A plum position for PhotoPass photographers is the character shift, in which the photographer snaps shots of guests posing with Disney characters. Elizabeth coveted these positions, but her shyness sometimes got the better of her.

It was maybe a few weeks in when I finally started to see character shifts pop up on my schedule or when I was relocated due to lack of staff. But who cares, because I was finally going to work with characters and that was awesome. I was finally going to have character friends.

Or not.

I quickly noticed during my character shifts that my shyness began flying over the roof. I suddenly couldn’t talk to characters, and that was because during breaks, characters let their guard down. It may be only for a few seconds or sometimes several minutes, but at the end of the day, you get moments where characters are vulnerable. And I quite frankly didn’t know how to handle that. I idolized the characters and I didn’t know what to say when they told me about their personal lives.

Suffice to say, I was also pretty terrible at introducing myself. Again, the shyness would kick in and I would suddenly become mute. Plus, I already knew Ariel and the Evil Queen and Peter Pan and Mulan. I was completely insignificant in comparison. There were also some shifts where I had to jump from character to character and sometimes never got the chance to talk in private and give myself a proper introduction. I once got a four keys card from Frozone himself without even knowing it. His handwriting was a little hard to read and we never got the chance to speak backstage.

I wish I could say it was solely my lack of social skills that caused some completely and utterly embarrassing moments with characters, but luckily it was just my sheer and utter stupidity I could thank for that. Being socially awkward at times was the least of my worries.

For instance, I like to be prepared for the worst case scenarios and so I always had some form of feminine care products on my person since reaching my backpack was not always an option. Now, with that being said, I’m sure you can imagine what kind of event went down during my first time working with Sully and the Incredibles. Lets just say something slipped out of my pocket for the world to bear witness to on the ground in front of the Monster’s University door. I played it cool, since that was the only thing I really could do, and tried to prevent my face from turning as red as a rose.

There was another time where it was only my second or so character shift. During my first character shift, the character host had been extremely helpful by asking me if I had ever done the shift before and what to do when she was not there. I wish I could say the same thing happened during my second shift with Woody and Jessie. One minute I’m taking photographs, interacting with guests, and everything in between. The next minute, I’m turning to the character host who has seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth. Now, at first I think to myself she is probably just going on a fifteen minute break and as soon as she comes back I’ll be able to continue my duties by taking my own break and then breaking for a fellow photographer.

Well, fifteen minutes went by and there was nothing. I started to seriously question what to do. Because, shockingly, no one ever explicitly stated which characters could be left alone and which characters needed a host or photographer at all times. The general rule of thumb was to never really leave a character without a host. And I had no idea where mine went. To top it all off, I noticed one of Woody’s buttons was consistently unsnapping. Of course, I had no idea how to properly fix it and even if I did it wasn’t exactly easy to expect someone of my size to reach the said issue with an SLR in hand.

Of course, panic ensued as it always did. What was I supposed to do? Where was the character host? Should I leave Woody to continue my actual job or go the extra mile and wait for the character host to come back? How do I tell Woody I’m leaving without it seeming awkward? How do I get away from all these guests that expect me to take their pictures? Why is this so difficult?

As the time went by, I eventually left Woody and Jessie alone. In the end, I called management to tell them the situation which is probably why when I got back from everything, the character host seemed to be in a bad mood. I felt guilty for potentially getting her in trouble, but at the same time, there was really nothing I could do. No one had told me you could leave Woody and Jessie by themselves. She never said where she was going. And I hadn’t a clue about what to do. At least I knew for next time. I guess. I would have liked to avoid making potential enemies due to my lack of knowledge.

Of course, after my first embarrassing shifts, things did start turning for the best with nothing super embarrassing occurring, thank goodness. Toward the end of my time as a PhotoPass photographer, I even became semi-good friends with Tinker Bell due to all my Pixie Hollow shifts. But those first couple of shifts were such doozies at times that I wondered how exactly I would survive the next four-and-a-half months. Or if I would even survive at all.

At the end of the day, I liked character shifts. But the fact of the matter was, I was too awkward, too much of a shy kid at heart to do anything productive. And forget about networking. I completely failed in that department. I would like to say if I could do it all over again, I would be more outgoing, communicate more, play more. But really, I’d probably just fall back into being a complete idiot with mouth diarrhea.

Continued in "Elizabeth Earns Her Ears"!

It's not always the cast members who make magic for guests; sometimes, it's the guests who make magic for the cast members.

Probably the highest honor you could receive as a cast member is a guest compliment. Fellow cast members can easily appreciate one another with the Four Keys Card. But it takes a certain someone to take the time out of their vacation to give a cast member that is already expected to act a certain way a guest compliment.

I never really expected to get a guest compliment. First off, I barely understood what they were so I couldn’t anticipate getting something I didn’t fully understand. Second, I knew my sarcastic and overtly sassy persona at the parks was not always well received by guests. It’s an East Coast / West Coast mentality thing.

There was one day in particular where a fellow CP said to me, “Elizabeth, you were such an a-hole to guests today, I loved it! It totally made my day.” Of course, after hearing such a comment, I could only anticipate a guest complaint would be on the way. I knew what those were and sure as heck didn’t want one. Which, now that I think about it, makes me wonder why my fellow college program photographer was so happy about my “a-hole” personality in the first place.

But luckily as the weeks rolled by, I heard nothing. So I knew I was safe, which was certainly a relief. I had seen some of the nicest people get guest complaints so the fact that I had slid under the radar was a miracle. Then again, guest complaints are a hit or miss as well. It only takes one extremely angry guest to go the extra mile and complain about you.

Then there came a day when I was working and a woman wearing professional attire stood to the side waiting for the guests to leave. I can’t remember the location, but there were other cast members around. Perhaps it was Pixie Hollow. Perhaps it wasn’t. I’m not entirely sure. But it was most likely a character shift.

Oh god, what did I do? It was the only logical thing that came into my head. I was quiet, I had been injured, and when I wasn’t quiet I was throwing my East Coast humor left and right. Clearly, I must have done something wrong.

The guests left and I waited. At this point, I didn’t even consider that the woman might be there for someone else other than myself. I knew, I just knew. And I was completely right.

“Hi, Elizabeth, I just wanted to come by and congratulate you on the guest compliment you received.” She then proceeded to show me a black certificate. “I’ll leave this with your leads so you can pick it up when your shift is over.”

“Great, thank you so much!” I replied, dumbfounded as my fellow cast members cheered me on and congratulated me. Just how I managed to pull off a guest compliment, I’ll never know. Of course, I was completely giddy with excitement the entire day. Getting a guest compliment was a good motivation to actually do a good job that day. At least, I would assume so. I have no idea what exactly my performance was on that particular day.

After my shift ended, I took the certificate and read the description. It was for work I had done at the main entrance. The main entrance; one of the most despised and arguably worst locations in both theme parks. How the hell exactly had I pulled this off?

“Elizabeth really got us in the Halloween spirit with her fun poses!”

I couldn’t even remember the guest who commended me or what sort of fun poses I had done. Considering all the other magical moments I thought I had created, it was odd to receive a guest compliment on such a small occasion. Again, this goes back to the idea that guest compliments are really hit or misses. You could do the best job in the world and not get a guest compliment or do a somewhat adequate job and get a guest compliment. Which is why guest compliments should probably be taken with a grain of salt just as should guest complaints. But who cares? It didn’t matter. I had achieved the unachievable: I had gotten a guest compliment. Who says East Coast humor can’t get you anywhere in life?

Continued in "Elizabeth Earns Her Ears"!