We're Soarin', Flyin', There's not a Star in Heaven that We Can't Reach

Greetings, friends!

Preface: I am ok and everyone I know is ok. All of Orlando's tragedies ought to be done for the time being. Thank you for your concern.

Yesterday, Canada celebrated Micayla's birthday the Disney Springs way - Earl of Sandwich and a new Disney/Pixar movie. Maybe you've heard of this one long awaited sequel called Finding Dory? It's wonderful. 12/12 crying adults recommend it. We also dominated the photo op after the show. Happy birthday, Micayla. I hope you weren't terribly embarrassed.

I found Nemo (Katrina) and Dory (Laura)!
My appropriate shirt says "Just Keep Swimming."

Yesterday after work, I was lucky enough to be added to Laura's FastPass for the brand new and fully reimagined Soarin' around the World. It used to be just Soarin' (over California), and after a brief reopening of the classic show, it's now brand new and shiny. And actually beautiful. My party was thrilled. Also thrilled by the FastPasses presented to us by a Soarin' cast member. Thanks, friend!

New attraction? New friends. 

On Friday, I somehow got up before dawn (remember when that was what I normally did?) to get myself and a handful of other fortunate merchandise cast members to Animal Kingdom, as we had been selected for a backstage tour of Dinosaur! We were actually given a full rundown of Dinoland USA, a formerly very confusing area, as well as a walking tour of the Dinosaur attraction. We were allowed to ride the ride with the lights on, as well as three bonus times with the lights off. Honestly, I probably couldn't have done more than four consecutive time rover rides anyway.

One of very few reasons to be an early riser.
Aladar the iguanadon photobomb. 

We are the Dinosaur princesses.

After a solid nap and some leftover Oliver Garden lunch, Rachel and I had an adventure to The Loop, wherein we visited our favourite place, Ulta, as well as had frozen yogurt lunch and did some necessary summer shopping. It's unreasonably hot already.

Thursday (my Saturday), Laura and I had some errands to run... at Magic Kingdom, which was celebrating the grand opening of the newest Disney resort in Shanghai. I had my hair cut at Harmony Barbershop. I'm sure I said this four years ago, but it's not just for little kids. I was beside a grown man who was having his hair did. However, he did not opt for the high ponytail, pixie dust and pirate treasure that made me extra magical until an inevitable shampoo. We booked a tour for next month (after Laura's last day), then took off for a lunch reso at Sanaa at Kidani Village. Bread service is my new beau. So is anywhere that offers me 40% off of steak. We watched giraffes from our table... and we watched them get briefly rained on. Sorry, giraffes.

This may be my most magical hair picture ever.
It's not even a selfie. 

Excellent lighting at Sanaa from savannah windows.

My dessert came with a side of wise words.

In the evening, Rachel and I rejoiced in painting our nails for the first time since the installation of the wine bar in our store. It has since departed, so we are Disney look manicuring.... followed by the happiest carbloading at Olive Garden. I shouldn't mention it but this week Rachel and I have also visited Steak 'n Shake and IHOP. It's fine.

I visited Magic Kingdom with a different Rachael (from the UK) on Sunday, as it is the most magical place on Earth, and the rest of the Earth was a bit scary that day. We had the most amazing Jungle Cruise Skipper, and we had a different skipper photobomb a selfie that evening. One of our roles as cast members is to help people forget temporarily what exists outside the Disney bubble, so thank you to the CMs who helped us do that Sunday evening.

I know it's a short one, but this is what happens when I stay on the ball.

See you real soon!

Magical Moment: I believe I mentioned the Soarin' FastPasses and the Skipper photobomb.

Pixie Dust to: Our Dinosaur tour guide, Christopher, who actually visits the Canada cart frequently, and our leader, Mike, for giving us a reason to get up before 10am. I don't get out of bed for less than backstage tours.

Think of a Wonderful Thought, Any Merry Little Thought

Oh my goodness I've nearly fallen a month behind. Is it too late now to say sorry?

Before my family vacation I really should have posted something, so here's the highlights: Princess Breakfast at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall on May the 12th to celebrate the birthdays of both Princess Katrina and Princess Laura, of Canada Attractions land:

Laura, me and Katrina are a pretty princess sandwich. 

Canada merchandise bowling at Splitsville in Disney Springs on May the 13th. Congratulations to the new champion, Micayla.

We moose go bowling? Moose pun of some kind. 

