And THAT is why I Publicly Shame You - Star Wars Weekend Race Volunteering Report 2018

It's time for another Disney Volunteering Report!

This was the second of the year, Star Wars Weekend 2018.

I was up by 7:30, and chilled out after my shower. Once we packed up, and snacked up, we were on the road by 9:30. We grabbed lunch on the road at an Arby's, and ate on the way down.

With this being a much smaller race, the Volunteer check-in area was upstairs, in the smaller area. We checked in and got our credentials for the two races, and then hung out, eating our snacks.

Large Volunteer Space (Credentials way in the back there)

Healthy snack of Little Debbie Donut Sticks and Pepsi!

At one point, I realized that they were doing things a little differently, and we had to go check in with the Team Leaders. When we did that, we discovered that Hubby was doing something different than I was... whoops. I think the Kiddo and I were gEAR volunteers, while he was just "Expo Volunteer." Oh well. She and I headed over to shirts, while he was "Kessel Run Check-In Volunteer" (he said it was a lot of fun!).

Expo Check In, Shirts, Snacks

At gEAR, there were a lot of people already there, so the Kiddo and I were assigned as "floaters." At first, I kind of just stood around, helping people figure out where they needed to go, but that was pretty useless. I ended up spending a lot of time chatting with fellow volunteers. 

Kathleen, Michelle, Nick, The Kiddo

I would walk up and down the row of volunteers every little bit and see if anyone wanted a break, if they wanted a snack, but really, I felt like I was just wasting time.

Nick, a l'il cutie patootie was at Shirt Exchange, but he was miserable. There was another volunteer there - Cathy - who is like the worst kind of volunteer. The kind who thinks they know everything there can ever possibly be known about volunteering since the dawn of time, and must tell you how to do everything. No matter what Nick did or said, she would correct him, or try to give him some motherly advice. She was just shy of calling him sweetie, like he was her grandkid. I felt so bad for him, that I eventually came and inserted myself between him and her, to act as a buffer.

At one point, a guy came up to pick up his shirt. He then proceeded to take off his own shirt and try on the new shirt, bare-chested. Now, I'm not Nancy Know-It-All like Cathy, but I've been told on multiple occasions, by multiple Team Leaders, and multiple runDisney employees that allowing that to happen, and then take the shirt in for trade is a no-no. So, like any volunteer should do, I shared this information with Nick and Cathy.

Cathy listened to what I had to say, then basically gave me this condescending look that told me to go fuck myself. She said she's never heard that, and she's worked more Expos than me, so she knows the rules.

Perfect Reenactment of Condescending Cathy's Look

Y'all, I talk a big game about wanting slap people, but seriously... she was working my last nerve.  Condescension, they name is Cathy. I had to take a walk, man.

And she had me doubting myself, which really pissed me off. I went over to Nedra, the Team Leader, and then Darren, the runDisney leader, and neither of them had heard of that rule?! What the actual hell? runDisney leaders are the one who told me the rules last year (I think it was the tall guy, Tom). So, now I'm frustrated, and second-guessing myself, as I walk back over to Shirt Exchange. Darren and Nedra must have talked amongst themselves, because along came Nedra, telling everyone at the tables that, no, we can't swap shirts with people who do that... Jesus, people! You're killing me!

Oh, but it gets more frustrating. Cathy then catches me by the arm (you know, how grandmas grab you to pull you to the side when you're doing something wrong?) and said that she wanted to thank me for having the Team Leader clarify the situation. She only wants to do what Disney tells her to do. I am ready to poke her in the eye, but I very nicely just say that I went to get further instruction, that I didn't go over there to get anyone in trouble.

She gives me the condescending "Oh, girl..." look, huffed a little laugh and said, "You can't get ME in trouble..." and then turns away.

Okay, seriously, flip this fucking table, I'm so done.

I stayed away from her for a while, and then Nedra came around to see who wanted to go to lunch. I said that I didn't want to go, that Cathy could go. Cathy didn't want to go, because she wanted to go with her husband (said, again, with a "I'm better than you" tone). Fuck you, honey, I'd like to go to lunch with my daughter!  So, basically, it was an extremely stupid Mexican Stand-Off where none of us went until she gave in around 3:30 and went to lunch with her hubby.

Lord, it was so much more peaceful once she left!

The Kiddo & I went to lunch around 4, Hubby was already up there. We ate our sad sammiches, then stashed our leftovers and headed back to work.

