Adventure Is Out There! Part Four

We had started with 175 people.. it was down to about 40. I was standing in line, talking to new friends. I was feeling kind of nervous to show the judges my tattoo... what if that took away from my chances of playing a character? To my relief, most people auditioning had tattoos of some sort. My turn came, and the judge looked up at me with a... well it was supposed to be a smile, I'm pretty sure. But it came out as more of an "oh-my-gosh-I-have-looked-at-a-million-tattoos-and-now-I-have-to-look-at-40-more" grimace. Poor guy. I stuck out my left arm, showing him the cross inked onto my wrist. "It's one inch long, half an inch wide," I recited. He grunted and pointed to where his fellow judge was taking pictures of all the auditioners. He,too, looked like he was ready to smash his fist into the next person who so much as said "cheese". What a lively pair. 

I bounced over to the red velvet back drop and offered the weary fellow a sympathetic smile. Nothin. So... I did what every high school cheerleader does when a photo is about to be take. Hand placed on hip? Check. Hip popped? Check. Head tilted? Double check. And... SMILE! Quick. Easy. Painless. Well, I at least looked less awkward than this poor person who looked like they were suffering from severe constipation. Probably just nerves...

So after everyone had taken the "tattoo walk of shame", we were instructed to spread out so we could learn the next set of choreography. Now I will confess to you that I was scared that this dance would consist of prima ballerina moves. You know, "First you're going to À la seconde into a chasse' into a grand jete' ".. that kind of stuff. the choreographer stepped to the front, looked us dead in the eye, and informed us that the dance would be ten 8-counts long. Ten. 8-counts. Long. Now, for those who may not be as familiar with dancing, for an audition dance, that is long. I was a cheerleader. Most of my dances were eight 8-counts at most. So this was going to be a challenge. I sucked in a breath of air and let it out. I planned on meeting this challenge head on. 

We began. The learning process was as follows: "ok, here is the first 8-count. Repeat. Got it? Ok, moving on!" There was no mercy. None. The first three 8-counts were pretty easy. More complicated than the parade dance, but I did it with no problems. After that... my fear was confirmed. He started speaking in French that was occasionally interrupted by an English word or two such as  "French word, French word, TURN!, French word, French word, NOW WITH THE MUSIC!" Wait, what? What just happened? 

At this point, many people, including some of the males, were distressed. Ok, I noticed a couple of tears. I was almost included in the tears category. I don't like not being able to do things. But I bucked up. This is Disney; they are  going to be looking for a smile at all times. So we proceeded to do the dance to the music (hahaha more like shuffle and slide around like newborn horses and hit the ending pose). Now there were about three people (including the no-nonsense Rockette girl) who rocked the dance. They could kick their feet all the way up to the back of their heads, the whole bit. I'm pretty sure there was a group of girls conspiring in the back to murder them after the auditions were over, but I'm sure I was mistaken! 

We ran through the dance two more times, and then we moved on to the animation sequence. This was the saving grace to all the "newborn horses" in the group, myself included. We were given two scenes: "At the Beach" and "Washing Your Dog". We had to perform an 8-count long mime scene, doing whatever came to mind. We just had to include a beginning, a middle, and an end, all wrapped around something funny. It sounded pretty simple. We practiced a few times, but soon found out that it wasn't as easy as it sounded. We had to over exaggerate EVERYTHING. Literally. If we were putting on sunscreen during our "At the Beach" scene, the sunscreen bottle had to be bigger than us. If we were laying a towel out, that towel had to be as heavy as a sheet of metal. Little things like that make the scene. 

Now I wanted to stand out. I didn't want to surf or lay out on the beach.. everyone else was doing that. I said a quick prayer to the Lord, asking for an idea. Immediately a though popped into my head: chasing crabs. That's it! I'll spot a few crabs on the beach, and chase them around; I'll pick one up and it will pinch my finger- there's the comedy aspect. Perfect. So I pantomimed like I had never pantomimed before.. I actually never had pantomimed anything before.. but it was fun! It was like acting like a four year old in public, but it was completely socially acceptable! 

