Last Week of Disney

These are pretty random because it's hard to put pics up on blogger. But all of these pictures were taken pretty much from Christmas Eve on. Fun times!

Driving home from church one day the traffic was totally unbelievable. Around Christmas in Orlando it's ridiculous. So after we were stopped on the road for a few minutes I thought, "Hey, as long as I'm in park and no one's moving... why not save a memory?"



I held an alligator. Not this one. But one exactly like it named Popeye. I never put the story up here... but it was freakin' AWESOME!!!



It's awesome at night after all the guests are gone, but the water show goes on always. So I get to stand there in the solitude watching the show and hearing the music blast! It's so cool! Well, I mean not total solitude, but it's pretty close!



Our cute little tree with our stockings. No chimney. But I'd say we decorated pretty darn well! The stockings were hung a little weird cuz my friends were freaked out we'd get in trouble if we poked holes in the walls. So they only used pre-existing holes. So funny!



I memorized every single country's flag!



As I left work that night (New Years morning... around 2am) I went to catch the bus home.



Check out this line!!! Here you see busses one and two. I was on the fourth one. It was insane! You can see the hats they gave us and we also got free food! It was a fantastic last night!





Kelly and I in the Land. We took a picture of ourselves...



And then we realized we were both wearing the same shirt! Dang, great minds think alike!



Me, Jean and Alyssa. Our.. well... at least my... final night at Image!



Me, Jean, Alyssa, and Marina. As we were walking across the park Jean was really into taking photos and for some we used my camera. I think it's so cute how Jean got Alyssa to do the peace sign. I think she thinks we think (follow that?) that's super cool or something. So funny! All the Asian kids do that in their photos. Jeans doing it in the previous one.



Me, Jean and Alyssa. In case you're wondering why Marina kept getting left out it's because she was one of the new kids who we still didn't know very well. We hadn't really bonded with her (although I think she's awesome! The more I got to know her the more I liked her) and she just offered to take the pictures. I felt bad so I made her be in the one before this one.



I drew this pic of Donald Duck!! I did!!! Really! And I was really excited about it too, until I looked at the 8 year old girl sitting next to me who totally showed me up. Lame....



Ahhh EPCOT. How I love you!!



The Living Seas. One of my three places in my location. Actually, I guess it's "The Seas with Nemo and Friends" now. This is the entrance to the ride. I only worked in the shop.



Kelly and I took pictures in the aquarium. It is so beautiful. I love it!






The Land. Another of my locations.



We put these signs up. People would come up to us, "Are you really out of tickets? What about us. We really wanted to go on this ride! It'll totally ruin our whole vacation if we don't get fastpasses." Yeah, sorry. You can still go on the ride. But in this case it was a three hours wait. Yeah, popular.



Figment. My main area of expertise. If you could call it that.



I found him.



My 3D glasses in Honey I Shrunk the Audience.





Kelly at work in HS with her light saber. You SELL that thing girl!!



Spectacle of the Dancing lights in Hollywood Studios Christmas Eve. This show is awesome. And you can wear 3D glasses that are supposed to make it better (we didn't really see a huge difference but... ya know...)



Kelly and Lis



My room. Day of packing, packing and more packing. Glad my roommate was gone.



My friend thought it would be cool to get a shot of me throwing my hat up in front of the castle. Except it was night. And this was the best shot we ended up with. When we got it, we had already been trying for so long we just said, "Eh, good enough." and gave up. Still, it works okay. You can kind o f see the hat barely in the frame on top.



On the plane ride back to Idaho I figured this little thing out. Here's how it's supposed to start (getting it into start position is hard enough!)



And pretty much two steps later you're here and ready for the final step.



Yep. Only three steps pretty much to solve. Lame right? It's actually really fun to play with though!

Don't You Hate It When...

You have a ridiculously important object that you know you absolutely can NOT lose in any way because it is so vitally important. So you find a special place to put it, just for that one special item, to make certain you don't lose it.

And then you forget where said special place is.

Yeah, I hate that too.

Why I Feel Well Balanced... and Classes and stuff

I slept for 11 hours last night. Ahhhh, it felt so stinkin' good!

Looks like this semester I'm going to be the messiest person in the apartment. My roommates are all super cleaners. Although I think it's had a good effect on me. I've actually been making my bed (ch, yeah, we'll see how long that continues..) Anyway, maybe it's just cuz it's the first week of school but our apartment is so clean you'd wonder if people even lived here.

So far all my classes seem fun and manageable. However, there are so many of them it's a lot to think about. I have so many different assignments for different classes due on different days that I'm freaking out every minute scared that a due date is gonna pass me by. I'm just going to have to be mega careful about putting every single thing in my planner. Unfortunately I learned yesterday that my planner isn't big enough to fit everything that I need to do. I'm going to have to come up with a better system. I feel like my classes this semester are requiring a lot more work and effort than any of my other classes have before. Maybe it's cuz I'm a Junior and I'm taking upper level classes. Or maybe I'm just getting dumber. Hmmm...