To keep the volunteers peppy (afternoon into evening is always a dragging time), I attempted to get the entire line of volunteers to do the wave. It didn't work.

Back at Shirt Exchange, I was happy to see that most people were able to swap for what they want (even though it's not what they ordered... stay off the soapbox, Lazy...). We left around 7:15 and headed to WaWa for dinner before checking in at the hotel.

I got some chicken fingers (meh) and a birthday shake - yo, it was nasty. Hubby got a milkshake, and the kiddo got a Cookies & Cream Milkshake (they like shakes a lot more than I do).

Wawa Birthday Cake Milkshake & Chicken Fingers

After checking in, none of us were really tired, so we ended up playing Bullshit and Cards Against Humanity. We didn't end up falling asleep until 11, and man, that 2am alarm is gonna suck!

We actually rolled out of bed around 2:45 Saturday morning, hit up Wawa for snacks, but I really wanted some actual FOOD, after my disappointing chicken fingers last night. We went to the McDonald's on 192 and ordered a Sausage Biscuit, a Sausage McMuffin, and a hash brown. They were taking cash only because their computer was broken. So I paid cash only. Then we waited. We pulled up to the second window 10 minutes after we placed our order. We were pulled up to the "wait for your shit" spot. We waited some more. At this point, we'd been there about 10 minutes, before I finally stormed into the restaurant to figure out where the hell my food was.  Lesson: don't piss off a tired, hungry, fat girl! (So what happened? They cleared their screen and forgot I was even out there!) Luckily, they realized what happened, they got a fresh order together in about 37 seconds, and the manager gave me a free meal coupon.

Now over 20 minutes late to our shift (we should have been there at 4am), we sped over to Epcot and found our team leader, Debbie, only to be told... there was nothing to do... The 4am call was so that we wouldn't get stuck in traffic.

So I sat down and finally ate my Sausage Biscuit, while bullshitting with the Team Leader and starting the outline for this blog post.


Around 5:45, we were told what our job was. We would work in teams of 2 to hold signs so that runners knew where their bus was. One volunteer would hold the sign at the end of the line while teh other volunteer would stay up near the bus area.

The Big Signs

Hubby and I chose to be Bus 8 for Caribbean Beach, while The Kiddo would be Bus 10, Pop Century and Art of Animation. Once everyone began to disperse, it was noted that there was no one to be Bus 9 (Yacht & Beach Clubs, Boardwalk, Swan & Dolphin Resorts). Debbie asked if I'd be okay working that one alone, and I said sure. I ended up not even having a sign to carry - it was missing! So, it was just me and my Disney Voice™.

See that bus behind the guy with the ponytail? Waaaaaaaay over there? That's Bus 10

My view for the next few hours

And then, we just waited for runners to show up. I worked well with my Disney Cast Member Al (Alfred?). We'd count out 50 people and then start a second line. Buses would come by every 5 minutes or so (later, as the morning went on).

Awesome Al!

The morning went by fast, and it's a super-easy volunteer job, too - you get to see some fun costumes.

Hooters Boys

Vulptices

Leia & Obi Wan

We finished up around 8:15, checked out at the volunteer tent, and then headed to the car. We acually ended up moving our car to a spot closer to the entrance of Epcot and headed in to the park. I took advantage of it being Flower and Garden Festival time to take lots of photos. I rode Soarin' alone while the two of them chilled out and played Pokemon Go at Sunshine Seasons. The wait was about 30 minutes. 

Welcome to the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival 2018

Ooooh, pretty!

Oooooh, prettier!

Oh, you gettin' artsy naw!

Legs on Soarin' Around the World

The Kiddo was over it at this point (remember, we're going on about 3 hours of sleep), so we headed over to pick up our Annual Passholder magnet, then left the park.

We're some crazy people, standing in a long-ass line for a MAGNET

Since she was feeling the worst, we asked her what she wanted to eat for lunch. She said she wanted cheese... melted cheese, plastic cheese, electric cheese... so we went over to the Golden Corral... Can someone please explain to me why a Golden Corral should cost $40? I mean, really? We could've eaten AT Disney for less money! But, she got her electric cheese, so all was good in the world for her.

We were back at the hotel by 1pm, but, dammit, our key didn't work! I had to trek all the way to the lobby (and got lost, cuz I'm an idiot) to get the key redone... geez!

