WDW Trip Day One: EPCOT!!

My Disney World birthday trip started with a red eye flight on Thursday night. My flight left out of Denver at 11:50pm and arrived in Orlando at 5:25am. I took the Magical Express to All Star Movies Resort and arrived there around 6:15am. It was obviously too early to get into my room so I sat in the dining hall and played on my laptop until I figured out I left my phone on the bus. Unfortunately I had to wait all day to get my phone back, a very stressful ordeal, but luckily they had it in the airport office and brought it to my room that night! I stayed in the hotel until 10:30am and went to go meet up with Sarah's brother Josh to go into the parks. I was dumb and didn't pack summer clothes in my carry on bag, so I had the joy of wearing my airport clothes (leggings and a long sleeve shirt!) to the parks. I just rolled them up, but still, I was melting in the mid 80's degree weather.

Well I hung out with Josh until Sarah got in at around 12:30. It was one of my FAVORITE events of the year...Food & Wine Festival!! YAY!! And I was finally legal to try some drinks :) I got apple ice wine from Canada (I think), a cider flight from Farm Fresh that included pumpkin hard cider, elderberry, raspberry, and dry pear. My favorite was the dry pear hard cider, but the pumpkin was interesting and the apple ice wine was pretty good! I also tried melon shave ice from Japan, the Kalua pork slider from Hawaii, the potato leek waffle from Belgium (OMG MY ABSOLUTE FAV), the escargot croissant from France, lefse from Norway, and caramel popcorn from Germany. Not all of those are F&W Festival specific, but they were all delicious. The croissant thing had weird texture, but wasn't too bad. Of course we also tried the free sodas from Club Cool (Thailand's Melon Fanta is the best!). 

We took a short break in the middle of the day to go cool down, try find my phone, and digest food. We mostly did rides when we came back, Soarin' (ONE OF MY FAVORITE RIDES AT WDW), Spaceship Earth, and Test Track (Sarah had never been, she didn't really like speed rides during our program). After Soarin' we headed back to the hotel, we were pretty pooped from the day and I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before. Overall a wonderful first day :)

Sarah on the left, me on the right (in my hot plane clothes)

Epcot sunsets are actually the best.

We had a BALL at Epcot ;)

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND PLANS: I'M GOING BACK TO DISNEY WORLD!!

So guess what. I'M GOING BACK TO MY CASTLE <3 I turn 21 on October 14th and am going to Disney World October 23-26 :) I can't even explain how excited I am. One of my roommates from my college program, Sarah, has a little brother doing the program this fall at Sunshine Seasons in Epcot so he's getting us in for free! I got a roundtrip plane ticket from Denver to Orlando for $250 which is UNREAL, and we're staying at All Star Movies for pretty cheap, so it'll be a nice and cheap vacation ;) The only block out date is for Magic Kingdom so we'll pay for a one day ticket for MK, but the other three days we'll park hop between the other three parks! It's going to be Epcot Food & Wine Festival which is literally the best thing ever, so I'm SUPER pumped for that. And Sarah and I will both be 21 so we'll try some stuff out :)

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parties will be going on so we might also get a ticket for that, but we're kind of cheap so....maybe not. Hahaha. Ok well here's our rough schedule!

My flight gets in at 5:30am on Friday, so I'll probably head straight to the hotel to drop off my luggage, but it will be too soon to check in. I'm guessing I'll meet Sarah's brother at Epcot to get in, then hang around until Sarah gets in (her flight lands around 11am). On Saturday we'll go Magic Kingdom all day (and I'll BAWL my eyes out for Wishes and Celebrate the Magic!!) then Epcot and Hollywood Studios on Sunday, and Animal Kingdom on Monday. My flight leaves around 6pm, and Sarah's leaves around 8pm. So I'll probably get back to the hotel around 2pm and take the Magical Express to the airport. I can't even tell you how excited I am. I swear it's all I ever think about ;)

On a fun side note: I just updated my Disney credit card and now have a DARTH VADER CREDIT CARD. Yeah, it's SO SO SO cool!!! I'm a bit of a nerd, what can I say.

Alright that's all I have for now! Just wanted to share the happy news :) Y'all will hear from me in October with a full update on the vacation. Have a magical week <3

My Most Magical Moments: DCP Edition

So I recently took a road trip with one of my DCP roommates and best friends from high school, Lindsey. We had like 24 hours in the car so obviously we spent a lot of time reminiscing on our program. This post is dedicated to my favorite and most magical memories from my program!

