Thursday, July 30, 2015

Day 193: Moving On and Moving Out

Today I turned in my house keys and apartment ID and moved out of Chatham. I got up around 8:45 so I could finish loading up the car. I had packed a few boxes up last night, but I still had my bedding and a few smaller things.

Once I got almost everything in the car, I took a shower so I could pack up my toiletry items. Kaitlyn and Chelsea had left at this point, and two of my other roommates had left before today. So it was just me and Tess left. I was taking her to the airport, so we left the apartment at 11am, donated our mattress pads and headed out.

We stopped for lunch on the way because she didn't have to be at the airport until 1:30 anyways. We sat in the restaurant for a while, just talking and making flipagram videos to document our program. After I dropped her off at the airport, I plugged my grandparent's address into my GPS and headed to South Carolina. I'm picking my mom up there and we're finishing the drive to Illinois.

I'm sure I will end up doing a recap post soon enough considering I have 2 weeks at home before I head off to school. It was definitely a crazy experience from beginning to end. I met so many amazing people, and my outlook on life has changed for the better.

'Til next time!

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Day 192: 4 Parks in 1 Day, or The Day We Cried Our Eyes Out

Today was my last day in Orlando. We were determined to make the most of it by visiting all four parks in one day so we could properly say goodbye. We had been planning this day for about a week to make sure that we could make the most of it. Because Tess worked at Epcot, we were able to get on a few rides through her. Because I worked at Magic Kingdom, we were able to get on a few rides through me. We decided to make our fast passes at Hollywood Studios, so we would go to Animal Kingdom first to beat the lines. We woke up bright and early to get to Animal Kingdom. Our goal was to go on three of the most popular attractions in every park, meet one character, and take a picture with the park icon.

We got to Animal Kingdom before the park opened, so we waited at the gates and headed right to Expedition: Everest when the park opened. The line was kind of long so we did the single rider line and got on right away. After that we headed to Dinosaur to go save the iguanadons. We then headed to Festival of the Lion King and we got really good seats. We even sat in the lion section! On our way back towards the exit, we went on the Discovery Island Trail to go meet Tarzan. Instead of Tarzan though, it was Turk! That was awesome because I've never met her.


After that we went to Creature Comforts to get some Starbucks and energy and then took a picture with the Tree of Life.

Park One Done.

We drove right to Epcot and got a good parking spot. The park was pretty empty when we got there! Since we were going to have to wait for the characters, we decided to head there first and get it out of the way. We went to the Character Spot so we could go meet Minnie, Mickey, and Goofy. It was super fun- probably the best character interaction I've had in a while, outside of Gaston. Mickey was super cute and so was Goofy. Minnie handed us a piece of paper to simulate us graduating from the College Program.


After that, we headed to Soarin' which I hadn't done since probably the third week of my program. It took a while to get through the line but it wasn't anything too bad. After that, we went on Figment- my favorite. Tess really wanted to go on it and we had fast passes, so we went. On our way to Test Track, we stopped at Club Cool so Chelsea could get some of her favorite soda from around the world. We then went on Test Track- it was super exciting and really fun. I'm definitely going to miss this ride. After that, we headed to Spaceship Earth so Tess could say goodbye to some coworkers and ride her ride one last time. We took our picture with the big round ball and said goodbye to Epcot.

Park Two Done.

Then we headed to Hollywood Studios where we had made fast passes. First, Chelsea had to get her ears embroidered so we went to a shop to do that. Up first was Tower of Terror. We had a really good drop sequence so it was a fun way to end. After that, we headed to Rock n' Roller Coaster where we did the single rider line because the regular line was over two hours. After that we went on Toy Story- my actual favorite ride. I won of course. Since we hadn't really eaten at all, we went too the Commissary to get food, and I went to the 50s Primetime Cafe to get a milkshake. Once we were recharged, we still had to meet one more character. We wanted to meet Buzz and Woody but the line was super long and we were running low on time, so instead we met Mater and Lightning McQueen from Cars.


After that we took our picture with the Hollywood Tower Hotel and headed out to Magic Kingdom.

Park Three Done.

Our last park of the day- Magic Kingdom. It couldn't end any other way. We took our park picture first thing after getting there, since we wanted one in the daylight.



Since we only had about two hours before the fireworks, we went right for Space Mountain. Unfortunately, the fast pass line still took half an hour. One of my coworkers from Thunder was in line behind us which was a strange coincidence. After Space Mountain, we cut through Fantasyland and headed towards Frontierland. Chelsea took a picture with Columbia Harbor House and I took a picture with the Indian in Frontierland.



