Disney Live Action Remake Ephipany

Whew. Yet another long time between posts! Anyhoo I have way too much time on my hands since the convid-19 quarantine has started. So naturally, with a ton of time and silence , I've been Contemplating the Important life questions. Like what is up with all the Disney remakes??

   Disney is well known and cherished for always having Something New and Exciting. Innovation, Originality and progression! Walt rarely even did sequels. He didn't take his Silly Symphonies and turn them into full length feature films.  Off the top of my head, the only remake made in the 90s was Flubber, the redo of The Absentminded Professor. I saw Flubber as a kid so honestly I cant say without bias if it's a good remake or not. Why? Because around the same age, I thought Jar Jar Binks wasn't annoying.  Shudder. Kids have weird tastes/lack of taste in movies. Anyhoo!
 
      I've got 2 reasons.

      1. Tapping into the millennial nostalgia  Ahem follow the money . Supply for what is demanded, etc. For whatever reason, 80s and 90s kids love nostalgia of our childhood( strong economy, world seemed safer? Who knows? Personally I like being the freedom and responsibilities of an adult better myself)And guess what happened in that time frame? Yup, the Disney Renaissance . Frankly it is a smart move to take advantage of what the public is demanding. Notice Disney isn't taking their flops  and redoing them. Oh no, they are remaking absolute fan favourites; Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin etc. Honestly some of them are not worth the effort. Side eyeing you, Chicken Little and Home on the Range.  But what about the ones which got buried during the Eisener Wars? Like Treasure Planet, it should have done well. But no one knew about it because it got buried due to the fuss over Disney company leadership.  Or how about Atlantis. Talk about a great film! But it didn't do as well at the box office- not a musical, a bit too action based for little kids (still less scary than Pinocchio tho) So why not remake those films? Honestly the cynic in me is whispering- because if they didn't make money in the first place, why would the Mouse grant them a second chance??

       2.  A different way to look at a beloved story/film. You see this a lot for stage performances, and in Old Hollywood. Different choreographers, directors and costuming make the same story new again, Look at how many times Little Women has been made, and no one bats an eye. June Allyson's interpretation is similar but very different than Winona Rider's Jo. Just as people will go to the same ballets but different  dancers and directors, we go to the new remakes to see what's new with a personal favourite. But some of the Disney remakes are almost shot for shot duplicates . Cough Lion King, Beauty and the Beast Cough.

      Confession - I love the remakes, and I also hate them at the same time.  I love the ones where changes are made, and the story is strengthened. That there is a reason for the film being redone.The Cinderella remake makes my heart soar. It is Christian Dior meets Marie Antoinette. Oh, and that ballgown! My heart just about melts during the Valse Amor dance, it is sheer perfection imho. It wasn't my favourite (making villains into quasi-heroes/anti heroes just isn't my thing) but I do see the appeal of Maleficent, It's a different take on the Sleeping Beauty story.  Maleficent is possibly one of the most beloved or popular villainess out there. The Alice remake is appealing too.  I'm just not sure if it falls under remake or sequel though.

  The Aladdin one is good. They added to Jasmine's character and made the set designs more Bollywood esque. I get it. The one remake I just couldn't understand is the Beauty and Beast remake. Yes, there are new songs . I do confess, I love Evermore. And yes they tried to add more strength to the story, and made a new plot hole. The Enchantress makes the village forget about the Prince, then curses him to be a Beast until he finds true love. How is he supposed to find love if no one knows he is there?? Just use the book to travel around and take some girl back to his castle?? Wouldn't have just been simpler to explain the village's lack of knowledge of the Beast by having the village built after the curse was cast, but there were rumors of a beast so that is why no one goes to the forest?? I mean, Belle does sing,
                   "Every morning just the same
                     Since the morning that we came
                    To this poor provincial town"
How would Belle know it has never changed unless she was there when the town was first founded. The movie explains she is singing about how since she and her father came from Paris to the town, but I think it makes more sense to be about the whole town.

   So there you have it; all my random thoughts about the Disney remakes. Will I watch them? Yes, especially if they are released online. Will I enjoy them? Depends.

hindsight is 20/20

It has been 4 years since I did my Disney college program. And I randomly stumbled upon my old blog. I totally forgot I had even started it. Whoops. I finished reading the 6 entries and wished I has written more.
   