My roommates all seem cool. It's only the second day so I really don't know them that well yet. One's a first semester freshman (my room roommate) and the other two are sophomores who knew each other pretty much since day one, I think. But do you get what that means? For the first time in history I'm the oldest one in this apartment. I've always been the youngest and suddenly I'm bumped up to oldest.

That's really no big deal at all... I just thought I share it with you. It'll be a weird change. Actually, things will probably just stay the same. Hmmm...

I haven't really met anyone from the ward yet; although I've seen some people around and did the whole smile and wave, "How are you?" thing. It's been fun.

I'm definitely not loving this disgusting, horrible weather. I'm actually wondering how I've survived it the past two years and I find myself wondering daily why anyone would want to live here! The snow is disgusting, the mountains are gray and gross, the cold eats my face alive, just the feeling of being outside makes me want to cry and I have to pay attention to every step I take when I'm out there telling myself, "Be careful, because this next step could be my last." Stupid ice.

Kay I'm done. I like school. I like my classes. My teachers all seem fun so far (although it's only the second day.. things could totally change). And, most importantly, there are super cute, available, decent guys everywhere. :)

First Day

I had no idea how much I missed Rexburg but when I stepped off the bus yesterday afternoon I realized it. I certainly did NOT miss the weather though. Icky snow that turns black and brown and the nasty slush that gets EVERYWHERE and the ugly overcast sky ALL the time... blech! But I missed college and friends and living in a place with... well... I can't say less rules, but I have different freedoms here that I didn't have at Disney.

Anyway, today was the first day of classes. I've only been to 2 so far. Spanish was this morning. The teacher didn't speak any English for the first ten minutes of class and I wished I could have taken a picture of all the students faces as he rambled along in Spanish. I guess that's what I get for taking the advanced beginners course instead of just beginners. Fortunately, I was able to follow along with every word he said (he spoke slowly and clearly and kept the conversation very simple). I even raised my hand and responded to one of the questions in Spanish! Unfortunately, I had to pay attention ridiculously hard and as I left class my brain hurt. Yeah, I now understand the feeling of a brain actually hurting without a headache. Ugh!

Next was American Humanities. One of the girls I did the study abroad tour with last year is in my class so that was nice. I was a little nervous for this class because I heard some bad stuff about the teacher. So far he seems great. He's funny and knows what he's talking about... I am a little worried though about assignments. He's not very clear about what's due when. For example on the syllabus it says "CR #1" as due for tomorrow before 9pm. But he didn't really explain what that was and we don't have class tomorrow. Fortunately, someone raised their hand and asked and he said he'd post something on ILearn and we had to respond to it and our groups. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I understand everything I have to do and all, he's just not very clear about getting it across. As of next week at this time I'll have already memorized one piece of American literature and taken a music quiz.

Anyway, I have a TON to do. I want to write more but I have to be somewhere at 2 and then my next class is at 3:45 and I still have to exchange one of my books and somehow make a grocery list and get to the store today. I'm still in stress mode. Ah well. It'll be over soon.

More Extra Hours

I promised myself after picking up the DAK shift last week that I wouldn't pick up any more shifts. I've pretty much met every goal I've had while here and I'm so exhausted so I decided no more extra hours.

Except, since I'm me, I didn't. I picked up another shift. Starting Tuesday I work 5:30p-2a and then I have a shift the next morning at 9:30-3:30 and then my other shift for that day will be 5-11. Fun fun!! I'll probably end up getting an ER for Tuesday though. But, if I can somehow stick it out until 2 then that means the whole next day I'll be paid overtime (any shift that comes within 8 hours of the previous shift is overtime).

Today I'll be packing. Although so far I haven't done anything all day except make French Toast for breakfast. Yummy!

Merry Christmas

It's very wet outside. I woke up at 7am to drive my roommate to the airport. She's going home today. Something I'm extremely jealous of.

She got directions to the airport avoiding all toll roads. There were several turns and small roads and stuff and it was all foreign to me. Oh, and it was raining ridiculously hard. I don't know if I've ever skidded so much in my life (don't read that part, dad) But, we didn't have to deal with the tolls.

On the way home I gave it up and just took the toll road. I didn't want to be trying to figure out the paper directions while driving through ridiculous rain and fortunately I live right beside a popular tourist attraction so really all I had to do was follow the signs to Disney World. One of the toll ladies (apparently you have to pay every couple miles on a toll road... yuck!) even let me go by for free. "Merry Christmas" she told me. :) It took me about 45 minutes to get to the airport and around 15 to get back. Toll roads are pretty nice!

I got home expecting to go back to bed but instead I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be. I have the apartment to myself so I'm just relaxing, watching tv, and being sad that this is my first Christmas morning in my whole life that I'm not happily opening presents with my family. No family. No friends. No gingerbread houses with mom. No snow. (It's actually almost warm outside) No presents. No tree. No stockings (well, the tree and stockings are downstairs). No joy.