We then headed to Thunder Mountain for my last ride. I had to say goodbye to a few more people while we were going through the line. After that, we headed to Splash Mountain to finish the mountains. We were very close on time- the parade was already going through Frontierland so we had to do a crossing. We were practically running through Adventureland to make sure that we got good viewing for the fireworks. We ended up right next to the Partner's Statue in the Hub and we were surrounded by fellow CPs. There were a lot of tears around us since all the summer extenders were done today. Good thing Chelsea brought tissues. After Wishes, I found Ashley from Thunder and we hugged and said goodbye. Even though our eyes were super puffy, Tess, Chelsea and I still had to meet one more character- Mickey Mouse, the boss man himself. 


Park Four Done.

Since we had to be out of our apartment by 11am the next morning, we decided to head out after that to go to sleep. I practically finished up packing, but my plan is to be up early-ish tomorrow to get everything in my car.

Y'all I can't believe it's over. It doesn't feel like it's over, yet when I left Magic Kingdom tonight, I knew it would be a long time before I got to see it again. I tried to take in all the sights and smells one last time- all the kids with their glow wands, all the happy people taking pictures, the smell of cookies on Main Street. I don't know when it will hit me that I don't get to live here anymore, but when it does, it'll be ugly.

'Til next time!

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Day 191: Last Day As A Disney Cast Member

So guys, today was the day. It was my last shift as a Disney Cast Member. It's definitely a bittersweet feeling, because while I am super excited to go home and see my family and go back to school, I will miss being down in Orlando, and getting to go to the parks on my off days.

I worked 10am-5pm today which was a weird shift since I never got afternoons before. I packed up all my costumes to get ready to turn them in after my shift, then I was on my way. Right out of the gate, I got spur grouper. People today were really rough. Just not listening, the regular stuff. I moved outside for a while after that then got my first break. About an hour into my shift, I got a 'special task', which was to go to the manager's trailer for a meeting. It was my final day evaluation, so I sat down with two of my leaders and we talked about my performance. I got pretty good comments from them, especially for my attendance because I didn't call out at all.

I tried putting in for an ER just so I wouldn't have to take my unpaid lunch, but they were tight on labor apparently, since I didn't get it. My lunch came kind of late, I ended up getting back from lunch with roughly an hour and a half left in my shift. When I got back, I pulled two tasks. I was sitting in the office when a coordinator walked in and asked if I was comfortable going to the mini-lift to pull a train back on. Apparently while I was at lunch we had gone down to 4 trains because of some brake issues.

I headed back to the mini-lift with another cast member. While I had taken trains off of the mini lift, I hadn't pulled one back on since my training. Luckily, the maintenance guy who was out there with us was super helpful. Once we signaled to the Train cast member that we wanted to pull a train on, we opened up the swing bridge and started moving the train. Good thing nothing went wrong, because we could have backed up the operation a lot. We pulled it on part of the way, then went back into the station to let the other cast members finish pulling it in.

I ended up getting my bumpout early, around 4:40, so I sat in the office for about 10 minutes with some people before I could clock out.

No, thank you Mickey.

I said my goodbyes, then headed to the tunnels. I hopped into the shower in the Utilidors to freshen up because I wouldn't be going back to my apartment until way later in the night. I turned in all my costumes, then went to Vista Way to pick up Sydnee! We went on a few errands, like me getting my nose pierced (no more Disney Look), and going to the Disney Character Warehouse at the outlet mall. We had dinner then went to our former co-worker Lynn's apartment where some of the Contemporary CP's would be getting together for one last night.



After I got to say goodbye to those coworkers, I went to pick up some of my fellow Thundercats to go to Steak n' Shake with a bunch of other CP's. It was nice to be able to say goodbye to so many of my coworkers.



I ended up getting home around 3 in the morning, just enough time to get a few hours of sleep before our big day tomorrow. We're going to hit all 4 parks in 1 day to celebrate our last day in the parks.

'Til next time!


Monday, July 27, 2015

Day 190: My Last Night Shift at Thunder

So today was a pretty short shift, 5pm-11pm. It was also my last night at Thunder. It was pretty stormy outside, so of course I ended up being outside around when the rain started, and without my rain gear! Just very typical of my luck.

I had my last break around 9, and when I came back, I got main unload. I ended up making it around to main dispatch by the time Wishes started, so I didn't get to see it tonight. That's ok, I'll see it on Wednesday during our last day in the parks.

Since I was out at 11, all the PAC people were out and about, getting ready to clear the street while I was walking to the tunnels. I had to say some goodbyes today because I might not see these people tomorrow.  I can't believe that tomorrow will be my last day here.

'Til next time!

