Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2017

I LOVE food and got to try a lot of good stuff from the Food and Wine Festival, so I thought I'd share my experiences! Mostly through photos. 

Okay, these Greek Nachos were one of my all time FAVORITE Food and Wine Festival eats. Great value (that's a lot of food for $4.50 in Disney!) and it holds you over well enough to be considered a lunch option. So good. So flavorful.

Spanikopita - not my favorite, but Martia enjoyed hers!

This sundae was surprisingly good. Simple but refreshing.

My friend Kasia was OBSESSED with the tomato hummus, but I'm more of a plain hummus gal myself, and the crackers were too thin for me ;) But she LOVED this snack.

The frozen mojito was good, nothing spectacular though.

The beer cheese soup is SO GOOD. One of my favorite dishes for SURE. Crazy flavorful, you'll definitely not want to share.

The filet mignon was also really good. Perhaps a tad overdone for me, but the flavor is phenomenal.

The ice wine was good!! Nothing you wouldn't expect from an apple ice wine.

This stew was good but kind of weird. Apparently neeps and tatties are basically rutabaga and potato. I had to google that. But the dish itself had an interesting texture/sweetness to it reminiscent of applesauce, an odd accompaniment for stew. I don't know if that's from the rutabaga as I've never had that before, but it was a little odd.

The salmon pancake was good! I'm a self-proclaimed salmon snob so it wasn't quite up to my standard but it'll do ;)

The pudding was SO flavorful, but I definitely had to share because it is also very very rich. You can definitely taste the whiskey in the sauce!

The cheese dip was REALLY GOOD. I think the thickness of it threw some people off, you can just taste the fat hahaha, but the flavor was delicious. We ended up eating ours like soup (they give you two tiny bread chunks).

Probably one of my favorite drinks was this pumpkin caramel chai milkshake (nonalcoholic). Screams fall flavors.

The slush was good, but still can't compare to the amazing rose slush in France from Flower and Garden! YUM!

I got the beef twice and was a little disappointed both times. Not quite the tenderness and flavor I was hoping for.

I've heard so much about this cheese bread!! My friend Alex LOVES it and I thought it was good but the texture is very doughy. That threw for a loop. Good flavor though!

THIS beef was really good. The gouda mashed potatoes were ESPECIALLY delicious. Would definitely get again!! I was bummed to see they took the savory potato leek waffle off the menu though!

The hummus fries were a let down for both of us. The flavor wasn't even remotely spicy, and the texture was too weird. Like biting into a giant hummus block.

My favorite alcoholic drink from food and wine was this pom pineapple sake! SO fruity and refreshing and delicious.

The ginger pork had awesome flavor, but I think pork is a little too fatty for me. Fat chunks really throw me off.

By far the most disappointing food from food and wine. You can even tell from the picture that it wasn't very good. Cold and bland.

Another good deal with a big portion size, this stew with polenta was good and hearty!

The bratwurst itself was good, however, it comes with mustard and I HATE mustard so that kind of ruined it for me hahaha oops should have asked for no mustard!

The only beer I've ever liked. The pomegranate beer! Fruity and light!

The mango lassi was good but SO fluffy (weird way to describe a drink but it's so true) that it was hard to drink and easier to eat with a spoon.

My sister LOVED the korma chicken. I only had a little bite as it's not really my thing, but my family loved it!

The bread service was fun, all three accompaniments were pretty good, but my favorite was the garlic!

These potstickers were exactly what you'd expect from China, delicious.

I got the lychee punch drink which was good but STRONG.

The garlic noodle and shrimp were good but a wee bit spicy for me.

The mango bubble tea was REALLY good but probably also way overpriced when you can get a LARGER peach bubble tea for CHEAPER right next door at the China drink booth thing that's always there.

The tequila shrimp was yummy and flavorful, but I think I preferred the Mexican dish I had during flower & garden. This was still good though!! Maybe a tad spicy, but not so much that it overpowered the dish.

We were all pretty disappointed with the fried chicken because we'd heard such good things about it, but we all loved the cornbread!

BOOTHS I FORGOT TO TAKE MENU PHOTOS OF:

Hawaii

I don't like spam, but my roommates loved this spam hash!

