Bonjour!

A girly couple of days as I have been Suzy and Perla from Cinderella. On Tuesday I was told I was Suzy in Fantasyland, so I got ready (wearing two pairs of tights to try and combat the numb toes from last time) and waited for my ACC. It seemed like there were hundreds of us going to Fantasyland, and gradually everybody left until it was just me, Perla and Pinocchio left. After nearly half an hour an ACC came and found us and told us we need to see a Team Leader to find something else to do, so we squeezed up the stairs in our huge hooped skirts and were told that we could stay as the same characters but we were in Town Square, which is at the bottom of Main Street by the Christmas tree. I'd never done any sets down there before so it was nice to have a bit of a change. We were in the breakroom with everyone from the Allstar Express so there was nowhere to sit for ages which was annoying, but as soon as they left on the train we got a sofa each. We only did two short sets, but I quite enjoyed them as it was really sunny and the atmosphere on Main Street is lovely. The two tights trick didn't work at all though so my toes were in a lot of pain. On the way out of my second set I was walking backwards and blowing kisses, and stood on my skirt. The world slowed down for a second as I wobbled all over the place and tried to free the heel of my shoe, but luckily I just about managed to stay upright. The Sheriff of Nottingham was not so lucky, as he did fall over onto the floor. I didn't see, but his costume was covered in icy slush!

After lunch I had REP so I gave my costume back and went to Imaginations to eat. The REP was for Remy and Jessie on Stars and Cars. There were also people in the same REP learning Woody, Sulley, Dopey, Lilo, Stitch and Emile, so the REP took up the whole three hours. I was paired up with a Woody and we all just sat on the floor for the first hour learning the 'roulage' (which is the choreography we do as we move along). It is to a selection of Christmas songs and it about 10 minutes long. The moves are really easy and repeat a lot, but in a random order so it is quite hard to remember. The cars then stop and we get off and do a show in the 'Place des Stars'. Jessie doesn't have a bit in the show, but Remy and Emile do so I had to learn Remy's bit, which is a fast can can. It was fine in socks but it must be a lot harder to do dressed as a fat rat with massive feet! Remy sits in a directors chair for the finale, but Jessie does it so I learnt her bit. It is good that they are in different parts so I didn't have to learn different placings for each bit. We then get back in our cars and do the roulage on the way back. I have never actually seen the parade so if I am put on it I will have no idea where to go, so I am going to have to try to find some time to watch it.

The next day, I thought I would have SETs in the morning and then be on parade as Jessie. This is because a few days ago I went up to the dance captains and told them I had a lot of spare parade in my schedule, and asked if I could set the date for my first parade. Apparently lots of people do this and they are usually quite accommodating. The guy was nice and put my name in the diary to do Jessie on Wednesday and Winnie on Friday, both on DOUD. However, when I got to work I was told I was Perla in the Auberge de Cendrillon. That meant I had my lunch first and then did sets for the rest of the day. I got ready anyway and just assumed that meant I wasn't going to be on DOUD. I was glad to be Perla because she has a purple dress and I haven't played her yet. The Auberge is a lovely restaurant where the guests are greeted by Suzy and Perla and the Princesses and Princes as they eat. When Suzy and I went into the restaurant for our first set, there was nobody there as it was about 11am, so we just danced about to the music in front of the fireplace for half an hour and got in the way of the waiters a little bit as they tried to prepare for service. I was surprised our set wasn't cut short by the ACC but it was fun anyway. When we came back for the second set it had got much busier. We did five 35 minute sets all in all, which is more than I have done recently! Because the Auberge is indoors we don't have to worry about the cold so they don't 101 any of the sets. Nearly every little girl in the restaurant was wearing a princess dress, it was so sweet. We just had to go around and dance with them and greet them at their tables. I was surprised at how popular we were - one little girl said 'I love you Suzy and Perla, you are my favourite!' which was so sweet considering she had Belle, Aurora, Cinderella and Ariel to meet! One little French girl had no hair, so I think she had cancer, and was wearing a Belle dress. She was absolutely adorable and kept kissing us and hugging us and I nearly cried inside my head because she was so sweet and her mum looked so happy for her. There was also a lovely toddler in a Rapunzel dress, who wasn't shy at all like some of the kids are, but she wasn't demanding either. She just wanted to kiss my nose and followed me around the restaurant asking for a 'bisous'. When Aurora and her Prince came in she wasn't too interested because she just loved Suzy and Perla so much! I love playing with the English kids the most because they can talk to you and you can react accordingly - if they are foreign I usually just giggle or nod and hope it is the right reaction. There was a big table of English girls between about 3 and 12 years old, and they were asking lots of questions like 'do you make Cinderella's dresses?' and 'do you love Cinderella?' and 'are you twins?', one of them asked if I like to tickle Suzy, and I nodded and ran over to Suzy and started tickling her which the kids found hilarious. It is really nice when you can actually take the time to give them some attention rather than in the park on sets where you seem to spend the whole time doing autographs and photos and then moving onto the next child. My neck started to hurt from all of the looking down at the children, and it was almost too warm in the restaurant because of the big open fireplace, so I wouldn't want to do that shift everyday, but I'm glad I have done it.