Okay so actually there is joy. I have great friends here. I've gotten to listen to all the Christmas music I want to. I know my family is only a phone call away. Oh, and I'm the luckiest kid in the world in that happiest place on earth. Teehee! :)

So just so this isn't a totally depressing post I'll add some happy stuff! I've had the last two days off and I don't work until 7:45 tonight. Last night I went to Hollywood and saw the Osbourne dancing lights show. Pretty cool. They were handing Christmas cookies out at the bus stop last night! We also watched the movie "The Santa Claus" last night. Good movie. Possibly my favorite Christmas movie.

Anyway, only a week left. Wow. I can't even believe it. We were looking at pictures of our program last night and I just couldn't believe how wonderful this semester has been. I love it here and I know I'm gonna miss it like crazy when I leave. But also for now I'm excited to go back to college.

Merry Christmas!!

Why am I awake right now?

After today I can officially say that I have picked up a shift in each of the four parks and Downtown Disney.

Magic Kingdom-Emporium on Main Street during Halloween party-***

EPCOT-I live there, 'nuff said-*****

Animal Kingdom-Maingate merchandise including strollers-****

Hollywood Studios-Deployed for a week in Mickey's of Hollywood and Keystone-****

Magic Kingdom was my least favorite place by a landslide, but I couldn't stand giving any store in Disney less than 3 stars. I have reasons for my s tars but am too tired to write about them.

See, in order to pick up my shift at DAK (shortened Disney's Animal Kingdom) today I had to wake up at 6. I left by 6:45 so I could hopefully find wardrobe by 7 and still have time to find my costume, change my clothes, and then drive over to my location and figure out where to clock in.

I would have gotten my costume earlier but apparently DAK costuming is closed Sunday and Monday. Lame. Anyway, my shift started at 8am and went til 2pm. The people there were so stinkin' nice. Plus, I got to watch the opening show for DAK! Mickey, Minnie and Pluto come out. It's cute.

Lip Piercing (No! Not Me!!)

A girl I work with got her lip pierced earlier today. So she came to work with a band-aid on. Using the excuse it was a pimple. Rosa is hilarious and she's only made funnier by her thick Mexican accent. Her English is fantastic, but she has the most hilarious accent ever.

Well, because her lip was just pierced it apparently hurt her to laugh. Something about how it moves the lip and then cut her gums or something. So I was trying not to be goofy or anything but that's just bound to happen when it's an EMH night with a bunch of CPs from random countries and different languages and no one to take pictures of.

So since there was nothing to do I grabbed some o f the Figment bouncy balls and started juggling. I've actually become pretty okay at it. Definitely not great, but satisfactory at least. I was counting how many catches I could do (my record so far is 41.5... the half is because I couldn't determine whether or not the last catch should be considered a catch or not...). As I threw the balls up and caught them I started counting out loud.

Rosa called to me, "Stop doing thaaat!"

"Stop doing what?"

"That... that thing that I cannot doooo."

"What? You mean laugh?"

Okay so it was a lot funnier in person. Mainly her face after I said that. I had a lot of fun teasing her but then I felt bad because she really was in pain but then I didn't feel bad because hello? She asked for it! Haha, ohhh tonight was fun!

So yeah, you know you work at Disney when you come home from work at 1:45am and not a single roommate is home. Yeah, like tonight.

Well, I should probably go to bed. But not before I show you some pictures of me at graduation. Keep in mind these pictures were taken Thursday. Like, middle of December Thursday and yes, I'm wearing capris and a short sleeved shirt and no, I'm not cold at all.






Alyssa, Veronica, Laura and me








And PS, no, I have no clue what side of my head the tassel goes on.

I Couldn't Resist

Oh Disney....

In Need of a Good Comeback

Oftentimes when I'm taking a photo, I'll go through and edit parts of it in front of the family. I move the people around and can shrink and enlarge them.

Nine women out of ten will ask me, "Alright, now can you shave off some of that fat right in there?"

What do I say to that!?

EPCOT, My Typical Days

Today was pretty crazy at work. Several things happened but I only have the patience to write about one, really.

Tom brought this little girl over to me after I'd been there a little while. Tom's English is not so good and this poor little girl was in tears (probably about nine years old I'd imagine). He told me, "Uhh, she lose parent I ssink? Mebbee? I don know?"

So I got down to the girl's level and started trying to figure out what happened. She was lost, but she wasn't really responding to anything I said. She kind of mumbled some stuff I didn't understand. Then it dawned on me.

Why do lost children always have to be foreign!? "Habla Espanol?" I asked. Most lost kids speak only Spanish although I had one once who spoke Portuguese.

"No." She replied. Then she went off in French. The only thing I know how to say in French is "I don't speak French" and I can't type that on here cuz I can only say it, not spell it. Anyway, that didn't help much so I tried to tell her it was okay and I went straight to the phone.

