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!

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!

Working Girl

After my first experience with pay laundry at my complex on Tuesday, Meg and I ventured to Magic Kingdom. We stopped at the Grand Floridian to see our roommate, Denise, hard at work. Once we got to Magic Kingdom, we got FastPass+ passes for Under the Sea, the Ariel ride, and the Jungle Cruise. FastPass+ is super slick. I didn't think I'd understand or like the new system, but it's super simple! We also rode Haunted Mansion, Carousel of Progress, Buzz Lightyear, and It's a Small World twice to see our roommate, Kelsey. While we were on Small World, though, the boats got a bit backed up, so we ended up being on the ride for about 5 minutes longer than expected. We were pretty sick of the music by the time we finally got out! We took a picture with Ariel too! She was so cute!

Yesterday I had to go to work. It was nice to feel confident in what I was doing and start meeting my co-workers. I spent most of my time preparing trays for Bay 1, the chicken bay. I had to plate half chicken meals, rib meals, chicken sandwiches, pulled-pork sandwiches, and chicken nuggets. It was so slow that we closed Bay 1 an hour early! It was raining/misting/drizzling all day and it only made it to about 50 degrees, shockingly cold for Orlando. ;) Side note: watching the weather on the news here is hilarious because it's "SO COLD". Hahaha!

I only work 3 more times until my family will be here on Saturday! Hopefully that will help the time go by faster! Tonight I have to go to work again, but the weather isn't great again, so we'll see what I end up doing!

Training and Relaxation

Wednesday, when I last wrote, was my first day of on the job training. Since then, I've been overwhelmed with information, new people, and physical labor. Today I finally got a chance to relax!

On my first day of on the job training, I got to wear a red "Earning My Ears" ribbon on my name tag. Taking it off will be another milestone in my internship, another reminder that my time on my internship is limited!



My costume! The hat can be swapped for a hair net and in the kitchen I wear an apron!

My first day of training was 8 hours long. It consisted of a trainer, Renee, and two other kitchen trainees. In addition to online lessons, we learned how to make burgers and run "soup side". Cosmic Ray's is made up of 3 bays: chicken, burgers, and soup/sandwich. We also closed soup side and when Cosmic Ray's closes, it needs to look spotless. It looks like a brand new restaurant every night! The teamwork there is evident. It's interesting because college program employees always close. Personally, I'd rather work early and get done early, but it makes me feel good that my presence allows full time parents and students to go home and tend to their kids and their homework. We also got to taste test chicken side. It was awesome!

My second day of training, yesterday, consisted of a bit more information and physical labor. In addition to taste testing burger side, I learned how to work both burger and chicken side as well as fries, nuggets, and "take down". Take down consists of stocking things, trash/food waste, and other random odds and ends. Stocking wasn't too bad, but bringing out the trash and food waste was pretty gross. We have to push the food waste cans all the way out of the Utilidoors which is uphill and quite a walk away! For whatever reason, we got an hour long break, so my trainer said we could go ride Space Mountain if we wanted! I love Space Mountain, so of course I jumped at the chance to ride on it! After I changed, I got to come out of one of the "Cast Member Only" doors to get to the ride and go in when I was done! It was the best break ever!

The Utilidoors are so cool. The magic of the Utilidoors still hasn't worn off for me. It's amazing that there's a whole secret world beneath the Happiest Place on Earth! It's funny because right above the women's restroom in the Tomorrowland break room is Stitch's Great Escape, so every few minutes it sounds like it's thunder-storming above me! Another cool/weird thing about the Utilidoors is that I see tons of face characters with their wigs and makeup on, but without their costumes, so it seems as though these characters are casually enjoying their lunches or making phone calls. It's hilarious! Some casual characters that I've seen include Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Merida, Alice, the ugly step sisters, and Gaston.

Today I had a day off, so of course I spent my time at Walt Disney World! My park of choice today was Hollywood Studios. I spent about 4 hours just wandering the park. I rode Tower of Terror, voted for a singer at the American Idol Experience, and watched the Beauty and the Beast stage show. I also walked through One Man's Dream where my great uncle, Blaine Gibson, was kind of featured. I wanted to tell everyone around me about my connection! I was just so proud to see that his humble work was recognized in some way. I also found a bust of Walt in the park that he did. I wish he could give me a personal tour and share all of his Disney knowledge with me.

Tomorrow I have an assessment at Cosmic Ray's that will let me know if I've "earned my ears" or if I need a bit more training. Wish me luck!

Keeping Up with Kelsey

The last few days have been pretty exhausting. Since I last wrote on Saturday, I've done quite a bit and it's not slowing down anytime soon!

Rapunzel's little corner in Fantasyland

On Sunday I had "Food and Beverage Core" where I learned a lot about food safety, how to properly interact with people with disabilities, and I finally got my login to view my schedule. It was my roommate, Meg's, birthday that day and most of my roommates had already been celebrating at Magic Kingdom with her. I met them there and we rode Space Mountain and hung out at the park. It turns out Magic Kingdom was open until 1:00am and had Extra Magic Hours (only for resort guests) until 3:00am! We were exhausted, though, so we headed home for the night.

Cinderella's Castle!

Monday was pretty relaxed. Kelsey and I took the bus to 2 cast member only stores. One called Property Control and the other Cast Connection. They're both located in the back of Magic Kingdom's cast parking lot. Property Control is hilarious and so cheap. It's made up entirely of the parks' reject items, so most everything is broken or damaged in some way. Things that can be salvaged or that aren't damaged are hard to come by, but when they are found, they're extremely discounted. It's amazing! Cast Connection is much less discounted, but discounted none-the-less. It also has groceries which is extremely convenient.

