One Month Left

I'm flabbergasted! Only one month left of my college program?! I can't believe I've already been here for 3 months and I can't imagine not living next to Walt Disney World in a month. While reflecting, a month feels like nothing, as though I'm basically going home tomorrow. But, when I see my schedule and get to work, a month feels like an eternity. I'm so thankful to have had this opportunity, met the people I have, and learned so much about not only The Walt Disney Company, but myself, too. Over this next month I know I'm going to continue to struggle with my excitement for summer in Minnesota and my urge to live the rest of my Florida life to the fullest.

Of course I've worked a bit since my last blog post. There's not usually much to report about work, but a few stories from this month have stuck out for me. There must have been something in the water at Epcot on April 5th because I experienced two different acts of kindness. The first I posted about on Facebook:

As I was on cash register at Urban Farm Eats, one of the outdoor kitchens for Flower and Garden, today, a younger boy, maybe 12, ordered a tilapia for $4.75. When he handed me his crumpled bills, though, he only had $4.05. He asked if it was enough and I told him he needed just a few more cents, so he ran across the walkway to where his bag and party were waiting. As he did this, I made small talk with the others in line to keep then from being too upset with the boy. When he returned, he quickly grabbed his money back from on top of my register and said, "Sorry for the inconvenience, miss," and began walking away. I stopped him, about to give him the tilapia for $4.05, when the next gentleman in line pulled a dollar out of his wallet to help the kid out. The boy looked surprised and totally grateful. The gentleman was nothing but humble when I thanked him and complimented his kindness. These people totally made my day!

Not only was I shocked at how polite the boy was and how humble the man was, but I was surprised at the response the story got on Facebook. The sheer number of likes was telling of just how many people were touched by this little moment at my cash register!

The second act of kindness I experienced on April 5th was a bit different. A man came up to me looking for a "fried bread doughnut thing". Thankfully, I had just learned that Epcot sells a pastry called the "Croissant Doughnut" or "Cronut" for short. It's a deep fried croissant in the shape of a doughnut, dipped in cinnamon sugar. I know, it sounds delicious. Anyway, I figured out that the cronut was what he was looking for and I pointed him in the right direction, mindlessly adding, "I've never had one, but I hear they're amazing!" Well the night went on, we closed my stand, the fireworks started, and I was waiting for my coworkers to help me escort the money from my register when the man came up to me again, cronut in hand! He beamed, told me how delicious it was, and then nudged his wife. His wife proceeded to hand me a small bag saying, "We got you one! You have to try it!" I just about died! A cronut for me?! I thanked them profusely and they were on their way. Who does that?! WHY would they have thought to get me one?! I don't know, but I'm thankful because it was delicious.

On a completely different note, Landen came to visit me last week! Though he only was here for a few days, I was still able to spend time with him for the first time in 3 months and bring him to Walt Disney World for his first time ever! Even though I wasn't feeling 100%, we had an absolute blast! It was so much fun showing him all of my favorite rides and places!

After Landen left, I worked a little bit and then spent yesterday hanging out with my roommates Denise, Kelsey, and Gemma. Though our original plans fell through, we ended up having a great day! We hung out at the pool (and laughed a lot), went to Panera Bread in the rain, and watched/sang along to Frozen. Watch Facebook for pictures of our day off!

April Already?!

Suddenly it's April! I cannot believe I only have a month and a half left in Florida. I'm so sorry I haven't been blogging much lately, but if I wasn't so busy, I'd have nothing to share with you! From getting comfortable at Epcot to showing my aunt, grandma, and mom around Walt Disney World, my life has been anything but slow!

My pants were entirely too high and too tight 2 weeks ago!

I have now worked at all 5 of the Outdoor Kitchens at the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival in which I'm eligible to work. I do similar things every single day whether it be pushing buttons at a cash register or pouring beer and wine for giddy guests, so most of my days are starting to blur together. Some things, though, I hope I never forget. For instance, I love connecting with different guests from the midwest/Minnesota. Most of the time I do this by noticing the TC on his baseball hat or giant M on her on shirt. Often times, though, people forget that they're wearing Minnesota gear when I ask them if they're from the state and their eyes get wide and they look a bit frightened. I've had many ask if their accent was the give-away! My response, of course, is always that we don't have an accent. ;) And, yes, we usually end up talking weather and how I escaped the awful extended winter in Minnesota this year. It's always nice to see Minnesotans!