We have a hotline we can call and tell them what language we need and they get us a translator within seconds. Or at least that's how it would work ideally. I've never actually had to use it before. Unfortunately it took me time to find the number and then I had to be transferred between a few people. Overall it took just a couple minutes. But it took long enough so that by the time I actually had the girl on the phone with another woman who spoke French, this guy from attractions came over to me.

"Hey, did you find a little French girl anywh- wait.... is that crying girl French?"

Sure enough he was having the exact same problem on his end with the dad because apparently dad didn't speak English either and was babbling off in French showing with his hands he was looking for a little girl.

Needless to say we eventually got them reunited but I felt terrible because most of the time when we reunite the kids to the parents it's like this big thing where the parents imagined their child was dead and the kid thought they had been orphaned so they're all hugging and kissing. This situation the dad grabbed the poor little girl's arm and started yelling at her. I felt so bad for her. So sad.

Anyway, some other things happened like the lady who dropped her camera on the ride and it went down into this crack that's impossible to get into without shutting down the whole building.

Then this girl I work with called in (a common occurrence, no one was really surprised) so I had to be extended (more money! I'm so not complaining!) and then we had some other minor problems with the attractions people. Really, there shouldn't be rivalry between Attractions and Merchandise... and there isn't. But I think there should be more unity between attractions and merch. The merch people never really know what attractions are up to and vise versa. Meh.

Anyway, for the most part it was a great day. I got two hugs from little kids which is rare but totally welcome. One of the little girls was disabled and stuck in a wheelchair but she asked her dad to ask me to come around so she could give me a hug which was so totally cute of her.

The other girl I brought behind the counter because it was her birthday and she had a special call. I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say about that but she was adorable and she kept asking me questions about it. I answered her questions to the best of my ability and eventually satisfied her "whys." And then I stood up and she hugged me around my legs and it was the cutest thing ever.

Actually, I see a lot of "cutest things ever" here. It's so great!

I "graduate" in two days. That means I get my "graduation ears" and stuff. So fun!

Now for pictures that I haven't posted in forever.

My American Adventure costume. This was the night I got to watch the candlelight processional. So fun! Except for the weird petticoat part. Still not sure what that is... I had trouble getting that apron thing on and this gay guy was going to try and help me but really I'd rather a natural girl help me with that sort of thing. Weird...



We went to Chef Mickey's for my birthday on the 7th. But Heather's little sister Allison happened to be in town so we celebrated for her too. Unfortunately for me the munchkin gets more attention than the twenty year old. But really? Look at her. She deserved every minute of it and I was glad to share it with her.

Natalie and Janessa with Donald



Allison's adorable face all covered in birthday frosting.



Heather and adorable Allison



I realized I didn't have any pictures with my boss so I had to snap at least one. Even if he's in his chef's outfit!



Kelly by our amazing Christmas tree!!!



Heather and I made a freakin' AMAZING Thanksgiving turkey. Not bad for a first try. We woke up at something like 6am and went to Walmart for last minute supplies because Thanksgiving was really held on Monday because that was the only time we could all go and since Heather and I had never done anything like this before a few calls to mommy were necessary but other than that.... yeah. It was totally amazing. Like, it totally fell off the bone amazing.



Our family. Me, Janessa, Kelly, Heather, Lis and Natalie. And Steve.



Thanksgiving feast before.



Thanksgiving feast after. Yeah, we hardly made a dent.




Ahhhh the beach. I love you soooooooo much!



After spelling my name like this kept getting killed.



I went up a little further and just made my name like this.






We buried each other in the sand. Now I can say I've done it. And I never ahve to do it again!



Does this guy not look exactly like Captain Jack Sparrow? It's downright creepy cuz his mannerisms are identical too. Pretty cool.



EPCOT!



Picture of the morning we ate breakfast with the princesses. I really wish I had better photos of this morning. Alyssa and Laura, my friends from work, invited me to go with them. I'm sooooo glad I went! But soooo sad I have no group photos of all of us. The food was amazing though!

The Kitchen Sink

Incidentally, we had clean checks today and our kitchen sink did not pass. Something about how we were supposed to wipe it out better. Our over and fridge were supposed to be wiped out too. Ah well, we passed as a whole anyway and that's all the matters. :)

Then we went to Beaches and Cream and ate the kitchen sink! I've been wanting to do this since I came down here and I'm so glad that my friends and I could all spend the evening together tonight! Unfortunately, Natalie missed out on the actual sink eating, but we all watched Illuminations in EPCOT afterwards which was great!!

Here we are waiting to be seated. The 15-25 minute wait turned out to be about 10. Yay!





And then we made it inside. But we were still waiting. Me, Heather, Janessa, Lis and Kelly.



And then the lights got dim and these orange lights started flashing (so sad I didn't get a picture of it but I wasn't expecting it!) and then they brought it out to us announcing it to the whole restaurant!



The kitchen sink!



The progression of our kitchen sink. It looks smaller than it is, I promise!!



They start on the bottom with caramel, hot fudge, and peanut butter. Then comes eight scoops of ice cream.



They use an entire can of whipped cream and a whole can of cherries.



