A Saturday at Hollywood Studios

Woke up early, but decided to go back to sleep. Once I took Loki for a walk I went over to Dunkin' Donuts to get 2 donuts, a bagel, and a white chocolate latte. The latte wasn't too great. I have decided that the brownie batter was better than the cookie dough one. I got the pictures off of the Disney PhotoPass website since some where going to expire the next day. I booked some FastPasses, but then I took a nap so I headed over to Studios to hang out until close. I went on Tower of Terror where the lady behind me thought it was a real hotel and told her husband to book a room there next time. The two people in my row were behind me but were stupid so they cut in front of me in the line so I got to sit front and center which was awesome. Then I waited single rider for Rockin' Roller Coaster. The Family Holiday tickets are going to expire soon so I decided to get a pop (which was pretty much all ice) and explore the gift shops. It was really weird to think about things that are in my categories that I will be working on.

This dog is something else. lol!

I headed over to catch the next drawing class which is one of my favorite things to do. I had the same animator who I drew Pooh and Eeyore with. I thought it would have been pretty awesome to draw another character from Winnie the Pooh, but he had already picked out Grumpy. I think that it turned out pretty good. Nick tried to get a hold of me at the end of the class to let me know he got out of work so we decided to hang out in the park.

Not too shabby

We met up in front of what is left of the hat. While I waited for him I looked at the pin cart. They have some cool Star Wars pins with the characters on different attractions. I don't like Star Wars but I even considered buying them. Instead I decided to get the spiny Doug pin that I had been debating getting for a long time. I decided to go for it and get it before our 40% holiday discount expires. 

The hat looks kinda sad

Eventually I saw Nick walking down the street. We headed over to the Great Movie Ride. We were in the last row which is a pretty crappy spot, but we still had fun. Then we went over to the Muppet movie. While we waited for the next show we talked about the opportunities of staying down here in Florida after our internships end. At the end of the show there was a cute little girl asking her dad what they were going to do since the theater was destroyed with the cannon. He reassured her that they would rebuild it for the next show. It was about 20 minutes until park close and Fantasmic had just gotten out so we decided to head out instead of fighting the crowds or anything.

I was craving Jimmy Johns so I decided to find one. It was pretty close, but once I drove there I realized it was in Old Town so I basically couldn't get it since I couldn't find a parking space on a Saturday night. I decided to head over to Publix and bought some stuff to eat for the next couple of days. I stayed up pretty late watching Netflix and whatnot.

New ID and Last Day Off

Got the okay email to get my new ID so I headed over to Access Control at Disney University this morning. I had heard many people call it the Disney DMV since you have to wait a long time, but that wasn't my experience at all. I went around 11 and took a number (number 50 to be exact) and no one was waiting at all. So a man called number 49 (who wasn't there) and took me instead. I turned in my old ID, he looked up some stuff on the computer, took my picture, told me to take a seat and I had my new ID in just a handful of minutes. Now I have a new picture ID without an expiration date like my old one so I will probably wouldn't have to get a new one if I were to stay on with the company.

I also found out that I am starting on Tuesday. I am excited to start but now I am a little nervous too. Since I hadn't heard anything I was almost hoping to start on Wednesday so I could spend Tuesday with Nick since we don't have the same days off, but at least I will get the same paycheck as I did as a presenter.

I got some Chick-Fil-A for lunch and spent the rest of the day resting and watching Netflix. I was going to head over to Hollywood Studios but found out it was closing soon and decided not to. So I ended up just watching Malcolm in the Middle and taking a nap. I was supposed to hang out with Sandra, Abel, and Ashley S, but Sandra wasn't feeling well so we decided to go out to dinner tomorrow after I get off work instead.

...now go have a new one!

So now that my last PI is over I am excited to be starting a new one! I will a Category Planning Professional Intern for the Spring 2015 term. The offer came a little late, but I am really excited to stay here at Disney and use my math degree to explore a new facet of the company. 

Thanks for the adventure...

Today marks the official end date of my professional intern as a Consecration Education Presenter. I had my last day of work on Thursday, yesterday we had a farewell breakfast and our team met up at Magic Kingdom to watch Wishes for one last time (and said our farewells to Kelsey). Tonight we are all celebrating by meeting up with some of our coordinators at the Boardwalk.

This baby stuck with me through thick and thin and thousands of Conservation Messages

AWWWW! I will miss this team!

If you don't take a pic in front of the castle with Graduation Mickey ears,
 did you really complete a Disney Internship?

