Week Forty-Four: Happy Thanksgiving!

November 20th (Monday): I was off, which was funny because I had a week off then worked two days then was off again. But I had a pretty chill day off after a busy week of fun. I went to Splitsville in the afternoon with some coworkers (Splitsville is the Disney Springs bowling alley), then we checked out the Christmas Tree Trail. The Christmas Tree Trail (I think that's the correct name?) is a trail in Disney Springs with fake snow and a bunch of Christmas trees with different themes. So obviously we took pictures with the Snow White and Dumbo trees.

We also got to see Alex's sister at work which was pretty cool. She works at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, turning little girls into princesses! After the Springs I went to Walmart to get my oil changed, and went grocery shopping for the first time in a month. NOTE TO SELF: WALMART TAKES TWO HOURS FOR AN OIL CHANGE.

November 21st (Tuesday): I was scheduled to work from 7:45am - 4:15pm, but got an ER for 2pm! We were so overstaffed that we had no fewer than SIX greeter positions up for the first half of the day. Work itself was great, I got picked up by a training group at merge, so I got to only do a half rotation at one of my least favorite positions, and I ended my shift in tower!! SO nice to end in a seat. Also there was a weird lady who wanted to talk to a manager because she wanted to go through FastPass without a FastPass. Obviously our coordinator didn't let her through, but that was weird. So I got to home early from work, went to Michaelene's house, then carpooled over to Jenna's place for Friendsgiving! Everyone brought something, and it was a solid mix of store-bought and homemade. We had all the classic dishes (turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, etc.) but our friend Michelle also brought some classic Puerto Rican dishes which was super fun. We had so much food. Also a ton of people brought dessert, so we had apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, brownies, coconut pudding, and I think there might have been something else in there too. A really awesome night though (thanks Jenna!!).

November 22nd (Wednesday): I started the day off with a physical therapy appointment, then I WAS IN THE CIRCUS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ROUGHLY FIVE WEEKS. WHAT. So nice to be back. I worked from 2:30pm - 11pm and I had some awesome families at grouper that I got to chat with, including a couple from Scotland, and a few families with really sweet little kids. I was #blessed with pulling wheelchair assist TWICE, as well as Barnstormer grouper and main panel, all positions that I really enjoy. Then I pulled Dumbo rotation twice which is also positions I really like! So overall a great shift. Super busy though, we had an hour wait for Dumbo.

November 23rd (Thursday): I slept in super late, then had a Mine Train shift from 3pm - 9pm (DREAMS). I pulled FastPass twice (ew), but also pulled tower twice, so that made up for it. I had a few families wish me a Happy Thanksgiving, and we had a potluck at work which mostly consisted of cookies. Work was good, and after work I made Guinness stew! I forgot how long stew takes, however, so I had to stay up until 1:45am to finish it.

November 24th (Friday): I had another PT appointment (which I'm still sore from) in the morning, then I worked from 3pm - 12:45am in the circus. We were so understaffed that we had to close the play tent at like 7pm (cue angry mob). It was another BUSY day with Dumbo posting an 80-minute wait at one point. Also we had THREE lost kid situations, but we ended up finding the parents in all three situations, so all was well. I was at Dumbo the entire shift, and I got to close Dumbo with Kasia. Her end date is November 30th, so it was our last shift together ever :'(

November 25th (Saturday): Day off! I was off by myself, so I slept in until 1pm, which I haven't done in ages, then took my nice camera to Animal Kingdom! I actually missed the bus so first went to Epcot for like twenty minutes, then went from Epcot to DAK. I did Festival of the Lion King, Gorilla Falls, got a FP for Kilimanjaro Safari, and got a FP for Rivers of Light. Then I ended up on the same bus home as Jani, my roomie who works at FOLK!

November 26th (Sunday): BEST DAY EVER. I was supposed to be at the mine from 7:30am - 4pm, but I put in an ER for 12:30pm because I was exhausted and only got like four hours of sleep. The morning was rough though because Mine Train was ready to go, then something caused a non-resettable AKA the ride went down right before park open and we had a delayed opening. So people actually couldn't get in line until 8:35am instead of 8am. But people were really kind about it which was a pleasant surprise. I just did wheelchair assist, then worked a console, then went home. DREAMS PEOPLE. I went home and napped for three hours, then walked to Publix to pick up some groceries I forgot to get last time, and spent the evening in Disney Springs with the roomies! We went to Earl of Sandwich for dinner, then went and saw Coo that night. IT WAS SO GOOD. The whole theater was crying. It's fine. And yeah! That's about it.