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Day 189: Last Stretch of Work

Today was my third to last day. I worked 2pm-11:15pm. The first thing I pulled was grouper assist. I was rotated pretty quickly to main dispatch, but it took a long time for the next rotation to come around for me to get to grouper. And again, it took a while for the rotation to come around.

While I was on main grouper, I had my first guest cuss at me. It was super exciting. Basically, the way I grouped her family, they would be on the same train, but just in different cars. That's the way it goes, and a lot of families have this happen to them. It is literally unavoidable, so I can't make exceptions for people.  Let me put a handy diagram below for you.
They were sitting in the two rows circled in red.

The mother was asking if they could be in the same car. I told them that they would be on the same train, but that's all I could do. They asked repeatedly, but I told them the same thing every time. When I went back to group the next train, they tried moving themselves so they'd be in the same car. I asked them to move back to their original rows, but she was getting more snippy and less cooperative. Eventually, she yelled "F*** you! What's your name?"

I got my first break about 2 hours in. After that, I pulled main unload, which meant I was going to the same positions: grouper assist, main dispatch, main grouper. Rotation was moving a bit faster this time though. After I came back from lunch, we went down for weather. I pulled a task, then got Fastpass entry. That meant I got to go outside and tell people we were closed. We kept asking people to not stand in line because they're really not supposed to do it, but they all refused to move.

Just as we re-opened, rotation came around and I ended back at main unload, grouper assist, and main dispatch. After my last break, I was fully expecting to get that same cluster of positions, but I ended up getting spur unload. Since my last break came early, I made it all the way up to Tower where I stayed until my bumpout.

'Til next time!

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Day 188: Hanging Out With Shamu

Today I tried something different. I went to SeaWorld! My former roommate Kriss had some connections so I was able to get in for free, so I said why not? I took the trolley since it was only 25 cents, and it dropped me off right at the entrance. I also had to pack up some stuff, so I couldn't be at the park for too long, but I wanted to do the big stuff while I was there. I went on Manta, which was a cool roller coaster, kind of like the Superman ride we had back at the Six Flags back home. It looks like you're flying in the air!

After that, I went on the Kraken ride. It was super intense, lots of loops and corkscrews, but it wasn't really rough or anything. The only thing I didn't like about SeaWorld was that they charged for lockers. After I got the thrill rides done, I went to see the Shamu show, One Ocean. It was super cool- even though I sat in the Splash Zone, I didn't get one single drop of water on me.

After I got home, I packed up most of the rest of my stuff. I still have a few outfits to wear the next couple days, my toiletries and my bedding, but that's it! I work the next three days, then we're doing 4 Parks in 1 Day, then I leave.

'Til next time!

Friday, July 24, 2015

Day 187: Magic Kingdom (Again)

Today, I tried to do a little bit of everything. I went to get my oil changed in the morning, and I also put air in my tires and cleaned out my car to get ready for the move back home. This was when it started to hit me that I'll be leaving in less than a week! My, how time has really flown by. But I think I'm ready to be heading back home.

After that, I went to the Contemporary to get a signature from one of my leaders for my internship credit back at school. Sydnee was just getting off work, so we went to Magic Kingdom to meet the rest of the characters I still hadn't met. We started with Merida because she meets outside. She was so cute! After that, we headed to Sleepy Hollow and got a waffle and waited in line for Tiana and Naveen. The little girl in front of us was dressed as Tiana, she was absolutely adorable.




After that, we went on Jungle Cruise! I will surely miss those punny jokes. Then we headed towards my home, Thunder Mountain. We tried a new way of riding it, and instead of facing forwards while we rode, we faced in towards each other. It was super intense, I may have regretted eating that waffle. But I will never ride Thunder normally again. We went on Haunted Mansion and Mine Train, before heading towards Storybook Circus. I had never been to Pete's Silly Sideshow, so we went inside to meet Goofy and Donald. They were so much fun, and I loved their outfits!




After that, we went on Buzz Lightyear, and I let Sydnee in on some insider tips to get a higher score. Then we headed towards Main Street. It was around 9:30, but we had a fastpass to meet Tinkerbell, so we shrunk down to the size of a pixie, and flew with her! We waited on Main Street at my favorite spot and watched Celebrate the Magic and Wishes. It was wonderful.



'Til next time!

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Day 186: A Very Classy Breakfast

Today we had breakfast at 1900 Park Fare! The last time I was here was Galetine's Day with my previous roommates, so I was dying to come back! We heard that 1900 Park Fare is the only restaurant on Disney property that you can get gummy bears, so of course we had to get an entire bowl full to share with the table. Alice and the Mad Hatter loved that, since they're so spirited. Everyone was so cute! Tigger was really funny too, but a little scatter-brained of course.





