Reaching the end

As i reach the end of my program i often find myself thinking about the past four months. It has truly been an amazing experience. Disney has changed me but this i believe is a good thing. I have learned how to be a better employee and that i can take care of myself. Though i have always been rather independent i never knew what i was capable of before i had this experience, I have learned that i can do anything i put my mind to and just not to give up, i should never stop learning

"It is a great big beautiful tomorrow" As the progress of Carousel says and it truly is

I can honestly see why some people never leave, I too wanted to stay but sadly my life is going in a different direction maybe one day i will be back at this magical place. If you are reading this and are even considering doing this DCP (Disney College Program) Do it. Do it right now you will not be disappointed in it, it is truly amazing and you will meet so many amazing people.

Clear Water Beach

So recently Abby and I decided to do something outside of Disney and we finally made it out to the beach. We had an amazing time. It was my 2nd time ever seeing the Ocean and her first time we went to a small public access park since we couldn't find a place to park in the main area. We had an amazing day! While swimming we watched a pelican hunt and it was amazing to watch. We found a live starfish and that was really cool, I did not know that starfish could move i always kind of assumed they just kinda went to where the current took them. Abby even made a fish friend! While swimming we look down and a fish is just swimming around us and would follow Abby around she freaked out and i died of laughter. After spending some time at the beach we decided to get some dinner from the Clearwater area so in the spirit of where we were we decided to stop at Joes crab shack since neither of us have ever eaten there before and it was really good and we had an aweso
me server

WaWa

So on a late night after work and after buying Groceries Abby, Cindy and I decided to take a trip to WaWa since i have never been to one before. For those of you who had never heard of WaWa it is a gas station down here that has its own version of Subway more or less and is very good.

I tried one of their subs and if you ever find yourself at a WaWa don't hesitate to make your own sandwich or sub the ordering system is done electronically and after you finish the order goes the the kitchen and you get a receipt you can take the the cash register and by the time you are done paying your sandwich should be just about done. It was very cool and i hope i can go again sometime soon

Be Our Guest Restaurant

So Recently my roommate was able to get a reservation at  Be Our Guest. BOG is located at the back of Magic Kingdom. This high class restaurant is rather difficult to get a reservation from and is almost always booked solid so normally you have to wait and check if someone cancelled to get one. Well the night before my roommate was able to get one on a day we were both off. So we went the movies and after the movie off we went to Magic Kingdom.

Menu

We arrived earlier than our original reservation so we had to wait for a few until they had a table ready for us. The outside of the restaurant is beautiful Disney has always had a great attention to detail. Our hostess was also very impressive she took the time to make a little extra magic for us. She could have just opened the door and walked us to our table and let that be that, but instead she took a minute to talk to us and made it special then with a small push the doors they opened and she continued to talk to us about the restaurant until we made it to our seats. There are three different spots you can eat at bog there is the library, the west wing, and the ball room. We ate in the Ball Room and it was stunning. They took no time getting our order and bringing us our food. We even decided to have some desert and we both had the Grey Stuff and it was in fact delicious.

After we finished we explored the other places you can eat took some pictures and then they had a place where you could meet beast. All in all it was a really cool dining experience and i would recommend trying this place if you can just be prepared it is a rather pricey place but very very good.

Ceiling in the ballroom
 

Tried the Grey stuff and it was delicious 

Pan seared Salmon 

Parents visiting, new friends

So the first week of June my parents came to see me. While it was fun and i was very happy to see them it was exhausting. Unfortunately my time off request was denied and i couldn't find people to take my shifts but we made it work. So all the time i had out of work i spent with my parents, im happy to say that they said that they had so much fun! (even with all the nonsense they had to go through with the airplane nonsense).

I have been here for 2 months now and i am still loving every minute of it! i still have so much more that i want to do! Though at first i was struggling to make friends outside of my roommates and the friends i first made have sadly all left, but thanks to Disney Classes and the joys of deploy guards i have finally started to make some friends. This makes me really happy since i didnt know if i would ever find anyone else to hangout with besides my roommates (Though i love my roommates and have a great time with them and really enjoy hanging out with them).

