Our Christmas Time Audition Adventure! (Updated 2/15!!)

[katt789]

Hi there!! And to my newest trip report!!
I JUST finished our Sept TR, and just in time too, as we take off to the World again bright & early tomorrow for an excellent adventure! My plan for this trip is to do a "live" styled report, with updates coming right out of our hotel room, as this trip will have more down time in it than any of our last ones!

And now: Chapter Links!! (which is what the rest of this post will be, while I get intros and all that junk settled up!!)

Introductions!

Plans of the Trip!

Disney Survey!

Day One-> December 14/2011

It's Time For Takeoff!

Downtown Disney Distractions

Day 2-> December 15/2011

A Morning in the Wilderness

Exploring With Animals

Excuse Me, Professional Artiste Coming Through

Even More!

Tut Tut, Looks Like Adventure!

The Audition!!

Character Extravaganza


Day 3-> Dec 16!

A Morning of Terror & Delicious Snacks

Song as Old As Rhyme

I Take A Lot of Pictures...

Secret Red Head Club Meeting

Celebrating Royaly With You

Food, Frontierland, Fairies & Fun!

The Party Begins!

Christmas Time Is Here

Parade Time

Last Night

Day 3-> Dec 17th

A Practically Perfect Breakfast!

Reviews!!

Real Life Updates!


Christmas Surprise!

A GREAT SURPRISE!!

Solo Trip Review

Disney Premier Passport!

Food & Wine

 

[katt789]

Alright, so let us start with the who of this trip, it' is I, your fearless TR writer, and Disney-holic, Katt, and Sylvia:

This trip was an in-the-moment decision for a very important reason, hence why there are only two of us, and this whole ordeal will probably be very short, and busy!!

When: December 14th to 17th

Where: Disney's Pop Century, of course!

Why: Well, to see Disney World, of course! Along with: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. And....the biggie...the reason of the trip, the reason that I was going to go down on my own, but then Sylvia was convinced into it...the audition!!

That's right folks, after I came home from the trip in Sept this year, I fully decided that I would be auditioning for Disney. I have danced all my life, along with some gymnastics thrown in there, went to Performing Arts school, and have worked in the theatre environment for the past 3 years. I began keeping an eye on the audition website from when I got home, and once I found an audition that suited everything, I booked the tickets!!

The audition is for "character & parade/show performers & look alikes" which basically means everything that Disney has to offer, minus the fancy really skilled roles in shows like FOTLK, B & TB, and the castle shows.

And now, onto more about the who:

Me:

I'm Katt, a 22 year old Canadian Disney lover for life. I went for the first time this past May, and have been back in Sept, and again in 2 days, and then again next Sept. (with the possibility of another trip in the Spring).

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom. Hands down, the atmosphere is just so amazing.
Favorite MK Land:Main St USA, where the Magic Begins.
Fave MK Rides: Splash Mtn, Winnie the Pooh, the People Mover, POTC
Fave Epcot Ride: Test Track
Fave Epcot Country: France (the slushies just make it impossible to go anywhere else )
Favorite Hollywood Studios Ride: Tower of Terror
Favorite Animal Kingdom Ride: Everest
Favorite Disney Princess: Ariel
Favorite Fab 5 Character: Donald
Favorite Winnie the Pooh Character: Tigger
Favorite Disney Movie: Little Mermaid, Lion King, Tangled, Pirates of the Caribbean
Favorite Pixar Movie: Up
Favorite Disney Songs: Part of Your World, Be Prepared, The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers, Gaston
Favorite Day of the Trip: Day 1
Favorite Shows: Magic Kingdom Rope Drope, gets me every time
Favorite CS: Cosmic Rays!!
Favorite TS: Cinderella's Royal Table (it's eating in the Castle!! it doesnt get better!)
Favorite Snack: The carrot cake!!!