The passionfruit cheesecake was REALLY GOOD but was also super light on the passionfruit flavor, which was a bummer.

Honestly how can you go wrong with kahlua pork sliders. Yum yum yum. 

Thailand

MY FAVORITE DISH FROM THE ENTIRE FESTIVAL!!!!! This chicken with peanut sauce may not look pretty, but it's hands down the most flavorful and delicious thing I tried. And I tried A LOT. 

Coastal Eats

The shrimp scampi was good and cheesy, but as a Northwesterner, I'm a bit picky about my seafood ;)

Active Eats

This avocado crema was a bit weird, layered with white cake and strawberries, but pretty good!!

The Light Lab

This drink was my favorite of the three Light Lab drinks I tried. This one was a citrus-apple freeze. Like a fruity slushy!

I just got this Bleu Spectrum for the boba balls, but it's basically bubbly with boba. I don't really like champagne/sparkling wine, so not my thing. 

I also tried the fun drink that was vanilla tonic water poured over cotton candy, but tonic water is nasty and bitter so I thought it was awful.

The Chocolate Studio

This is the nitro-chocolate pudding thing with caramel. It was good and weird. Good flavor, but where I was expecting more of an ice cream I got a thick almost frosting kind of texture. Odd but I didn't hate it. 

Wine and Dine Studio

I love cheese and this board was pretty good, but the bread tasted very chewy/stale. There was a soft brie-esque cheese, blue cheese with apricot jam, and a toma cheese with honey. You're probably better off saving cheese for restaurants/at home, and saving food and wine for the meal stuff that's harder to come by!

Africa

Here's another dish I was really excited for, the Ethiopian lentil stew, but it wasn't my favorite. A little too spicy and not super balanced. I know a lot of people loved it though. 

Overall I had an awesome time trying all this delicious food over the course of three months!! My favorite were the Thai peanut chicken, the Greek nachos, the beer cheese soup, and the Belgian beef and potatoes. In comparison to the Flower & Garden Festival, I preferred the Flower & Garden drinks and desserts (as I'm more of a fruity person rather than decadent), but preferred the Food & Wine savory foods. I love love love Food & Wine Festival and would totally recommend it!!! 

Week Forty-Nine: MERRY CHRISTMAS + Last Mine Train Shift Ever!!

December 25th (Monday): Merry Christmas!! I worked a closing shift from 4:30pm - 1:15am and felt pretty awful. I had this nasty cold and cough that hit me HARD in the middle of the night. So I got horrible sleep since I couldn't breathe, then went to work as a sicky. It was an insane day, we hit capacity and had to close the park entrance from like 10am - noon or something, but I was lucky enough to pull good positions. ALSO I GOT A GUEST LETTER!! So exciting :) I think I wrote about this a couple weeks back, but I had a family that had been evacuated off Peter Pan's Flight and got paper FastPasses as a form of guest recovery. The FP's excluded the Mine Train, but they told me that nowhere else would accept them since it was during a Christmas party, so I accommodated them. Well that family wrote an email to guest relations saying that this cast member (me!!) was really kind and helpful and turned a negative experience into a positive one. So my leaders printed off the email, wrote me a four keys card, and let me keep them! Super awesome. Also I got to close tower for the first time ever, which was very exciting because I got to sit for the last two hours of my shift. And according to my notes (I keep notes throughout the week on my phone so I remember what I did for these blog posts) I "didn't die, so that's good". Hahaha it was a crazy day so glad I came out on top ;)

December 26th (Tuesday): I worked from 1:15pm - 11:45pm and it was a WEIRD day. I pulled FastPass twice, which I hate, but clearly I survived so it's okay. I did have one guest call the guest in front of him an a**hole in front of the guy's little daughter. So that was awful. Luckily my coordinator was there so she could help fix the situation. Also this wack job of a woman HOPPED out of the train when we were dispatching it. She had a row to herself, so we think she slid over into the empty seat, then got up and jumped off THE MOVING TRAIN. I mean it was the very beginning so it had only moved a foot or so, but imagine if I hadn't been paying attention and stopped the train?! Like seriously WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! On a more positive note, we had one of the Dance Moms girls ride and I got to check her family's lap bars. So that's fun!! It wasn't a main girl, it was Sarah Hunt who pops up every once in awhile on that show.