They also add every single ice cream topping in the shop. Sprinkles, Oreos, strawberries, banana, brownies, pineapple, butterscotch chips, fruit gummies (I think that's what they were...) Angel food cake, etc. etc. etc. I don't even remember everything!



This was the best we could do.



Lis and Heather checkin' out the FREE jukebox. I never figured out how to work it though. I guess you're supposed to wait for the song that's playing to end.




They had problems with their computer systems or something so it took a while to get our check. So we started dancing. And by "we" I mean Janessa and Heather.




I think the waitress accidentally spilled a cherry stem in my cup. Heather said she thought I put it there "for flavor." Psh.



Me, Heather, and Janessa. Being weird.



The cute little ice cream shop! LOVE it!

Ahhh, Bus Rides

As CPs (college programmers) we take buses to and from work. Yes, I do too, even though I have a car. Mainly to save gas. Well, the Magic Kingdom bus was in an accident yesterday... while my roommate was on it. I saw it. My bus passed hers and the kids on my bus all waved.

No worries. There were no injuries. A car pulled out in front of the bus. But really, our buses are monsters and no one was even standing. The bus had hardly a scratch and the front end off the car was pretty dead. Other than that though, it was simply a fun little taste of excitement. And all the bus drivers for the past day have been driving extra slow.

In other news... tonight on the way home (I stayed after and watched Illuminations, even though that means I have to deal with the horribly crowded bus, or the idea that I might not make that bus and have to wait twenty minutes for the next one because the first one gets too full) we had all gotten on the bus and it was hot. I mean like foggy windows hot. The kids in the back all called up to the front, "Hey, can we get some AC back here?" and then, because this particular bus driver spoke French, one of the French CPs called the same thing in French. As the driver turned up the AC, the CPs started calling out thank yous.

I'll be honest, I don't know how many languages I heard. Or what language they all were. But it's just fun the fact that everyone practically speaks a different language. Seriously, especially working in EPCOT, I can get on the bus and hear five different languages and not understand a single one. It's amazing!

It's actually quite funny when it comes to night and getting on the bus. Sometimes you can tell there are just too many of us and we're not going to fit. But it's kind of survival of the fittest in that case because whoever gets on the bus first, wins and gets to go home! Something we're all looking forward to after a long hard day! It's the most depressing thing to be that one who gets turned away (trust me, I know!).

Ever since I was one of the two kids turned away I've learned where to stand. I've learned to push my way into just the right spot and then just be shoved and squeezed between the crowds in order to hopefully be swept onto the bus in the horrible herd of people moving. It's great. I feel a little bad though because at that point I forget all polite manners of, "Oh no, sorry, you go first" and go right on to the "Umm, I'm standing here and clearly should be allowed in front AND I worked ten hours today! What did you do? Play? Yeah, back of the line!"

Haha, well, on that happy note I'm bored. And tired. Then end.

American Adventure!

Normally I would have had yesterday and today off. And by "normally" I mean "this week" because let's face it, my life schedule is absolutely not normal.

Either way I picked up shifts for both days. Yesterday was American Adventure and today I worked in Strollers for the second time.

American Adventure was fantastic! It was amazing because I got to be outside almost the whole time. And in case you don't know, American Adventure is where the EPCOT Candlelight Processional takes place. The Candlelight Processional basically is just a bunch of singing and a Christmas narration by some famous person. The night I worked it was John O'Hurley. In case you don't know who he is (cuz I certainly didn't) think Seinfeld, Family Feud and Dancing with the Stars. He was apparently on all of those. I have to admit, I didn't know the name, but when I saw him in person I totally recognized the face. I just can't wait for Abigail Breslin and Whoopi Goldberg to come later this month!

Anyway, all night was spent listening to a fantastic, enormous choir sing Christmas songs along with a narration that was beautiful. It ended with Holiday Illuminations (exactly like regular Illuminations, except at the end they add MORE fireworks and MORE music!) and then we went inside, hung out for a while, and ERs were handed out!

I completely forgot today was Thursday. Thursday is my class. I completely forgot I had class. I completely blanked. And I woke up at 10:30am (my class goes 8-10) and was so mad at myself. I went into the living room freaking out about it. Not that the class really matters that much. I'm mostly just taking it for personal satisfaction. If I fail it does nothing to me in any way really. But still... personal satisfaction!

So I got up my courage and emailed the teacher. We're only allowed to miss a single class and I missed one for my grandpa's funeral a few weeks ago. Then we're allowed to, one time only, switch to Friday's class and attend then. I gave that up the week before last to eat breakfast with the princesses in Norway. And then last week was Thanksgiving so class was canceled. So this week I blanked. I explained it to the teacher humbly apologizing and saying that I realized I messed up and should be dropped but if there was any hope for me I'd love to snag it.

And she told me I was fine and she'd see me in class tomorrow morning. Whew! I never thought I had a problem with sleeping through important stuff but apparently I'm getting worse. As long as I don't sleep through work though... ugh. That would suck.