And now, Sylvia:

She's 19, and works with me at the dinner theatre I've been at for the past 3 years. We both dance, and kind of bonded through that and working together over the past year or so. When I was talking about auditioning, she seemed kind of interested, but has a pretty big commitment to dance, and didn't know if she could take a job if it was offered. Eventually though, she gave in, and said sure, why not!? I need to be more spontaneous, and volia! The trip was made!!

Now, I would put in all her info, but I don't know 100% about it, so I'm going to wait for her to be at my house tonight, and we'll put up some info in a 2nd post!!

 

[katt789]

Here is roughly, how our schedule will be going for the next few days:

Dec 14th:-We'll be getting up bright & early, probably around 5am, when Sylvia's parents will be picking us up and taking us to the airport for our 8am flight!

Except...there will be a lot more snow in a picture like that...although...we haven't had too much this year...but it's only the beginning...

We've got a stopover in Toronto, which is something like 3 hours, so I definitely plan on bringing my lap top to enable us to post on here, and watch a movie or 2...

And before ya know it, we'll be landing in FLORIDA YAYAYAY Heat...no snow...Mickey Mouse, heck, yes.

We'll be whisked away to Pop Century, where I've already done:

And hopefully our room will be awesome & not too far from anything. As for this evening, there isn't any time to get to a park, we might head to DTD or BW for dinner, or just hang out at the hotel.

Dec 15th:
-This is it, the big day! Our audition is at 3pm sign in over by the Animal Kingdom. Now, because we really don't need to be there until noon at the earliest, it's possible that we'll do one of the following:
-Go to Animal Kingdom that morning, ride Everest, and hit up FOTLK
-Go to MK's EMH until around 10/11 am, then head back to the hotel before the audtion.

We'll figure it out when we get there We have NO CLUE how long the audition will take, but chances are we won't have time for a park that evening. Who knows?! I'm thinking we might head back to MK, as it's open the latest.

Dec 16th:
Now that the big day is over, we've got LOTS fo plans for today!!
-If we hit up AK the day before, then we will be skipping it today, otherwise, plans are as follows:

-Start at Animal Kingdom, right at 9am, and head straight for EE. We must brave the Yettie! Sylvia's never been on it, and it's one of my top rides! Then, if timing works out, we'll be heading to FOTLK, and then heading out of the park!

-Bussing over to DHS; where things get complicated a tad! We'll swing over to ToT, one of the favorite rides for both of us! And check the wait time, along with the next showing of Beauty & the Beast. If timing's good, we'll ride ToT, grab a fast pass, watch B&B, then ToT again. THEN, I've got some Muppet gift shop shopping to do, so we'll head over there, and maybe see some Muppet 3D action. Then we're done with that park.

-Then, we'll jump on another bus that will take us over to the Magic Kingdom. We'll be spending the remainder of the day/night here. The plan is to hit up as many rides as possible during the park hours, and then we're into:

(which is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party...)

Where are solid plans are:
-Castle Show @ 7:45
-Princesses during first parade/ 8:15
-Cinderella, Tremaines & Prince Charming
-Belle & Beast
-Peter & Wendy
-Captain Jack
-Fireworks @ 9:30
-Parade @10:30
-Tomorrowland Stage @ 11:45

And then back to the resort for some sleep

Dec 17th:
Today the plan is to get up bright and early (and I mean early!) and check out of the hotel, and then bus it over to MK to be there no later than 8:45 so that we can watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNygbGM-B7o

before getting on:

to get to;

as we have a very special breakfast at:

Then, we'll probably resort hop for a bit, check things out, and then head back to Pop, as it will be time to go home!!

It's a short trip, with one REALLY busy day, but we can make it work!


Stay tuned for the adventure starting tonight!!

 

[katt789]

Disney Survey!

1. What is your name?:

Katt

2. When was the first time you went to Disney World?:

April 1997 for Disney Land, and May 2011 for Disney World


3. When was the last time you went to Disney World?:
Sept 13-19th 2011

4. When is the next time you will be in Disney World?:
Tomorrow!!


GETTING THERE

5. How do you usually get to to Disney World?:
Flying. Being from Western Canada, it would take FAR too long to get there if we drove.

