Happy Birthday to the Boss

    Oh Boy! Today marks Mickey and Minnie Mouse's 85th birthdays. In honor of their birthday, some fun facts about the fabulous First Couple!

• Mickey first appeared on November 18, 1928 as "Steamboat Willie" in the first ever cartoon with synchronized sound.
• Mickey was originally named Mortimer, but was changed to Mickey when Walt's life said Mortimer sounded too pompous, and suggested Mickey personified the qualities of fun and humbleness.
• Mickey first started wearing his characteristic white glove in "Opry House", a video short released on March 28, 1929. He wore them in most subsequent appearances and still wears them today.
• Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in honor of his 50th birthday on November 18th, 1978.
• The first licensed Disney products were school writing tablets.
• One of the most iconic mickey mouse products of all time is the Mickey Mouse wrist watch. The first one was sold for $2.95 in 1933.
• Fantasia, 1940, was Mickey Mouse's feature film debut. The Sorcerer's Apprentice was one of his most famous roles ever. The film introduced stereophonic sound to motion pictures through a special sound system called Fantasound. It cost $2.28 million to make.
• Minnie's full name is Minerva Mouse
• Mickey and Minnie were introduced in the cartoon Plane Crazy in 1928. Minnie spent the whole cartoon evading Mickey's kiss attempts. She even parachutes out of a plane to avoid him.
• Minnie Mouse was originally designed in the flapper fashion.
• Both of Minnie's parents are farmers.
• Mickey was originally voiced by Walt Disney. He was the first ever cartoon character to talk. His first words were "Hot dog!" Since then, only Jim MacDonald and Wayne Allwine have had the honor.
• Minnie was also originally voiced by Walt Disney! Later, she was voiced for a short time by Judy Garland.
• Over the years, Mickey has had 175 different costumes. Minnie, not to be outdone, has over 200.
• Walt Disney said Mickey and Minnie Mouse were married in "private life", though they have never actually been married on screen.

Thanks to
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/203857/15-fun-facts-mickey-mouse.html
http://mickeyandminnie.tumblr.com/post/6743868876/10-facts-about-our-favorite-lady-mouse-1
http://www.babble.com/celebrity/mickey-mouse-birthday-10-fun-facts-you-may-not-know-about-mickey-mouse/

Why The Heck Not?

    After my audition in Charlotte, I started to get pretty excited about the prospect of working for The Mouse. I started researching the apartments and things to do in the area, concerts that are going to be close by, how much season passes to Universal are (more importantly, which of the season passes is the best deal), who I want my roommates to be, the list goes on. Basically, I've had Disney on the brain for the past month and a half. I had my Disney dashboard open on my phone 24/7 waiting for it to update. The people in charge of the audition said their meeting to discuss who had gotten character performer jobs and who hadn't was October 16th, so I was expecting my application status to update pretty soon after that. The 16th rolled around, no word. The 17th, surely they'll update it. No word. The days kept getting longer.

    A month or so goes by and I had heard nothing. I was starting to assume that I hadn't gotten the job. Why else would it take so long? And then, Tuesday, October 29th, I was in my dorm between classes getting ready to leave and I got an email from disneycareers.com. I couldn't help but hold my breath opening it.
Congratulations! You have been extended an offer with the Disney College Program.
YES! Click this link to see the offer you were extended. I clicked the link.
Congratulations! You have been extended an offer at Walt Disney World, Florida.
Click the link to see what job you were offered. I clicked the link again.
Congratulations! This is your candidate ID. Click the link to see your job offer.
I clicked another link.
FINALLY. I had been offered a job as a Character Performer. Awesome!

   I was so excited and there was nobody around to tell. I called my mom, no answer. Called my dad, no answer. Jesus. Is nobody talking to me today?? I called Mom again. Finally she picked up.
Guess what! Guess what!!
What?
Guess who's going to Disney World!!
The excitement commenced. I walked into class and sat down and, as luck would have it, Pop called me back. I told my professor I had to take the call and bounced into the hallway.
Guess what! Guess what!!
What?
I'm going to be Minnie Mouse!
More excitement. I went back to class and my brain started working. Never a good thing. Do I really want to do this? Do I really want to be gone for that long? I'm going to miss a whole semester. I started thinking waaayyyyyy too much about waaayyyyy too many things.

   And then it hit me. Why the heck not? I have nothing to lose. The worst that can happen is I hate it and come home. That's it. So, why the heck not? October 31st, I hit the accept button.

