Birthdays in Toronto

We had a fun night out for Frankie and Juila's birthday one night. We went to a jazz club in downtown Toronto. The live music was amazing! Here is a photo of the birthday boy and girl! 

 Here is me and Janelle in our apartment building lobby before we went out. 

Here is a group photo of most of the characters in my cast.

Devon, Carissa, me, Janelle, Frankie, Channa, Julia, Emma and Caroline. 

Here is the birthday girl dancing to the live music!

Friends in Toronto

Ari, seen to the right in the photo below, is a fellow Dream 1 cast member who came to visit the rehearsal studio. Frankie, Ari and myself had a mini reunion! 

Toronto has a "Times Square" like place called "Dundas Square". It has lots of stores, restaurants and open spaces for people to gather. Seen in the photo below is Janelle and Caroline, taken in the heart of Dundas Square.

Below is a singer in our cast, Jenn! She and Janelle did two contracts together on the Magic, so they know each other very well. The three of us went to a restaurant around the corner from our apartment that served a s'mores platter! 

One of the singers in our cast, Jeanna, hosted a "spa night" party for the girls in the cast one night. We all put face masks on together for a night of pampering. In the photo below is Emma, Devon, Channa, Julia and Janelle are sharing the mirror to apply their masks. 

Devon, Emma, Janelle and myself in the front are in the photo below. Goons!

Jeanna also provided cucumbers for us to lay over our eyes for the full relaxation affect. Seen below is Devon, Channa, Julia, Emma and myself laying across the bottom. Character bonding :)

Easter in Canada

Our Easter Sunday in Canada was great thanks to my roommate Emma's family. They live just outside Toronto and brought a home cooked meal to our apartment for the characters in the cast. It was delicious!

 They also brought lots of Easter candy, especially chocolate! Above is Janelle with a Minnie Mouse chocolate egg and below is the basket of candy they brought us!

Below is Carissa and my roommate Caroline in their Easter pastels.

Below are Easter decorated rice crispie eggs and cupcakes that Emma's mom and sister made! 

Here is a group photo of the character cast and one of our dancer boys! 

Welcome to Toronto MAGIC 30

Hey All! 

I have decided to take another contract with Disney Cruise Line (DCL) and this time I am on the Magic! This is Disney oldest ship and is about half the size of the last ship I was on, the Dream. I am most excited about this contract because of the itinerary, we are sailing through the Mediterranean Sea this summer! Once fall comes we will be porting out of Miami to sail to the Bahamas and the Caribbean. 

It feels great to be back! We have a brand new rehearsal space since my last contract and it is located right across the street from our apartment building, which is super convenient! The space is really nice and much bigger than the last one. There are two more studios to rehearse which means we are also here with the Wonder 27 Cast, which is DCL's second ship and the Magic's sister ship. We are able to watch each others run throughs of the shows which I find inspiring! It's cool to see the other talented people that are sharing the same experience as us.

 On our first day of rehearsal they had "Welcome Magic 30" on the TV screen that greets us in the lobby entrance, shown in the photo above. The number 30 represents the 30th cast to perform on the Disney Magic. The photo below is some other character performers in my cast at the rehearsal studio. 

From left to right: Kristine, Janelle, Julia and Trego. 

Toronto is exactly how I remember it. Expensive, but beautiful! I really enjoy this city, there's plenty to do. I wish spring would show it's bright little face sooner, but it's coming slowly, but surely! 

We are housed in the same building as before, called the Rosemont, and I am living with 3 other girls in my cast again. It's been fun to make new friends in our cast of 32 people. Most of them are returning performers. 

In the photo below are 2 of my roommates, Janelle and Caroline. Janelle and I already knew each other from college at The University of the Arts, so it has been great to reunite with a fellow Philadelphia dancer. This is her 4th contract with DCL and her 3rd in the Mediterranean. Caroline is brand new to the company! 

There is one returning performer in the Magic 30 cast who was a fellow Dream 1 cast member with me! His name is Frankie!

I was thrilled to hear that we would be doing another contract together! He is a great person to work with because of his positive attitude, hard working ways and his infectious laugh! He and I performed together in the Golden Mickeys with Dream 1. He made friends with the Beast when I made friends with Belle. 

 Below is a photo of us one of the first weekend's here in Toronto! 

This photo below is the drink fountain machines they have here in Canada. I am not sure if we have them yet in the states, but I think they are fascinating! They have so many selections within each type of drink, very futuristic! This one was found at the Scotiabank Movie Theater in downtown Toronto. 

We have finished most of our training, currently we are learning and rehearsing all the shows! More to come soon!

More Character Photos

Here are some more character photos from my contract. In photo 1 I made friends with Mickey and my best friend Zac made friends with Pluto. We never work together so it was so exciting to work with him! In photo 2 Goofy paid me a visit up on deck 12 while I was laying out, he decided to lay out with me since he was also in his bathing suit. My friend Frankie made friends with Goofy. In photo 3 Captain Hook paid me a visit on the very same day on deck 12. Photo 4 is from a new sailing away party from Castaway Cay on the 5 day cruise. I made friends with Donald Duck and my friend Pete, in the back of the crowd, always joins in on the dancing! Photo 5 & 6 were taken from my friend Tenealle. She has some great photos with characters. In photo 5 Tenealle and her boyfriend Jay were hanging out with Chip 'n Dale on the deck 4 balcony in the Atrium. Finally photo 6 is of Captain Jack Sparrow on the island of Castaway Cay.