All in all i am so grateful that i have been on this Journey and though it is hard to be away from all my friends back home i have learned so much while being away about myself and the world around me.

Mine Ride

So im sure many of you have heard about the new ride coming to Disney. Yup The Mine Ride, this ride is themed after Snow white and the 7 dwarfs and it is pretty cool. I had the chance along with other cast members to ride it before it officially opened (it opens may 28th). Though it is not a thrilling ride i really enjoyed it. I went with 2 of my roommates after work one day when they were doing Cast rides. Granted we did get glared at by guests when they let us in but not them. The queue line is pretty cool Disney always seems to amaze me they had things to keep guests waiting entertained, one of the cool things they had in the line was 7 barrels that had diamonds in them that you could spin and on the ceiling you could see one of the drawfs and if all 7 were spinning at the same time snow white would appear, they had a little game people could play while waiting it was a touch screen game were you would drag diamonds out of water and into a square that was the same shape as the diamond. It was very cool and the last entertainment thing they had in the queue was this neat water thing that was movement activated that also played sound so if you put your hand under one of the spouts it would let water drop down and play a sound. These things are kind of hard to explain but they are all very cool. My only complaint about this rides is that the seats are rather small im not that big but i barely fit in the seat.
During the ride you get to an animatronics  area were the dwarfs are mining for diamonds. Oh wow great job disney they are by far the best ones i have ever seen. I will attach a video of the dwarfs i thought it was amazing.

My thoughts on this ride: If you get a chance to check out this ride please do.

Typhoon Lagoon

So recently  Disney put on a program for all the college programmers at the Typhoon Lagoon water park and it was a blast! They had music playing along with food for us to eat and their was plenty! It felt nice to eat real people food and not the gross college student food i have been eating.For those who have never been to Typhoon it is pretty cool this was my first time going so it was very exciting the wave pool was very cool when it started with a huge wave, they have lots of fun slides but my favorite thing they had there was they had a shark tank that you could swim through. This was a fun but also kinda freaky to swim through i think if i go back i will do it again but maybe in the day time next time. So far my program experience has been amazing and of course like anything i have my bad days and the days that i get kinda lonely but i wouldn't trade anything for this im so grateful i was able to experience this program and i look forward for whats to come.

How time is flying!

Oh man so much has happened since my last update. I have been crazy busy so please excuse my lack of posts. I have been at Disney for Almost a month now (it will be a month on the 7th) and i am loving every minute of it! I am now a full lifeguard i have had all my orientation and am done with training FINALLY! Like any job it has its bad days but i enjoy it more than i hate it. If i haven't already mentioned it i work at the Disney All Star resort. So i work all 3 of the different all stars depending on the day. Some days I'm at sports while others I'm at Movies or Music. Work is going really great though i wish that i was getting paid a bit more but that's okay i didn't come down here for money i came down here for an experience.

Majority of my time off is spent at the parks, yesterday was my day off so i went to Hollywood studios and Magic Kingdom with 2 of my roommates and we had a blast! We rode some rides and even got to meet some great characters! Worked on filling out our autograph books and i FINALLY got to ride space mountain! It was a blast and i loved every minute of it.

All in all this experience has been amazing now if it could just stop being so humid that would be super!

The Adventure so far

These past few days  have been simply amazing! My friend dropped me off at check in and my adventure began. My first part of check in went very smoothly and i honestly could not stop smiling the entire time everyone i met was just fantastic! I even managed to be social and did my best to talk to everyone that i met. My fist day was rather busy after check in i got onto the bus to go to my apartment i found my room in the apartment and found that my roommate who is a friend from camp left me a very nice note for me. This made my day even though i was already having an amazing day to begin with so i slowly started to unpack and make my bed but then i needed to take my drug test. So i hoped onto another bus to go back to my drug test that i arrived too a good 30 minutes early xD from there i got on another bus! Though i wasn't really paying attention and got on a bus that my apartment was the very last stop. By the time i got back to my apartment it was time to go to Casting to fill out paperwork but unfortunately due to a mistake in communication i missed the bus i was suppose to go on but there was plenty of other buses so i ended up getting there late. Though the people at casting were very understanding about it. After finishing my casting and waiting for the bus by the time i got back it was already 5:30! So i had to rush back to my apartment get my swimsuit and get to my swim test. Even after getting lost i made it in time and i wasn't even the last one! I am happy to announce that i did pass my swim test!