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom with Laura Brown on May the 14th. We wore ears and watched Festival of Fantasy with Kimberley, and it was very warm. In the evening, I found dinner at the food trucks at Disney Springs with Matt and we failed to find any remaining Disney Dollars. RIP Disney Dollars.

Laura is all about helping Merlin.
You're welcome, wizard friend. 

Jungle Cruise selfie is just mandatory. 

When dinner comes from a food truck,
there's a lot of room for dessert...

On May 18th, well before my family was scheduled to arrive, I woke up at the crack of dawn (that's an exaggeration) to be at the pav before the Guests arrived. All thirteen merchies plus one Lindsay Wilson were finally all in the same place at the same time. So we may have had a few pictures taken. Thanks, Patrick!

Thirteen gorgeous Canadians. I am fifth from the left. 

Shellby and I demonstrating just how full
these glorious skirts are. 

Although my family was travelling on May 18th, I'm going to say our vacation didn't really start until the 19th. Mom and Steph arrived well after midnight and our entire first sleep in our pirate ship beds was after midnight, so... this just makes sense.
After a lovely resort breakfast of probably something Mickey-shaped, we went to Hollywood Studios. I had FastPasses booked for us for Star Tours, Toy Story Midway Mania (my first time this program I think) and the Frozen Sing-Along. We also met Olaf, since no one knows he's there and the wait time is tiny, Steph rode Tower of Terror while Mom and I bailed on a normal elevator, we did Muppet Vision 3D because we are Muppet fans for life, and we ate a lot due to being on a Dining Plan. In the evening, I dragged them to Skipper Canteen for dinner, since there was a spot available, and had them ignore all the stimuli that is Magic Kingdom, since our MK day wasn't until the next day. When you enter the park at the beginning of Main Street Electrical Parade, it's pretty hard to ignore.

Do you want to meet a snowman? 

How impressed am I by the Sing Along snow?

We started our Magic Kingdom day with a (delayed) breakfast at Ohana. So we ate all the waffles and biscuits we could handle, while visiting with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. We saw Pluto delicately smush a cupcake into a toddler's hair. Best puppy ever. We monorailed it over to Magic Kingdom and stayed all day and most of the night because my family members are champions of course. We boarded Big Thunder Mountain in high winds, and by the time we actually got on our train, it was of course bucketing down rain. Good thing Lindsey is prepared and brought ponchos. Obviously in the rain you also have to do Splash Mountain, in which we definitely got wet. We caught both FoF and Main Street Electrical with great viewing spots and got a lot more in than I ever would have imagined. We accidentally stayed for Celebrate the Magic and Wishes, and definitely got caught in the large surge leaving, but it's all part of the park experience, am I right?

Bringing the family to meet the boss.

The view from a very rainy Big Thundy.  

Advantage Lindsey: I know where the best selfie spots are. 

...See?

The next day was our Animal Kingdom day, and it was unfortunately also a work day for me. We were all able to have breakfast together at Tusker House (with Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy) before I went to make magical vacation memories for other families at my park while my family enjoyed their day at Animal Kingdom. I wasn't there, so I'm not 100% sure what was accomplished, but I know Mom and Steph enjoyed their FastPasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris, Dinosaur and Festival of the Lion King. We met after my work day at the much needed Caribbean Beach pool and hot tub.

Two breakfasts with the boss in as many days.
I'm probably a favourite now.  

I LOVE THIS. 

My last day with my family was our Epcot day. We didn't have a character breakfast for the first time in days (hard Disney life), but rest assured the Disney Dining Plan kept us very full. Naturally, I started our Epcot day with Spaceship Earth, and moved onto the rest of Future World - Test Track, Mission Space (Green training obviously), Universe of Energy (I had to), and the Seas. We explored the aquarium and the air conditioning before moving along to World Showcase. Sorry Canada, I started in Mexico. They have a ride. We had dinner at Biergarten in Germany and it was wonderful! The surprise band was just delightful. Same with grapefruit beer. If you don't like making small talk with strangers, this might not be for you. I was able to get a visit in with every pavilion, with the exception of Norway. It'll be a crazy commotion in a few weeks anyway. We were able to get great spots for IllumiNations, although I admit everyone was slowing down a tad. Some last minute shopping was accomplished while MouseGear remained open, and we returned to our ships for one last night.

This vacation isn't entirely selfies. It just mostly is.  

