End of April/May!!

It has been AWHILE since I've blogged......sorry sorry sorry. Okay so here we go! At the end of April I decided to surprise all my friends at NAU and I took a trip back to visit them. It was so needed and was really nice because I felt like nothing had changed! Below is a picture of my future roommates for next year. I got to see our apartment and I loved it!

Here's a picture of my best friend Sean and I at NAU!

 We've gone to Universal a few more times and have been loving it. It's such a nice change because it is SO different than Disney so it gets us out of that "Disney Bubble" yet we're still having fun at a theme park! What's next...maybe SeaWorld? :)

 Bob, Hailey, Spongebob and myself at Universal Studios!

 A couple weeks ago I went on a helicopter ride with Bob. I had never been on one before and it was so neat! We flew over Downtown Disney, our apartments, Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Definitely something I would do again. 

Hollywood Studios has this restaurant that is called "Sci-Fi Cafe". Basically you sit in cars like this and it's set up like a drive in movie theatre. This is a picture from the outside but inside was even cooler. Everything in Disney is SO themed. They played an old time movie and it was a cool experience. Vinny, Morgan, Hailey, Bob and I all decided to go together. 

Morgan and I were asked to donate blood at work one day so we did! Saving lives!

Morgan and I in Mexico celebrating her birthday!!

Our group decided to go visit Tigger! Our friend Kevin knows Tigger very well!

 Splash Mountain is finally back and running! They re-do it every year so this was our first time back on it! Sooo much fun. The difference between this one and California's is you get to sit next to someone, where in California you sit by yourself. 

This was the boys last night at Magic Kingdom. Their program ended so we got a final castle picture together!

Lyssa's 21st birthday was this past week. She had made reservations LAST August for the new restaurant in Fantasyland called Be Our Guest. It is a replica of the castle from Beauty and the Beast and you sit in the ballroom. It is impossible to get into the castle unless you have reservations for it was so cool and so much fun! 

Hailey also had her 21st birthday this week. Her family was in town and they were on the dining plan. By the time they had left they still had 23 meals left so we decided to go use some of them at a nice restaurant for dinner. We went to 1900 Park Fare which is located in The Grand Floridian Resort. It was a character dinner meaning we got to meet the Evil Stepsisters, Prince Charming and Cinderella! Here's some pictures from that. 

 

I got a promotion at work and am now a trainer! They only picked 3 CPs to do it, and only 2 were picked for night shifts. Basically all the new people that are coming in, I now train! It's such a different experience because I just watch them half the night rather than actually do the task. I like it but it is very tiring and I have been working lots of hours because of it. With last week and this week I will have worked a total of 86 hours! Although I did get a dollar pay raise :) As you can see it's been a crazy busy past month so I will try to get back to blogging more regularly. My dad comes to visit on Sunday so that will be fun. My sister and I also booked a cruise to the Bahamas for our birthdays so I have lots to look forward to. Soon enough I'll be flying back home! 

Pizza/Pasta Princess

This week of work has been a little bit better. We're still at about 90% capacity so it's been fairly busy. Two nights ago it we got hit with a huge rush and I was in Pizza/Pasta. Some girl was at the "catcher" position and was so stressed out I told her I would switch with her. My manager Jeremy has recognized that I did this and gave me one of those 4 keys cards that said "You were Johnny on the Spot tonight. Thanks for doing everything asked plus more!"

Last night I got put in Pizza/Pasta again but this time was there literally ALL night. It's the only position I was at for 7 and a half hours....this shop is nice when you have a good group of people in there but it also requires the most work and communication so as soon as you get 1 person that doesn't know what they're doing the whole place gets thrown off. We had asked for someone to get replaced because it was busy and she wasn't doing her job and they replaced her with someone even worse....Haha so I had a guest that was waiting on an order that should normally take 7 minutes...wait 25 minutes. I felt so bad because his family had already eaten so when his order finally came up I had apologized, gave him his food for free and walked him to the table he was at. Thankfully he was very understanding. I was very frustrated but I got my break a couple minutes later. When I was walking into the cafeteria, I saw him and he thanked me again. My manager came up to be and told me he walked up to him and complicated me highly so he was going to award me "A Guest Fanatic Card" that is something different but also goes on my record card. So that made me feel really good!

Finally, at the end of the night people started calling me the "Pizza/Pasta Princess" because the other cast members were laughing that I always get put in this shop. One of my other managers then came up to me and said "Kelly I just want you to know that we could our ACEs in our highest places" and handed me a 4 keys card. So I got 3 of them in 2 days! YAY! 

I work the next 2 nights and then have a few days off which I'm really looking forward to!

Corporate 5k!

I just finished The Corporate 5K Run! They call it the "biggest office party in Orlando" because you have to be part of a work related team to participate. Due to the recent events in Boston, they had so much security and support. They had firefighters and police man running in the race so people felt safe. Every light had multiple police and also had 5 helicopters circling the sky. 16,000 people ran/walked the race and it was so much fun!

April!

These passed couple of weeks, I have been trying to just enjoy my time here and have fun. I'm reaching a point where it's hard because I'm exhausted and it's been a tough week so I'm missing home. I haven't been working as much, which is really nice but it's still hard. I did however get a brand new camera because mine broke so I have been taking TONS of pictures with it and am obsessed.