Hopefully the busy week is over and we can have a breather before the crazy Christmas crowds :) Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Week Forty-Three: Family Visiting + IRATE Guests

November 13th (Monday): My family and I got up early to go to Universal, and spent the day there until we had to leave (around 2:45pm) to drop my sister off at the airport. Luckily Universal was pretty slow, so we had fairly short lines for all the rides. We started off at Universal, riding Gringotts and the Mummy, then took the Hogwarts Express to Islands of Adventure. At Islands we rode Spiderman, the castle ride (Forbidden Journey?), and Cat in the Hat. We ate lunch at Mythos and got a Butterbeer, then took the Hogwarts Express back over to Universal so we could check out both legs of the train. And that's about it! We took off to bring my sister to the airport to fly back to California.

After dropping Brita off we went back to our hotel to get ready for dinner at....get ready for it....VICTORIA AND ALBERTS. If you don't know what that is, it's the AAA five-diamond restaurant in the Grand Floridian. Fancy enough that it has a dress code. Basically one of the best seven course meals you'll ever have. I'll have to make a post just on the restaurant, but here are a few photos! We chose to add wine pairings, and it was the BEST meal I've ever had in my entire life. ALSO we got "free" valet parking and roses so we were feeling REAL fancy.

November 14th (Tuesday): My parents and I started our day off (I think?) in Animal Kingdom. We had FastPasses for Kilimanjaro Safari, Expedition Everest, and Na'vi River Journey. We also rode Primeval Whirl, watched Finding Nemo: The Musical, and watched Festival of the Lion King.

After DAK we had reservations for Sanaa (Animal Kingdom Lodge), where we got the Indian bread service, chicken, and desserts. SO filling but really fun food. Plus I got to use my 40% discount coupon! Tuesday night was late night Extra Magic Hours for Epcot, so we went to Epcot after dinner and rode Soarin' and Frozen Ever After.

November 15th (Wednesday): We started the morning off at Hollywood Studios, where we had FP's for Rockin' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours. When we were in line for Tower, it had some technical difficulties causing us to wait roughly 35 minutes instead of 10-15, but they gave us a free FP, so we also got to do Toy Story Midway Mania with a FP. So we did all four rides that Studios has right now. We also watched the Little Mermaid show, checked out the Launch Bay theater, and saw the Frozen Sing-A-Long (always a good one). After Studios we went to MK and rode Pirates of the Caribbean and it's a small world (why is this ride title always lowercase?), and tried to ride Haunted Mansion, but it went down. We also did Mickey's Philharmagic, the very first guests in line after the attraction came back from a downtime. After that we got some yummy Sleepy Hollow waffles for dinner, and got a nice bridge spot for the fireworks! The first night we watched them, on Saturday, we were squished together and people blocked our view, so even though this view wasn't technically as good, it was much more enjoyable. We also stuck around for Once Upon A Time, which is really nice because no one stays for that show so the crowds are minimal.

November 16th (Thursday): This was our chill day since we had such a busy park schedule. In the morning I took my mom to Cast Connections, the cast only discount store, where we found a few GREAT finds. Then when we got back to the hotel and met up with my dad, we walked around the lake, checking out the other hotels (Yacht & Beach Club borders both the Swan & Dolphin Resort and the Boardwalk), and also got to check out our hotel pool. It was a great pool with two waterslides, two hot tubs, a mini lazy river, some waterfalls, and lots of different pool areas. After the pool we went to Disney Springs and got a salted caramel sundae from Ghiradelli, then went and saw Thor: Ragnorak, which was really funny. Then off to the Polynesian for an 'Ohana dinner! Dinner was good as always but CRAZY busy. We took the monorail to Magic Kingdom then transferred there to a bus back to our hotel and an early-ish night in.

November 17th (Friday): We spent most of the day in Magic Kingdom, doing the rides we didn't get to cover before (including SPLASH MOUNTAIN up from refurbishment!!). So we rode Peter Pan's Flight, Space Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, Splash Mountain (twice), Big Thunder Mountain, the Barnstormer, Mine Train, the PeopleMover, and did Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor where my dad was chosen to be Mike. Go dad! On our way out we got to run into my good friend Michaelene, killing it at Main Street PAC, and we also got to watch the Flag Retreat. A great sendoff to our day in MK.

We went to Epcot after that, and we shopped around the worlds a little bit, spending more time in the showcases than we had before. After Epcot we got cleaned up for dinner and ate at Yachtsman Steakhouse in our resort, obviously getting steak for dinner (REALLY GOOD filet mignon). The ambiance/atmosphere was really beautiful, and clearly ship-inspired which is totally my family's vibes. So we really enjoyed dinner, along with some drinks, and a couple desserts. Then a short walk back to the hotel!

November 18th (Saturday): We got breakfast at the Boardwalk Bakery, which was a great find, then walked a little around the lake again, stopping in a few places. The Christmas stuff went up, so we got to see the Yacht Club Christmas tree and train set, as well as the Beach Club Christmas tree and gingerbread carousel! Fun to see our resort totally transform without our noticing. We packed up our stuff, then I said goodbye to my parents and made my way home to get ready for work. I worked from 4:15pm - 12:45am and had a pretty good shift! It was hard going back to work after such a wonderful week off, but I kind of need to afford my rent, so off to work I go! I was Mine Train like always, and the day was uneventful, except the very end where I had this IRATE guest who wanted free FastPasses because our queue fans made him cold. Interesting, right?

