Fall has arrived in Orlando!

Well maybe Florida hasn't gotten the fall temperature memo, but fall events are in full swing at the Orlando theme parks. 

Night of Joy (Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports)

The first weekend after labor day marks both Disney and Universal's Christian music festivals. This year they both took place on Friday 9th/Saturday 10th. This was the first year Disney moved the music festival to ESPN Wide World of Sports. I didn't attend but there was a good line-up this year and I might go next year.

Rock the Universe (Universal Studios Florida)

Because I have a special Universal pass I was able to attend this year's event for free. It was the same dates as Disney's Night of Joy. I really wanted to attend Friday nights line-up but hadn't been feeling well, but my roommates and I decided to go for a little bit on Saturday. It was definitely crowded, but it wasn't as hectic as I thought it would be. I enjoyed the end of Family Force 5's concert and all of TobyMac's concert. It was fun, but I don't think my roommates were prepared for the type of music they heard. It was fun and I might go again next year if there are some bands that I like, but I would probably never go if I had to pay for it. 

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (Disney's Magic Kingdom)

This hard ticket event runs for a bunch of nights in Septmeber and October. This year the parties started on Sept 2nd. I went two years ago and had tons of fun! Costumes, trick-or-treating, rare character meet and greats, an awesome parade and fireworks so and so much more! What more can you ask for? I have my ticket purchased for this Tuesday with some explorer buddies that will be in town to visit. I'm so excited to see them and see the Hocus Pocus show!

Epcot International Food and Wine Festival (Disney's Epcot)

This year Food and Wine is longer than ever! It started Wednesday Sept 14th. I went for my first of many visits Friday night. It stormed for a while causing the booths to be closed down, but I still had a good walk around the world showcase to see the great offerings this year. I started off with the Brazilian cheese bread an the Apple Pie drink from Poland which were some favorites from last year. The books this year have stickers instead of having to find who has the stamps for each country and I can't want to taste my way around the world for my third year!

Halloween Horror Nights (Universal Studios Florida)

Now for the very scary HHN! This year's event started yesterday (Friday), but my roommate is a team member and so I was lucky enough to attend the team member preview on Wednesday. We even had express passes so we were able to go to every house! I think I'll have to go back a few more times to make any final conclusions, but last year was pretty awesome, so I think it will be hard to top! Here's to another month and a half of getting scared!

Some of the other Central Parks have fun fall events coming up (SeaWorld's Halloween Spooktacular and Busch Garden's Howl-O-Scream) that haven't started yet, but I have annual passes to both so I am definitely go to try and go check them out later this year. However, I think with Horror Nights and Food and Wine starting this past week, we can say that fall is back and as good as ever!

Celebrating our 240th Independence

4th of July is one of my favorite holidays of the year and of course is especially made better with a 3 day weekend! After a week of not sleeping very well I enjoyed some extra time of relaxation, but also had a great time celebrating in the parks!

Saturday 2nd

My roommate rented a room at the Hard Rock Hotel so we had a ball at Universal! I'd been inside to go to the Velvet lounge during Mardi Gras (Thank you Mardi Gras Universal app for free drinks! What what?!?!) The rooms were even more amazing and we could even see CityWalk and the parks from our room! We had planned to spend the afternoon at the pool but when we first checked in it was pouring rain so we headed to CityWalk to go to one of the best places ever: Red Oven Pizza! It is seriously soooo good. Instead of heading back to the pool we decided to just hang out at the parks. We saw so of the cars cycling at the Hulk so hopefully it means that it will be back up and smoother than ever! I even got to watch part of the 100 years of movies nighttime show that I've never seen before. I'll definitely have to go back and see the whole thing. Before heading in for a relatively early night in we headed back to CityWalk to grab a bite to eat at Hot Dog Hall of Fame (where I of course got the Detroit option!)

Sunday 3rd 

We had such a great night sleep. Those beds at Hard Rock are COMFY! Today is the day that the holiday celebrations really began. Disney knows how to do fireworks so of course they do special ones for the holiday where they come hand and hand at both EPCOT and MK. This might seem to be a torn decision on what to attend, but luckily Magic Kingdom perimeter ones are on the 3rd and 4th, so I of course wanted to get the best of both worlds. My roommates and I met up with my roommate Sam's friends from out of town right before the fireworks at Magic Kingdom, which were amazing. I do have to say the best spot to see them is in the Hub. Afterwards we decided to go show our visitors Animal Kingdom at night. We were only there for about an hour, but we got a ton done including dinosaur twice, Everest, and a great safari where we saw the Hyenas!!!! I was pretty much jumping up and down because I've been waiting forever to see them! After a great night, Sam and her friends went back to MK for extra magic hours until 3am, but Corey, Scott, and I headed over to the new Applebees for some half price apps.

