IT'S MAY

15 days are all I have left here at Walt Disney World. I am so emotionally conflicted. I want so badly to get back home with my family, escape 40 hour work weeks, and trade in the program buses for my car. That being said, I love Walt Disney World--the magic, the happiness, the rides--and being able to visit for free whenever I have time. Today (and the past few days) I've been panicking, trying to figure out what I have yet to do, but the more that I think about it, the more I realize just how much I've packed in to my short time here. Speaking of which, I've done some pretty cool things since my last blog post.

Denise, Kelsey, and me with the Easter Bunny!

Easter was pretty much the only holiday during my program, thankfully. I couldn't imagine being away from my family during Thanksgiving or Christmas! Since I had to spend my Easter away from my family, I tried to make it as normal as possible for myself. I celebrated by eating lots and lots of chocolate, dressed up, and went to church. A couple of my roommates and I went to the Contemporary resort for church and met the Easter Bunny afterwards! Though I had to work in the afternoon, it was still a pretty great Easter!

Meg, Kelsey, Gemma, and I met Stitch at Typhoon Lagoon!

On April 22nd, I finally got to go to Typhoon Lagoon! A few of my roommates and I met Stitch, almost drowned in the wave pool, and took on both the Humunga Kowabunga and the Crush n' Gusher. That night we ate pizza, watched Snow White, and played an old school version of Catch Phrase. We had a great day!

On April 23rd, I took this horrible picture with Rafiki at Rafiki's Planet Watch. I had never done Rafiki's Planet Watch before, so decided to scope it out when I was solo at Animal Kingdom. I went in expecting some kind of planetarium thinking that you could watch planets... boy, was I ever wrong. I took a train ride, walked down a long skinny path, and took that awful picture with Rafiki before I realized that the whole thing is about conservation as in keeping a close eye on the "health" of our planet. To say I was disappointed is a huge understatement. I did end up watching Finding Nemo: The Musical and visiting Magic Kingdom before the was through, though, so I ended the day on a high note.

On April 26th, I posted the above picture on instagram with the following caption:

Since the beginning of our Disney College Program in January, we've been getting mail (such as the pictured InStyle magazine) from "Princess Kathleen Denta". By some twist of fate, @kmdenta, a Disney fanatic whom we can only assume is THE "Princess Kathleen Denta," added my roommate, @khogs, on instagram today. Of course we scoured her profile and website/blog for glimpses of our apartment for confirmation. Katie, we found this picture that you took of your roommates and decided to recreate it with your InStyle. We, the current residents of your old apartment, hope this finds you in good spirits and wish you luck in all of your future Disney endeavors.

 Seriously, ironic/crazy/unlikely, right? Since I tagged her in the post, she saw the picture and responded with "This makes my heart happy!" so she took it well. I'm still curious as to why her mail gets sent here, but I guess we may never know!

David Bromstad from HGTV and me!

April 27th was a BIG day for me. I started my day off by watching David Bromstad from HGTV's Color Splash talk about the psychology of color. He was hilarious, often singling out members of the audience to tell them that they were "going to make out later". Seeing him on stage was pretty much all I had expected from the day, but near the end of the show, he mentioned a meet and greet. Of course I was determined to get in line for that meet and greet! Somehow I was able to get from the total opposite side of the crowd and into line for the meet and greet. I was the third to last person in line. As I got closer and closer to this sassy HGTV celeb, one of his "people" (for lack of a more official title) was taking pictures of the meet and greets for David and he started talking to me. Right before it was my turn to meet David, he asked me to look at his camera and say "My name's Kelsey and I love David!" and then run to him! Of course I followed his directions! I was so starstruck. I was shaking and David even acknowledged it... embarrassing! He signed an autograph for me and as I was about to say goodbye, his "person" said "Okay, now funny pics!" so David and I jumped at the occasion. HOW COOL IS THAT? I just about died of excitement and adrenaline.

Me and my Tootsie Roll Bowling equipment

After I met David, I volunteered at Give Kids the World. Families of children with life-threatening illnesses are able to stay there for a free week-long vacation. If you're familiar with Make A Wish, a lot of those families stay there too! Anyway, I was able to be a VoluntEAR and hang out with some cool kids and their families for the night. The theme for their Sunday nights is Candyland, so I was the helper at Tootsie Roll Bowling. It was so much fun to see those kids get pumped when they knocked all of the pins down. I'm so glad I got to go to the GKTW Village just because those kids were so freaking happy, they didn't even seem sick! It totally put life in perspective.

Anna, me, Kelsey, Meredith, Molly, and Elsa

I spent the 28th and 29th tagging along with my roommate, Kelsey, and her friend, Molly. I met up with them at Hollywood Studios on the 28th after I worked and went to Walmart. We hung out in the park and watched Fantasmic! On the 29th, I met up with Kelsey and Molly and Molly's roommate, Meredith, at Epcot after they got their faces painted. We ate and made our way to the Magic Kingdom. We went on a character meet and greet rampage. We met Cinderella, Rapunzel, Anna & Elsa, Minnie, and Daisy. After the meet and greets and a ride on Peter Pan and "it's a small world", we got caught in the pouring rain! So we ran to Haunted Mansion and, I kid you not, it felt like we were at a beach or in the middle of a hurricane! It was absolutely insane!