November 19th (Sunday): I was at the mine again from 4:15pm - 12:45am, and I basically worked the same bits of rotation the entire shift. So I kept pulling the same positions after breaks, which then rotate to a different position (but a position that always comes after the first, so basically I worked four positions for my entire shift). We had this nasty guest situation though, where my grouper was measuring a girl who was too short to ride, but the family was PISSED and said she passed it out front and had ridden the ride twice already (she did, they had pictures). So that SUCKS for the family, but for safety reasons we can't let her ride, the height requirement is there for a reason. So my grouper is telling them this but they're livid (rightfully so) and want a manager, so I get to stand with them while we call my coordinator and they were awful. Well my coord comes by and talks to them and measures the kid and they're like "so she can ride right? She already rode it" and my coord is like "uh she's not even close". Hahaha. Of course he said it nicer than that and was really apologetic, taking them out front to re-measure and everything, but this family was NOT having it. They were saying our height sticks are different measurements, which is not true because we have to measure them both every morning. Well anyway, they made my grouper cry, but she was only doing her job. That's pretty much it! I closed merge, so I got to see the last guests in line and close out the queue, then head home!

I had the most wonderful week with my family and I was SO SAD to see them go, but I'm really glad I got to have the quality time with them that I did :) Love you guys, see you in January!! Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

Week Forty-Two: MRI, Famous People, and Family!

Another week full of the Mine Train.

November 6th (Monday): I had to wake up SUPER early to get an MRI on my ankle for an old injury that's been flaring up. My appointment was at 6:50am, so that was rough. After my MRI I met up with Martia for breakfast at First Watch which was really tasty (eggs benedict, yum!!). Then I went home and took a nap before work (naturally), and had a great day at work. I pulled tower three times (bless, a chair and no guest interaction), and didn't pull greeter or merge at all!!! We also had to emergency stop the ride and go down for like an hour, but luckily all the hard stuff happened while I was on my lunch, and I got off lunch just in time to go reset the track! Fun stuff!

November 7th (Tuesday): I woke up early, made cookies, and had a pizza bagel for breakfast (I really need to go grocery shopping). At work I pulled a lot of busy positions, which is fine as long as guests listen to you and follow direction. I also got to see a bunch of circus friends who rode Mine Train!! So fun seeing them. We also had Fifth Harmony ride, but they rode in small groups to attract less attention.

November 8th (Wednesday): Everyone and their mother forgot their cellphone on the Mine Train, or dropped it outside the vehicle, so that was fun. I also had a bad headache, our kitchen in the apartment was an atrocious disaster, and my breaks came early. So not such a fun day. Also people kept exiting on the wrong side of the mine car, like people there's a barrier there for a reason, not to mention cast members spieling "please exit to your right". Luckily I pulled lots of console positions, so not super stressful positions.

November 9th (Thursday): My NINTH day in a row of work, so I was pretty burnt out and exhausted. We had Holly Madison on the train (the famous Playboy bunny), so I guess that's cool? Also I worked for forty minutes before I realized I forgot my name tag, so that was awesome. AND we were posting a 40-minute wait when it was actually 90. So that wasn't so fun.

November 10th (Friday): I went to Universal in the morning, then went and picked up my parents from the airport. We stopped by my apartment, so they got to see where I live, and we spent the evening in Disney Springs. We got dinner at Homecomin' Kitchen, which is a really fun restaurant in Disney Springs. During dinner, however, we heard that my sister's flight was cancelled due to an exploding bag in the Orlando Airport (overheated lithium camera battery), so we had a few hours of STRESS where we had to book her a different flight through an airline that was still flying to Orlando (everyone but Frontier apparently), and figure out her SuperShuttle thing. So stressful. But thankfully she made it on a flight, even though it was delayed by like four hours, and she got to Orlando at like 10am. We stayed at Coronado Springs on Friday, then the Yacht Club all the other days.

November 11th (Saturday): We met my sister at the Yacht Club, then spent the day in Epcot for the Food & Wine Festival. We tried the Greek nachos, beef and potatoes from Belgium, Thai chicken with peanut sauce, and a few other things. We also rode (via FastPass) Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, and Soarin'. Then we headed off to Magic Kingdom and rode (mostly via FastPass) Dumbo, Mine Train, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and the PeopleMover. Maybe one or two others as well. We also watched the fireworks, and though we had a spot with a good view, it was INSANELY full of people and super stressful.

November 12th (Sunday): We got up nice and early to go to Animal Kingdom before park open and get in line for Flight of Passage. We got to DAK around 8:35am, the park was scheduled to open at 9am, but they were already letting people through. I'm guessing people were starting to get backed up behind security and so they opened to park to help with crowd control. That's just a guess though. We ended up waiting about an hour for FoP, and when we got off they were already posting 200 minutes so PHEW. After that we used a FP for Everest, then went to Festival of the Lion King where my wonderful roommate hooked us up with front row seats and a cast meet and greet!! THANKS JANI!!!! SO AMAZING. My dad was chosen to lead the elephant section, so that was fantastic.

