FROM: Amber Earns Her Ears Published Mondays

Amber's Wild Week at Disney World

It all started quite well: Amber meets Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, and scores a FastPass from Peter Pan, but then things go all to hell as a child gets stuck in a fountain at Downtown Disney and Amber is accosted by a drunken guest.

- Amber Sewell, July 4, 2011

As each week passes, I'm amazed when I look back at my schedule and try to recall everything that happened during the previous seven days. Events that feel as if they happened ages ago were merely two days past, and things that feel as if they were yesterday I wrote about last week.

This week has had some fun stories.

Amber Meets Rapunzel and Flynn Rider

On Tuesday, I went to Magic Kingdom with my roommate, Lindsey. Flynn Rider's last day was Saturday the 2nd, and we were determined to see him as many times as possible. Lindsey had already visited with Rapunzel and Flynn on numerous occasions, but I had yet to see either of them.

We planned to arrive as soon as the park opened, because the line to meet these two can get as long as the line for Soarin' (which is pretty long!). I woke up early, showered, made coffee and bagels, and even had time to fall asleep watching Wimbledon before Lindsey was awake and ready to go. We caught the bus to Magic Kingdom and found ourselves in place for the 12:30 PM meeting with Rapunzel and Flynn at 10:30 AM.

Lindsey had a tactic: we would swap back and forth. I would stay in line with my autograph book, and she would go visit some characters, then we would switch. She visited with Alice and got some ice cream, then I visited with the stepsisters (the photo of which mysteriously got deleted from my camera, which vexes me to no end), and then she went to visit a few other characters. By the time she came back, we were let in to meet Rapunzel and Flynn.

They have the most adorable setup for the meet. A large concrete table is in the center of the pavilion, in front of the raised platform, with coloring books and crayons available to keep kids busy while waiting for the fun couple. To get everyone excited, a Cast Member comes out and starts a dance with the kids around the table, and after the grand finale, Rapunzel and Flynn made their entrance.

They were the cutest couple!. Standing alone, he would have his arm around her waist or kiss her hand. When screaming fan girls would come and take pictures just with Flynn, Rapunzel would oversee with crossed arms and a raised brow. They knew their story completely, too. When Lindsey asked why he was leaving, Flynn responded that he was recruited for an expansion of the Snuggly Duckling, and asked if he could bring us back anything from his journey (she requested a rose; I told him I loved books).

With promises to meet them again soon, we left and resumed character hunting. We met with Tiana and Peter, and chatted with random guests in the line with us. I suppose being an enthusiastic Cast Member shows even when not in costume. It didn't take too long before the parents figured out that we worked for the Mouse. In line for Tiana, two kids asked to have their pictures taken with us before the princess came out. And that's what keeps me so darn happy with my job.

Rain Up to Her Ankles!

Thursday I had the day off, and decided to make my way back to Magic Kingdom to see Flynn again, this time accompanied by a girl from work. We arranged to meet in front of the Sword in the Stone at 1:00 PM, but I had lost my debit card that morning, and then the monorail I took from the TTC made it only a few yards before crunching to a halt. It was 1:30 PM by the time I made it to the Stone, panting from a fast walk there from the park entrance.

Otherwise, it was quite an enjoyable day. We started out by meeting with Peter, who was absolutely fantastic. The girl I was with had not been on Peter Pan's Flight yet, so Peter gave us surprise FastPasses (which completely made her day; it was all she talked about!).

We stowed them away and made for Rapunzel and Flynn's line. The line (which ends at the alcove where Belle used to come out and tell stories) was backed up to the smoking section near Sir Mickey's. This quickly went down when one of Florida's lovely rainstorms hit, causing a river that flowed over my ankles, and chased off all but the most determined of fans (or the fans' fathers).

The rest of the day was spent happily meeting characters and riding rides. It ended with a lovely S'more from Frontierland, which we devoured as we watched the Electrical Parade.

A Child Stuck in the Fountain

Friday I picked up a shift at Mickey's Pantry in Downtown Disney. It was a short shift, but that turned out to be a good thing, as it's quite boring in that shop. I went early in the morning to Costuming to pick up my clothes for that night, and returned home to nap or eat (I don't remember which, but those are my best guesses) until it was time to leave.

When I arrived, it was to find friendly Cast Members who made me feel far from awkward. The store had changed a lot since I'd last been there, and I was drawn to the spices area of the store more than once. The hours were spent straightening placemats and coffee mugs, and asking the Spice and Tea Company man the best way to cook chicken.

Later, while stationed at the cart outside, a co-worker and I noticed managers hurrying over to the fountain next to Earl of Sandwich. Curious, we asked a passing coordinator, who told us that a child had gotten stuck in the fountain.

How this had been accomplished, I cannot imagine, but sure enough, a crowd had formed around the fountain, and we watched a red bill cap bob up and down as the poor kid was being pulled around by his parents.

Eventually, they turned the fountain off, and sirens were heard as someone had called in paramedics to help solve the problem. I'm still not entirely sure how they managed to release the kid, but I figure that if his hand was wedged in the hole securely enough to keep it stuck there for twenty minutes, it must have been an impressive feat.

An F'ed Up Drunk

Saturday was a typical day at work. I was tired, as usual, having been up until 2:00 AM doing laundry so I would have pants to wear that day to Image. I got off 7:30 PM, which was way too exciting.

As a girl from work and I made our way to the Cast Member exit, we were stopped by a staggering gentleman. I felt torn between amusement at his condition and trepidation at stopping to answer his question. Clearly, inebriated, he wanted help finding his way out, and he kept cursing: "I am so f'ing messed up, you have no idea how wasted I am."

He tossed his arms around our shoulders and leaned on us as we helped guide him toward the exit, and a cab. He told us about his dog, Amber, whom he hates, as she has psychological problems. I think he kept getting us confused, as he would be talking about how cool Amber was, and then rant about something to prove her mental disorder. We managed to find out that he was celebrating his daughter's twenty-first birthday, and had somehow gotten separated from the other thirteen people in his party. He had forgotten his phone at the house they were renting, and just wanted to get home.

Finally, after much staggering, cursing, and professions of love, we got him to a taxi. We had been shadowed the last bit by a security guard, who kept an eye on us as we made sure the man knew his address. We stopped by Guest Relations to let them know that the man was on his way home (in case his friends came looking for him).

A security guard then stopped us to ask why we were so far from our location. We told her that we had helped an intoxicated guest to the cabs. "Oh, yeah, I heard about that on our radio." The girl I worked with looked at me.

"How often do you hear that? We were on security's radio!"

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