     Like of the time I  watched the Electric Lights parade with this adorable little girl who had to tell me the name of all 7 dwarves before she would go w her mum. Or the time during Spring Break, I was filling the napkins dispenser in the Corral 1 dinner room when this 12 yr old boy looked around at the bustling room and asked me in amazement and fear if it was always like this. I took a quick look at the mob of Guests and laughed 'Welcome to the Wild West'.  Shoot I was mistaken for a princess several times. Another time a little girl made her embarrassed mum ask me if I was Dorothy and where Toto was. Wrong park. Or when my roommate and I did the Disney Princess auditions. My favorite memory is of my last working day, I took my hideous non slip shoes, which were hammered beyond gross and threw them down the A Vac. Ah! I still remember with perfect clarity the absolute feelings of relief, freedom and triumph. All in that order too. Perhaps even s slight sense of vindictiveness. Ok ok ok, this is a confessions blog. So I confess, a powerful sense of vindictiveness. I will also confess that I do have a mean streak in me after all. Didn't really realize this until I did the Program.

 As I traveled further down Memory Lane, I then recalled precisely why I quit writing; I was very unhappy during my CP. I will freely confess what is truly ironic;  I, self proclaimed Disney fanatic, actually hated it. As in passionately hated it. I'm not going to say why; it'd be a waste of a lot of space.  and I equally hate digging up unpleasant feelings. Lets just say that I did a lot of yelling, crying and gnashing my teeth because of the Mouse. Like a LOT of those three things.  Not always in that precise order but mostly so as I went thu the stages of shock, hurt and reluctant/embittered acceptance.

   That being said, I don't totally regret the experience. I mean, I got to be in the parks whenever I wanted. A dream come true of any Disney fanatic! I also met so many wonderful people. In fact of one my best friends happens to have been my roommate there. I haven't really kept in touch with any of my former cast members. I mean we are friends on fb, and I'll randomly like or comment on their posts but that's about it.  I did end up working with one again, at a clean facility job. It was so much fun to talk and laugh about different memories. I bumped into another former cast member since they were in the same dance class as my husband and it was truly lovely to see them again.

   So, the big question- would I do it all over again? Umm, yeah NO. The thought of working at Pecos for even one more minute......gah. I think I just threw up a bit. Would I work for the Mouse again? Maybe. I can't help it! Going to the parks for free is a huuuuuuggggge lure for me!! I'd work there only if it were at the Animal Kingdom, not in merchandise or quick service. Yup, that's about it. Ok, maybe i'd work in the tragic-sorry I mean Magic - kingdom as a ticket/entry way attendant.    

On My Own

  So I completed training! Happy day :). The last day was Thursday on which I trained trash duty or as Disney terms "Dining Room".  I must admit, it really isnt that bad. I take a cart with two empty trash cans, find a full one onstage, switch out, go backstage, empty them into the A Vac and repeat. It's clean up that is disgusting, and I'm not going to say why because I might throw up after recalling what I had to do. Anyhoo my trainer Anthony was surprised that none of us trainee threw up. He said that there is always one. Oh I should probably explain what the A Vac is; it's a huge pipe coming up into the trash room, it sucks the trash from Pecos and takes it away from the Magic Kingom. I dont know where it ends up and I dont want to, I'm just glad that I'm not the person at the other end of the pipe. Ew.

    Now that I've ended training, I've worked filler, drinks and busser. I think busing tables is the best, even though the broom tried to eat my hand. Filler is easy too, I just take the trays from the kitchen's bridge thingy and fill in the rest of the order. So I put the chicken food on, the drinks, cookies, cakes and sour cream packets on. Yesterday while on filler duty, I had order 185 and I couldn't find them anywhere! I walked to each counter and shouted out "185! Your order is here! Order 1-8-5!". No such luck. Luiz has a loud projecting voice, so I got him to bellow out the order, still nothing. We looked at each, and Luiz went to throw out the food. This girl at the front of the line cried out "No!!". Luiz asked her if the food was hers, I thought " You've been standing there the whole time, watching us go up and down the counters and now you realise you're order 185?!!!" She showed us her receipt, she wasn't. Luiz threw out the food and she threw up her hands in exasperation- someone could have eaten that food. About 15 minutes, no joke, later a very angry man comes up, he's been waiting 15 minutes for his food and he wants to know where it is and why it has taken this long. I asked to see his receipt, yup the absentee Order 185 showed up. Luiz explained what happened and promptly got food for him. The man calmed down as I explained that it was me who had called the number. He laughed and said that my voice is very quiet, and he's partially deaf so no wonder why he didn't hear. My voice is quiet?

