Disney Dreaming : "It's Kind of Fun to do the Impossible," Walt Disney

Hello Friends,
Today mark's exactly one month until Mom, Dad, Eddie, and Grandmom arrive in Orlando and 2 months until I'm back home in PA....impossible.
My previous statement makes it a fact that is it November...impossible.
And yesterday my best friend from SJU spent four with me in the Magic Kingdom (when I had only found out about she would coming to Orlando about 16 hours earlier)....impossible.

As you may have sensed from the title and my first three statements the events and realities of the past few days have not felt realistic - but they are. Knowing that these "impossible" things are in fact real and therefore, possible, is an amazing feeling.

To make it all possible....that is something Walt Disney truly believed.

Now to recap these past five days.....

Wednesday: After returning home from Starbucks and seeing Katie on her actual birthday I went out to go get a quick dinner at Chic-fli-a. On my way to get dinner a black cat walked in front of me, stopped, stared at me, and kept walking. Truly eery and creepy. After dinner I returned home to get ready to go out for Katie's birthday. Katie, Britt, Lauren, Hallie (Katie's friend from work) and I headed out to Disney's boardwalk for a good time. We went to the dance hall (where Britt had wanted to go for her birthday but it had been rented out for the evening) thinking we dance it up all night long. We got there to and less than hoppin' crowd (including us there was seven people on the dance floor at one point). We still had fun dancing and singing along to music videos that were playing on the projection. The Electric Slide part #2 Part brought a bit more people to the dance floor so that was fun, but after a few more songs we (well it was Katie call ultimately as it was her birthday) decided to go to Jellyrolls across the way. Jellyrolls is a dueling piano bar that has no cover for Disney Cast Members (over 21 of course) - :). I had never been to a proper piano bar before and Jellyrolls did not disappoint. Let's put it this way - we walked into a congo line traveling around the bar and jumped right on in. After getting seats and drinks we saw how the process worked of requesting and paying for songs to be played as four guys swapped back and forth with two of them playing and singing at a time. The dueling piano bit is that the pianos face each other (for those who have never been to a piano bar).
We got to ring in Halloween at Jellyrolls with a group song and dance to time wrap. The guys played everything from the Beatles to Nsync. It was a lot of fun and the guys were super talented.
Around 1 am we headed home and went to bed. I know we all had fun and I was happy Katie got to have a fun birthday. PS - Jellyrolls is my new favorite place in Disney.

Thursday: Thursday was Monday for me which means....time to go back to work. I woke up not feeling well (I actually had started feeling a little ill the night before at Jellyrolls but I thought it would pass). I had an awful cough that I'm still trying to combat now. I went to work knowing it'd be fun because we were having a Halloween party and (for one Halloween party a year) it was actually Halloween. It was great seeing everyone in all the costumes. There were a great deal more --- let's just say --- witches and wizards than I have ever dealt with in the crowd but the support of management and fellow Cast Members from across the park is really helpful. A man named Kyle who used to work at the Emporium dropped on a HUGE box of candy for Emporium Cast Members. It was so nice to be able to still get a Halloween experience at 22 in Walt Disney World while working. Side note: the cast was on a bit of a sugar high by the end of the night.

Friday: November 1st. It was crazy to think it was already November. I did a little shopping before work and saw a magical moment on the monorail that involved a two year old boy waving at the castle as we drove from MK to the Contemporary..."bye Cinderella's Castle" he said and waved....*sigh Disney* I decided to treat myself to lunch in the Contemporary and enjoy the beauty of the hotel infrastructure. One of my first memories of being in Disney World in 1997 was being on the monorail as it went through the Contemporary. I remember my Dad saying, "watch Mary-Kate we're going to go through a building." I was both terrified and fascinated at the same time. I still catch myself being terrified and fascinated every time I go through the Contemporary on the monorail.
After lunch I headed into work knowing it'd be the last Halloween Party. Once again there were a lot of wicked witches and wizards but it was still a lot of fun. Side note: I went it Cast Connection to purchase something and heard there was Christmas music being played in the store --- and I walked right out.

Saturday: I spent the morning at Starbucks applying for a job. Starbucks is now serving their drinks in their seasonal red cups. To me they are red solo cups until the day after Thanksgiving. While I was at Starbucks Melanie contacted me saying she would be in Disney (at the Polynesian) for a few hours the next day and would love to see me. I became so excited because I knew we could make it so that we could spend some times in the Magic Kingdom. After come coordination I headed to work almost jumping out my skin with excitement. At work I started to really not feel well and my cough was getting worse so I put for an ER and got it which I was very thankful for. I headed for Walgreens for cough medicine and then home to bed.