Monday 4th

Finally was the actual holiday! I celebrated by the all american decisions to go to Starbucks for their frappuccino deal and Five Guys for a great American cheeseburger. Then Corey, Scott, and I met up with Sam and her friends again for an evening of fun at EPCOT. We were lucky enough to be able to go on Test Track and the new Soarin', which I do think it is an improvement over the old one. Then we made our way around the world showcase before playing some Heads Up waiting for the fireworks. 

Overall, while we definitely know that summer has hit us with some crazy heat and humidity, it was a fantastic weekend with a good balance of relaxation, friends, parks, and celebrations. I have to say if you are ever in town for the Independence Day fireworks they are totally worth the crowds to watch! Like I said, Disney knows how to do fireworks. :) After such a great weekend, it was definitely hard to get up to go to work on Tuesday! lol

Find Your Park: National Park Service Centennial

This year is the centennial of the US National Park Service! If you've ever been to any of the parks you know how amazing they are! If you haven't gone to one yet or just need to get your nature fix in head over to the National Parks website at Find Your Park and head to one soon! 

To celebrate there was a special Ranger Mickey topiary at this years Flower and Garden Festival. I LOVED it!!! It reminded me of my Wilderness Explorer days and made me so happy to get the exposure of our beautiful parks to all of the Disney goers out there. On the weekends there was even a small booth nearby that was maned be people from the NPS and there occasionally was a ranger dressed in their uniform nearby! They were hoping to connect people to a park that may be near them and hand out goodies like temporary tattoos, stickers and sunglasses. I chose the elk tattoo since the Rockies are some of my favorite parks and even got a sticker to display at my desk!

Temporary tattoo from National Park Service
Booth at Flower and Garden

Roommates and I in front of Ranger Mickey
celebrating National Park Service Centennial

When my family came to visit in May we were even able to find my first park in Florida. I know, I know. It's a shame that I have been here two years and still haven't made it to the Everglades, but I hope to cross that off later this year. One of the days my parents were here we decided to venture over to St. Augustine. I hope to do another post on our overall experience there, but the great thing is that we were able to head over to the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. It was SOOOO cool. I can't say it is anything like Yellowstone (but that is a National Park and not a monument) but it was so cool to visit a Fort that had so much history. 

The monument was originally a fort built by the Spanish and is the oldest masonary fort in the continental United States. The fort walls were beautiful as they are made with a unique rock called Coquina, which is largely made of little shells. It was crazy being in the rooms and seeing the walls with thousands upon thousands of shells! The fort sits on a beautiful site on the bay and gave amazing views. At first the fort didn't look like much from the outside, but inside I learned a ton about the history of St. Augustine and even was able to see a cannon firing demonstration! The day we visited was extremely hot, so we picked up some water from the gift shop and they even had a water bottle refill station inside that reminded me of my days at the Detroit Zoo.

Overall it was a really great experience and I totally recommend it if you are in town. I even picked up a new limited edition Park Passport. I totally recommend getting these. I have a little one from when I was growing up and it is so much fun to get all the stamps from where you visit. My old one was getting full so I talked myself into buying a new bigger one for the Centennial. It even has nice descriptions and maps of all the Parks, Lakeshores, Preserves, Monuments, etc all over the US so you can #FindYourPark!

Find Your Park and National Park Service Centennial pictures are from www.NPS.gov

Guest Relations Numbers

One of the most popular Alumni Only Professional Internships is the Guest Relations Internship. For Alumni Only you have to have done a CP or PI to be eligible to apply (or currently doing one). Guest relations cast members are very highly regarded in the parks and is perhaps the most coveted front line position. Since this is an internship with such high interest and acceptance should be rolling out in a matter of weeks/days, I decided to look up how many current Guest Relations PIs there are. Note that this is one of those internships that is very likely to vary the numbers by semester. For example, I have heard that while My Disney Experience with the new FP+ system  and magic bands rolled out a lot more interns were accepted than normal to help with what was anticipated to be an extra crazy time in the parks. 

Right now there are currently a total of 32 Guest Relations Professional Interns and here is how they break down by park:
15 Magic Kingdom
7 EPCOT
2 Animal Kingdom
4 Hollywood Studios
4 Disney Springs

It seems to change each semester when Guest Relations PIs find out which park they are in. I remember a semester when the recruiter used to tell you when they were giving the offer. There have also been semesters where your future leaders will reach out a few weeks after your acceptance (similar to how MIs find their placement). I think there have been a few different scenarios as well so who knows how this semester/future semesters will play out. I guess we will all just have to wait a little longer to see! Good luck to all who have applied!