6. What do you do to pass the time while getting there?:
Listen to music, read, sleep, etc

LODGING

8. What is your favorite place you have stayed at and why?
I’ve only stayed at Pop so far, I’d love to stay at AKL, or the Poly though. Pop’s a great place! It’s cheap, and awesome!!



MAGIC KINGDOM

10. What is your favorite attraction in the MK?
Splash Mountain!! I could ride it forever!!

11. What is your least favorite attraction in the MK?
Without even seeing it: Hall of Presidents. Otherwise, Stitch’s Great Escape! UGH! Never again!!


13. What is your favorite place to eat in the MK?
Cosmic Rays for counter service. And either Crystal Palace for breakfast, or Cinderella’s Royal Palace

OTHER DISNEY PLACES

28. Which water parks have you been to and which one was your favorite?
I haven’t been to any of the water parks, I’m not big on the water parks.


38. What is your favorite extinct show/parade?
The main parade at DL was the Lion King parade when we went, and it was totally awesome. I also got to dance & play an instrument in it once!

RANDOMS

39. What is one thing you MUST do every time you go to Disney?
Get a Dole Whip, ride Splash Mtn

40. What is one thing you MUST eat every time you go to Disney?
Dole Whip, Grey Goose Slushie, CARROT CAKE! Hooooly, it’s incredible!

41. What is something you haven't done yet that you look forward to doing?
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party!

42. What is something you have done and have no interest in doing again?
Stitch’s Great Escape, Soarin, can’t lie…wasn’t in to it, and it made me kinda naseas
43. Who is your favorite Disney female?
Ariel, Tink & Rapunzel

44. Who is your favorite Disney male?
Prince Eric, Gaston & Commodore Norrington from POTC…

45. Who is your favorite Disney villain?
Gaston & Scar
46. Your earliest Disney Park Memory:
I told Tigger that he was my favourite when I met him, and he “kissed” my head, but it looked like he was trying to eat me in the picture!

47. What other Disney Parks have you been to outside of Disney World?
Just Disney Land, I really want to visit all the Disney parks around the world though!

48. Have you ever had to explain your love for Disney to someone who just didn't "get" it?
Now that I’ve gone twice in a year, yes, people don’t really get it, though it’s more of a “I don’t get how you can afford it”

49. Blasphemous I know, but where is your favorite place to travel outside of Disney?
Camp! I love summer camp so much, I’ve worked at one for 5 years, and went to the same one forever, it’s amazing!

50. Which Disney character reminds you of you?
Tink, but the original Tink, with the feisty-ness and jealousy that she gets, she’s awesome! And I have to say that I love her!

 

[shan23877]

joining in! I'm really excited to hear about the whole audition process, and of course how you did!

 

[katt789]

DAY ONE BEGINS!!!

Well, it was partially the day that we were leaving, and partially the day before. On Tuesday night, Sylvia had dance until 9, and I was working until midnight-ish. After work, a couple of friends ended up coming over, and Sylvia still had to pack. She came over to my place around 2 am, and then the 5 of us ended up watching movies right up until 5 am, when Sylvia's mom came to pick us up for the airport.

Let me tell you, this was the first, and last, time that I stay up all night before a flight. It's much nicer to just wake up super early!

Once we loaded up the luggage, we were off! EEEEK!! It was a super exciting hour!! When we got to the airport, was when the problems kind of began. The day before, Sylvia had been printing off tickets, and noticed that her ticket had my last name, instead of hers on it! Now, if you know anything about airlines & tickets and having to change things...you can't...so the aircanada employee added her last name to the ticket, and said it would be fine. However, it screwed up our check in, as we were trying to use the machines, rather than go to a person.

(Also, am I the only one who HATES those machines, nearly every time I have to talk to an agent anyway, why bother with them!?) Once everything was cleared up, we quickly whizzed through security, and were stopping at the Tim Hortans beside our gate for some breakfast.

This of course, would be the last Tim's until we got back! We had some time to kill taking pictures at the gate before our flight!

