Amber Earns Her Ears: My Secret Walt Disney World Cast Member Diary (21 page)

THIS WEEK WAS FULL of small adventures.

My adventures have to be limited this time of year. A $135 weekly paycheck tends to shrink your options, especially if you’re trying to save money, however impossible the task appears. In an attempt to improve that situation, I picked up one of the scant offerings on the Hub, turning my Wednesday into a 14 hour day: stocking in the West from 7:00 a.m. — 3:30 p.m, and then a shift at the Seas from 4:00 p.m. — 10:00 p.m.

Stocking that early in the morning is always a struggle, simply because I am in no way a morning person, and the lack of a car means I have to wake up an hour earlier than I normally would to catch the bus. Somehow, though, I made it up, and there’s something about walking around the apartment complexes, or EPCOT itself, in the early hours of the morning, when everyone else is still — enviably — in bed, that gives me just a little bit of energy.

I encountered a problem before I even started my shift.

Costumes. I had the pants for stocking, but not the shirt. Disney limits how many costumes you can check out in relation to your status; as a CP, I’m allowed to have three shirts and three pants out. With package pickup, the small shirts are extremely rare, so I hold onto any of those I can get, as I spend most of my time there. If necessary, I’ll pick up a fourth shirt for whatever shift I happen to be working; as long as I turn it in within a day or two, it’s fine. But I had thought that I had the blue shirt required for the heart of house shift. I got to Cast Services, thinking that the hours for Costuming were from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; the sign outside the closed doors crushed that with a large number 7. I went back to my locker and scrambled my brain for a solution.

Could I walk to work in my tank top and work pants, desperately ask to clock in (you aren’t allowed to clock in if you aren’t in costume), and rush back to Costuming to get the appropriate shirt? Could I wear the costume I brought from the Seas? But no, that wouldn’t work, because most of the seven o’clock stock shift is spent in Image. I was walking slowly down the halls of Cast Services, trying to figure it out, when I saw one of my fellow Cast Members from the West open the doors of Costuming and re-emerge a few moments later with a costume. Elated, or as elated as possible at six-thirty, I went to tug at the doors — which were locked. After a few moments of tugging futilely at the door and muttering under my breath, a passing Cast Member who had stopped to watch my efforts told me to knock.

A rather disgruntled Costuming Cast Member opened the door. I hurriedly explained my situation, and she allowed me to dash down the aisles and return to check out my shirt. Who said the Costuming Cast Members were always horrible?

I made it through the stock shift much easier than I did my shift last week.

There was no sleeping on my break, or dozing off when I sat down to pass a wave of nausea in the Land’s stockroom. I ran around Image constantly doing something; I had the feeling that if I paused, exhaustion would catch up with me and I would be done for. I kept setting goals: in an hour and a half you can take your first break, in thirty minutes you get to do this, in an hour that. It went on like this until 3:20 p.m., when I carried my stuff over to the Seas so I could spend my last few minutes stocking there before taking a break between shifts.

I was hungry, so I bought a bag of gummy worms and sat in the hallway backstage and chatted on the phone with my mother before my second shift of the day. I have a feeling that the Seas is this location’s version of Fountain View; I was really excited about shifts at first, but now the hours just absolutely drag by as the air conditioner assaults you with gusts of chilly air. Luckily, I was working with a Cast Member I get along with really well, so we spent the hours alternately straightening things and standing around bemoaning how slowly time was passing. It’s become common practice to cover the times on the register with Mickey stickers, to rid you of the temptation to watch every minute of your shift peel away. It doesn’t really help if you wear a watch, as I do.

The normal release time for the Seas is 10:30 p.m., but as the area was all-clear (meaning there were no more Guests in the building), we were able to clean up by 9:30 and get an ER (early-release) for 10. We walked to the money room, and then made our way back to Image with the manager, coordinator, and the lonely soul who had worked the Land alone that day.

I went home and slept.

Sometime during the week, Cassandra and I started talking about burgers. Not McDonald’s burgers — none of that pre-frozen patty stuff. We were craving thick, real burgers with all the fixings and no kiddie toys.

