Hoopla Hyperspace Hoopla

Hello!

Let's jump right into this.

Star Wars Weekends for 2012 is officially OVER!

So after 4 weeks of having to get up at 5am, to catch a 5:45am bus, to arrive at work just after 6 which is when the crazy Star Wars fans begun to arrive it is finally over, and what an experience it was. 

From the stampede or the running of the bulls to get to us at 7:30am to sign children up at EPIC, to watching a show every 30 minutes, seeing Ventress for the first time, to cancelling shows due to weather and having meet and greets with 30 children and their parents, to sharing our sign in space with celebrities from the movies, to watch the 501st Legion parade, to rolling our stanchions up for the Pixar Parade to just set them back up again, to watching the final show and getting to roll them up and set up for the following day.

So how was it really you ask? Star Wars Weekends was something I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions from fear, to anger, to excitement, to boredom, to joy.  I tried to find a definition for Star Wars Weekend but alas one hasn't been made so I will try to define it for you. 

Star Wars Weekends:

A time when all the crazy fans join together at Disney's Hollywood Studios every weekend for a month. Most noted guest from every year; Lynda Skywalker. 

So we really only had one big day of cancelled shows this year for Jedi Training and it was a Friday with 60% chance of rain all day. During our sign-ups this was made very clear to the guests more then a dozen times, every cast member they spoke to informed them that the shows are weather permitting. Now every Friday, Saturday and Sunday for SWW we would sign up 480 younglings with guaranteed spots in the show and would then go and sign up roughly 90-100 alternates. On this particular Friday this is how the day panned out; 

9:15am 

9:45am

10:15am

10:45 am

11:15am 

11:45am

12:15 am 

Motorcade/501st Legion

1:30pm

2:00pm

Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun

3:45pm

4:15pm

4:45pm

5:15pm

5:45pm

6:15pm

6:45pm

The Blue shows are the ones that we had that day. 13 out of 16 shows and our 2 parades were rained out. What does that mean? Not only a fair few angry guests but taking children down with their parents for a meet and greet with Darth Vader and his 2 troopers up the top of Star Tours, now on a normal day it is okay but when your doing 60 kids every 30 minutes - not my definition of fun.

So aside from work did I get a chance to play and see what all the hype was about? Why yes, yes I did. I'm sure if I was an avid Star Wars fan I would've loved it, but I'm not so I didn't really do much, I met a few characters only 2 were from the light side the rest were the dark side, got a name tag in the Star Wars language and watched Hyperspace Hoopla twice.

Hyperspace Hoopla is a dance-off that happens between the "Good Guys" and the "Bad Guys" and it was a lot of fun to watch, however if you were a big Star Wars fan you may not enjoy it, as it is out of character for everyone, but it is a good way to end the night.

I think however this post is rather lengthy so I will leave you now with minimal text and some photo and videos. 

Meet and Greets 

 

Jen Sandwich 

Ewok, Jen , Chewy

Queen Armadalla

Aurra Sing and I 

Boba Fett and I 

Boba Fett and I 

Guard and I 

Darth Maul and I 

Ventress and I 

Hyper Space Hoopla 

My Boss and His Friends

My Best Friends are rather cool too

They are kinda loveable 

Skit 1

 Skit 2

Here are some of the highlights from this years Hyperspace Hoopla

If you really have the time here is the whole thing 

Until next time,
Stay Magical
xx

Aussie Friends?

Hello!

So what has happened since we last spoke?

Not a great deal. Still Star Wars Weekends unfortunately. However this week a guest tried to tip me, which I had to politely refuse, because I found his lost child and helped get him on stage to fight the dark side and taught him the routine. I did however mention if they go to guest relations and mention what I did, I get a certificate so we shall see what happens. 

This week at Muppets was fun, I took some photos with Tara and Sweetums which are rather cute;

Tara and I 

Tara and I again

Sweetums and I 

My favourite picture to date. 

Followed closely by this one. 

Yesterday I went to Blizzard Beach, EPCOT and Studios with Priscilla and her friend Amanda and it was super fun. I got into a slight accident at Star Tours and I went to speak to a coordinator and whilst this was happening a guest came and stood beside her, so I went to step aside and I hear "G'Day!" and I turned and looked and it was my friend Ryan! I literally jumped into his arms and hugged him forever! I then met his girlfriend and his friends he was there with and it was time for goodbye as we were leaving and I would be seeing him today.