Mom & Dad's Trip

Mom & Dad finally took a vacation and made it to the Disney Dream! On the first day we spent the beginning of the day at the Radisson Hotel, which is where they stayed the night before. The hotel had a pool and internet so my roommate Emma and I were having a ball just hanging out there. The first six photos were taken at the Radisson. Then they made it to the ship! I was greeting Mickey on Deck 11 and they came to see both Mickey and Minnie. There stateroom was incredible! It was stateroom 7194, which is located on Deck 7 (out of 14 decks), right in the middle of the ship, all the way aft (back). There verandah was much larger than the standard stateroom. As you can see in the last photo is was huge! What a beautiful view they had! The Golden Mickey's were that night and they came to both shows. Dad recorded both shows, because he really enjoyed the Beauty and the Beast scene. I was so happy to have them there to watch me perform finally! In between the Golden Mickeys Emma and I went to their stateroom to eat BLTs from room service. What lovely treat! After the second show my good friend Justin Wilcox came to chat up on Deck 11 in the adult area and cafe. I was impressed how late Dad stayed up!

Nassau our day 2 port of call! Mom & Dad headed to Atlantis, which is a famous resort and casino in Nassau. I guess they didn't win any money, but I'm sure Dad still enjoyed his time gambling. Photo 2 is right off the gangway. Photo 3 is of Mom at the back of the ship. Their stateroom is right above the Bahamian flag. Later on the ship, they saw some character appearances. I made friends with Minnie in the her formal dress. The first photo of formal Minnie is with random children, which is something Dad did quite frequently while he was on board. Then of coarse they had their picture taken with her. I made friends with Stitch when they came to the character meet and greet with Lilo and Stitch. We had dinner that night in Enchanted Garden. I told Dad he better get some rest because we had a long day ahead with Pirate night the next day.

Day 3 we made it to Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. Here are both of them posing at the back of the ship. Dad is pointing to their room, which is again, right above the flag, right in middle. Next they saw Minnie in her bathing suit and also saw her at a dance party. Mom also danced with Captain Hook at his dance party. Dad taped that of coarse, because he taped almost everything. I have many videos to upload once I get home. I hung out with them on the island by the water for a few hours after that. I was able to ride the water slide in the ocean at Pelican Plunge! The three of us took another photo in the same spot at Scuttles Cove on our way back to the ship. The day progressed and it turned into pirate night. They came to Mickey's Pirates in the Caribbean show on Deck 11. Later we saw the fireworks display which was great! Their stateroom host leaves towels in their room everyday and Dad loved it. He decided to dress their towel animal up with his new hat from the island and his sunglasses. I am sure Vernon got a kick out of it!

Day 4 is the sea day and Dad finally made it to the Aquaduck that morning while Mom had her picture taken with Tinkerbell. She also saw Captain Mickey on Deck 4 and I made friends with Mickey. The first photo is Minnie Mouse in her sailor outfit for the farewell show we call Sea Ya Real Soon. I made friends with Minnie. Earlier that day I treated Mom to a pedicure at the spa and the second photo is Dad taking a nap in the spa waiting room, classic.

All good things must come to an end. Mom & Dad did not want to leave because they really enjoyed themselves. But, on day 5 we were back to FL and they were headed to visit others in FL. Here is one last photo in front of the ship.

Mickey's Pirates in the Carribean

Mickey's Pirates in the Carribean is a show on the deckstage on deck 11. The whole night is pirate themed and this show kicks off the pirate party for the night. I make friends with Minnie Mouse in this show. Minnie took the picture in photo 2 with Kelly-Marie, who was always Minnie's greeter. Photo 3 and 4 are the bad pirates that show up with Captain Hook. Tenealle is in Photo 3 and Emma, my roommate, is in photo 4 as Tenealle's understudy. Photo 5 is Pirate Minnie Mouse. Arrrrr! Photo 6 is a shot of most of the cast. The whole gang teaches the crowd how to become members of Mickey's Pirate Crew. Photo 7 is Pirate Donald Duck and Pirate Daisy Duck. Photo 8 is Pirate Minnie singing "the songs!" Photo 9 is Pirate Goofy saying "talking to a parrot!" Photo 10 is Pirate Mickey and photo 11 is Pirate Minnie again. Captain Hook showed up in Photo 12 and his bad pirates are in Photo 13. He them claims that he is the new captain of the ship. Photo 14 is Captain Hook against Mickey and his Pirate Crew. Mickey proposes a "Captain's Challenge" to decide who will gain ownership of the Disney Dream. The last photo is Captain Hook with his sidekick Mr. Smee as they question the crowd on their pirate knowledge. The crowd proves they have truly become part of Mickey's Pirate Crew and pass the Captain's Challenge! Mickey and the gang then regain ownership of the Disney Dream Ship!

Photos taken by my good friend Justin Wilcox