A Planet of Pizza

How do you say goodbye? Goodbye to a place you spent one of the best times of your life? The only way I know how. A soppy blog post, of course. 

Sometimes Pizza Planet was sort of a magical place where guests were kind. 

And you had conversations like this with young children. 

"Excuse me. What is this restaurant called?"

"Pizza Planet!"

"So we are in the Pizza Planet?!"

Sometimes (just one time, actually) there were safety celebrations due to the limited injuries of cast members. 

Sometimes you got to hula hoop and then a little girl the height of a hula hoop runs up and asks to join you. And you think, "Being paid to hula hoop with children is pretty awesome."

Sometimes it was magical, but mostly it was the people, the Pizza Planetears, who turned a fairly average occupation into an incredible experience. 

There was my original TSPP crew. Paige, Alex, Taylor, Lexi and Drew. I still snicker at the concept of tossing salads. It will be a very long time before I consume a Caesar salad again. 

There was also a bunch of fun times and parties. 

It was so hard to say goodbye that I decided it would be easier to just not have any friends, but then I met Kyra. Just great. Another best friend I'd have to farewell. 

(Don't worry, you'll get your own post soon.)

We hung out with some other pretty cool Planetears. 

A few months later some more pretty cool Planetears arrived. 

We had our weekly Pancake Parties at Kaytee's place.

They lasted one spectacular week. 

There were sing alongs with Kyle.

Michael rapped across the kitchen while Leo laughed. 

Some of us lined up for days (ok, it was just over an hour) to meet Ariel and Prince Eric. Only to discover they'd returned to their humble, royal abode. 

Thanks for the company Bailey. 

We celebrated the upcoming arrival of a new Planetear, Jeremiah. Sadiya and Bobo knew just how to throw a wild, surprise baby shower at 10am for Johanne. 

And then there was that time we gallavanted through the Spectacle of Dancing Lights realising we were getting nothing for Christmas. 

Even Victor was there. 

Now the lights are dark forever and Pizza Planet has been closed for refurbishment. I guess they couldn't handle life without me. 

My last day of work was the best and the worst. 

I realised how much love was in that place and just how much it would be missed. Off stage goodbyes with Grandma and Jeremy and tearful onstage farewells with Ashley, Maureen and Nizzy didn't make it any easier. 

Who knew The Pizza Planet and its Planetears would come to mean so much. I love and miss you all! Let's keep pretending we'll see each other real soon because it's just easier that way. Xo

Friends of Disney

Before I started the College Program I imagined solitary theme parking and resort hopping because I didn't think I would find friends. 

I didn't just find friends, I found friends of friends too. We are all friends of Disney. 

One Epcot Friday was spent with Kyra, Kayla, Jeremy, Michael, Kyle and Blackie Chan (surprisingly not his real name, but he does do all his own stunts). 

I continued to sample the international cuisine after my first tastes of the Food and Wine Festival. 

I don't recommend the fisherman's pie from Ireland. It's not worth writing home about, but is apparently worth blogging about. 

Everything was a little more exciting after a cider and black from the Rose and Crown Pub. 

Kelsey might not be Greek, but she was werking the register in Greece. 

The pie from Brazil? Much better than the Irish one. I haven't written home about it, but I would. 

I finally got to see my roommate Nicole in her fancy flag shirt while at work. 

Jeremy, Kyra, Kayla and I ran into Bailey, just cruising around the world, pushin' a cart. 

Italy offered Kyra a delicious margarita. I sipped some to test the quality, just as any true friend of Disney would. 

I sort of forgot I'd already sampled the German fare on an earlier day. But it's ok because the apple strudel is quality stuff. I'll just ignore that it was sold to me by Arrian. 

One of the worst culinary combinations I've ever heard of is a sweet corn cheesecake. Jeremy didn't seem to agree or maybe he just enjoys the torture of his taste buds. For reasons still unknown he purchased one. The experience of tasting it was worse than being a tiny person living in a tiny village under threat of being crushed by a giant. 

I'm not entirely sure what I was served in Poland, but my goodness it was delectable. 

Kyle ordered Tipsy Ducks in Love from Japan, only so he could say the name. It was an alcoholic beverage that continually varied in deliciousness. 

After IllumiNations and skipping around we were encouraged to exit the park. 

At this point we farewelled friend Jeremy and the rest of us continued on to Pop Century. 

If you're going to get lost you should do it surrounded by giant replica of pop culture.

A mammoth keyboard you can hop over with a new friend is an especially fun distraction. 

He didn't even need a stunt double. 

Eventually we all found the room, although not until after a cockroach tried to establish himself as a friend of Disney. But have no fear, Kyle crushed that delinquent stowaway. 

Michael decided to complement his look with some sparkly ears. 

Kyra whipped up sandwiches of masses of peanut butter with a teeny bit of bread. Then it was time for some of us to get lost leaving. 

This time there was a spot of ping pong to distract.

One of Those People

I'm one of those people that went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party, not once, but twice. 

It all started at 4pm on Thursday afternoon when Kyra told me she'd bought me a ticket, for that night. The party started at 7pm and I did not have a costume. 

After excitedly repeating "Oh my gosh!" and returning a vacuum that only made the floor worse I threw some clothes in a bag. 

I set off for the resort Kyra and her friend, Kayla, were staying at. I got dressed, then broke my contact. Of course I had to go back home and get new contacts. My last minute, Disneybound costume just wouldn't work without them. 

By the time everything was sorted out it was after 7pm. That just meant we had to cram in the fun. I believed the Buzz Lightyear, Minnie Mouse and Little Mermaid trio were capable. 

First came the candy, then the dance party. 

This was followed by a hot dog and chips. As a quick service cast member for almost a year I know chips means a packet of Lays original crisps. The ignorant Australian tourist came out when for some reason I imagined fries. How could I be so stupid and consequently so disappointed?

After the disappointment it was time for explosives! Disney people blew stuff up and called it Hallowishes. 

The exploding sparkles were better than I remembered, so that was a nice surprise. 

I've never seen more than a few minutes of "The Nightmare Before Christmas", so why wouldn't I wait for an hour to see Jack and Sally? We also saw some of their dopplegangers and that potato sack fellow in the line. 

When the time arrived to meet the real Jack and Sally it was delightfully awkward as I noted to Jack, "Don't worry, I'm just as awkward as you."

"Did you hear that Sally?... Awkward."

Things got a little more awkward when we conquered the quick dash to see the parade. 

The Haunted Mansion dancers once again killed it with their sparking shovels. 

They were so good we decided to visit their undead friends on the ride. 

Kyra only briefly jumped out of her skin when one of them peered around our buggy exclaiming, "Enjoy your trip!"

The Sanderson Sisters staged another spectacular show or maybe that was just the spell they cast on us. 

I found a dingle hopper,

and we took photos in front of the Castle. 

Then we danced the night away on Main Street 

until we got the hint to leave from a wall of leaders striding towards us. This was, however after another cast member said he could watch me dancing all night. 

The night finally ended with a bus ride to All Star Sports where I fell into a dreamless slumber. The next morning we farewelled the resort, albeit a little bleary eyed. 

I never thought I'd return to Mickey's Halloween shindig, but I'm glad I was part of that world again. We did some stuff, and it was neat. Now my dingle hopper collection is complete.