I'm going to make a numbered list for simplicity, and start from the beginning and move forward from there :)

1. The process of getting accepted into the program. This memory was really special because I got my acceptance email less than a week before I went to Disneyland for Spring Break! So I got to hangout in a Disney park with the knowledge I would soon be the one making magical moments :)
2. Check-in when my roommates and I found out our roles and apartment! I found out I was working in Hollywood Studios and my restaurant was literally RIGHT next to my roommates restaurant, so that was really awesome. 
3. Also finding out we got Chatham Square as our apartment complex, then moving in for the first time and discovering there was great air conditioning ;)
4. The surprise at Traditions! I won't ruin it but...it was SO cool and made the long day of getting up at like 5:30am completely worth it. 
5. Getting my blue ID, it made everything feel so real and official!! I feel like that's the moment you're an OFFICIAL cast member. 
6. Going into the park for free for the first time! I went to Hollywood Studios (my new home!) with my roommate Mikaela who also had an early Traditions, and we got caught in a torrential downpour. #Florida. But here's the thing, I'm from Seattle and rain is kind of my thing so we actually ran around singing songs and practically had the park to ourselves!!! This was the first time I ever got to ride Rockin' Rollercoaster which ended up being one of my favorite rides!
7. Finding out and getting my costume! On my first day of on-site training we were all taken to costuming, and it was super fun to find my costume and see everyone else's :)
8. Seeing Festival of the Lion King for the first time <333333
9. OUR FIRST TIME WATCHING WISHES OMG I GOT SO EMOTIONAL
10. Taking our very first roomie castle picture <3
11. Getting to tour Hollywood Studios with the other new DHS CPs before the park opened, we felt like such VIPs! Super cool seeing the park completely empty...
12. Getting free food for lunch everyday while training!
13. Earning my ears and being able to take that off my name tag :) Basically your induction into your work location ;)
14. Getting to surprise my family by flying home for a short visit! My coordinators and managers were so cool about giving me the time off 
15. Everything about Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party - especially the parade, free candy, and fireworks
16. We got a $1 pay raise in the middle of my program, so we made more per hour but rent was still the same! (They raised rent after my group left)
17. Working a park buyout and my AMAZING managers arranged for us (all like 50 or whatever from SCC and BLX) to go ride Toy Story Midway Mania twice IN A ROW WITHOUT GETTING OFF and Rockin' Rollercoaster WITH THE LIGHTS ON. HOW COOL IS THAT?!
18. Plus I got paid double time for working overtime and also working two shifts within 8 hours of each other :)
19. For my Exploring Environmentality and Sustainability class (TAKE IT!) we got to ride Kilimanjaro Safari with a special cast member only spiel :)
20. One of my friends worked Expedition Everest so she let us go through the fast pass lane and ride the front row of Everest!
21. I went to Le Cellier with some of my roommates and had the BEST MEAL OF MY LIFE for my birthday, and they even brought out a special grapefruit cake dessert with an edible happy birthday sign :)
22. Also on my birthday night we went to Soarin' where my roommates friend Eddy worked, and he let us go through the fast pass lane then sit in the best seats!! Finally when he gave his safety spiel he gave me special happy birthday shoutout which was awesome.
23. We went to Ohana for two of my roommate's birthdays and got this amazing window view so we got to eat incredible food and watch Wishes. They even turned on the Wishes music when it started playing and we literally all cried because it was SUCH a magical moment. (By the way, Ohana is at the Polynesian which is across from the castle!)
24. The cast member only preview for Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. We got free cookies and hot chocolate and got to watch this INCREDIBLE show!
25. The cast member holiday discount booklets we got, so many fun little coupons!
26. Watching the castle get lit up for the first time
27. SNOW ON MAIN STREET <3
28. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party with my roommates and coworker, and getting to meet all seven dwarves!
29. Getting to work outside when Osborne Lights were going, and singing and dancing along with my amazing SCC family
30. Getting a backstage tour of the aquarium at Epcot. Seriously, we got to walk ABOVE the GIANT aquarium which was amazing.
31. The Christmas parade is so so so cool. Also the Christmas fireworks. 
32. Cast member movie night at Sci Fi Dine In! We had the whole restaurant to ourselves and got free food and watched Elf all together <3 LOVE LOVE LOVED MY COWORKERS
33. Secret Santa and Christmas festivities with my roommates - we put up Christmas lights and made a fake fireplace and hung our stockings with command strips, and it was so great getting to spend Christmas with my Disney fam <3
34. MY FAMILY GOT TO VISIT! And seriously the coolest thing happened - we got a Be Our Guest reservation THE WEEK OF CHRISTMAS. Crazy right? That's not all...we got to eat in the West Wing AKA the super cool tiny dining room that's hard to get into!!
35. I got to see a gorilla pretend it was a cat and sit in a bucket at Animal Kingdom.
36. I got to be the Rebel Spy on Star Tours! Such an honor, right? ;)
37. Seeing the Candlelight Processional with my family, we were all pretty emotional, it's such a beautiful show!!
38. On a day when it was POURING rain and I forgot a raincoat, a Stormtrooper came up to me with an umbrella and walked me all the way to my location. Literally the sweetest thing ever <3
39. A guest looked a lot like Santa Claus and this little girl walks up to him and starts talking to "Santa", her mother was mortified but the guy was such a good sport!! At the end of their conversation this girl goes "bye Santa, I love you!". STOP. CRYING.
40. Watching the New Years fireworks right after work on New Years Ever with my coworker after working the busiest day in our restaurant history.
41. The last time we went to the parks all my roommates made it (for the first and last time hahaha) and we all watched Wishes and Celebrate the Magic, crying and surrounded by other crying CPs. Seriously people, there is no family like Disney family. We just had this giant crying group hug until the Wishes music ended (it goes on for a bit after the fireworks). So special.
42. Our final Disney moments were staying at the Beach Club Resort (SO NICE OMG), eating at Beaches & Cream (home of the Kitchen Sink), and taking the Magical Express to the airport. 

