Mid-training update!

Hey all!

All is well! I'm on day 4/5 of training for Vision House at Innoventions and I have an assessment tomorrow afternoon. It's been crazy and a lot of memorizing; I'm a 'spieler' (officially titled, 'presenter') so I have a lot of text to digest. I'm currently on break from my 7:00am shift so I don't have time to post much. I will have Friday and Saturday off so I'm sure I'll have a lot of pictures from those two days :)

When I'm on my laptop instead of my phone, I'll post the pictures taken with Pooh and Tigger. For now, here are the pictures I took on my last day off (last Saturday)

AFI's exhibit with movie props!!! This was my favorite and only one I took a picture of, from the Superman movies with Christopher Reeves. 

Sorcerer Mickey!!!! 

WHERE. IS. MY. SUPER SUIT. 

WHYYY DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?

Oh and I keep riding rides and seeing shows in the parks that I haven't done before, like I'm catching up. Yesterday's was Universe of Energy with Ellen Degeneres which I think should be updated. If it didn't have Ellen, I would have regretted seeing it. It's 45 minutes long. It's nice, but I don't think I'll be riding it again. 

Yesterday was also Captain EO. But I'm pretty sure at least 75% of you will judge me for my opinion on that. Oops. 

And I didn't know that there was a ride in Mexico, in the World Showcase! It features the Three Caballeros and it was pretty cute. I'm kind of glad that there are still attractions that I'm experiencing for the first time! 

Adios! I'm going to visit MK on one of my days off, but today is going to be a Whole Foods run. I'm out of bread!! Oops. 

PEACE AND PIXIE DUST Y'ALL

Steph

Traditions and Tigger the Pinball Wizard (and New Fantasyland pictures)

Hello all!! The last two days have been very busy; a flurry of orientation and training!

On Thursday was Disney's initial welcome/orientation class, called Traditions. I'm not going to spoil anything in case future CP's come across this blog, but it was really great and if you're prone to getting misty, I'd bring a tissue or two. I wish I had known to bring that :))

What I will say about Traditions is that WE GET OUR NAMETAGS

We were supposed to tour Magic Kingdom too, but couldn't because of the following: 

Luckily it passed by without major incident. We had a tornado warning too. Frankly it was fairly tame compared to what I've learned so far about Florida weather? I'm sure I'll see for myself in the coming months as hurricane season has just begun. 

After Traditions ended, we also had our Disney IDs then to get discounts and in the parks for free!!!! My roommates and I went directly to Magic Kingdom. 

As you can see, the weather wasn't the best but it was still perfect. We rode all three mountains (Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain) by the end of the night. That evening was my first time ever riding Space Mountain and it was fantastic! But I also can't remember the last time I screamed so loud or hard. The first 30 seconds were pretty and then I'm pretty sure my brain left my body momentarily for the rest of the ride and I was terribly disoriented getting off of the ride, but it was a lot of fun. 

We got to explore some of New Fantasyland which was supermegafoxyawesomehot (for you Starkid fans). No really, the Ariel ride has awesome effects and might grow to make my top 10 favorite attractions list. And then there's this:

BEAST'S CASTLE. And the rest of the village was cool too for reasons like, 

Which is Gaston's chair in his tavern. I haven't had a chance to lighten the photo yet so it's hard to see. But it was 'roughly the size of a barge' ;)

And for you Tangled fans: 

The lanterns weren't focusing well but they were gorgeous. Also if you're a girl, the artwork in the women's bathroom is really pretty ala Rapunzel's bedroom from the movie. 

Oh and here, have a pretty sunset picture from the back of the castle:

And that construction is for the forthcoming Snow White mining ride. 

We also caught Wishes! that evening and here are some highlights: 

And then my all-time favorite:

Siiiigh. :) <3 I really love my life. 

Friday was a day of training at Epcot. I got to tour the park and had an Epcot orientation class and then went to Innoventions and had a bit of training there. I got my costume too! Yes. I will post a picture of myself in it. It will be embarrassing. I'll get over it :). I'll go into more detail about what I'll be doing at Innoventions after Sunday when I have had more training specific to my role. Yesterday was a lot of 'e-learning' with safety procedures and more basic knowledge. 

AND AFTERWARDS I went to Epcot with one of my roommates, Lauren. I got this little absolutely perfect for me gem that is now hanging in my car: 

SUPER MICKEY

And we saw these precious little guys who wouldn't stop running away from Dad:

And we rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends and okay so this was the second time I've ever been on it. The first time, was with my cousins and we got stuck on it for maybe 15+ minutes until they finally turned the lights on and escorted us off. We got stuck at the end with the finale song repeating over and over again and let's just say I equated it to what most people think about it's a small world. Willing to give it another chance, we rode it and ladies and gentlemen I am here to tell you that I AM TWO FOR TWO. We got stopped again at the same place. No bueno. Needless to say I'm going to avoid that ride until further notice.

Then we saw Turtle Talk with Crush which is FABTASTIC. It's always dependent on what kind of little kids you get when you go but it's different every time because the kids will ask different questions and give different answers. Crush himself is hilarious and provides PLENTY of jokes that 'big kids' will appreciate (and by big kids I hope you know I mean adults). Crush asked a little boy where he lived and he said 'At home'. 

Much laughter ensued. The show is very clever. It might be one of my new favorites. 

We caught some a pretty sunset from World Showcase:

And I went to China! 

I mean, sort of. 

And of course we saw Illuminations which was of course fantastic. 