We also rode Kilimanjaro Safari and Dinosaur with FP, and walked both the Maharaj Jungle Trek and Gorilla Falls trails. After DAK we went to Epcot for Food & Wine day two, and got the spicy Ethiopian lentil stew, potstickers from China, a cocktail and beef and potatoes from France, and beer cheese soup and filet mignon from Canada. We also rode Nemo and got to close out the park on the Frozen ride! We waited maybe 20 minutes for it.

Fantastic weekend with the fam!! More on our family vacation to come :)

Week Forty-One: "Where do the dwarfs poop and pee?"

I was at the mine all week again, remember when I worked in the circus? I kind of miss the circus but they won't schedule me there at all, so that's a bummer.

October 30th (Monday): I worked from 3:15pm - 10:45pm. I did laundry in the morning before heading off to work, and work was weird. I pulled FastPass twice (my least favorite position), and that was a bummer because it was NUTS. The end of the month gets like this because Guest Relations (and some other Cast Member positions) will hand out paper FastPasses as a form of guest recovery if a guest is having issues with their FP media, or is just complaining a lot. These paper FP's are good for the month, so they expired October 31st. Well since it's the end of the month, people are cashing in on those paper FP's (which there are a lot of because they've been circulating all month, and there's a lot by the end of the month). So anyhoo, the FP line gets crazy backed up, which is not fun. ALSO I had this psycho woman at the end of the night. It was Extra Magic Hours (for Disney resort guests only) from 9pm - 11pm, and starting at 9pm we scan people's magic bands before they can enter so we know that they're staying on property. Well this lady grabs her kids and tries to push by me, so I ask to scan a magic band and a kid lets me do it and it says "no current resort reservation" so I'm like "oh, are you staying on property?" and the lady says "oh COME ON" and I'm like "I'm sorry, EMH started 10 minutes ago, the park is now closed to day guests. And she is like "ARE YOU SERIOUS" and I'm like "yes" and she just grabs her kids and pushes past me to get in line anyway, so I say "ma'am, the line is closed to day guests, it's for resort guests only" and she keeps ignoring me and gets in line, so I say "ma'am, I WILL call security" at which point she finally turns around and gets in my face and is like "are you being serious with me right now?!" and I was like "yes, I'm sorry, but the park is closed to day guests" and she stomps off yelling how unmagical her day was. Well, next family in line is like "you handled that SO well, that family actually pushed in front of all of us so we're so glad you turned her away". So that was crazy!!! But I feel good about how I handled it.

October 31st (Tuesday): Day off! For some reason a bunch of us got Halloween off, so we started the day at Epcot and did Colortopia in Innoventions, rode Soarin', the new green Mission: Space, and Test Track. And of course ate around the world for Food & Wine. Then we went to Magic Kingdom and rode Mine Train, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, and Dumbo! And watched Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire, which I had never watched beginning to end.

November 1st (Wednesday): I worked from 7:30am - 4pm. We had Extra Magic Hours in the morning and it was SO slow that we actually sent a few empty trains! Amazing, right! I ended with positions I liked, so it was a good day! Also, I got some compliments from our efficiency Cast Members (trainers who were scheduled to help us hit our numbers), so that felt nice.

November 2nd (Thursday): I worked 1:15pm - 9:45pm and they completely changed our grouping line on us without telling us. So surprise!! We used to have an odds line and an evens line, so we would pull roughly ten people from each line, and could fill every seat in the train. Now we have one line, so it's easier to group, but harder to fill a train. Because we used to pair odd parties, but now they're all mixed together so you have an empty seat here and there. But I think it's actually a little easier. Also I had a family come through with a kid that had no shoes, and when I said they needed shoes to ride, they told me that they lost them. How do you lose a pair of shoes? So that was weird. Oh, and I had a billion wheelchairs when I was in charge of our wheelchair guests, so that got a little hectic.

November 3rd (Friday): I worked from 2pm - 10:15pm and had the CUTEST little girl come through. I was a FP and a family came up and was just like "we couldn't find a FP, can we come through?" and I was like "sure, why not, let's make a little magic" and when they came back out the little girl came and gave me the biggest hug. She was SO CUTE!!! I mostly pulled positions I really like, and my bump out came SUPER early, so my last half hour I got paid to sit in the break room. Great day.

November 4th (Saturday): I worked from 10:15am - 9:45pm. I was supposed to be bridge support from 7pm - 9:45pm, but they pulled me to mine because they were short. THANK GOODNESS because I hate bridge support. Work was pretty good, I got more compliments from our efficiency team at grouper. Also, we had a VIP tour group waltz on up the exit, which means they were high profile apparently a group of Disney Channel stars (but I didn't recognize any of them). There's also a possibility it was Nick Lachey and crew. I don't now, I don't recognize any of the famous people. And I got to stop the ride at one point because a lady sprinted back into the station while the train was moving to grab her popcorn bucket (insert major eye roll here, what part of that seems like a good idea).

