A GREAT couple of days!!

Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to really start! My last two days have been amazing! So yesterday was Wednesday (i know, that doesn't make sense since you're reading it now, but to me, yesterday was Wednesday) and I had picked up a 2.75 hour shift at MK, from 9:30am to 12:15pm. I left really early, taking the 8am bus from Vista Way which dropped off at 8:30am, to make sure that I gave myself enough time to get thoroughly lost in the tunnels.  Which I succeeded in doing nicely.  But I only was lost for about 20 minutes before I found my way to the MK DPI base.  The cast members there were super helpful in showing me where to find maps so I'd know where I was going, and letting me know what my camera settings would be.  Despite having the same weather as EPCOT, they have completely different camera settings o.0 so I was a bit lost at first.  At 9:30, I grabbed a cast telecast, which has all the park info on it so we can answer guests questions. (Note to self: Next time, make sure to check that the telecast is in English.  Go high school level Spanish!!) I grabbed an assignment from the computer and saw that I was working Popcorn Stand, which is RIGHT in front of the castle!! Yay!! It turns out that my friend Wes who is also DPI at EPCOT had also picked an MK shift, and he's a full timer and has worked MK before, so he took me through the tunnels and showed me where to go.  As I was relieving Vanessa from the Popcorn station, she says, "so you know what to do with the bands and during the parade, right?"  To which I say, "huh..." Oh man, you should have seen the look on her face when I tell her that it's my first day in the park!! Turns out, I pulled one of the most active locations to start my MK experience with! Disney had invited some high school bands to come through and march down Main Street, and as photopass I was responsible for taking their pictures.  So from 9:30-10 I was a normal DPI member.  At 10, the bands came through, and I had to change all my Metadata in my PDA from Popcorn Cart to Marching Bands. I was responsible for standing in the middle of the road and capturing a picture of the band's banner, then quickly moving to the corner of the road and taking picture after picture of the bands as they marched by me.  There were three bands that I got to do this for and it lasted about 10 minutes. I then switched back over to Popcorn Cart setting and take normal pictures of guests until.... 11am? (I think) when Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It (or as we call it, MiSiCi) started, which is the parade.  I then switch my data to MiSiCi 2, and run across the street where I stand there for the first 10 minutes or so as the parade goes on around me.  At a certain point, the announcer invites everyone into the street to dance with the characters, at which point I become a rover and take pictures of kids and guests dancing with the characters in the street. I have to make sure to scan the correct photo's to the correct cards, and at one point had three different cards going on. I then had to figure out who the children belonged to and pass the photopass card off to the correct parents. I have since talked to my roommate Traci who actually works at MK, and discovered that I made this harder than it should be.  She just follows one family for the event, while I think I did like five, lol.  After the parade I went back to Popcorn Cart settings and finished out my shift. Time just flew by, and I will definitely be looking to pick up more of those shifts!!!

Today I had character training, finally!!! And it was SOOOOO much fun (with the exception of the weather, which has STILL been freaky.)  The rain was pouring, the lightning was flashing, the thunder was booming, and for a few hours we were under a tornado watch! I got soaking wet walking around the park to our different character locations, but once we were with the characters, it was amazing!! There were four of us, and at first we split into groups of two and one pair took turns shooting Marie the Cat, while the other two shot Chip and Dale.  When it rains, they move all the outdoor characters into this long hallway, so try to imagine, if you will, we had C&D by the door, next to Snow White. Then there was Tinker Bell and Terrance next to Marie the Cat (from The Aristocats). It was hysterical when Tink and Terrance came out, as they were totally in character and tried to "sneak by" Marie, so she wouldn't see them and try to catch them (since you know, cats like to catch and eat flying things). So they're walking slowly along the wall all afraid, until Terrance yells, "run for it!!!!" and they ran screeching down the last 15 feet to their spot. It was great.

I did not take this photo, but it's great!

We then had lunch and went to shoot Donald Duck in Mexico. Now, if you've never seen him at this location, he's great!!! He has so much energy and loves to move around and interact with the guests, and I really learned a lot. I hope that I'm placed with Donald a lot this year, even if he is outside (except when it's raining, at which point he goes inside the Mexico pavilion to a little tiny area where it's hard to move around).  After Donald, we headed over to China where we met up with Mulan who was also amazing, and had lots of great tips and suggestions for us! It was so nice to hear her talk with the guests about her friends Mushu and Cricky, the cricket her grandma gave to her as a good luck charm.  She also thanked them for coming all the way to China to visit her, but to look out for the Huns as she had heard that they were in the area.
Now that I'm trained, we'll see where I end up tomorrow! Probably closing down Character Spot (C spot) as that's where most people end up, lol.
Oh man, I just looked at my little counter and I've been here for 52 days already!!! I can not believe that! That's just insane to me, as it doesn't feel like that long.  It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow, so here's hoping for better weather!
Note to self: Buy rain boots.... :)