pads of past launches and see artifacts from the rockets and space explorations. We even got to touch real moon rock! The flight simulator was too much for Mom, but when I got done I felt like a real astronaut! All in all AWESOME!

Astronaut Mom and Joan

US Space Rockets

At the US Astronaut Hall of Fame

One of the numerous launch pads

 

 The next day, the 10th, was a sad day for me for my family had to return to the land of 10,000 lakes. They left and a few hours later I went to Typhoon Lagoon the water park. Then, went to work for Night of Joy.  

My Days Off

Well kids now that I've told you a little bit about what I do at the park I suppose I can tell you about the fun stuff, aka what I do on my days off.

Let's take a flash back in time to my first week here, that's when I first went to the Animal Kingdom. On August 27th, 2010 I met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Daisy, Pluto, Rafiki (from Lion King), Chip and Dale, Baloo (from Jungle Book), Terk (from Tarzan), Pocahontas, and Thumper and Miss Buny (from Bambi). All in all, a great character sighting day! Also, I love animals and since Animal Kingdom is basically a huge zoo it was right up my alley. Similarly, my roommate Kristen (from Texas) and I got to go on a few rides like the Expedition Everest roller coaster and the Kilimanjaro Safari. Kristen's job is driving the safari, cool right! At the Animal Kingdom I also found out that Disney does great theatre. We saw Finding Nemo the Musical and I was stunned by how cool it was. Don't worry I took lots of pictures and some videos so I can share the experience with you all because its pretty rad! When it started to rain we met up with our other roommates Hilary (from Indiana), Zhuoyang (from China), and Nicole (from Kentucky) and went on our merry way to Epcot. At Epcot we went on Spaceship Earth, Test Track, and Mission Space. Unfortunately, the rain got the better of us and we left for the day.

Tree of Life at the Animal Kingdom

Epcot

On another day off, aka one day when I got off work and all my roommates had off August 29th, I booked it on over to Disney's Hollywood Studios. There we met my favorites: Lightning McQueen and TowMater. We also saw another Disney show: the 3D Muppet Show. Then we went on Star Tours, Tower of Terror (which actually terrified me!), and tried to see Fantasmic which then again due to weather got rained out. Needless to say, the first few days here were rainy. Apparently, hurricane season is real! who knew!

My roommates minus Zhuoyang at Hollywood Studios

Lightning McQueen and TowMater

 The next time I went out it was August 30th, I found myself at the Magic Kingdom after a long day of work at the Magic Kingdom. I went there to go celebrate Nicole's 20th Birthday. Here we met the Princesses: Belle, Aurora, and Cinderella. I made Belle sign a special card for Miss Kitty Kot to help brighten her day! From there we went on the Tea Cup ride and met up with the infamous Cast Member Brooke (from Mississippi) to go to the Polynesian Resort for a delicious dinner at the Kona Cafe. All in all, a good day with good food and good friends.

Me in front of Cinderella's Castle!

Hmm...what did I do next? Uh oh! Oh...now I remember kind of. On September 2nd, Hilary and I ventured over to Hollywood Studios. It was fun for most of the day. We saw the Beauty and the Beast Musical, went on Tower of Terror, Rockin Roller Coaster which features music from Aerosmith, the Backlot Tour, the Lights, Motors, Action, Stunt Show, and the Indiana Jones Stunt Show Spectacular. Sadly, due to the heat I don't really remember much of the Backlot Tour, the stunt show, or the Indiana Jones Show, but I have pictures. I got to take a nice little nap at First Aid and then I went home to sleep for 14 hours...what I fun day! Fun things that I did do that day were: meet Lotso (who smelled like strawberries)(from Toy Story 3) and Mr. and Mrs. Incredible (from the Incredibles).

