Memoirs of a UK Cast Member part 6

[WDWGunner25]

PART 1 HERE

PART 2 HERE

PART 3 HERE

PART 4 HERE

PART 5 HERE

PART 7 HERE

Hello people, I could not wait any longer as I really want to get back to writing, so after a days rest (which I spent on the Dibb booking a villa LOL) I am on the comeback trail :-)

Right well I told you all I was looking forward to this entry and I wasn't joking, but first we do have to take that little trip to the costuming department which while I'm sure sounds very exciting, was actually very similar to TK Maxx lol. Aisles upon aisles of every different costume you could imagine seeing in the Magic Kingdom (note each park has a separate costuming area), its all very underwhelming. On the positive side if you are adverse to doing any clothes washing yourself you simply brought them back once worn and got new ones (for a guy that's a result lol).

Now as you have seen from part 5, I was sent to the magical land of plaid, and oh it was a treat for the eyes and the skin as well, putting on those polyester costume items made me feel so cool, and not at all like a bit of an idiot lol, lets just say a cursory glance in the mirror and plaid and I began, what is likely to be a life long hatred of one another.

It's safe to say the most exciting part of going to costuming during my 6 months was returning the clothes; you got to scan the barcodes on them in order to book them back in, and I of course like any man was very excited about the laser style beam and often had a sneaky shoot of the imaginary bad guys in the room (truthfully I don't think I ever did that, but can't for the life of me think why not lol - it could have been a cue free Buzz Lightyear ride!).

So now, costume collected, induction completed we were let loose and one thing I am convinced I now had in my possession but can't remember receiving is my park passes! Now how I can remember the exact items in my welcome food pack (part 1 I believe) and the colour of my temporary bus pass, but not getting the greatest gift known to man kind, is beyond me but I remember clearly spending an afternoon in Epcot before my MK induction, so we will assume I got it at Traditions and headed to Epcot after costuming lol. (Bexxx - correct me if I'm wrong on when we got the passes lol).

Now after a few boring days we were very excited about the prospect of an afternoon playing in Epcot and I remember riding the boat ride in the Mexico pavilion, the updated Seas with Nemo and friends; and not liking the huge angler fish very much (the one with the big teeth and bulb in hanging in front of its face) and buying my second pin from the pin cart outside American Adventure. For anyone interested it was a limited edition Epcot 25th Anniversary one with a little moving rocket (I had decided that I should get a limited edition pin for every major event - inc holidays - I was in Florida for, as a sort of tangible timeline).

Now having been to Epcot 100's of times now, I can't differentiate between visits, as like all the parks a visit simply became like going to your local high street in their regularity, however I'm pretty sure we did all the staples of any Epcot themed Disney diet, such as Soarin' , Test Track and Mission Space.

Let's all be honest for a second though, you've mostly all been round Epcot, probably countless times, and my guest day in the park isn't why your reading this, you want to hear about the big cast member moments, you know those big questions like where can I buy a proper Mars bar without getting a mortgage?, and events like finding said Mars bar in the international aisle at Wal Mart, and making a weekly pilgrimage on my shopping day. I'm kidding of course, but believe me that was a memorable moment. What I'm really talking about however is my MK induction and training.

Ah, by the way I just popped away from this to finally dig out my folder with all my training schedules in it and I was a little off but actually my memory wasn't too bad. My Traditions was indeed on my 3rd day, so the earlier mystery of when I went to the Premium Outlets to buy suit shirts has been solved! (for anyone who still hasn't worked it out it was day 2 hehe), we then had a day off if you can believe it, which is the more likely date of my Epcot trip.

After that there was a 'Disney University Merchantainment' course on the afternoon of day 5 (Friday), which I do not remember AT ALL, but considering it was at the same place as Traditions I assume I've just put them together in my head and then Saturday was our 'Once Upon A Time... Is Now' MK tour... WOO HOO! Oh in the interests of total transparency looking at my schedule I believe costuming was on Sunday with our Emporium trainer, but can I ask you to just keep the magic alive and pretend we've done it already as I really can't be bothered to move it (bear in mind I've written close to a dissertation on Disney this weekend already LOL).

