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?