woohoo

my blue main entrance pass came today!!!

(I know it's backwards)

YAY!

xoxo,

Natasha

dreams

I have the weirdest dreams. Seriously.

A few weeks ago, I dreamt that I was a rectangle.

Per Alex's request, I have decided to start sharing some of these dreams here on my blog. Maybe you have had some of the same dreams? Maybe reading about my dreams will make you think I'm crazy. Maybe you have weirdo dreams that make mine seem totally normal (if this is true, please share!! :D)

2 nights ago, I dreamt that I knew Justin Bieber and he had decided to let me know his biggest secret....he was born a girl and got a sex change when he was 8. I was sworn to secrecy and at some point had to hide him by putting him under the couch cushions and then laying on top of the couch. The dream felt SO real and felt like it lasted forever.

I am definitely not a Bieber hater (I've got the Bieber-fever! haha) so I'm not sure where this came from but I guess I never really know where my dreams come from (again, I dreamt I was a rectangle...)

xoxo,

Natasha

magic

I'm telling you, this place is magical.

I have literally had tears in my eyes at some point during EVERY one of my shifts in the castle so far (happy tears of course!). Cinderella's Royal Table is full of magical moments - we recognize a prince and/or princess of the day at the start of every meal, we welcome "royal families" into the castle to share a meal with some of their favorite and most-loved Disney princesses, we give the prince and princesses swords and magic wands to use for our special wishing ceremony, we make memories.

When working inside the castle, I love to watch the families that come in together...their excitement is contagious and just knowing how special this meal is for them fills me with so much joy. Tonight, there were quite a few daddy-daughter tables and at one point one father was dancing with his princess in-between courses. We had a table of older ladies there to celebrate their dear friend's 80th birthday. Also, tonight I got to see my first in-castle proposal....it was so sweet!

I don't think I could have gotten any luckier with my location. I can honestly say that I love going into work every day and I definitely know now more than ever that I need to be in the business of making memories for people in some capacity.

xoxo,

Natasha

PAC

Yesterday I was able to pick up a PAC (Parade Audience Control) shift from the Extra Hours Hotline! I knew before I came down here that I wanted to pick up one of these shifts before my program was done -- and I was able to do it in the first two weeks!

The shift was SO much fun! First of all, the costume is adorable. I like my costume at Cinderella's Royal Table BUT the PAC costume was much more flattering :) There was a pep-talk meeting before the shift started and then we were all assigned our locations. For the electrical parade I was stationed outside of Tony's and Exposition Hall and just directed traffic with my blue "light saber"

After the electrical parade passed, I was moved up to main street and directed traffic during the new castle show and Wishes. I was in the perfect spot to see the shows and the best part was I was getting paid to watch them!!! :)

This was my view while "working" last night:

(I took this picture from google)

First PAC shift was a success! Can't wait to pick up more :)

xoxo,

Natasha

excitement

Alex will be here on February 3rd!

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

We are using my cast discount and staying at one of the All-Star resorts. I am SO excited and can't believe it's so close!

I'm off work today and tomorrow so look out for some more updates!

xoxo,

Natasha

park orientation

A day or two after Traditions (all of the days seem to blend together here) I had my park orientation at the Magic Kingdom! The orientation that you participate in depends on your work location (park, resort, etc). My class was called "Once Upon A Time Is Now" and I LOVED it :D

Again, I don't want to ruin any surprises for anybody so I will just say that it was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and I am more excited than ever to be working at the Magic Kingdom!

xoxo,

Natasha

traditions

All Disney employees, from the CP participants to the big executives, have to participate in the Traditions class. At check-in they gave us all an assigned time for Traditions. I was originally assigned the afternoon class with my roommate Lisa but we both received calls the night before from the Casting department informing us that we had been moved to the earlier one! We were both pretty excited about this because you get your ID that lets you into the parks at Traditions and we wanted to break them in that night!

When I was doing my research on the DCP, I always wanted to know what happened at Traditions but found a recurring theme among the blogs that I read -- they always kept it a secret! And guess what? I'm doing the same thing!!! I would really hate to ruin the surprises for any other future Disney employees!!!!! But I will tell you that Lisa and I met some nice people from BYU-Idaho....here is the picture to prove it (haha):

After all the excitement I had lunch with my mommy and then we decided to head to the Polynesian (Lisa's workplace!!!!) to get a dole whip and sit on the beach. Of course we took pictures...

Unfortunately, our fun had to come to an end that afternoon and my mom had to fly home :( We both shed a few tears as she dropped me off at my apartment.

That night, the ladies of Chatham 23102 (me and the roomies haha) decided to use our shiny-new cast ID's to get into the park! We started off at Disney's Hollywood Studios but found out when we got there that there was only an hour until park closing. It was a very successful hour though! We rode Tower of Terror, Rockin Roller Coaster AND Toy Story Mania :)

Epcot was our next stop...we grabbed some dinner and margaritas in Mexico and worked our way around the World Showcase. We finished off the night watching Illuminations and then went home!

xoxo,

Natasha