December 27th (Wednesday): I was scheduled 11:45am - 8:15pm but was just so exhausted from being sick and working seven days in a row (this was my eighth) that I called in late and slept an extra two hours. I didn't pull great positions, but I had a really good day and good guests so that's good!! Bob Chapek (chairman, right under Bob Iger) was in the park and so was Chris Evans! He rode Mine Train while I was in tower so I didn't get to see him in person. But yeah, that was my day!

December 28th (Thursday): Off! FINALLY! I went to Animal Kingdom with Martia in the morning because I had a Flight of Passage rider switch that expired December 31st. We had FP for Everest and Primeval Whirl, and of course went and saw our roomie Jani at Festival of the Lion King. Then we did FoP and got to ride it 1.5 times because the first time it stopped halfway through!! We think it was because a kid threw up in another room. But yeah we got to ride 1.5 times so that's cool! Such an amazing ride. Then Marty went to work so I did Gorilla Falls and Maharj Jungle Trek with my camera, and rode Kilimanjaro Safari! They had a 125-minute wait, so I'm very glad I had a FP.

December 29th (Friday): I worked from 4:45pm - 1:15am and went into my shift thinking I had four mine train shifts left: today, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Well my Sunday and Monday shift were super long so I traded with a circus/mine coworker for the circus, and when I went to check out my schedule again, my Tuesday shift disappeared. SO IT WAS MY LAST MINE TRAIN SHIFT EVER!!!!! Insane right?!!? Overall it was a good day. Even though I was merge FOUR times, no one yelled at me, so it was a good day. I also got to be tower at one point, and end the night at grouper, my favorite position. I got to be the last one on the train and take gem pics, so shoutout to my coordinator Emily for letting that happen. So proud to be a miner :')

December 30th (Saturday): I WAS OFF BLESS. It was insane at MK with park hours until 3am, so I was VERY glad to be off. I went to Epcot during the day and rode Living with the Land, Soarin', and Spaceship Earth. I also got food in the World Showcase, and did a little bit of late Christmas shopping for the fam ;)

Then I went to the Polynesian to watch the New Years Eve fireworks (yes, they do them the 30th as well as the 31st) and they were AMAZING. I sat on the beach and watched the sunset, then watched them set off the 6:30 fireworks. I wasn't about to stay out until 11:50pm, I had to be up at 6:30am for work!

December 31at (Sunday): I traded my 17-hour mine train shift for a nice 8am - 4:30pm circus shift. It was pretty crazy. We were at capacity and closed the park off for a couple hours in the afternoon, and the Barnstormer was an 80-minute wait. The line went through the whole queue and extended BEYOND that. I have never seen that ride so busy. Insane. Some guest told me that Haunted Mansion was 300 minutes or something wild like that, so yep, crazy day. It was a pretty easy day for me, I was bummed not to get Barn grouper at all, but I had an easy day so it's okay ;) We did have a lady push a cast member though so when I left for the day we had a coordinator, leader, and security all down with this aggressive family. They pushed the CM at FastPass because she wouldn't let them up with a fake FP. Honestly people suck sometimes.

That's it for my CRAZY Christmas week!! My last full week of work. Wow. Going out with a bang, am I right? ;)

Week Forty-Eight: Mine Train Fire Alarm + INSANE WEEK

December 18th (Monday): I had physical therapy in the morning, then went straight to Disney Springs to meet up with two of my friends to see the Last Jedi (the new Star Wars movie)!!! We all thought it was really good, kept us on our toes the whole time for sure. When I came into work we were posting 200 minutes, and that's when I knew it was going to be one of THOSE days. We got up to a FOUR hour wait at one point, and it was so crazy that they extended park hours from 11pm to midnight. SO we all got force extended...yippee. Luckily I ended up pulling great positions, so it was okay. Just a stressful work day. I think I worked from 4:30pm - 1:15am?

December 19th (Tuesday): I went to Magic Kingdom in the morning with my circus friends, Peter, Chris, and Alex. We went and saw Hall of Presidents which just reopened, and rode Dumbo and the Mine Train. Then we went and did an escape room, which we failed to escape from, got Freddy's for dinner, and ended our night in Epcot! We got to see Neil Patrick Harris' Candlelight Processional (standing room, but great view), ride Nemo, and see Illuminations from the FP viewing area! It was really good, I'd never seen it from the FP location and it's so much better. Also we got ice cream from Ample Hills on the Boardwalk.

