Tales From the Turntable: The Heathers

​There I was, without my family, living on the complete opposite side of the continent from my home. Lucky for me a couple of other girls left their home states behind and found themselves in Florida.

In early 2002 the man who trained me was training one of these girls. I was in the Kali base and the phone rang. It was Tom. He had Robin, from Pennsylvania, with him and thought we should meet ASAP, so he had us talk on the phone. He was training her, so why didn't he just come see me in person? I have no idea. It's Tom. That answers that! It is now 2018 and Robin and I are still friends!

That same time frame also sent Sarah, from Massachusetts, into my life. And you know what I'm gonna say ... we are still friends as well. Heck, she's the last remaining Disney Cast Member in today's blog!

Robin and I shared initials. And we were the token blond girls. This came into play later on during our time, which we will cover eventually. Sarah is the tallest, and has the dark hair. All three of us would end up trainers for Asia Attractions. And we would end up getting nicknamed "The Heathers". I think that all came to be after we walked in sync over the exit bridge and down to the turntable together. We owned that area that day, giving people the image of the ultimate cult classic movie Heathers. Sixteen years later and we still reference it!

We were a tight trio. You were not getting between us. Try to create any drama at all, and the three of us would band together and put a stop to it. While we were serious about our jobs, yet still maintaining the fun atmosphere, we were far from serious outside of work!

You will no doubt be seeing the names Robin and Sarah come up multiple times as I share my stories. But this would not be complete without the 4th member of our little family!

Bobby! Bobby had been at Disney for many years before coming to Kali, but I still had the pleasure of being his trainer in the summer of 2002. He was definitely the easiest of all of my trainees. It was way too fun and set the stage for our friendship that is still continuing on to this day. Bobby was different from us, not just in that he is a dude, but he is an actual natural born Floridian. WHAT?!?! That's so rare!

Oregon. Pennsylvania. Massachusetts. Florida. Four people from different places and all very different from each other. We went through a lot together during our years as family. I got married (yeah, we won't mention that again. Blech.) Robin got engaged, and then un-engaged. Bobby and Sarah became an item?? Eventually we all left Kali for different areas of Disney before Robin and I each moved back to our home states. We have all seen each other in our absolute highs and lows. I'm sure we have all seen each other cry at some point and we probably all got mad at each other, too. When you see a movie or TV show with that tight group of friends and you think, "Man, I wish I had something like that" ... that was US! Robin and I are both new moms... I think when our girls are a bit bigger we will have to plan the official reunion!

I could have gone into greater detail, but that's what this blog is for. We might hear about moonshine in Bobby's trunk, Robin and I discovering Discovery Island, Sarah getting guests kicked out of the park, Bobby and Ronda getting drunk before going on crazy roller coasters. Ooh, and then game nights, Trainer Taboo, epic sadness when Friends came to an end and we worried that mean the end of our friend era. The list goes on and on! And along the way you'll get to meet more friends, like Moniq, Eet, Kevin, Jacob, Ashley, Lauren, Jeff, Herb, Yuli, "Hooper" ... the list goes on and on and on. I couldn't possibly list them all right now.

And anyone reading this that may have been our manager during our time there? Yeah Jeff, I'm talking to you.. Well.... yeah, we were awesome at our jobs... just ignore what we did in our off time and we will all be good!

See ya real soon! °o°