Day 6: Animal Kingdom & EPCOT

January 31st

Day 6 was magical because it was my first day off where I actually had access to the parks. Not only that, but Laura and Lisa had the day off with me! I'll just answer the question I'm sure you're thinking now. Yes. We mix each others names up. All the time. Lisa becomes Laura, Laura becomes Laurel, Maddie becomes Morgan, and yesterday I tried to call Nicole "Danielle." We don't even have a Danielle.

So back to day 6. Laura and Lisa and I had a nice leisurely morning before heading to Animal Kingdom around noon. Right away we went to the Finding Nemo show. We got in about two minutes before it started and were one row away from the aisle that divides the front seats from the back section seats, so we had a fantastic view, particularly for the jellyfish scene. I love the way they do the Nemo show because they do the whole story but in about 40 minutes, and the details and concepts are just gorgeous. The costumes, the music, the set. Everything is beautiful. After Finding Nemo, we went to see It's Tough to be a Bug in the Tree of Life. I still remember seeing this show when I was quite young, and it's so fun to go back and see it in a new light. Lisa had never been to Animal Kingdom, so she was expecting a pretty adorable bug show.

I love the show, but I will say it's pretty creepy. As soon as it started the kid in front of us just lost it, and more kids joined him as more creepy things happened. It's fun to be surprised, but in this case it's more fun when you know what's coming and you're with a newb who thinks it's going to be "cute."

After that we decided to find the place we heard was serving rum Dole Whips and SURE ENOUGH we found it. First of all, they were amazing. Second, we also got the tofu curry they serve and it was PERFECTION. I highly recommend. After food, we wandered over toward Expedition Everest, aka one of the best rides of all time ever. We got in the single rider line the first time around because it takes about half to a third of the time, and then we rode again with a FastPass. When we were satisfied with rollercoasters we made our way to the Maharajah Jungle Trek. This is one of those hidden gems within the park. Most people don't realize what it is because it isn't a ride, but it's this lovely trail through the trees with stops along the way to see bats, tigers, elds deer and a huge number of birds. The trail is really quiet and peaceful, and I've never seen it excessively crowded. As an added bonus, there are cast members stationed at the main viewing points to answer questions about the animals and share fun facts about them!

After practically meditating our way through the Maharajah Jungle Trek, the three of us left for EPCOT where we had a dinner reservation for all six roommates at Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco.

We got there right on time and were seated pretty quickly, and it was GORGEOUS. Our reservation was right before the dinner rush, so it was really nice to get in there and see everything before it was filled with people. Once the other half of our roommates joined us, we all ordered our drinks and food. There was a Moroccan coffee on the menu that I considered trying, but fortunately my coffee-addict roommate Morgan got it instead and I sampled it. It's really interesting if you like drinking a spice cabinet, so it was a fun experience. I got a type of hot mint tea they serve which ended up being amazing. For my entree they didn't have many vegetarian options, so I went with this Mediterranean Salad appetizer for two that ended up being absolutely the right choice. It had hummus, eggplant puree, falafel, olives, and some perfectly fried pitas.

After dinner we wandered around the World Showcase looking for dessert and peeking into shops. A nice couple noticed our shirts and took our picture for us! By the way, if you go back a few posts to my Day 1, you'll notice we're wearing Lisa's gift to us in this picture!

And of course the roomies all had to get roommate pictures!

Nicole and I are opposites in so many ways. She's tiny and blonde to my big brunette and she's the lightest sleeper where I'm the heaviest. Yet we're making it work really well! I haven't had to share a bedroom with anyone since I was about twelve, so I'm incredibly lucky to have someone who makes it so easy.

Keep an eye out for a new tab appearing up above with roomie bios! I'll be working on that tonight!

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Day 5: Traditions!

January 30th

Day 5 was a pretty special day -- Traditions! Traditions is a sort of informational session that every Walt Disney cast member goes through where we learn about the history of the company and their principles and such.

Fortunately my roommate Laura and I were scheduled for Traditions together, which is nice because I hate doing things alone. We woke up sometime around 5:45, which if you know me at all, is a small miracle. We had to allow a little extra time to get ready because Traditions has always had a very strict business dress code, including following "Disney look" standards, so I was pretty paranoid about getting it right. Our session was scheduled to start at 8 and the bus was arriving at 6:55, so we left right around 6:40.