December 20th (Wednesday): I had an awful night's sleep with coughing fits all night, then had the CRAZIEST day of work. My shift was 2:45pm - 1:45am. It was a 180-minute wait when I came in, so we're already really busy, then around 9pm our FIRE ALARM goes off. And granted, sometimes when the fireworks go off and the wind hits just right, this will happen, however, this had never happened to me. So we're doing our thing when all of a sudden the lights come on and our emergency lights start flashing and we just start dumping people through the door. Cycled out the trains and basically kicked everyone out of the line. Of course we had guest recovery, but since it was an emergency, we couldn't hand out fastpasses until after guest relations came (maybe 10 minutes after we dumped?). People were AWFUL though!! Demanding fastpasses as we're getting them out of the building, like they'd rather have a fastpass then get everyone out safely. It's ridiculous. The second we all leave we're bombarded, not even a second to breathe. Luckily there was no fire, and after guest relations came, the worst guests left, and everyone else was pretty understanding. What sucked though, was when we were resetting, everything kept going wrong and we'd have to start over. My coworker had to walk the track and reset the ride FIVE times. So we were down from about 9:20pm - 1am (close). Terrible timing, because the extra magic hours guests didn't get to ride at all during EMH. So yep that day was nuts. On the bright side we hit a near record for guests riding in an hour so EFFICIENCY! YAY!

December 21st (Thursday): I had a rough start to my day, trying to do laundry only to find out the card reader was broken, then I locked myself out of my apartment, and had to wear a dirty costume to work. But luckily work went really well because I never had to go outside or go to merge! YAY! BLESSINGS! It was also an 2:15pm - 8:15pm day. Also the card reader was back up and working that night so I got to do laundry.

December 22nd (Friday): I worked from 10:45am - 7:15pm and I started my day by pulling tower, then pulling tower again after rotation came, so that was a great start. The only time I pulled an outdoor position was during the Christmas party when I got FP, so that was super easy! It was our last Christmas party of the year, so it was fun to be able to work it. Also I took the wrong bus and was late to work by two minutes, but my coordinator fixed it so I didn't get penalized :) THANKS BRANDON!

December 23rd (Saturday): It was the day after Martia's 24th birthday, so I took her out to First Watch for breakfast. It was super busy but we got seated immediately because they had a party of two no show. Also during breakfast we booked our cruise excursion in the Bahamas which is going to be ATLANTIS!! That super cool water park resort thing. So excited. After breakfast we went home and started packing/throwing away stuff, because we move out in just over a week. Felt good to at least start organizing. Work is a bit of a blur, but I know it was insane because we had (allegedly) 82,000 guests in the park. I worked from 4:45pm - 1:14am and I closed station assist and got to join my coworker on our nighttime ride through! Fun end to the night!!

December 24th (Sunday): CHRISTMAS EVE! I had a really easy 2:30pm - 8:30pm shift and I had good positions but the day DRAGGED on. We had another busy day, posting 240 minutes at one point. Also we had a LOT of international guests with a language barrier, so it was a little less efficient than usual. After work I went home and changed, then picked Martia up from work and we went on a hunt for a Christmas Eve church service!! Well the church I found was dark when we showed up at 10:45pm for their 11pm service, so I might have made a mistake somewhere. So we drove 40 minutes both ways to Winter Garden to basically drive around and see Christmas lights. So not a complete waste, but quite embarrassing hahaha. Then we went home and ate food. 

Week Forty-Seven: 77K in Magic Kingdom + Rough Week for Positions

December 11th (Monday): I had a crazy (but awesome) day off with my friend Jennifer! We had one day to do three parks, so we started at Hollywood Studios where we were able to do Rockin' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Star Tours, and Frozen Sing-A-Long all before 12:30pm. Then we went to Epcot where we got a DELICIOUS caramel filled salted pretzel with vanilla ice cream, rode Test Track, and Living with the Land. Then off to Magic Kingdom where we rode Mine Train, Dumbo, Space Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, Big Thunder Mountain, the People Mover, and maybe one or two others that I'm forgetting. We lined up at 8pm for 9pm fireworks, Jen saving our spot and me getting us Starbucks. Well it was about 50 degrees out, so the line for Starbucks was FORTY MINUTES LONG. Yes, I waited. Yes, I knew it would be long. There is no shame. But it worked out perfectly because I got back to our spot with ten minutes to spare, and our area wasn't too full so I had no problem finding her!