My second day was less eventful but still fun i went to the housing meeting and got so overly excited about being at disney i got a little teary eyed when they showed a video of different cast member events. From there i went to the store and worked on homework until i went to Downtown Disney with my Roommate.

So far everything has been amazing

The door to Casting

Inside of casting

Detroit Adventures

The day is finally here!! I am sitting in the airport trying to get time to go faster now that i have made it through security it is a waiting game. Sometimes i wish i was more patient so then i could not be sitting here bouncing all over my chair.

So here was my beginning adventure, we got to Detroit with no problem i didnt have any anxiety until i went to check my bag and get my boarding pass that is where the adventure begins. Let me just say this is the very first time i have traveled alone in my 23 years of life so i was a little nervous but i knew it would be fine. I walk up to the kiosk to get this done and it wanted a confirmation number so i just kinda assumed it was my Priceline number so i kept trying to type that in but it wouldn't let me type it all in so i started panicking and Detroit is not a very helpful airport by the time we were able to get anyone to help us i had already found my confirmation number. The next "fun" step was getting my seat so i just clicked on the first one i saw and then the seat would have costed $69.00 ontop of my $25.00 bag check we finally found a seat that was free.

Now going through the security? No problems to report

Now if my plane would stop being delayed that would be super! But its only going to be about 20 minutes late so i guess its not that bad. Im kinda curious on why it is delayed. I suspect there must be a lot of turbulence in the air today.

Wish me luck readers!

Tomorrow is the day!

Tomorrow is the big day! After months of waiting it is only a day away! this time tomorrow i will be in Florida :) i cant belive that it is finally here after so long it almost doesnt feel real. Tomorrow morning i will be making my way to detroit to get on the plane to make my way to Orlando so hopefully it all goes well and i dont have any trouble going through Security. All i have left to do is to print out my dorm paperwork for Disney and print off my plane ticket. I am so excited but also terrified.

My biggest stressor right now is the fear of not passing my swimming test for my job. But lets hope my stubborness will pull me through.

Wish me luck on Sunday and Monday they will be both eventful days.

Housing

The time to make my way to Disney is getting close! I have finally gotten a chance to get to my dorm I am very excited that i will be living with a friend of mine from a former job though it is not official but from the email i received from housing agreed to place me in her apartment so hopefully all goes well. until then i am just enjoying my spring break and counting down the days until i leave.

Wowie Zowie so much has happened!

Wow i cant believe it is almost here! These past few weeks have been crazy! There has been some really happy times and some rough spots so this post i will digress away from Disney but i will come back to Disney dont worry!
The term is quickly coming to an end so in just 27 days i will be boarding a plane headed to Florida with just a small pit stop in Georgia Finals are next week and all i can think about is Disney but i need to stay focus so i do well on my finals.
So the bad stuff? a few weeks ago my grandmother passed away after years of pain and my heart broke so i had to go home though with the sadness i met some family i never knew before and saw some family i hadnt seen since i was just a little one. But throughout this experience and the heart break one phrase kept going through my mind "Keep Moving Forward"  and i knew this was a time that i had to be supportive and put aside my differences with my family and be there for them in anyway i could. Yes there was drama but i also knew that there was heartache so when the drama would start i would find away to get away from the situation and keep moving forward though it was a sad reason to get together it was so nice seeing some of my family.
Now back to Disney! Well it has finally happened finally i got to register for my classes for Disney i am happy to announce that i will be taking Explorational learning and Creativity & Innovation as well as my college classes online Creative writing and social problems i can foresee me being very busy the first 6 weeks! Though i know this will be a great experience.

Disney has taken over my life

But is it a bad thing? Nope im rather enjoying it, though im sure my roommates are being driven crazy about my constant talk about Disney and getting really excited every time a Disney commercial comes on.

