disney magic

about a week ago, our mainstage magic 24 cast had a character training with our resident character trainer bill sykes (i know, you can't hear it without thinking of the poor little orphan boy who just wanted some more porridge. and yes, that's actually his name.)

bill began the training by showing us a video of live footage capturing characters interacting with children. they were hugging and smiling and the images were set to a soundtrack of magical, heart-warming disney music.

after the video, bill shared personal stories of characters who went out of their way to reach out to children, changing their world forever. he shared stories of children overcoming cancer because they were promised that they'd get to "go back and see mickey again" were they to get better, and that dream gave them reason to live through each day of chemo.

faith plus a dream= miracles.

just as he finishes sharing these stories, tugging at our heart strings, magical music starts bursting out of the speakers in the room... and who should burst through the door but mickey, minnie, pluto, goofy, chip, dale, donald and daisy.

tears. just a room full of 14 fully-grown adults weeping tears of magical disney joy.

1. i have never been that close to these characters that i've grown up loving all my life.

and i tell you what... we were fully aware that our character cast had arrived a full week prior and had been rehearsing in secret next door, but for those 5 minutes of bliss, that was mickey freaking mouse. no man behind the mask. there was not a doubt in our minds that that was really him. it was magical.

2. i was filled with the greatest sense of pride and gratitude that, for the next year of my life, i get to be a part of this magic. the kind of magic that made us feel the way we did when mickey burst through that door. for the next 10 months, i get to help adults and children alike feel that every day as a i cruise around the world. my. job. is. the. bomb.

3. our character cast had stayed late into the evening hours rehearsing so that we wouldn't catch wind of the special appearance they gave us- learning dances that were never to be performed again on the ship or anywhere else. they did it just for us. so. neat.

magic 24 character cast, we love you guys! thanks for allowing me to be a 4 year old again for a full 5.23 minutes!

(keir, katie, jen, moi, gina, james, ryan, mo, katherine, bill, rayna, julia, prescott and david)

...and there you have it. tissues and all.