Tomorrow!

The day has come! Tomorrow Victoria, my dad and I will be heading to Philadelphia for our audition. The audition isn't actually until Friday morning but check in starts at 9 am so the best thing for us is to stay overnight. Our plan is to leave our house tomorrow morning and get there with enough time to go to some of Philadelphia's historic sites. I have been lucky enough to have been there before but Victoria has not so I hope we get to see the Liberty Bell and perhaps even Betsy Ross' house. We shall see!

I am so so excited for my audition. I think it will be really fun. I know we learn a dance and will do some improv but besides that I don't know what else will happen. I am bringing my tap shoes, jazz shoes, and character heels so I'm prepared for any type of dance, and I'm also going to bring my sheet music in case I have to sing. I have never heard of them asking people to sing, or do other types of dance, but you never know! At least if they do I will be prepared. I am thinking because there is a regular Disney audition going on, (as opposed to the Walt Disney World College Program audition we are going to) it is possible, though not likely, that they could put us in there if they wanted to see more. I'm thinking this won't happen, but like I said earlier, if it does, I'll be prepared.

My mom bought me a book called "The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World" which details some really fun and interesting aspects of all the parks. The imagineers, as well as Walt himself, are so very creative and detail-oriented, they think of everything! Having been so blessed to have gone to Disney enough times to be picking up on these things myself, it is so fun to read even more things that I haven't noticed or simply didn't know about the history of the parks.

I thought it would be fun to every once and a while put in my blog some of the information I thought was especially fun from the book. The first chapter I read was on Magic Kingdom. There is so much information to choose from that I will have to blog again about it. Though I've never been to school in another state, I imagine colonial American history is a bit more exciting to those of us from Boston, or any of the historically rich colonial cities. Since we are heading to Philadelphia tomorrow, I have been thinking a lot about the history there as well as in Boston. Because of this, the fun facts about Liberty Square in Magic Kingdom really popped out at me today. For everyone who has been, you know the square is set as colonial America and has some attractions that reflect that, as well as some shops (spelled "Shoppe" of course :) ) that sell things such as fifes, drums, and other colonial goods. For those of you that haven't been, here are a few pictures:

The last picture is from a trip we took to Disney my senior year of high school with dance. It was very fun - we were able to dance on stage in Tomorrowland, and it is what first sparked my interest in the Disney College Program.

Now to the fun information I've been promising for the past few paragraphs...

"There are four eras represented in Liberty Square, with a New England feel surrounding the Columbia Harbour House restaurant, colonial Williamsburg near Ye Old Christmas Shoppe, and the more modern Dutch New Amsterdam as you near the footbridge to the Hub. The Haunted Mansion attraction is technically part of LIberty Square, representing New York's Hudson River Valley.

...

Columbia Harbour House offers more than just good food. Maps, artifacts, and nautical knickknacks adorn walls, both on the first and second floors. Look closely and you'll notice each section is dedicated to either a ghost ship or a ship lost at sea. And, if you look out the front windows from the top floor, you'll notice it faces the Haunted Mansion. Coincidence? I think not!

...

Notice the slightly skewed angle of the window shutters. During the Revolutionary War, colonists had to use every scrap of available metal for making bullets; their ingenuity led them to recycle the metal hinges on imported shutters, replacing them with leather hinges, as was the tradition during pioneer days. With time and weather, the leather hinges became less taut, and the shutters slumped sideways. 

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In keeping with Walt's desire for authenticity, there are no restrooms in Liberty Square, except for those required inside the full-service restaurants, just as there would have been no indoor toilets during colonial times.

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Notice what looks like a river of brown gravel running through the pavement in Liberty Square? It represents an open sewer, where waste would have collected in the middle of the road, having been thrown from the upper windows of homes.

...

Now look at the upper window of the home next to the door with the number 26 on the front. See the lanterns up there? They represent the two lanterns hung in Boston's Christ Church steeple in APril 1776, to warn Paul Revere the British soldiers were arriving by sea. Walk around the corner of the same building and look at the upper window on that side. The country folk may not be up, but they certainly are armed! During the Revolutionary War, the townsmen would place their rifle in the window to indicate they were home and ready to answer the call to arms."

This is all SO interesting! There are some fun historical facts in there that I didn't know! And some rather gross ones.... Still, the creativity of the Disney imagineers is astounding. There is a lot of information I didn't include about Liberty Square, so if you thought it was interesting, the book again is "The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World" by Susan Veness.

I hope you enjoyed the fun facts! I'll surely be blogging again after the audition! Think magical thoughts :)