December 12th (Tuesday): I worked from 11:45am - 11:45pm, my first 12-hour shift in SO LONG. It was awful because our wait time kept posting 40-60 minutes when it was actually 120. We kept calling and changing it, but it would change back, which was dreadful. Because ANGRY guests. I also pulled two of my least favorite positions THREE times. Thankfully I ended in tower, so a nice way to end the night.

December 13th (Wednesday): We were doing really well with FastPass until like 2pm, then it got crazy backed up. Naturally I had to be out at FP, a position I absolutely hate, just in time for the mob to come. Yippee. I ended the shift at unload assist, a mostly useless position that just waves and tells people where to exit. So easy end to the day! I had an easy 9:30am - 3:30pm shift.

December 14th (Thursday): I worked from 7:30am - 4pm, and put in for an ER I was convinced I was going to get (because they normally give out like three ERs at least and I was second in line), but didn't get one. Of course I didn't pack a lunch because I thought I would get my ER, so jokes on me. I pulled FP twice (I know, rough week for me on positions), and merge once. We started out with great staffing, so that was nice, but it got crazy real quick.

December 15th (Friday): I started my day off with physical therapy, and treated myself to a papaya boba tea on the way home. I worked from 2:45pm - midnight and I pulled FP twice AGAIN but it was fine because it was a Christmas party where there is minimal FPs. When I was at FP I had a family who got evacuated off Peter Pan's Flight and were having trouble with their recovery FPs, so I accommodated them, and they were super grateful. It's just really nice to know that some people appreciate you when you do nice things for them. They were super sweet and I could tell it was an honest mistake, so I let them through and let them keep their recovery FPs, and they thanked me multiple times and made sure they knew my name and everything, so that was incredibly sweet :) I also had lots of fun working with one of my coworkers, who was in a really good mood. He's the kind of guy that people either tweet about because he's so good, or take to guest relations because he's so bad. Like, he's SUPER animated and dramatic, so when he's in a good mood he's TONS of fun, but he can be SO rude when he's in a bad mood. So he was in a good mood and we had lots of fun with the guests!

December 16th (Saturday): IT WAS SO BUSY. We had 77,000 people in the park today which was NUTS, and pretty close to our park capacity. My shift was 5pm - 1am, and we had a FP line out the door and around the corner basically the whole day. At one point our standby line was 3.5 hours. Yeah, awful. So that was a JOY, but for the most part my shift went well. We had lots of trainers and coordinators helping us out with efficiency, so we were moving the line the best we POSSIBLY could, which felt nice. I love efficiency haha.

December 17th (Sunday): I was off! Yay!! I went to Magic Kingdom in the morning to meet up with my old roommate, Alyssa (AHHHHHH!), and we got to ride Space Mountain with a FP my leader was kind enough to give to us!

Unfortunately that was really all we were able to do, because I had to go meet my second cousins for lunch! Which was also really nice. We went to Columbia Harbor House and I got to catch up with them (who I haven't seen in years), so that's cool. After that I went to Epcot and got snacks from Japan, walked the World Showcase, and waited in line (for 1.5 hours) for the Candlelight Processional! Trace Adkins was the celebrity narrator, and it was beautiful as always. Then I went home and now I'm here writing this!

Also I only have 2.5 weeks left of work and that's insane. Where has time gone?! AND my roomie Martia and I booked a cruise to the Bahamas!!! So excited. It's January 8 - January 12 and we're so pumped. $360 including taxes through Royal Caribbean for a 4-night, 5-day cruise. WOOOOOO! Can't wait.

Week Forty-Six: MORE VISITORS!

Surprise, surprise, I had another full week of strictly mine train.