^^^^ I was happily surprised with how that turned out

And then of course on our way out,

And I don't have pictures of it yet, but Lauren and I went and met Pooh and Tigger that evening and there is a GREAT magical moment story in there, but I have to steal those pictures from Lauren's Facebook and then I'll post them here. But the story is as follows: 

Pooh and Tigger are at the UK showcase in Epcot and we waited in line behind lots of families (with small children of course) and watched all the little ones get to hug Tigger and Pooh and it was super cute. Meanwhile there is a band that plays right outside their location and were playing covers of fun songs and so we were jamming. The cast member nearby that was ushering people towards Pooh and Tigger commented to us that he loved working in that spot because of the great music. We passed Lauren's camera to him as we went and hugged Tigger and Pooh and we got some great pictures of that but then Pinball Wizard by The Who came on while Pooh was signing Lauren's book. I was standing next to Tigger after having greeted him and I started jamming to the music and dancing (because that's just what I do when I feel awkward or don't know what to do). And then Tigger started dancing with me and then it became a dance party between all four of us. It was HILARIOUS and so fun!! And HUUUGE shout out to the cast member who got pictures of pretty much ALL of it. I think it was Andrew. FOUR FOR YOU ANDREW, YOU GO ANDREW! The pictures turned out great and when Lauren and I left we realized we got to spend probably about twice as much time with Pooh and Tigger than the little kids did as a result. It was really exciting. And it makes me that much happier (if that's even possible) that I'm working for this fantastic company. And it makes me love Pooh and Tigger that much more (if that's even possible either). 

FAITH TRUST AND PIXIE DUST, Y'ALL <3 <3 <3

-Steph :)

I MET PERRY YESTERDAY

It was at a housing event for programmers. For those of you who aren't familiar, Perry is on Phineas and Ferb, a cartoon show on Disney Channel. The show has a lot of clever jokes in it for 'grown-ups' which is why I enjoy watching it so much; it's fabtastic and hilarious. Perry is Phineas and Ferb's platypus pet who also secretly doubles as a secret agent, Agent P. I was very excited to meet him. I might still be excited about it. 

Kirk out. 

Check-in: The Early Days

When I left you, we had just arrived in Florida. Now I know where I'm working and I'm all moved in, but I'll get to that in a minute...or several paragraphs. ;)

On Sunday evening we had dinner at Lone Star Steakhouse which was down the street from our hotel. By we, this time I mean my mom and I plus my roommates and their parents! Or rather, one of our parents. It was good to meet (in person, after months of talking on Facebook) and afterwards we went to the Polynesian Resort to watch the fireworks/Wishes. 

The Polynesian is really neat because it's Hawaiian themed; the guard at the gate even told us Mahalo. (That means thank you) 

Then we walked out to the mini beach that's a part of the resort and watched fireworks! Here are some pictures from the evening: 

We called it a night after sort of getting lost on our way back. But that's okay! How else do you learn a new city?

The next morning we met outside of one of the housing complexes, Vista, to 'check-in'. 

During this time we learned where we'd be living and where we'd be working!! I am living with three other girls, the ones I had been talking to on Facebook, prior to coming here. We're living in Chatham Square, for those of you who are familiar with the program. And I will be working at...*drumroll please*

EPCOT! 

More specifically I will be working at Innoventions!!

I'm excited and also nervous but mostly excited. For those of you who are unfamiliar with EPCOT, or with the park/attraction, Innoventions is indoors---so air-conditioning! I'm grateful for this because my skin burns faster than styrofoam in a campfire. 

Afterwards we all moved into our 2-bedroom apartment. Look for a post about my apartment with pictures in the future! I have a little more organizing and settling to do before it's camera ready. 

Later was dinner at Maggiano's which I'm mentioning because they have gluten-free pasta!! I may have accepted a challenge and finished a double portion of it. And they were Italian style portions too. :D

My mom, Lauren (one of my roommates), and I walked around the HUGE plaza that Maggiano's was in afterwards and came across the following charming establishment:

I originally walked over because my dad has the same name. Joe, not monkey ;). We found out it was kind of like a chuckie cheese. The door said ages up to 12 and I was like "Aww, that's not us." This happened right when a small family walked by and the dad, without smiling (while holding a tiny infant), said "You could pull off 11."

It took us awhile to stop laughing after he walked by. 

The plaza was really cool though; it had stuff like this: 

And this:

It was good fun!

The next morning I woke up from a VERY creaky bed and went to Downtown Disney with my mom. Sidebar: if you have advice about how to fix four squeaky beds, my roommates and I would appreciate it. Also the floor is more forgiving than the beds. Mattress pads are on my ASAP shopping list. 

Downtown Disney was fun; we meandered in and out of shops and window-shopped until we were hungry for lunch. After I dropped my mom off at the airport. Tomorrow is our housing meeting, and a housing event that is supposedly Perry the Platypus themed and I am very excited about that. Then on Thursday I'll have my Disney orientation which is called Traditions and on Friday will be my first day of training!

Wish me luck! Or better yet: faith, trust, and pixie dust!

-Steph

We've arrived!!!

After a day and a half of traveling, we're in Florida! Tonight I'll get to meet my roommates and tomorrow we'll all find out where we're working! 

Also...

THERE ARE TINY LITTLE SPEED DEMON LIZARDS EVERYWHERE

And apparently something called 'palmetto bugs'

I thought palmettos were *only* pretty flowers and not used to describe something WHICH ARE APPARENTLY GIANT COCKROACHES 

I'm at the moment being educated about Floridian wildlife by one of my best friends Allyssa who lives in Florida and I won't lie, I'm really hoping she finishes the conversation with "PSYCH I LIED"

I kind of want to walk around in a plastic bubble. 

No really though, if you can't tell, I am, actually, VERY excited to be here, and even more to find out where I'll be working out! 

Faith, trust, and pixie dust, everyone!

Steph