Day 5

Last night was spectacular. Once all my roommates and I got off work, we decided to order some Chinese food and have it delivered to our apartment. We all sat around the table eating Chinese and sharing our most embarrassing stories. We were all nearly crying by the end of the night because we were laughing so hard, and it was a wonderful bonding time I had with them. We haven't really had much time to spend with each other all together until last night.

I started in costume training today, which was exciting. I got to meet my first trainer, Amanda. She was nice enough. Not quite the cheery Fairy Godmother in Training I'd been expecting, but she taught me a lot. She briefly gave me a tour of the utilidoor (though I still get completely turned backwards down there--everything looks the same). She also took me up to one of the towers of the castle and to a door where I could look out and see the show that was going on in the castle area. It was pretty cool to be that close to the show backstage. Then she took me to the actual boutique, which was jam packed full of people, and I was thrown right into work. It was really confusing at first, especially since my trainer seemed to think that whispering in an extremely loud and busy boutique was sufficient. I have bad hearing as it is, and with her barely raising her voice to give me instructions... Needless to say, I was lost for a while. But I got the hang of things pretty quickly once she had me actually start doing the tasks, and I had a lot of fun.

Today I just learned to work the podium jobs. There are three podium jobs involved in the boutique, which are cleverly titled Podium 1, 2, and 3. Podium 1 is probably the most stressful--this is checking people in for their reservations, preparing the Princess information card that will be passed between the other two podium workers, and telling people that no, if they don't have a reservation, no matter how special they are, they can't come in. I only had one lady get a little upset with me, and that was mainly because she had tried to buy a Princess Tiana dress at the store across the street, but they were out and for some reason told her to come to the boutique to buy one, but we don't sell them. So this lady gets all upset, saying that SOMEONE needs to inform the people over at the other store because she doesn't want to be reassured that she can come to our boutique only to have us tell her no.

Podium 2's job is to take the Princess information card and help the princess shop for which dress she would like (if one has been purchased). We also have to then mark down all sizes, shoes, dresses, etc. and finish filling out the princess information card, and then mark it down on a dry erase card which we then hand to a Podium 3 worker. Once the princess is all dressed, we have to find an available chair, and then take the princess to her Fairy Godmother and introduce them.

Podium 3 is responsible for dressing rooms. Once we are given the dry erase card by a Podium 2 worker, we have to go to the back stock room and fill out the order and arrange the dresses, shoes, wands, and tiaras in a dressing room. We then have to go back to the front, mark off that we'll be taking the princess to the dressing room, and then take the princess to be changed. Once she's changed, we have to mark off on the information card that she's dressed and ready to be seated at a chair.

Of the three jobs, I think my favorite was probably Podium 3. I really liked this job, because it gave me a little bit of a break from smiling all the time (my cheeks were getting really tired), because as soon as I walked into the stock room, all of the acting could stop and I could just focus on filling the orders and arranging the dressing rooms. But I still had guest interaction because once I prepared the rooms, I could go out there and call for the princess and talk to her as I led her to her room. We also have to make the revealing of her clothes a big ordeal, and so we instruct them to shout "Bibbity Bobbity Boo!" as we throw open the curtains to reveal their clothes that have "magically" appeared because of the words they've just shouted. It's really cute to see them look so surprised, and I loved that part. But it was also nice to be able to get frequent breaks from smiling whenever I went to the stock room.