      Filler position is never dull! One of my fellow cast members noticed that my name tag said BYU ID, so he started asking me about Joseph Smith and his gold Bible, he wanted to know the whole story. So in between trays I managed to give the 1st discussion. He also asked me several questions about the New Testament, like why did the Jews not accept Christ when he lived among them, and which apostle was a tax collector who later became Paul. It felt like I was taking a test but I think I passed!

        This lady came up and wanted an extra iced water, so I got that for her and then she put her hand to her forehead and looked ill. She quickly explained she was diabetic and that could I get her some carbs? I started to say yes when she said that she needed bread right now and fast or she was going to pass out. I scrambled over to the kitchen bridge thingy and braved the kitchen people's wrath as I yelled that I needed a bun really fast. The kitchen people are surly, their favourite thing to to is to shoot the messangers (the fillers) and to move real slow. The only time they move fast is when the managers get annoyed and work along side of them; you really can't slack off with your managers at your side. Luckily the managers had them going so I got the bun pronto and scurried back to the lady. She said thanks and moved off while eating the bun. Whew, close call.

     Drinks is easy too- I scoop ice into a cup and push a certain button, cap the lid on and voila! The order is done. It's not my favourite because it's extremely fast paced, and surprisingly lots of people are picky about how much ice goes into their drink. At the end of a drinks day, my hands smell like Cola; the machine is automatic, I push a button and it knows how much soda to distribute, usually. Sometimes it gives too much and then it spills onto my hands or when I put the lid on, the soda overflows, onto my hands so my hands are always very sticky. And since its so fast paced, I dont have enough time to wash them off. Nasty nasty nasty.

   Last night I did busing tables, first time too! People are more nice I think in the dining room, they've just eaten or have their food so they've had a chance to calm down. Oh story time! I was going around the Siesta Room washing all the tables when I noticed this little girl watching me. More like scrutinizing me actually, I smiled and waved at her but she just stared. I figured that she was trying to figure out the pattern on my apron and went back to washing. When I turned around again, she had taken her napkin and was 'washing' the tables too! Her parents were laughing as she went up on tiptoe to carefully polish the tabletops.

           There are four dining areas; Pairie, Siesta, Corral and Widow Maker which includes the actual Widow Maker room and the Jack Sparrow dining room. Almost all the names make sense, Pairie room is the outside dining area, Jack Sparrow dining room links to the Pirates area of Adventure etc but not Widow Maker. That one I don't get, why would anyone call a dining room that name?

Earning my ears.

   The last couple of days have been crazy- but I'll catch up :D. So I've been doing On the Job Training, which means I learn how to do my jobs while in Pecos' Bill. Basically I'm a shadow during this time. My trainer is Franck, and I call him that because Disney is a first name company. It's a little mind boggling to learn that the CEO of the Company follows Walt Disney's footsteps and walks around the park mingling with the Guests and that if I see him I'm suppose to smile and say "Hi Phil!". Whoooaaa! I'm to call my head head head boss by his first name!

     I'm being trained along with two other girls. Sam is a BYUI CP (college program) just like me and Farah is from a college here in Florida. We're all 'earning our ears', so our name tags have a little red flag on them. It's like a Get Out of Jail Free ticket, it protects me from getting into trouble if I dont know something. I like working with both of them, Sam gets a little hyper after 11 pm. On Saturday we trained to be a filler- once the trays come from the kitchen with fries and the burgers, we fill out the rest of the order and give the tray to the Guests. FIllers get the most interaction with the Guests, most of them are nice and pretty relaxed once they see us with their tray.