Here is a link if you want to see a similar post about MIs: Management Internship Numbers

2015 Eat to the Beat Concerts

One of the cool things about Food and Wine are the free concerts apart of the Eat to the Beat Concert Series. The following is the list of this year's acts and I have underlined/italicized the ones that I am interested in potentially going to.

• David Cook – September 25-27, 2015
• Wilson Phillips – September 28-29, 2015
• Christopher Cross – September 30-October 1, 2015
• Starship – October 2-4, 2015
• Smash Mouth – October 5-7, 2015
• The Pointer Sisters – October 8-9, 2015
• 38 Special – October 10-11, 2015
• Rick Springfield – October 12-13, 2015
• Sugar Ray – October 14-16, 2015
• The S.O.S. Band – October 17-18, 2015
• Air Supply – October 19-21, 2015
• Fuel – October 22-23, 2015
• Tiffany (NEW!) – October 24-25, 2015
• Dennis DeYoung – October 26-28, 2015
• Jo Dee Messina – October 29-30, 2015
• Everclear (NEW!) – October 31-November 1, 2015
• Boyz II Men – November 2-4, 2015
• Sister Hazel – November 5-6, 2015
• Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – November 7-9, 2015
• Hanson – November 10-12, 2015
• Maxi Priest (NEW!) – November 13-14, 2015
• Chaka Khan (NEW!) – November 15-16, 2015

Kefta Pocket Recipe

The Kefta Pocket from Morroco was one of the last things I tried last year at EPCOT's Food and Wine Festival, but was without a doubt one of my top 2 (tied with the corn cheesecake from Mexico). As I was looking at the menu's for this year's festival (see 2015 Food and Wine Preview Post) I found a recipe for the Kefta Pockets. They were AH-MAZING. So I will have to try this recipe sometime. Honestly, I will probably just buy hummus because I am a little lazy, but the rest is probably worth the try!

If you want to try it to, here is a link: Kefta Pocket Recipe

Food and Wine 2015

So I was thinking about my return to Disney and realized shortly after my return the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival would be starting up again. It was a ton of fun eating and drinking around the world and I can't wait to do it again in just over a month!

Disney has already published what is going to be served at each kiosk, so I decided to take a sneak peak at what some of my paychecks would be going towards.

Africa

• Buttered Chicken with Micro Cilantro and Naan Bread
  • This is new this year, but I've had the buttered chicken at Sanaa and it is delicious, so I figure this has to be good, too!

Belgium

• Belgium waffle with warm chocolate ganache and whipped cream
• Belgium waffle with berry compote and whipped cream
  • Let's be real. Waffles are delicious. Add some yummy toppings and you've got me sold! I had the waffle with berry last year, so maybe I'll do the chocolate one this year

Brazil

• –Escondidinho de carne, “Little Hidden One”: layered meat pie with mashed yucca
  • Not 100% I'll get this, but the reviews are good and the pictures look promising!
• –Pão de queijo: Brazilian cheese bread
  • Tried some of my friend's last year. It is cheese and bread. Enough said.

Canada

• Canadian cheddar cheese soup
  • Had it last year, and it is SOOOO good.
• Note: will not be getting the “Le Cellier” wild mushroom beef filet mignon with truffle butter sauce this year. Wasn't impressed and felt obliged to eat it since it was one the more expensive things I bought.

Cheese Studio

• Cheese fondue with sourdough bread
  • This is a new booth this year that is in Future World. The other cheese pairings don't look like they'll be my cup of tea so I'll pass on those

Chew Lab

• Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey Caramel
  • This is the other new booth in Future World. We made liquid nitrogen ice cream in high school and it was DELICIOUS. So this is a must!

China

• Happy Peach with peach liqueur and dark rum
  • Not a big Asian food person. Maybe will get the chicken potstickers or Gaoli Beef Slide in China if they get really good reviews, but this drink looks pretty good

Craft Beers

• Flight #1: Florida Harvest
  • Brew Hub Keybilly Island Ale, Lakeland, FL
  • Two Henrys Blueberry Vanilla American Wheat Ale, Plant City, FL
  • Orlando Brewing Grateful Pumpkin, Orlando, FL
  • Swamp Head Wild Night® Honey Cream Ale, Gainsville, FL
    • Not a big alcohol person so I would rather spend the money on food in general, but this flight looks like it could be worth a try!

Desserts and Champagne

• Frozen S’mores featuring Monin® Toasted Marshmallow Syrup
  • Who doesn't love S'mores?!?!

