Oh right. I have a blog.

It has been two months since I've written anything here, and so much has happened in my life since then. I'm not even talking about the fun things like Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, backstage tours of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, or meeting characters that were only around for a limited time. Although there has been plenty of that.

Since my last post, I have had to say goodbye to most of my friends from the first part of my college program, I've moved locations and lines of business, got new roommates, and I've made some pretty important life decisions.

All my Art of Animation CPs that I miss so dearly. Plus some Italian waiters

Things have been kind of rough with the change of jobs and friends leaving. My new roommates are great, but I still miss my 27201 girls. The people I work with at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian are great, but it's not the same as the family over at the Ink and Paint Shop. And I have come to realize that I do not care for the food service industry at all. Unless I am the one eating. Standing around watching people eat delicious food and hearing them complain about having to wait 5 minutes for a table is a completely different side of things that I don't enjoy one bit. But I'm taking this opportunity that God has given me to stay at Disney as a learning experience. Being in a different line of business that I do not care for has given me an appreciation for my previous role in Merchandise and has even given me the desire to move up in the Merchandise world. Which leads me to my next point.

I will be staying in Florida for a bit longer than originally anticipated. When my program is over on May 10th, I will be moving in to an actual apartment with a friend and getting a full time job (hopefully) with Disney. This has been one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make, but it really feels like the right one. I have never really had a clear sense of direction with what I wanted to do with my life, but being here at Disney has given me one. I love working in merchandise and being able to create magic for guests. My new location has had provided me with some pretty poor training experiences, which has given me motivation to become a trainer. It has even crossed my mind to become a leader (Disney speak for manager).

Finally being on my own has forced me to grow up more than being back home in Connecticut did. I love my family and I miss everyone more than my words can express. But I feel like God is really telling me that moving back home right now would just be taking a step back. Sure I'm poor and I'm quite literally living paycheck to paycheck, but I love being here. At the end of the day, I work in a place that people save up for years and years to come, and I'm part of the team that makes all those years of saving worth it. That's what makes it different from other retail jobs (I'm still trying to find the difference in the restaurant aspect of things, but that's proving to be more difficult).

I have been incredibly homesick lately, but even with the desire to cry because I'm missing Amelia crawling or not being able to drive my sister crazy, I feel like I'm supposed to be here. It is going to be difficult and I'm sure there will be plenty of times when I want to scurry back home, but for now it's "so long" to Connecticut. Only God knows what the future holds, and it will be incredibly exciting to see it all play out. I'm just along for the roller coaster ride.

Be Our Guest!

So these past few days have been awesome. I was able to go to a backstage tour of the Haunted Mansion (my favorite attraction, mostly for the detail and the history behind it) at the very last second. I worked until 1 am on Thursday night, found out around 12:15 that night that there was room for me to go to the tour in the morning, had to wake up for the tour at 5:15 am, then worked until 1 am again Friday night. It was totally worth it, though! I learned so much, and got to touch things, and walked in the ballroom! I was geeking out all over the place. A Haunted Mansion tour was one thing that I was determined to do before leaving my program, and we were the last tour of the year!



The next day, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a Disney Parks Blog meetup at Be Our Guest Restaurant at The Magic Kingdom! (At this point I was running on about 9 hours of sleep for 2 days since I only slept 3 on Thursday night, worked until 1 am on Friday night, then had to be at work at 9 am on Saturday. Busy busy). Basically me and 100 other people who RSVPed got to bring a friend and get a free meal and roam around the building and cry a little on the inside at how beautiful it was. Okay, so maybe the crying part was just me, but anyone who knows me knows how absolutely obsessed I am with Beauty and the Beast, so I think it was expected. 

My roommate Leah and I showed up at exactly the last minute (mostly my fault coming from work and the parking tram wasn't moving and the monorail was down so I had to take the slowest ferry in the world). When we checked in we got a fastpass to use on the the Little Mermaid attraction (which was down when we tried to ride it), but we're just going to use it for something else at the park since it's good until the end of the month. But we also got handed tickets saying we were randomly selected to get our commemorative posters signed by the artist. Pretty awesome. Even though I have no idea who this guy is, but oh well.

Then we wandered around New Fantasyland for awhile since she hadn't been over there at all and go to check out Gaston's Tavern and the gift shop, which contains the most beautiful Beauty and the Beast place settings and I WILL have them as my wedding china. Sorry, future husband, but you have no say. I'll buy them now just in case.

Then came the seating. We were waiting around outside in this ridiculous line for awhile, got paired up with the world's quietest mother/daughter couple, and waited in line some more for our seats inside. Walking over that bridge and through those front doors was probably the most exciting part of the evening, just because I felt like Belle walking into the castle (don't make fun of me). 

The ballroom was next. It is perfection. It looks exactly like the movie! I felt like I was a little kid again and I couldn't stop smiling and I never wanted to leave. Our table was right at the front of the room, next to the windows where it looked like it was snowing outside! It felt like we were sitting in a giant snow globe!