Once we got back, I got some ice for my drink, updated my blog outline, read my book and eventually fell asleep around 2pm. And stayed asleep until 7pm! Holy crap!

By 8:30, we were all ready for dinner, so we went to Chick-fil-A for me and Wendy's for them. Because of our nap, we didn't fall asleep, again, until 11pm.

Sunday, the alarm was even earlier, set for 1:45am.  The Kiddo never even slept! Sure wish I had her stamina!

We packed up and checked out, since our shift was supposed to end after check-out time. We hit up Wawa for breakfast then headed to the Volunteer area at ESPN.

It was in the new Arena section, in a little side area. There was a LOT of space inside - I hope they keep doing check-ins here!

This table has shirts for volunteers

Once we got our water, our snack box, and our shirt, we bussed over to Epcot to learn about Bonus Medals.

(It's called "Bonus Medals" when you sign up online, so "Challenge" = "Bonus")

Our Team Leader asked for any volunteers who were good with tech - yeah, so us! We were set up at the tables out front. As a runner came to pick up their challenge bib at the Expo, they had their photo taken. When a racer finished the race today, they'd come through this line, and we'd look them up by their bib number. This would cut down on the number of people who run with someone else's bib. Photos were simply files, and you looked for them via the "search" function of Windows Explorer. The keyboard didn't have a number pad... oh boy...

Small laptops... no num pads... this is gonna suck.

Once we learned our task, we were able to roam the course. What did we do? We wandered around Epcot, of course!

We had a volunteer take our photo... she wasn't the best at it...

First row = Challenge Medal     Second Row = Kessel Run Medals

What runners saw as they came for their medals

The first challenge runner came though around 6:45am and went through Hubby's line. It quickly picked up though, and it didn't stop until after 10am. Within an hour, I was getting dizzy, going from bib to computer to face to bib to computer to face to bib... well, you get the idea. And because we were holding them up from getting what they really wanted, they didn't really even care. I know that sounds weird, but it felt like we were an obstacle in their way, and they didn't like us. I didn't like the feeling.

Once we were done, the adrenaline had left my body, and I could feel my feet throbbing! We stood in the same place for over 4 hours (no movement!). I was miserable the entire bus ride back to ESPN.

In the car, we decided lunch at Steak n Shake on 192 (not the sticky heroin bathroom one from last year). We popped into Wawa next door for travel snacks and soda, then hit the road. Since it was after Easter, we had our pilgrimage to Russel Stover for clearance candy. We got 46 Maple Cream eggs, 4 bags of solid chocolate eggs, 2 plain chocolate bars, 10 Banana Whip eggs and 12 Vanilla Cream eggs for $33. I love clearance at Russel Stover!

We were home by 3:30 and all I did was unpack, veg on the couch with some tasty Wawa and chocolate until I crawled my ass into bed at 7. Yeah... 7.

I was asleep by 8:30!

#GoingAlward

Back in December, we'd gotten a wedding invitation... who do we know that's getting married? Turned out to be my cousin B, on my mother's side. He's about 10 years younger than me, so we never really "hung out" as equals; we were just cousins who saw each other all the time... if that makes sense. 

I stuck the invite in my binder (I carry that binder everywhere!) and forgot all about it.  After our Gasparilla weekend, and how lovely that was, I thought that we should go. It would be nice for the two of us to go out as a couple, NOT for a race, and it would be great to see all of the cousins again (including me, there are eight of us). So, I told Hubby that we'd go, and he groused and grumbled, as I expected him to, but I told him basically just shut up and go, I'd make it worth his while. 

Hits the nail RIGHT on the head for Hubby!

Over the next 2 months, I found a really cute dress (the dress code was Cocktail Attire) and got Hubby a nice new button-down (he hates them!). I ended up getting some really cute shoes on Amazon of all places (this is a bad thing; now that I see how much fashion Amazon has to offer, I'm shopping all the time!). New shoes, dress, and shirt for him all were about $50! My dress was actually a clearance dress, and after a great JC Penney coupon, I got it for (no shit), $15! 

I got a great room at Fairfield Inn & Suites in Tampa. It was a very nice room. It had a cool layout where the bathroom was the first area of the room, and then had a long hall to get into the bedroom area. 

Looking towards the door from the sleeping area

There was a cool closet/kitchenette area. It had a coffee maker, mini fridge, and microwave, and a closet on the other side. A small portion of the closet was an actual closet, then there was a small hook.