December 4th (Monday): So we had SEVENTY of Dan Cockerell's (Magic Kingdom Vice President) colleagues ride the mine train through FastPass, so that was absolute nuts for a while. Work itself was pretty good, I had a solid mix of positions but was still feeling a little under the weather from the stomach flu. On the bus ride home I actually thought I was going to throw up, but luckily I was able to keep it together. Also one of my coworkers came and visited on her day off, so here's a candid she got of me at work haha:

December 5th (Tuesday): It was my day off, but nausea woke me up at 6:45am and I spent the morning throwing up. After FIVE days of this weird stomach bug not making me sick, I threw up on the last day of it. But I did feel better afterward. I also went to physical therapy, I didn't want to call and cancel because I had done that on Friday...probably should have but oh well. I was too scared of throwing up to eat all day, so I had Gatorade and two bowls of applesauce to last me the entire day.

December 6th (Wednesday): It was a struggle of a day. We kept having issues with crying/screaming kids refusing to ride, guests too large to fit in the ride, and all sorts of mayhem that killed our efficiency. And when that happens, we end up with a 2-hour wait. Joy. I did get an ER though, so that's a plus ;) I know I should be keeping my hours since I'm poor, but let's be real here, I'm weak. They offer me an ER and I'm like yes ok can I leave now.

December 7th (Thursday): Another weak day with me taking another ER. Whoops. I was supposed to work 7:30am - 4pm, but ended up going home at 11:30am. Awesome for me, awful for my paycheck. Work was easy, I pulled positions I don't really like, but since it was the morning it was easy. The later the day gets, the crankier people are, and the more $&!* they try pull on you. In the afternoon I completed a job application for when I come home from Disney, then at night I went to Disney Springs to meet up with a friend from my spring program! She came down to visit, so we hit up Blaze pizza, ate ice cream, and walked the Christmas tree trail.

December 8th (Friday): I had PT in the morning, then went to MK in the afternoon with my circus friends! Cassie and Gerri from my spring program were both visiting, so it was fun to hangout with them. We rode Mine Train, Splash Mountain, Dumbo, Barnstormer, and Buzz Lightyear.

Then I went off to work (a super easy 7:15pm - 1:15am) where we were short-staffed. But it was a party night, so it was easy. Also I had to walk all the way to City Hall to turn in $2. That's a solid 10-minute walk, but because someone left TWO DOLLARS behind. But exercise, right?

December 9th (Saturday): I spent the afternoon at Universal with my circus crew again and we rode Forbidden Journey (castle ride), Spiderman, and Mummy. We also saw Merry Grinchmas, a stage show version of Jim Carrey's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

I left early and picked up my friend, Jennifer, from the airport! She came and visited me for the weekend :') We went and checked in to Caribbean Beach Resort, then went to Disney Springs for dinner. We were trying to get a sit-down restaurant but everything had AT LEAST an hour and a half wait. T-Rex was actually almost three hours. And it was 8pm! Crazy!! So we ended up doing Earl of Sandwich and getting Starbucks. We also walked the Christmas tree trail. Then back to the hotel where we watched Star Wars!

December 10th (Sunday): I only had one comp ticket left, so Jen bought a one-day ticket for Animal Kingdom which was used on Sunday, saving my comp for Monday. We got FastPass for Everest (twice), Dinosaur, and Kilimanjaro Safari. We also watched Festival of the Lion King, ate at Pandora, and got Starbucks (twice). We ended the night at Pandora, waiting only 40-minutes for Flight of Passage when the wait time said 140. Wooo!

Week Forty-Five: Treehouse Villa Staycation + Stomach Flu Woes

November 27th (Monday): I worked from 3:45pm - 9:45pm and it was a crazy day. Always the short days are the crazy days. I started off by only shaving one leg in the shower, and not realizing the other leg wasn't smooth until putting my socks on for work, so I shaved the other leg in the sink. Quite the start to a shift, right? Work was pretty awful, I pulled greeter twice (which I HATE because you get yelled at a lot and have to go to merge which I also hate) and we just weren't smooth. A kid peed in a row so we had to call custodial and re-group our rows so people wouldn't sit in those affected rows, but the cast members grouping kept mis-grouping so there was a lot of confusion and inefficiency. I did have two sweet moments though, one was a two-year-old and five-year-old princess both celebrating birthdays, and they were so excited to talk to me and give me high fives!!! I got to see them multiple times and their dad would always say "look girls, it's your friend!" so that was sweet. And we had two little boys, probably about six, walk down the ride exit after they rode chanting "WE ARE MEN! WE ARE MEN!" so that was pretty funny.