It took about 45 minutes all and all to rehearse everything. Then we were told what the final audition would be like. We would be in groups of five- only the five who were auditioning would be in the room with the judges. A song would start playing, and we would begin scene number one, "At the Beach" , at the end of the scene, we would do the dance. Then we would do do scene number two, "Washing Your Dog", and repeat the dance one more time, and it was over. 

Everyone went into the holding room, waiting for their number to be called. Meanwhile, the people who had the dance down helped the rest of us. I had just gotten in place to practice the dance, when my number was called. I was in the first group to audition. Great... good-bye practice time! I took a deep breath. I didn't know the dance past the first three 8-counts.. so my only hope was to absolutely kill the pantomiming. The five of us walked into the audition room. The judges looked about as cheerful as this... 

..so I felt pretty confident. ;) Anyways, the music started. I had no idea what song was playing. But it was annoying. Extremely annoying. I chased some invisible crabs like a dog going after the mailman. I did the first three 8-counts of that danced like my life depended on it, *shuffle shuffle shuffle* HIT END POSE! Then I washed a tiny, invisible dog with some invisible shampoo that smelled like the tears of Jesus. Then I did the dance again, and I owned that end pose. I owned it! Because this is Disney, and at Disney we own things we don't really own! 

So that's it. I walked out of that audition with my head up.I had such a great time, meeting new friends, acting like a four year old, and living that expression "dance like no one is watching"... because you will NEVER see me dance like I danced in that audition. :) 

A couple of weeks later, I got an email from Disney. All I saw was 'Congra-", and that's all I needed to see. I became this cyclone of happiness. I had been accepted into the program AND I had been offered one of the most difficult positions at Disney to get. Character performer. I've never felt so much pride and joy before. At the same time, I was completely humbled because God had blessed me with a HUGE opportunity. What a gift! 

So, finally at the conclusion of my Disney auditions...My advice to anyone who is thinking about doing this... DO IT. Don't think about it. When you are at the audition, don't pause and think about how silly you feel. Guess what? 150 other people feel exactly the same way. And that's what Disney is looking for! The goofiest goof ball who ever goofed the world. 

So I now, when people ask what my job is, I get to say, "I'm a Disney character performer". But when I actually get there, I plan on answering, "I make believe." :)

Adventure Is Out There! Part Three

The next morning I woke up energized and excited. I put on my cute lil audition outfit, my dancin' shoes (literally dancing shoes... I bought them at Academy for 20 bucks! Booya!), and threw my hair up in a poofy pony tail (thank you cheerleading!). My hotel provided a lovely breakfast consisting of oatmeal and a blueberry muffin. I was feeling pretty darn good. 

The audition sign in started at 10:00 AM, so I figured arriving at 9:30 would be perfect. Well the hotel shuttle was leaving at 8:30 AM, ready or not. So I ended up leaving with the driver, Alberto, and another passenger earlier than I expected. I double checked with Alberto that he had directions to the dance studio, where the auditions were being held. We dropped off the other passenger first, since I didn't have to be at the dance studio for another hour. I didn't mind the idea of being first in line; that would let the judges know I meant business. 

Alberto and I were driving around, having a really nice chat. I love meeting new people and hearing their stories. It's so interesting to hear what others have done. I found out that Alberto has been a driver for the hotel for eight years, he has five kids, and he loves driving because he gets to meet so many different people. But then he got very quiet. He kept glancing at his printed driving instructions. I asked, "Alberto, do you know where you're going?" He paused. "Um.. no." I laughed, putting him at ease. We had plenty of time, so I pulled up the address on the GPS on my phone (again, thank God for this handy little thing... such a life saver!). 

We made it to the dance studio at 9:00 AM. The line was waaaaaaay out the door- I was shocked! There were so many people! I don't know about you, but when I'm doing something crazy like auditioning to be a Disney character, I feel like I'm the only one in the world doing it. This was a reality check. About 100 people were at this tiny dance studio! And we still had an hour to go! 

