I EARNED MY EARS!

On Saturday evening I officially "earned my ears"! I am no longer a trainee, I'm a full-fledged Walt Disney World employee! I spent most of my work day on Saturday reviewing everything I had learned on my training days. I had to remember what items were stored in each cooler/freezer, the hold times for each item on our menu, the specific plating for each dish, and every emergency procedure (among lots of other things)! When assessment time finally came, we found out our assessor was one of my managers, "Big Will". He is such a kind, giving guy! He was actually on Good Morning America the day before with Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for all of the work he does for Give Kids the World! Needless to say, I passed with flying colors!

I forgot to take pictures, but this is what the lobby looks like. It's absolutely stunning in person!

That night, I met Kelsey, Sarah, and Denise at The Art of Animation resort for dinner. If you've never heard of it or seen it, I'd highly recommend it. It's considered a value resort, meaning it's one of their cheapest, but it doesn't feel cheap at all! It's beautiful. My salmon sandwich was delicious as well and the fact that I got 20% off as a cast member wasn't too bad either!

Roy, Minnie, and me!

On Sunday morning, the Kelseys took over Magic Kingdom. We met Pluto, Gaston, and Princess Tiana, rode on the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and ate cream cheese pretzels and frozen Coke at The Lunching Pad! Gaston was an absolute hoot. He had us feeling his muscles, posing, and laughing at his egotistical ways. Tiana was perfect, exactly how you'd expect her to be!

That night was my first day of work without training. I was finally on my own, for better or worse! I was scheduled to work from 7:30pm to 1:30am! I scooped fries at Bay 1, the chicken bay, for quite some time. It got a bit busy for a while, but I was able to handle it! After fries, I got a short break and then began our closing procedures. For me that night, it meant gathering garbage, stocking the coolers and freezers, and disposing of the food waste. It was a long night, but not nearly as rough as I'd expected it to be!

Yesterday, Denise and I ventured to Animal Kingdom. She had never been on Expedition Everest, so that was our first stop of the day. It was great, as it always is, the first and second time. ;) Then of course we had to get the crap scared out of us at Dinosaur! Our last stop at Animal Kingdom was to see Pocahontas. She was so much fun to talk to!

Expedition Everest

Loving our lives on Dinosaur!

Pocahontas and me!

After Animal Kingdom, we rode a bus to Epcot to eat at the Electric Umbrella and meet Kelsey. We rode Test Track and Journey Into Imagination with Figment before we met Alice, Princess Aurora, and Belle. They were all adorable and had fun things to say! We spent some time in the World Showcase by eating hand crafted ice cream in France, shopping in Japan, eating caramel in Germany, and riding both the Maelstrom in Norway and the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico!

Alice!

Belle!

Today I am finally doing laundry, cleaning, and catching up on sleep. I may also hop over to Magic Kingdom for the fireworks tonight just because I can. Just another day living the dream!