We got to Disney University and went through a whole check-in type process so they could make sure we were all there, then sat down at a table with three other girls. There was a big red box with a fluffy ribbon on top that we weren't allowed to touch, and the room had two walls covered in big, bright characters and sparkles and a giant quote. It was lovely. During the presentation we went through the basic principles of service that the company functions on, watched a magical video about the parks that made my eyes burn with emotion, and talked about the history of the company and all it had gone through. We also watched the Beauty & the Beast trailer, which I'm pretty sure was just for me.

After that we finally got to open the box! I don't like to give spoilers, so I'll just say that I'm wearing the contents of the box in my next picture. We didn't get to enjoy that surprise for very long though, because we were off to the parks! Our group was divided in two and we got little "whisper units" so we could all hear our leader through our individual ear pieces without them having to shout. We got to the park when Pluto, Mary Poppins, and Marie from The Aristocats were all right by the entrance doing meet-and-greets, and the princesses, princes, Minnie, and Mickey were on stage performing. We only spent about 45 minutes at Magic Kingdom, but we also got to see some backstage areas, which was awesome. After that we went back to Disney University to talk more and go over last minute things before we were finally surprised with our nametags!

We had the early Traditions session, but two of our roommates had the afternoon one, so Laura and I headed home and napped before meeting our roommates to go to Magic Kingdom together.

We rode Space Mountain and then invested in one of the Minnie Mouse caramel apples because they're adorable and I needed one.

Day 5 done. Boom.

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How I Found My Roommates

I'll just start by saying the process to find roommates is STRANGE. It's pretty much like online dating but for roommates. Basically once you get accepted, everyone starts posting roommate surveys in all of the Disney Facebook groups. You just have to have the same arrival and departure dates and if you want to have alcohol in the apartment, everyone has to be over 21. The surveys are just a random list of questions someone made up to help you get an idea of each persons' interests and personality. I made mine right around Halloween and pretty quickly found my roommate Morgan. Once Morgan and I agreed to live together, we started looking for other girls who:

• Had a January 26th arrival and a May 15th departure
• Were over the age of 21
• Wanted to live in a 6-person, 3-bedroom apartment
• Weren't crazy

We chatted with a few different people before we decided to room with a group who had already linked up with each other, Lisa, Maddie, and Laura. We fondly referred to them as "The Dancers" and promptly fell in love with them. For the next two months or so we just chatted and got to know each other and mostly forgot that we still needed a sixth person, so in December, right before Christmas, we found our sixth roommate, Nicole! We got an email about 12 days before our arrival date that gave us access to the website that lets us link up with each other, and spent several frantic hours attempting to figure it out. Fortunately it was successful, because I'm surrounded by all of their beautiful faces right now.

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Days 2, 3, and 4: Casting, Housing, & Everything Including the Kitchen Sink

January 27th - January 29th

Day 2

The second day was kind of crazy for me. Where most of my roommates had a slightly more spread out calendar, I had Casting, Housing, and a Custodial meeting.

Casting is just a big shuttle-through event where they bus you to the casting building and you go through a whole bunch of paperwork stations. You sign your confidentiality-type agreement, fill out I-9 stuff, get fingerprinted, get your training schedule, and probably a few other things that I just can't even remember. It's a beautiful building, with Alice in Wonderland door handles,

and big gold statues of some of the major characters on pillars,

and everyone is so friendly and excited that you're there.

Once I got home from Casting, I had a few hours to relax before Maddie and I went to our Housing meeting. Housing is at one of the other complexes, the Commons, and when you walk in they have all these strobe lights and they make it seem like a party, and then they turn all the lights back on and you learn about all the rules and housing events and stuff. I don't have any pictures of that, but it was pretty brief. During that meeting I found out that there was a meeting in that same room specifically for housekeeping and resort custodial, so even though my roommates and I had dinner plans, I decided I should stay and see what it was about. Although I don't regret going because I would've panicked had I missed it, the man leading it had a background in housekeeping, so it wasn't exceptionally informational for custodial. However, I did get a slice of pizza and a Merida PEZ dispenser for sitting toward the front, so I consider that a solid win. My roommates went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner because I told them to go somewhere that served the most meat since I wouldn't be joining. After my meeting they picked me up and we headed to Downtown Disney! We took a look at some of the shops, headed into the Goofy Candy Company for desserts, and then got a few shots with Pooh and the gang.

A strawberry flavored, chocolate filled macaron for me! And custom sprinkles/M&M/chocolate chip/graham cracker covered rice crispy treats for every one else.

Days 3 and 4

Days 3 and 4 were my days off, so they kind of blend together. Pretty much everyone else was training and we couldn't go to the parks yet, so on Day 3 we decided to do dinner at the Yacht & Beach Club Resort.

