Animal Kingdom Day with my Roommies

These past 2 weeks have been insane. They have also been the longest of my life (if only vacation could be this long!) There is so much to pack into each day that this is the REAL day off I have had this whole entire time! So let’s begin! Last week I finished training and took my assessment. This consisted of about 67 questions from Traditions until my last day of Training. I only missed a few questions and it said I had PASSED! Yay! So then I had to do a few more things like accept the responsibilities of a real cast member now and fun stuff like that. If you are wondering, I took my assessment in a room above the Lands ride, it was soo cool up there!! I could see out the windows into the ride and I was geeking out! I love that ride! Now that I think about it, I might go explore a Park today since it is my day off 😉

Speaking of exploring a Park, yesterday Chelsea, Gabby, and I went to Animal Kingdom! It’s one of my top favorite parks (well they all are, kind of), but I love all the animals and the rides are all so nice and low-key, except Expedition Everest, which is the first ride we went to. We went to the FastPass+ Kiosk and tried to get 3 main fastpasses, Everest, Kilimanjaro Safari, and Kalahari Rapids! We got all THREE! Which if you know Disney, is super rare. Well even more rare, we got the first 2 within the first 3 hours of the time! So we headed over to Everest and we had a ball! Gabby purchased a picture of herself on it, and they gave her my picture too (since I was in a different car than her and Chelsea)! So we all have a picture of us on this fabulous ride!

I had made lunch reservations at Rainforest Cafe for 10:45 so we made our way back to the entrance of the park and met our roommate Carolyn there and we all got a festive drink, besides Chelsea who was driving. Mine was called the Green Python and was bright lime green! It was definitely something I would get again! And then we all ordered something different, Carolyn had a salad that looked SO good! And Chelsea got Chicken Parmesan. I got a bbq bacon burger. Gabby got a bbq chicken wrap. Which is what I should have gotten because my eyes were bigger than my stomach!!! Carolyn graciously brought mine and Chelsea’s half eaten lunch home for later (hopefully today!). And Carolyn headed home to start working on her big Louisiana Dinner! She had some of her friends from Character Attending over and the 11 of us ate Gumbo, Crawfish Ettoufee, and beignets! We then sat down and watched the Princess and the Frog. This all tied together because Carolyn will be attending Princess Tiana soon and it was a “4-D” movie experience as one person said, since we were actually eating the food in the movie!

After our lunch at Rainforest Cafe, we missed our fast passes for Kilimanjaro by about a half hour, and Chelsea (who is a driver for Kilimanjaro) assured us many times that they will not accept fast passes that late due to how popular the ride is. She said the other day she was working it got to 80 minutes. Yuck! But we lucked out and it was only 20 minutes. So we waited it out and we got to see some amazing animal activity! I think we were able to see almost every animal except the lions (which are my second favorite) and we only saw the booty of some zebras (my first favorite). But everything else was out and about or sleeping, like the cheetah and warthog! And then we headed over to see the Lion King show which was spectacular and more than I had anticipated! It would rival a short preview of a Cirque du Soliel show and it was fun and interactive for all ages!

After the Lion King we headed over to DINOSAUR land. Which is indeed the best part! I love dinos so this was simply fabulous for me 🙂 We almost bought a large stuffed dino for our living room but we decided to not spend the money yet and see if we’d still enjoy it later on. And then we went on the ride Dinosaur! which wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be (never having been on it) and it was a fun line full of dino fossils and skeletons (some real, some not). It did take about an hour to get on this ride though, so I recommend a fastpass!

We then did one of the kiddy rollercoasters and we all were laughing and it was fun so I think that was much needed! It then started to rain lightly while we were on this rollercoaster so we were going to head over to the Finding Nemo show but we had literally just missed it by 5 minutes and it was POURING by this point. So we started heading back to see if we could do It’s Tough to be a Bug and we got a little disoriented due to the rain, so we took shelter and we all had to find a restroom. By this point, you could tell everything was going to shut down and it was lightning and thundering so bad that we decided to call it a day! Apparently, everyone else had the same idea, and if they were not under shelter, they were hurrying to the exit.

We were all soaked even with umbrellas. The tram sat for like 10 minutes waiting to completely fill up so we got even more wet (there was water ALL OVER the seats), and then we finally made it back to Chelsea’s car in the dino parking lot. It was a traffic jam trying to get out of there and finally we made it back to Patterson. Carolyn was almost done with her gumbo and ettoufee and we were just glad to be dry and almost fed after such a great day!!

And since I don’t work today, I am heading out to the pool and maybe catch a movie tonight. Or I might just head over to Epcot to grab my paycheck and then to DTD to do some much needed retail therapy!! 🙂 🙂

Here is the link to my facebook album to my DCP. It has pictures from our housing event 2 nights ago as well as updated until today on everything else that has been going on. I tend to forget to take pictures of everything, but it is a lot easier than blogging every moment of every day unless it has just happened!

First Week Update

I texted my mom this morning and told her I couldn’t believe it’s only been a week! Her response? Is that a good or bad thing? It’s a little of both! It feels like this week has been a month! Although you get a set schedule, it seems so packed full that it’s like you’ve been here 14 days, instead of 7. I’ve planned on going out with my roommates a few times, but more often than not I cancel due to being exhausted by 9pm!!

I did do Magic Kingdom twice already with my roommates and we had a ball! I have tons of pictures to upload that is better than writing all the experiences out!