Alberto wished me luck, and I hopped out of the shuttle. Most of the participants had come with parents, so I felt a little awkward walking up alone. But I pulled my shoulders back, determined to at least look confident, even if I didn't feel it. I went to the back of the line where three perfectly normal looking girls stood chatting. I decided if I wanted to make some new friends, it had to be now or never. So I introduced myself, and to my relief, they were all  SO nice. So the time passed quickly as we all swapped stories. It was also a relief to know that I wasn't the only one there with a "pending" application. In fact, one of the lovely girls I met had done the College Program the previous year, and was returning for a second run! So at least I know she loved it! 

Finally, at 10:00, they opened the doors. We all walked in and began to sign in. We were assigned numbers... I was number 20. Then they took our height... I was 60 inches (that's five feet even, for the record). Then we all just sat around and stretched for a good 30 minutes while everyone else signed in. I took this opportunity to check out the different people. There were SO many different types of people of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, etc. One girl had a Rockette jacket and duffle bag. She kept to herself, doing pushups and crunches the entire time. Other girls were stretching like they were made of Twizzlers. Good Lord... some girls were putting their feet behind their heads... why? No idea. What made me roll my eyes the most was that there were three girls walking around, actually more like floating around, giving random people compliments. It was so Disney princessish. "Oh my goodness, what lovely hair you have!" was often thrown around with doe- like eyes wide open. Ugh. Really?! Could you be anymore obvious?! And the answer to that question is YES. A couple of people brought head shots.  But one girl in particular took it to a new level. In her head shot, her hair was bright red, she was wearing a purple bikini top, green leggings, and she was laying on her back by a river with her hair splayed out beneath her head. I had a bit of trouble placing who she reminded me of... any ideas? 

Anyways... all that to say.. there were a lot of people there! Finally, everyone got checked in. About 175 people were there in total. Two men stepped to the front. I was expecting a "Welcome to Disney character auditions! We are so glad you are here! What a magical time we are going to have!" Hahahaha... no. They said a short "welcome", but that was it. They had us stand up and immediately a choreographer taught us a parade dance. It was a simple two 8-count dance. I was thinking the entire time, "This is cake! Hallelujah!" The song "Firework" by Katy Perry was playing, and you could tell this was the choreographer's song. He was very... flamboyant shall we say? He was a great teacher, but he was so fast paced. After we learned the parade dance, it was time to audition for round 1! We were split into 3 groups: Group one was numbers 1-50, group two was numbers 50-100, and group three was 101-175. I was number 20, so I was in group one. 

Here's what we had to do: "Firework" would be playing the entire time. We would each dance in groups of four. For the first 8-count, we had to act like character on a float. We had to wave and blow kisses to the "crowd", acting like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, etc. I picked Minnie Mouse. Then we had to move right into the parade dance, marching from one end of the room to the other towards the judges. We got to watch everyone in our group. It was great getting to watch others because you could really see who was good and maybe get some ideas from them. 

After group one was done, we were moved to the "holding room". We had to wait for the other two groups audition. It was agony waiting and waiting and waiting. I've never been so nervous. Once the other two groups finished, the two judges entered the holding room. With no greeting, they said, "If we call out your number, say 'here'." They began to called out "1, 4, 5, 8,9,13,14..." I didn't breath. We didn't have a clue if this meant we were cut or not. "...20..." "HERE!" I squeaked. I started shaking. My new friends kindly put their hands on my shoulders. I probably lost the color in my face... what little I had anyways ;) They called the last of the numbers. Silence. More silence. "Ok, if we called your number please get your stuff and move to the other room; you made it. If not, thanks for coming out, but we are letting you go." It didn't sink in for me. I dumbly looked at the three girls I was with. What did that mean? Am I going home? No?! I made it?! OH MY GOSH I MADE IT PAST ROUND ONE? Yes. Ok. Ok. 