November 5th (Sunday): I worked from 4pm - midnight, my first real closing shift! I closed grouper so I got to end my night with a ride through, which is wonderful :') I also had a guy come up to me that apparently graduated from my high school back in 2011, two years before my graduation! So that's a crazy small world. I also had the FUNNIEST little boy come up to me in line (he was probably four or five years old) and he's like "excuse me I have a question" and I'm like "sure, what's up?" "where do the dwarfs pee and poop?" HAHAHAHAHA this kid was concerned that he would see dwarf pee and poop on the ride! SO FUNNY AND CUTE. His mom is like "I'm sure they have bathrooms" so I went along with it and told him that dwarfs wanted to keep the ride nice and clean for the guests. That was probably my favorite question I've ever been asked. AND THEN (funny stories continue) I was at a console where you check lap bars and send the train and I had a guy with a prosthetic leg that couldn't fit both knees (because of the prosthetic) under the lap bar. He asked me where the exit was so I pointed, assuming it was because he was going to exit. Then he tells me "I was just asking because I'll fit fine if I take off the prosthetic" so I'm like yeah for sure, do what you gotta do, assuming he'll just take it off and ride with the prosthetic, because people do that sometimes. Nope, he hands it to me to wait for him at the exit. So here I am, marching down to unload (the exit), holding a man's lower prosthetic leg, tennis shoe and everything to tell that Cast Member "this is for the guest in train 6, row 4". My coordinator had to leave the station, he was laughing so hard. And the man was SUPER nice about it, it just looked ridiculous, me holding this leg. But he fit and got to ride, so all is well!

And that sums up my week! MY FAMILY COMES ON FRIDAY AND I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! I got EIGHT days off in a row BLESS.

Week Forty: Six Day Workweek, Devil's Den, and Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue

October 23rd (Monday): I worked at the mine from 11am to 11 pm and it was pretty good! I had a few tough groups while at grouper and station assist (the positions that put people into their rows) but aside from that, positions weren't bad. I had a little boy ask if I wanted a hug (always yes) which was cute, and had some really cute families come through FastPass. I was out there at the end of the night and had a little more leniency to let families through, so I let a little girl and her mom ride who had tried to go ride Soarin' only to find out the little girl was a hair too small. They came back around and the little girl gave me a "princess hug" which was ADORABLE. Also it's a lot harder to say no to people when it's late at night and you're sick of getting yelled at haha.

October 24th (Tuesday): I only had one day off this week (the Sunday - Saturday work week), and that happened to be on Tuesday. I got up early and went to Devil's Den with Martia and some circus friends! Devil's Den is an awesome underground spring you can snorkel/scuba dive in about two hours north/northwest (I think) of Orlando.

So we did that then stopped at Olive Garden on the way home for lunch, and ended our evening at Michaelene's house playing games and watching Dance Moms.

October 25th (Wednesday): I was at the mine from noon to 8:30pm, DREAM SHIFT. It started out good, then was kind of bad, then ended good. In the middle of my shift I was grouping and was being watched by my coordinator who told me every time I did something wrong, so that was stressful and made me feel like an idiot but it all turned around after that! AND IT WAS COOL ENOUGH I GOT TO WEAR MY JACKET. Also we had this older man on the train who was SUPER cranky. He "asked" me to pop his lap bar ("hey release my lap bar so I can switch with my kid") and switched seats with this small child. He then starts to turn so that his legs wouldn't just be under his own lap bar, and my coworker says "actually sir, your knees have to be under the same lap bar" and this guy goes "well why didn't you tell me that before I switched seats, that would have been more useful to know" and rolls his eyes. He gets his lap bar down but looks EXTREMELY uncomfortable so I ask him "sir, are you sure you'll be alright for the two and a half minute ride?" and he just goes "I'll be fine just leave me alone" LIKE OKAY SIR. Super rude, but whatever. My coord saw the whole thing go down and was like you guys did everything you were supposed to.

October 26th (Thursday): I had a 9:15am doctor's appointment in the morning for some chronic ankle pain that's been flaring up (I have to go get an MRI next Monday) and went to Animal Kingdom between the doctor and work. My friend, Katy, from my first program (the one we stayed with on our road trip down to Disney in Louisville) and her family were here for a few days so I met up with them in the park! We rode the Kilimanjaro Safari together and basically just walked around for an hour, then I saw Festival of the Lion King by myself and got lunch :)

I had a treat shift from 6:30pm to 12:30am! Last one of the season for me. It was a really fun treat shift, my mine train coworker Remy and I worked the exit candy barrels with a Mermaid ICP from New Zealand and a merchandise ICP from Australia. We had people taking photos with us, and we were in a bunch of live streams and YouTube videos so that was super fun!! I had a lot more fun this treat shift, people were just nicer and less greedy than last time.