After breakfast, Tess and I went to Hollywood Studios. We went to see bae aka Indiana Jones one last time, then we went on the Great Movie Ride. It was super hot, and since we are planning on doing 4 Parks in 1 Day next week, we decided to cut our day short again and go back to the air conditioning in our apartment.

'Til next time!

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Day 185: Favorite Character Meet Ever

Today was the first day of my weekend! I went to Magic Kingdom to meet the last couple characters I hadn't met before. But it was suuuuper hot. I planned on meeting Gaston, Peter Pan, Tiana, and Merida.

I made a fastpass for Space Mountain, my favorite ride, so I headed there first. The fastpass line was extending way WAY out. By the time I got to the first touchpoint (still outside the building), I had already been waiting 10 minutes. Then I walked inside and was stopped by the line again. In total, I waited over 25 minutes to get on the ride through the fastpass line. Normally I don't complain about things like this because I know what it's like to work at a busy attraction, but 25 minutes is WAY too long. The guarantee is 15 minutes or less to get on the ride, and even that is pushing it.

Anyways, I headed towards Fantasyland to meet Peter Pan. I hopped in line, asked the people in front of me if they were waiting to meet Peter, and they said yes. Success, I was in the right place! About 5 minutes of waiting later, and the character attendant comes by to cut the line, except he cuts it maybe 10 people in front of us?? Turns out the people in front of us were just waiting in the shade, and not waiting in line, but no one said anything to us. We went to the attendant, but they said to just come back for the next set. I headed to Gaston's meet and greet area, but the line was already cut. I was just about ready to go back home, when my roommate Alexa said she was also at Magic Kingdom, and wanted to meet up! So we met at Gaston's Tavern, and waited for him in a pretty short line.

Gaston was soooo funny! I could probably stand next to his character spot all day and listen to him interact with people. I was wearing a Gaston hair bow that I made, and he saw it and made me take it out so he could 'see himself'. He then proceeded to clip it to his chest hair. It fell off pretty quickly, but it was still so funny.

There's the bow, just sitting on his chest



After that, we headed to meet Peter Pan. He said I was dressed like Mr. Smee because my shirt had blue and white stripes on it. He told us to watch out for pirates, so of course we said we would. Then we headed toward the Courtyard and took the classic picture in front of the castle with my graduation ears, then I headed home because the heat was getting to me. I started making a cross-stitch for my co-worker Haley because she wanted one that had a rap lyric on it, and I thought it was super funny and right up my alley.





Gonna miss this place :(


Tomorrow I'm going to 1900 Park Fare with my roommates and then Hollywood Studios!

'Til next time!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Day 184: Got To Make A Magical Moment

Today was my Friday! I worked 5pm-11pm, so a really short shift. I started by pulling the main side rotation, so I was at merge for about an hour and a half, alternating between being 'the traffic cop' and assisting with the fastpass part of the line. We had a few tour groups go through, but we didn't get backed up too badly. I went outside to the Fastpass entry position for about 10 minutes, then I got my break.

After my break, I went to Greeter 2 outside, and was there for about an hour and a half. By the time I rotated inside to main unload, my second break came around. I pulled Stand-by greeter and headed outside around 9:15pm, which meant I would be at wheelchair assist for the fireworks! Around 9:30, several guests came up to me and asked when would be the best time to get in line so that they would be on the ride during Wishes. Girls after my own heart! I told them that since it was about a 30 minute wait, if they got on soon, they should be good to go.

They hung around outside the entrance for a minute while I was scanning FLIK cards and checking heights, but as they were about to enter the line, I 'dropped' some fastpasses into their hands so that they could guarantee they'd be on during the fireworks. They were so happy! They told me that they were doing the '4 Parks 1 Day Challenge', and they were Disney-bounding as characters from Inside Out. There were only 4 of them, so they found 1 cast member in each park who they thought was awesome, and posed in a picture with them as the characters from Inside Out. They asked me if I would be 'Fear' in their Magic Kingdom picture, and I told them of course, I would be honored!

I ended the night at wheelchair, but I never did see the girls after they got on the ride. I sure hope they got a wonderful view of the fireworks! Tomorrow starts my four day weekend!

'Til next time!


Monday, July 20, 2015

Day 183: So Hot Outside

Today I worked from 4:15pm-12:30am. For those of you keeping track, this was my last closing shift at Thunder! I have a few more night shifts but I'm not closing. Since I was out at :30, that meant I was closing at our mini-lift and moving trains back into the storage facility.

I started at fastpass greeter, and it was so freaking hot outside! Normally there's some kind of breeze or the sun is behind the clouds for a little while, but today, nothing. The guests were probably feeling it too, as it was difficult to engage with them.