I gathered my things and followed the jubilant procession into the next room. We were all busy congratulating each other, we didn't notice the two judges step to the front of the classroom. "Congratulations, you made it past round one. Now the real work begins. Please fill out these forms. We're going to need a description of any tattoos and/or body piercings you have, then we will take a photo of you. Then you will learn the second part of your audition." 

Stay tuned for Part Four! 

Adventure Is Out There! Part Two

I arrived home from the Disney cruise, still heavy with "after vacation-itis". But unfortunately, I didn't have time to dawdle. I needed to prepare for my trip to audition for a Disney character position. I knew I would have to travel alone. That was enough to give me butterflies. But I was excited too. I would get to embark on yet another adventure! I decided that the AmTrack would be my best mode of transportation, so I got online, booked my train ticket and hotel room, and started unpacking. If you're anything like me, unpacking usually takes at least two weeks. Ugh. But it was crunch time. So I became a tornado of clothes, launching them from the suitcase into the washing machine. 

After unpacking, I realized that I would need transportation from the train station to my hotel. I have never, ever been in a taxi before. Why, you ask? Uh, have you seen Taken? No thank you. No taxis for me. So I hired a concierge service. I had to giggle. I mean concierge... it sounds so fancy! I was still skeptical about letting a stranger drive me around in an unfamiliar city. But it would have to do. 

My departure date arrived quickly, and my mom was gracious enough to get up early to drive me to Oklahoma City. Thanks to GPS, we managed to navigate Brick Town. That's a small miracle. We arrived at the train station, and it was nothing like I expected. I was expecting a scene from Little House on the Prairie, but it was nothing like that. In fact, we were greeted by a man with exactly two teeth. I clutched my duffle bag. This was not the sort of place to let my guard down. 

Once I got on the train, I relaxed a little. The seats reclined, and there was plenty of seats, so I didn't have to sit next to a stranger. I like to have my personal space. Respect the bubble! Anyways, I was traveling to Fort Worth, Texas before boarding another train that would take me to Austin.Upon arriving at the Fort Worth train station, the first thing a person said to me was, "What the *(rhymes with duck)*? Watch it!" Welcome to Texas, y'all! That rubbed me the wrong way. But I was determined to have a good experience. I straightened my back, held my head high, and marched right inside. I was starving, so I made my way to the Subway inside. I ordered and went to an empty table. Behind me was a table with two suitcases, I assumed saving someone's spot. Sure enough, soon a young man and his lady friend slipped in behind me. They were very loud. Soon, these two old ladies came up to the table behind me, and said that those were their suitcases and their table. I just knew that the man and woman would be kind and move immediately. WRONGO. They both stared at the ladies (who were wearing the most precious old-lady hats.. how could you be rude to these women?), and told them to buzz off... in a much less civilized way. I was appalled, disgusted, shocked, you name it. 

Finally, it was time to board my train to Austin. It was a pleasant trip; I got to read and listen to my tunes the whole time. But I was getting nervous.. soon I would have to get in a car with a stranger. I concocted a plan. I would keep my headphones in my phone and pretend to be talking to someone. But I would really have the GPS on with the hotel address plugged into the phone, so I could watch and make sure he was taking me the correct way. Genius! 

When I arrived in Austin, I found Anthony, the man driving me, and sized him up. He looked nice enough. He didn't smile. At all. But he seemed very business like, despite his short gym shorts. Ok, I was a little worried at this point. I must say, I put on a performance worthy of some sort of award. I was talking to my friend, Stephanie, and we were discussing her troubled love life. It was very convincing. But the whole time I had my eyes glued to my phone screen. Our little arrow stayed on the blue line. Ok, so far so good. Wait. Wait. WAIT. We are going the opposite way now. We are off the blue line. So I thought fast. "Stephanie" asked me something about the auditions, and I told her "Oh I'm so impressed with how thorough Disney is! Well they know who is going to be there because we had to sign up. They had us provide an emergency contact, so if we don't arrive at the auditions, they will call them to let them know we are missing." None of that is true. I don't know what happened, but immediately we got back on that blue road. Take note, lone travelers! Nothing is too embarrassing when it comes to keeping yourself safe. Including having a fake phone conversation.