The best moment of the day inside the boutique, however, was with a particular little princess from Brazil. It was her birthday, and she was going to be flying home to Brazil tomorrow morning. Her mother didn't know that reservations were required, and so she asked if we could accept a walk-in. By this time, however, it was 15 minutes until closing, and we were still expecting a party of two to come in. All of our chairs were full, and we had no room. So we had to say sorry, but we really couldn't accept a last minute walk-in. She was disappointed and left to tell her daughter (who was off shopping with her father). About five minutes later, a woman came in and hurriedly apologized, telling us that her daughter had just fallen asleep and wasn't going to be able to make it to the appointment. Suzanne, one of the sweetest old ladies I have ever met and probably the closest thing to a Fairy Godmother I've ever seen, was practically leaping for joy, and she quickly ran out of the boutique searching for the Brazilian woman. She figured that she'd find her in a store looking for at least a princess dress, which turned out to be a good guess, because she found the woman in the shop across the street, looking at dresses while on the phone with her husband explaining how they couldn't take her daughter into the boutique. Suzanne told her there'd just been a cancellation and that they could take her quickly if she still wanted. So they rushed the little girl over, and by this time, it was about five minutes till closing. So most of the chairs were empty, and this little girl walked in to about ten Fairy Godmothers all shouting "Happy Birthday Princess!" and her face just lit up and she was so excited as we helped her pick out a dress, shoes, wand, and crown. Her mother looked about ready to cry from happiness, and the girl was beaming the entire time. I knew there would be moments like this, but I hadn't expected one to come on my first day of the job. It's times like that that make me really glad I decided to work here.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm going to have to learn to speak differently. They have an entire language that they use in the boutique, basically, that's all code words so that guests never know what we're saying. Whenever I have to use the restroom, the "wishing well is calling me." When I receive a tip, I've just received "rose petals." My lunch break is either "feeding the horses" or "picking flowers." Facebook is "the book of faces," texts are "scrolls," and the TV is "the magic mirror." My favorite--an attractive young father is "a good looking cupcake." Even phrases that aren't codes will take time to get used to. I just have to learn to talk more "princess-y" and not so... me. "That's totally fine" has to be "That is perfectly splendid." "Sorry, but no" becomes "I'm so dreadfully sorry, I'm afraid that's unavailable." Little things like that. It'll take some getting used to, but I figure if I just watch a lot of the Disney princess movies I'll pick it up fairly quickly.

I think my absolute favorite part of today, however, was outside of the boutique. As I was waiting for my trainer on "the white bench" (which I've decided is like the bench of shame. Everyone in the utilidoor walks past that bench, and they can all see that you're the newbie, waiting for the trainer) I saw a plethora of characters, because the Mousketeeria (cafeteria) is right next to it. The first I saw was Cinderella's evil stepmother and stepsisters. All three of them were wearing bloomers, these white undershirts, and a lab coat. And heels. And wigs. And full makeup. It was really interesting to see. The next to walk my way was Cinderella herself in bloomers as well, followed later by an extremely odd couple-- Princess Aurora and Captain Hook. At the time, I didn't know who he was, because he only had his makeup on. However, Bri had seen him as well and her trainer explained that he is the only face character Captain Hook and he only appears in one of the shows. It was just interesting to see a princess and a villain going to lunch together. They were followed shortly by Ariel, also in bloomers.

And then my absolute favorite part came: I saw three Peter Pans. Not at the same time of course, because everyone knows there's only ONE Peter Pan, but I saw him three times. The first was when I was walking with my trainer in Fantasyland and he was outside with a child crowing as loud as he could. I stopped without realizing and gaped at him, earning a laugh from my trainer, who quickly learned of my insane obsession with Peter Pan. The second time--my trainer and I were walking around the utilidoor and he was walking towards us, this time not in full costume, but in a baggy shirt and his green tights. The third--on the bus back to my transfer stop. I got on the same bus with him at the utilidoor and we were sitting next to each other. I wasn't sure at first if it was him, because he didn't have the hair or clothes, because he was heading home, but then after hearing him talk on a phone, I was positive that he was Peter Pan. And it's funny that even though he wasn't in costume or makeup at all, it was still that little kid amazement you get whenever you see a character walking around the park. I had that jittery panic inside while a voice in my head screamed "I'M SITTING NEXT TO PETER PAN!" Apparently he's also rich, because he made a reservation for Cinderella's Royal Table for him and his girlfriend. That restaurant is EXPENSIVE. You get to dine with all the princesses in the second floor of the castle. He's definitely making more than I am, that's for sure.

And that's about all for today. I still freak out inside every time I think that I got to see Peter Pan three times today. I remember how excited I was seeing him for the FIRST time just this past winter. He's never been a common character at Disneyland, but I guess he's a big thing here. And man am I glad for that! :)