A kid in my program was terminated today. A guests said he "thought" he saw this kid stealing so the kid was terminated. At least, that's how everyone explained it to me. When the actual manager was telling us about it he simply said, "Don't freak out about him getting termed. You kids need to realize that there are cameras They are everywhere. Just remember that. As long as you're being honest, you're fine."

Well, good. So strollers was pretty fun. I drove an ECV for the first time and I've finally mastered returning them. Also, I went into the EPCOT tunnels. Didn't even know we had 'em but yep. EPCOT's got tunnels and they're actually surprisingly big! They're just like Magic Kingdom's tunnels except there are less. So neat.

And then I came home and now I'm here and I need to sleep if I'm going to wake up at 7:30 for an 8am class. Then I can come home and sleep some more because tomorrow I work 5:30p-1:30am. Today I worked 3:30p-12a. Ugh.

Happy Family Pictures

When I first got to work today I was put on theater. I love being in theater. It's nice and easy there and most of the time the guests are super happy with the way their photos turn out. Well, the sales person wasn't really doing anything, so (since I had no pictures to take) I went over and started chatting with guests and selling photos. One particular family came in and wanted a Christmas photo.

The Christmas photos haven't been fully set up yet so there is no written rule as to how many people can fit in a particular picture. This family had six people and I'm pretty sure that was too many, but I told them I'd try anyway. They were happy to go along and I brought them into my theater.

These were definitely some of the most fun people I've dealt with in the theaters. It was six adults and they all had a lot of personality. I showed them the picture as I always do and pointed out the different positions they could be in and what they could be doing (stealing from Donald's stocking, peeking through the window, opening presents, etc.). I asked who wanted to be where and they all had a lot of fun figuring out who should be in every place and then we went at it as I told them individually where and how to stand. It went great and there was tons of laughing.

Immediately after I finished their picture I had a family of five wanting to do the same picture. As I brought them in, I started pointing out the different places they could be so they could choose. The dad stopped me in the middle and told me that I needed to just tell them where and how to stand and they would do it. "Don't you do this all day? You should know where to place us." I calmly started to explain that yes, I do this all day, but I thought they might like to choose who goes where. Well, as I began explaining I could tell in his face he didn't want to "waste" time figuring out who to put where. So I just made it up myself. I got the two kids to be down by the presents and then I put the third kid stealing from the stocking, Dad putting up an ornament and Mom outside peering in. They seemed satisfied and when I asked them if it was okay before I sent it to be printed they just shrugged and said, "Well, if you think it's alright then I guess it's good then, right?"

Waaay less fun than the previous family. I mean, I guess I'm a little flattered that they trusted me so much, and I get families like this at least once a day. But it's just so much more fun when I get people who are so truly, genuinely excited and amazed by the technology and how everything's done. The first family was living in the moment. They had so much fun and had no problem asking me to change little things that were bugging them ("I don't like my face in that one, can I take another picture?" "Can you move me over to the left just a smidge? I just prefer being closer to Chip and Dale." etc.). The other family, well, I just hope they really liked their picture. They pay a lot for them and I wish I could have made the actual taking of the picture more memorable for them. Ah well. It's all fun anyway!

Then i went out on glow. Super fun. But I was off. It always pretty much ruins my night when my glow drawer is off. Makes me feel stupid. Except I got off work right when Illuminations started and Illuminations always makes me super happy. So it all worked out in the end!

I am so stinkin' blessed!

Still Having Fun?

During the day I always think of stuff I want to write about. But then I get home at night and can't think of any of it! Blarg.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I feel about my experience here. I mean, I've loved every minute of it, but I really am ready for the next part of my life. Kind of like when I lived in Belgium. I'm so glad I went, but was so ready to come home when it came time. And now I miss Belgium. And I know I'm gonna miss Disney World.

I'm grateful for this job and what I've learned and how I've changed. But do I want to do it again next year? Right now I'm definitely leaning to the "yes" side of things. My biggest (and really only) problem with this job is that it gets boring after two months. I go to the same little store with the same costume and the same people and sell (essentially) the same merchandise at the same registers. I don't have to think really. I don't have to fix things or create or use my brain really in any way except maybe to count out change. I think I can actually feel my brain cells dying.

I want a job where I get to actually see what I've accomplished at the end of the day. Or a job where I run into problems and I have to fix them. I want something where I can actually feel proud of what I accomplished at the end of the day. I totally don't feel proud of my accomplishments here. Hence why if I get into a PI I would probably do better.

Not that I'm not having fun. I love Disney. I love the people. I love the parks. I love playing. I love Florida weather. I love our housing. I love getting to see and learn all the behind the scenes stuff at Disney. I love the excitement that Disney is so stinkin' good at creating. And the list could go on and on.

But I'm tired. And this is really not at all what I had in mind to write about. But this has been on my mind lately anyway... so it's okay. :)

Guest Service Fanatic... Not!

