Does Post-Disney Depression Get Easier?

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! I had a wonderful time being home for five days :) Luckily while I was home I got to see Lindsey, my DCP roomie!! We had LOTS of reminiscing and that's what brought on this post for me :) In the (almost) year since I've been out of the program I'll kind of go over the ups and downs, and what I anticipate for the future. 

The first six months or so were the hardest. You have to go back to school, or home, or (in my case) New Zealand, and it's a hard adjustment! You're SO used to going to the parks when you're bored, eating whatever the heck you want (hello chicken nuggets!!) and not gaining weight because you walk and sweat so much, and being able to use your annual pass at Universal just because you're craving a Butterbeer. The hardest part for me, being in New Zealand, is that I was no longer surrounded by these wonderful and POSITIVE human beings that are genuinely thrilled to be working, and that I was in a tiny town with so little to do on the weekdays. It's SO easy in the DCP to get to the parks, or the resorts to check out the gingerbread houses, or Downtown Disney (sorry, Disney Springs) to get a Starbucks and window shop. You just go from this amazing semester of constantly doing fun things with happy people, to normal life with some happy people and many angry/sad/bored people. So the adjustment was incredibly hard, but I had a constant group message going with my roommates that always cheered me up :) 

It's easier now that I'm back in my normal schedule (in America) with my good friends, but I'll go through bouts of missing it a ton. Like right now. Lindsey basically said the same thing, it's now bearable, but we still miss it a lot some days! We're both planning on going back for spring 2017! It was so weird for me being back in Magic Kingdom with Sarah, it was like no time had changed, but it was SO weird because we had to try squish as much in as possible rather than just meandering around and enjoying our time! So strange. And so hard to leave. Also weird to see the other CPs at my old work location, but fun to see my old coworkers :) 

Pretty much the first year sucks being away, but you go from craving Disney everyday and kind of hating your life, to still missing Disney but being able to be content with your time away :) Of course everyone has a different experience, but Lindsey and I were pretty much the same. You go through these stages (ESPECIALLY AROUND APPLICATION SEASON OMG) when you're like hmmm....how can I do another program and still graduate on time...but then you realize you can't. And continue with Plan A of doing another program once you graduate :) Can you guys believe I'll probably be doing application blogs less than a year from now?! I REALLY hope it all works out like I want it to <3

Anyway, hopefully this offered a little insight into the year following your program. I miss it all the time, and especially miss blogging my awesome days, but am running out of blog ideas! It's like having a little piece of home to read :) My advice to ANYONE doing a program is to vlog/blog/take videos/document your whole life in pictures because it is SO fun to go back and read/watch/view them. Whenever I'm homesick for Disney I go back and read my old blog posts! It's so much fun to see what I was thinking throughout the program. The first and last few are particularly fun to read. 

Anyhoo, have an amazing week! I plan on going to go see the Good Dinosaur, and of course Star Wars once that comes out <33333333 Until next time, have a magical day :)

WDW Trip Day Four: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Our final day of our amazing trip ended in my home park! I only had about two hours here, because I had to catch the bus back to the hotel at 1:15pm. Luckily there's not a WHOLE lot to do in Studios right now, especially since Sarah doesn't do Rockin' Rollercoaster OR Tower of Terror! So we did Star Tours, then went and saw Beauty and the Beast show (which I had never seen before, but always meant to go see). It was super cute but I must admit that I prefer Disneyland's Aladdin! SIDE NOTE: SO MAD THEY'RE TAKING IT AWAY. It's seriously so good!! And there is no need to put in ANOTHER Frozen show, there are plenty already. Anyway, getting sidetracked. Well we got to go visit my old restaurant which was super fun, I got to see an old coordinator, bartender, and three of my old coworkers! One of them is now a coordinator which is great, she deserves it! I tried a pina colada for the first time, and was surprisingly disappointed. I think I prefer the virgin version hahaha! Sweet sugary drinks just don't do it for me.

Well I had a 5:15pm flight home, and had such a fun flight! I took a short nap in the beginning, but for the next 3 hours ended up playing with the little girl next to me. She was in first grade and wanted me to help her with her homework, then play makeup games on her iPad with her, then play with her fortune teller (remember those?! "Pick a color. Y-E-L-L-O-W. Now pick a number..."). She was SO darling, telling me all the characters she got to meet in Disney World. Her grandma was also in our row and was a really neat person, she grew up in Holland. So they were incredibly fun to sit with. The little girl's name was Annika, and at the end of the flight she goes "maybe next time I go to Disney World, we can meet up in Hollywood Studios and meet Baymax". And as if that wasn't cute enough she then says "well I hope you're on my next flight, this was fun!". OK STOP. So cute. It was her first flight ever, to and from Orlando. Well turns out her and her grandma live in Fort Collins too! They were both extremely sweet and made the flight fly by. And like that, my vacation was over :( I got home around 10:30pm, then had to be up the next morning for my 8am class. Had class from 8am to 1:30pm, then work from 2pm to 8:30pm. I just got off work so I'm now FINALLY home. It's been a very very very long day. I wish I was back at Disney World :( But let's be honest, I'll be back there again soon enough ;)

So weird without the hat :(

The worst part of the whole trip, besides leaving (obviously), and not being able to use my cast discount, was not having our whole apartment there with us. I've been lucky enough to be able to see 4 of my 5 other roommates in the 10 months since our program ended, but it would be so amazing to be able to meet up in our old home <3 LOVE YOU ALL! #26301

WDW Trip Day Three: ANIMAL KINGDOM AND MICKEY'S NOT SO SCARY HALLOWEEN PARTY!!

