#INCREDIBLESSuperDanceParty

My favorite shift to work, ever. The Incredibles Super Dance Party. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to work this shift at least twice a week for about three months. I haven't done the shift since early June, but I will be visiting later today so I thought i would talk about it.

At this dance party guests have the opportunity to dance with their favorite supers, Mr. Incredible, Frozone and Elastigirl! The characters do not stop for photos or autographs, but they do dance with you. I have seen so much joy from these shifts, also lots of ridiculous dancing.

I have two very special memories from the dance party. First was a little girl that was at Disney on her Make-a Wish trip. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress and she was completely bald. Her name was Isabelle, but she went by Izzy. I brought her to dance with each of the super heroes. But then for a while she danced with just me. Her dad even joined in, he and I were copying whatever Izzy would do. Then the following conversation ensued:

Me-"Izzy, your dress is so pretty! You look just like a princess!"
Izzy-"I feel like a princess! I am a princess, even though I'm bald. I'm still a princess."
Me-"Absolutely, you are beautiful. And now you are at Disney so you are an official Princess!"
Izzy-"You are too!"

Izzy and her family touched my heart. They were so kind and so much fun.

The second was when a little girl dressed as Ariel came to dance party with her brother. I brought them over to Elastigirl to dance. Then they both grabbed my hands and pulled me over to each of the other supers so we could dance with them. Then I danced with them while the supers were saving the day. They were so sweet, and had so much to say about their fun day at the park. When they were getting ready to leave, the little princess took my hand and said, "okay let's go see Ariel now!" She wanted to take me with her! My heart melted at that moment.

Overall though, my favorite thing that has come out of this dance party is the friends I have made. The cast members that are constantly at that dance party truly make it magical. They are some of the kindest, most fun people I have ever come across. They truly make it an INCREDIBLE time.

       

                             

Tinkerbell's Magical Nook

Here is a small dedication to one of my favorite areas that is now closed. Tinkerbell's Magical Nook holds so many fantastic memories for me. It closed in May, and has [sort of] relocated to Town Square Theater. Tinkerbell is one of my favorite character's, and I love her story. If you haven't seen the Tinkerbell series of movies- it is absolutely worth it! So much laughter, magic, and pixie dust came from this location. All of which can be attributed to the wonderful fairies that flew in to make some memories. 

The thing that is so special about Tinkerbell and her Nook, was the people that knew the storyline, and knew the other fairies would be so genuinely excited to meet them. It would warm my heart to be able to talk to a little girl about the pixie's and their life in pixie hollow. 

                        

Star Wars Weekends 2014

How about an overview of an event that made my life very exciting for 5 weekends?

STAR WARS WEEKENDS!

First of all, I really knew nothing about Star Wars before the event, and to this day I still have not watched a single movie all the way through. I will eventually! Regardless, I was super excited to have this opportunity. Luckily for me, I got placed with the 'Big Figs'. AKA Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy in their Star Wars get up.

I ended up spending 95% of my time with Darth Goofy and Storm Trooper Donald. Because of this event, I have a new found love for that grumpy duck. I have always adored Goofy, and he was the first furry friend I worked with so he already holds a special place in my heart.

The amount of times I found myself crying from laughter, keeled over with stomach pains from gut wrenching joy, are countless.

However what truly made Star Wars what is was, was the people I worked with and the guests I met. Every weekend I looked forward to seeing my fellow cast members, and sharing crazy stories of the different locations. A majority of the guests were huge Star Wars fans and annual passholders so I would see some of them each weekend! Usually I meet a family once and I'm lucky if I see them the next day. But with this event, I had visitors every single weekend.

One guest I met that left a serious positive impact on me before and after the event was Ami. Ami is from Japan and she LOVES Goofy. He is her favorite and I have never seen someone more excited to meet him ever. She had happy tears in her eyes every time she came up. And by every time- I mean she came to almost every set for two days straight. Some of the time she had a friend with her who loved Donald. They were so kind and so much fun. Even with a bit of a language barrier we were still able to share in the excitement. Ami and her friend gave Donald and Goofy notes, so in return, I helped the boys write notes back. Tears were shed when they received those letters. One of the times they came back, Ami invited me to take a picture with her and the boys.

When it was time for them to leave in the second day, Ami used a translator app to tell me that when she returned to Japan, she would send all the pictures to Walt Disney World. She set such a positive tone for the following 5 weeks. And then about two weeks after Star Wars finished, I received her letter! Along with a disc of 67 pictures she had taken with our friends

Ami created some serious magic for me, and she was my very first Guest letter!! It meant a lot that it came all the way from Japan. Hopefully I will see her next year! 