I'm a bit disappointed. Since working here I've gotten 4 Great Service Fanatic cards. Those are really good to have because they go on your record card (which also holds the bad stuff about you like call ins and stuff). When you get one of those cards (usually from a leader) it comes with two copies. One for you to keep, and the other to put in the bucket in the Cast Services building. There, they take care of it and see to it that it gets on your record card.

Only one of my four cards has gone through. The first one I got. The second one I turned in, but it never made it to my record card. The third one I got the manager who gave it to me never signed it and I haven't seen her (or the other manager who was with her at the time) since then so I haven't gotten to get them to sign it, plus at this point I feel weird asking because it's been so long. And the fourth one I got tonight. I put it in my pocket, but I ended up running to cast services to catch the bus and it must have fallen out of my pocket as I was running.

Sad.

But on to a happier note. I'm going to be 20 in less than a week!!! Woohoo!

I got 50 hours last week, and because I got extended tonight (that's why I got my Great Service Fanatic card, because I was happy to extend when someone called in) I might get almost 50 hours this week as well (I also picked up two shifts one in strollers and one in American Adventure). Pretty exciting because I need extra money for Christmas.

Annnd, I work in Disney World! Seriously, not a week goes by that I don't just sit there, amazed at my amazing life. I love it!

I was surprised at how much I missed EPCOT. I only spent one week in Hollywood, but it was the longest I've been away from EPCOT since I've moved here. It was so nice to get to see my friends again and everyone asked me how it went and I didn't realize how much I missed it. I wonder how it's gonna be when I leave. Who knows? One month to go!

Thankful for a Car

I work at 2:30. I had to catch the 1:15 bus (because I have to get there in time to check out my costume and change). I was just outside waiting. Just as the bus pulled up I reached in my pocket to pull out my ID....

and it was gone. I accidentally left it in the apartment. Along with my cell phone. FAIL!

In the time it would take me to go back to my apt. the bus would have taken off. In fact,it has taken off. And I am left forced to drive to work, and thankful as heck to have a car handy to get me there!

In other news I'm still in Hollywood today. I actually decided I really really like Hollywood a LOT. I love the people, we have fun merchandise (for the most part), it's extremely busy, and I just plain love it! Not that I don't miss EPCOT, because I totally do, but I'm enjoying Hollywood.

I still think the Magic Kingdom was the lousiest place to work. Not because it was busy (because it was actually horribly slow and boring because I worked on a Halloween party night) but because most of the people are snooty jerks.

But hey, I'm not being judgmental or anything!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

If I Don't Post Now...

It may never happen. So much stuff happens here that I never get around to posting because I'm too tired or I forget.

Tonight was so totally amazing. Actually, today was totally amazing. Actually, every day is freakin' amazing.

After work tonight I headed over to the MK to hang out with some friends. We stayed until park close (which was at 11pm). After watching Wishes (the fireworks show) we ate Funnel Cakes and rode Thunder Mountain Railroad twice in a row. We wanted to do Splash Mountain but it was too late. After 11pm. BUT Spectromagic, the parade was stepping off at 11 so we waited around to see that. Because Thunder Mountain is at the back of the park we just hung out around where we knew the end of the parade would be.

And there was nobody. Literally no one there. It w as so great. Just the four of us, some cast members who were controlling traffic (or should I say the lack of traffic) and one other family with a stroller. We were the only people for about 150 feet. We put our bags down on the ground and then followed each section of the parade. We walked with one section of the parade getting 100% attention from the characters, and then ran back to the next float for more attention. Mickey Mouse blew us kisses and made the "I *heart* you" sign. Pluto acted all bashful as we all screamed to him. He came over to us and we pet his nose and gave him high fives. The Queen of Hearts gave Heather the "Off with your head" symbol and then Mary Poppins came over to us and apologized for her. Peter Pan got into a fight with Snow White because her dress was too poofy and the seven dwarfs were just hilarious!

Gipetto was definitely my favorite. He's on the last float with Pinocchio and then Minnie is behind them. We were planning on following Minnie for the last little bit of the parade but as luck would have it the float broke at the very end. So those characters were just stuck for several minutes stopped until they dragged in a back up motor to pull the float the rest of the way off-stage. In the meantime however we totally got one-on-one time with those characters. Gipetto started dancing so we copied him. When he realized the float stopped he acted like he had a paddle and was trying to paddle the float the rest of the way. Then when that didn't work he held out his thumb like a hitchiker. We told him he could come with us so he pretended to jump off the float. As we were distracted by Minnie, Lis started taking her hair tie out of her hair. So Gipetto started fixing his hair. And then his mustache. And continued on and on. Then he made the "call me" sign. Then he got Pinocchio's attention and told us to call Pinocchio. Basically setting his son up with us. So stinkin' funny. LOVE it!

Anyway, working in Hollywood has had it's perks too. I happen to go to work every day right before they start the parades. I get to see the characters at their finest and it's amazing. I freakin' LOVE my job!!!

Deployment

Sunday was my first day in the new location, Hollywood Studios.