I arrived at my hotel. I was exhausted from 12 hours of traveling, so I immediately went to my room. I felt like Mia Thermopalis from Princess Diaries. The room was amazing! Two beds and a huge bathroom. I, being a mature adult, jumped from bed to bed for about 10 minutes. Then I readied myself for bed, and passed out beneath the plush comforter. I had to be up early for the auditions in the morning. 

To be continued! 

Adventure Is Out There! Part One

Phew! It sure has been a while. My life has taken a left turn at Hectic Street. But let me tell you, it's about to get even crazier. And I mean that in the best way possible.

Earlier this year, I was talking to a good friend of mine after church. We always have these delightfully long chats, you see. And we got to talking about life, college, and what the heck we are going to do with our lives. She mentioned the Disney College Program. Maybe you've heard of it? Well, I had not. This friend of mine has this contagious excitement about her, and before I knew it, I was fist pumping the air declaring triumphantly, "WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY!" And then she said it.

"You have to apply first."

Well. There goes my chances! I thought of mountains of paper work piling up in my room. Nope. Not for me.

Fast forward a month or two. My church hosted a ladies Q & A night. Anyone could submit a question, and hope that it would be answered by the wives of the pastors of the church. This was my opportunity. I submitted the typical "I am a young woman who doesn't know what to do with my life" question. And to my giddy surprise, they answered it! And that answer changed my life.

All the pastors' wives agreed on an answer: Go on an adventure.  Do something crazy fun. Do something you won't be able to do once you're married with kids. You're young, you're unattached. Go do something that you can look back on when you are old and grey and think, "yeah, I did that." And at that moment, the Lord spoke to my heart. He told me to apply for that Disney College Program.

Immediately after arriving home, I got online to sign up for the program. Only they weren't accepting applications. So I selected to receive email updates. This would alert me as soon as the application process began. It became a waiting game.

Early September. I'm at home, chilling on the couch in my sweatpants. *ding* "The Disney College Program is now-" That's all I needed to see. I texted my friend, alerting her that the application process had begun. I opened my laptop, and applied, giving my general information and resume; I also had to identify which positions I was most interested in. (I put "Disney Character" as my top pick. Who doesn't want to be a Disney character?!) Immediately after applying, I received an email telling me to begin the Web Interview. I began the timed Web based interview answering case-scenario questions on a scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree. About five minutes after I had completed that, I received an email telling me I had been identified as a "strong candidate", and I needed to schedule a phone interview. I scheduled the interview for September 15th at 5:15pm.

September 15th rolled around. I am not a prideful person. But I rock at interviews. Face to face interviews. Phone interviews are a completely different story. I have never been so nervous in my life. At 5:17 pm, I received the phone call. I was already sweating profusely at that point. Disney was two minutes late... this can't be normal. I have to be honest. The interview did not go very well. I couldn't really understand what my interviewer was asking because the connection was horrible. I'm not making this up. At one point, I got so tired of asking, "I'm sorry could you repeat that?". I was determined to make my ears stretch, so I wouldn't have to ask that again. She asked a question. "Have you ever worked with mermaids?" I pause. Careful, girl. This is Disney. Mermaids, Ariel. Ok, makes sense I guess. "Well, I have not worked with them, but I've heard they are a delight to work with." Silence. "What?" I take a breath. I will not ask her to repeat her question! "I have not worked with them, but I sure would love to." Silence. I can't take it anymore. "I am really sorry, but I don't think I heard the question correctly." She enunciated every syllable. "Have. You. Worked. With. Money." Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Face palm! The interview lasted an hour and 15 minutes. I also had to identify the dimensions and placement of my tattoo. That made me nervous too. Because the "Disney Look" does not allow visible tattoos.

I get an email soon after, giving me the character audition dates and locations. I was going to have to go to Austin, Texas two days after arriving home from a week long Disney Caribbean cruise. At this point I was starting to spiral out of control with excitement. And then........

*stay tuned for Part Two!* :)