Catching Up...Part One :)

Wow...so to answer your many questions,
1. Yes, I am alive.
2. Yes, I am still working at Walt Disney World.
3. No, I did not forget I had a blog.
4. No, I did not forget how to type.
5. Yes, I will include pictures in this post.
6. Yes, I promise to be better at posting more frequently.
7. Yes, I still love Disney every bit as much as I did before I started my internship.
8. No, I have not met Johnny Depp yet.

Phew, now that that's taken care of...I'm going to try and catch up on the last few months. It will be coming in several different posts so I don't get too overwhelmed all at once. For now, I wanted to be sure and write about earning my "D Pin" in Magic Kingdom Guest Relations. For those of you who don't know, the official gold D Pin is "a proud symbol of our commitment to providing unmatched Guest Service and upholding the values that are synonymous with the Disney name!" It's what we are presented after all of our training is complete. And let me tell you, training for Guest Relations was definitely intense...weeks long even. I have never had to learn so much information in such a short period of time. But my trainer Mandy was awesome, and she made sure I was good to go. What was so incredible about actually getting my D Pin was that she took me up into the Cinderella Castle Suite in order to give it to me. Got to be honest...I cried. One of the most magical moments ever!
Can you tell the difference between these two pictures? :)


Coolest bathroom ever. I was pretty excited!
Mandy and I! Just loved being in that suite.

So there will be much more to follow soon, but for now I hope everyone is having a magical week!

I'm Back, Baby!!!

Hey all! I'm FINALLY back to blogging, and wow I feel like so much has happened since my last post. This will be long, just to warn you! My four weeks at home were non-stop craziness and fun. First, I was able to spend almost a week in California and did the flowers for my dear friend Sharon's wedding. She was a gorgeous bride!! Here are a few pictures...






I was also able to play in Denver and Las Vegas with the four cutest nieces and nephews EVER! Between airport stops and packing, I caught up with old friends in Provo and spent time with fam. It was great! Sorry I didn't get pictures with everyone :(








Now I'm back in Florida and loving it! It has definitely been a lot of change all at once...new internship, new apartment, new roommates, new crazy levels of humidity, etc. But I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now. I have one more week left of training and then I will be an official Magic Kingdom Guest Relations cast member. It really is the coolest job in the world! I will post a bunch more about it all soon, but first...a sneak peek of me "rockin' the plaid!"
There has been soooo much going on the past few weeks, so to finish off this post I wanted to just list some of the greatest highlights:
* Getting to play with my friend Cori for a few days!! We ate at the Ghiradelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop (delicious), saw Toy Story 3, and I conquered my fear of heights and went on "Characters in Flight!!" It's a balloon ride that takes you 400 feet up in the air above Downtown Disney. Pictures will be coming later!
* Partying at the Arabian Nights dinner show with over 50 of my old T-Land coworkers! It was a hysterical show...so bad that it was good. * Reuniting with one of my dearest friends, Sara, at the Happiest Place on Earth! It had literally been years since I'd seen her. Love ya, girl!* Going to the "Medieval Times" dinner show with the Dream Team! We had to redeem our experience at Arabian Nights, hee hee.

* Brace yourselves for this one...getting my own personal tour of the Cinderella Castle Suite!! For those of you who don't know, it's really hard to get up there. So I was pretty much in heaven the whole time. And yes, there were definitely tears in my eyes! See how beautiful it is?? * Meeting and getting to know the other 11 Magic Kingdom professional interns. To kick things off at the start of our program, the full-time Guest Relations team planned an awesome scavenger hunt for us around the Magic Kingdom. At the end of it all, they took us up ON THE ROOF of the Main Street Bakery to watch the fireworks. Most surreal and incredible thing ever! There was nothing blocking our view!


So life is good, and I will post again soon! Phew, I hope you made it through this whole post! Have a great week, everyone :)

Long Live T-Land!

In honor of it being my last official day working in Tomorrowland, I thought I would post this awesome video of the daily happenings in the Magic Kingdom. Hopefully, it will give everyone a taste of what my days working here have been like. ENJOY! :)

One Week Left!

Wow, it's craaaazy how fast the time has gone out here. I will be flying back home in 7 days!! May 14th officially marks the end of my Disney College Program. But don't worry, I will be back here in June to start my professional internship. Until then, it will be so nice to have a little break and visit friends and family these next few weeks in California, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah.

I don't have a ton of time to post, so here are some quick highlights from the past couple weeks...
* I spent three days at Hammock Beach! My friend's grandparents have a gorgeous timeshare there. We basically played in the ocean and the pools all day long. It was the most relaxing little vacation ever.