October 27th (Friday): I worked at the mine from 9am - 5:30pm and I was SO tired. It was an 8.5 hour turnaround from the night before, so I felt exhausted for my shift. It was a great shift though, I got to pull tower TWICE (you get to sit in this position and not talk to people) and it wasn't too busy. We had a TEN minute wait (yes, a true ten) at 5pm!! INSANE! Also I had some guests in FP that didn't have FP's but were giving me so much trouble I just let them through and told them "next time....blah blah blah". Well the next party in line was a VIP tour group that had seen me getting low key harassed and just come up and say "we appreciate you Marin" and I really appreciated THEM. We don't get a lot of appreciation, so thank you tour group! After work I changed and went into MK to meet up with Katy and her family again. We rode Barnstormer, Mine Train, and Peter Pan, and got Sleep Hollow waffles for a snack/dinner.

October 28th (Saturday): I was supposed to be at the mine from 9:15am - 5:45pm but got an ER to go home at 4:15pm instead! Work was nuts, we were posting 160 minutes as a wait time for a couple of hours, so it was a true 160 minute wait. FP was INSANE, my leader was actually out front helping us because so many people were there and we were getting backed up and no one in the FP line had valid FP's and it was stressful. But on the bright side it was cold enough to wear my jacket at work :) AND after work I got to go to Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue (restaurant/dinner show at Fort Wilderness) with Jenna and Kasia! Small world, we ran into one of our leaders Katie, exiting her show! She did the 6:15pm and we did the 8:30pm. Hoop is super fun, it's an all you can eat, family style restaurant that has bottomless sangria/beer/wine/soft drinks, salad, cornbread, mashed potatoes, corn, beans, fried chicken, BBQ ribs, man and cheese (by request), and DELICIOUS strawberry shortcake for dessert. In between courses there are six actors/actresses who sing and dance and are super fun. They were a mix of a performer and a stand-up comedian. Cast Members get 50% off, so it cost $37 per person including tip, and we were seated on the second story balcony. Also I got a birthday shoutout so that was fun! I would definitely recommend it, it's super fun and well worth the cast discount. The food isn't incredible by any means, but it's worth a trip :)

October 29th (Sunday): I was off today :) YAY!! I went to Epcot in the morning/afternoon with Martia and we rode Living With the Land and Spaceship Earth. Living With the Land had a FORTY MINUTE WAIT. When is the last time you saw that?! Luckily we had FP's for both :) We also walked the World Showcase (I walked it twice) and got some lunch and snacks. Food & Wine ends in two weeks, so you gotta take advantage of it now! I got home around 5pm and now I'm just relaxing and keeping up on the Seahawks game. Go Hawks!!

I've got a pretty easy two weeks coming up then MY FAMILY COMES TO VISIT AND I CAN'T WAIT!!!! The only bummer is that I have to work eight days in a row, but that's okay :) Also I got back to the normal evening/closing hours. The mid shifts were fun while they lasted :')

Driving Your Car VS. Taking the Bus (One Program With a Car and One Program Without)

I haven't done a blog post unrelated to my daily life in AGES so I decided to do one on having a car versus relying on the bus system. I feel like I have a really good grasp of this since I did a full program (Fall 2014) without a car, as well as January - March of my spring program, and have had a car from March - now (Spring/Summer/Fall 2017). 

First off, let's start with the busses. There is a bus to take you to every location you might need to go on Disney property, plus a bus that goes to Walmart, Publix (a grocery chain down here), the post office, and the Florida Mall twice a week. They will also have special events you can pay for once in a while to go to the beach, a baseball/football/soccer game, Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, the Asian Market, or some other Florida spots. Most of these busses include multiple stops, but it will always run the same route. I'll use the A and B routes as examples since I use those the most. The A bus will start at the Commons, then go to Chatham, then Vista, then Wilderness Lodge, then the Contemporary, and finally MK West Clock. Side note, West Clock is where working CM's go to get to Magic Kingdom for work, and you can't get to MK as a guest this way. A full trip lasts roughly an hour, but that's if you got on at the Commons and got off at the Commons, which is dumb. For me, it takes about 45 minutes to get to West Clock from Chatham, and about 30 minutes to get home. For a comparison, it's a 20-25 minute drive by car. So if I take the bus I generally leave the apartment an hour or an hour fifteen before my scheduled shift, and I'll leave 45 minutes early if I'm driving.