They have this adorable little soda shop inside called Beaches & Cream that serves this enormous ice cream desert called the Kitchen Sink. It says it serves four, but realistically it serves six plus.

Here's the ingredient list from the Disney parks website! Prepare to be shocked and amazed and maybe a tiny bit disgusted.

The Kitchen Sink

It was pretty neat when they brought it out because the room gets darker and there are strobe lights and music and they tell everyone what we're eating and we get a round of applause. Let me just say, it was enormous. And we finished it down to Laura sucking the melted ice cream from the bottom with a straw.

Day four wasn't super eventful. We went to the outlet malls and bought black sweaters and shoes for either work or Traditions, which is a story that is coming soon!

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Day 1: Check-in

January 26th

Day 1

I landed around 8:30 on Sunday night and promptly texted my roommate Laura. Eventually I hope to include a "roommate guide" in here, but that's for another day. Laura drove down from Virginia and was conveniently driving past the airport right when I landed, so she swung by and picked me up, and then we made our way to our hotel. Laura and Morgan and I all stayed together, but coincidentally two of our other roommates were staying in the same hotel! We all met up in Morgan's/our room and chatted until a ridiculous hour. It was great to finally see everyone and hear their voices and hug them! Minus Lisa :(

In the morning, Maddie had check-in really early around I think 7:30 or so, and the rest of us had it a little after 9. Although I did feel bad for her lack of sleep, it was nice to learn what complex we got so early. Our first choice was Chatham Square 3-bedroom, and while we didn't get that, we didn't get our last choice either! We're in a 3-bedroom in Patterson Court, and I actually quite like it. It has a reputation for being the "Retirement Home" complex, but if I'm being totally honest, that is exactly my speed. There are no crazy parties, no vomiting youths, and the apartment is in great shape. But anyway, back to check-in. We arrived at Vista Way, which is one of the other complexes and the check-in location. While we were waiting in line I spotted Lisa about fifteen people in front of us and promptly lifted my hand to point directly at her and stare. Fortunately she recognized us so it wasn't that weird. When our line wound around next to hers we got to say hi before heading inside. We found out our roles (Coronado Springs Resort Custodial Guest Services!), got our IDs, confirmed direct deposit info, got our keys, heard some safety stuff, and after about an hour and a half, all six of us were free to move in.

Our first group photo!

Clockwise from top left: Morgan, me, Maddie, Lisa, Nicole, Laura

We made our way over to Patterson, used our (mostly terrible) new IDs to get in through the gate, and set eyes on our little beauty for the first time. Morgan and Laura room together, Lisa and Maddie are together, and Nicole and I are together in this little gem.

After we got most of our stuff in, we headed to the store for food and home goods and cleaning supplies. I started eating my purchases the moment she handed me my receipt. That sounds like an exaggeration. It's not.

Once we got home, we put away all our refrigerated items and headed our for dinner at Disney's Polynesian Resort! I had never really been into any of the resorts so it was exciting to get to see one and eat there. We all got something from their quick service location, which for me was a tomato basil flatbread, which was AMAZING. From there we wandered over to their Dole Whip location where I reunited with my most favorite of desserts.

After the Polynesian we went home to open roommate gifts. We all agreed about a month before our program that we wanted to craft gifts for each other and exchange them upon arrival. Everything was so cute and it was actually a great way to bond. Here's a brief list of what everyone made, plus one photographic example!

• Nicole: A wooden letter of our first initial that was modpodged with pictures of our favorite Disney movies and characters
• Morgan: A framed drawing of our name with an illustration from our favorite Disney film
• Maddie: A painting of our home state with a heart over our college town
• Lisa: A painted mason jar with a white T she screenprinted with Mickey ears in our favorite color
• Laura: A cross-stitch of something from our favorite movie or quote (for me it was the quote "A beauty but a funny girl" which is from Beauty & the Beast)
• Laurel: I painted little 5x7 canvases with everyone's favorite Disney quote

After exchanging gifts we finally said our sweet dreams and headed to bed. It was an exhausting and emotional day, and easily one of my favorites in the history of ever.

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In the Atlanta Airport

Today I said goodbye to my beloved state of Washington and boarded my first solo flight. My mother, father, and two of my sisters came with me to the airport, walking with me as I went through check-in and security, and stood smiling and waving until I couldn’t see them anymore. It was part heart-wrenching and part heart-warming. It finally hit me that I won’t be coming home for quite a few months, which is a difficult reality for me, but I’m so thankful to have such a lovely support system.
Currently sitting in the Atlanta airport about to board my flight to Orlando!