(And yes.............I am skipping in this picture, hee hee.)
* I swam with live sharks! I have always been terrified of those big, teethy guys, but I conquered my fear and snorkeled across a chilly reef full of fish, sting rays, and a few sharks. It was honestly one of the coolest things I have ever done! (Gave me the courage to face this guy too!) * I went to the Spring Formal! It was a great excuse to get all fancy and buy a new dress. My friends and I definitely danced the night away.* I attended my "Graduation Celebration" in honor of completing my program. They gave us sweet Mickey ears...complete with an official tassel!* I survived working four high school senior grad nights at the Magic Kingdom...helping with security and crowd control...I will spare you details, but they were definitely my least favorite shifts EVER. Teenagers are just gross and mean! The only good part about it all was getting to watch Dominic and Hok dance live on stage (they're some old favorites of mine from SYTYCD).
* I finally got a picture taken with Mickey!
This has been one of the most fabulous experiences of my life, and I'm sad to see this part of it end. But here's to making more great memories down the road! :) Check back in a few weeks for the next update. Take care for now, everyone.

Exciting Happenings!

So this past week has been pretty great. For one thing, I finally tried the famous "Kitchen Sink" at the Beaches and Cream Soda Shop. Check this thing out...All I can say is, YUMMY! And it's just a good thing that there were four of us there to eat it. It became quite the mission (they put a whole can of whipped cream on top!).

Second of all, I got to spend a day at the beach --my first time on the Gulf Coast. I had forgotten how much I love swimming! (Hee hee, I'm not posting those pictures.) Then my friends and I finished our beach day off by going to the Hoop-De-Doo Revue dinner show at one of the Disney Resort areas called Fort Wilderness. It was a wild n' crazy time! The food was incredible, and I definitely got carried away with all of the singing, stomping, hooting, and hollering. Highly recommend it to anyone!



Oh, and I almost forgot...






the best news ever...





I GOT A PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP WITH DISNEY IN GUEST RELATIONS!!!! :D

I was called and extended the official offer yesterday (and I have been running around screaming ever since!!). I will be here from June until January, and I could not be more excited. I even get to stay in the Magic Kingdom! So I feel very blessed and will post more details as I learn them. But pretty much working in Guest Relations means I get to book reservations, answer questions, work with everyone coming into the Magic Kingdom, possibly do some VIP tours, etc. We are basically the face of the park! So yeah, life is GOOD. Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!

Lots of Changes!!

Hi everyone! Happy Spring! Hope Easter weekend was wonderful for all of my friends and family. The past few weeks have brought a lot of crazy changes for me, so I thought I would just list some of them...

1. I cut my hair off! And I really love it. 2. I was able to extend my program, so my departure date has officially changed to May 14th! It was quite the ordeal, let me tell you. They were trying to ship me home early with the other BYU and BYU-Idaho students, but after lots of phone calls, meetings with managers, prayers, and a few tears...we got it all worked out. Ha ha, I feel so good about staying!
3. I have finally finished applying for those professional internships I mentioned in my last post. So now it's just kind of a waiting game to see if I get any offers to come back to Orlando in June. My most recent interview went really well, so we'll see what happens.
4. Since my departure date changed, I had to move to a new apartment and now have a new roommate. She is way cute, and we've been getting along great. Our place is so small though! I miss my old bathroom that was huge, because now it's harder to dance in the morning while I get ready.
5. The parks are so crowded for Spring Break that cast members have actually been asked to avoid coming in for a few weeks. So I have had to find other things to do besides watching the Finding Nemo show and riding Splash Mountain all day!
6. I have grown quite a thick skin the past few weeks. Most of you know I'm a pretty sensitive little person, ha ha. I tend to cry on occasion...or often. But working at Disney World has been really good for me, because I have had to toughen up some. Don't get me wrong, I'm no marine yet. But I am definitely better at holding my own when it comes to dealing with the really rude guests!
7. I'm not as pasty white as I normally am! I've been outside so much I actually am getting a little color...who cares if that color is red? :)
8. I'm now officially certified to drive water taxis at Downtown Disney. Okay, not really, but I had fun sailing with Adam the other night! He was flirting it up and luckily my wonderful friends decided to document the WHOLE thing...awkward.



9. I cooked Easter dinner with friends instead of letting my mama work her magic. But the food actually turned out delicious, and I had fun making the table look all festive!


10. It is the first time in YEARS that I haven't had to stress about finals coming up! This makes me so HAPPY... This photo is pre-haircut, but I had to document my first Disney turkey leg ever! Have a great week!! :)