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 :)