Bucket List...

Here are some of things I have actually done from my list...

Pick a Pearl!

Wow one whole thing! I have gone to Jellyrolls the dueling piano bar at the Boardwalk Hotel. While it wasn't on my list it was still a blast! Thankfully I haven't been here too long so I don't feel bad but I have started to chip away at those rides & shows.

So far I've Ridden

At Magic Kingdom:

Pirates of the Caribbean

Big Thunder Mountain

Haunted Mansion

It's a Small World

Peter Pan's Flight

PhilharMagic

Snow White's Scary Adventure

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Tomorrowland Transit Authority

Carousel of Progress (for the first time!)

Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin

Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor (another first for me)

Shows:

Wishes

The New nighttime castle show

Epcot:

Spaceship Earth

Test Track

Living with the Land

Gran Fiesta Tour

Maelstrom

Shows:

Illuminations

Animal Kingdom:

Kali River Rapids (a first)

Expedition Everest (go Chelsea go Chelsea)

Dinosaur

Hollywood Studios:

The Great Movie Ride - Gansta & Cowboy version (first time for Cowboy It's awesome!)

Sounds Dangerous (first & last time)

Muppet Vision 3D

Toy Story Mania

Rock N Roller Coaster

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Show:

Beauty and the Beast

So out of an approximent 93 rides/shows/parades I've done: 31 shows/rides! Not too shabby for my first 13 days!

The Post that Never Was...

So I wrote this post back in October. While looking through my blog this afternoon to update it and check out what I've done I notice that I can't find it. After a long search I finally realize it doesn't exist. So from the timecapsel of my computer I present to you...

Walt Disney World Bucket List

Instead of typing up notes on 4 chapters like I actually should do I’m instead spending my time writing about all the fabulous things I’m going to do in 3 months and 4 days when I finally move to FL! Some might be cliché but I’m going to work hard to cross off everything on this list. So here we go…

Ride every Attraction

See every show

Visit every resort

See La Nouba

Visit Universal Studios and Islands of Adventures… YAY Harry Potter!!

See the sun rise at the beach

Eat at all the restaurants that appeal to me

See an outdoor movie at all the resorts that show them

Eat a Kitchen Sink – not alone of course

Do the desert party at Magic Kingdom

Be at each park at rope drop at least once

See the Electrical Water Pageant

Have a Disney scavenger hunt

Rent a boat on 7 seas lagoon – if it’s not too expensive

Visit all 4 parks in 1 day and ride at least 3 rides in each Park

Do some tours

Take Funny pictures on rides - http://xkcd.com/chesscoaster/

Watch Fireworks from all the different places outside the MK like the beaches and restaurants

Drink around the world

Have an ADR for breakfast before the park opens

Lazer Tag! Possibly in suits…

Jersey Boys in Tampa

In the Heights in Miami

Les Miserables in Ft. Lauderdale

Wicked and Hair in Orlando

Blue Man Group

Pick a Pearl in Epcot

What Fun! I thought I had more than that on my list but oh well.

My First Week continued…

Friday was Traditions. I’m not really going to give anything away. It’s super fun! Wear comfortable shoes and answer lots of questions. The best part about Traditions? You get your nametag and your Disney ID. The nametag is just fun to have but the Disney ID gets you into the parks! I had the 2pm Traditions. At first I was bummed because I wouldn’t be able to go to the parks until late that day. I got over that really quick! Early Traditions people had to be at the bus at 6:45am. Marybeth and I had late Traditions so we went out the night before and got to sleep in. We had to be at the bus at 12:45. Which was perfect. Just as a warning Traditions is like 4 hours so be prepared for the day to be a bit long.

Here is my nametag…

After Traditions most people go to the Parks. Since this is your first day to be able to go it is a lot of fun. I don’t really remember what I did after Traditions. I got out around 6. I think we just went out to dinner.

Saturday I had my Park tour. Each park calls it something different but for everyone it is a park tour. The tour is fun. You learn a lot about your park during it. We rode a couple of rides. After the park tour we got split into groups according to your position. Trainers take you to do some learning stuff. This is also the day you get your costume! Adventureland Merchandise has 3 of them! I have the general Adventureland costume, Pirates of the Caribbean costume, and Glow. Glow is the people who walk around before parades with carts of stuff that light up. I have training for that in a couple of weeks so that should be totally fun! I don’t have any pictures of me in costume yet but I’ll be sure to get some.

After my park tour Chelsea and I went to Magic Kingdom to see the nighttime castle show.

Here we are on the parking tram…

This is me using my Disney ID to get into a park for the very first time!!

Philharmagic. After this we decided to take a picture at every 3d attraction.

Us at the Castle

These are some of my favorite Castle shots from the night. I didn’t take any of the new show so I could just enjoy it for the first time.

My First Week!

Things have been totally crazy here. I know it’s been more than a week since I checked in but I have been busy all day everyday. My roommate and I had planned to live with this girl Claire. Sadly Claire couldn’t live with us because she has a different end date. Happily she ended up literally across the hallway from us and her roommate, Marybeth, is totally awesome!

