Cast Member Charlotte (Disney's CEP 2018!) Days 34-36

[EvilQueen1937]

I'm going to pick up where my last Dibb post left off! I sat there on Friday morning, after a week of failed plans, thinking that I should probably do something before work since I was up so early. I eventually decided stuff it, I'm going to the Magic Kingdom to play before work, so that's what I did!

I got to wear my Haunted Mansion headhand for the first time, which I was mega excited about! However, people kept mistaking me for an actual bride so I had to point out that it was Constance's headband from the Haunted Mansion. Seriously, these people need to go ride a doombuggy and educate themselves, foolish mortals. 😂

I took the bus to the Polynesian as I wouldn't be allowed to go through the utilidors to MK as I was going as a guest. I shoved my costume in my bag and had to sacrifice my raincoat for the sake of space, and of course, it began pouring down as I got off the bus. I was worried my hair would be ruined and go messy because we have to look neat, smart and presentable for work. I was texting my dad, as I had planned to get him a TShirt which he has been after since we last visited Disney. So when I got to the parks I ran straight to the Emporium to escape the rain, and sent him pictures of other shirts which we have too. He picked out two t-shirts so I went and got them, before leaving the store and bumping into the citizens of Main Street! I'm never in MK in the morning so never see them so that was really cool, and we got a good photo! They said they love my headband...

Once I had the t-shirt I went backstage behind Casey's Corner so that I could drop my shopping bag and my costume in my locker behind the Emporium. It's the strangest feeling when you are in the park as a guest and you go backstage, you feel like you shouldn't be there so I rushed and tried to look like I knew what I was doing, even though I was in my own clothes and had my headband on. I didn't want to take it off as it took me ages to arrange it perfectly, as the netting is a bit fiddly!

I got to the stairs behind the Emporium that lead to the utilidors and I slipped and almost went plummeting down the stairs to my death. I managed to grab the handrail with my left hand so just about saved myself but damn, that was scary! I would have broken my neck!

When I got to the lockers I was hurrying so that I could leave and go back onstage. I could see two security guards walking towards me, which made me nervous because I already felt like I shouldn't be there. They approached me and demanded to see my cast ID, so of course, my purse decided to disappear right at that moment. I couldn't find it in my bag so I nervously told them I had a shift at the Emporium later that day and was just coming to the park for a few hours beforehand to enjoy myself. They didn't say much and I felt like I was about to be escorted off property! Luckily, I found my purse and ID, flashes it smugly at them, before they apologized and went on their way. I couldn't leave the utilidors fast enough after that!

I went on the Laugh Floor before grabbing a Cheshire Cat tail for breakfast. It was a bit sickly so I only ate half then wrapped the rest up for later. I then went towards the Haunted Mansion of course, my favourite. I'd been planning to buy the key, so I hung it on the belt of my dress for added effect. And people STILL mistook me for an actual bride! 😂 What bride has black dead looking roses on their veil?!

I went to Pecos Bill's for lunch and got the kid's nachos, which I was actually quite impressed with. It was a small enough portion for me and I got to add my own salsa and cheese from the bar. I'd recommend this place for any fussy eaters out there like me!

I then returned to my favourite haunt and took this fabulous photo once I got off the ride, to celebrate my 13th ride on the Haunted Mansion this summer! Obviously, I chose the number 13 for a reason... 😉

I went on Space Mountain and when I got off, it was pouring down again. It was about 45 minutes until the start of my shift so I just went backstage to dry off and get changed into my costume. I felt less nervous this time because I knew I had a shift imminent so no one could really question me.

It was a nice shift, that day. I was on the registers in zone 1 and my leader, Jon Barry came to see me about my cast compliment from the other day! He showed me the printed certificate version then asked me where I wanted my photo taken. I was surprised he wanted to do it there and then since I was on the registers, but he said I could have the picture anywhere I wanted! I, of course, chose the castle, so we walked over and he had me pose in front of the castle with my compliment! I love the resulting photo, although I think I look like one of those wooden puppets with the moving mouths 😂 But still, it's a great photo and a fabulous memory!

