Mousetrapped: A Year and A Bit in Orlando, Florida

Mousetrapped: A Year and A Bit in Orlando, Florida Review

Mousetrapped: A Year and A Bit in Orlando, Florida Feature

• ISBN13: 9781456559816
• Condition: New
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Three big dreams, two Mouse Ears and one J-1 visa. What could possibly go wrong in the happiest place on earth? 

 

When Catherine Ryan Howard decides to swap the grey clouds of Ireland for the clear skies of the Sunshine State, she thinks all of her dreams - working in Walt Disney World, living in the United States, seeing a Space Shuttle launch - are about to come true.

 

Ahead of her she sees weekends at the beach, mornings by the pool and an inexplicably skinnier version of herself skipping around Magic Kingdom. But not long into her first day on Disney soil - and not long after a breakfast of Mickey-shaped pancakes - Catherine's bubble bursts and soon it seems that among Orlando's baked highways, monotonous mall clusters and world famous theme parks, pixie dust is hard to find and hair is downright impossible to straighten.

 

The only memoir about Space Shuttle launches, the town that Disney built, religious theme parks, Bruce Willis, humidity-challenged hair, the Ebola virus and - oh, yeah - working in Walt Disney World, MOUSETRAPPED: A Year and A Bit in Orlando, Florida is the hilarious story of what happened when one Irish girl went searching for happiness in the happiest place on earth.

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

 

PART 1: An Irish Girl in a Disney World

 

The Call of the Mouse | Arrival | Mousetrapped | Apartment Living | Orientation | Stop This Train | Into the Kingdom | Not So Happy Holidays

 

PART 2: Good Morning, America!

 

Miles in America | Mission Space | The Town That Disney Built | Adventures in Humidity | Coffee Has Two 'f's | Go for Launch | In God We Trust | Farewell

 

Um, quick question: why did you call this book "MOUSETRAPPED" when you didn't work directly for  The Walt Disney Company?

 

The first time this book was referred to as "MOUSETRAPPED" was back in the summer of 2006, before I'd written a word of it or even left for Florida. I was still in Holland, where one of my colleagues - who knew that my biggest dream was to be a published writer - jokingly said, "You can write a book about this - and call it Mousetrapped!" I laughed the idea off at the time, but then when I arrived in Florida and things didn't go as planned, this conversation came back to me and I thought to myself, Not only is that a great idea - but that's a great title!

 

The book is called MOUSETRAPPED, yes, but so is Chapter 3, in which I describe my life just after I arrived but before I started work. Because I had no transport, my world was confined to the triangle formed by my apartment, a shopping mall and Downtown Disney. Therefore, I spent most of my time inside Walt Disney World because I'd nowhere else to go. This is what I mean when I say "mousetrapped."

 

I didn't work directly for The Walt Disney Company, but for an international hotel group who own a property in Epcot Resorts. We were referred to as "cast members," had to use all the same terminology as Disney used (costumes, backstage, etc.) and attended Traditions, Disney's orientation program, before starting work. We all loved Disney, and many of the staff had once worked in the parks. What I'm getting at is that we didn't see ourselves as any different from "real" cast members. We always said, "I work in Walt Disney World" - because we did.

 

So if you're looking for one of those Disney exposé books that tell you about the time Minnie was caught behind Cinderella's Castle upchucking into her head, no, this book isn't it. But if you're looking for a book about a girl who got to live in Orlando by way of a job in a Walt Disney hotel and who, inspired by Wishes, tried to make all her dreams come true while she was there, then MOUSETRAPPED might well be it...