Friday 4th September

Another early start as I woke at 4 am worried about my alarm not going off as we had to be at the village by 8am. Today our first shift was in the Castle of Miracles where the children get to meet a character from Universal Studios, our special guest today was Scooby Doo, he was assisted by a little guy called Tito who was an Ewok in the Star Wars movie................. now not being one to name drop!!!! I mentioned to Tito at the end that I had met another Ewok who had recently helped Make A Wish grant a young man's wish.  That Ewok was the lovely Warwick Davis. It was great as they knew each other and Tito told me what a great guy he was, which I agreed with 100%. Now at this point I had no idea that talking to Tito, a very small gentleman, not sure if it is politically correct to say a dwarf, was fulfilling a long time fantasy of Debbie's and when he said to her, come here I want a hug, well she was delirious with happiness to say the least! Debbie has just admitted to me that this was a similar feeling to what she might feel if George Clooney had asked her for a hug!!! 

Now more of Scoobie Doo and the children, the character was fantastic and caused much laughter with the children and their parents too. Debbie admitted to feeling quite emotional watching the interaction the children were having with this great character (and this before she had a hug from Tito). Most of the children had massive smiles all over their faces, a few were a little scared and had to be cuddled and persuaded by their parents, but for the most part it was a resounding success. One of the first families through was my young MAW child that I mentioned last night, whose visit I had done, so we chatted a short while, a lovely family.

After signing out of our shift we decided to do a little more food shopping and ventured to Tarjai, or Target as it is known by the commoners. We are now fairly well stocked up in the fridge but decided that perhaps we might go out for a meal this lunchtime and chose TGI Fridays as they really do have great ribs. Another first for me today as I actually asked for a box to take my left  over ribs to eat later perhaps.

Time for me to break off writing for a while as tonight is Pirates and Princess Party and I have to change into my Snow White outfit. There is quite a bit of thunder going on but as yet no rain, not sure it will stay dry though for the whole evening but we shall see.

LATER.............. Well back from Pirates and Princess party now and had our delicious supper of bits and bobs, always the best I think.

Well tonight we had some shocking news, it seems that about a month ago a decision was made that meant volunteers were not allowed to dress in appropriate party themed costumes unless they had completed a 'Characters' training course which lasts approximately 5 hours according to Dan the Man. The shock was worse for me as I had bought with me my outfit for Halloween, Christmas and of course, for Pirates and Princess. Now I had not known of this sudden change of rules so duly arrived tonight in my rather fetching Snow White outfit and Debbie was in her lovely Pirates get up. What to do with Snow White now, is she for eBay I wonder??

We chose different jobs tonight, Debbie was on Princess  make up and tattoos  along with two other delightful young ladies and I was a 'Minder' for Lorelei the Mermaid, basically stopping the children from falling off the stage, and they were all on the stage at one point. It was a fun evening and watching the faces of not only the children but the parents enjoying every minute was special.

Today's highlights for me was the things Debbie came out with:-

" I have actually hugged a dwarf, and he asked me for a hug"

" I can't believe I have hugged a dwarf"

" Is hugging a dwarf the same as hugging a chimney sweep?"

Response to my question, "what was the highlight of your day" answer " was hugging a dwarf and he asked me for a hug"

Does anyone else notice a common theme  here!

Right off to bed now as we have an early shift in the morning, leaving here at about 7.15 am.

Goodnight  xxx