When I got back to the register I served a woman and a little boy who were from Britain. He had a good natter, and the lady told me how awful her day had been - she was a wheelchair user and really felt it had hindered her a lot and that she hadn't been treated great all day. I then found out she is a Dibbers and whilst hasn't read all of my posts, she could recognise who I was! That was so cool, she was the second person to recognise me! I wrote them a no strings attached for Pirates of the Caribbean, since their circumstances had caused them to miss their fast passes.

Later on in the day I also got recognised by a woman who somehow knows my parents. Apparently, one of them posted about my trip on some kind of Facebook page a few weeks ago so this woman had read the post and said she was going to look for me!

Saturday's shift was also a good one. I did all my laundry in the morning, and was supposed to be working until 11:15pm. But when we got there, we all got told we had been extended to 12:15am because of a scheduling mix up and lack of staff for a special event that night. I felt a bit sick at the start of the shift, I wasn't as perky as usual and I had a banging headache and felt a bit weak. I drank a lot of water, hoping it would perk me up, then thankfully got bumped onto my break where I had the most delicious egg sandwich (on my Warburton's bread!) that I've ever had. I instantly felt better!

Usually after a break, we log onto the computer to "get an assignment" which tells us where in the store to go, what to do, and who we were replacing. But my assignments kept telling me to see a coordinator, which meant I wasn't assigned to anything at all. The coordinator didn't seem to know what she was doing much, and just told me to walk around the store like a sales ambassador, but without being restricted to a specific zone. So I did just that, and bumped into Jemma, my friend from home who brought me my bread, and her family. I thanked them for going through the trouble and we had a nice long natter before saying goodbye. I then bumped into yet another Dibber who recognised me! Her little girl was having a hard time choosing a pair of ears so I went over to help and we got chatting, before she realised who I was! Honestly, I'm loving meeting you all, it's so fun!

I went backstage again at 8pm to get another assignment but still wasn't given one, and was told to just help out the stocker in zone 2. So I spent ages tidying the pen stand, which was really satisfying, and I bumped into a family from Wigan after I recognised the local accent! I spent ages talking to them too, before going to grab another assignment again and being bumped onto my break. It felt like I'd only just had a break so I asked for it to be made later. I got put on a register for literally 30 minutes before being put on my break again. Afterwards, I was told to just help out the stockers in the plush zone. So I was in my element! I collect plush, and have 65 so I consider myself quite the expert 😂 We are currently selling limited edition Christopher Robin plush which are incredibly popular. One guest was unsure whether to buy Piglet or not, so I warned her that when they are gone, they're gone! She walked away but came back ten minutes later to tell me I must be good at my job because I talked her into buying Piglet after all! 😂

I got home at 1:30am and checked my new schedule, which is released at midnight on a Saturday night. I have a 14 hour shift coming up! Add on 3 hours a day of travel time and that literally leaves me with 7 hours with which I have to eat, sleep, and get ready for work. 😔 Surely that's not allowed haha! At least it's just a one off day, and I'll get paid a lot because if we go over 8 hours we get paid overtime!

On Sunday I had another day off! It's rare I have a day off the same time as my housemates so it would have been lovely for us all to do something, but unfortunately Taylor had her family over so was busy with them. I invited Joyce to Hollywood Studios with me, since I had yet to spend any time with her since I arrived! We went to Publix in the morning (I gratefully accepted the lift since it takes ages on the bus and we really needed bog roll!) Look at the size of these skittles and M&Ms I got! 😍 They won't last...

I did have fast passes for a few rides at HS but because I had Joyce with me, I wasn't bothered about using them. The line for the Tower of Terror was short so we got on that quickly, and we then went through the single rider queue for the Rock N Roller Coaster and got on that quickly too!

Quick tower of terror selfie...

