Halfway There

These past 10 days have been nothing less than exciting, exhausting, and fun. I finished out my time at Cosmic Ray's, spent some time in the sun, and started up my new position at the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. I also passed the halfway point of my program! I can't believe that I've already been here for over 2 months, but it's crazy to think that I'll be on my way home in 2 months. Planning has begun for my trip home and I'm starting to plan my summer jobs, classes, and activities. Reality is slowly creeping back into my life and I'm not quite sure how to feel about it. I'm also very excited for my mom, aunt, and grandma to arrive on Monday! My aunt and grandma haven't been to Walt Disney World for quite some time, so I'm anxious to show them everything and give them the full Disney experience.

My 4 Keys Fanatic Card

Last Sunday night, the 9th, was my last night at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. It was an 8 hour, closing kitchen shift, so they really sent me out with a bang. The whole day was a bit melancholy because I was looking forward to getting out of the kitchen, but I was bummed to be working with my coworkers for the last time. That day I also received my first 4 Keys Fanatic Card (shown above). These cards are given out as recognition or thank yous for helping, going above and beyond, or just doing your job well. I got this particular card for doing a "fantastic job on chicken side when we were really busy". If I remember correctly, I was scooping fries during that time, so clearly I've reached a professional fry scooper status. ;) Another cool thing about these cards is that they go on your company Record Card. It's kind of like a report card and shows times you've been late for work, gotten in trouble, and gotten 4 Keys Fanatic Cards!

The Mike and Sully topiaries!

On Monday, the 10th, I spent some time at the pool before heading over to Epcot with Denise to really experience Flower and Garden. It was such a hot day, so I was glad to be able to spend it outside.

Tuesday, the 11th, I, again, spent my morning by the pool. I had my Disney Heritage class in Magic Kingdom that day and I still hadn't seen the new Festival of Fantasy parade yet, so I made my way to MK for the 3:00 parade. It was super cool; they definitely went all out for this parade. The floats are so extravagant and really allow the parade to come to life! Since I was focused more on the parade than photographing the parade, my pictures really didn't turn out, but above is a picture Kelsey's mom took of the two of us before the parade! Notice the tank tops, I'm telling you, it was HOT! A highlight of the parade for us was when Peter Pan and Wendy pointed at us and waved! We were in the back of the crowd, so that was really neat! My class that night mentioned my uncle Blaine again and how he did both the Partners statue with Walt and Mickey and the statue with Roy and Minnie near the front of the park. They said that he was the official sculptor for the Walt Disney Company until he retired. How cool, right!?

Last Wednesday I finally started at Flower and Garden! From Wednesday to Sunday I worked at 4 of the 5 outdoor kitchens that are available to me and I got to try a bunch of the food that they offer (woop woop!). At Urban Farm Eats I was able to try the ghost pepper dusted tilapia which was so spicy, but so good! Pineapple Promenade serves "pineapple soft serve" aka Dole Whip, a signature Disney snack of which my brother is especially fond. Buttercup Cottage boasts a delicious cheese potato biscuit with salmon tartar and lemon scones. And the Smokehouse has brisket, pulled pig sliders, and a BACON CUPCAKE. I know what you're thinking "Ewww, bacon cupcake!? Why?!" And the answer to that question is BECAUSE IT'S DELICIOUS. The bacon is actually much less prominent than you'd expect and it's not greasy or overpowering because it's baked into the cupcake as small "sprinkles". On top is a maple syrup flavored cream cheese frosting with crumbled pretzel bits. Is your mouth watering yet? Yeah, mine too.

On register at Smokehouse on my first day!

My move to Epcot has been pleasant so far. I'll admit it's weird not having a home location since I'm at a different outdoor kitchen every day, but my coworkers, management, and even guests are much more relaxed, making it an enjoyable experience. I mean, it's the Flower and Garden Festival, festivals should be fun! Another perk of being at Epcot is that it closes much earlier than Magic Kingdom, usually 9pm every night. So instead of getting home at 3am, I'm getting home before 11pm!

Beauty and the Beast!

St. Patrick's Day was wet, rainy, and cold. It poured almost all day! Despite the weather, though, Kelsey and I played in Hollywood Studios for a bit, going on Rock'n'Roller Coaster and watching Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid on stage.

#ThugLyfe at Forever 21

Yesterday I decided to visit the salon underneath Magic Kingdom. Yes, Magic Kingdom does have a salon in the utilidor specifically for cast members called Kingdom Kutters. There is also another cast only salon at Epcot called Hairport International! After my heritage class that focused on the conception, planning, and execution of Epcot, Kelsey and I adventured to get pizza and visit the outlet mall nearby. Long story short, we took the wrong bus, but ended up discovering how close our apartment complex actually is to "civilization" (stores, restaurants, etc). Above is us enjoying ourselves in Forever 21's clearance section.

Displaying my butt pouch for my rain gear!

Today I had my Disney Marketing class and learned a lot more about Disney's public relations and special events branches! This afternoon and the next 4 days will mostly be spent working and getting excited for my family to visit! So much to look forward to this week!

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!