Microwave, Coffee Station, Fridge

Hanging Rod, Small closet with hangers, iron & board

The room itself is nice and spacious, with a king bed, a big mirror, a desk, and table with TV.
 

Bed (dual nightstands), table w/mirror, TV/Dresser, Desk w/Desk Chair

Front view of desk, TV, and table area

After a lovely afternoon, we got all gussied up and made our way to the Florida Aquarium, where the wedding and reception would be held. 

We got there early and parked at Channelside Parking (final cost $10) and walked over to the location. We were quickly kicked out and told that they would let us know when we could come in for the event. Kinda wish I knew that... I would have stayed in the car!

Hubby spent the entire time grousing about having to wear a long-sleeve button-up AND a sports coat, so I told him to shut up and I'd go put the jacket back in the car, and he could spend the evening in only the button-up shirt. He was okay with that, but was still expecting the evening to suck. 

Dream Pairs Tiffany Heels from Amazon

My $15 Clearance Dress

Yeah... I look like a lacy green potato

We stood around in the foyer area for a while, then saw my mother and my aunt show up. We talked with them for a bit, and they said that my brother and his wife were going to attend (originally, they weren't going to come, due to financial reasons). Then we saw my cousin J and my cousin T show up, who had just come from the Hooters down the road. Sadly, they said that their brother K or his family would not be attending tonight. This really bummed me out, because - since my brother came - we could have taken another group cousin photo with all eight of us... oh well. 

Just as my feet were about to scream at me for standing in heels (and cheap heels, at that!) for so long, we were soon led through "Ocean Commotion" and "Dragons Down Under" areas (shuttered for the night), where the centerpiece was a MASSIVE aquarium in the Coral Reef Room. The entire wall was aquarium. I was blown away.

Okay, that's an amazing backdrop!

The ceremony itself was very small, not super-religious, but definitely over-the-top in terms of what the aquarium provided. At the point the minister asked, "are there any objections?" two penguins came racing down the aisle towards B and R (bride and groom). Very cute, but hokey.

I love the strings of lights, too

And after the minister introduced "Mr. and Mrs. A," the wall behind them exploded in a million bubbles, creating a Bubble Curtain. Again, very cool, but hokey.

Eventually the entire wall was bubbles

It's a Fame-Whore Shark

I'm sure it made for great photos though. The huge shark sure seemed to like hanging out there!

Once the ceremony was over, guests were able to walk around the Aquarium to view the exhibits, or make their way to the upstairs to the Mosaic Center for light refreshments.

Even though my feet were still hurting from these cheap shoes, we decided to walk around. (Standing hurts more!). We walked around the Sting Ray area, but it was shuttered for the evening, and the rays had gone to bed. We went over to the Bays and Beaches area, and there... we discovered... CLETUS.

Sssssshhhhhh, Cletus is sleeping

Cletus is a Goliath Grouper, and in the 10 minutes we were over there, he never moved from this spot!

According to the signage next to his aquarium:

• He's been at the aquarium since 1995
• He's about 29 years old
• He weighs 275-300 pounds, on his "skinny days" 
• He's 2 inches shy of 6 feet long, and 50 inches around
• He loves to eat herring, sardines, ladyfish, & mackerel
• He also loves sandbaths, bubbles, and his diver friends

A better angle to see Cletus

After our visit with Cletus, we headed back over to the Mosaic Center, picked up our table assignments, and then mingled with family.

Mom (love the Table Assignment in the bra!), Sister-in-Law, Brother, Aunt

Once we sat down, though, and got a good look at our table assignments, I had to giggle. My brother's name is Jess. Hubby's name starts with J as well (it's a secret!). My bother's last name is NOT Weber (because Weber is my married name). We were all rightfully confused as to who was supposed to sit next to to me. All four of us (me and my hubby, my brother and his wife) ended up sitting at the same table, so no big deal there (they didn't have an assignment; they kind of crashed the wedding).

So... am I sitting with my husband or my brother?

We were seated at the "family, but not really important family" table, along with other cousins T and J, my mom, my aunt (T and J's mom), and a lady accompanied by two men - none of us had any idea who these three people were! When we all sat down, there was a champagne flute at each seat. Hubby and I don't drink, neither do my aunt or my mother. Mystery woman seized them like it was the only beverage on Earth and dropped all 5 in about 2 minutes.  She's a keeper...

