The Ride of Our Lives

It's the end of a super quick and super productive week and time is just flying by!  We're all working so hard and packing our days with rehearsal and fun, it's hard to keep track of the days. 

Since it's been a while since my last post I thought I would just list a couple things that were great in the last week and a half:
- a couple of us went to an open mic night in the back yard of a castle known as Casa Loma.  It is just outside the city, took only 25 minutes to get there by subway, and it was beautiful!  The castle was built in the early 1900's by a guy with a lot of money and now has tours and other events open to the public.
- in our rehearsal facility there is a cabinet with copies of almost any Disney movie you would want to see- and we can take them home to watch anytime we want!  I have recently watched Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Tangled, Beauty and the Beast, and plan on watching many many more.
- Sunday July 1st was Canada Day- basically the Canadian equivalent of 4th of July.  We had a huge cookout and pretended to be Canadian (though some people in the cast actually are).
- My favorite part of our apartment building here is the open rooftop.  Any time of day we're free to go up there and use the grill, sit under umbrellas, go in the jacuzzi, or use the beach chairs to get some sun.  I've had half my meals up there just to enjoy the weather.

Some not-so-great things in the last week and a half:
- I've been going to physical therapy 2 times a week since I started feeling some back pain last week.  I'm feeling much better after taking it easy, but now I'm anxious to get back to work!
- actually that's it for not-great things!

Hope this gives a little more insight into what my days here in Toronto are like!  The cast of the other ship just left to go get on board, and we're all starting to realize that pretty soon we'll be doing the same.  Gotta make the most of Toronto while we still can!

Til next time :)

A Pirate's Life for Me

First I have to say, I'm sorry for being a bad blog update-er.  I'm promising that I will put up a new post once a week on Sunday (since it is my day off) and will make sure there are lots of interesting things to update about! 

This past week in rehearsals we really kicked into high gear and started learning multiple shows at one time.  Everyone is always working on something different and I can't wait until we all get to come together and polish our performances.  We've still got about a month and a half up here in Toronto and the production team is getting ready to send the cast of the Dream ship off to sea next week so most of the focus is on getting them all prepped.

Possibly the coolest thing all week- I got to meet our puppet trainer and she is AWESOME!  She told us that when she set out in the career world her dream was to be on SNL, but once she found puppeteering she fell in love and has been doing it ever since.  Turns out she's friends with Heather Henson so I had to tell her about the Henson legacy at UMD.  She also knows who Basil Twist is- turns out the puppet world is its own little community where everyone knows everyone else. 

In our time off we've been all around town taking advantage of everything this city has going on.  Last week a couple of us went to a Blue Jays vs. Phillies game- the stadium is a 15 minute walk from our apartment building which is great.  We all got a little distracted when they started to move the dome covering off the top of the stadium, which took 20 minutes and was super impressive.  Kind of hard to describe so trust me it was cooler than it sounds!

Last night we celebrated our favorite pirate Mr. Smee by going on a pub crawl!  Yes the Mr. Smee from Peter Pan.  So 20 of us dressed in stripes and red hats went around Toronto taking over bars and singing Irish songs.  We ended up at a tiny Irish pub that was virtually empty, until we came in and started dancing and singing up a storm!  Turns out the bar was used for some of the filming for Boondock Saints!  It was great and we were all sorry to go, but we had 3 more stops to go.  The night was a success and it felt great to finally go out and experience the nightlife!

For those of you who didn't see it before, and since getting mail is the most exciting part of the day (seriously, it is) here is my address:

Disney Cruise Line
Canadian Broadcasting Centre
c/o Juliette Ebert
P.O. Box 500, Station A
Suite S4E100
Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6
CANADA

And if you send me something, and include your address I promise to send you something cool back!

Til next week!
<3 Juliette

Sore Muscles and Teary Eyes

It is Sunday and I have officially finished one full week of rehearsals!  We've all been rehearsing together almost 8 hours each day and it's been exhausting but so exciting.  Most nights I've been asleep by 10 pm (which is pretty normal for me at home anyway) and since Sunday is our only day off, Saturday is the only time anyone really wants to stay up late.

Besides all the physical work we've been doing (also some of the cast has decided to do Insanity after rehearsals), we've spent a lot of time just talking about what our job means and how we make people happy.  There's been all sorts of story telling about different guests and the responses we get from the kids we get to meet.  I must admit to tearing up multiple times this week (not unusual for me at all) just thinking about all the different people we'll get to interact with on the cruises each week.

Our cruises are 7 days long, with up to 4,000 guests each week!  We dock multiple places in the Caribbean, Mexico, and the Disney island Castaway Cay.  I am SO looking forward to being on the beach, even if I have to be working!

I'm not sure I can even refer to this as working, or being my job.  Because really, I get to play all day and make children (and adults) happy through performing.  I couldn't ask for anything less like work.

Hope everyone's having a great summer so far!

It's Just a Sweet, Sweet Fantasy, Baby...

Welcome to Toronto!!!!

I am officially in Canada, rehearsing with the Disney Fantasy 2 cast (the Fantasy 1 cast is on the ship now) and I'm loving every bit of it!  We have a huge cast full of super fun people and rehearsals just go by too fast. 
The apartment building we live in is across the street from the rehearsal facility, and there's a Starbucks on the way- what more could I ask for?  The building we're in has a mini movie theatre, a rooftop that can be rented out, a party room, a jacuzzi, a golf simulator, and tons of Disney cast members from the Fantasy ship and the Dream ship. 
I've just been getting used to the rehearsal schedule and finding my way around (despite the non-stop rain we've been getting) so unfortunately I don't have any exciting adventures to report yet.  But those will be coming soon!
For anyone wondering, I am not using my phone here, so the best ways to contact me are:
- On facebook
- Through this blog
- Email me at juliette.ebert@gmail.com
- If you have an iphone, I have imessage on my itouch!  My apple ID is littlefeat888@aol.com
- Mail can be sent to me at
Disney Cruise Line
Canadian Broadcasting Centre
c/o Juliette Ebert
P.O. Box 500, Station A
Suite S4E100
Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6
CANADA

Thanks for checking out my blog!  There's much more to come :)

<3 Juliette

First-Time Blogger!

Yay for my first blog post!

I'm new to blogging, so give me a little time to learn the ins and outs of blogging etiquette.  This will be mostly used to update everyone on my adventures while I'm working on a Disney cruise for the next 9 months. 

I'm looking forward to being busy, but please feel free to contact me for any reason!  Hopefully I won't be completely cut off from the outside world, and it will be so great to hear from all the people I'll be missing. 

I leave on Friday, June 1st, so look out for updates starting after that!