We're almost halfway there!

     I know I know, I'm like 2 weeks late on this. I'm sorry!!! But I've been really busy with work, and there hasn't been a WHOLE lot of interesting stuff to write about. But, I have a day off today and a few things on my mind so let the fun begin!!

     So I've been working a lot. Like a LOT. I finally got into the swing of things and into a routine and boy is my schedule booked!!! I work 5 days a week every week and on my two days off I try really hard to do as much as I can and experience as much as I can. Mostly still it's going to the parks with whoever may have the time to do so that day. Work is nice, but I'm starting to realize it's not for me. While I do love my job still and I adore the people I work with, I would much rather be in a different role with the company. I am a people person. I love talking and making people happy. The whole premise of what Disney is trying to do is right up my ally! But as a lifeguard, almost all of that is thrown out the window. Disney's number 1 priority in all aspects of the company is safety. Safety for us, for the guests, everyone and everything is first and foremost SAFE. So working in a predominantly safety oriented role, leaves little room for anything else. Some examples: We watch our water and nothing else. If a guest comes up to you on stand you watch your water. You can glance their way and speak to them but eyes on the water at all times. If they need help that requires you to move or look away for too long it's "I'm sorry, let me call my coordinator to assist you with this. I have to remain at my post." You wanna help them out and make their day magical? Too bad bro. Your boss gets to do it. Almost all of our guest interaction is negative. "Get off his shoulders." "Don't go down the slide that way" "Get your drink out of the pool" etc etc. I'm not saying this isn't how lifeguards should be! This is most definitely the proper way to do your job and stay vigilant. I'm just saying I don't like it for myself. I want to be interacting with people, helping them and making them happy. Making moments for them that may stay with them forever. And while saving someone's life would definitely be a lasting memory for a guest, it probably won't be the highlight of their vacation. I mean it wouldn't be for me!!

     On the brighter side of things, I'm making tons of friends!! While me and Julia are basically attached at the hip when we have the time to be, sometimes (most of the time) we have conflicting schedules and have to find other people to entertain us. I have found the love of my life down here in Disney and he's the best gay boyfriend I could ever ask for!!! Anthony Lucchesi is the most fabulous guy, and we share a love for all things Disney that goes so far as spending the rest of our lives here. When our boyfriends can't handle our massive amount of Disney enthusiasm we turn to one another! Yesterday we went and met Anna and Elsa and totally fan girled out together!! It was "Literally like the best ever, like omg I can't. Hashtag dying/crying here! Basically." And unfortunately I'm pretty sure that exact sentence was said by both of us at least 3 times yesterday.  Judge us if you dare.  I'm also making lots of work friends! It may or may not be because I have a car and they don't, but hey I'll take what I can get.

Yes, I do know I'm wearing the same outfit I met Gaston in. Sue me. 

If this doesn't describe our friendship, then I don't know what does. 

     This past week was really special because my wonderful mommy came to visit me!!!! Her and her friend/my surrogate grandmother Lynne came down on Tuesday and spent several days with me. I got to take them to all the parks and we had a blast!! I really missed my mom and she came at the perfect time! Seeing her made my homesickness a lot better. Unfortunately they left a couple days ago and hopped on a cruise to the Bahamas for 5 days!!! Ugh so jealous. But I have to pick them up from the cruise so I'll see them again for a day when they get back! :)

WARNING: Sappy romantic relationship stuff ahead. The possibility of hurling from the sweetness is very high! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
     So tomorrow is a big day. It's mine and Lou's one year anniversary. One year ago tomorrow, he took me out to the pasture by his house overlooking horses, and in the dorkiest, cutest, most Louis way possible, asked me to be his girlfriend. I had no idea that today we'd be where we are. Hundreds of miles away from each other trying to make a long distance relationship the best it can be. It's been a really hard transition considering we spent the first 10 months of our relationship seeing each other basically every day. Before I left for Disney the longest we had gone without seeing each other was a week! It's been tough to adjust to this new lifestyle, but we're making it work. Luckily, I found one of the good ones, and I know I have nothing to worry about while I'm away. That and I have the joys of coming from a small college town where nothing can be done without getting back to me from someone. MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Ok, but seriously, he's been absolutely amazing about this. He's so supportive, and not once has gotten frustrated or mad at me for deciding to move 3 states away for 4 months. He's even amazing when I have my hormonal girl freak out moments, and I think everyone's forgetting about me. He makes it all better and sticks with me through it all. Including when I rant to him about Disney stuff and he has NO idea what I'm talking about!! Basically, I'm the luckiest girl in the world. While it really sucks that I can't be with him on our anniversary, he's coming to visit me in just 5 days and we can celebrate then!!! And yes, I am making him wear the anniversary Disney buttons with me everywhere we go!!! Hehehehe. :) I love you Louis, and I can't wait to see you!!! Happy Anniversary Shnookums!! ;P


     Ok well on that note, I think that's enough for this post! So basically, I'm still loving it down here and having the time of my life!! That's certainly not going to change. I do still miss everyone like crazy though. But I'm just about half way done with my program now, so it won't be long till I'm reunited with my wonderful home!! But until next time...