Everything about my program was magical and I hope this gives you a good look into what the highlights of my program were! I loved every second, and can honestly say it was the happiest, most positive, and obviously most magical 4 months of my life. You can bet I'll be back ;) 4 months is just way too short. 

Fall/Spring VS Fall Advantage/Spring Advantage

This is going to be a very brief post on the difference between advantage programs and the normal programs. Basically advantage programs last longer, and go through the summer. Spring just goes through spring, fall just goes through fall. Spring advantage arrives with the spring CPs, but they will work trough the summer rather than going home around May. Fall advantage CPs arrive early, around May/June, but leave with the fall CPs. Fall CPs arrive throughout August and the first week of September.

The pros to doing an advantage program (let's just call these FA and SA for the sake of me being lazy) is that you are there longer, you get to experience all the cool summer only festivities (LIKE STAR WARS WEEKENDS), and there's no FOMO from your friends all being together at college. (FOMO for those of you who don't know stands for Fear Of Missing Out.) People don't usually think about this, but when you're the only one not at school, and all your friends are together taking cute pictures and going on spring break together or whatever, you feel a little left out. For all of 3 seconds before you remember you're living at Disney World ;)

The cons to doing FA/SA is the awful summer Florida weather: rain, humidity, heat. You also have to deal with a busy time for the parks, and more of your guest passes are blocked out, so there's less availability for friends and family to visit for free. I personally think FA > SA because for FA you're super excited since you get to show up before all the other fall CPs, and learn the ropes early. SA you're at the end of your program and all your friends and coworkers are leaving to go home, and you're still committed to stay. This could be awesome if you love your role, but many people hit homesicknesses at this point. I would rather do the normal spring program, and if I love it, extend my program.

So to sum up my personal opinion (obviously everyone has a different opinion/experience) is that I would pick fall advantage over fall, but spring over spring advantage.

I hope this post has been helpful to those of you who were confused over the differences of the four programs :) I'll put in an approximate schedule for date with FA/F/SA/S.

FA: Arrive in May/June, stay through early January.
Fall: Arrive in August/September, stay through early January.
SA: Arrive in January/February, stay through August.
Spring: Arrive in January/February. stay through May.

