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.

I interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast…

Normally this blog is all about Disney and while Disney is fabulous it really isn’t my #1 love. My #1 love is musicals! My parents took me to see Les Miserables for the first time when I was really young. I can’t remember exactly remember. It played in Chicago from ’87 to ’91. So I was between 2 and 6 when I first saw it and we saw it more than once. I also recently found a Playbill for 1994. It made a huge impact on me. After that I would dance around the living room and “play” every role in the cast. My favorite was Eponine. From Les Miserables I went to dancing to the Nutcracker (which we saw every Christmas) and moved on from there. Now I find few things in life more enjoyable than sitting in a dark theater, eyes closed, and listening to breathtaking music. It makes me cry, it makes me feel amazing, and nothing in the entire world makes me feel the same.

As to how I got to this post tonight I went to see the Les Miserable 25^th Anniversary Concert movie. One of my local theaters shows operas, musicals, and all sorts of other unusual things. The cast was good. The girl who played Young & Older Cosette, Eponine, Gavroche, and the Thénardiers were all really great. Young Cosette and Gavroche were easily the best I’ve ever seen. Both of the Cosettes had amazing voices. Nick Jonas played Marius. When he sang alone he was very good but when he sang with the others he was left in the dust. He doesn’t have a strong enough voice to actually pull it off. Jean Valijean had more of an opera voice but was incredibly talented. The concert part was good but the last 20-30 minutes of the movie were worth the price of admission. After the cast took their bows the original 1985 cast came out. They are who I picture when I think of the characters. We have a VHS of a concert they did and I’ve watched it frequently over the years. So the original cast comes out to HUGE applause. In celebration of the 25^th anniversary Les Miserables is playing in 2 theaters plus the concert. So the 2 other casts joined the rest on stage. The 4 Jean Valijeans sang Bring Him Home and then the entire original cast, the concert cast, plus the 2 casts that are currently playing in London sand “One day More” together. It was awesome. Then Cameron Mackintosh spoke about his time with Les Mis and how it has changed his life. The writers and composer was there. At the end Cameron Mackintosh spoke again about Les Mis the School Edition. He had students from around the world come out in costume and all 4 casts and the students sang, “Do you Hear the People Sing” together. Overall it was an amazing experience. It makes me very excited for January so I can see Les Miserables in person again!

Here is my complete list of shows I’ve seen:

Les Miserables – 4 Times

Phantom of the Opera – 3 Times

In the Heights – 2 Times

The Addams Family

The Lion King

Beauty and the Beast

The Nutcracker - 5 Times

Wicked - 2 Times

A Chorus Line

Jersey Boys

Rent

Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged

Mama Mia

Miss Saigon

A Christmas Carol

La Nouba (not really a musical but kinda)

West Side Story

Blue Man Group (again not really a musical but stage show)

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Apparently I really don't want to do homework...

My "Waiting" blog has been mostly written in my school notebook and I was all set to type it up and post when I realized I didn't bring my homework dogsitting. So I figured I'd pick it up yesterday when I ran home. I got it all together and put it next to my purse and last night I start looking for it again and can't find it anywhere. Apparently I really don't want to do my homework because I left it at home again! I don't really want to rewrite it so I'll just have to wait on that again.

Instead I'll just post some pictures and tell you about my Friday night. Friday I went to see The Lion King, the play not the movie. It was awesome. The theater has a private box on each side that was filled with drums and other weird instruments. Since we were up in the Balcony we had a great view of them. The costumes were amazing. It was so completely different and unique. I really loved that they used the entire theater. During the first scene there were singers in the boxes with the drums and animals paraded in down the aisles. During the first scene of the second act there were actors with birds in the balcony and all over. Not real birds of course but a super long stick with a bird on a string at the end. They waved the birds in a circle to look like they were flying. It was cool seeing the actors up close. Overall the show was awesome. The songs that were added to make it longer were ok but not really that great. Rafiki was easily the best character. When the cast came out for bows I was shocked how small a cast it was. There were so many people on stage most of the show that it seemed like there should have been more people.

Every year around this time the actors in broadway plays all around the country, take a moment after the show to talk about Broadway Cares. Broadway Cares started out as a fund-raising organization for AIDS. Since it started it has branched out and donates money to all different causes. In the lobby after the show they had signed posters for sale as well as pictures with 2 of the actors. Last year when I saw rent I got a cast signed playbill. The posters this year were way cooler.

At the theater I finally took my purple folder picture. For those who don't know most people, especially in the facebook group, take a picture with the purple folder that Disney sends when you get in. This is both fun and helpful when requesting new CP friends. For those of you who haven't seen it yet here is a link for our facebook group.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=272325548167

And here is my purple folder picture.



Here are a couple other random Disney picture for your enjoyment.


This one is from the gardens in China.