Our day begins with either (depending on how you feel about it) and exciting, or a rather boring update! Steven & I had planned a vacation, and since there was an audition during it, decided we would go, especially since they were casting both female & male character look a likes during it. Amanda was down there specifically for the Dream Along & Character auditions, and just so happened to have some play time in between.
Thank goodness Amanda came along because she was the one that, when copying fast pass plus selections from me noted youve got fast pass selections made during the audition
.you know its at 10:00 am right?
BAHA! #whoops
Yeah
theyre usually at 4:00pm, so thank goodness for her!
The three of us were up early, did some basic make up, tied our hair back, and called a cab pretty quickly. I know we ate in the room and threw some snacks in our bags for later if we needed them.
Disney auditions usually take place across from Animal Kingdom, in the wardrobe & rehearsal facility on Sherberth Rd, so it wasnt a long trip over there, and Im thinking we were there around 9:00am, as sign in began at 9:30, and the audition itself began at 10:00am. We took our seats in the hallway and waited for everyone to show up so theyd open the doors. During this time we chatted a bit amongst ourselves and with some of the people around us, the guy directly beside us lived around the area, and when he heard they were casting for Gaston, figured he may as well come on down, right? He definitely had the look he needed, SUPER built, darker features, and had the right voice, it was crazy! Futher behind him was a guy that the SECOND he walked around the corner all three of us looked to each other and said PETER and mentioned that if he didnt get pulled, Disney was crazy that day.
Right at 10:00am they began letting people into the big room they start the auditions off in, and we noticed there was quite few people there. The listing called for a bunch of characters, (Cinderella, Rapunzel, Tink, Peter, Gaston and Flynn if I do remember correctly) and allowed any college program participants with end dates in January to audition. Those characters span two height ranges for females, and three for the guys, so it wasnt suprising that it was busy.
They led us in, had us sign in on the Ipad (name, gender), take a number (we were 5, 6 & 7) and then took our height, which was written down on a piece of paper. I have NO idea what I was measured, but my actual heights around 54 and Im usually around there.
After they finally finished signing everyone in (which included some familiar faces, including Brian, who you might remember from Septs TR) they had us all sit down and chatted a bit about Disney Entertainment, the audition, and character integrity.
The audition process was simple, specifically since it was a face audition, and there were so many of us, it was just a type out. Meaning they lined us up in chronological order, and simply looked at our faces/builds. They do play some music, and of course, are smiling at you, and are super friendly and encouraging through the whole process.
Since we were so early on in the group, we were in the first line. Jen, the casting director, would walk down the line, and look at us, and when she got down to our end of the line, she stopped a little bit, then finished up the line, and then went back behind the table. She continued to, what I assume was, double check some of the heights, vs the people she had stopped to look at, and continued to take a long look over to US!
She then said thank you, had the lines all switch around, and did this for everyone else in the room. Once everyone had been looked at, she had us all sit down, and explained a few more things, mainly that if you arent picked it doesnt mean youre not pretty, and it doesnt mean you dont have what were looking for, it simply means you dont have what were looking for right now. Keep an eye on the postings and come back in a few months and then called the numbers she wanted to stay for the next round.
Sadly, today was not our day, as all of us were cut. The Peter look alike wed seen, was kept! So that made us happy, and we made our way out of the building. Steven commented that Jen had DEFNITELY been looking at me during the type out, and had looked back a few times. I was thinking shed been double checking my height for a specific character that I know Im not in the range for. Shed also definitely been checking out the guy right behind us who had the right look to hang out with Gaston, but was just a bit too short
.height
it rules ALL
All in all, nothing that was too discouraging, it honestly gave me that GLIMMER that Id really been needing, I mean, it had been a long year of Disney trips, and 4 auditions. One by chance, 1 WDW look alike, 1 HKDL look a like, 1 parade, and then this one, after the previous year of a few auditions, I had really started to lose hope. I was thinking that I probably didnt have a face for Disney after all, and maybe I should start looking into doing something else.
Today really gave me that PUSH that I really needed, and it couldnt have come at a better time! Since Dec, Ive been to another 4 auditions (and thats in 3 months time) all for different things. One was specific to Frozen, one parade, one CP/Full Time general, one specific to the Dream Along Princesses, and two just because we were there. Jen & Kent both definitely knows my face now too, which is helpful. I've been looked at at other auditions this year as well, specifically from those two casting directors, the cp/general one that Steven got kept at Kent was watching me as well, and during the princess one that involved Aurora, there was a solid long look, but still no luck.
Im super glad that this happened, and that I realized how much more competitive it is for someone in my height range, especially when it comes to fur/parades. Im a pretty average height range, especially for girls, so I need to prove and show that I am THAT much of a better dancer/animator/performer than every other 54 girl theyve seen within 6 months to really make my mark in the company and have the hope to get hired into entertainment. Im definitely hoping that I at least get the oppertunity to get into the character pool by Oct, as on my program, thanks to the visa I'll be working under, I'm not allowed to audition...and a whole year of not auditioning kinda SUCKS. I'm also hoping that it just applies to the auditions that have "no cp's/international's allowed" kinda thing, because then I'd still be allowed to go to the HK/Tokyo/Shanghai auditions and those would be amazing. As I'm posting this today, I've got almost 3 months exactly til I start my program, and Steven's got just under 2 months left in the pool, so lets keep our fingers crossed hey!!
Story time aside, Amanda, Steven & I called a cab and made our way over to the park for the day, which just so happened to also be the closest, Animal Kingdom!!
And now after seeing all the excitement from the night before, I get it even more. And I STILL wish I had taken a picture of you all in the Monsters Meet since that's exactly where you were when I got there.
Stacey lover,
. Completely true of course but still
thanks! lol, i seriously had no idea!
It'll definitely be your moment at the right time! 