Me, my mom, grandma, and aunt at Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue

Last Monday, the 24th, my mom, grandma, and aunt flew in from Minnesota! We stayed at the All-Star Movies Resort in the Toy Story building! I was pretty excited about it. We had giant Buzz and Woody statues outside with Bo Peep and Rex too! After checking into the hotel, we explored the rest of the resort (the Fantasia pool and 101 Dalmatians building were my favorites) and then headed out to make our Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue dinner reservations. The Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue is a fried chicken and ribs dinner with a goofy country musical show at the Fort Wilderness resort. The performers were great and my family really enjoyed it!

We opened Animal Kingdom the next day. We did the Kilimanjaro Safaris, Dinosaur, and It's Tough to be a Bug! After Animal Kingdom, we made our way to Hollywood Studios for our lunch reservation at the 50's Primetime Cafe. At the cafe, we checked in for our reservation and waited for our hostess in "dad's den". When we arrived at our table, we sat underneath a TV at, what felt to be, a family dinner table. We were greeted by our "cousin" Mandy who told us the 50's rules for the dinner table. It was great. She kept catching us with our elbows on the table and at the end of the meal, she spoon-fed my aunt her vegetables. My grandma got a real kick out of it! After lunch we watched the Beauty and the Beast stage show, watched MuppetVision 3D, and met Mater and Lightning McQueen. At that point, I had to meet my Disney Heritage class at the front of the park for a scavenger hunt, so my family went to watch Lights Motors Action without me. The scavenger hunt was pretty neat because it complied all of the things that we had learned in class. We also got to see where some of the architecture in Hollywood Studios came from. When my class was over, we rode Toy Story Midway Mania and left for Magic Kingdom where we walked around the park and did Mickey's Philharmagic and the Hall of Presidents.

Eating at Teppan Edo in Japan

Then on Wednesday we went to Epcot. It was super busy since it was local Floridians' spring break! That day, Magic Kingdom hit maximum capacity (100,000 guests) at 10am! And they hit it again later on in the day too! Unbelievable! At Epcot, though, we were able to go on TestTrack, Journey into Imagination, Living with the Land, and eat a bacon cupcake (YUM) before our lunch reservation at Teppan Edo, the hibachi restaurant in Japan. It was delicious as always! After lunch, we went through all the countries, watched the American Adventure, went on The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Spaceship Earth, and Ellen's Energy Adventure. We ate at the Electric Umbrella before hopping on the monorail to Magic Kingdom.

The Partners statue made by Uncle Blaine and Cinderella's Castle

As we got off the monorail and entered Magic Kingdom, we saw all of the stars of ABC's The Middle filming a scene! It was awesome! After being starstruck, we went on Splash Mountain (yes, we got my grandma to do it too!), watched Celebrate the Magic on Cinderella's Castle, and, of course, Wishes, the firework show. After the show we went on the Carousel of Progress and the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor! We finished out the night by going on Winnie the Pooh, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, and meeting Mickey!

On Thursday we started at Magic Kingdom and got fastpass+ for the rest of the rides that we hadn't done yet. My aunt and grandma got to go on Jungle Cruise while my mom and I rode Space Mountain. We also did the Enchanted Tiki Room and then met up with my roommate, Denise, to watch the Festival of Fantasy parade and then brought her to the Grand Floridian with us for lunch so that she could help us order and show us around! After lunch, my aunt and grandma went back to the hotel to change clothes and such while my mom, Denise, and I went on Splash Mountain again and hung out in the Kingdom. When my aunt and grandma came back, we went on Small World, Peter Pan, Little Mermaid, Dumbo, and Monsters Inc Laugh Floor before saying our final goodbyes to the Kingdom.

On Friday we went to Downtown Disney and spent the rest of the money burning holes in our pockets and went back to the hotel to catch some rays before they left. It was so much fun having them here and I was bummed to see them go so soon. Sure, I can go to the parks whenever I want, but it's so much different when you've got new eyes with you. I'm also so glad they were able to come and see WDW for the first time in 30 years!

Photoshoot with my Mousters Degree

I went back to work on Saturday and Sunday. The weather on Saturday was nuts! We had tornado warnings and watches and torrential downpours! Needless to say, ice cream wasn't selling very well. Although I was surprised at how many people were still in the park when I got off of work at 3:30! After work on Sunday I finally went to Walmart again! WOO! Monday I spent most of the day napping and trying to get rid of my awful cold. Tuesday I spent some time by the pool, had my last Disney Heritage class, and hung out at the outlet mall with Kelsey. Today I had my last Disney Marketing class and will be working fairly soon! Because I'm done with my classes, I got Mousters Degrees! They're my certificates of completion!

That's about all I've got to say right now! I'm still surviving down here in the heat. Hopefully I'll be able to adjust to Minnesota temperatures again when I get back!