The first flight was pretty uneventful, we landed in Toronto 8 minutes early, which at first, we thought would suck, as we had a 2.5 hour layover. Later, we realized it was a blessing, as we had to stop and pick up our luggage, and then clear customs in Toronto (usually I fly with an American carrier, so we clear customs in Calgary). We waited over an hour after getting off the plane to get our luggage, and then realized we had to throw out our brand new bottles of water to get through security again. Ugh.

While passing through security in TO, they pulled me aside for a special search, which ended up being just the full body scanner, but it was kind of nerve-wracking to be told I had to go to a "special line" Egads!!

Our next flight was just as uneventful as the first, we slept, I attempted to watch Toy Story, but kept falling asleep. When it was time to get off the plane, was of course, when the adventure began! I had taken my shoes off in order to get more comfortable, and when it was time to get off, one of them was missing! We checked in all the aisles around us, and eventually had to wait until the plane cleared, and ask a flight attendant. Luckily, it had been kicked out into the aisle, and then stuck under the refreshments cart, and dragged to the back of the plane!

With my shoe intact, we jumped off the plane, and embraced the warmth and humidity that was already greeting us.

After grabbing our luggage, I pulled the mistake of forgetting what side the Magical Express was on, and the fact that we were on the opposite! So we had to go back up, across, and down, but made it there just in time!

The bus seemed to be waiting on us, as, as soon as we got on, it took off. It was one full bus, let me tell you! There was a school sports team on it as well, and a lot of older people, not a lot of small kids. We made a stop at Caribbean Beach, and then it was our stop, Pop Century! I was home!! Something about that place, I just feel at home there,

I had done the online check in already, so we breezed through that quickly, and stopped to add another day of park tickets to our cards (after talking it through, we decided that the audition wouldn't take all day, and we wanted to adventure as much as we could!!)

Our room was over in the 80's(maybe the 90s?), in building 9 and, being the Pop veteran that I am, I directed Sylvia across the parking lot rather than through the whole resort. Our room was probably the 2nd closest room over there, we were right on the corner near the rubix cube (I've got some pictures coming up soon).

After checking out our room, and changing into shorts!! We made the plan to head to Downtown Disney after some food court dinner. Sylvia and I clearly have similar tastes, as we ended up eating the same thing basically the whole trip. Tonight, it was vegetarian lasagna (which is way better than the picture looks) and CARROT CAKE!!

For anyone that knows me, they know that I RAVE about Disney's carrot cake. Disney food is so amazing plain & simple, but the carrot cake, is just amazingly incredible!! I love it, and was very very excited to be having it agian.

********

Here is where I will have to leave you for now, as I have many things to do today, I hope you're enjoying so far!!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Good luck with the auditions!

 

[rockin2it]

I read your Sept TR so I am looking forward to reading about this one as well! I can't wait to hear about the audition and all that wonderful stuff!

 

[ronnmel]

Thank you for posting the link in your other TR, otherwise I might have never found this!!

 

[jane2073]

I have read (and enjoyed) your other trip reports! I can't wait to read how this one turned out!

 

[katt789]

Good luck with the auditions!

Thank-you!!

I read your Sept TR so I am looking forward to reading about this one as well! I can't wait to hear about the audition and all that wonderful stuff!

Yay!! I'm glad you came over to this TR for the adventure!!

Thank you for posting the link in your other TR, otherwise I might have never found this!!

Haha! I realized it was probably a good idea rather than attempting everyone to just hunt for it, and I'd like to keep all you guys updated!

I have read (and enjoyed) your other trip reports! I can't wait to read how this one turned out!

Thanks! I'm glad you're here to enjoy!

joining in! I'm really excited to hear about the whole audition process, and of course how you did!

Yay! I'm glad you came over! I have another amazing Ariel story! And do I remember something about you going back to WDW in May?

 

[katt789]

Sylvia & I finished up all we could eat of our dinners (and later decided that we could probably have shared most of our meals while at WDW) and headed over to a bus stop to get to Downtown Disney. We disembarked quite quickly, after not a long wait (oh Disney Transit, how amazing you are!) those bus announcements always make me so happy!