Today we went to Magic Kingdom and there was 7 of us, and we did almost every single ride bar the little kids ones and it was an amazing day. Even though it rained a bit it was so much fun, hanging out with 5 other Aussies and 1 of them being a close friend for the past 6 years. It was so good to hang out and it was as if we had seen each other 2 days ago, nothing had changed in our friendship which was the best! We even got a photo in front of the castle to prove I didn't make him up and that he actually visited; 

Ryan and I 

That really is about the extent of my life, I feel a little homesick after spending a day with him but I know I will be fine, just over 6 months to go in my program and 31 days until my 21st! HOORAY.

So until next time, which will be June!

Stay Magical
x

Whoops

Hello everyone.

Whoops, so it's been a while since I posted but I have a good reason. I have been working non-stop, my life for the past 3 weeks has been sleep, eat, work, eat, sleep. It has been crazy!!

The past 2 weeks went by pretty fast, a lot of CP's finished their programs or moved locations, which has been sad, unfortunatly that meant for me I have gone back to Muppets shifts which involve closing until 10:30pm and 01:30am. My body doesn't like that for one second, but I am seeing a lot of my best friend Sweetums which I do enjoy.

Earlier in the month Amy went on a cruise so I had the room to myself for a few days which was odd. My body has become so used to sharing a room that on the first night she was gone I couldn't fall asleep until nearly 3am. Lucky the next day I had a late start! I was glad to see her when she came back and had a great sleep that night.

This past week has been fun I have been on a few lunch dates with Priscilla and this week Tara joined in on Wednesday, and we all went out to dinner that night and met up with Brian and Zak who also brought some friends who had a baby, who was super cute at Fridays. We spent a few hours there before we all headed to Retro Room for a little bit. I drove Priscilla home and then drove myself home, which meant I kept her car until the next day when I drove it back to her just before work. So I had her car and I went to Wal-Mart and got my groceries, went to Downtown Disney and got Brian's birthday present and then I dove to her house and she took me to work.

However quiet my life was on Thursday, which is was (23k in the park) all that was about to change and I had no idea. Every year for 4 weekends in May/June Studios becomes home to all the crazy Star Wars fans, with Star Wars Weekends. This year it started on Brians birthday - May 18. It runs Friday-Sunday and it is crazy. Fridays estimated guest count was 40k but it could be higher. Err CRAZY!

This year was the first year that we had sign-ups for JTA, so there were about 7 of us that started at 6:45am because the park opened at 8. Well they opened the gates at around 7:45am and it was like running of the bulls to get to us at sign-ups. For SWW we have 16, two tier (30 kids instead of 15) shows daily starting from 9:15am and finishing at 6:45pm. That works out to be literally every 30 minutes with 2 breaks for the 2 parades that go through - The 501 and the Pixar Pals Count Down to Fun Parade. Sign-ups was finished by 8:45-9am and it was off for the first show.

So our day is going good until 2:30, parade clearing time. So I'm standing over in my position and we clear the streets for the parade and it begins to spit rain, after being clear for 99% of the time that had passed. Parade is at 3, can't go in the rain for safety reasons. Coordinators are running around and let us know at 2:45 that parade is going early so we need to clear the remaining stranglers NOW! SO I do that and I'm standing there holding my rope to stop traffic and this guest comes and starts asking to cross to get to his daughter, I politely explain that the street is closed and he cannot cross and ask is someone is with his daughter which he says yes, and I leave it at that, however 5 seconds later an announcement comes over that the parade is delayed and this guest comes back and says its delayed let me cross.

Now I'm not allowed let people cross because the parade can start at any given moment they see fit, so I call my manager to talk to him which just happened to be the only manager closest to me, which was our big boss. He spoke to him, told me to let him cross and this guest did so, but then proceeded to say something about me which can't be repeated, my big boss heard and went and stuck up for me and tried to explain I was doing my job and then the guest got super dooper rude to my boss and was escorted. I now have a higher respect for him, because I have never seen him defend his cast members before.

The rain stops and parade begins, however our parade was 2 floats long and was over in about 5 seconds. WHY? Parade was going to be cancelled however due to the slippery surface, lightning, thunder and the chance it could start raining at any second again, but 2 of the floats could not be reversed because while this was all happening a Alpha Unit (paramedics) were called for a guest at the Backlot Express resturant which is right next to the parade start and the ambulance gets priority backstage and it was behind the 2 floats. A lot of guests were annoyed but they will live, like I said to them, I can't control the rain and it is for our cast members and guest safety.