Very early in the seating, and you can see all champagne is gone from the table

Mom, Cousin T, and Cousin J (two sons of my aunt)

As usual, there was a lot of pomp and circumstance, the bride and groom came in. There were speeches and toasts. One thing that was very touching though, was that B was able to dance with his paternal grandmother. His mother - my aunt (my mother's brother's wife) - had died about 5-6 years ago from Lupus, and her absence was widely felt. Grandma was very emotional during the Mother of the Groom dance, and I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when the dance was through.

Grandma could hardly keep it together

The meal was lovely; a buffet of pretty typical wedding food. The bar was open, which led to a lot of drunk people (including my two cousins, as seen in an earlier photo, and the Mystery Trio at our table!)

At one point we were able to get all of The Cousins together (minus K) for a group photo. Unfortunately, NO ONE had a good damn camera with them (where was the wedding photographer!), so they all came out grainy and crappy. This was one of my favorites though... T (the one grabbing me) has always been my favorite out of all of them!

Cousin K, Cousin L, Cousin J, Cousin B, Jess, Cousin T and Me!

We were also able to get a great one with The Cousins, the bride, the Grandmother, my sister-in-law, and my uncle Skip (my mother's brother, B's dad)

Bride, Cousin K, Uncle S, Grandma, Cousin L, Cousin B, Cousin J, Brother, Sister-in-Law, Cousin T and ME!

I took a moment to dip out and head to the ladies room to prepare a special surprise for Hubby. No, not that... okay, yeah, that, but also something else."Our Song" is Enter Sandman by Metallica. There's a long story there, but it's not pertinent to the story at hand. I put this song on my phone before we left home, and I brought a pair of Bluetooth earbuds with me. In the ladies' room, I queued up the song, got the earbuds powered up and connected to the phone, then headed back to the reception. When the DJ called for all the married coupled to come up on the dance floor, we headed up that way. I told him to put the earbud in his ear (of course, he was totally perplexed), I put the other one in mine, and then I hit play. Seeing the look on his face go from perplexed to understanding to love was amazing. We never had a wedding reception, so this was a nice way to be able to dance to our song that way. It was probably the best 2 minutes of the entire night.

After the song the DJ was playing was over, he played a little game. Anyone married a year or less, step off the dance floor. 2 years or less, 5 years or less. He went on and on. 20 years or less, left only Hubby and me, and the parents of the bride. They had been together for 42 years (hubby and I will celebrate 22 years in June). The DJ then asked them for advice for the new couple, as well as the couples who left the dance floor. I don't remember the advice, but I was so proud of us, for being runner's up in the best competition.

After this, the party really began to step up - it got louder and darker; I needed some air, so we headed out to the balcony and ended up bullshitting with my brother and sister-in-law for a while. At one point, The Mystery Trio came out, and headed to an upstairs balcony one level above us. It was chained off, but rules be damned!They stayed up there for about 10 minutes, and then came back downstairs. Mystery Guy 1 damn sure looked like he was adjusting his fly. Mystery Guy 2 looked like he was patting his hair down. And I'm pretty sure Mystery Lady was wiping her mouth. (At this point, we were all pretty sure Mystery Lady was Mystery Hooker).

The American Victory ship (Mariners Memorial Museum) and the view beyond

Hubby and I went back inside and sat for a little while until we could gather all the family at the fun photo booth. As has always been in life growing up, my brother and I tried to outdo each other in the photos. (My brother is the large, hairy guy... not the just hairy guy).

Hubby, Mom, Aunt, sister-in-Law, Brother, Me

The result of that photo shoot

Then it was just Hubby and I. We never pose well, so the first 3 are awkward. Then I shouted Prom Pose! and the final one was cheeky and cute.

Probably the first dressed up couple photo we've had in over a decade!

The party by now was in full swing - loud, dark, drunk - so it was time for us to leave. We said our goodbyes to everyone and finally, we were gone, back on our way to the hotel for the evening. I couldn't wait to peel that dress - and the 87 layers of Spanx - off of my tired old body!

Sunday, we lazed around for a while - yeah, you know what we did - then headed to Red Robin at the mall for lunch. On the way home, we made a pit stop at the Russel Stover Outlet for leftover Easter Candy ($25 for TONS of candy!), and made it home safe and sound.

I'm so glad I decided we should go. It was a lovely weekend that didn't involve parenting or running or any other types of responsibilities. It was just him, and me, and being together.