Disneyland VS Walt Disney World

So this is a VERY OPINIONATED pros and cons list for the two parks. They are the two most similar Disney parks (in America, I can't speak for the international parks) so obviously they get compared a lot. Many people say that the first park you visit is your favorite, but apparently I'm the odd one out for that! I first visited Disneyland in 3rd grade, and Disney World in 8th grade, and even though I LOVE both parks, I'm partial to Disney World. Of course I also lived there for a semester so that might have a little something to do with it ;) So the following comparisons list is based solely off MY EXPERIENCES. Other people will have completely different opinions, and that's okay, but I'm going to go ahead and write down my own comparisons and opinions. I've been to Disneyland three times, at ages 9 (I think?), 19, and 20. I visited Disney World at ages 13, 16, 18, and 19/20. For those of you who might think "wow, this girl is spoiled, she's been a million times", I paid for 2/3 of those trips by myself :) Ok so here goes. If I don't mention something, it's because I either haven't done it, or the two are too similar between the two parks (such as Big Thunder Mountain and the Haunted Mansion).

Attractions:

Disneyland:

• Indiana Jones
• Splash Mountain > WDW
• Pirates of the Caribbean > WDW
• Some might say the Matterhorn, but I'm not a fan of that ride, it HURTS!
• Tomorrowland attractions as a whole are better (DLR includes Star Tours!)

Disney World:

• Space Mountain > DLR
• More shows, Mickey's Filharmagic is one of my favorites!
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor

Food:

Disneyland:

• Larger variety of foods
• More quick-service restaurants serving full-service style meals
• Churros are everywhere
• Blue Bayou restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean

Disney World: 

• Be Our Guest restaurant
• Disney nuggets are everywhere <3
• More frozen drink options
• More food in general, easy to find food everyone likes!

Shows:

Disneyland:

• Paint the Night is FAR superior to the Mainstreet Electrical Parade
• Jedi Training Academy

Disney World:

• Festival of Fantasy Parade
• I'm sorry but Wishes will forever be the best fireworks show
• Celebrate the Magic
• Having Celebrate the Magic and Wishes separate was better than combining the two like they do in Disneyland Forever Fireworks (I think that's what it's called?)

Overall Park Layout:

Disneyland:

• Everything is compact which makes it easier to find things
• It's the original! Even though the castle is smaller...it's the ORIGINAL!
• Better landscaping around the castle

Disney World:

• The castle is more castle-y, it's MUCH larger!
• Everything is more spread out which makes it SEEM less crowded
• There are fewer and larger lands, Disneyland can be pretty overwhelming

My overall opinion is that Disney World is better designed, and that's why it Walt wasn't satisfied with Disneyland. Disneyland is small and surrounded by cheap hotels and fast food joints, Disney World is it's own little city which truly makes it seem like your transported to a magical and CLEAN place :) Disney World just feels like home. And the last thing that really put Disney World over the edge for me is the cast members. Disneyland cast members are great, but Disney World cast members are memorable and outstanding. I'm pretty sure this is because Disney World hires many Disney College Program and International cast members, people who really want to be there and make the magic. Those in California were almost ALL from California, and we didn't experience a single magical moment while we were there. 

Obviously I'm slightly biased ;) But I prefer Disney World. I do think, however, that if you're a Disney fan you should absolutely visit BOTH parks. They are similar yet unique, and both will add a little more magic to your Disney experiences :) 

West Coast Road Trip: Disneyland Resort

Disneyland was incredibly fun. I was SO excited to see another Disney castle! When we walked around the corner and saw Main Street U.S.A. and the castle for the first time I was super happy but also thought "huh, I remember the castle being a lot bigger than that" haha. In  case you've never been to Disneyland...the castle is like half the size of the castle in Magic Kingdom (but no less magical! Still gorgeous of course). We kept getting lost because it's so similar to Magic Kingdom, but set up slightly differently so we kept ending up in the wrong lands! So strange hahaha. They really fit as much as possible into the Disneyland property. There has to be at least 3 times more attractions than California Adventure!

I got to meet up with one of my coworkers from Studio Catering Co. in Hollywood Studios, Lizzie, who is doing the Summer Alumni Program in Disneyland at the dole whip stand by the Enchanted Tiki Room. So that was awesome :) We got to do SO many cool things! We rode Space Mountain, Star Tours, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure, and  Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. It really wasn't that busy which was pretty surprising for a July day! And the weather was mid 70's which is perfect. I think our longest wait time was maybe 45 minutes for Space Mountain.

As far as comparisons for attractions go...the Disney World Space Mountain is better, but the Disneyland Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean is better. The other rides are pretty much the same in both parks. And if you've only been to one of the parks, Indiana Jones is basically the same as Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom but with different theming (obviously). And I must admit I prefer Cinderella's castle in Magic Kingdom even though Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland is also beautiful (and the original).

