Quick Update

Saturday February 23, 2013

Sorry for being MIA the past few months.  Things have been a little crazy here.  The holiday season was really busy here but it was so much fun. 

My first college program came to an end and I had to say goodbye to some of the best friends ever. 

Erika and I moved out of the 11303 and into a new apartment.  It’s a nice one bedroom, still in Patterson.  Best part of all is it's on the first floor and not the third.

Erika started her new job at Magic Kingdom as a character attendant and I continued my job at Hollywood Studios.  I got trained in Sweet Spells production. 

My awesome roommate celebrated her 25th birthday back in January.  Of course, we celebrated with the Mouse.





These days, Erika and I are looking for an apartment down here for after our program.  It's stressful by we know it's gonna be worth it whenever we find one.  That's really all that's going on around here.  Oh.  Except that now I have a new goal to eventually run every Run Disney race thanks to my crazy roommate.  We'll see how this goes. 

 

 

I Got My Extension!

DCP - Day 99 - November 20, 2012

Today I officially extended my college program through May 10, 2013!  I am so happy with my decision and cannot wait to see what great adventures lay ahead of me here in 2013!

The decision to extend my program wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.  Erika can verify this.  Yes, this is where I want to be and what I want to be doing.  But at the same time, I miss everyone back home to.  I didn’t accept my extension offer right away just to give myself some time to think.  When I went to work last night, most of the people I talked got their extension requests denied.  It made me realize that not everyone has been giving this amazing chance and I need to seize it if this is truly what I want to do.  I know I’m called by God to be here now, in the place at this time, and I don’t question that.  And that makes being away for the holidays a lot easier. :)

And I just noticed tomorrow is my 100^th day here. Seriously?  Where DOES the time go?

 

 

These People Came And Used My Discount

DCP - Day 85 - November 6, 2012

So my family came here this past weekend and used my merchandise discount.  We had a great time and it was sad to see them go.

 

 

 

The Day Toy Story Stopped

DCP - Day 78 - October 30, 2012

Last night was a first for me.  Well.  I thought it was a first.  But after talking to m mother about it, apparently it’s happened before.

But anyway.  Last night I was emergency evacuated off a ride. 

After I got off work, I met Erika and took her on a quick tour of backstage before we rode Tower of Terror two times.

By this time it was about 7:30 and the park was closing at 8.  So I suggested we ride Toy Story Mania since the lines are typically shorter as the park closes and Fantasmic is going on.  So we walked back to Pixar Studios and got in line.  The wait time said it was 45 minutes but we didn’t even wait 15.  We rode the ride and I won.

And then we decided to ride it again since we had about 15 minutes before the park closed.  We walked right up to the spot where you get your 3D glasses and the guy directed us to the Fastpass line so we got to bypass the rest of the standby line.  We walked right up to the ride and got on.  We were so excited.  At this rate, we could ride it again!

Then on the second game, the car didn’t move when we were finished.  A ‘Hold Time’ game came up where you can practice hitting the targets without getting any points for a few seconds and then the ride was off again.

And then on the next game it stopped again.  Another Hold Time game came up and I told Erika not to shoot so we could save our arm.  For those of you that haven’t rode this ride, your arm seriously hurts by the end from shooting so much.  So we just halfhearted tossed rings around the aliens.  For about ten minutes.  I looked at Erika and said, What if we have to e-vac this ride?  She said that would be cool.

Not long after that, a Cast Member came on the intercom and told us to remain seated and wait for a Cast Member to come around and unload us.  They were closing the ride because of technical difficulties.  We waited probably another five minutes for someone to come around and get us out of our car.  A Cast Member walked us out of the ride and gave us a Fastpass to use on the ride today or tomorrow.  Of course, I work all day both of those days.  But still.  It was pretty cool.  We can now say we’ve emergency evacuated a ride…and remember it.

 

 

 

 

 

New Fantasyland

DCP - Day 66 - October 18, 2012

I have been anticipating the opening of New Fantasyland since we were here on vacation in December. And I told myself that I wasn’t going until the Grand Opening on December6, which I’ve already asked off for.  But I couldn’t take it anymore.  They’ve been doing soft openings for the past week and I finally made it to Magic Kingdom today.  One of the blogs I follow was at Magic today and I heard through him via Twitter that New Fantasyland was not open this morning for soft openings due to filming inside the land. 

But I was determined to get in.  So I left our apartment at about 2:30 and made it to the Magic Kingdom a little after three.  And I made a bee line straight for New Fantasyland.  But I did stop to get this awesome photo.