This morning we were supposed to meet at DAK at 11am, but her brother slept through his alarm and ended up showing up at 12:15. We headed to Festival of the Lion King, which made me emotional for some reason haha but I love that show! We were in the giraffe section. Then we went to Dinosaur to (barely) catch our FastPasses, and I have to say that ride is scarier than I remember. After Dinosaur we went straight to our FastPasses at Expedition Everest, which is always SO much fun. We got Yak and Yeti quick service for lunch (I got chicken fried rice), then went to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail to see the gorillas, they're so funny. One of the gorillas was sitting in a corner, and another (that looked like a teenager) came over and pinched her butt then ran away hahahaha. Fast forward 5 minutes and the same gorilla chucks a bucket at her. These animals are fantastic. Well we went to our FastPasses at Kilimanjaro Safari then headed out back to the hotel. Oh, and I ran into my RA from freshman year at Colorado State University who is now doing the Disney College Program as a Photopass Photographer which is crazy. Small world?

Cheyenne, my freshman RA!

We got ready for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) then headed to the park at 7pm. I went as Elsa on a Budget, and Sarah was Hallie Golighty from Breakfast at Tiffany's. This night was probably the highlight of the vacation, SO fun. All wait times were crazy short! The first thing we did was take castle pictures, then go get Pixie Dusted at Sir Mickey's for the FIRST TIME EVER.

We waited like 10 minutes to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel, and maybe 20 minutes to meet Snow White.

We then waited by Walt in front of the castle for the Hocus Pocus Villain show WHICH WAS SO GOOD, then Celebrate the Magic, and Wishes. They were all back to back which was great. The fireworks were spectacular, and Celebrate the Magic is always wonderful, but it's the normal one.

After those shows we rode Haunted Mansion, then headed over to Frontierland for the Halloween Parade (which was also really cool, the grave diggers are AWESOME). On our way to the parade we ran into the Evil Queen from Snow White who randomly came up to us and touched our faces hahaha kinda freaky, but some great pictures came out of it!

Finally we hit up all the short ride lines! We waited 35 minutes for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which is CRAZY short for that attraction. I think we nailed our picture poses.

We also walked right on to Space Mountain, and I did a little better with this pose.

That was our last attraction of the night because the park closed at midnight, and we walked on at 11:55pm. Seriously the best night ever. We also Trick-Or-Treated but only one location.

WDW Trip Day Two: MAGIC KINGDOM!!

Let's be honest here, this is the day I was really looking forward to. We got to the park around 11am, and stayed until like 11:30pm. And this day FLEW by, it was crazy!! We rode Space Mountain, and I failed at the photo. This is a common occurrence with me, I always look the wrong direction.

We also rode the Little Mermaid ride, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Teacups, Astro Orbiter, Big Thunder, and went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor and Mickey's Philharmagic. This was our first time on Astro Orbiter and we had to squish into this tiny little space shuttle haha. But one of the Cast Members was from New Zealand so that was exciting! And Sarah's brother got on the big screen at the Laugh Floor! If you've seen the show you know that they call someone out to dance, and he got called out! But he was lame and didn't dance. I almost forgot! The AMAZING cast member let us go through the FastPass line because Sarah was wearing her Disney Alumni shirt, so that was really special for us :) Shoutout to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor CM! Wish we had written down his name.

I got to see my old coworker (from SCC) Mckenzie who now works at the Haunted Mansion!

We also got to meet Ariel, she's always so much fun to chat with :)

We of course got LeFou's Brew, and kids chicken nugget meals for every meal ;) Also, I got an adorable white V-neck shirt that has Walt and Mickey on Main Street <3

We ended the night with Celebrate the Magic and Wishes, and of course I cried. Celebrate the Magic just always gets to me haha <3 We walked around some more after Wishes then headed back to the hotel! And can I just rant for a second? PEOPLE THAT VIDEOTAPE FIREWORKS WITH THE VIDEO LIGHT ON. 1. What happened to enjoying the moment?! You're spending the entire show watching your phone screen to make sure you have a good shot, if you're going to do that just go watch it on YouTube! 2. It is SO distracting to see those blinding white lights that people use for videotaping at night. Also 50% of people are videotaping and you're surrounded by little phone screens which is also distracting. 3. Parents completely ignore their kids so they can videotape. Seriously?! Ok. Rant over. Besides that irritating fact, it was an absolutely PERFECT day.

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.