Good evening everyone and happy 4th of July! In
true Disney form, I hope that your month has gotten off to a magical start and
you are enjoying the summer sunshine. July 1st was a very
bittersweet day down here for all the Canadian ICPs – we had a great time celebrating
Canada Day altogether but were saddened by the fact that we now have less than
a month left of our program. I have that feeling right now of having been for
both a long and short time and have very mixed feelings towards the quickly
approaching date of August 1st. However, I am not letting anything
slow me down and I am continuing to make the most of every moment I have here
in the most magical place on Earth (hence why I am still up and doing laundry
at this hour).
Alrighty, so last Thursday was absolutely
wonderful. I went out for lunch with my dad’s friend Bruce, a fellow Rotarian,
and his wife and son to the Plaza Restaurant in Magic Kingdom. His family
frequently visits Disney as they have a place in Daytona and I have contacted
them earlier in the month to see when they would be visiting next. Lucky for
us, my work schedule enabled me to meet up with them just before they left to
fly to Paris for a Disney cruise through the Mediterranean. If I was not
employed here, I probably would have jumped in their suitcase! Anyway, we had a
really nice lunch at the Plaza and I told them all about my role as a cast
member here. Their other son David, who is 13 is interested in applying in the
future but unfortunately he was on a school trip in Paris at the time so was
not out for lunch with us, however Michael was quite interested in how I landed
my job so I am sure he will pass along all that I said to his brother. Who
knows – I might have just had lunch with two future cast members!
After lunch, I went to Cast Connections and
then to a Disney Volunteer Opportunity called Give Kids the World. The Give
Kids the World Village is a place for kids with life threatening illnesses and
their families to stay while they enjoy a cost-free vacation to a Florida theme
park. Disney sends volunteers over weekly to help them run certain activities.
We were there to help out with the Winter Wonderland Parade, as every Thursday
is Christmas at the Village. Unfortunately, there was a huge thunderstorm while
we were there so we were stuck in the volunteer break room for most of the
night until we got to help out with the Holiday Dance Party. We all dressed up
as elves and danced with the kids, their families and 4 characters. The final
song played at the dance party was Let It Go and it quickly became obvious as
to which volunteers were Disney Cast Members, as we all started belting out the
words. It did not stop raining the entire night so we did not get a chance to
see the Village, other than the Castle of Dreams so I hope that I will have
another opportunity to go during July!
As I mentioned earlier, Disney CP and ICP
cast members often get the closing shifts at our locations, however, last
Friday to Monday I was living the AM shift dream. I was originally supposed to
have Friday off but I picked up an extra shift to get some overtime pay and
spent the day guarding at Art of Animation. The AM shift ends at 4:30 so I was
home by 5, which was a nice change from my usual midnight arrivals. However,
then I had to find something to do with the rest of my night so I called up my
friend Ashley and we went over to Fort Wilderness. Fort Wilderness is Disney’s
Campground, where guests can rent or bring their own trailers and camp out at
Disney World. At the campgrounds each night, there is a campfire sing-along
with a guitar player and Chip and Dale, and the fire is followed by a movie.
Guests can roast marshmallows and make s’mores at the fire, so Ashley and I
brought hot dogs and marshmallows and had a true camping meal. I had been dying
to have a campfire, especially as I know that back home summer camp has
started, so I am so glad that we finally had a good night to go over to Fort
Wilderness. It was a perfect example of “you can take the girl out of camp, but
you can’t take camp out of the girl.”
Saturday, I had in-service training at the
Computer Pool at Pop Century. It was run by one of my coordinators, Jessica and
she organized a lot of fun games for us to play to review our skills. We played
first aid charades, name that radio code and steal the vat. In Jessica’s
version of “Steal the Vat”, we were divided into two teams and stood on either
side of the pool deck, across from the person we would face off against.
Jessica would then lay the silhouette somewhere in the water and call out a
pairing of people. The two guards called would then scan the water and try to
find the vat and whoever got to it first won a point for their team. We also
did a CPR relay and had to make a raft out of rescue tubes to practice teamwork
and communication.
After IST, I worked the day shift at Pop.
After work, I met up with a fellow lifeguard at EPCOT. He was with two friends
– one was his fraternity brother and the other was a Norwegian cast member. The
four of us went on Test Track and Mission Space and then caught Illuminations:
Reflections of Earth before calling it a night. Sunday, I had another IST but
this time was at the Cozy Cone Pool at Art of Animation. It was led by one of
my favourite guards, Joe and we did drills such as basic water rescues and
rapid extrications. We then played Joe’s version of “Steal the Vat” in which
two lifeguards went on stand and everyone else stayed in the water and tried to
make finding the dropped silhouette as difficult as possible. I’m not going to
lie, it was pretty tough BUT I am happy to report that I was the Steal the Vat
Champion!! I won 3 rounds of the game, including one in which it was a live VAT
meaning no silhouette was dropped and instead one of the lifeguards pretended
to go unconscious. As a prize, Joe gave me a new red lifeguard water bottle.
Following my day shift
at Pop, my roommate Sam and I went over to the Grand Floridian Resort to watch
their movie on the beach. They were playing A Goofy Movie, which neither of us
had seen before. We were unfortunately too late for the campfire, so were
unable to roast any marshmallows pre-movie but we did have a nice tour of the
hotel. I forgot just how grand the Grand Floridian is! While we were there, we
also saw a bit of Wishes (the fireworks at Magic Kingdom) and were lucky enough
to see the light-up water parade that goes around the lake between Magic
Kingdom, the Grand and the Polynesian. We then got hot chocolate at Gasparillas
and caught the bus home.