Before we knew it, we were there!!

My goal for the night was to get most of my shopping done! As we doing such a short trip, and park hopping so much, I didn't want to send anything back to the gift shop, and certainly didn't want to carry it around in the parks all day, so tonight, was the time to shop!

Of course, this was our first stop:

I knew what I needed for the people I had left back at home, but I ended up getting; a Princess Aurora dress for my friend's daughter (though it'll be 4 years before it'll actually fit her ) and a pen & notebook for myself (ya gotta have something to keep those trip notes in!)

We made sure to wander through the whole store & of course, try on some hats while we were there!

My best Kermit impression! Sylvia got the Goofy hat for one of the friends we work with, and a Tinkerbell & Ariel cup for the twins that she nannys for back home. Along with a couple of other things, but I couldn't tell ya what!

We made a plan to circle back towards the busses, as things were slowly closing down, and we wanted to hit up Goofy's candy store before leaving. Along the way though, we were distracted by the awesomeness of TrenD!

Wow! Let me tell you, I have looked briefly in this store before, but haven't ever really found anything, but today, I found SO MUCH stuff that I liked.

The whole "too big/baggy for you, but still fits and looks good" style really seems to be in, I got a muppet 3/4 sleeve shirt, and an Ariel one, while Sylvia got an Alice one, and a new dress.

By the time we were done trying on things & buying them, the store was closed, so we simply circled around to the bus stop, we had a huge day ahead of us, and wanted to get some rest before the audition!

We got back to Pop, picked out our clothes for the next day, packed my park bag (including our jazz dance shoes ) and set the wake up call before drifting off!

 

[katt789]

Our wake-up call this morning went off bright and early at 7 am, which was pretty early for us, as we both work nights at home, and it was only 5 am back home! GAH! However, there's always that "OH MY GOD WE'RE AT DISNEY" magic that really wakes one up, no matter what the time is! We quickly got up, dressed, and even threw on some sunscreen.

While Sylvia was finishing up, I popped out the door to take some pics around the outside of our room.

Our room number! And the view down to the right of the room (we were RIGHT on the corner)

Pac Man! I love it!

Once Sylvia was finished getting ready, we meandered our way over to the food court for breakfast, deciding that we would be sharing the food today, we got a Pop Waffle and some grapes & drinks to share!

Sylvia had to present it all nice & pretty! Once we were finished eating, we headed out to the bus stop, we had a lot to accomplish today, and we were starting at Animal Kingdom! We didn't wait too long for a bus, and before we knew it, we were there!

I love all the Christmas decorations, they're so cool!! This was definitely the earliest that I'd ever been at AK without having a breakfast reservation! Luckily, the crowds weren't that bad at all! I had expected it to be mobbed, especially after what a friend had said (and he used to work down there, so I trusted his opinion) So we had some time to grab some tourist-y photos before going in!

And that was the moment they began; the Brandi poses that is.... For anyone who has read my other TR's, you may notice that this pose comes into play alot. For others, I'll be sure to explain. A friend of mine, Brandi, has more pictures of her in that pose, than any other, up on facebook, and she seems to always be making it, and about a year ago, I started to do it as my go to pose as well, and right after taking this picture, Sylvia and I decided that we had to get the characters to do it this trip as often as we could remember.

It was probably about 8:30 at this point, so we jumped in line at the turnstiles and waited, full of excitement!

They let us in around 8:45, 8:50, and told us all about the exhibits and how we could take some time looking through them, but everyone simply raced up to the next rope, it was important to get to the rides first!!

While we were waiting, they had some games of x & o's going on, I'm thinking that the winner was winning fast passes for later in the day. Sylvia went up, but ended up against a little girl, so obviously let her win! Before we knew it, they were walking back the rope & we were headed into Asia! I was SO excited to get back on Everest, it's one of my FAVES, (which is impressive as the caterpiller rollercoaster for kids used to terrify me too much! haha), and Sylvia had never been on, so it was an exciting moment!