On our next mutual day off, which just happened to be the day after I pulled that double shift, we went looking for one. I slept in a bit before we got started. Our goal had been to get a burger and head to Typhoon Lagoon, since Cast Members get in for free when it’s not the busy season. By the time I was up and ready, though, burgers were the only things on our mind, and I met her at the bus stop to catch the F bus to Crossroads, where Fuddruckers awaited us.

Except that, as the Florida autumn rain began to fall, the bus passed Crossroads and went to the post office, instead.

I looked across at Cassandra, as I’d never taken the F bus before. She confirmed suspicions: that the bus was indeed leaving us here, and we’d have to make the trek to Crossroads on foot. After waiting while one of the ladies on the bus argued with the bus driver about not dropping us off directly in front of the building (one of the riders had several large cardboard boxes to send out, and the driver was doing him a favor), we stepped off the bus and stood under the overhang of the post office, hoping the rain would slacken a bit before we ventured out. After several minutes of cajoling the dark clouds, though, the rain persisted, so we gave up and started off. Cassandra had an umbrella, and offered to share its protection, but it wasn’t going to cover both of us. I don’t mind getting wet, and it was inevitable at that point, anyway.

Our burgers were well worth it.

After we’d finished them, we walked back to the post office and sat on the curb until we noticed the ants crawling up our legs. Suspicious of how long it was taking the bus to arrive, I called the clubhouse to ask about the bus schedule. We would have to wait another hour for the next bus, and it was switching its route to take it to Crossroads rather than the post office, as that had now closed. So we walked to Crossroads yet again, agreeing that any further plans for the afternoon had better be canceled. We decided that a movie and cookies sounded perfect on such a gloomy day, and perhaps a journey to Chik-fil-A, as it’s buy one, get a second original chicken sandwich or nuggets free for Cast Member day.

Back in my apartment, I began making cookies while Cassandra went to her place to grab some movies.

I had told my roommates — only two were home — that I was having some friends over, and we were going to watch a movie. This prompted immediate results: they both stretched out on the couch and started discussing what TV shows they were going to watch tonight. I thought it a bit rich, especially as everyone’s mattress is out on the floor of the living room from their sleepover that’s been going on for about a week now. But I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t really care to be in my apartment any more than I have to, so I texted Chris, who was at Animal Kingdom earlier for a Cast party that got canceled, and we all reconvened at his apartment to watch
The Librarian
and eat some cookies with our Chik-fil-A.

As a Cast Member, we get some pretty cool opportunities.

On Sunday, one such opportunity arose in the form of a guided tour of the Haunted Mansion. I signed up for two different dates, well aware that my will power in the early morning isn’t exactly commendable. The tour required us to gather at the Magic Kingdom bus stop by six-thirty in the morning, which meant that I’d need to catch the five-nineteen bus to get there on time. I debated back and forth as to whether or not I was going to go, but eventually came to the realization that I would regret the missed opportunity. So, when five-nineteen rolled around, it was to find Cassandra, Chris, and myself on the A bus to Magic Kingdom, all of us half-asleep (or, in my case, I’m pretty sure fully asleep).

Only a small group showed up for the tour. Our manager brought some Munchkins from Dunkin’ Donuts to provide us with some energy, and we made our way through the Utilidor to the Haunted Mansion, where we met our tour guide. She’d been working at the Haunted Mansion for thirteen years, and had built up a wealth of information. We got to walk the ride with the animations and everything going off, and it was really a very cool tour, despite the time. A lot of history is caught up in that ride, a lot of things that I wouldn’t have thought of if they weren’t pointed out to me. Little details that I had never caught in the numerous times I’d been in the mansion before were made obvious by her point of the flashlight, and the eternal confusion as to whether the stretching room is an elevator or not was solved when we got to lie down on the floor and watch the ceiling descend toward us. “Now you know what we do when we get bored around here,” the tour guide told us with a chuckle.