Well as a treat for running with my new timeline of events, you are now all standing outside the entrance to MK, I am SO very tempted to start quoting the Keys to the Kingdom Tour here (which I highly recommend by the way), but I'll settle for just telling those who don't know that the whole entrance is set up to be like going to the cinema years ago. The Main Street Railway station, acts as a curtain covering the 'screen' and then as you walk through the arches under the station you notice the posters for the rides or the 'upcoming attractions' the next thing is you smell popcorn, as you would at the cinema and then you walk up the street towards the castle and the windows on Main Street are the 'credits' read them next time those few of you who don't know already and you'll understand. Ok so I pretty much did just quote the tour, but I don't care, I love sharing that stuff and ill be happy if I've taught anyone of you guys something hehe. Now though back to the tour.

We were taken around the park by a very nice lady and I got chatting to a couple of girls from Taiwan (one of whom I am still very close with as she was at the Emporium with me) and it was simply a tour of the park, hearing about its history and seeing all the little nooks and crannies. We had lunch in Cosmic Rays Starlight cafe (not a personal favourite, but one of my friends from Bournemouth worked there at the same time and would kill me for being negative about it lol -sorry Kim, I'm pretty sure at some point you will read this).

The best part of the day was getting to find out more about some of the rides, and one of the ones we got to learn about and go on was the Haunted Mansion. Now if you know anything about me, you will know my Haunted Mansion obsession beats my Disney one, when I did the Keys to the Kingdom tour last summer the tour guide addressed all questions about the ride from the other guest to me! Now I'd like to add that not wanting to destroy the opportunity for other guests to answer, throughout the whole tour I had stayed silent, however at lunch the tour guide and I got chatting and we knew many of the same people (guest relations is on Main Street of course) and so I mentioned my love of that ride when he told me that was next, hence why he pulled me up front - I promise I really wasn't one of those obnoxious know it all guests - I was really embarrassed!).

Back in 2007 however my knowledge of the ride, was a lot more hazy, I just knew it was amazing from the 2 or 3 times I'd ridden it in 2005 and from my 1994 and 1999 trips to Disneyland California. One thing I will share with you because it amazed me at the time is that Its a Small World and the Haunted Mansion's show buildings are so close together they almost touch, it's crazy! Past that's if anyone has any HM questions you can ask away, but if I start it'll be longer than this blog, and I don't think anyone wants that :-)

I remember we also rode the TTA in tomorrow land (exciting stuff! ) which isn't the worst thing in the world and then it was onto out last ride which was Buzz Lightyears Ranger Spin! Now I don't think we got any exciting insights into this ride, suffice to say it was probably along the lines of 'we are now going to save the galaxy from the Evil Emperor Zurg' or something like that. Suffice to say much like Men in Black at US, it is a personal favourite (it's the lasers, mwah HAHAHAHA) and we all had a great time.

Of course there was the usual information about how cast members are not allowed to walk between lands, because it ruins the effect (all because Walt once saw a Cowboy in Tomorrowland over in California, so fair play I understand that) and things like that, but as I say the guys who do the tours are amazing at what they do and can probably explain it better than me.

Right well this has been a pretty long one, so ill leave it there and will return in the near future with the promise of training you how to use the Emporium cash registers!

[dubletrub]

Another great read thanks for doing this

[Jockey]

Another great one!

[KellyWellyWoo]

Brilliant I'm really enjoying these! Can they be merged in some way-sort of like a trippie?

[Guest]

Great read. will be reading everything next time I enter MK

[clucky1966]

Thanks so much James for taking the time to write this I am so enjoying your blog and cannot wait for Part 7!

[Helen0705]

Fantastic again - really enjoying it !

[pandanne]

Really enjoying - thank you for sharing. Can't wait for the next instalment.

[disneyforever]

Thanks for sharing it's been great...

[golden james]

Simply amaze balls! Can wait for number 7!