Fabulous First Week of February

Yikes! It's been over a week since my last post! So sorry to have kept you out of the loop for so long, but I've been a busy, busy bee. I started working more and more independently and my family came to visit for the week! Saying I'm exhausted would be a major understatement, but I've been having such a great time! Sorry about the novel, but I've got a lot to share!

Friday, January 31 & Saturday, February 1
I was completely worn out on both of these days. I worked 17:45-1:00 on Friday and 17:45-00:00 on Saturday. All of our shifts and bus schedules are listed in military time, so I've been doing my best to get used to it and even changed my phone to it in order to get more practice in. It's coming much more easily now and I'm not as worried about being late or misreading things! My Fri and Sat shifts were both 6+ hours (which isn't a lot here) but they were late and my feet had had enough by Saturday night. It didn't help that I was excited to see my family on Sunday morning! Just knowing they were in Florida on Saturday night made work a little more enjoyable, even if it did feel like it was taking forever!

Sunday, February 2
After a bit of sleep, I met up with my family in Magic Kingdom. It was so nice to see them again; I hate being apart! Once there, my dad got his hair cut at the Harmony Barber Shop where he even got a sticker for not crying!

We then spent some time in the sun and high 70s watching the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party! Then of course we rode on Space Mountain, the PeopleMover, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates of the Caribbean and visited Kelsey at Peter Pan and Sarah at Storybook Circus! I also took this selfie while my family used their FastPass+ on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Jungle Cruise

Haunted Mansion

After lunch at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe, my stomping grounds, we did a bit of shopping since I have such a great discount right now! We also watched a bit of Dream Along with Mickey. Later that night, we ate dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. It's a buffet/family style restaurant where they bring as much food as you can eat to your table. On the menu for us was steak, pork, turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and "Johnny Appleseed Cake". It was so good and one of my favorite table service dinners of the week. As we finished our meal, the firework show, Wishes, was just starting. The combination of music, fireworks, and lights is really amazing. I'd definitely recommend you see it at least once. When Wishes ended, my mom and I sprinted over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to take advantage of the short line. If there's anything we learned on this trip, it's go on the rides when fireworks are happening. The lines are always short!

In addition to the firework show, we watched the Electrical Parade from Liberty Square. It wasn't too busy in that area and music and lights were great! I had never seen it before and was pretty impressed! Then I rode Space Mountain one last time before I had to head home for the night. There were Extra Magic Hours that night, so my family was able to stay in the park for an extra 2 hours longer than me!

Aren't we cute?

Monday, February 3

Because it takes my buses just about an hour to get to each destination, I woke up early to meet my family at Hollywood Studios, formerly MGM. I was able to get there early enough to get my own FastPass+ to match what my family had already set up. It's a pretty slick system. That day we rode Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Toy Story Midway Mania, and Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. We also ate at the famous Pizza Planet from Toy Story! In the Indiana Jones show, they choose audience members to be apart of the show and, of course, I volunteered!

Getting ready for the show! (I'm in red!)

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster with my bro!

When I was finished being an Indiana Jones sensation, I had to run over to Magic Kingdom for work (pinch me!). That shift wasn't my usual kitchen shift, though. It was a greeter shift and it was magical. As a greeter, my job was to hand out menus, answer questions, direct line traffic, and, as the name implies, greet. It was fantastic. I was able to talk with people, wear the Cosmic Ray's front of house costume, and even practice my Spanish knowledge. Most of the Spanish included words like "over there", "here", "all of them", and assorted menu items like green beans, chicken, hamburgers, and kids meals. I was shocked by how many families know little to no English, but still make the trip to Walt Disney World. The shift was also fun because I got to sing the Cosmic Ray's signature birthday song to a few people, visit with guests, and interact with the little "princes" and "princesses" that I saw. It was a great experience and it seems as though I'll be scheduled as greeter ever so often, so I'll be looking forward to those shifts!

A few special guests stopped by during my greeter shift!

