Now The Fun Begins!!! My First Week at Disney :)

     Well the day that I have anticipated for the last 6 months has finally come and gone!! It's been a crazy week that I am so excited to fill everyone in on. CHECK IN!!!!! And boy do I have a lot to tell ya'll!!!

     Ok so lets go back a ways. You all know about Julia, my fabulous roommate I found on Facebook and, until this week, had never met. Well I finally got to meet her last Saturday!! And boy did I find a gem! We hit it off immediately and became besties super fast. Saturday we met up in Downtown Disney with our moms. We ate lunch at a wonderful Italian restaurant that I just can't think of the name of right now! After eating and a little exploring of Downtown Disney (which is absolutely fabulous btw you should totally check it out) the 4 of us decided we wanted to explore Disney but really didn't want to spend a whole lot of money. Which you would totally do getting into the parks!! So naturally we went.....RESORT HOPPING!!!! :D :D :D Wait....you don't know what this is?? Really?! OK well let me fill you in. Disney has God-only-knows-how-many resorts on the Disney World property that all have different themes and things to do and see. They also provide free transportation from all resorts to all parks and Downtown Disney. So from where we were, we took a ferry to a resort and checked it out. Got bored there so took a bus to a park, where we immediately got on the monorail to another resort. After spending some time there took another ferry somewhere then we got back on a bus or a monorail and so on and so forth and you get my point. Well it was a total blast and mom ended up spending like $20 bucks for the whole day. I highly recommend this to any Disney goer who wants to spend one extra day in sunny Florida but just can't stand spending money on one more park ticket. Just be sure that your last stop is at the Polynesian resort at around 10pm so you can get a world famous Dole Whip, sit on the beach, and watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks. It's amazing.
Me and Julia on the dock at the Grand Floridian Resort waiting on a ferry!! No, not the godmother kind! ;)

     So Saturday was a fun filled day, but not nearly as much so as Sunday! We woke up bright and early, picked up Julia and her mom, and hit Universal Studios!! After a bit of a struggle actually getting in to Isle of Adventures (one of 2 sections of Universal that each require separate expensive tickets)  we were ready for some fun!! We spent all day riding rides and seeing the Universal sights! Including the wonderful magical HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!! And let me tell you, if it wasn't for the awesomeness that is Harry Potter World I would never set foot inside Universal Studios. But I'm just too much of a Potter Head. Woe is me. But anyway, yeah it was a ton a fun and I loved hanging out with Julia and her mom! Oh speaking of, it was their first time at Universal and Julia loves Harry Potter almost as much as I do!!! So it was great to experience her seeing that for the first time.


     But for anyone planning a Disney trip: If you LOVE  Harry Potter then it is totally worth seeing, but if you aren't a die hard fan of that or Dr. Sues or Marvel (which Disney just bought the rights to recently anyway) then please don't waste your time and money with Universal Studios. Yes, some people love it, but in my opinion it is a glorified Six Flags and by NO means can it be compared to the Disney experience. *Steps off Soapbox*

     Ok so now we're on the day that we've all been waiting for!!! Monday is check in day!!! SO my morning started not so bright but oh so early at 4am. Yes I said 4. That was not a typo unfortunately. I proceeded to pick Julia up at 5:30 and then we made our way to Vista Way. Now they told us we couldn't get there any earlier than 7am. Well naturally we get there at 6. So they told us to go across the street and wait in the parking lot. Well we did alright. I felt like I was in some cheesy cop show.  We staked it out and made sure NO ONE got in before us. Well after 3 hours, meeting several people, and scaring ourselves silly that we wouldn't be first in line to pick the best apartment, guess what happened?? We were actually first in line!!!! Ha bet ya didn't see that one coming! Yeah well I'm not done. We were first in line....to find out that we didn't eve get to pick our apartments!! Ugh. Bummer I know. So yeah the apartments were already assigned BUT it didn't even matter in the end because me and Julia got EXACTLY what we wanted!!! We ended up with a 1 bedroom apartment in Chatham Square!! It's absolutely perfect and we love everything about it!! Here are some pics to show you the luxury I'm living in.


Our lovely living room!


Perfect little kitchen!! My favorite feature? Not pictured: Dish Washer!!!! :D


The cozy little balcony we'll probably never use for anything but checking the temp outside. :)


Are you really surprised that we bought matching bedding?? No? Yeah I didn't think so. ;)


Matching shower curtain too? Duh.


That white shelving unit we also bought. Our stuff was just not fitting!! Again, surprised? No.

 
But we did pretty good somehow fitting everything in the closet!! :D


We cute. We know. ;)

     So yeah that's the apartment!! Basically just proving to everyone how alike we are. I mean it took us all of  maybe 2 days to turn this place into any girls dream apartment. Except for the whole 1 bedroom thing. But what can we say, Disney won't let us put up another wall. Anyway, that's not the only thing exciting that happened on check in day!!! I found out that I will be life-guarding at..........wait for it......... ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE!!!!!!! For those of you who don't know the significance of this let me fill you in. At the Animal Kingdom Lodge there are six beautiful, wonderful, walking, eating, LIVE GIRAFFES!!!!!!!! No lie!! This is where I was RANDOMLY placed!!! Now if that's not a sign from God that I am exactly where I need to be right now, then I don't know what is. LIVE GIRAFFES PEOPLE!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D

     And we're not even done with the first day yet! We also had a casting meeting, which wasn't very exciting and just a bunch of paper work and legal hire stuff. Later that evening I had my lifeguard swim test!! There where only 5 of us compared to the 85 at the last check in day so it was very chill to say the least. They had us all test for shallow water guarding which meant we only had to swim 2 laps in a 50m pool and retrieve a brink from 5ft of water. Easy peasy. Passed with flying colors.

     Fast forward through us just getting settled in, saying goodbye to Julia's fabulous mother, and tanning by our cool new pool. Today was a very special day for any College Program participant. Traditions!!!! Traditions is this like 5 hour class where they teach you all about the history and values and goals and traditions of the Walt Disney Company. Despite sitting in a classroom for most of the 5 hours, it was absolutely amazing!!! I've always loved Disney, but this just made it a million times better! I could never do it justice so I won't try to explain it all but let me just put it this way. You know that feeling you get when you enter Disney World? That feeling that you've left everything behind and you're at this whole new world that cares about nothing more than your happiness and that you have a good time? That feeling that you've turned into a kid again and that there is obviously something very very VERY different about this place?? Well people that's exactly it. Disney does things SO differently than any other company and it works. I feel so at home here. Not just at the parks, but within the company and with my fellow cast members. Needless to say I've decided that today in my Traditions class was the first day of the rest of my life. I will have a career with Disney one day. You may just see me as Disney's first female CEO someday!! :)


"In some places you may have big shoes to fill. Not here. Here you have big ears to fill. Welcome to the family."



     Ok so I know this was a long one but I had SO much to share!!! I know this has answered some peoples questions so yay!! But if you have any more questions or I've sparked your interest in the Disney College Program please feel free to contact me and I'll be more than happy to help! I can talk about Disney all day if you let me! ;) But until next time...



Peace, Love, and Pixie Dust!
Amy Dousay :)