Water Mickeys, Sore Throats, and Various Other Adventures

        I love Custodial. Let me start of by saying how much I enjoy the freedom of it, and that I really don't mid the gross stuff. It doesn't bother me. I like getting to talk to guests everyday and find out where they're from and what they're doing. I like being able to suggest to them that their daughter will love the new Little Mermaid ride and telling them to grab a FastPass. I spent almost twenty minutes the other day explaining to a family how to use the FastPass system. I even went with them to get their first one (for the Winnie the Pooh ride!). It was their first time at Disney World and they had never even heard of the FastPass before. It was great watching them realize that this meant they could get in almost twice the fun!
        I've mostly been working in Fantasyland. I've been able to see almost all of New Fantasyland, which I hadn't even seen before coming down for this program. Its definitely fantastic. I can't wait for my sister Makayla to come see it! She loves Ariel, and she'll actually be able to meet Ariel back in her Grotto this time around, fins and all. My family is planning to come down in the beginning of August.  And I actually need to head home the beginning of September for my aunt's wedding!!! I'm going to need a little time off... But hopefully since I work at Magic Kingdom people will want to pick those shifts up. I would actually love to pick up a shift back at WSC at Epcot before this program. Maybe I'll even grab some shifts from other parks while I'm down here. I'm going to have to make another bucket list for this program.
        I have been doing a ton of Water Mickeys and Minnies (you can see me doing a Mickey in some of my older pictures) lately.  There's not a ton of downtime at Magic Kingdom, but when my areas clean and the trash is clear, I love to break out the water. It's fun, it's a perfect way to get people talking to you, and people always seem to find it really impressive. It's also a good way to make people who are sitting out smile. I know I see a lot of people who have to sit outside waiting for the other half of their group to come off of a ride. I used a Water Mickey to begin a conversation with a lovely gentleman and his grandson from West Virginia. Its so cool how people will talk to you and ask you about your life. I love telling kids about the Disney College Program because if that girl in line for the Tower of Terror hadn't taken the time to tell 14 year old me about it, I doubt I would be doing it right now.
          But so I've had yesterday and today off and unfortunately they haven't been going so well. I'm fighting a hardcore cold, one that wouldn't dare to touch me back home in the sanctity of Massachusetts.  I'm also not faring so well with the insanely hot weather, I have been feeling icky and faint outside (which you know, stinks since my job is 98% outside). I'll deal, but for now it stinks because I've had to go home early from my off day festivities. I was supposed to head to Blizzard Beach with Keri and Diane today but when we got there I was so overwhelmed by the heat and my cold that I was considering just laying down on the pavement to die. Instead, my melodramatic self grabbed the bus back to my air conditioned apartment where I've been attempting at home cold remedies and typing away on creative writing prompts and this blog. I always get sick when I'm down here though, Florida really doesn't seem to like me as much as I like it.
        Oh, one more thing!! I got my first Fanatic card for this program the other night for my extensive Water Art and guest interaction as well as my assistance on a large Code-V.  Don't judge me..