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

Love the Thunder, Hate the Rain

     This week I experienced my first Florida summer storm. For those of you who know Florida pretty well then you know what I'm talking about. For those of you (like me) who had no clue that the Sunshine State can be everything but sunny, let me fill you in!! Apparently Florida gets just about as much rain as it does sun! How is this relevant you ask? Well you see, Disney pools have very specific rules for weather closures. The pools will only close if there is thunder/lightening or if it's raining so hard that the guards can't clearly see the bottom of the pool. I would assume if it's raining that hard there will also be thunder and/or lightening. So anyway I experienced pretty much all of this, this week. Wednesday is when it first started. I went into work at 3:45 and it was a a huge storm! Lightening, thunder, and rain so hard you couldn't even see the top of the pool, much less the bottom!! Perfect conditions for a lifeguards favorite thing, a weather closure!!! Yay!!!! So we got to sit around and relax a little, play some arcade games with some kids, and stay for the most part dry. Well, unfortunately storms here aren't like in Louisiana where it hits and then a few minutes later it's all sun and shine again. Nooooo the bad part settles in for a few hours and then all the conditions for a pool closure went away.  BUT the rain stuck around. Yay... :/  So it's raining just enough for us to get soaked to the bone but not quite hard enough for us to keep the pool closed. It held off all of Thursday which was awesome because I got out of work (that's a whole different story), but Friday it started up again. Go figure. Well all morning it was a thunder storm so the pool was closed. Well guess who didn't go into work till 3:45 again?? Yep you guessed it! Me. And guess what happened at 4? The thunder stopped!!! Big high five to anyone who can tell me what DIDN'T stop at 4.....anyone?? THE RAIN!!!!!! So I got to sit in the rain all night again. Yay me. Woohoo. And we aren't even done with the week yet!!! Well yesterday I go in at 4:15 and it is FREEZING!!!! Well like 66 degrees which in Florida is freezing!!! Luckily I went to costuming before my shift and got lifeguard pants and a jacket. Unfortunately as the sun went down so did the temperature. And what else happened?? IT STARTED RAINING AGAIN!!!!! It was cold and wet and awful and I couldn't have been happier to get off work last night and cuddle up with my giraffe in bed. So that, my friends, is why we love the thunder but hate the rain.

     On a much happier note, as I mentioned earlier, I got out of work on Thursday!! I got what at Disney is called an ER. No I was not rushed to the hospital. ER stands for Early Release. Ok so an extra person is scheduled to work for every shift in case someone calls in sick or doesn't show up or something like that, and when all the people come in then someone gets to go home. Well most of the time no one wants to because you're already there and you want the money. So Thursday everyone showed up and no one wanted the ER so I happily took it!! I was supper excited about this because I then got to go spend the day at Hollywood Studios with some of my new friends! This was extra special because Thursday was the 25th anniversary celebration of the park!!! It was sooooo cool and I got to see the motorcade of characters which doesn't happen anymore, and special show, sing Let It Go to a huge crowd of people who thought I was insane/drunk, and see the most amazing fireworks show I have EVER seen. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it!!! I was so honored to be apart of such a historical Disney day and boy was I glad I got the ER!!! Pictures of my wonderful evening bellow!!

Look at me Belle!!!!!

Oh what up Ariel?! Hey can I borrow your dinglehopper?? Your hair looks fab.

Two of my favorite super heroes!! 

He was legitimately scary. 

My boss and his bae. 

Captain Jack!!! Where's the rum?!

                                         

    It was such a magical experience to be a part of and I hope it's just the first of many!! And that brings me to another topic I've been wanting to talk about. My friend Anthony and I discussed this on Thursday and I've been asked this question a lot so I thought I'd just go a head and share with everyone. "Amy, has working at Disney ruined that Magic for you?" We hear a lot about the Disney magic and as a guest you don't really think about how that affects the workers. I've been asked this a lot and the answer is really very simple. No. Working here at Disney has not ruined the magic for me. If anything it has made me appreciate it more!! I will however say that it has definitely CHANGED the magic for me.  Now not only do I see and appreciate everything that goes into making these magical moments for everyone, but there is also this whole new kind of Disney magic that I've been introduced to that revolves around the cast members. When you meet a cast member or someone who has been one, they're going to feel one of two ways about working for the Mouse. It's a classic either you love it or you hate it situation. Some people see the big picture and know they are a smaller piece of that and they love that and feel special and a part of something bigger than themselves that makes thousands of people happy every day. Then you have some people who don't think that way and they don't like the way things are ran or maybe they just got unlucky and had a bad location or leader or co-workers and it just tainted the whole thing for them. Very few people come out of it and say "Yeah it was all right. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either!" I personally fall into the first group, and because I think that way I've discovered the magic that is the Disney company. And I love it!! Disney runs this ship tight and in such an efficient way, yet always keeps the cast members in mind and, to me anyway, it feels like they really have our best interests at heart. Granted we are only on week 4 here so I may completely change on this, but so far I love this place not only for the fun but for the company too. And no, the magic has not been ruined!

     So there has been a lot of ups and downs this week. Luckily today at work the weather was nice, I didn't have to jump in the pool, and I was at my favorite location! So I'm sitting here at midnight having just gotten off a 7 hour shift, ending this blog on a happy note! Because while I may be having some serious homesickness episodes and a few bad days at work, I am still in the happiest place on Earth having the time of my life!! So until next time....


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