Yesterday I finally had my Once Upon a Time... Is Now! class. It's a class specifically for new Magic Kingdom hires where they give you a tour of the park and officially welcome you to the Magic Kingdom family. It was pretty cool to be there before the park opened without any people! Later in the day I received my costume. It turns out that I got placed in the kitchen at Cosmic Ray's, so my costume looks like a chef's outfit. Stay tuned for pictures. ;) I also found out yesterday that Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café is the 2nd busiest fast food restaurant in the entire world and THE busiest in the United States. How crazy is that?! Apparently one New Year's day Cosmic Ray's made over a million dollars in PROFIT. So that's what I'm getting into!

Today is my first day of on the job training. I met another girl that's in the kitchen of Cosmic Ray's too, so I'm glad I'll know someone back there! I won't be done working tonight until 11:00pm, though, so it'll be a long day!

Chillin' in Chilly WDW

Today was another cool, exhausting, yet wonderful day at "The Happiest Place on Earth!" I visited both Animal Kingdom and Epcot. I also made another, always exciting, trip to Walmart.

My roommates, Sarah and Kelsey, and I woke up at the crack of dawn and headed out for Animal Kingdom. Our intention was to get to Expedition Everest as quickly as possible, but we accidentally made a wrong turn when we noticed that a Cinderella doll had fallen out of a stroller! Kelsey used the "Disney Scoop" to snatch the doll up without missing a stride and returned it to the woman pushing the stroller. Because of our detour, we ended up in Africa instead of Asia, so we went on Kilimanjaro Safaris. Of course we saw a bunch of animals, but the giraffes were probably the best because the whole tower of giraffes passed by within 5 feet of us. It was amazing!

Expedition Everest from afar

Then we made our way to Expedition Everest, fully expecting to wait in line for hours before getting on the ride. It took 10 minutes to get on, so we rode it again! It's such a fun ride! We continued to make our way through Asia and then Dinoland U.S.A. where the DINOSAUR ride is located. I don't want to spoil the ride for anyone, but my roommates and I are in college and were still so scared. (Feel free to laugh at our ride picture below)

Kelsey, me, and Sarah scared (almost to death) on DINOSAUR

After all of that excitement, we were pretty hungry. On our way to find food, though, we ran into Dug from Up! The picture is a little blurry, but Dug was so much fun! He was spastic, loving, and friendly, just like you'd expect him to be! He gave us lots of hugs and licked our faces a few times. I'm so glad we got to see him! We also stopped at It's Tough to be a Bug! We finally stopped at Pizzafari for lunch and then caught the bus back to our apartment complex where we hopped on the bus to Walmart to buy a cake for my roommate, Meg's, birthday tomorrow!

Kelsey, Dug, me, and Sarah

When we got back from Walmart, I showered and we decorated our dining room to surprise Meg when we got home later, since she had already left for Epcot with our other roommates, Denise and Gemma. We got on the bus to Epcot and after a bit of a delay (the buses are wonderful, but are sometimes late and can take a long time getting from place to place), we finally made it to the cast member entrance. It was so cool getting to use my ID to get into the "Cast Members Only" areas! I felt so official!

In Epcot, we rode Spaceship Earth, the ride inside the infamous ball, Test Track, and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Spaceship Earth always inspires me and it's always fun to see your face on an animated body! Test Track was AWESOME. It's totally redone, but it's super cool. We waited in line for over an hour, but the time went by quickly as we hung out together and played a free version of Ellen's Heads Up app. Once inside, we got to create our own cars! Mine is shown below. The ride was awesome as always and I wished I could ride it again! The Seas with Nemo and Friends was adorable and the sea life after the ride was neat too. We left Epcot just as the fireworks show, Illuminations, was starting, so we got a fireworks send off!

The car that Sarah, Denise, and I created

Overall, it was a great day. It's still surreal to be able to go to the parks whenever I please and it's even weirder to not have to go to school. Tomorrow I start training for my job at Cosmic Ray's, so I'm off to bed! Thanks so much for keeping up with my journey! I hope you're able to live vicariously through me as I live in this fantasy world for a few months.

This is really my life right now!

Traditions Day!

I became an official Walt Disney World cast member today! My Traditions class, The Disney Company orientation, started at 8:00am and I needed to catch my bus at 6:45am. I also had to be dressed in professional attire... it was an early morning!

The classes took place at Disney University, near the Magic Kingdom! We were broken into groups of about 50 and signed in to receive our official Walt Disney World ID cards. In the class, we learned about "Working With Integrity", the 4 Keys to Success, and the main idea of The Disney Company: "We create happiness". It was moving, emotional, and a bit long, but the random surprises and knowledgeable instructors kept us on our toes.

After the main class portion, we took a trip to Magic Kingdom, but it wasn't just any trip. We came up to the backstage and entered the Utilidoor. From there, we took on the tunnels and made our way to Main Street USA. It was mind-blowing, definitely not what I expected, but still so cool. I even saw Ariel in sweats talking on the phone! It was hilarious! I can't take pictures back there, though, so you'll have to become a cast member to see it for yourself. ;) Then we headed back to Disney University to receive our official Walt Disney World name tags!

Earlier this evening, the college program held an Up themed welcome party in my apartment complex. A few of my roommates and I took a picture with Carl and Russell! We also took a few pictures in a photo booth that they brought in! It was a really fun time and we danced to the DJ for over an hour.

Carl, Sarah, Denise, me, Russell, and Kelsey

All of my roommates will finally be able to go into the parks tomorrow afternoon, but I think I'm going to take a leisurely trip to Magic Kingdom by myself in the morning just because I can! It'll be so weird to visit without my family, but I'm so excited to be able to go during my time off for the next 4 months. It's all still so surreal!

I've got some big EARS to fill!