Later in the night, I was at stand-by greeter right when the fireworks started. During the fireworks, rotation went around, so I got to see the finale from our wheelchair assist position, which is the best view. After my last break, I was back out at fastpass.

I had a guest come up to me at fastpass who wanted to use his paper re-add because Space Mountain was down (which it was), so I let him through. He stopped and said that wait, he wanted to use the ticket here, but keep them so that he could go to Guest Relations in the morning and get a free day of park admission so that he could come back to go on Space Mountain. I told him that probably wouldn't work for multiple reasons and that he would have to give the ticket to the cast member at the top. He said he would, but that he would still try to go to guest relations in the morning. I told him good luck, then I rotated to main unload.

We closed the main side of the station while I was at main unload, so after that I went to the mini-lift. I stayed back there for probably the last 45 minutes waiting for the park to close so we could pull off the last of the trains, then I came back in and clocked out.

'Til next time!


Sunday, July 19, 2015

Day 182: 6 Months in Disney

Today marks half a year ('ear') that I've spent working for the Mouse. Wow, has time flown by. I had a 7 hour shift, 8:45-3:45. I started the day at main unload, and it was super chill because we weren't filling the train completely full until I moved to another position. There were a lot of tour groups this morning though, which was horrible.

I asked them to pull up on their lap bar, making the motion with my hands as well, and they would all ignore me. I didn't really have time to explain to them what I needed them to do, so I just had to walk down the train and manually check all the lap bars when they wouldn't do it themselves. I feel bad because I've kind of lost my patience with them, but I'm keeping in mind I only have a few more shifts until I'm done.

After my first break, I went outside to stand-by greeter and stood outside for a few hours. I went to wheelchair assist and was literally running back and forth for the entire 45 minutes. By then my break should have come around. But it hadn't. I moved to spur unload and was there for about 45 minutes as well. Still no break. At this point, I only had 2 hours left in my shift, and I still hadn't taken my lunch. Finally it came around.

When I got back from lunch, I pulled the main rotation, which meant I went up to merge, which would be where I'd end my day. We went down for weather while I was up there, but came back up pretty quickly.

When I got home, I just ate a little bit and laid in my bed for the rest of the night.

'Til next time!


Saturday, July 18, 2015

Day 179-181: Down to the Wire

These last few days have been pretty easy. Some pretty short shifts overall. On Thursday, we had another famous guest ride Thunder. I was at spur dispatch when I saw a group come into the station. I recognized one of the family members as Troy Polamalu, NFL safety, famous for his voluminous and beautiful hair. Because I was at the dispatch console, I sent his train and waved to them as they left the station.

The next day, I had a 6 hour shift at night, so I took advantage of this and went to Wal-Mart to get some groceries to last me for another 2 weeks and got some toiletries. On Saturday, I worked a normal 9 hour shift. I was at Wheelchair Assist during the fireworks again. It was still cool. After the fireworks, a guest came in because they lost their reading glasses on the ride. I found them for them, and they gave me a card as they left and thanked me for helping them. It was a thank you card that read "Thanks for making our day magical!" It was super cute, and I will keep it forever.

Around 11:30pm, right before the park closed to non-resort guests, the ride broke down. About 10 minutes before that, Splash Mountain had gone down for technical reasons as well, so all our coordinators/leaders were over there. It took a few minutes to get us started, but eventually I was sent out to evacuate a train, then do a track walk afterwards. My shift ended at 12:30, so I got my bumpout just a few minutes after that and I went home to sleep, because I had a very short turnaround to the next morning.

'Til next time!

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Day 178: Breakfast with the Boss

Today me and my roommates had breakfast at Chef Mickeys! I like the breakfast here better than dinner, but we were there really early, like 7:45am. Toooo early for me! We got group shots with all the characters, so it was really cute.


After breakfast, Chelsea and I headed to Animal Kingdom so I could check off the last couple rides I had to do. We started off meeting Pocahontas and Tarzan, then we went on Expedition: Everest to wake ourselves up! After that, we headed for Festival of the Lion King, and saw Flights of Wonder for the first time. We got there early, so we got pretty good seats. We went to meet Dug and Russell, some of my favorites, after that.


The weather was taking a bad turn, so we wanted to head inside. We still had one more ride left (Kali River Rapids), so we wanted to see if the storm would hold off but we had time to kill until our next fastpass, so we went to meet Minnie and Mickey indoors, with air conditioning.


Once we did Kali River Rapids, I had officially done every ride at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios parks!

