Family Ties & Kitchen Life

Where does the time keep going? Suddenly it's been 9 days since my last blog post! I can't believe how fast my time here is going. I only have about 2 months left and there are so many things that I still want to do. I know it's only the 9th of March, but I already have my work schedule through the 22nd and my mom, grandma, and aunt will be here the 24th! This program definitely hasn't been what I thought it would be but, now that I think of it, I'm not sure what I really expected. It's so surreal to be able to hang out in Magic Kingdom after work or go to Epcot just to ride Test Track. I've had to keep reminding myself lately that my opportunity to visit the parks all the time won't last forever; I can feel myself taking it for granted! (And the weather, the weather is so perfect!)

One thing I didn't anticipate or prepare for were the weird, long hours I have been scheduled. Last Saturday (the 1st) I randomly had the day off. I was so exhausted, though, that I spent most of the day sleeping and relaxing. Last Sunday I worked until midnight, rode the bus home, and then had to leave at 9:30am the next morning to get to work at 11am on time!

Before we went to work on Sunday, Kelsey and I stopped at Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club Resort. Kelsey got a huge brownie a'la mode while I got a huge chocolate shake. We tried to soak up the sun a little bit and let ourselves slip into vacation mode for a few minutes. We took a resort bus to Magic Kingdom and rode the People Mover before I had to head down into the tunnels to get ready. I'm going to miss these little trips!

The front walkway to get to the lobby of the Beach Club Resort!

My Monday shift was another greeter shift, so I got to be out of the kitchen and talking to guests. At Cosmic Ray's, we get really really busy during lunch time. So busy, in fact, that we have to block off doorways in order to control the crowds. We have one dining room where we seat guests based on the number in their parties. In order to be seated, the whole party must be present with all of their food. I was assigned to the position where I stop the guests, ask the number in their party, tell the seaters, and wait for a table to open up. As you can imagine, people don't want to wait for a table, especially when they're hungry! Some people were not pleasant, while others were just grateful to get a place to sit. It's amazing how different people are!

Broccoli, cous cous, and salmon!

After my greeter shift, I spent some time in Magic Kingdom. I walked around aimlessly for a while before settling in to Columbia Harbor House for dinner. Columbia Harbor House is just across from Haunted Mansion and is well-known for its seafood menu! I had some delicious salmon, cous cous, and broccoli. I also got a great view!

The view from Columbia Harbor House

Last Tuesday was PIZZA DAY! Kelsey and I had been craving pizza the week before, so we planned to order in and pig out on Tuesday. I slept in and planned my classes for fall semester (boo, back to reality!) before my Disney Heritage class. In my class, I got to watch videos and hear audio files of Walt, which was so cool! It got even better, though when I saw Walt talking to my great uncle, Blaine Gibson! I was so surprised! My great uncle Blaine worked for Disney for quite some time. He really wanted to be an animator, but ended up doing much more with sculpting. In the video that I watched, Blaine was sculpting Abe Lincoln for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln in the 1964 World's Fair. It was unbelievable! It's so cool to think that my relative knew Walt and got to be apart of both the golden age of animation and the building of Disneyland and some Disney World.

Picture from the clip I watched of Walt and Blaine!

Blaine and me in 2009

After class, Kelsey and I ordered our pizza for PIZZA DAY, watched Disney proposals on Youtube with Gemma and Sarah, and then watched Mary Poppins!

Me at the Beach Club with the BoardWalk in the background

On Wednesday Kelsey, Sarah, and I strolled around the BoardWalk and the Yacht and Beach Clubs before walking over to Epcot for the first day of the 21st Annual Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival! All of the themed, character topiaries were out and I took way too many pictures. It was nice to be there just to scope out where I'm going to be and take notes of where things are at so that I can be more helpful when guests need to find something.

Both Thursday and Friday I had 9 hour greeter shifts. Unfortunately, it was rainy all Thursday morning, so the expected attendance for Magic Kingdom dropped from 48,000 people to 30,000 people. Needless to say, it was very very slow. I've never seen Cosmic Ray's be so dead before! It was a long 9 hours even though I spent my time giving stickers to the few kids that came in (I've now realized that everyone loves stickers). Friday went by a bit quicker because it was pretty busy. It was a little bit wet that morning too, so I spent 2-3 hours mopping up the water that people dragged in. It wasn't what I expected to do as a greeter, but I suppose it helped the time pass!

After work on Friday, I watched the fireworks pre-show, Celebrate the Magic, in which the castle comes to life! It's such a cool show and it's amazing what a bunch of lights and some great music can do!

Rapunzel's Lanterns!

Last night I worked in the kitchen at Cosmic Ray's. Tonight is actually my last kitchen shift since I'll be starting at Flower and Garden on Wednesday! It's pretty bitter sweet to be leaving since I've met some great people and gotten used to the kitchen and Cosmic Ray's now, but I'm also excited to spend more time at Epcot and switch up my responsibilities a bit.

I'm hoping to spend some more time in the sun this coming week! I don't quite look like a Floridian yet!