Farm Fresh

• Loaded mac n’ cheese with Nueske’s® pepper bacon, cheddar cheese, peppers and green onions
• Hard cider flight:
  • Woodchuck Raspberry Hard Cider
  • Wyder’s® Dry Pear Hard Cider
  • Two Henrys Elderberry Hard Cider
  • ACE Hard Pumpkin Cider
  • I LOVE cider, so this is one drink option I will get! I am super sad about the Pepper Bacon Hash not being on the menu this year, but I guess Mac and Cheese will have to do :)

France

• Ice Pop Pomme: Apple juice, vodka, and St. Germain liqueur
  • This is basically what we all called an "adult push pop" at food and wine this year
  • Also, the crème brûlée was GROSS last year. My friend and I both throught it was disgusting. I finished mine, but she just threw hers out.

Germany

• Schinkennudeln: Pasta gratin with ham and cheese*
• Roast bratwurst in a pretzel roll
• Apple strudel with vanilla sauce
  • I don't HAVE to have anything from this booth, but it all looks good, too. I had the bratwurst last year and it was pretty good.

Hawai'i

• Kālua Pork Slider with sweet and sour Pineapple chutney and spicy mayonnaise
  • This was one of my favorites last year. I even got it 2 or 3 times.

Hops and Barley

• Florida grass fed beef slider with pimento cheese
• Fresh baked carrot cake with Craisins® and cream cheese icing
  • I got both of these last year. The Carrot cake was one of my favorite desserts for sure! (but I'm also a sucker for cream cheese frosting!)

Intermissions Cafe

• Caposaldo Peach Moscato Sweet Sparkling Wine
  • I like Peach flavored things and make it sparkling will be even better
  • maybe will get the Southwest Chicken Wrap

Ireland

• Warm Chocolate Pudding with Kerrygold irish Cream Liquor Custard
  • I never ended up getting this last year, so I'll have to try it this year

Italy

• Cannoli al cioccolato: Chocolate-covered cannoli filled with sweet ricotta, chocolate and candied fruit
  • Not even sure I'll end up getting it. It was good last year, but might not be good enough to justify the money again

Mexico

• Chilaquiles de pollo: Corn chips layered with seasoned chicken, queso fresco, sour cream and cilantro
  • This is new this year and sounds promising, so I will have to see what it will look like when I get there
• Pastel de elote con queso: sweet corn cheesecake
  • This was perhaps my absolute FAVORITE thing last year. I WILL get this and WILL get it multiple times too

Morocco

• Kefta pocket: Ground seasoned beef in a pita pocket
  • The Mexico cheesecake and this were my top 2 items BY FAR. I was seriously crossing my fingers that they would bring it back this year
• Mimosa Royale
  • I've never had a mimosa and this might be the time to try one!

Scottland

• The Tipsy Laird: Whiskey-soaked cake with lemon cream and toasted oats

You might note that there are some booths missing. Nothing at these booths look good enough for me to spend the money on since Food and Wine adds up quickly. Notes on the locations that I am passing on.

• Australia, Dominican Republic, Fife and Drum, France, Greece, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Sustainable Chew, Wine Studio
  • not a big seafood, lamb, asian food, etc. fan so passing on these booths
• China (see notes above under China)
• Patagonia 
  • Beef empanada last year was alright, but not sure I'll get it again
• Poland 
  • pierogi's are good and all, but the portions are small and if I remember right, they were expensive so I would rather buy some more of my favorites
• Joeffry's locations
  •  these are specialty alcoholic drinks. some look good, but are expensive so will probably pass
• Refreshment Port
  • has an "enhanced" menu, but the only thing that looks good is the Croissant Doughnut which is served all the time so will just get it another time of year
• Refreshment Cool Post
  • food option doesn't look great, and not sure if I will spend the money on the drinks

I am super excited to get my passport book and start my journey to eat and drink around the world!

Screening Interview

One thing that is pretty common across Professional Internships is a screening interview. However, since I only applied to Science Positions (Animals, Science and Environment and EPCOT Agricultural Science) I did not have to undergo a screening interview. As far as I know, pretty much everyone besides people only applying to Animal Programs or Agriculture internships undergo the screening interview. I think that pretty much everyone that isn't automatically NLIC gets a screening interview.

From my understanding it is a lot like the College Program Interviews. They ask things like why are you applying to do a Professional Internship, make sure you are eligible, which are your top choices, your experience, and various other situational and position specific questions. If you are applying to Management Internships they will ask you leadership type questions, as well. Like I said, since I didn't do one of these interviews, I am not the direct source of this information, but this is what I have come across on other blogs and Facebook. I might apply for some other non-Animal Programs internships for next spring and if I do I will have to have a screening interview for that.