November 28th (Tuesday): I worked from 9am - 5:30pm and it was another weird day. I had to be merge by myself (THE WORST) THREE times, as well as FastPass (also a position I don't like) and a couple assist positions. OH and we had this lady that was so rude she made our COORDINATOR cry. Like she was vicious. Apparently she was mad about a miscommunication regarding rider switched, so my coord was explaining to her how it works and she just got pissed and starts (loudly) saying "just get away from me" and I guess it got nastier after I left because my coord ended up crying. THEN we went down like thirty minutes before my bumpout, so what a way to end the shift. The ride went down automatically because one of the intrusion mats (those things that stop the ride if you walk on them, they just looks like mats) went off. People were really nice about it though, I just helped give out FastPasses in the station.

November 29th (Wednesday): Off! Yay! I spent the morning at Epcot with Kasia and we rode Frozen Ever After and Test Track, then checked out Holidays Around the World! I got spring rolls from China, gingerbread gelato/ice cream (idk what honestly) from France, and iced spiced tea from the UK. All pretty good, but I think the ice cream was the winner. We also did the sake bar in Japan which I've always wanted to do! We both got the peach which was really good.

Then we went to Disney Springs and checked out the Christmas tree trail which is so cute, got Starbucks, and really just wandered aimlessly. THEN we went over to Saratoga Springs where our friend Peter booked us all a night in one of their treehouse villas! SO FUN! It was Peter's birthday, Michaelene's birthday, and Kasia's last night (her end date was November 30th), so we got a treehouse to celebrate! It had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room with two pullouts. There were nine of us all together (all circus family), so there were a perfect amount of beds. Peter is adorable so he designed a homemade escape room for us to figure out, so we started the staycation off with an escape room. Then we had dinner (chicken and salad, THANKS PETER!), and went a roasted marshmallows over the hotel campfire. We played outdoor games like cornhole, then settled in for the resort's movie under the stars which was DUMBO! What are the odds?!

We got free popcorn and watched the movie, then went back to our treehouse for more games, and ended with a trip to the hot tub!

November 30th (Thursday): TWO DAYS OFF IN A ROW WHAT. We all woke up around 9am, Peter made us a homemade breakfast of eggs, bacon, and potatoes, and Alex and Caroline went off to work. The rest of us were off, so I went to physical therapy, then we all got back together to go to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. MK we rode the Barnstormer and Dumbo, then got some slushies (I only drank 1/4 because I started to have bad stomach pain). MK was DEAD because the park closed at 4:30pm for a special event.

At studios we saw the Frozen show, got food (except for me because I started to feel dreadful), and got to see the new holiday shows! This includes the light projections on Tower of Terror, the Pixar thingy on the Chinese Theater, and Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! They were all pretty good and there was tons of snow, but by the end I felt awful. I drove Kasia to her hotel and said goodbye (SO SAD) then went home.

December 1st (Friday): I was supposed to work this awesome shift from 2:30pm - 8:30pm but had to call out due to the stomach flu (we think). I also had to call and reschedule physical therapy. I was just in a lot of pain and sat in bed all day, except a trip to the vending machine to get a poweraid. I think I only ate a frozen waffle and some applesauce all day.

December 2nd (Saturday): I was supposed to work from 2:45pm - 11pm but had to call out again for another day of lying in bed with stomach pain. Anytime I ate food I would get these sharp pains, so I had another day of eating basically nothing.

December 3rd (Sunday): I worked from 3:30pm - 12:15am. I felt a little better, but was on and off with the stomach pain. I mostly pulled positions I don't like, but they went smoothly so it was fine. It was also a Christmas party night and I got to see the fireworks which was awesome! Oh and we had this funny family of four who waited in line, got on the ride, had their lap bars checked, and THEN asked if this was a rollercoaster. My coworker says yes, and they say they don't like rollercoasters and all get off. Um what?? You just waited an hour for a ride that you're not going to ride? Crazy. Then I ended my night by going home only to realize our locks were changed and I had the wrong key. So security had to come let me in.