I had a day shift
again on Monday, but luckily started at 8:30 instead of 6:15. I jumped in for a
girl once but am happy to report that she was just fine. After work, Sam and I
went to the outlet mall to and I attempted to find an outfit for Canada Day,
but was unsuccessful. We then went to Publix before heading home. I went over
to the Welcome event at Chatham Square for some pizza before I met up with my
friend Terry to go watch the EPCOT fireworks. He had never seen them before and
leaves in 1 week so I told him he had to go see them! We then caught the
monorail over to Magic Kingdom, where we watched Wishes and got green tea
frappucinos at the Main Street Bakery (aka Starbucks). We ended the night at
the Confectionary where we were able to sample a Malifecent candy apple.
Needless to say, my sweet tooth was satisfied by the end of the night.
Tuesday, Canada Day,
all of the Canadians down here celebrated Canada’s 147th birthday. I
made chocolate chip pancakes for my roommates and my friends Alex and Ashley
for breakfast, and we were lucky enough to have real maple syrup courtesy of
Alex’s parents who had just brought her some down when they were here visiting.
After breakfast, we went over to our friends Matt’s apartment before we went
over to EPCOT to go to the Canadian Pavilion. In the pavilion, there was sign
that said it was Canada Day and the cast members were handing out Happy
Birthday Canada buttons to anyone dressed up. There were also little trivia
activities in the kidcot corner and I am proud to say that I knew all the
answers! After a long day of celebration, Anne, Sam and I came home for dinner
and a movie and watched Pitch Perfect before passing out for the night.
Wednesday, my
roommates and I got up bright and early and caught the I-Ride trolley to
Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park. I had never been to Florida’s
Universal before, only the one in California so I was extremely excited.
Universal has two parks here – Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We
went to Islands, which has Seussland, Jurassic Park, the Lost Continent,
Marvel, Toon Lagoon and my personal favourite, the Wizarding World of Harry
Potter. Once we got into the park, we went straight to Wizarding World and my
childhood dream of visiting finally came true. It was so, so cool – it had
Hog’s Head pub, Ollivander’s Wand Shop and of course, Hogwarts. We spent the
entire day at the park and rode every single ride, stopping only for lunch and
butter beer, which in my opinion was absolutely delicious. We got soaked in
Toon Lagoon, Anne lost her sunglasses on the Jurassic Park River Ride and we
got our fill of thrill rides in the Marvel section. By the end of the night,
there were no lines so we got on a lot of the rides a second time with no
waits. In Seussland, I met the Cat in the Hat, the Grinch and Sam I Am and
bought myself a t-shirt that says “Teacher of All Things” with the Cat in the
Hat on the front. Once the park closed, we had dinner on the City Walk, which
is Universal’s equivalent of Downtown Disney, at a little Italian restaurant.
Now, I can’t wait to check out Universal Studios, which on plan on doing after
July 8th when the new Harry Potter World expansion is up and
running!
And that brings us to
today. This morning, I took the bus over to Saratoga Springs, the resort my
family is staying at when they come in just over a week. The resort is
gorgeous, complete with its own golf course and spa. I had to go to the
concierge to show my cast member ID to ensure my discount was applied to my
dad’s bill. While I was there, I checked out the main pool, the quick service
restaurant and the golf course, all which were really nice. I cannot wait to be
a guest there! I also cannot wait for my family to arrive – just 9 more days!
I worked a PM shift at
Pop and it was a very eventful night, which is not always a good thing for
lifeguards. On my first stand, we closed for an “unexpected cleaning” and then
reopened for my roving stand (constant walking). On my third stand, we were on
rain closing and I got audited by my coordinator and manager, which consisted
of one of my trainers pretending to fall unconscious on my pool deck and me
having to rescue her. We then reopened for my next roving stand and I
unfortunately had to ask a group of kids to leave because their parents were
not present. After my break, I had a couple of the Puerto Rican guests teach me
some Spanish to use with the tour groups. “Camena lehos de la piscina” is my
latest phrase and it translates to “walk around the pool,” a phrase used
commonly during rain closing. On my second break, I was eating with one of the
new French guards Marie when I noticed her name tag said she was from Tours,
France. Tours is the city I am going to in September and as it turns out, SHE
USED TO GO TO UFR, the school I am going to be attending! Her program ends
right around the time I am leaving for France, so now I will not be completely
alone when my mom leaves me in September! As a bonus, she even offered to show
me around once I am there! How is that for a small world story?
Now, my laundry is
almost done and I a most certainly ready for bed. I work a PM shift tonight but will be spending the morning at Downtown Disney with two of my roommates. I
wish I had the night off, as the 4th of July fireworks will
for sure be amazing but sadly, I will be working. However, I am off on Saturday
night, which is the first day of the new Frozen Summers at Hollywood Studios
and I am going to watch the new Frozen fireworks show. I cannot wait!! There is so much to do here, but so little time to do it all - wish me luck as I continue working through my summer bucket list!
Happy American Independence Day!
All my love,
Erica xoxoxoxoxo