'Til next time!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Day 177: My Last Time at Universal, For Real

I know last time I said that was my last time at Universal, but my roommate Chelsea wanted to go at least once, and hadn't been, so I agreed to go with her (how could I turn it down?). We started really early because this was the only day she could go, so she wanted to get the most out of her one day pass. We started on the Universal side of the park, and went right for the Despicable Me ride because the line would only get worse as the day went on.

We decided to do the Minions scavenger hunt because why not? It looked super easy and fun so we grabbed some scratchcards and headed off! But not before getting a picture with Woody Woodpecker who was just hanging out in the street.

We went on the Mummy ride and took a picture with one of the stiltwalkers outside. We went to see the Horror Make-up Show and as we left, we saw the Scooby Doo Gang (minus Scooby) so we took a very serious picture with them.


After that, we did Transformers, Men in Black and E.T. We headed to Diagon Alley and strolled around for a while because the Gringotts ride was down. Once it reopened, it was a really short wait,so we jumped right on. We took the Hogwarts Express to Islands of Adventure and walked around for a while. We went to Marvel Superhero Island and went on Spiderman, and met the man himself. We waited around so we could meet the most patriotic man out there, Captain America. It was so cool!



We went to Seuss Landing and went on the Cat in the Hat ride, then headed back to Universal to meet Bumblebee from Transformers, and finish our scavenger hunt. We redeemed our prizes, and they were magnets of the characters from the Minions movie!

'Til next time!

Monday, July 13, 2015

Day 176: I Am So Tired

Today was a rough day. As I mentioned, I didn't get home until late last night. By late, I mean 3:45am. When I said I had to be at work early the next morning, by early I meant 7:30. I got roughly 1.5 hours of sleep as I prepared to go into an 11 hour shift. I know I did this to myself, but I tried to put in for an ER, along with another CP who was in the same boat as me. I did not get the Early Release from my shift, but I was tasking multiple times throughout the day.

That was the frustrating part. There were clearly enough people at work, but I couldn't go home early. It was my Friday, so I have a few days to recover. Anyways, just a few more weeks until I won't be working crazy hours. I went home and took a brief nap, then went to the Ale House with Tess and got some food.

'Til next time!



Sunday, July 12, 2015

Day 173-175: Work Work Work Movie Night!

The last three days have been pretty bland. Work goes quickly, but nothing really sticks out anymore. I get asked the same weird questions on a pretty regular basis, but beyond that nothing bizarre. I got my last full schedule at Disney on Saturday though, which was pretty crazy! I was scheduled 6 days a week again, but I've been posting to try and give a few away. Some people are interested, so hopefully they go through!

Sunday night, we did something cool. I can't talk about it too much, because our manager had to talk to a lot of people for us to be able to do this, but it involved watching a movie with the other Frontierland CPs in a very cool place after we all were done with work. I got done very late, and had to be back very early the next morning. It was a super fun experience, but I was sooo tired.

'Til next time!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Day 172: Back to Hollywood Studios to Draw!

Today I had a short shift, 6:15pm-12:15pm. Tess and I decided we wanted to go to the animation class one more time because it would be closing that weekend. We got there and rode Toy Story with our fastpasses, then headed for the animation class. The line was so long, apparently a few people had the same idea as we did.

Once we got inside, we were wondering who we would draw. If we were given an opportunity to request, we wanted to draw Flynn Rider, but the artist had someone in mind already. It was Baymax from Big Hero 6! It was a lot of fun, as usual. After that, we went on Tower of Terror, and headed home so I could get ready for work. Since it was a six hour shift, I just got 2 short breaks, but it went by quickly.

'Til next time!

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Day 171: We Did It. We Drank Around the World!

Today my roommates Chelsea, Tess, and I departed on a mission. To try one drink from each country in World Showcase and document it in picture form, also known as Drinking Around the World. We started pretty early in Canada, and planned to work our way around to end in Mexico. I bought a passport to have it stamped in every country, so I wanted to do that in every country. I also hadn't met a few princesses that met in Epcot, so we wanted to meet with them as well.

We tried to limit the amount of beers we had, because a few of us don't really enjoy beer all that much. A lot of countries only offered beer though! It was super weird. Throughout the course of the day, we had a few duds, but also a few amazing drinks! The Welsh Dragon at Rose & Crown in the UK was soooo good. The Tokyo Sunrise in Japan was right up there too!

Beer in Canada to kick off the day!

We met Mary Poppins in the UK, Aurora in France, Belle in France, Snow White in Germany, and Mulan in China. Once we hit Mexico, we got a mango margarita to finalize our trip around the world. We headed to Spaceship Earth where Tess works, and she got us in the VIP entrance. We had fastpasses for Test Track, so we did that ride too. We rode the Seas with Nemo and Friends and saw Turtle Talk with Crush. That was one of the two rides I needed to do everything in Epcot. The other was Reflections of China, which we did too.