Mrs. and Mr. Incredible

Lotso

 On to another day, another dollar. Next time I went out was the next day! September 3rd. I went with Hilary and Kristen to Epcot. There were traveled to all the countries, except Canada. Its just like my real life, I've never been to Canada, sigh! In traveling we met Mary Poppins, Alice (from Alice in Wonderland), Princess Aurora (from Sleeping Beauty), Jasmine and Aladdin (from Aladdin), Mulan, and Snow White. For rides, we went on Soarin', Talk with Crush, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, the Norwegian ride: Maelstrom, Living with the Land, and the Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros. A wonderful day, where no one got ill, yippie!

Mary Poppins

Snow White

Me in Mexico!

TRUE LIFE: I work for Disney.

So, umm...yeah I think this picture really says it all!

I work for the Walt Disney World Company in Orlando, FL. I work for the Main Entrance Operations at the Magic Kingdom meaning that I have two jobs: Park Greeter and PAC (Parade Audience Control).For the Park Greeter position I welcome people to the park, work the turnstiles, work the exits, and sometimes do minute tasks when we are overstaffed such as: look for abandoned rental strollers and wheelchairs, wipe down tables and pan and broom the break room, pan and broom the entrance, ask people if they want a water break, etc. The funny thing about this job is that people seem to loose their minds when they come to the Magic Kingdom, maybe they just see the castle and are simply overwhelmed! But when they cannot seem to understand that they need to insert their ticket into the one and only slot on the turnstile machine and then put their finger (generally their right index finger) on top of the machine in the special PUT YOUR FINGER HERE spot, it really makes me go all crackers and cheese. For PAC, its a bit more work. For audience control we set up all the stations, aka posts in the ground and put up the ropes to keep people from running into the parades. The problem with this job is that people always want to stand in the walkways which we need to keep open in case one of the characters has a problem with their costume, aka heat exhaustion, problem with the head, injured, etc. Also, for this job we have to do something we call PACivities to keep the kids and audience busy before the parade comes, so we play games like Mickey Says (really simon says, but since we're at disney...). Yesterday I was having kids jump rope when Pinocchio and Daisy Duck decided to get in on the action and kids got to jump rope with them! It was awesome. Seeing kids happy and smile is really what makes both of these jobs worthwhile.

Driving to Disney: The Journey Truely Begins

Well, despite the fact that this is about a month later than it should have been posted this is what I did upon leaving the great state of MN for Florida. Jenny, my oldest sister, and I left our lovely house at 8AM on August 14th and went on our merry way. As we made our way down south, we stopped in many a place such as Indiana University in Bloomington to visit my good friend Miss Gracie, Memphis to visit Jenny's friends, Beale Street for some history of jazz, Graceland, KFC in Kentucky, and of course the capital of Florida, Tallahassee. It was a fun drive down, but I will tell you this, that is a long drive. Thanks for driving Jenny, you're the best! Anywho, before the Disney experience began I got to do a fair amount of cleaning up mold; who knew if you don't turn on a fan or your air conditioning in the summer in the south mold appears? Also, it was during this time that I got hooked on True Blood. That lasted about a week for all these mini adventures, and on August 23rd I began the Disney experience.

Goodbye Daewoo, you were a splendid car, I miss you already!

What up Elivs?

Elvis Presley, TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS IN A FLASH.

These are the rad interns for the Mystery of Irma Vep. 

This is Omar the Camel, Eli and I made him for this show. Isn't he cute!

A Quick Wrap of Summer 2010: THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP

Hey Kiddies,
So this summer I managed to get myself a sweet internship in the good old Minneapple of MN. It started in May where I helped move all the rehearsal props into the Old Arizona Theatre. From there I sat in on rehearsals watching Bradley Greenwald and Steve Epp do there thang in a 2 man show where each of them played at least 4 different characters. I could try and explain the plot of the show to you, but really its not the plot that you go to see, well it partly is, but mostly people go to see the super rad, super quick costume changes. Which is where me and the A Team come in. The A Team consisted of 5, and only 5 interns that helped make that all possible! We were the kids who ripped the actors out and into their costumes, changed the sets, threw the "fur at door," made blood come from the Irma painting, the usual. It was the best way to spend my summer!