Vivian, me, Brooke, and Tanea

Yesterday my friend, Vivian, her roommate, Brooke, and our friend, Tanea, spent the day at Clearwater Beach. We waded in the water, napped on the sand, ate seafood on the shore, and watched the sun set. We at a place called "Crabby's" and Tanea and I tried our first Gator Bites. They were delicious! After we ate, a bit of rain came and we ate ice cream and window shopped while it passed. When the weather cleared up, we made our way back to the boardwalk and realized they had a bunch of vendors and street performers. The gist of their acts were asking for money, but some things they did were pretty impressive. We had a lot of fun, though! It was really nice to be off of the Disney property, I felt a little less stuck!

Today I went over to Hollywood Studios for its 25th birthday! I got a sweet button and way too close to a lot of other people. That's about all I've been up to lately!

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!

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!

Yikes! I'm a Busy Bee!

Oh boy, I don't like trying to play catch up! It's been about a week and a half since I last blogged and I finally found some time again to sit down and fill you all in. If you've been keeping up with my Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you know I've been a busy bee! (If you haven't, that's fine! Catch up now!) I'm going to attempt to recall the last 10 days in as much detail as possible. Ready?!

Last Wednesay, the 19th, I had my Disney Marketing class, quickly ate lunch, and headed over to the Magic Kingdom with Sarah and Kelsey. It was 80 degrees and sticky, sweaty, humid. We rode the bus from our apartment to the Polynesian Resort, walked to the Transportation and Ticketing Center, and finally took the ferry to the Magic Kingdom. Yes, we work there and find ourselves there every other day of the week, but what's not to love about MK?! We not only did Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, but also watched the Country Bear Jamboree and the Enchanted Tiki Room. I'm definitely not a fan of the Country Bear Jamboree, but the Enchanted Tiki Room was pretty neat! I also got video of Kelsey and Sarah on the Mad Tea Party since the tea cups and my stomach don't really agree.

Thursday through Sunday that week I found myself in a routine of sleep, eat, work, shower, repeat. I am so thankful for my friend, Vivian, and her car for bringing me to and from work, allowing me to evade the long bus rides!

Monday was my first day of training for the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. [Note: A few weeks ago I found I was being transferred to Epcot to do quick service food and beverage for the festival!] The first day of training was called Discovery Day in which I learned about the history and layout of Epcot. I love learning about Walt Disney World and The Walt Disney Company! I'm so glad I was able to learn, in depth, about two of the four theme parks and get the opportunity to work in two very different quick service locations.

On Tuesday morning, Denise and I woke up early and hopped on the bus to Animal Kingdom for the soul purpose of riding Expedition Everest. We rode it 3 times in a row and promptly left, making our way to Hollywood Studios. At the Studios, we tried to get Fastpass+ for Toy Story Midway Mania (since Denise has never been on it) but they were already gone! The wait time was 75 minutes, but we didn't have anything else to do, so we jumped in line. To our disbelief, we were on and off the ride in under 40 minutes! We couldn't believe it! With our new-found time, we were able to meet Mike and Sully from Monster's Inc and Monster's University before we watched Lights, Motors, Action, a live stunt show, before I had to head home and get ready for class.

Don't you think I'd be a good Alice? ;)

On our way out of class, another welcome event (Alice in Wonderland themed) was just beginning. Kelsey and I ran into Alice and the White Rabbit before we got to our apartment and took a quick picture! We got back to the apartment, changed our clothes, grabbed Denise, and headed back out to the event for some free food! When we got our free food, we were marked on our hands with smiley faces so that we only came through the line once. I asked the guy marking my hand why he wasn't doing Mickey ears instead of a smiley face and he proceeded to change my smiley face into an intense Mickey (shown below)!

After we ate (and debated for quite some time), the three of us left for Downtown Disney. We walked the entire complex, got sprinkled with pixie dust, and took pictures with some princesses. We also scrubbed our hands at an amazing store called Basin and ate delicious ice cream at Ghirardelli! Once we got back, a rare happening occurred... all 6 roommates were home together! Even though it was only for a few minutes, it was fun to be all together again!

We tried to get a pic of our pixie dust.

We're cute!

Wednesday brought another morning of class and another day of indecision. After class, Kelsey and I decided to go to Coronado Springs (a moderate resort) so that she could pre-check in her family and do an assignment for her other class. From there we went to Epcot! First, we went on Test Track, watched Captain EO, The Sea with Nemo and Friends, and Turtle Talk with Crush. It was my first time watching Captain EO. I have no words to describe it; it's pretty weird. But, I think if you were a fan of Michael Jackson back in the day, you may have a soft spot for it. Then we ate steak at Liberty Inn, watched the France pavilion's introduction video, ate a delicious funnel cake, experience the American Adventure, and met Snow White. Did I mention this was all in the rain? Because we embraced it the whole day! You can see the pictures of Snow White and Kelsey and I on my Facebook timeline.

Yesterday was my first real day of training and my first day in my new costume (shown above). It's not the most flattering or the most cute, but it's all part of the show! Through the course of my training both yesterday and today, I've learned all about the Flower and Garden Festival, the cash register, and pouring beer and wine. It's a unique training experience because the festival hasn't actually started yet! We won't actually be able to learn how to do things until it's time to do things! Which means I'm a bit nervous to start in the next few weeks on top of being so excited.

Here's some poolside Florida sun to help you get through your (probably chilly) weekend!