My 12 hour day at Jedi finally ended at 6:45pm and it was home to bed. Not for long however because it was time to wake up and spend 12 hours at Muppets. Yay. I get home last night at 11pm and it's time to eat and skype Mum, because I haven't spoken to her all week, before it's time for bed to rest up before my 6 hours at JTA again. Today is the last day of Star Wars Weekend before we go back to normal for 4 days before all the madness strikes us again for 3 days. HOORAY.

So until next time, which will more than likely be the end of May beginning of June,
Stay Magical.
xx

OH BIG NEWS ALSO!
I found out the day I move locations.
July 7.
That's all.

Don't Say Goodbye, because goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting.

Hello.

It is May. April has been and gone. So since my last post what has happened?

Work is the same, 4 days with Vader and 1 day with Sweetums up until Sunday the 6th when I return to Sweetums for a WHOLE week, this will be fun.

JTA has undergone some changes and now we have added in 2 extra shows so instead of 13 we now have 15. It's a big change and it's still being tweaked so hopefully they can fix the times so it isn't as rushed for Star Wars Weekends. Also we no longer do spontaneous Meet and Greets for Make a Wish or Give Kids the World after the show they participate in. That breaks my heart but it is out of my control, so I will live with it.

Muppets, it's the same, nothing changes there now. I drew Sweetums another picture and he drew one for me which now hangs on my mirror with my other ones. We still run around and act crazy so still no difference. I'm excited to spend a whole week with him though.

So in other news what has happened?

Unfortunately one of our newest roommates to arrive after our previous roommate debacle, Kristina, was terminated last week. We are in a wellness apartment because we are under 21 which means no alcohol, and unfortunately her roommate found some in their bedroom, and we were scheduled for inspections, and had they found it we all would've been terminated and Amy and myself deported.

So once again our apartment went from 6 people to 5 people.

A week later brings me to today, and Lauren's program ends tomorrow, so on Monday her Mum flew down and Lauren packed her car and meet her at the hotel, which is where she has been staying until tomorrow when she returns her key. It was very sad to come home and see her side of her bedroom empty. So tonight we are off to see Wishes with her for the last time before we say goodbye to her tomorrow. I can already see the tears that are going to be cried.

So once again our apartment went from 5 people to 4 people.

In a weeks time it will just be 3 of us in the apartment as Amy is off on a cruise with Lauren for 5 days. Then towards the end of the month it will be just Amy and I as Myndi and Alex go away for a few days separately, but they overlap for 3 days. This apartment will be very quiet with just Amy and I in it.

Star Wars Weekends also starts on the 18th, which also happens to be Stinky's Birthday. Ryan gets here at the end of the month to visit for a few days. And it is 59 days until I'm 21.

Until next time.
Stay Magical
xx

GKTW

*Please note for privacy reasons names have been changed in this post*

Why hello there.

Give Kids The World.  

Amazing experience. Amazing organisation. 

Tonight (Wednesday 18th) I went to Give Kids The World as a Disney VoluntEARS. I went with Amy and Lauren and when we arrived we went to an orientation about the night - KIDS NIGHT OUT. KNO is a night where the volunteers are given a child to become 'best friends' with from 5:45-9pm. In that time we with our new best friends play video games, mini golf, drive boats and just have fun. We then go to dinner in the Cupcake room at around 7pm until 7:45ish before we head off to the Village theatre for Village Idol, where the children are the stars.

 Lauren, Amy and Myself 

Giant popcorn out the front of the theater

After orientation we were off to find our new best friends. After waiting and saying we didn't want to be picked first, 3 little girls walked into the room and it was announced they were 3 sisters. Perfect or what? So we snapped them up and we were off. Our 3 sisters were from Rhode Island and were all born in February, they were 9, 6 and 3. On the sheet we were given to look over regarding anything we should be concerned about we noticed it said the youngest had trouble warming up to adults, but we all knew by the end these girls would love us.