   This one man came up and asked if we believed in toothpicks. Once Franck explained. No, I thought 'oh boy! he's going to be the first irate guest of the day!'. Not even close. The man cheerfully recommended that Franck bring the idea of having toothpicks at the next employee meeting and with his great idea, Franck would be made manager. Franck thanked him for the sugguestion, and the man happily wished all of us a to have a great day and walked off. I was shocked at how happy he was even though we couldn't help him get his toothpick, most of the guests are that way too. The only mad Guest was this lady who was really upbeat. She came marching up to the counter but when she started to complain to another Cast Member, she didn't sound mad at all. She just got louder and told us "This is Rip Off City! Thanks for making my day" while waving around her receip, and then stormed off. It was kinda weird. None of the other Cast Members were that concerned though: 1) we dont have any control over the price and 2) she left. I like the filler position.

    Anyhoo, Franck is really nice, and he's so funny, just like most of my coworkers at Pecos' Bill. I like working there even though working the Toppings Bar is way intimidating! I trainedfor that yesterday. I had no clue how fast people could eat tomatoes and lettuce- faster than the rabbits can chew up my mum's callalillies! The topping bar has everything you could possibly want to put on a taco salad or a hamburger, which is why it's so stressful. I have to keep an eye on everything, and once I start to get low, I have to hurry to the back and get everything together. Somethings are stored downstairs or in the back cooler, so that takes a while to find it and then I have to prepare it; drain/cut/wash, wrap it, and label it and then take it out front. Also I have to keep the stations and bowls that I use clean, so it's just like too much at once. Oy, too many things to keep track of and move around.

     I think Franck really enjoys training- he's paid to have us 3 girls follow him everywhere and hang on to his every word like a drowning man does to a floating device. The dish washing guys are pretty funny, when (believe it or not) a slow time comes around and there's nothing for them to do. They start yelling in Spanish and they sing and bang around while randomly shouting "Arriba, Arriba!". I think they're bored just a little bit during parade time. Most of the people speak Creole, Spanish or Portuguese. Franck speaks a little French and I think a couple others do too. Everyone is a big tease around Pecos Bill, Franck pulls on the girls ponytails and whacks the guys around the head, and every girl slaps him upside the head and the guys punch him back. This girl, once she found out who was training us, she looked horrified and told us not to listen to Franck because we end up in big trouble.

     But no worries, this is yet another case of the Disney humour....... which I still dont understand. I thought I was pretty good at being able to tell when people are joking, not anymore. They say everything with such a straight face! I'm pretty sure that I'm going to end up with the nickname of Miss Guillible because Franck will tell us to do something and I go "Really??" and he'll just start laughing and say "Of course! No!!". This is going to take some time to get used to.

    For Sunday I found out two great things! 1, I really can get ready in 15 minutes and look ok. and 2) the water at the church building tastes normal! The water here in Florida is distusting, it smells like a funky combination of sulphur, sewage and chlorine (It's a good thing I brought body spray....) and sadly it tastes just like how it smells. Yuck. I'm going to Wal Mart today and buying a case of water. Well that's it for the weekend. TTFN!

Let the trainings begin!

     Today was another bright and early day! Well ok I confess it was more like a dark and early morning because today I woke up at 5 am. Interesting fact: the couch is more comfortable than my bed. Anyhoo, trainings started at the Disney University again but I soon was transferred to the secret Cast Member entrance to the Magic Kingdom.  There I learned Disney secrets and cool stuff. Sorry, no confession: I am not at liberity to say but it's pretty cool :D.

      We, the new College Program students who are soon to work at the Magic Kingdom, went from the secret place to onstage to the Magic Kingdom. My teachers started to teach us how to create magic. Example, if some one walks up to me and asks,"What's that wire from the Castle?", to create magic I can say something like, "Oh that's not a wire. That's a line that Peter Pan drew in the sky so Tinkerbell can always find her way back to Neverland". Pretty good huh. I can't take credit for it sadly, it's the example the teacher gave to us but I think I shall use it :)

        Our other teacher, Laura, taught us to be mindful of our audience. The example she gave was a story, I think I remember it all but if not I'll just fill in the holes w/ my own, about how the Haunted Mansion came to be in DisneyWorld. Back in the late 1960s when Walt Disney was buying up parcels of land in Florida, his Imagineers came down to start planning what attractions to build and just see what Florida looked like. During their explorations of the land, they found an old but very beautiful mansion hidden away in the middle of the orange groves. No one seemed to know the history of it and since they Imagineers didn't want to tear down the stone mansion, they thought maybe they could somehow include it in the theme park once they knew of its past. After some research and digging around and the findings of journals, the Imagineers found out the history of this lovely building. Be ye warned, it's a bit of a gruesome story.