Parade Marches and Beach Days

Auditioning

   Sunday October 6th, my alarm went off about 6:30AM, and immediately, I started having the usual 6:30 AM internal conflict with myself.

Do I really have to get up?
   Yes you do.
But, am I really going to get a character job?
   Probably not.
Then why am I going?
   Why not?
Because I want to sleep.
   Not a good reason.
But but but... Ok. Do I have to take a shower?
   Your hair is dirty.
I'll put it in a pony tail.
   It's not long enough to put in a pony tail.
I'll wear a bandana.
   You don't have any bandanas.
Fine.

   I got myself up and out of bed, washed my hair, and was on the road at 7:30. The next few hours in the car were, of course, passed with the help of Disney music. Finally, I realized I wasn't nervous at all. I wasn't even anxious really. I wasn't an actor, or a singer, or a dancer, and I didn't really look like any of the princesses. I would be fine working in attractions. But, what the heck. Best case scenario, I get the job. If I get cut, I'll go shopping.

   Two hours later, I walked into the studio where the auditions were being held and immediately felt out of place. There were girls in their full dance gear, hair and makeup done, ready to go, and there I was in jeans and a tank top, tennis shoes and hair that almost didn't even get washed that morning. The nerves hit right that second.

    I met some people and stuck with them during registration. They got our heights and contact information, gave us numbers, and then started splitting us into three groups. This is where the nerves kicked in even more. In our three big groups, they taught us a parade route, put us in four lines, played a song and said "march". I tripped and fell, stumbled all over myself, turned the wrong way, stepped on the wrong foot and had a fantastic time doing it. They gathered us all in a group, called out the numbers that had made the cut, and sent everybody else home. I was already peeling my number off and finding my car keys when they called my number. What? Ok. I put my keys back away and went into the next room.

    Each of us got an application to fill out. They told us how the rest of the day was going to go, took our headshots, and sent us back to the choreographer. I got back into the room with everyone that had made the cut from all three groups. All the serious dancers were there stretching and doing warm ups. There were girls in high heeled ballroom dancing shoes and people doing splits, and there was me in my jeans and tennis shoes, looking around, wondering how the heck I'd gotten there.

    We did an animation workshop where we had to act like Disney characters on the beach, they taught us a dance, and again, split us up into small groups, this time according to height. Being the shorty that I am, I was in the very first group. Which was good, I didn't have much time to forget the dance. They started the music and off we went. I fumbled through the steps, and laughed every time I messed up, I tried to apply my middle school dance classes to the turns and kept my balance for the most part, and then the dance finished and we did our characters at the beach bit. I had a really good time with that part, building a sand castle and setting up an umbrella that was WAAYYYYY too big and catching a fish that pulled my fishing pole out of my hand. It was a fun experience. We finished, they thanked us and sent us on our way.

    I drove home, thinking about the audition. I'd had fun, but at the end of the day, I really probably wasn't very good at it. I figured I'd leave it up to fate for the time being.

Getting Started

Applying to the Happiest Place on Earth

     Scrolling through my Disney College Program news feed, I see people posting about writing blogs while they're in Disney, and, the follower that I am, that seemed like a pretty good idea. So here goes mine. My Disney Adventure.
     Sitting in my bed about 3AM one night, I started thinking about what I was doing with my spring semester, and since all the best ideas hit at 3 AM, of course this one was brilliant. We had just gotten back from Disney World, and, I started thinking, what the heck? I'll apply to the college program. The worst that can happen is they say no, right? So at 3AM, I pulled out my computer and got started. By 4 I was done, and was hitting the submit button. The next morning sitting in class, I got an email back and, what do you know, I got a web interview. I'm guessing that just means I'm not a criminal and I'm enrolled in college classes, so I pass the first screening. I resisted the temptation to completely ignore my professor and do the interview right then and there, and later that day I sat down, did the web interview. Not a minute after I'd submitted it, an email bounced back and gave me a phone interview. And so the waiting started. I signed up for my phone interview and sat back.
     A week or so later, the day for my phone interview rolled around and I had been in bed sick all weekend. It was a Monday, and that day I had been in the Student Health Center all morning. I walked into my dorm and my phone rang. I did my best to sound like I wasn't on my deathbed, I tried to be polite and funny and considerate and all the things I see in Disney cast members. I mentioned my interest in being a character, and my interviewer told me about an audition the next weekend in Charlotte for character performers.
     And so it began.