Our neighbor was friends with Jacque from Cinderella in the electrical parade on Friday so my roommates and I headed over after our classes and did big thunder mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean! Which was fun to not do the whole park but have a few fun experiences 🙂

The next day I had off so one of my roommates & I went to magic kingdom all day & met up with one of her friends who also does the program. We were planning on meeting the rest of the roommates at Epcot but nobody else wanted to go so we went home & had family dinner!

On Sunday I had a super long day of on the job training! I got my THREE uniforms. My American Adventures, main uniform, is red white & blue looks like a flight attendant outfit. My Village Traders, an ugly orange and brown number, and then my Flags, used in any World Showcase country.

Then I got my locker and started following my wonderful trainer Zaira around Epcot where she showed me a TON of things I never knew as well as where I’d be working! American Adventures is more involved than I thought and has more than one place I will be working. The 3 main ones are Kidcot, the little American store, and the pin cart!!! Which are all a-okay by me. The ones I’m worried about are being deployed to village traders and floor stocking. 😒

After this, we took a tour of Italy and Germany which are next to AA and involve stock rooms I will need to access and bathrooms and such. I then had the privilege of watching the fireworks and globe being boated out to the center of the lake for the fireworks at 9! Then I had a meeting with 2 of my leaders which was pretty casual and both were only there for about 2 years and they are already leaders!!! They quizzed me about the 4 keys (safety, courtesy, show, efficiency) and basically asked me if my trainer was doing her job. They seemed pretty impressed with me, if I say so myself. 🙂

Today I was back at Disney University for a mock training on register. With play money 😀 it was fun until the lecture part where we had to watch videos of real cast members thieving *gasp* yepp, according to Disney University, more shoplifting happens from cast members than from guests!! There were some bad videos that really make you wonder how they passed the strict screening. So anyways that was an interesting day at work 🙂 one “family” bought 10 plush Tiggers & 7 adult ponchos and 5 DVDs. This family had a case of the Disney wants. And they taught us about discounts & all that good stuff we need to know!

I have to get up early to go to work at Epcot so I’m probably gonna go to sleep very early tonight 😃

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

This is a huge one guys, I took some decent pictures of the important features for all those who have not experienced this amazing ride! If you want to keep it a surprise though, don’t look any further!!

We first started out in the line which wrapped all the way outside the building! We knew it would take awhile but we were determined to ride it this trip no matter what! Well after waiting about ten minutes, it was broken down (unfortunately we saw it broken down 4+ times today alone!) but we didn’t think we would make our dinner reservations so we hopped out of line and decided to come back right before closing. Best. Idea. Ever. If you want the shortest line, head straight there about 10 minutes or less before the fireworks at 10pm. We waited about a half hour max and just in case anyone was wondering, the line we first got in was probably 3-4 hour wait! It was insane!!!

So once we got in line, the queue was very adorable and fun for everyone! But it’s only interactive the last half hour-ish part of the wait…we came right up to all the interactive stuff and waited a half hour after that, so that was just our experience. The consensus of my brothers, mom & I as well as others around us, describe it as similar to Big Thunder Mountain in the drops, speed, etc. I was also pretty nervous about the swinging buckets but it just makes the ride MUCH smoother and not as jerky as some of the older roller coasters! Definitely did not swing enough to be scary for older adults or young children (or scaredy cats like me)! So enough talking here are the pics!!!

Apartment Tour

Here we are at my lovely apartment in Patterson Square! We found out that we had gotten our first choice complex and our second choice number. There is a total of 3 bedrooms (disclosure: I only took pictures of my own & shared roommates room and the rest of the apartment)! If you will follow me 🙂

This is the entry way, I am not sure where the other door leads to but if it is Wonderland I will let you know!

Where all family dinners will be eaten and apples to apples games will be played 🙂

Here is our living room, furnished with ugly couches and chairs and my roommate Chelsea brought a great TV!

This is where the real magic is!

Our lovely balcony, we are on the ground floor so it’s definitely the best room!

Here is my lovely zebra bed, I still need to unpack oops!

Baby TV

So much room for activities!

Our bathroom sink

Zebra Bathroom!

Orlando, I have arrived!

Wow! I thought today would be a completely different story than what I am typing out! Mom, Darrin, Daniel & I were all packed and ready to take on our adventure! I was stoked to be going & am so excited to finally be here. But our story was not all full of excitement.

I had to make a quick stop in Indy before the airport to meet up with Jared, partly because I missed him but mostly because I forgot my social security card with him! *gasp* this is crucial to checking in tomorrow & could not believe I left it at my house in Indy! Thankfully Jared was still in Indy this morning & he met up with us to hand it off.

Next, I heard terrible news that one of my roommates would not be attending due to her moms health. That was heartbreaking!

Our plane decided to show up an hour late!!

And finally, we made it all the way to Orlando and were circling the airport when all of a sudden our captain announces that Orlando Airport was closed due to a thunderstorm and planes could not land or take off. But lucky for us we ran out of fuel and had to fly to Jacksonville, Florida to refuel and then return to Orlando, just to find out our terminal is occupied and we got to sit on the plane for another HOUR.

As horrible as this day has turned, it is the best in the world! Because I am here 🙂 and I am grateful! How can you not be in the happiest place on earth? Well, we are not there yet but we are on the Magical Express on our way there!

It has been one heck of a day, but I am all ready for tomorrow! Let the craziness officially begin! 😉