We walked out of the main room and into a little arcade game which is where I met my new best friend Belle*. Belle was the eldest out of the sisters and was a little shy but she warmed up very nicely. We started by playing a whack-a-mole game before moving onto  more difficult game. I'm not even kidding. You had to push buttons that threw balls into the air and you had to try and get the frog to eat them. Not the easiest game I have played. We then played a colour game before moving onto driving a boat. After that I got Belle to show me around the area, before we played basketball, she beat me again. Not long after that we went to play mini-golf, now this course could be a little frightening. It is themed to dinosaurs that move, squirt you, and ROAR! While on hole 3 I may have accidentally hit the ball a little to hard and it landed in the water, we had a good laugh about it though, before moving on to the hole where the dinosaur squirts you. Even though Belle told me it would, I got a fright and may have let out a scream. At the end of hole 7 there is a T-Rex who roars at you, however he wasn't roaring so I roared instead. Belle loved it. Just after we finished it was time for dinner, time flies when your having fun.

We started to walk to the Gingerbread house and next thing I knew, a little hand grabbed mine. It was then I knew I had made a best friend. While at dinner we were surprised with a visit from the Mayor and his wife - 2 giant bunnies. Unfortunately the smallest of the sisters Ariel* was terrified of them so Lauren took her away from them and to calm her down. However Belle and Jasmine* loved the Mayor and his wife and after they had left Belle informed me that the night before the Mayors wife came and tucked them into bed. My heart melted. Before we knew it was time to go to the theater for Village Idol. As we were walking we past some pavers that had families names in them and Belle informed me that her friend had a paver near us, and then told me her friend had cancer, I asked if she was okay and Belle said yes which put a smile back on my face.

Once we got to the theater we registered Belle and Jasmine as they were doing a dance for Village Idol and they got their number; 9, and we went inside and took a seat and saw the first 4 or 5 performances. These children's strength and courage tore at my heart strings, seeing some of the children who were so sick, getting up on stage and singing and dancing their hearts out for everyone to see just broke me. However there was no time for tears as it was time for our two sisters to perform, and did they perform. They did an Irish dance that was fantastic, I was speechless. I had never seen something so pure and simple and everyone loved our sisters. After us there were a few more performances before it was time for our judges to pick a winner and everyone was declared a winner. Once that was over it was time to say farewell to my best friend. Their parents were so thankful and keep saying it over and over.

Once our family had left we still had 15 minutes before the end of our night and still a few families who were arriving to pick up their children but they played music we could dance to. So I got up and did the Cupid Shuffle, YMCA, Macarena and a few others. A perfect way to end the night.

So what else has been happening? 

Aside from GKTW not much else has been happening, just working a lot - 6 days straight. After class on Tuesday I went to Hollywood Studios and saw my best friend Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper and got photos again which is always fun. Today I am off to hangout with Sweetums after a nice long week of hanging with Vader.

However on Monday the 16th I got to create some magic for a Make-A-Wish child, Flynn* who participated in our Jedi Training, I hung out with him for 20 minutes before the show as he was in a special stroller so he had to wait up the top of the stage and not with the other children and he told me lots of cool things before he went on stage. I got to watch him beat Vader before he used the force push on the troopers which was great, I was hoping they would pick him. After the show I quickly got Mum and his little sister who would've been about 2 and took them up to see Flynn and Dad on the stage, and took them to the top of Star Tours. When we got there I was talking to Flynn and telling him what a great job he did and then the Jedi Master arrived and talked to Flynn and took some photos, before our big guests arrived. Darth and the Troopers. 

The troopers remembered Flynn and signaled to each other that it was him who force pushed them earlier. The smiles that were on the family were amazing. Darth came over then and gave a light saber to both of them and then it was time for photos. Today it was my best friends there so I was watching them and one of them was captivated by Flynn's sister and was playing with her when she dropped her light saber. Unfortunately I couldn't get around to pick it up so when the Trooper looked at me and shrugged, I had to shrug back because I couldn't to the light saber. The next thing that happened was so funny I was on the ground laughing. My best trooper friend had to try and bend down to pick it up but because of all his armor he can't bend down the nest so he was shaking and trying to remain balanced, but he got the light saber which was good. 

Then before we knew it Vader and one Trooper had left and my friend was still up here, and as he was saying bye, Flynn's sister did a little force push and the Trooper fell back just like when Flynn did it. Oh they also signed Flynn's autograph book, which they normally don't do. Can you say magical? I wanted to cry. Flynn's mum and dad were so thankful to us all and it made me smile so much for the rest of my 12 hour shift.