I bounced between two different stores during my shift. Mickey's of Hollywood (the toy store) and Keystone merchandise (the clothing/jewelry store). I way preferred Mickey's of Hollywood, however most of my time was spent in Keystone (go figure). A LOT of people from EPCOT Future World have been deployed there this week.

So they extended me also on Sunday night. Instead of working 3-9 like I thought they changed it from 3-1:30. Kind of a big difference, but hey, I like money!

Yesterday was our Thanksgiving. All of my closest friends since I've been here found one day and one time when we'd all get to celebrate together. Monday morning. We each took a couple of dishes to make and Heather and I went in on the Turkey together. I was also in charge of mashed potatoes and peas and stuffing. Some of the other things we had were 14layer jello, rolls, sweet potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower, green bean casserole, apple pie, pumpkin pie, etc. etc. There was so much food! I have pictures or it all. It was amazing! We ate it all and then Kelly had to go to work. So great, I think we'll be eating leftovers for a week.

As for today I'm going to Hollywood to work in about half an hour. I need to grab some food and stuff before I leave. I'm excited for the change of location and I like the people of Hollywood a lot, but I'll be ready for my return to EPCOT next week.

Rest and Relaxation

Yesterday my friend and I went to the beach. It could possibly be the most relaxed I've felt since I've been here! I can't even describe the feeling on the way home of just not having anything to worry about it. I wish I could just sit on the beach with nothing to worry about more often!

On the way home we went to Cici's pizza. Janessa had never been there before. After we got inside I went to go to the bathroom. Not to get all gross about talking about myself in the bathroom but when I went to take off my swimsuit sand just poured out of it. See, we covered each other in sand and apparently swimsuit bra cups love to collect lots of sand. I made a nice little mountain of sand on the floor. So I kicked it around a little to make it less obvious. Turns out it doesn't work that way. I felt really bad for whoever was cleaning that night. Heehee, oopsy!

After that we went to see the new movie A Christmas Carol in 3D. (No, sorry, not New Moon) It was awesome, but surprisingly scary for a kids movie. Or at least, I thought it was a kids movie until I saw how scary it was. Yeesh, I think I jumped out of my seat three different times!

Even though I spent most of the day yesterday relaxing I was totally exhausted after getting home. I took a shower and went right to bed. Mostly. :) This morning I slept in until... well, really really late. I know it sounds lame that I get two days off and I spend them practically doing nothing, but really I've been waiting for relaxation for such a long time that it feels really good to spend two day not going to Disney World. I haven't even changed out of my PJs today and don't intend to.

And I have accomplished some stuff. Sort of. I did my laundry, cleaned up the apartment, made my resume, sent out some emails, cooked some real food (yeah this is a big deal, I hardly ever have time for that) and read a book. I haven't read a book in so long I really missed it. But I just found out recently that at the Cast Services building we have our own little free library where we can check out not only books, but language learning software AND Disney movies! Awesome!!!

Tomorrow I begin work at the Studios (aka Hollywood). I'm really really excited for it because Hollywood could possibly be my favorite park (if my favorite park weren't EPCOT it would totally be #1). I love the show Fantasmic, and the ride Rockn' Roller Coaster is my favorite coaster in all the parks. They also have the show Lights Motors Action which is just about the coolest cars show on the planet complete with fire and explosions and stuff! Plus they've put up the Osbourne (sp?) family lights and I haven't seen the lights show yet.

While working there doesn't necessarily mean I get to do all that stuff (because realistically I'll be stuck in a Mickey Mouse store trading pins with six year olds) but before and after work I'll totally be taking advantage of it!

But for now I'm gonna go collect my laundry and then sleep a little more. Teehee! I LOVE having a day off where I don't have to do anything!

Deployment and Other Stuff

Today was awesome. I drove a friend to the bank this morning and then we stopped by the mall on the way home. After we got home I went out with some other friends to Magic Kingdom to ride Space Mountain. The ride doesn't technically open until the 21st but they opened it early for some parts of the day for "test runs." It was actually quite disappointing. The ride doesn't even go upside down.

After that was work. I worked until 1:30am. The parks have been so insanely slow lately. Which is why I got deployed.

Oh yeah! I don't think I've written about that yet!

I got deployed. To Hollywood Studios. This means that I will be working in the Studios the week of Thanksgiving in a store called "Mickey's of Hollywood." My costume is supposedly this super formal looking black and white skirt. Not the blue and pink stripped jumpsuit costume I thought it would be.

Anyway, so yes, I've been deployed starting Sunday, so more about that later. We're going to the beach so more about that trip later too (we're going on Friday).

And back to what I was saying about the parks being slow. EPCOT was so slow the other day that the wait for Soarin' has only been 5 minutes in the evenings. So the other day my friend and I just went back to back on the ride time and again after work. Pretty much amazing. :)

And I might get to eat breakfast with the princesses tomorrow morning. That's still a maybe though. I know, you'd think I'd know by now since it starts in like seven hours.

Speaking of the time, I'd better get to bed. Goodnight all!