     A long time ago, in the late 1800s there was a very wealthy family in upstate New York. They had everything they wanted in the world, a sweet young son and wealth beyond anyone's dreams. But their happiness couldn't have lasted, the lovely mother fell, very ill and no doctor could seem to help her. So the only thing left to do was to recommend that the family move south to Florida because back in those days the medical field believed that warmer air would help cure everything they couldn't.

    Once in Florida the family built this huge lovely stone mansion and happiness returned but alas! It couldn't last, the mother fell ill again and died. The father was so heartbroken that his true love died that as it often happen, he too died only 3 months later. The little boy who was only 8 at the time, was left to be raised and cared by the servants.
He grew up ever so lonely and once he turned 18, he wished to travel and see if he could find someone to fill in the loneliness and lighten the shadow of tragedy in his life. Luckily he was very wealthy and could afford to travel all over the United States. Amongst his wanderings he came across a band of gypsies, being supersititious like most people in his time, he asked them to read his palm. They told him that he would find love and his sad heart would trouble him no more. The young man thanked them and went across the river to go an inn at the nearest town. There the first thing he saw was this beautiful young lady. He fell deeply in love with her; true love at first sight!

   The young man began to rapidly court her, and eventually asked her to marry him. She said yes, he also asked her to come to Florida to see where he lived. The girl said yes again and they travelled to Florida ever so happy. But when they got back, he introduced her to the head servant (who had raised him and loved the young man like his own son). The head servant disapproved of the fiancee, there wasn't something right about this whole situation. It had happened too fast and too soon.

    The imagineers found the servant's journals and according to them on the day of the wedding, the groom could be no where to be found! All the servants looked everywhere for him, and then they noticed something- the bride to be was missing too! All of a sudden, a peculiar weeping sound filled the mansion. The head servant realised it was coming from the attic, which was even more strange for no one ever went into the attic. They raced up the many flights of stairs and burst into attic and stopped in horror at the sight that greeted their eyes. The young bride was wailing, she was covered in blood, and the young man was dead! The servants were baffled, what had happened? Want to know the rest? Go on the ride The Haunted Mansion.

    The point of this story is that I can tell it to the adults and teenagers, it makes the ride more fun. But if an already kinda scared child goes up to me, and wants to know why the Mansion is haunted, I dont tell them that story. If I did, the angry parents won't be thanking me. I could just tell them what the Imagineers originally thought the Haunted Mansion to be- a rest or retirement home for 999 ghosts who have way too much fun and energy. Confession: I believed this story to be true until Laura said that the doctors sent the family to Florida and then my disbelief was confirmed when she said that the manservant kept a journal. How long did you believe this story to be true?