Verdict: AH-MAZING! Absolutely loved it, and we jumped right back in line for it. The line had formed a bit, but still was under a 5 minute wait. We used this time wisely, but showing our fiercest yetti (dinosaur?) impressions!

Yup...we're just that cool...

Of course I had to grab a shot of Emily's husband for her!

We asked for the first row this time, which would be totally awesome! And of course, it was! This was also where our posing for pictures began!

We decided it was best to grab a fp for later now, and head through Africa for FOTLK.

Along the way, I peeked down the character trails, as it was almost 9:30, and wondered aloud "I wonder what time they'll actually be out" and as we neared the start of the trail, out walked Baloo & Louie from around the corner! I gasped pretty loudly & Sylvia defintiely laughed at me!

We followed them down the path, and were their first friends of the day!

With that incredible picture done with, we headed on through Africa, we had some important stuff to get to today!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm joining. Good luck with the audition! I mean, I know you already had it, but I hope it went well for you.

 

[ronnmel]

That POP waffle looks delicious! I can't believe I only had one my whole trip.

Love the whole doing a pose with the characters! Fun!

 

[ronnmel]

Joyeux Noel to you!!

 

[katt789]

I'm joining. Good luck with the audition! I mean, I know you already had it, but I hope it went well for you.

Thanks!! I'll be sure to actually update sometime soon to get to the audition part!

That POP waffle looks delicious! I can't believe I only had one my whole trip.

It really was! I'm really not a person who likes pancakes or waffles, but Disney ones are just too good!

Joyeux Noel to you!!

And back to you! I hope everyone's holiday has gone great!

 

[katt789]

Sylvia & I got our Brandi pose with King Louie & Baloo, saying the biggest of thank you's, and moved on, into Africa! Our plan was to check the wait time for the Safari before catching the 10:30 FOTLK. The wait time was under 15 minutes still, so we jumped in line, and it turned out to practically be a walk-on! As we boarded our jeep, I made sure to point out to Sylvia, that there was in fact, no dancing on this ride!

And then we were off!

Our safari guide was little lack-luster. It may have been early in the morning, but we'd already been going for 3 hours, and she was just too un-enthusiastic. Oh well, we made it fun for ourselves! A little comment from Sylvia throughout the ride that I found adorably hilarious: "I know this is a stupid question, but are the animals real?" It was near enough to the beginning of the safari that it was understandable. And my mother asked the same question while looking through pictures yesterday, so it definitely makes sense!

With our animal safari over, we were done in Africa, and headed down to Camp Minnie Mickey in time for my favorite show. Sylvia had seen video of the bird dancers already, and was suuuuuper excited for it, and, as any of you who have read my previous TR's know, I have far too many pictures of it, so it will be in an update all it's own!!

 

[katt789]

I just wanted to pop in and say a couple of things, first off, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays & a Happy New Year to you all out there.

Secondly, to share a story that any of you who read the last TR were probably wondering about. To explain:

I have planned (and booked and paid for) a trip down to WDW in Sept, from the 10-17th, staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, with 6 day park hoppers and free dining, for me & my Mom. I had various ways planned on how to surprise her about the trip, and since we live in different cities, I decided to do it at Christmas. I made a little scrapbook that had pictures and explained that we weren't going to the mountains in Sept, we'd be getting on a plane, and going here: and had pictures of Florida, and the inside of AKl, the next page had a picture of the AKL sign & Mickey. The rest of the book had pics of what we could do while we were down there. Along with a bunch of brochures, and a planning dvd.

She took it great!! She's still a little in shock that she's going to WDW, but is excited!! She also this morning said she doesn't think she could plan a trip, there's too much to think about with just dining! (Which is true! I spent over a year planning my first trip...now it's alot easier)

We're super excited to go! And if anyone's going to be there during that time, we'll be sure to try & say hi!

 

[ronnmel]

I'm glad your mom is excited about the trip! I think the scrapbook was a great idea!