Tuesday, February 4

#model

Tuesday was a bit askew. We started at Hollywood Studios. Again riding Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. We glanced through the shops when my mom and I decided we needed to spend some time in Downtown Disney. So, we left and ate lunch at Earl of Sandwich and shopped at World of Disney until we made enough room for some Ghirardelli ice cream. After our little adventure, we went to Epcot and met up with the guys who had gone to Magic Kingdom. They ate lunch at Colombia Harbor House, a quick service restaurant that serves seafood! I'll have to check it out sometime! Once in Epcot, we walked around the World Showcase and checked out each country until it was time for dinner at Via Napoli. We ate delicious pizza, calamari, and pasta along with three amazing desserts. The food was great! Then, again during the fireworks, we raced over to Test Track to get on without a wait!

My dad's car

Dakotah's "car"

The car my mom and me designed

The great pic of us on the ride!

Wednesday, February 5

My family had already gotten FastPass+ for Fantasmic Wednesday night so, that morning, I headed to Hollywood Studios to get my own FastPass+ for the spectacular show. Once I got it, my dad and I met up with my mom and brother at Epcot. There we did Journey Into Imagination with Figment, Innoventions East, Innoventions West, and Living with the Land before heading over to China for lunch at the Nine Dragons. I have to say, the food was better than I had expected it to be! After lunch Dakotah and I had dessert churros in Mexico and then went back to Coronado Springs, where my family was staying, to swim for a bit since it was over 85 degrees! We met up with my parents again at Hollywood Studios where we rode Tower of Terror (yes, again!) and ate at Fairfax Fare before using our FastPass+ to get into Fantasmic! It was such a cool show!

This doesn't even come close to doing the show justice!

Thursday, February 6
I met up with my family at Animal Kingdom and, of course, the first thing I made them do was ride Expedition Everest with me! We also went on the Kilimanjaro Safaris and saw lots of animals (despite the cold!).

Once we had had enough of the animals (and cold, windy, rainy weather), we headed to the hotel to grab sweatshirts and make our way out to Epcot again. In Epcot we went on The Seas with Nemo & Friends and saw smiling dolphins. Kotah and I also designed and experienced our own rollercoaster at Sum of All Thrills in Innoventions East. It's an out-of-the-way attraction that's tailored exactly to your liking!

Cheese!

Then we had to do Test Track one more time before making our way to the Polynesian for the Spirit of Aloha dinner show. It was fantastic! I even got to go up on stage and learn how to hula! And, yes, we all got lei-ed.

Friday, February 7
Yesterday was quite a long day for me. We spent most of the day at Magic Kingdom and popped over to the Polynesian for lunch. At the Polynesian, Kotah discovered a new-found love for the famous Dole Whip. It's a pineapple and vanilla flavored, soft serve ice cream that can only be found in two places at Walt Disney World. The best place to get one is definitely Capt. Cook's in the Polynesian because it's in a self-serve machine as opposed to in Adventure Land in the Magic Kingdom when they simply hand you one they make behind the counter.

He couldn't even function, he was so excited. ;)

After a few more rides at the Magic Kingdom, I had to head down into the tunnels to work in the kitchen. It was an 8 hour shift from 6pm-2am, but I was cruising and ended up getting done at 1:30am! Woo! I was able to get a ride home with my fabulous friend, Vivian, who is also in the kitchen and got home around 2:30 since we had to change out of our stinky costumes and freshen up!

Saturday, February 8
When I got home, I took a shower, got ready, and headed over to Coronado Springs to see my family off. I got to the resort around 5am (still without sleep) and made it into bed in their room before 5:30am. WHEW! What a long, long day yesterday turned out to be! This morning I moped around the hotel room as my family packed their bags to head back to Minnesota (and 0 degree highs). I am so glad they were able to come and hang out with me and put up with my annoying Disney trivia/facts every day. I'm going to miss them; the parks just aren't the same when they're not here! Now, everyone wish them safe travels while I find myself some food and (FINALLY) catch up on some sleep!