After the photo, I kept trucking it back to New Fantasyland.  And then I saw it.

I was so happy I couldn’t stand it.  I wandered around Belle’s village and was in heaven.  It feels like you are in the movie.  I am so in love with it.  It’s like my new favorite place ever.

The first thing I did was Enchanted Tales with Belle.  It’s an interactive character meet and greet that I highly recommend to everyone.  It was so much fun and definitely worth the wait.

Next I went on the Voyage of the Little Mermaid.  The ride is kind of a mix between the Nemo ride at The Seas and Haunted Mansion.  It was really cute and so colorful.

After that, I went to Ariel’s Grotto to meet Ariel herself.  She was so funny.  The character meet and greet experience with Ariel is very personable.  It’s very one on one and so much fun.

After all that excitement, I made my way over to Gaston’sTavern where I tried a LeFou’s Brew, a frozen apple juice with a hint of toasted marshmallow, topped with all-natural passion fruit-mango foam.  It was really good and I got an awesome Belle goblet.

As I was enjoying my Brew, Gaston came out to roam the village.  He took me on a private tour of the village around the fountain.  It was so much fun.  Hands down one of the best character meet and greets. 

Overall, New Fantasyland is AMAZING.  It was everything and more than I could have ever imagined.  The part from Beauty and the Beast is hands down my favorite thing about it.  The character meet and greets are unique and personal and so much fun.  I love it all and I cannot wait for everyone to experience it!

On my way out of the Magic Kingdom, I stopped by and saw some princesses.

 

 

A Typical Day

DCP - Day 64 - October 16, 2012

It’s come to my attention that I have not been posting enough for some people.  So this is my attempt to make up for that.  I’ve decided to tell you all about a typical day is like for me.  And trust me, it’s not as exciting as you may think.  Despite the fact I work at Disney, I still am at work.

I usually wake up at 8 or 9, depending on what time I have to go to work.  I make up my bed, shower, and get ready.  Breakfast is usually simple.  Cereal and milk.  Next I usually watch a movie or TV with the roomies.  We have a massive DVD collection that is amazing.  About an hour before my shift starts, I’ll get ready for work and head toward Studios.  It’s about a ten or fifteen minute drive, depending on traffic.  Finding a parking spot sometimes is a nightmare, especially when I go in later in the day.  Then it’s about a ten minute walk back to my work location. We can clock in 15 minutes before I shift so I clock in then find a locker for my bag and get ready to go out on the floor.  Five minutes before my shift, I log in to the computer to get my assignment then I’m on my way.  We typically get breaks every two to three hours and on my breaks, I go to the cafeteria and sit and hang out with whoever else is in there.  When it’s time to go home, I wandering around the parking lot aimlessly in an attempt to remember where I parked my car.  I get lost almost nightly.  When I come home, I usually eat and go to bed. 

And then it all starts back over the next day.  Like I said.  Not that exciting.

Days off are a different story though.  I usually do laundry and go to the parks.  That’s when the real fun happens. 

 

It's a rough life, but somebody's gotta do it.

 

 

Epcot's 30th Birthday

DCP - Day 49 - October 1, 2012

After working from 4:30 -1:00 AM last night, I woke up this morning at 6:00 to head with Erika to Epcot for its 30^th birthday.  We were among the first fifty people or so there and they weren’t letting us in past security yet.  At about seven, they let us through security and told us to line up at the turnstiles. We wanted there until about 8:30 when they finally opened the gates.

And then came the mad dash to Mouse Gear for limited edition merchandise.  We waited in line another hour and a half just to get inside the store.  The lines were crazy long and went all the way to World Showcase.  But I got the merch that I wanted!

But it didn’t come easy.  WE left after we purchased our merch and went back to the apartment.  When we got home, I noticed my limited edition pin wasn’t in the bag.  I was not happy.  So we trucked it back to Epcot and back to Mouse Gear where the line was still backed up all the way to World Showcase.  I talked to the manager of the store and thankfully they still had the pin I wanted. 

I had an interesting conversation with a Cast Member who shall remain nameless about this incident while I was in the process of trying to get my pin.  I explained to him what happened and he told me it was the guest’s responsibility to make sure all the merchandise is in the bag after a transaction, not the Cast Members.  It was then I informed him I was a merchandise Cast Member. 

After we got back from Epcot the second time, Erika and I napped until like four, when we made our way to Hollywood Studios.  We rode Tower of Terror four times and Erika finally got to ride Toy Story Mania.  It was so much fun!  Today was just awesome.