It's a Sealfie. SEAlfie. 

Gorgeous lighting in the France pav.

Mom and Steph's Magical Express was boarding as I had to go to work. I'll admit I was grateful for work as a distraction, as well as the company of Kristin and Micayla for dinner that night at the Polynesian. Our reso nicely coincided with Wishes at Magic Kingdom, and the music was piped into the dining room for our enjoyment.

Me with two of the loveliest people you'll ever meet.

You'd think I'd have to take it easy after a family vacation. But nope.

The blockout date for the waterparks is quickly approaching, so in the last two weeks I had the joy of visiting both water parks again - Blizzard Beach on May 26th with Sarah, and Typhoon Lagoon a week later on June 2nd with Sarah again, as well as Shellby, Heloise and Patrick. With the exception of the lazy river, I feel prepared to hand over the water parks to Guests for a few months.

On Friday, the 3rd, Nicole and I had a chill afternoon exploring the newly opened Town Center (not Centre) of Disney Springs. We explored until we found the Daily Poutine kiosk. It may or hard to believe, but I've actually never had poutine because I'm not a fan of gravy. Luckily, there were options that did not involve gravy. We also visited the newly opened Sprinkles cupcakes for dessert, after exploring the new shops, and then we went to Cast Connection in hopes of finding nothing in particular. I had an evening of (slightly) off-property time with Matt, Mike and Rachael, wherein I lost in Monopoly again but I was full of Steak & Shake so I suppose that was a win enough.

We found a shady spot for our yummy lunch. 

On June 1st, we said "See You Real Soon!" to Kathleen, fellow merchandise CRP alum. When World Showcase opens, the leaders and coordinators gather us together to present the departing cast member a certificate of completion, we cry, we take many group pictures, it's sad, but then we have an entire work day to contend with after. Between goodbyes and work, I went on the newly reopened but still old Soarin' with Shane, Kevin and Shellby. The new version of Soarin' opens later this month. I expect to start giving directions again any day now.
The vast majority of the merch cast was able to gather at Magic Kingdom after close for the mandatory sad final viewing of Wishes (or Celebrate the Magic, for people closing). We also got a bonus last round of Big Thundy.

Kathleen keeping it together like a champion.  

Kathleen's last work day posse.
We are a good herd. 

This Wednesday, we had to do it all over again with beloved merch CM Morgan. Before work that day, Shane, Shellby, Rachel and I made our first appearance in the new Disney Vacation Club Lounge over the Imagination pavilion. There was free Coke Freestyle pop, snacks, iPads for borrowing purposes, and probably the best air conditioning on property. New tradition? New tradition. We had lunch at Sunshine Seasons, rode Living with the Land, and visited Starbucks before returning to work for the afternoon.

You must wear sunglasses in Living with the Land.

Morgan didn't celebrate her last Wishes until Thursday, so I was able to join her much earlier than Epcot closing time. We got pixie-dusted at Castle Couture, rode the Walt Disney World Railroad, unevenly crammed ten people into three cars on the People Mover (don't try it), watched Celebrate the Magic twice, the Main Street Electrical parade, and sadly, Wishes. Luckily, we were able to stay late enough to get some magical Main Street pictures. I'm sure Photopass will edit out mascara tracks?

Happy last day, Morgan! I hope it was as magical as you!

Yes, yes you can fit six people in a People Mover car. 

Today Laura and I had a day of exploring Hollywood Studios. Laura had some autographs to gather (these are the errands we have to do), and we were able to get a Toy Story FastPass, so good times were guaranteed. We met Olaf, Bolt, Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, as well as Minnie and Sorcerer Mickey in their new meet & greet location, Red Carpet Dreams. We also attended the Frozen Sing Along, for the second time this blog post, and got the cowboy scene in Great Movie Ride. We departed just as the daily downpour was beginning. The theme of the day was "we have great timing." And so do I. Because I'm more or less done this post. LOL finally.

We met this movie star today! 

See you real soon!

Lindsey

Magical Moment: A Starbucks CM wrote "Sheriff Lindsey" on my iced coffee cup. I was in fact wearing a Sheriff's badge, so it was totally appropriate. And properly spelled.

Pixie Dust to: Departing merchandise CMs Kathleen and Morgan (keep being magical), my family for coming to visit me, and every CM with whom we interacted for making our vacation magical. It's nice to be reminded of why I do what I do.