The Bird Story

       I basically promised this on Facebook after publishing the status "I made a bird fall in love with me today, Snow White-style. Your argument is invalid." so here it is:
         My third day of work by myself I was working in Pinocchio's Village Haus bathrooms. It was nice, a little bit busy, but it kept me busy and I liked it. I was talking to a guest over by the baby change (she was really nice, we were talking about her cool Mad-Hatter (Tim Burton style) hat and her Cirque Du Soleil obsession0 ehen I noticed movement over her right shoulder. It was something small and brown hopping around on the floor. I didn't want to alarm her, as I was pretty sure it was a toad, so after a moment I excused myself and went over to it.
         It ended up being a very small, brown, possibly baby, bird. I tried to shoo it out and the girl I'd been talking to helped, but it came back in after a moment. It had flown out originally but it really seemed to just like hopping on the floor. The guest suggested that I just leave it be and that it would take care of itself. I figured she was right and my bathroom really needed all of my attention that I could spare. So after turning back to the baby change and wiping it down I tried to forget about the bird hopping around mere feet from my shoes. I changed my gloves and set of into the bathroom.
         I had barely gotten a few steps when my bird suddenly decided that it didn't like the floor anymore. It flew itself over to land on a woman's back. The woman was wearing a dress so I assumed the birds claws were ready to dig into her back. I immediately scooped up the bird and pried it gently from her back (I hope I apologized to her but I really don't remember exactly). The way I'd grabbed the bird I had had a towel in my gloved hands so it was cocooned in my hands. I rushed out of the bathroom with the bird asking any Cast Member if they knew of a tree nearby (not a whole lot of trees at the Magic Kingdom). A Custodial man pointed me towards some bushes, to which I hustled. These were not discreet bushes. Everyone saw some strange Custodial girl wearing bright blue gloves and carrying a BIRD scramble into the middle of Fantasyland.
         Satisfied that I had done my duty I opened my hands (which hadn't been very tightly clasped earlier anyway, I promise) and commanded that the birdy fly free. She wanted none of that. Instead she just sat on my hand staring at me for what must have been a good ten minutes. People came up several times, curious of course. It's definitely not something I do everyday. One girl took several pictures, if you see any of them online or anything I would love a copy, because after the first few initial moments of weird it was pretty cool. I asked several nearby children if they'd seen Snow White around because I could have sorely used her help. I mean I can clean but unfrtunately I can't communicate with animals.
        After a while I got kind of antsy (my legs were breaking kneeling into this bush) and I sort of scooted her gently onto the bush. She sat there, bored looking for a while. I got kind of worried after she hadn't moved but once she heard another bird (presumably male (or female, whatever floats your boat)) she perked right up and flew over. I guess she was just lazy. Or liked me, which is what I prefer to think.

      So there it is, the bird story. I've got plenty more tales to come, some not quite as magical and some not even happy, but hopefully I'll be better at recording them this time around.

So Far...

Since my last entry a lot has happened. I've been getting settled back into the rhythm of working here and living at Vista Way. I had my second round of Traditions (I won a critter this time!) and I struggled to get a new Disney ID. Word of advice, do NOT bring your ID home at the end of your program unless you remember to bring it back again. Bad things...

   But so I've gotten settled into my apartment (with about three more Dollar Tree trips) and I've been being trained at Magic Kingdom. It's nice to be working back in the parks again. I miss Epcot, but I know Magic Kingdom is like the hub of Walt Disney World, there are so many guests there and theres always stuff to do.  I like being busy and constantly having things to do and people to talk to. We'll see how it goes. I finished my training on Wednesday so I'm going to start my first shift by myself on Saturday. I'll be more excited when I know more about the areas I'm working in.
     I've had today and yesterday off. It's been sheeting rain though, Hurricane Andrea is hovering over us pouring buckets down which makes for not so much fun. I spent yesterday mostly lying around in the couch in a sweater. But I did manage to go to Epcot for about an hour and see Jay (while getting soaked with rain). It was weird walking around Epcot, where I worked for five months, and feel like a stranger. All my managers have moved around (and if they hadn't I doubt they would remember me) and none of my friends are there. It's probably best then that I'm working at a whole new place; a clean slate with whole new possibilities.
     Hopefully today I'm going to do something fun. With the mixup with my ID I really haven't been able to do much yet. I'm glad I got  to go to Epcot and its been really cool working at Magic Kingdom and getting to see the New Fantasyland expansion (which I formerly hadn't seen until I was doing a trash run around it). I have a pretty cool job and I'm excited to get more settled into it and to make some new friends hopefully (because right now I miss my friends from my first program like crazy).
     Oh! And last night I booked my family's trip to come see me! They'll be coming down in August. I'm ecstatic to finally have a date to count down to. I'm hoping to be able to spend as much time as possible with them. Having them come down is kind of a bright spot on the horizon. It's so dumb to say that its hard being down here (it's hard to live and work in DISNEY WORLD???!!(yes, sometimes)) but it sometimes is. Especially being away from my family and the friends from my first program. Once I get more into my job it'll be easier. Until then ttfn!