One last Wishes

Fall 2014 Presenters Clear.

A Universally Good Time

Dana and I had been in contact with Josh about going to Universal on our day off this week. Since I had just done pretty much all of Universal Studios with my mom a few weeks ago, I really wanted to conquer Islands of Adventure. The only things I had done in the months since I had gotten my Universal pass was Hogsmead.

Dana and I headed out around 10 and on our way there we saw two gators! One was hiding in a pond and only I saw him. The other was HUGE and was out of the water sunning by a pond near a CVS. Dana luckily was able to catch a glimpse of him too without crashing.

We got there much earlier and started off in the direction of Seuss Landing. We went through the If I Ran the Zoo play area. We had super fun. lol. Then we went over to the Cat in the Hat ride and had to fight off the urge to by the things (especially mugs) in the gift shop. Then we went on the One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ride. It shoots water out as you go around so we tried to avoid it. I unfortunately was on the side with the water and I got wet. Next we headed off to the Caro-Seuss-el. Dana had her eye on this pink elephant. As she was taking a picture of it, two girls pretty much pushed her off of it. So we found another elephant and I got on a flying fish. Last we finished out journey in Suess Landing by going on The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! It was cool since it went over the whole land and through one of the dining areas. They only were using one side and I want to know what the other side is like. Before we left, I got some pop.

The next land was The Lost Continent. Poseidon's Fury had a long wait so we decided to skip it. We also checked out the price of Mythos Restaurant (which is very highly rated) wasn't actually too overpriced. We checked and The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show was going to start in a few minutes so we decided to check it out. It wasn't super awesome. It was cool too see but wasn't really worth seeing again.

We were walking through Hogsmead and Josh and crew were supposedly nearly there, but Dana and I were hungry, I was in the mood for burgers, and Dana knew that they had some in Jurassic Park. I was so happy since I love that movie!!! Josh and his new girlfriend Amber and her friend Allie (I think...) met us and got some food too. I got a combo which came with fries and a shake and I paid to get some cheese. Totally delicious and worth it. Next we headed back to Harry Potter Hogsmead and rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and we actually got to see the bubbly snow in the charms classroom. Flight of the Hippogriff had a bit of a wait so we skipped it and headed to the Dragon Challenge. Josh didn't want to do it so he held all of our purses while we went on the last row of blue coaster. I haven't ridden the red coaster so I will have to do that next time. We debated going to take the Hogwarts Express over the Diagon Alley, but the wait was 20 minutes and I still wanted to check out more of Islands of Adventure.

We decided to head back to Jurassic Park and rode the Jurassic Park River Adventure which Amber and Allie hadn't gone on. It was pretty good. I would totally go on it more often, but it is a water ride. I totally got the least of the water, but the drop was so worth it. So much better than the Splash Mountain drop and a better lead up, too. Pteranodon Flyers looks awesome but you have to be a kid or the parent of a kid to go on it. :( We decided we were going to pay some parents to let us borrow their children. We skipped the next two rides Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges and  Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls since they were both water rides. I totally want to do them sometime though.

The last land was Marvel Super Hero Island. First was The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. It is a lot like the Transformers Ride in Studios. Next Allie, Dana, and I went to Doctor Doom’s Fearfall. The shoot up was pretty cool but the drops were super lame. Josh had run into someone we knew and had given him and Amber some free hot dogs (apparently weren't good) and I got a free coke refill. Last up in marvel we went to The Incredible Hulk Coaster Amber and Josh skipped out again. It had a ton of loops. It was crazy. No one wanted to go on  Storm Force Accelatron besides me so I'll have to go back. We checked to see if Captain America had come out so Dana could get a picture with him, but his line as closed. I luckily got the last picture with Woleverine, though.

Allie really wanted to go on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, but that is Amber and Josh's "no" ride so she had never gone on it. So even though Dana and I were ready to leave we headed over to Studios to go on it with her. It was down when we first got there so we headed over to The Mummy which is Amber (or was it Allie's?) and Dana's favorite ride. It confirmed that some of the effects weren't working right when we went on it. We headed back over to Rockit and it had a bit of a wait, but it was even better than before. I wasn't as tight so I had a more free ride. I even thought I was going to fall out at the beginning. I chose "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence. It was a good song choice.

It was a great day. We did almost everything in the park, so I think with another day I can finish everything from both parks I haven't done yet. So pumped.

I'll add pictures later.