Disney Milieu

Disney Milieu
Today was Traditions, a day where I learned about the standards Disney traditions and heritage were given by Walt Disney's legacy. It's quite the bit to live up to but I think I'm up to the task. The main point of going to Traditions is to learn that being part of Disney is to make other people smile.
This morning I didn't bounce out of bed with a smile, more like a groan; I had a 6:50 am bus to catch. I got ready for the day but didn't really wake up until 6:10 when my roommate (who also had had to have her Traditions class reschedule at the same time as me) knocked on my door and said we were going to be late. I was wide awake that point! Miss Traditions and postpone everything again? Soo not happening on my watch! Before I bolted out the door, my rommie said that we had 5 minutes to get to the bus stop, I looked at my phone which said that it was 6:10 am. Turns outs that the ole 50-sounds-like-15-trick was the culprit in the misunderstanding and the bus really did leave at 6:50 not 6:15 for Traditions.
Traditions was located at the D.U. or Disney University, I don't remember what the building looked like because I was too busy trying not to freeze and fall asleep. But I do remember that the inside of the lobby was really warm :). Our classroom was 104 and I love the decor! They had different Disney characters sketched stenciled on the wall and then they'd put a strip of colour in the middle. So the picture of Mike and Sully had colour only across their heads. It was pretty cool. I wish I had a picture as an example but I'm a Cast Member not a Guest so I somehow dont think that would make a very good impression on my bosses........:D. Besides I'd feel silly acting like a tourist when dressed up trousers and a blouse.
Speaking of silly, I'm really happy that the two girls teaching Traditions didn't have us acting like EFY kids. You know, they come in and ask how everybody is going so everyone says "Fine", "Good" or whatever in a totally acceptable volume of voice for the inside and then the leader says something like, "Awww that was pathetic! Come on, HOW IS EVERYONE DOING?" and then once people get the hint and scream back "WE'RE DOING GREAT!" and they show their satisfaction by yelling, "MUCH BETTER!". It's fun and everything when you're dressed in cut off holey jeans and flip flops, but you feel very silly doing that when wearing nylons and trousers.
Traditions was so much fun! We covered how to have integrity whilst working and heard a message from Bob Iger (the top executive president) talking about how important it is to uphold the Disney image. Next we assigned a team leader for each table. My leader was named Rem, short for Rememington. I think his mother was a Rememington Steele fan. Next we covered a bunch of important historic dates from Disney history. Like what year Walt was born, who Oswald the luck rabbit was, the year that the first Disney Store opened and things like that. I'm proud to say I knew most of them. Yay me! The girl next to me was a huuuggeee Disney fan too :D so we had fun gushing over Disney. We next learned about the Disney goal: to make happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for all ages everywhere. We also learned about the 4 important cornerstones of how to accomplish this goal; Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficency. One of our teachers asked us to appoint a scribe, every one in my group pointed to me because I have semi nice handingwriting (I think).
We travelled to the Magic Kingdom via the special cast member route, I found out that as scribe I got to write down examples of those 4 things from what I saw exemplified in the park. I had soo many written down! The other girl in my group laughed at my reaction when we first appeared in Main Street, I was super excited because this was my first time in Disney World! Not be cliched but it was magical!! But as wonderful this was, something even better happened next! Once we finished at the Magic Kingdom, we went back to the classroom and restarted the lecture, someone knocked on the door! Our teachers looked puzzled, who could that be?
It was Mickey Mouse! He came up to the classroom with a gift (our Disney IDs!) and wanted to know how was our learning coming along. So the teachers said great and asked Mickey if he wanted to hear what we've learned . Yes was his answer. Our teachers asked who was the Company's founder, "Walt" was the answer. As a prize the boy was given a Donald Duck figurine. One teacher asked Mickey if he wanted to help give out the prizes, of course he wanted to. The next question was "What is the Company's goal?" I was picked and I answered and Mickey Mouse gave me a figurine of himself ! :D My day was made! Oh lol so before the teacher asked the next question, she told Mickey to plug his ears. He just cocked his ears , looked at her and stepped back in surprise. She insisted and he put his hands kinda over his ears. So she asked what was the name that preceded Mickey's name, and a girl answered "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit!". At the mention of Oswald, Mickey really did plug his ears! While that was correct, it wasnt what our teacher was looking for, it was really how Mickey was originally going to be named Mortimer.
After Mickey left, we learned about making sure we go the extra mile to make our Guests happy, and not spoil the magic that we all work so hard to create. Like doing something nice or being really friendly to the Guests because that's what they will remember the most. It's true, and besides who wants to ruin someone else's holiday? They really stressed to keep the magic alive for everyone, no matter what their age is. So that means no what your age is, if you're going to ask me how many Mickey Mouses there are, I'm going to tell you, "Just one, it's Mickey Mouse not Mickey Mice afterall". Well once I'm not a Cast Member I can, right now I'd probably just smile and say " There's only one Mickey"; part of keeping the magic is done by not being smart mouthed to the Guests........I may or may not have to work on that one........
Soo once we were done learning about well, everything! We got our our name tags!!!!!! WHEEE!!! I'm offically part of the Disney team now :D :D :D!!! This is a pretty deal :D Once my roommie and I got out of Traditions and I sorted out the rest of my schedule, we did the only sane, normal thing that a brand new member of the Disney team would do- we headed over to the parks! We actually went to the Magic Kingdom because my roommate wanted to see my face when I first spotted the Cinderella Castle. GORGEOUS!
We got on Space Mountain, and just like everything else, it weirded me out! For almost everything is really similar to Disneyland but it's different. Like Main Street's building's colours are similar and positioned closely to Main Street USA but they're huge! It's kinda like Disneyland on steroids at Disneyworld. Oh so confession: I like Disneyland's Space Mountain definitely better than Disney World's. DW's Space isn't dark so you can see the tracks and the music is quirky and the ride is slow! It's like you're slowly spiralling down whereas DL's Spce is fast, has matching music playing and is exciting. But I still liked DW's Space :D.
I did a bit of shopping, literally a bit cause I bought a purse and a ID holder. And so tonight I really did find out that one can cut up potatoes with a mere butter knife. I still dont recommend it. But I got home and realised that unless I tried, I would be eating baked beans for the 4th meal in a row. I shuddered and quickly went to work.
Well that's pretty much it for today's Grand Adventure. Tomorrow I get to wake up at 5 am. I haven't had to wake up before 7 for a class since I graduated from Seminary! Still, I think I'm going to love it here. TTFN!