Here is a picture of us at Check In day. I forgot to add it to my last post.

Me, Chelsea, and Claire

So Wednesday was check in day.

Thursday or the day after check in day you’ll have the day off. I have the most amazing roommate ever. She’s a seasonal cast member so she had an extra holiday pass to get 3 people in. So Claire, Marybeth and I met up with her and her mom.

We spent the day hanging out at Magic Kingdom.

We had a total blast. It was definitely cool to be in the park a day earlier than everyone we checked in with. We spent the day looking at the costumes some of us would be wearing. Claire works in Frontierland at Tom Sawyer Island and The Country Bear Jamboree. Marybeth is a Character Attendant.

I work at….

ADVENTURELAND!

Thursday was also the night of our welcome party. It was an Arabian Nights themed party. There was a DJ, free food (a big draw), and pictures with characters. They also had games we could play to win prizes. The food was pizza, pop, and chips but we were happy with it. The DJ played some pretty good stuff so we hung out and danced for a bit. After we got in line to have our picture taken with Abu and Genie.

Me, Marybeth, and Claire

Overall the party was kind of fun. We left shortly after because some people had early Traditions on Friday.

Marybeth and I went over to Downtown Disney to walk around. We started out on the West Side and got a beer to drink while walking around. We walked past the clubs and restaurants. We ran into this awesome bronze statue lady.

Marybeth put her beer in the woman’s hand and after this picture Marybeth couldn’t get her beer back. Eventually the woman let go but everyone was cracking up.

After taking our picture we walked further and saw a guy playing some instruments. He was good but this little kid stole the show! Unfortunately we were laughing too hard to get the really good parts but I did manage to take some video. He was interpretive dancing. It was awesome! We were standing next to the kid’s uncle. He told us that the kid’s dad was leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette and wondering why the kid couldn’t play football. It was hilarious.

After a bit more walking we found our favorite DTD activity. WATERFRONT DANCE PARTY!! WDP as it will be called from now on is a nightly (6:30 – 9:30) dance party in front of World of Disney. The guy who does it is hilarious! They do dance competitions and some group dances where he teaches us all dance sets to music and then everyone dances together. It is so much fun! I know it sounds weird but Marybeth and me loved it. Granted it was pretty much kids under 12, their parents, and us but we totally loved it. In fact we spread around the WDP love so much that Chelsea went later in the week. Trust me if you have the chance do it. During the one Chelsea went to they did a conga line through World of Disney and at one point Chelsea found a random shoe on the ground. Apparently some kid had conga right out of his shoe but didn’t want to stop so he just kept dancing!

Marybeth at the WDP!

Good Stuff to Know

Here are some tips for your first few days...

Your apartment door locks behind you so make sure you have your keys with you

The housing meeting is long and boring so eat before

The earlier you get to Vista on Check in day the earlier you get done.

Rooms are first come first serve. If you want a certain number of bedrooms in a certain complex get there early. The same goes for a room inside your apartment. If you’re the last one there you get what’s left.

You need your housing ID with you all the time. Security doesn’t like if you forget it so find a place to keep it that you’ll never forget about. I have a lanyard with a plastic case on the end that I keep my housing ID and Disney ID in.

Set out rules with your roommates as soon as possible. This will help you live in harmony.

Wal-mart will be completely picked over. There wasn’t a hanger or a mattress topper/pad in the entire place on the day after my check in.

Make sure your alarm clock works!

The internet in your apartment SUCKS!

Your first 2 paychecks are almost nonexistent.

The Waterfront Dance Party at Downtown Disney is the best thing ever!! (I'll explain later)

Have fun! There is so much to do and so much going on that you should just have as much fun as possible!

Your Journey Starts Here...

So as you may have read in my last post I saw Les Miserables on Tuesday night. That was in Ft. Lauderdale. Which is 3.5 hours away from Orlando. So by the time I got to Orlando got checked into my hotel and into bed it was 3:15am. For those of you who don't know. Check in is at 9am at Vista Way. After reading past blogs and talking to a friend who checked in earlier in the semester we decided to arrive at 6:30am. That might sound crazy but apartments are first come first serve. So if you want a 3 bedroom at Chatham (which we did) the earlier you are there the more likely you are to get the apartment you want. Also waiting in line earlier means that you have less waiting to do later and in general your day wraps up sooner. When we got in line at 6:45 there were a fair number of people in front of us. By 7:30 we couldn't see the end of the line. So I had less than 3 hours of sleep on check in day. I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which is right across the street from Vista.

At 8am they actually let us through the gates and into Vista (where you check in). They lead you back to the registration and welcome pavilion. Overall the whole thing is handled amazingly well. My favorite thing about check in is that they split in into different sections. So you wait in line and then fill out some paperwork. Then you wait in line again and they check your IDs. Then you wait in line and get an apartment. The fact that everything is broken down like this really helps keep things moving and you never feel like your waiting forever. This is when they will hand out parking permits. Make sure to have your REGISTRATION and INSURANCE IN YOUR NAME. My insurance company sent out a letter confirming that I am insured to drive my car. If for some reason you don't have any of this stuff you can go to the Clubhouse and get your permit there. At the Welcome Center you will be given a program book that will have all your information on it. Consider this book your new bible and carry it with you all the time in the first few days.