VoluntEARS: WE Gives Back event

So today didn't start off great. I had some crappy children and crappy families when I started at flamingo, and after I took my 30 min break and headed to tracking it didn't get much better. I was swamped with people and within the first 5 min I was pushed by some guy since I was apparently in his way of taking his kid's picture. Because asking to move is just too much work, am I right? So after an hour and a half of tracking, when I went to lunch I was in a pretty foul mood. I felt super nauseous and couldn't eat anything so I got some Jamba Juice and ate some popcorn. I am normally a pretty patient person and normally like my job, so maybe it was because I was sick, but the day wasn't going well. I got to Animal Call and Forestry and felt like I was going to throw up on the children and was going to ask to go home but it was so busy I didn't get a chance to call Core Team. I even got ipaq'ed by Krystal and didn't even get a chance to talk before she gave me a thumbs up and walked away. I made it through that hour and a half and took a quick break offstage to compose myself before heading to Gibbon. I didn't make as much as an effort to recruit people or go up to guests, but I still had some decent conversations as I tried to keep myself together. I got to my second 30 min break and pretty much feel apart but figured I just had headquarters to go so I could push threw. Headquarters ended up being the best part of my day and closing went pretty easy (Anastasia even came by to help out since I had helped out with her signal 70 while she was at Animal Call) and I got a second good ipaq for the day/week from Krystal. 

I wasn't going to stay for the VoluntEAR event Krystal had set up, but talked myself into staying. I had signed up and really wanted to do it and felt bad backing out. I also figured I would reward myself with the pizza we ordered at the event. It was a ton of fun. We used old t-shirts (some grey ones from textile services and other colors) which was a cool way to recycle. I guess they have diverted over 500 tons of the entertainment shirts from landfills which is pretty exciting and the doggies at some shelters will get some cool handmade toys! First we cut some shirts into strips and we used a square stitch sort of thing I used to use all the time for the lanyard things I made at Kids Kamp when I was younger to put them together, so I caught on really quickly and was the first to finish so I made so more. It was fun to eat good food, chill with my fellow Wilderness Explorer Troop Leaders, my manager, and the leader from the Nutrition center who taught us how to make them. She is apart of the blanketEARS group which does a lot of crafty things so I might join if I end up staying another semester. At the end we even celebrated Christina's birthday with a cake and everything!

The one dog toy that I made! Super easy and super fun.

So ultimately, while today started on a sour note, it ended on a good one hanging out with people at the event while also giving back.

Trying to be a Good Blogger

So I started this blog as all people do, with the best intentions. While it may appear abandoned, like I previously said, I actually have been good about trying to update my bucket list and ride count pages. I have also done a decent job at keeping a record of what I have been doing as well. It is more of a bullet point style that I have kept as drafts all of this time. Therefore, since I was home sick today (stupid fever/flu I have been dealing with since Saturday evening), I decided to be a good blogger and try to actually make those notes readable and post date them. So starting today I have a few "new" posts for June and am going to try and keep updating like this so I have a better record for myself. If others ever find this blog and actually read it, it will also hopefully be more helpful for them as well. Right now I will continue with catching up on some early days stuff, but I might transition to real time posts as well. 

After my fever broke after hours of sleeping, I got bored.
Hence, I channeled my inner 5 year old and took a selfie with my stuffed animals. 

Going back and writing this stuff in complete sentences and adding pictures is helping add to the realization that I only have 2 and a half months left down here and have been here over 4 and a half months. Dana and I were having a conversation about it today and how there are so many things we have left to do while we are here since we possibly could never be back. She leaves in exactly 2 months. I have 3 more weeks than her, but it doesn't seem like a lot at this point. I haven't been going to the parks as much recently and have gotten into a routine with work and coming home and watching Netflix (granted the last month or so was pretty crazy for a few reason out of my control that prevented me from doing much at one point). So we were making a list of some of the things we have yet to do. Luckily we have the same days off now and can hopefully conquer some of these things together.

Here is the list of some of the things we talked about:
-seeing the manatees as they head this way for the winter
-going to the beach before it gets any colder
-exploring the rest of Islands of Adventure (since I have only been to Hogsmead)
-deciding about getting tickets for Very Merry Christmas party (I am definitely going but Dana wants to make sure it is worth it)
-Seeing the Candlelight processional (maybe one that we know people singing in the choir!)

I'm going to end with a picture. I never got a good picture of our apartments massive Halloween decorations (thanks to Amber), but in true Disney spirit I put up our first Christmas decoration this evening (thanks to my mom).

Leah said she wanted to see it everyday.
So she decided it should be prominently hung from the fan chord!