Sunday: AKA Mary-Kate, Melanie, and Thea's four hour experience in Magic Kingdom. I woke up early and did some work on my computer before meeting up with Thea so we could meet up with Melanie and go to the Magic Kingdom. We got the Polynesian and waited maybe 10 minutes before Melanie arrived. I was SO excited to see her. We hugged and I introduced Thea and Melanie before we ran to the monorail as time was of the essence.

Melanie and I on the monorail :)

Once we all got into the park we headed right for Main Street and the Emporium. I showed Melanie my favorite rooms to work in and we saw a little of the Mayor's Parade on Main Street before heading to the Castle. It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day in the Magic Kingdom.

Melanie and I spent some time taking pictures of the castle and in front of the castle. At one point Melanie said, "I hope she's there." I turned aroud to see a "Will You Marry Me, Rachel?" sign in the air. I thought "aww that's cute" and I replied to Melanie's initial statement with, "yeah and I hope she says yes." Not more than one minute later Thea is running up to us waving and yelling like a lunatic ;) Turns out it was one of our fellow Cast members at the Emporium, Andrew, who had just proposed to his girlfriend Rachel. Melanie and I ran over to see many people I work crowded around the happy, newly engaged couple (turned out two girls I worked with were holding the sign). I gave Andrew a hug and we congratulated them before heading to tomorrowland. Not a dull moment in the Magic Kingdom - just magical ones.

Well, we thought we thought we were heading to tomorrowland but it true Disney style we got caught in the middle of the "Move It, Shake it" Parade. It was still nice though because Melanie got to experience a Disney Parade. :) After we managed to dance our way across the street we headed for Space Mountain to fast pass it (it is both Melanie and I's favorite ride).

Knowing had time we all got lunch at Cosmic Ray's before heading to ride Small World...classic Disney move. After the riding the happiest cruise that ever sailed we walked around Fantasyland and I showed Melanie all the knew buildings and the new roller coaster that's under construction. Thea suggested we go get pixie dusted as Mallorie was working in one of the Fantasyland shops. So Melanie, Thea, and I were pixie dusted by our "Fairy Godmother" Mallorie and now all our dreams will come true ;)

We decided to jump on the railroad from Fantasyland and ride around the Magic Kingdom. It was very enjoyable. We got off at Fantasyland (yes we rode it all the way around) before heading to Space Mountain as our fast pass time was approaching. Fast pass is the best thing ever. We walked by people who were set to be in a 90 min. wait right in the queque and onto the ride. It was sooo much fun!

Great picture too, but we didn't buy it haha.

Sadly it was time for Melanie to head back to the Polynesian. Thea had to go to work so I went with Melanie to the Polynesian and made sure we got dole whip for dessert - delicious. And we got out in front of the hotel at the exact perfect moment for someone to take one last picture of us before Melanie's ride arrived.

It was so incredible to have someone from home with me in the Magic Kingdom and made me realize how excited I am for my family to visit.

I am so happy Melanie and Thea got to meet and we could all spend time together.

I had work last night before it was an early end time which was nice. Thea and I got food before I headed and watched a movie because I was having a hard time falling alseep.

Monday: This morning I was still not feeling great and wanted to go to a presentation but felt it was best to get some needed rest.

Here I am at Starbucks now blogging before going to work. It's my Friday :) I know I will go into work today to see Christmas every where. It is nice but also sad/frustrating for me at the same time. It is not so much as missing my family during the holidays (though certainly I am/will) it is more that Thanksgiving has completely been forgotten about - or so it feels like it. And it's not just Disney - it's America in general. And though Disney is an entertainment company which makes the Halloween to Christmas jump more understandable; I still which Thanksgiving was given it's due respect. Anyone that knows me knows Thanksgiving is not only my favorite holiday but my favorite day of the year for what it has meant in terms of tradition, friendship, and family - for my family. I will defend Thanksgiving forever! And all my international friends know they will be celebrating Thanksgiving with me and we'll have a feast and everything. And only THEN will the Christmas music and holiday cups at Starbucks start for me.

In other news, class tomorrow is in the Magic Kingdom so that should be fun. haha.

I hope everyone is enjoying fall. Miss you all.

Finally, HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE, SAM!!!!!