After we got back from Epcot, there was a housing event going on at the field right next to our apartment. They had a few characters out so we decided to go meet them. It was Chip and Dale and Mushu! It was so cool seeing these characters in their costumes!



We did so much today, I definitely feel accomplished.

'Til next time!

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Day 170: Day off!

I traded away my shift today, so I decided to take it easy and do some cleaning/packing up because I'm leaving in just a few weeks. I also decided to take a course about Sabermetrics which is the analysis of baseball using statistics, through edX, a website that offers online classes taught by professors from universities around the country. It opened up today, so I started that today, and it's super interesting so far!

I packed about two boxes worth of stuff up, so now I just have some clothes here and there, my bathroom stuff, and my food. That's it! Pretty crazy to think that my months-long trip in Orlando will be coming to an end soon.

'Til next time!

Monday, July 6, 2015

Day 169: My First PAC Shift

Today was my first time doing PAC outside of training. It was kind of intimidating, because while they used to have little index cards that described what every position does, they lost them so I felt very confused about my job responsibilities. I was given Splash 3, who really doesn't do a whole lot, thank goodness. We actually stood by the carts backstage that held the stanchions, and brought them out following the parade so that we could take down the ropes/stanchions as quickly as possible behind the parade route.

Because we were backstage, we got to still see the parade, but we weren't responsible for watching the guests or anything like that, so we got to enjoy the Festival of Fantasy parade. Considering I probably won't get any more PAC shifts, this was super cool! As we followed the parade, I pulled the cart next to the ropes so that we could unclip everything while the parade was still going. It was kind of stressful, because a lot of the people were training for PAC or it was their first shift too, so there was a bit of miscommunication but no one died/was hurt, so it was a success!

After that, I went into rotation at Thunder for a few hours. I pulled my break right away, so I was talking to someone else doing PAC. I was supposed to go back to the night parade, but she had an earlier end time while staying in rotation for the rest of the night. Because I was really tired from the parade earlier, I traded with her so I stayed at Thunder the rest of the night.

I was at wheelchair assist during the fireworks for the first time, and wow, that is really the best place to watch the fireworks. I sat talking with a family who had a guest with a wheelchair, and they wanted to wait until the fireworks were over to go on the ride. They had never seen Wishes, so I was kind of explaining the cues because you can't really hear the music over the Frontierland music we play.

Right after the fireworks ended, our ride went down for technical issues. This was also right when my bumpout came so I didn't have to evacuate any trains or reset, but this poor family was so close to going on Thunder, I tried to give them some re-adds but they said they were good and thanked me for sharing the fireworks with them. All in all a cool night!

'Til next time!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Day 168: Rainy Day Means Going Home Early

Today I was scheduled to work from 10:30am-11:15pm. I'm not a fan of these shifts at all, for multiple obvious reasons, among them being they're over 12 hours, and they take up the entire day so I can't do anything other than work. I spent the day in spur rotation in the same 3 positions, wheelchair assist, spur unload, and spur exit. Those positions can make time go by quickly, but overall, those are some of my least favorite positions. I would much rather be outside.

I finally pulled a different rotation, the main side rotation, which starts up in merge. Within a couple minutes, we went down for weather. The rain was coming down pretty hard, so that drove a lot of people out. The park was actually really empty, my theory is that they all came to the park last night to see the fireworks, so they were at different parks today.

I had put in for an ER for around 10, but my coordinator called up to merge and asked if I wanted to go home at 7 (right now) instead, so of course I said yes. Myself and one other person got to go home very early which was super nice, so I could relax!

'Til next time!

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Day 167: Happy Birthday America! (Or As I Call It, Happy Phase Closure Day)

Today I worked at Magic Kingdom to celebrate the birthday of the greatest country in the world, Murica. I worked from 3:45-12:30, so I pretty much slept right until I needed to get ready for work, considering I got out of work at 4am yesterday. I started off my day by tasking, so I headed up to merge because a coordinator told me it was really busy.

As I was walking up the steps to enter our covered queue, I saw a bunch of bottles and drink cups getting lined up on a railing. People were leaving their trash there instead of taking it to a trash can. So I picked it up to take it to the trash, when someone walked past me and left their trash right there where I was cleaning up! I had my arms full walking towards merge and dumped all the trash off, when a coordinator came by and thanked me. He wrote me a Four Keys card for keeping everything clean!

