Bug Bites, Captain’s Breakfast, Catamarans, and Kentucky Digging...

So there is some sort of mutant bug living on Castaway Cay which is wreaking havoc on the DCL Crew Members. Fortunately, this epidemic hasn’t come for me yet. However, my old roomie, Abi, has not been so lucky. She had a huge bite on the back of her leg which got infected. It was so bad she was signed off of work for 24hours. Other YA Counselors have been signed out as well, and according to management, the same sort of thing is happening on the Fantasy. What does all this mean? Clearly it means the bugs are mutating and planning to take over the Earth, starting in Castaway Cay. Prepare yourselves for Bug Armageddon. The only good thing to come from this string of Bug Attacks has been the fact housekeeping had to come and really give our room a good cleaning (just in case it was the dreaded Bed Bugs). So that was nice.

Moving on, as a Lab Entertainment Host, I am also called upon to be in Edge Programs as well. This means I spend a lot of time up in the smoke stack with all of our lovely ten to fourteen year-old guests. I have discovered that this particular group is a special case. They are “too cool” to believe in kiddy stuff, but they secretly love it just as much as the little ones down in the Oceaneer Club. However, the real fun comes from the fact they like to heckle you, but they don’t expect you to heckle back. I love to heckle back. It almost turns into some weird throwback of “Oh yeah, well yo momma...” from the nineties. But if you can keep up with them, they respect you. And I think I’m doing a pretty good job since I’ve gotten a few positive comments because of it.

The same goes for Vibe and the Teens. Heckling is taken to a new level there and you have to flat out shut some kids down. My friend, Professor Make-O-Mess, was recently up in Vibe teaching them how to make flubber and it was a hilarious sarcasm filled endeavor which left the counselors in stitches and the kids smirking through the whole thing. Professor likes Vibe.

An update on my Costuming issues... apparently my measurements were lost by shoreside. So I’ve been measured again and am currently waiting on the remaining pieces of my wardrobe. When I was told of these exciting developments, I had to force myself to take a few deep breaths to keep calm. If they don’t get my pieces to me soon, we’re going to be in the dreaded Crossover time. Crossover is when one Mainstage cast is getting ready to leave and the new Mainstage cast has come on board for the handover. It’s an absolute madhouse in the entertainment department between all the new rehearsals, costumes, and cast changeover. If I don’t have my costumes before then, I may never get them. So keep your fingers crossed for me, ok?

Some exciting news for everyone: I was invited to Captain’s Breakfast! Now, there are two kinds of Captain’s Breakfast. There’s the one which happens around 5:00am and ends with a security escort and a pink slip. Then there’s the one at 8:30am where you get dressed up and actually have breakfast with the Captain and he asks you questions about your life and has you answer some pre-arranged questions as well. Just so we’re clear, I went to the latter. The questions I was given to think about were, 


1. What is the best thing about the Disney Dream?

2. If you were the Captain, what would you change?

3. What does the “Disney Legacy” mean to you?


The breakfast was really nice, considering it was one big ole Boys Club and I was the only female in the room. I did get to sit next to Captain Henry and enjoy some amazing grilled pineapple french toast from Royal Palace. That’s the other really exciting thing about Captain’s Breakfast, you get to eat in one of the Guest Restaurants. I know my grandmother is going to kill me for this, but I forgot my camera and therefore do not have a picture of myself with Captain Henry. Sorry!

Speaking of pictures, if any of you have been on my Facebook recently I hope you saw my pictures from the recent YA Catamaran trip. We were given the trip as a reward for our hard work, excellent scores, and positive guest feedback. They split us into three groups and on three consecutive Nassau days the let one group go on the tour. I was in the second group. The tour itself was a thirty minute ride on a catamaran over to a secluded coral reef where we were given snorkel equipment and allowed to snorkel for about thirty minutes and then we headed back to the ship. We work so hard, and so many long days, that when we get to do something just for fun it’s really nice. There have been so many times that I haven’t even been able to get off the ship in Nassau because I was working. When I do get off the ship it’s to go to Starbucks and Subway for food and internet and then turn right back around and go back to work. So getting to take a trip and do a little relaxing in the sun with my friends was the highlight of my week. Check out the pictures! Elise let me borrow her camera (which is waterproof) so I could take lots of really cool pictures.

The best thing I want to tell everyone about is my first day on Dig at Castaway. We have a place called Monstro’s Point on the island where long ago, an enormous Sperm Whale washed ashore and was beached in this area. His skeleton remains and the people who found him named him Monstro after the Sperm Whale in Pinnochio. The area is not set up as an archaeological dig site for children and families to come and excavate for whale teeth and various fossils buried in the sand. When we are scheduled on Dig, we are Professors or Apprentices, in charge of running the dig and recording the names and information of anyone who finds a whale tooth so we can send it off to the London Natural Science Museum where their names will be entered into the log of Junior Archaeologists. Well, due to costuming issues, I have never been able to take part in this. Finally, I was approved to borrow another Host’s costumes and do my job. For the first part of the day, there are two dig sessions which are for the children in Scuttle’s Cove only. Later on from 1:00-2:00pm, we have Family Dig time where anyone can come into Monstro’s Point.

So there I was, sweating to death in the heat, getting ready to start family dig when I notice a queue starting outside the gate. There are easily twenty people waiting to come inside. So I go over and open the gate, explain what we are doing and hand out shovels and sifters to everyone I can. As I’m doing this even more people start to pour in. I ended up with about fifty people in Monstro’s Point digging for whale teeth. As I’m overseeing and moving around talking to people I come across a father with a UK hat on. My initial reaction whenever I see anyone in UK attire on board is to shout, “GO CATS!” and then immediately explain that I am from Lexington/Winchester and a UK Grad. Well, as it turns out, four of the families in Monstro’s at this point were all traveling together and were all from Lexington as well. We had a nice long chat and their kids took pictures with me and everything. Their kids turned out to be pretty excellent Junior Archaeologists as well, since they each found about three teeth. I was so excited to meet them and talk about home for a while. Later on that night when we got back on the ship, they saw me in the hallway and started the CATS cheer. I happily obliged.

In my last little bit of news, order has been restored to my DCL world. Elise and I are finally roommates again. Praise the Lord! (Not to say that my first two roomies were bad or anything, I just really wanted to be back in a room with Elise). And finally, I GET TO SEE MY FAMILY IN FIVE WEEKS!!!!!!! They are coming to visit me on July 22 and I am so excited!!!

Until next time...

See Ya Real Soon!