Our orders for our three course meals were then taken. We didn't get any choice of drinks, but they gave us water and this wildberry lemonade in a sweet castle goblet that we got to keep, which was pretty awesome since it's a $15 cup!

For dinner, I had the potato leek soup as an appetizer (which was a mistake, because it was so delicious that I ate all of it and it filled me up before the meal even came), thyme-scented pork rib chop with green beans and macaroni au gratin as an entree, and for dessert, the Beast's favorite, the triple chocolate cupcake. We also got to try the grey stuff, just like in the song!

After completely stuffing our faces, we got to wander around the different rooms of the restaurant, including the West Wing and the Rose Gallery. I think the West Wing is my favorite room in the entire building, which is saying a lot, especially after that ballroom.

Then, the host of the evening came down to mingle with his guests!

It then came time for us to leave this lovely place. But we went and did the new attraction, Enchanted Tales with Belle! Basically you walk through Maurice's cottage (Belle's father), and then end up in Beast's castle, where you surprise Belle by helping her tell the story of the night she fell in love with the Beast. I got to be the wardrobe!

And that was our night! It was just spectacular. The best night and the best meal I've had in a long time!

This morning I also found out that my application for a program extension was accept, and I got the role of full service food and beverage. So basically I would be a restaurant hostess. I still haven't heard anything about the internships I've applied to, but I think I'm going to accept my program extension anyway, because it will give me some different experiences and the opportunity to meet new people across property. Yay networking! I still have a lot of praying to do about this since it means I'll be here until May 10th, but if God wants me here, then I will stay.

Long Time No See!

Happy November!

I can't believe I went a month and a half without updating this blog! I guess I've been busy or something.

Now I'm not going to be able to recount a whole month's worth of happenings, but I will give the nice fun overview!

At the end of September, I got to go on a backstage tour of Kilimanjaro Safaris over at Disney's Animal Kingdom with some people from work.

Our group from Art of Animation and Pop Century Resorts!

Not long after that, I went back to Animal Kingdom with my roommate Leah and saw Festival of the Lion King for the first time. It was so good! I had never seen it before, and if you're every at Disney World, it is definitely a show to check out.

Tumble Monkeys!

That night, we headed off to Magic Kingdom and met up with another friend for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party! On party nights, Magic Kingdom closes at 7 for anyone that did not buy an extra ticket, and the whole place is transformed. The lights get darker, the music is spookier, and guests are decked out in costumes. It was such a good time! The best part was without a doubt the parade. That parade is absolutely spectacular. The fireworks were amazing, too. And, you get to go trick-or-treating around the park! Yay candy! And bananas. That was an odd addition, but a welcome one after all the sugar.

Haunted Mansion grave diggers

Dancing ghosts

Enthusiastic cowboys. This parade had it all.

Haunted Mansion in all it's creepiness

October was just a great month all around. I got to go on the Keys to the Kingdom tour at Magic Kingdom with Leah and her family that were visiting. It was just a great experience, and it made me want to get that Guest Relations internship even more so I can audition to be a tour guide one of these days. The the Leach family came to Disney and I got to spend some time with their lovely family!

Shelia and I learned, do not sit in the front.

I ended my month with realizing a childhood dream and getting to see Hanson in concert at Epcot! It was amazing. They're fantastic live, and just got more attractive over the years.

The best thing about October, without a doubt, was that I go to go to CT to visit my family and friends (and Amelia!) for a very quick weekend. I made my mom and my sister cram in as many "fall" activities as we could since I'm missing my favorite season down here in Florida. 

Unfortunately I had to cut my 3 day weekend short by 12 hours because of hurricane Sandy. I was one of the last Southwest flights out of Bradley, and by the time I made it back to Orlando, the weather was really starting to get bad back home. I thank God I was able to get out safely, though. And that none of my loved ones were severely affected by the storm.

I'm excited for the next few days! Tomorrow my mom, my Memaw, my aunt Lisa, and my 2nd cousin Olivia are coming down to Disney and staying at my resort! Then my mom is staying over a week, and we're going to be able to see the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights (which is a light show at Hollywood Studios that now boasts over 5 million Christmas lights!). Then on November 17th, Leah and I are going to go to a Disney Parks Blog meetup at Be Our Guest Restaurant in New Fantasyland, which is a Beauty and the Beast themed fancy shmancy French restaurant. And if you know me, you know just how much I love Beauty and the Beast. I just happened to be sitting at my computer when they posted about the event, and I was one of less than 100 people to RSVP in time for it, so free meal and surprises here we come!

And as for job updates, I'm still waiting on the status of my internship application. However, I applied for a program extension, and if I get that I will be staying here until May 10th. But I've decided that Guest Relations is what I want to do. Just as a job in general. So I'm going to work toward that as much as I possibly can. It just seems like it would be a good fit for me, and God really seems to be telling me that this is where I should be right now, which is reassuring. Now I just need to try to find the money to stay here.