Here are a couple extra pictures with my boys. And the mice of course. 

I'm back!

Well long time no see!

So many memories have been made since February and there is still more to happen. In recent events I was fortunate enough to get trained at Enchanted Tales with Belle and Magic Words with Mickey. Also in the time I haven't updated this, I got to partake in Star Wars Weekends. It truly has been a crazy, fun, and busy couple of months.

I am going to try and keep up with the blog about the little memories here and there, because going back and reading them from the holidays is truly heart warming. So I welcome you to follow my adventure again. Some of these stories and things I experience can brighten anyone's day.

Pics or it Didn't Happen!

Here is me with the boss and his lady. 

Hangin out with some cool duck friends at Epcot while waiting for the runners to come by! Darkwing and Launchpad! 

Selfie with my "I'm important" badge!

My friend Sara and I had a Disney adventure and got lucky enough to see a practically empty mainstreet. It was beautiful. 

We also took some selfies. Or shall I say, royal selfies?

More character selfies! 

January/February Updates

What a crazy way to start the new year! I worked 6 days a week for the past 6 weeks. Busy, busy, busy.

Here are some highlights--

1) I began my new year with the Boss Man! That's right, I got to work with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse on January 1st. That was a super fun day! One of my favorite guest experiences from that day was with a little girl who was super excited to see Mickey and Minnie. Before she came in, they hid from her so she could play hide and seek with them. When she found them her excitement was contagious. Her laughter was loud and adorable and her smile lit up the room. It was just great to watch her interact with them.

2) On 1/9 I got to work my very first Castle Show, even though it was rainy, we were still able to do 2 full shows. I get chills every time the audience joins Mickey in saying "Dreams come true!"

3) I got to work during the Walt Disney World Marathon. I worked the half marathon with Donald and Daisy right behind Cinderella's Castle. Then, I got to work with Launchpad McQuack and Darkwing Duck during the full marathon. Both of those shifts were just fun overall. It was also slightly emotional to see all the families supporting their loved ones as they completed such an amazing achievement. The full marathon was 26.2 miles long!!!

4) I got to work with Buzz Lightyear a couple times in the last month, one memory that just melts my heart is when we had twin boys come meet Buzz. One was dressed as Buzz and the other was dressed as Woody. It was so adorable, and the little Buzz had even drawn a picture of himself holding hands with Buzz and going on an adventure.

5) I was lucky enough to get to work with Anna and Elsa again on the 25th. That involves a lot of guest interaction. Good and bad interactions. One amazing one is when I was joking around with a little girl asking her if the cookies she had were for me, she said no. When I walked by her later, her arm was extended towards me with a little cookie in her hand. It was so adorable. I didn't even eat the cookie, I just kept it to remind myself of why I put up with the rude people. I put up with them because for every rude guest, there are 5 nice children who are about to make an amazing memory.





Well that's all for now.

Ellie's Badge

Little gestures can go a long way. While working I always try to not forget little details that can make a big difference.

Sometimes, even at the "happiest place on earth" it is possible to have bad days. Or in this case, a rough 2 weeks. From having boring shifts, to having rude guests, to getting sick, it's a lot that adds up to a sour mood.

Today started pretty good, I was doing a brand new area with Woody and Jessie, and it was great! Not really a bad day at all. Compared to the previous days it was actually splendid. After work a few of us went to Beaches and Cream (basically Disney's version of Steak and Shake). After we ate, as we were leaving there was a gentleman sitting at a table wearing a shirt that had a sewn on patch with the characters from UP on it.

---Side note---
UP is my favorite Disney/Pixar movie and really means a lot to me. I cry every time I watch it and I can basically quote the entire movie. If you have not seen it, It is definitely worth watching.

Anyway, I stopped to compliment this gentleman's shirt. I told him it was my favorite movie and he said it was his as well. Before we could leave he handed us little plastic bags, inside of which there was an Ellie Badge.( An Ellie badge is the top of a grape soda bottle attached to a safety pin, it has a lot of significance in the movie). The bag also had a paper that quoted the movie.

This man just gave the badge to us. He didn't know who we were, or what we did. He just decided to do something generous and give us his (obviously) hand made badges. His small gesture made my entire day, actually it made my entire month. Just when my pixie dust was starting to dull a little bit, he absolutely restored its shine.

Moral of the story is always be kind because you never know the impact you can make on someone.