A Magical Night

On December 4th, my family graciously encouraged me to meet up with some friends at Disney.

It was so. FUN.


Brieanna and Ashley were two of the CP's (College Program) who worked with me at Space. This is the lighting that we're in the entire time unless the ride breaks down.

The first time I saw them, I came home and told Kelly how alive and vibrant and amazing they were! They just breathe life into any room. Some of you may remember Brieanna's gentle reminder to be careful how I portray people on this blog and I have never forgotten it.

(She thought I was calling her a mean girl. I meant that she knew her business and I needed to know my business, too!)

Anyway, they invited me out for a night at MK and I'm so, so glad I went! It was so out of character for me - meeting up with a group of people at 6 pm, playing all night, then driving home in the wee hours. I felt like I was 18 again, but they've always treated me like one of their peers at work. I love these girls!


Here's Brieanna without her curls. She's so gorgeous!


Disney really goes all out at Christmas and makes the park so beautiful. Here, the castle is covered in lights and it looks like ice has formed. The castle would turn different colors all night, each one so beautiful. The "ice" turned off during the fireworks show.

We were joined by Josh, Nick, and Tony, whom I also worked with. Oops, except I didn't work with Nick - he's a speedway cast member. We always feel so badly for the speedway guys out in the heat and gas fumes all day, but he says he just loves the speedway crew.

We went on so many rides that I've never ridden before, such as Winnie the Pooh and Philharmagic. We must have spent most of our time in Fantasyland.


The following blurry photo is what a very bad idea looks like:


When it's cold outside, don't go on Splash Mountain.
Top row: Ashley and Nick.
Middle Row: Josh and Tony (who lost their gentlemen cards that night!)
Front Row: Brie and Me, about to get VERY wet and thus saving the "gentlemen" who dived into the middle row, forcing us to take the front and the splash!

Yes, I'm holding onto Brie for dear life.

Here we are afterward:

Ashley was laughing so hard, I'm surprised she got the picture! Josh is the one in glasses. Tony has little cat ears on his beannie hat. The cute hat didn't save him from the lecture, believe me!

Why did I even bother with my hair?

After the splashdown, we headed for main street to watch the fireworks. Brie and Ashley have worked the greeter rotation so many times that they have every line and boom and swish memorized. Wishes! Here we are before the show with now wet and frizzy hair:


After the fireworks, Josh had to leave us because of his 6am shift the next morning.

When I was on my way from the cast parking lot to meet them, I ran into a friend on the cast bus. He told me he was working three "sets" at Pixie Hollow and that he would leave my name at the entrance so we could go around the line. After Josh left, we hurried to Pixie Hollow to meet Terrence, friend of Tinkerbell!

Anyone recognize him? ;-)

Terrence was SO much fun and had us all laughing. Ashley is always smiling like that, though!

He introduced himself to each of us and when he got to me, he asked, "What's your name?"

Blink.

"What's your name?"

I just stood there with a stupid grin on my face. I didn't know whether to say MrsJLW or J or WHAT, and there he was, this guy who was my former Jr. High student, and he had an acorn on his head. He broke character a little and laughed silently.

"Does she have a name?" he asked the group. "Should we give her a new one?"

After coating us with Pixie dust so we could fly, he quickly arranged a game of "fly and go seek" with us.

Brie, hiding in Pixie Hollow




Tinkerbell, "hiding"

Surprisingly, none of us cast members had ever been to Pixie Hollow before. We didn't even know where it was! When I asked "Terrence" how to get there when we were on the bus, even he didn't know for sure, saying, "You know, I've never gotten there from the park before."

Just so you all know, it's in Toon Town, in the Judges' Tent.


Group shot!

Nick, Me, Terrence, Brieanna, Ashley, Tony

Here we are with Tinkerbell:

See the ears on Tony's hat?

We had a group photo with another fairy, but I look fat in that picture so you KNOW it's not going up. Just so you know, I was wearing my jacket with all the amazing pockets and the pockets were full so I didn't have to carry anything.

[crickets]

Whatever.

After Pixie Hollow, we headed to Space Mountain to ride and so Brie and Ashely could get their things. It was SO great to see so many of my castmates! I really, really miss them! I can't wait to pick up some shifts at the end of December so I can see them again.

I also can't wait for February, when Brie comes back from Wisconsin, Ashely comes back from Tennessee, and hopefully my other castmates will join us for another magical night!