All the busses are set up pretty similarly, I think they're all roughly 45 minutes on the long leg, and 30 on the short. Epcot is the exception because that route only stops at Epcot and is shorter as a result. Some busses only have pickup/drop-offs by request only which can lengthen/shorten a bus ride. For the most part, the busses are on time +/- a couple minutes, and if they are late enough that you're late to a shift your leader will normally take off the half point you'll get on your record for being late. The worst experiences I've had with the busses always involve coming home from work, since West Clock is the last stop before housing. What happens is CP's playing in the park for the day will get on at one of the MK resorts (Contemporary or Polynesian, so A or B bus), and when the bus get to us there's either only room to stand because the seats are taken, or on busy nights (AKA the night after the new CP's have gone to Traditions) the bus can only take a couple of us who just got off work and the rest of us have to wait another 20 minutes for another bus which SUCKS. That's mostly if you get off work just after fireworks, between 9:45pm - 10:30pm. Another crappy situation is when there are party nights and you get off around the fireworks, because they use special perimeter fireworks on those nights and have to close off two of the three roads that lead to West Clock. When that happens they send one special express bus that comes once every 45 minutes to an hour since the normal route can't come get us. So those nights I've waited for up to an hour and half for a bus to go home, which is awful.

When it comes to having a car down here, you have much more freedom, but you will also spend much more money. You have to pay insurance, gas, tolls, parking, and whatever activities your car takes you to. Right now gas is roughly $2.32/gallon for the cheap stuff and no one ever pays you for gas haha. The cost of a parking permit for housing is I believe $75 per session, so I had to pay another fee in the fall when I extended my program. The second fee is discounted, but it's still over $100 I had to pay (I know, nothing compared to college campuses!). I think the biggest advantage of having a car is grocery shopping, and getting outside the Orlando bubble. I have done SO many more things on this program than my first, mostly because I now have the freedom to go wherever, whenever.

I think that I would only bring a car if you're staying longer than a single fall/spring program or if you live relatively close to Florida. The busses are really convenient and FREE and take you most places, and chances are you'll make at least one car friend to adventure with. I'm from Seattle and definitely wouldn't have brought my car if I had only planned on being here for a spring program. I went in knowing I would be here for a year, so I brought my car and I think I've gotten my money's worth. I drive roughly four times a week, and bus three times a week, depending on my schedule. People complain SO much about the busses, but as someone who has taken a LOT of busses, I have only been late to work ONE time (back in 2014) because of the busses. There have been a handful of times after work where I've not made it on a bus due to capacity, but it is what it is. 

I think the biggest components you need to look at when deciding whether or not to bring your car down are these:

1. Can you afford it? You'll be making barely above minimum wage and if you're one of those people who know you'll drive everyday, can you afford gas, insurance, tolls, and parking?
2. Will it be worth the drive/shipment down to Florida and back up? It cost me roughly $500 to drive from Denver to Orlando with food and gas, and $1,000 to ship me car between Seattle and Orlando (one way). That's a lot of time and/or money when alternatively you could fly for $300 and take the busses for free. 
3. How much do you want to do outside of Orlando? I knew going into my second program I wanted to go to the Florida Keys, go to the beach more, check out some Florida Springs, and buy a Universal annual pass, none of which the CP bus regularly goes to. If you just want to soak up Disney, is a car really worth it when the busses go everywhere you want to go?
4. How much stuff do you need down in Florida? If you plan on moving down here or staying here for a while, you might have more stuff and driving your car could be better than flying with what you can fit and paying to ship what you can't.
5. Are you comfortable city driving? Florida is one of the most dangerous states to drive in, and if you're not comfortable driving in the city, surrounded by confused foreigners (both domestic and international), crazy taxi drivers, and angry locals, then it might not be worth it to have a car down in Florida. 
6. If you picked your roommates out ahead of time, will any of them have cars? If so then you can offer gas money and go on an adventure or two without having to bring your car down.

That's pretty much what I've got. I personally enjoy using both my car and the busses, but would stick to busses if I was only down here for four or five months. Some people's parents pay for gas and insurance and shipment/the drive down so that's an easier decision but if you're paying for everything, it's a big financial decision. Everyone is different when it comes to transportation but hopefully I gave some clarity to those of you looking for advice on taking/leaving your car!! 

Week Thirty-Nine: Car Problems and LOTS of Mine Train!!

October 16th (Monday): I was off and had a pretty chill day. I spent the afternoon at Disney Springs so I could use up my Starbucks birthday reward (you can redeem at Disney Springs but not at the park Starbucks!), and also did some shopping. I bought my dad his birthday gift (OUR 40% DISCOUNT JUST KICKED IN YASSSSS), bought myself a few things from Sephora, and also bought myself some bath bombs from Lush. Then I got lunch at Earl of Sandwich and headed home. At home I made some homemade Guinness beef stew and mashed potatoes, which all turned out great.

October 17th (Tuesday): I was at the Mine Train from 3:45pm - 12:15am. It was a pretty good shift, I got to remove a train from the track for the first time since training which was exciting. On the downside, Pirates went down (AGAIN) and told everyone they could use their FP's at the Mine since Pirates wasn't going to come back up at all that day. UGH. So that sucked because then we had a giant FP line. Our coords told us to honor their FP's since it's not the guest's fault that the Pirates CM's gave them the wrong information, so we did, but it sent our FP line out the door and around the corner. Which is why other attractions aren't supposed to send guests to us as a form of guest recovery. But it's fine, oh well, the rest of the day went well.

