So tonight I just got home from a week's vacation in Florida. It was a two month late celebration of my parents' 30th wedding anniversary. Mom and Dad, Daniel and his girlfriend Arielle and I all went to Merritt Island, right outside of Cocoa Beach.

Of course while we were there we made a few trips over to Walt Disney World, about an hour away. The first day that we went, last Monday, I was completely smitten with a young lady who worked there. Tomorrowland Sara. This is her story.

On Monday afternoon we met up with some family friends who have a seven year old daughter. We rode Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, the new Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Goofy's Barnstormer, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - a whole mess of rides. By the time the fireworks hit, we were tired. Afterwards we decided to just stake a claim on Main Street and wait for the nighttime parade SpectroMagic.

Now SpectroMagic is quite possibly my favorite Disney thing ever. Sure, it's not wholly original, the characters and songs are all clipped from the animated films. But what original music it does have is so tremendous. Great score. And the way that it wraps everyone from the seven dwarfs to the Little Mermaid all together in one cohesive parade ... it's amazing. I love it.

So we sit down for the parade. I'm next to our young friend. We're all content to just wait the half hour for the parade in mostly silence. That's cool, we've had a busy day.

Then this Disney Cast Member bounds out in front of us. Now, I'm all for Disney Cast Members to be happy and nice people. In fact, I get mad when they're not happy and nice. But there is a point when it's going too far. Too in-your-face-happy. Sometimes it's a wannabe actress has a captive audience for thirty minutes and does her best song-and-dance. Or the janitor who wants to be a Jungle Cruise skipper and tries his best stand-up on you. Painfully annoying stuff.

So I'm wary when Cast Members bound anywhere.

This blonde young woman bounds out and says, "Let's do some trivia!!" Ugh. Most Disney Cast Members, Walt bless their souls, recite the same trivia over and over. "Name the seven dwarfs." "What does Epcot stand for?" "What is Donald Duck's middle name?" The same rigmarole.

"What was" she starts, playing to the young kids in front of us, "the first Mickey Mouse cartoon produced?"

Damn! This chick isn't pulling any punches! That's a trick question!!

The first little kid shouts out "Steamboat Willie" and is shot down. Silence.

I turn to our seven year old friend and whisper, "say 'Plane Crazy'." She does, and is correct.

Our blonde Cast Member says, "Steamboat Willie was the first shown, but not the first one made." Tricky tricky tricky.

This goes on for a few more questions. Some are easier, so the kids can answer, some aren't so easy, so I feed the answers to our friend. Since this seven year old is getting so many toughies right, I'm sure the Cast Member thinks something's up. She keeps going.

"When is Mickey Mouse's birthday?"

I whisper over "1928" to my Quiz Show-savant elementary student.

"Correct. What day?"

I answer, "Um, November ... 11th? No ..."

Our cute blonde Cast Member says, "I think it's the 18th..."

I nod my head that I'm an idiot. I think we share a little moment.

Thus breaking the ice, I shout out, "Do some Emperor's New Groove trivia." I know, I know, it's cheesy to keep bringing up the one real project that I've xxxxxx xx, but dammit, if it's an 'in' for me to talk to our cute blonde Cast Member, I am all for cheesy.

"Okay, but I've only seen it twice. So, who was the voice of ... that one guy ..."

"Kuzco?"

"No."

"Kronk?"

"No."

"The ... llama John Goodman ..."

"Pacha."

"Yeah."

Well, she kind of answered her own question. Oh well. But then, out of left field, she comes back with, "What animated movie was the first to show a pregnant human character?"

DAMN! She knows her stuff!

I give her a thumbs up (What? I already said that I'm not above being cheesy to meet cute blonde Cast Members!) and I think we share another moment. Maybe?

Oh, yeah, so at some point in the middle of all of this my parents and their friends decided that not only do I have to meet this cute blonde Cast Member, but I also have to marry her. Great.

So jsut as I'm ready to play with her some more, the lights dim and the music starts. Dammit, the stupid parade! I want to keep playing trivia with our cute blonde Cast Member!!

So the parade happens.

And it ends.

So what do I do now? Well, in a very atypical Josh action I actually go up to and (gasp) talk to our cute blonde Cast Member. Imagine that!

I walk up to her and say something to the effect of, "Hi, my uh, name, well, I'm Josh" (shakes hands). "You're (looks at name tag) Sara." (Sees one year pin on name tag, too). "Nice to meet you Sara. I just wanted to let you know that we all enjoyed the trivia there before the parade. Good questions."

Then somehow in a rather unwieldy and cheesy fashion I mention, you know, off the cuff and all, how I actually worked on The Xxxxxxx'x Xxx Xxxxxx and always have to promote it to everyone. I say, "Yeah, I work in California" and she says how she was out here last year and went to Disneyland and California Adventure and the Studio. I say that California Adventure was kind of lame, she laughs in either agreement or perhaps fear/disgust/nervousness. Then I let slip in an even more awkward manner how I work in the animation building, you know, the one with the big sorcerer's hat on it? She says that she loves that building.

And then I just got scared or something. I don't know why, part of me was happy to be talking to her, paret of me was freaked the hell out, and part of me didn't want to bug her anymore.

So I said, "Well, we all loved the trivia thing tonight. It made our night." And then I bolted.

Obviously now I'm kicking myself. Hell, I was then, too. But moreso now. Is there anyway for me to contact her and not sound stalkeriffic? Is there even any way for me to contact her? I don't know where she works, she was just doing a Parade Audience Control (PAC) shift. She was wearing a Tomorrowland costume, but that doesn't really mean much. On Friday when we were all back in the Magic Kingdom I was kinda looking for her, and realized that her light grey costume with the light blue shoulders is different than the standard Tomorrowland dark grey pants light grey shirts? Maybe she works at the Autopia Grand Prix Raceway?

I don't know.

And that is kind of sad. Sure, maybe there's a one in a billion chance that she'll remember my name (Josh) and where I work (Xxxx Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx Animation California). Luckily, I'm the ONLY Josh at Xxxx Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx Animation, so maybe if she is brash or brave enough to even call the reception, maybe they'll be able to find me.

I guess that's what it comes down to at this point, me hoping for her to be brash and brave while I run and hide.

Unless, of course, any of you know anyone who works at Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World who might just know a trivia-buff named Sara ...

- Josh Edwards