Later in the day, I got off my break around 8:45pm and pulled stand-by greeter! That meant I would get to see the fireworks, finally! I had heard they were so absolutely cool so I was pumped to see them in person. Someone was telling me they were perimeter fireworks, meaning they would go off 360 degrees all around Magic Kingdom at certain points in the show.

No one was really walking on to the ride, instead opting in to see the fireworks, so we got to watch the fireworks almost the entire time. The finale was without a doubt, one of the coolest things I have seen probably ever. It felt like you were surrounded by the fireworks, and I could not stop staring with my mouth open and eyes wide. It was an awesome experience.

Since the park closed at 1am and I was out at 12:30, I didn't have to close. So I got to go home and sleep because I have to be back in at 10:30 tomorrow.

'Til next time!

Friday, July 3, 2015

Day 166: The 3rd of July Extravaganza

Today was the latest I have ever been at Magic Kingdom. I worked from 7:15pm-4:00am. That's right, 4 in the morning was when I left the park. It was really odd. The park closed at 3am for extra magic hours, and I was the lost and found closer, so I had to close tower, and run our lost and found to the front of the park at the end of the night.

The fireworks were scheduled to go off at 9pm, which meant I would get to see them if I went on break. It was a very rainy day, so the fireworks were getting delayed. They ended up going off around 10:30pm, which was about 5 minutes after I got back from my lunch. I was at main dispatch, so I missed the fireworks barely.

During extra magic hours, I was in tower for the whole time. I gave someone their break at 1am, and since I was closing tower, I took my break and came right back to pull trains off. Lost and found was really easy because we had a bunch of staff earlier in the day, so someone took stuff to City Hall before I did.

I was done pretty fast in tower, so I dropped the stuff off at City Hall and headed to the shuttle and went home to sleeeeep.

'Til next time!

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Day 165: He Walked Right Next to Me!

Today I worked from 3:30-12:15. I started at main grouper, and was kind of cycling back there through the rest of the night. Grouper/grouper assist have slowly become some of my favorite positions to work (relatively, because I'm struggling to find a position that I really really like), because it keeps you really busy and time flies. Also, it's not as repetitive as some of the other positions can be.

In the same rotation as main grouper is main unload. You're kind of on an island by yourself for that whole time, unloading guests, checking lap bars, and sending trains. It can get kind of boring, and very hot because the only spot of air conditioning is halfway up the train, whereas I spend most of my time near the back of the train which is where our console is.

While I was at main unload, a coordinator comes over and tells our dispatch person to lock their gates. Normally, when this happens, we would check for lost and found then re-open them right away. I asked if that was what we were doing, but the coordinator just smiled and said, "You'll see". Very cryptic, if you ask me.

The next train pulls in to the station and it is almost completely empty save for the last two rows. There's a guest relations cast member with the party, so it must be someone important. Once the guests get off the train, they unlock the gates so the next group of people can get on. I look at the group as they're exiting, and it is one of the singers from One Direction. I'm not a huge fan of theirs, but I knew enough about them to know who it was, so that was pretty cool. I guess we locked the gates so if he got recognized, he wouldn't get mobbed.

The rest of the night went very smoothly, and I was out at 12:15, which meant I closed spur exit (wheelchair assistance) and filled out closing paperwork.

'Til next time!

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Day 164: My Last Day at Universal?

Today I went to Universal Studios with CJ! It was so much fun. Because it might be my last day here, I wanted to do everything I hadn't done yet, which included a few rides, and taking some pictures. We started the day by going on the Mummy, of course. We stopped by Kings Cross station to say hi to CJ's boyfriend Chris, who would be joining us later in the day.

We decided to go on Men in Black, then head to Islands of Adventure, because we could use the VIP entrance with Chris's help. Once we got to Islands of Adventure, we went straight for the stuff I hadn't done since I've been in Florida. We saw the Sinbad show, it was kind of like Indiana Jones, except it's not really "behind the scenes action" kind of stuff, it's more just a show that involves action. After that, we waited in line for Poseidon's Fury, which is like a walk-through attraction with a tour guide, whose name was also Taylor. That was pretty fun. After that, we took the train back to Universal to meet up with Chris.

We had lunch at the Monsters Cafe, then we saw the Horror Make-up Show (my favorite), and did the Mummy one more time. After that, we took a picture with the porter of the Knight Bus, and went back to King's Cross.



We ended up taking the Hogwarts Express one more time (that's 3 for you keeping track at home), and went back to Islands of Adventure to ride the last ride I needed to completely do everything, which was Dudley Do-Right Rip Saw Falls, a super water ride. Holy moley I was absolutely soaked! But it was still fun. We rode Spiderman single rider, and went home. Pretty successful day!

'Til next time!