Our last set finished at 4.30pm so we went back to EPC to get changed, we couldn't clock out until 5.31pm so there was lots of time. For the parades, all the costumes are put on rails in the hallway to be collected - at 4.40pm (the parade starts at 5pm), the only costume left on the rail was Jessie's. This confused me as my ACC had phoned EPC earlier just to make sure I wasn't on DOUD, but it seemed strange that there was loads of empty rails and one lonely Jessie costume. I asked a lady from costuming and she said nobody had picked it up, and somebody else said that maybe they have 101ed Jessie. I saw my roommate and asked her but she said they never 101 Jessie, so they must have found somebody to play her. I never saw the sign up sheet so I don't know whether or not I was supposed to be Jessie yesterday, but I hope I wasn't and I didn't miss it!

Once I'd changed I headed to planning to ask if I could do Stars and Cars and DOUD on New Year's Eve when my family are here. She said it was fine and asked what parts I want to play, so I said Jessie on both. I thought about doing Remy on Stars and Cars, but Jessie is cooler and it means I wouldn't have to change my costume between parades. In an ideal world I would do a dancing part like Can Can, but unless I find someone to teach it to me and then find a dance captain to approve me I doubt I'll be getting a chance to do that, which is a shame. I heard Belle talking in the Auberge breakroom that day about how she knows people that have been really lucky and only been repped for dancing parts like Butterfly on Fanti and Can Can, and other people who just end up with REP for characters like Rafiki and Smee, so it really is pot luck. I hope that planning doesn't change my New Year's Eve shift though because I think Jessie will be a really fun part to do both parades, and she actually gets to dance a bit in the Stars and Cars finale which will be fun. There are some parts on Fanti that don't need REP, like the three Fairy Godmothers from Sleeping Beauty, as they just wave from their float, so I might just request that New Year's Eve is a three parade shift. I wouldn't mind being rope carrier on Fanti tbh as they have quite a cool outfit to wear!

Today I had a day off, so I had a lie in. I woke up naturally at around ten, but my roommate was still asleep so I couldn't turn the light on. She ended up sleeping until around twelve, but I had some breakfast and read a book by the light of my phone, then got ready to go out. I had collected my advance cheque the day before (€400) so I went to the Post Office and turned it into cash. I didn't realise I needed my passport, but luckily they accepted my driving license. I had told myself I was allowed to buy a dress I'd seen in Bershka, and possibly a nice jumper. I tried on the dress in a small and a medium, as well as two other leopard print dresses. They all looked lovely on the hangers but the materials were quite cheapy so I didn't end up buying any of them! I was hoping to have a nice dress to wear next week when I go home for my dad's birthday and then out with my friends. I may have to borrow something from my sister instead as she always has new clothes. I ended up buying a really cute Bambi jumper and some Jeans/jeggings in Bershka, and a red Christmas jumper in Pimkie (the thick kind with snowflakes on it). I felt a little bit guilty but now I am at home in my cosy new red jumper I have got over it. It will last me for Christmasses to come as well! I also bought a file in Auchan and when I got home I filed away all of my paperwork, as I seem to have written 'Lu et approve' on around 20 contracts since I got here. I've also put my Eurostar tickets in there, ones which need reimbursing as well as my ticket home for next week. I've spent most of the afternoon finishing my first book of the six which my parents brought out for me last weekend.

I am so excited to go home! I have a six day week now and then my next day off I will be at home, so hopefully it will go quite quickly. On Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday I have special events. I know on Saturday that it is for some 21 year old prince who owns a chunk of Disney (he has paid €800,000 for us to put on a brand new show just for him). I am not in the show but I think I am one of many characters he has requested to meet, Robin Hood. Robin Hood doesn't go out in the park any more because his tail kept falling off, but if this prince can bring back old parades which haven't been done for five years (he has done in the past), then he can certainly bring back a character. I don't know what my events are on Sunday or Wednesday yet. I think maybe Sunday will be for the prince again though. I'll be sure to let you know in my next update!

I think I'm going to have a hot chocolate and watch Miracle on 34th Street now!

xxx