October 18th (Wednesday): I was off again and went to the Florida Mall with my roomie, Martia. We went to Bath & Bodyworks, Yankee Candle (always), Sephora, a few clothing shops, and went to the food court for lunch. After shopping we went home and a few hours later I took my car in to the Toyota dealer to get my window looked at. Well, 1.5 hours later I find out I have a broken window and have to go back on Friday to replace it. Joy. Not the most fun way to spend a day off ;)

October 19th (Thursday): I worked at Mine Train from 7:30am - 4pm and had some REALLY cute kids. I had one little boy reach his hand out to me while he was sitting in his row on the Mine Train (I think he was showing me his wristband), so I go up to him and am like "oh hey, are you giving me a fist bump?" and he gave a little fist bump with a little explosion at the end. SO CUTE. His dad was dying laughing. We also had a mom who waited until her and her daughter were seated in the Mine car before asking to throw out her kid's lollipop. So she HANDS this half-eaten thing to my coworker as if he should go throw it away and my coworker just chucks it into the track hahahaha. He's been here since the Mine opened so he gets away with stuff like that. Also, we had a really nice, cool morning but it heated up pretty quick into a nasty hot afternoon. PLEASE JUST GIVE US THE 60'S AND 70'S.

October 20th (Friday): I had to take my car in to get fixed at 9am, and since it was a three-hour job, Martia was kind enough to come pick me up and we went and got massages! So that was really nice :) After I got my car back I went home to change and eat then drove to work. I worked at Mine from 2:45pm - 11:45pm and it was really good!! I KILLED station assist, which is the person at Mine who's like "party of six? Rows 1, 2, and 3" so that felt good. It's a REALLY fast-paced position and most people hate it, so it feels really nice when you do it well. Also Pirates went down again and we got guests coming to us from them (insert huge eye-roll here). It's tough because you don't know when guests are lying or telling the truth about their paper FP's they got since they were close to the front of the ride/on the ride when the ride broke down. The FP's literally say "EXCLUDES SEVEN DWARFS MINE TRAIN AND PETER PAN'S FLIGHT" but people come up and are like "they said we could use it here because......." and that's a big pain. Because you want to accommodate the guest if they were given the wrong information, but normally the guests just weren't listening close enough or the CM didn't explain it well enough. So we end up accommodating a lot of that and have a terrible FP backup, which then causes our standby line to slow down and all of a sudden these guests that saw us posting a 60-minute wait are now waiting 80 minutes and getting mad. It's a domino effect and it sucks.

October 21st (Saturday): I had a circus shift and worked 2:30pm - 11pm and it was slow when I got there since that was during the parade, then it got pretty busy, then calmed down again. But we had a LOT of guests in the park today. Close in numbers to what we had on the 4th of July! Dumbo A was a big pain in the butt like always and went down a few times for unusual noise. I was there for one of them, and maintenance is so used to us calling that they are close enough they can be over in less than five minutes haha. It only took us seven minutes to power down, power up, cycle, and get approval to continue loading guests. If that happened on a rollercoaster it would take at LEAST 45 minutes until guests could be loaded again. Also we had a BUNCH of issues with little kids riding without parents, or parties splitting up, and it was so inefficient. That's a mix of error on the CM telling people how many Dumbos their party will get, and parties not listening. Shockingly, all that bad stuff aside, I had AWESOME guest interactions!! Lots of families that were willing to chat with me and share their highlights of the day, and super cute kids. So that was really nice. OH and we had really nice and cool weather. Also, funny story, I had a gentleman ask me if Cirque du Soleil was by Dumbo. No sir, that would be in Disney Springs.

October 22nd (Sunday): I started off the day with a Fantasyland East CP event hosted by one of our leaders, where we basically got paid to eat pizza and chips and listen to our leader from 12:45pm - 2pm. GREAT way to start my day. Then I was supposed to be in rotation at Mine from 2pm - 7:30pm (BABY BABY SHIFT) but my coord asked if I wanted to go home early (the answer is always yes) and sent me home at 5:15pm instead! FANTASTIC DAY. Work itself was great, I pulled all easy positions! Side note, the Jonas Brothers were in the park today! They rode before I started work, but that's pretty neat. Also we had to call security on two different parties, I don't know what one the parties did but the other were two boy/men (maybe in their 20's?) who were making disgusting and inappropriate comments to a 13-year old girl in front of her mom. Naturally mom freaked and security was called. I don't know how everything turned out, but there was yelling, and management got involved.

And that was my week!! Insane that we're already at the end of October. WHERE HAS TIME GONE. Also the next two weeks I don't have a since circus shift so that's weird. BUT THE WEATHER IS SUPPOSED TO COOL DOWN PRAAAAIIIIIIIISSSSSEEEE.