It rains even in the Magic Kingdom but the sun will come to shine

       The title of this entry is a bit misleading if read the literal way, because no, it did not rain in Orlando today. This rain is the same rain referred to in the phrase "Don't rain on my parade". I wish there was an umbrella invented that kept this kind of rain off my parades.

      But no worries! Today's rain was a minor set back; my background check is taking longer than usual so I was cancelled for today's event: Traditions. Traditions is very important for any Cast member because you get to learn about Disney's heritage( and other cool stuff that I didn't get to discover) and most importantly on completion of Traditions you receive the *pass*. Big moment, dont underestimate. Once you receive the pass for with the pass you can go into the parks for free, receive discounts and more so you get to start training and working for Disney. So how did this happen?

        Well it happened just like this. I got up today or rather bounced up today and got all ready and dressed up for Traditions. My roommate and I had it scheduled the same day so we were walking out our appartment and down the street when her phone rang. It was Disney phoning to say that her background check wasnt finished so she couldnt go to Traditions. Once she hung up and explained to me the situation, I gave out my sympathies because really, this thing bites! No sooner than I had closed my mouth then my phone starting to ring. Nooooo!! But yes, same thing. My roommate and I stared at each other with sagged shoulders.

          When the background check results haven't come through, it means that you're kinda stuck in limbo. You can't start training or orientation or work, you can't go into the parks either. You do, on the good side, have plenty of free time, especially with no TV or DVD player. Not having those things means lots and lots of free time. My roommate and I spent the day at Downtown Disney admiring the merchandise and chatting.

           I saw lots of beautiful things at Downtown Disney. My top item would be the cutest Minnie Mouse apron! It was red with white polka dots and a darling white ruffle. Awww, I want it. :D Then I saw these huge gorgeous Thomas Kinkade Disney paintings! Oh my they were spectacular! The one of Peter Pan is breath taking. The crocodile, Hook, Smee and the Lost Boys are hidden with in the clouds and if the painting is large enough one can see Nana floating above the roof tops. I didn't know this but Disney also makes baseball bats! Cool but weird. Ohh but that isnt as weird as the jacket I saw in the sports store; it had Tigger on it but it was an angry Tigger! Tigger and angry just don't go together. They just done. It's like positivism and Eeyore going together. It aint right, it aint natural.

          Later today my roommate got a call from Disney; she was back on track with the reschedulation of her Traditions class. Half an hour passed and no such luck for me. I sighed because it seems that Murphy's Law rules my life with an iron fist. Hakuna Matata because I got a call from Disney! So both my roommate and I have Traditions tomorrow, at 6:50 am. Boo ya! I'm back on track too :D.

         Random part: my kitchen doesnt have any knives besides a butter knife. I found this out when I went to make potato salad for my dinner. Yeah, butter knives really don't cut potatoes that well. I'm assumming this because I actually didnt try to slice/dice up raw potatoes up with one. Some days I be smart :P. So all in all, it was a grand adventure today. I think I'm going to love it here. TTFN!