We saw that the line for the new alien ride in Toy Story Land was only 30 minutes so we dashed over there to get in line. And I was horrified to find that the majority of the queue was not undercover! It was about 3pm so the sun was right up ahead, beating down on us and I swear I've never been so hot in my life. I was appalled at Disney for not being more considerate about the weather, and making people queue whilst baking under the hot sun. It was 35 degrees, and felt like 42 according to the local weather channels, so it was blooming boiling! The hottest I've ever been, I think. I was pouring with sweat, and when we got on the ride our legs and bottoms were so damp and sweaty that we were sliding around the seat! And the ride was a massive disappointment too - the Teacups in MK is much better and this one was just not worth the wait in the heat.

We went straight into Aircon to get food after that, and we ended up having one of the most mind-blowing, brain hurting conversations of my life. Joyce is Christian, and I had no idea until yesterday, and she's also very conservative. I'm agnostic and also a liberal, so we had completely opposing views. We talked about all sorts of controversial topics, like Trump, abortion, euthenasia, and types of religion. I went to a Catholic primary school and really resent the fact that I was basically brainwashed until the age of 11 when I started secondary school and was told there were actually such thing as other religions, as well as people that don't believe in God altogether. I'm also a history student, and I specialise in medieval and early modern British history, which is largely the history of Christianity. I'm fascinated by anything controversial, as well as the history of religion, so when me and Joyce got home from HS at about 5pm, we carried on talking for hours and hours. We finally stopped at about 8:30pm because she needed to go to bed. But honestly, it was an amazing talk! With Trump in the US and Brexit in the UK, there's a heck of a lot of division at the moment and no one is ever willing to talk through our differences in a civilised way. But Joyce, I cannot express how much I respect her, despite having views which are pretty much the exact opposite of mine! She is very religious, but not in a way that she preaches it to anyone that will listen. We asked each other questions and learned a lot about each other, and also asked some pretty profound questions which neither of us could answer! We were completely engrossed for hours and my brain hurt by the end, but I also felt really enriched.

Joyce and Ashley went to bed, but then I got a text from the CM group chat that something was going on in one of the parks. I went to go and tell them both and we all got rather excited, as there was a hellish storm going on outside. I looked out of the window, only to have a load of dirty yellow water fall on me! Turns out we had a massive leak coming from the top of the window, dripping down the curtain. Reception was closed at this time too so there was nothing we could do about it!

When Delphine came home at about midnight, she told me she had found COCKROACHES! She freaked, bleached the place and went to reception earlier that day, demanding they come and sort it out. There were only a couple of bugs and whilst I hate them with a passion, I accept that we are in Florida and are on the bottom floor of our block of flats, and there are gaps under all of the doors, so there's no way of stopping them. Delphine told me that in France, cockroaches are seen as very dirty things, and if one is found in your apartment, you literally move house!

It's Monday now, and the pest control man has been to spray all the house. I'm still in my PJs waiting to go to work. I start at 3:15pm but have to get the bus at 1:35pm unfortunately, so I have no time to do anything. Tomorrow though, I graduate with Mickey Mouse! So that will be an interesting day haha!

Thank you all for keeping up, and apologies again for all the typos and bad grammar, I literally type these up on my phone and don't proof read them before I post them. I've just been looking through and spotted so many typos! 😂 Keep the comments coming, I love reading your reactions, and come and say hi if you're passing through the Emporium one evening!

Hasta la vista 😁

[app]

New Photo Added by EvilQueen1937 - 23 Jul 18 5:42 PM.

[mick]

Another good few days the bags of sweets are huge aren’t they


Joan

[Cinderella]

Thanks for sharing 👍

[kansaskitty]

Love the photo of you with your cast compliment that’s a true framer!
What a deep conversation with Joyce but glad it stayed respectful!

[Bouncing Tigger]

Glad you were able to go somewhere else other than MK. Erm ok I need to read up about the Haunted Mansion ride story.

[keith1973]

Thank you for the posts please keep them coming

[aqualiv]

Are you working any of the mnsshp evenings?

[collybird]

It was lovely reading about your time spent with Joyce, that must have been wonderfully to have had such interesting conversations.

The days really are going by so fast, you are definitely making the most of your time there, I am very impressed with your energy.

[JudyC]

Glad you got some park time before work one day.