The other night i had one of those dreams in a dream i dreamed that i missed my flight to Florida but then i "woke up" and noticed it was 11:16 My flight boards at 11:15 and its not like i live right next store to the airport.. When i actually woke up for real i was in a panic until i realized i was still at school and its January...

Transportation update

I am happy to announce that my plane ticket has been bought! i will leave Michigan April 6th! I cannot wait to go

The transportation search adventures

So for awhile i have been trying to think how i am going to make it down to Disney. I live in Michigan so its not a short trip. Originally i was going to take the train down there, better way to see the country and sounds like a fun time. But here is the problem with trains, they are notoriously late so that led to okay so i will leave earlier and maybe find a cheap hotel to stay at that's close to Disney. Seems like a waste of money, so after talking to my mom and having a friend who lives down there and gets to work for  Disney (how cool is that?!) offered to pick me up and give me a place to sleep and even a ride to check in. Talk about an awesome friend the air plane won the battle so now here comes the waiting i decided to wait for now to see if the flight gets any cheaper before i go out and buy my ticket.

I have never traveled alone so this should be an adventure in its self I'm nervous but extremely excited to get there. The waiting game continues. A very BIG thank you to Laura (Sparkle) for being so amazing and offering to give me a ride as well as a place to sleep before i check in and get my place! You pick me up and ill buy us some dinner ^_^

Disney College Program Adventure

So around September or August of 2013 i finally decided to go ahead and apply for the DCP. I have been planning on doing this for years. So after talking to my friend who went through the program i went and started the application process. I honestly didn't think i was going to get in but it doesn't hurt to try right? A few days later i get an email that i need to do the survey part of the application. I honestly i thought i wouldn't hear anything from it but surprise! a few days later i get an email to set up my phone interview! I was thrilled! i set up the interview got some great advice from Laura (Sparkle) about how the interview goes and the different types of jobs there are and what i can expect from each job,all about the program and what to expect during the interview. Later i sat down and thought all about what she told me and the questions i wanted to ask. 2 weeks later it was time for the interview i excitedly awaited the call. 2:00 came, no call i began to panic. What if my phone missed the call and didn't ring?! what was i going to do After 15 minutes of panic the phone rings and it was my interviewer. We sat and talked and i asked my many questions. I felt that it went amazingly. Now it was time for the waiting i knew it would take at least 2 weeks if not more but that did not stop me from checking my email. every. day.

It became time for me to move to my new school, that fall was my first term at the new campus Over the summer i had graduated with my Associates and had to change campuses to get my bachelors, but since i was a transfer student i had to go to the Orientation for new students so with help of one of my best friends we packed up her car and started the trek across state to Muskegon but we decided to stop to Grand Rapids to visit an old friend and catch up.

After weeks of nothing it was the weekend my last roommate was moving in i checked my email on my phone before getting out of bed and getting ready for the day. I looked and there was an email from Disney my heart began to race as i clicked it. The very first word was Congratulations! (SQUEEE!) My mouth dropped as i continued reading the email. I had been accepted! i excitedly called Jake (my boyfriend who lives in our hometown, across the state) and told him the news as i read him the email. I couldn't believe it! This dream was coming true this experience i had been dreaming of for 2 years was really happening i was just waiting until i woke up and it was just a dream. but it was real this was really happening! After talking to Jake i called my Mom and told her the news, Called my big brother Chris and sent Mike a text. I could not believe it was happening.

Then i discovered i needed $300.00 within just a few days. I had no source of income. The stress came in i knew my parents could not lend me that much money. Luckily Jake was willing to let me borrow his credit card to pay for it. So thanks Jake! Your the best! Waluigi Loves this!

Finally after days of doing paper work that they sent me i had officially accepted my roll as a lifeguard. Now its time to wait i needed to find a job to pay for my transportation and money to live off of. Thanks to my Chris who had become an ordained Catholic Monk he sent me a very generous check for this trip so now i have the money to pay for it. So Thanks Chris! Your the best