That is really it for now. I'm off to finish getting ready for work.
Until next time,
Stay Magical.

xx

ONE HUNDRED

Hello!

I have been in the USA for ONE HUNDRED days!

So what has happened? Well in case you have been living under a rock or forgotten or just discovered me here is a brief rundown of the past hundred days.

• Said farewell to my family in Australia on January 4. 
• Flight to Auckland was delayed by a good 3 and a bit hours.
• Therefore resulting in this flight;
  4 hours to Auckland, 1 hour on the ground. 14 hours to LAX, 7 hours on the ground. 4 hours to Orlando. I arrive in my new home January 4 "losing 3 hours".
• Spend 2 nights at the hotel, very sick and jet lagged.
• Check into Disney housing on the 7th, still very sick. 
• Become really homesick.
• Orientation Day 1; 9th, 10th January.
• Traditions; 11th January.
• "On With The Show" Training; 12th January.
• Magic Kingdom and EPCOT visits.
• More homesickness. 
• MuppetVision 3D Training; 15th, 17th, 18th, 19th January. I became an official Muppet.
• Work. 
• Tonsillitis. 
• One month passes by. 
• Trained at Jedi Training Academy. 
• Character Hunting. 
• Homesickness. 
• Work. 
• Best friends with Sweetums, Stormtroopers and Darth Vader. 
• More park hopping. 
• Two months pass. 
• Classes started.
• Homesickness still.
• Working with Darth a lot. 
• Housing Inspections
• New roommates.
• Working with Sweetums a lot. 
• Brother's 14th Birthday.
• Date night becomes regular with Sweetums/Trooper. 
• Party invites. 
• Park hopping. 
• Homesickness. 
• Month 3 passes by. 
• SPRING BREAK. 
• Work.
• Not so much homesickness anymore.
• 100 days arrives.

That is really it. Hard to believe I have been here 100 days already. Only 265 until I go home. Fingers crossed it flies like the past 100.

Until Sunday,
Stay Magical.
xx

SPRING BREAK?

Hello!

So where did I leave off, oh yes a few days before my brothers birthday, that has been and gone and we are now in April! Dear golly gosh, where is time going?

April, April, how it has not been kind to me scheduling wise. By looking at the increased traffic and our purple parking passes, you would know it is SPRING BREAK and EASTER weekend. So the past 2 weeks have been crazy hectic scheduling wise. My body doesn't like the sudden jump from 32 hours to 40 hours with 12 and 14 hour work days, but I have made it!

Sunday the 25th March - Saturday the 31st March

What a busy week! This week I worked just under 40 hours which meant overtime, yay! I hung out with Vader and Darth Maul quite a bit this week, with just Saturday being Sweetums and I. I extended my shift so I ended up working 10:45am-10:30pm. It was a good day considering I wouldn't be seeing Sweetums for a whole week. We had fun and ran amuck as usual, and I hid his fire bucket quite a few times, and he tried to eat my head...

I went to an opening round of a karaoke contest and our friend didn't get through but he still has 4 weeks left to try, and my "big brother" left for 5 days in Miami.

I had Tuesday and Wednesday off which consisted of class at Magic Kingdom and sleeping, which was nice - that's the week that was.

Sunday 1st April - Saturday 7th April 

This week was CRAZY! Lots and lots of long shifts, and by long I mean 10-12 hours long - with the dark side. And early starts. How early you ask? 6:15am. Ew. I'm 99% sure the dark side doesn't rise until at least 9am on a bad day. I made it through like a trooper and was glad for my days off. Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday was filled with sleep and Wednesday was spent with Tara at Animal Kingdom to see Finding Nemo and then Studios to see Sully but my friend wasn't there unfortunately. My "big brother" got back from Miami on Tuesday so on Wednesday we went out to dinner as usual but I paid this time. Hehe.

Also while hanging out with the dark side this week, I saw him out the back and he took my hand and we went for a short walk, I don't think Vader is that mean really, maybe just an act, but I'm sure he was sad when I told him I was off to see Sweetums again. Which brings me to today, I hung out with Sweetums and just did my job at Muppets and came home and did my laundry, so I have clean clothes for the week. Yay.

That's really all that's happened or that I can remember, it's been a 2 crazy weeks okay. Hopefully it dies down now until Summer break. Oh HAPPY EASTER also!

Until Next time,
Stay Magical
xx