We were PUMPED for the food at Disneyland but unfortunately all the stuff I had picked out (through the Disney Food Blog) were at sit down restaurants... :( So I got a cheesy garlic bagel twist for lunch, Starbucks for breakfast, and Blue Bayou for dinner where we both got filet mignon. Blue Bayou is the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The bread they bring out is AMAZING and our steaks were also really good. Our waiter was alright, but we had higher expectations since this is indeed Disney.

We were surprisingly disappointed by the Disneyland cast members. We didn't get to witness any magical moments or any cast member go out of their way to do something special for a guest. Seriously the only two cast members that even mentioned our pins or asked us questions were previous CPs! Also like every cast member there is from California which is boring. So Disney World definitely impressed us more with cast member interaction and guest satisfaction. Not saying Disneyland was bad, but it also wasn't any better than any other place I've been to (besides Disney World).

The Paint the Night parade was SO much better than the Main Street Electrical Parade in Magic Kingdom! The ONLY complaint I have is that in their transition phases between floats they play THE BLASTED MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE MUSIC! Which gets stuck in your head and never leaves. Ever. But besides that is was perfect ;)

The fireworks were amazing of course, but I prefer Wishes. Wishes tells a story with Jiminy Cricket whereas Disneyland Forever Fireworks was more of a movie montage. Still beautiful but not very emotional. They did something similar to Celebrate the Magic but DURING the fireworks show and used Main Street as a canvas for a light show. I wish the two would have been separate because I was constantly turning back and forth to see both elements, but it was still a really cool use of technology :)

Oh, and did I mention we got to see Kanye West and the Kardashians? Yeah they got the Carousel all to themselves and we saw them ride it and get off because we were right across from them in line for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! The only two times I've seen famous people were both at Disneyland! Last spring break was Ashley Benson from Pretty Little Liars and this week was Kanye and the Kardashians. So that's definitely something Disneyland has on Disney World, way more celebrities!

Anyhoo here's my video from the trip :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Hvdqs6OH8

West Coast Road Trip: Disney California Adventure

I HAD THE MOST AMAZING TRIP PEOPLE. My roommate from the DCP, Lindsey, and I made the lovely 20+ hour road trip from Anacortes, WA (up north between Seattle and Canada) to Murietta, CA. We stayed with one of our roommates from the DCP, Ashley. The road trip was long but surprisingly fun! We stopped at Voodoo Doughnuts in Oregon and blasted our Disney playlist the whole way to California :) By the way California is currently an extremely dry and brown wasteland (no offense to you Californians).

So we stayed in Ashland, OR on the first night and drove into LA the second night. We stopped at Downtown Disney for Earl of Sandwich, churros, and fireworks. If you've never been to Disneyland, Disneyland and Downtown Disney and California Adventure are all in the same area. So it's like a 30 second walk from Disneyland to California Adventure (we're calling these DLR and DCA). It was SO nice to see Disney fireworks <3 <3 <3 We finally got to Murietta where Ashley lives (about 1.5 hours from Disneyland).

We left around 8:30am for California Adventure and had SO much fun :) Ashley, Lindsey, Ashley's boyfriend Zach, and I all went to the park and it was perfect! The weather was surprisingly cool which was awesome. I still got burnt. Haha :) We FINALLY got our Disney chicken nuggets (trust me, there's none better!) and we ate our first Disney corndog which they're apparently famous for. We were so excited for the food...we got also got to see World of Color which made me cry (they play the Celebrate the Magic music from Disney World), and the Aladdin show which is always HYSTERICAL.

We rode California Screamin', the Little Mermaid ride, the Golden Zephyr (aka flying boat things), the Silly Symphony Swings ride, Soarin' Over California (twice), Radiator Springs Racers (imagine a Cars themed Test Track), Mickey's Fun Wheel - the swinging ones obviously, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, and Monster's Inc. Mike & Sully to the Rescue. Neither of us are big fans of Tower of Terror, so we decided to skip that one. My favorites were definitely California Screamin', the Little Mermaid, and Soarin'. A thrill ride, a classic, and one that reminds me of Disney World <3

California Adventure was super fun, but of course Disneyland was what we were REALLY looking forward to! Once I can get my photos to upload I'll post those! Here's our video from the trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=17&v=I6U53nWRaO4