After our tour, five of us headed to IHOP for breakfast before returning to our apartments for some sleep — except for the one unfortunate girl who had to head back out for work right after breakfast. I managed a three-hour nap before catching the bus to EPCOT for my package pickup shift.

The upcoming week holds promise. There’s a double birthday celebration on Wednesday that I’m looking forward to, the Cast preview of the Food and Wine Festival on Friday, housing inspections, and of course, my parents’ visit for one day to exchange cars and eat around the world.

Free food!

TODAY, I WALKED OUT of the door, and it was autumn.

And it was fantastic!!

On Saturday, my parents came down to switch cars; I would take my dad’s BMW and he would take poor Dinosaur (whose missing seal on the oil tank has crippled him) home on a trailer. While the day before was quite warm, I walked out the door in long sleeves to sign my parents in to security and was actually comfortable. I have since retired my shorts, and refuse to wear them for the rest of the year.

My parents stopped by the Caribbean Beach Resort to check in and change from their 13-hour drive, and then they came to visit me. Mom and I headed to Magic Kingdom to pick up buttons and maps from the 40th anniversary while Dad switched out the cars.

It was a relief to be at the parks with someone who goes at the same pace and who likes the same things as I do. Mom and I walked around and enjoyed the autumn decorations that had been put up since the last time I’d been there. We headed for Colombia Harbour House to have a tuna sandwich, but the line was unbelievably long — out the door and around the corner. So we wandered around, both of us complaining about being hungry but too indecisive to choose anything. Finally, we stood in line at Casey’s and found seating at the Tomorrowland Terrace.

Then we left; the park was a little too crowded for our tastes. We headed to EPCOT to meet Dad and make our way around the world.

The Food and Wine Festival is my family’s favorite time of year to visit Disney World, and I have already made it my goal to try every single item (non-alcoholic, that is) around the world before I leave. As a trip without my younger siblings, we were able to try everything we wanted, several times over if we so chose. Desserts were a big thing for us — the pumpkin mousse and the lemon chiffon were some of my favorites. It was a little too warm to eat all that we wanted, so we reserved what we didn’t eat for when my parents came down again in eleven more days.

Speaking of the Food and Wine Festival, the cast preview was Thursday. It wasn’t exclusively for Cast Members; guests who were lucky enough to be in EPCOT that day after 2:00 p.m. could purchase food as well. It was chaotic; New Zealand wasn’t taking cards, managers were in a tizzy, and all sorts of frantic activity was going on. But the merchandise was a lot better than it has been in the past few years, and the food is just as good. The short lines (especially compared to Saturday) were very nice, and my friend and I took full advantage of them as we wandered around buying lava cakes and escargot. Before long, however, she had to go to work, and I had to catch the guest bus over to the Caribbean Beach to show my ID card for the discount on my parents’ room — no easy feat, as I couldn’t remember where the check-in area was, and I got semi-lost walking around the resort.

Inspections were this week. I didn’t clean that much for them, at least not the common areas, as I’m being obdurate and protesting the apartment’s general state of filth. I came home fairly late after my adventure to the Caribbean Beach, put away the rest of my groceries, and straightened my room. When the inspections team showed up that afternoon, I had just gotten back in bed after making some strawberry oatmeal and popping in a DVD of
Gilmore Girls
. We managed to pass, even though our oven wasn’t clean enough (and I’ve made it dirtier tonight with cheese from the casserole I made), and Lindsey and I were told to take down our things from the walls. After three notifications, they make you go to a housing meeting; this means that we can leave our things up for the next inspection, but will have to take them down for inspections after that. As I predict there will probably be only one more inspection, I’m not too worried.

That’s all the excitement for the week.

Nothing terribly fun, nothing terribly out of the ordinary. I set off yet another round of smoke when I was defrosting some chicken in the microwave; someone thought it would be a good idea to shove all the plastic lunchboxes under the microwave, and the plastic was slowly melting. I get to go to Barnes&Noble sometime in the near future now that I’ve got a car again (thank goodness!), but I’ll still take the bus to work.