Once you get all your information at the Welcome Center you are sent over to Casting. Make sure when you go to Casting to look around and enjoy all the fun stuff there is to see. My favorite is the doorknobs on the front door. They look like the doorknob from Alice in Wonderland. As soon as you walk through the door into Casting you find out where you will be working. They put a sticker on the back of your program book with your location on it. The woman who was doing it was hilarious. She made a big deal about each and every person. For instance she asked one girl if she was fond of honey because she was going to be eating a lot of it as a new friend of Pooh.

From that point on it's pretty much all a blur. They send you all over the Casting building in a crazy circle maze of rooms. In one I saw Randy who was a recruiter at my college. At Casting you can also sign up to get direct deposit.

In the background check area they take your fingerprints. Well apparently prolonged computer use among other things can wear down your fingerprints or in my case cause cracks in my prints. Which meant I was in the security area for like 15 minutes. First they tried to get my fingerprints to work and when they couldn't I had to fill out paperwork about my last 7 years.

After you done at casting you head back to Vista. We had a 2:45 mandatory housing meeting. So we ran upstairs dropped stuff in the room we wanted then had lunch. I totally recommend having lunch before the housing meeting. The meeting is 2 hours or more and it is SO boring! Everyone says it's really boring but I didn't realize how boring it was until I was there. After the meeting is done your check in day is officially over! YAY! You can use the rest of the night to unpack and get to know your roommates. The next day is a free day to get yourself ready for Traditions and training.

I'm still here...

I promise. Sorry folks for being gone for sooooo long! December was a crazy month for me and the start of January has been nuts too. I'm at Disney right now! I'm sitting on my bed at Chatham writing to you. I figured I'd skip to the part of checking in and go back to waiting later.

I packed up and left Chicago on Thursday January 13th. I had planned to stay in Atlanta on Thursday night with my cousin but for those of you who don't know Atlanta got beat to hell by a winter snowstorm. Stephen Colbert called it the "Storm of Northern Aggression." Basically the roads were completely impassible. So I drove Thursday night to Nashville. Nashville was way different than I was picturing. I'm sure there are nice parts but it won't be on the top of my list for vacations anytime soon. Thursday I drove all the way to Orlando. For those of you who don't know Nashville to Orlando is far. Friday night I stayed in Orlando then Saturday I went down to the Ft. Lauderdale area to spend a few days hanging with friends. We had an awesome time. Saturday night my core group of friends (minus Hilary) got together in Boca at Irishmen. It was so much fun. I had forgotten how awesome it is to have friends that good around. We know all the dirt and where all the figurative bodies are buried. So we laughed and drank and just enjoyed being together again.

Saturday Night Heather, Danielle, and myself met Hilary at LuLu's Bait Shack in Ft. Lauderdale. I LOVE LuLu's. It's in Beach Place right on the ocean and has amazing Cajun food. I always make a stop there when in FL. Not only do they have great views and food they also have amazing drinks.








Here is Danielle and Heather with one of those amazing drinks! Yes you get to keep the fun glass!










Like I said LuLu's is right on the beach and since it's January it was a bit cold. When the waitress brought us a candle heather actually tried to warm her hands on it. This is a recreation.















The 4 Ladies!










Sunday Heather, Danielle, and I met up in Downtown Delray (my favorite town in FL) and enjoyed a art festival. Danielle and I enjoyed it was more than Heather. I had this amazing traditional German thing. It's like a dough wrapped around a stone cylinder that is put into an oven and cooked, The outside if crispy with a small layer of soft dough on the inside. After it is cooked it is given a butter glaze and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. It was amazing!

Monday was a relaxing day. I hung out with Danielle and Heather. Monday night I helped Hilary prepare for a meeting with a client. It was actually kind of fun.

Tuesday was a bigger day. I was out of Hilary's place where I was staying by 12. I went up to Delray Beach to have lunch at my favorite pizza place in FL. Pizza Rustica! It is so amazing. I had my very favorite Greco Romana.

After lunch I met up with Anthony. He kindly let me leave my stuff with him while I went to see Les Miserables. After I dropped my stuff off we went for a walk on the beach. We used to do this all the time so it was awesome to do it again. We saw an amazing sunset start while we were out.

Once our walk was through I got ready quick and met Hilary for Les Miserables. I had originally been going alone but her new friend convinced her that they should go. That made it super fun for me! I was glad to have them both with me. Overall the performance was great. The new stage is incredible and completely different. Personally I'd like to see a blending of the 2. The simplicity of the original set made for a more powerful story. On the other hand there were some epic moments that this new stage just made even cooler. The person playing Jean Valjean overacted the first Act but got into the groove in the second. I would totally recommend the show to someone else. Right after the performance I hopped into my car, picked up my stuff, and drove 3 hours to Orlando. This meant I was in my room for 3 hours before getting up and out the door for check in. Next post will be all about the check in process.