A night out with the girls at Buffalo Wild Wings. On Wednesday nights it turns into a club/karaoke night and cast members get in for really cheap!

Lyssa and I getting dinner at Downtown Disney at a restaurant called Bongos. 

Just a silly picture of me one night after work!

This morning I did the Color Me Rad 5k Race! Every "k" you run, they throw a different colored chalk on you. I was nervous I wasn't going to be able to run the race, because I'm so out of shape, but my friend Jessica and I ran/walked it. By the end of the race we were COVERED in chalk! This is definitely something I would sign up for again. I'm feeling a little sore now though...

 I MADE IT!

On Tuesday, Hailey, myself, Lexi, Morgan and Ryan all went to Night of the Stars. This is basically a college program talent show. It was held at Hollywood Studios in a big theatre and was lots of fun. It was neat because it was a CP Only event! I'm so happy we decided to go. 

Hailey and I spent the day at Polynesian Beach Resort, tanned and got some lunch. This is one of my favorite Disney resorts. Here's a picture, using my new camera! 

Lyssa and I before going out one night!

Allie and I at another paint party. I love this girl!

Morgan and I!

Family!

It's been awhile and I'm so sorry for that, I just have been so busy! My family was here this past week and it was truly amazing. Here's a break down of our week...

Monday they arrived and I had met them at the hotel they were staying at, Pop Century. They had a long day of traveling, and were hungry so I took them over to the resort I work at for some dinner. We ate dinner and then I showed them around the resort. Mary, Sean, Scott and Keith had never been to Disney World before so everything was so new to them! I enjoyed being their own personal tour guide. They came on the busiest week of the year, Easter and Spring Break, so we knew we were going to be getting up early the next day for the parks, so we just took it easy Monday night.

Tuesday we woke up super early for "Extra Magic Hours" at Hollywood Studios. This means that the parks are only open for Disney Resort guests only. I took them on, Rockin Rollar Coaster for their first ride at 7:30 in the morning....this is a ride where you go 0-60 mph in 2 seconds....everyone had loved it! We then had fast passes for Tower of Terror but not until 8:40 so we raced over to Toy Story Mania and went on that. This is actually the busiest attraction in Disney World so the fact we got on it so quickly, during the busiest week of the year, is amazing. Epcot opened at 9:00 so we did Tower of Terror and then took a bus over there. Did you know Keith is afraid of heights? Sitting next to him on that ride was too funny.

We got to Epcot and we're exhausted and hungry because we hadn't eaten breakfast yet. Unfortunately, the whether wasn't great and it was FREEZING! We rode the Land of Time ride, Finding Nemo and then fast passed Soarin' Over California. I had previously made lunch reservations at the Pizzeria in Italy so we headed there next. It was delicious! I had never been there before but it is definitely somewhere I would go back to! We had kind of hit the wall after lunch so we tried to rally but we were cold and miserable. My mom ran over to fast pass Mission Space and then we went back to the hotel to recharge. We napped for a couple hours and then returned to Epcot at night. Our fast passes were a couple hours over due, so I made up a little white lie, and told the people that "My little sister got sick and we had to take her to the hotel, is there anyway we could still go on?" Well...it worked :) The lines for these rides were both over 100 minutes so without the fast passes we wouldn't have gone on. Epcot was so much better the second time around. We walked the countries, rode Test Track and had a great time.

On Wednesday, Animal Kingdom had extra magic hours in the morning from 7-8! We raced over there and did that park early in the morning. We started on the safari ride then rode the roller coaster Expedition Everest. After that we ate some food at 'Pizzafari" and then finished our morning with the Lion King Show. I think that was my favorite part of the day, because this disney show is like a broadway musical, it's truly fantastic. We headed over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge after that to check out that resort. From there we decided to go back to Epcot because Mary, Keith and my mom had loved it so much the night before. We ate some food in Mexico and Sean, Scott and I decided to go back to the resort and rest while my mom Mary and Keith decided they wanted to stay. Wednesday night I had planned a firework cruise. We had our own boat and drove around the lagoon for a little bit before and then sat in front of the castle and watched the firework show. It was so much fun and such a neat experience. Not having to deal with the crowds was a really big plus as well. Morgan joined us and it was a great day overall.

Thursday we were all pretty tired so we finally got to sleep in a little bit. Those early mornings were killing me because I never wake up that early now that I work nights! Haha so once we finally rallied we decided this was going to be our day to "resort hop". All of Disney's resorts are so detailed and complex so sometimes they're just fun to go explore. We started with Port Orleans French Quarter, then looked at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian. It was the nicest day of the 3 so we were wearing bathings hanging out at the pools. For dinner I made dinner reservations at Kat Kora's restaurant on the boardwalk. I chose this place because Sean, Scott and Keith watch the cooking channel sometimes and she was the first female Iron Chef so I thought they would like it. It was a Greek styled restaurant and the food was amazing. We ended the night at Downtown Disney and then I said goodbye. Everyone knows goodbyes are not my thing...so that was sad but it's okay because hopefully i'll see them again soon! We're talking about maybe doing a cruise this summer?

As you can see we did SO much in the few days they were here. I had such a great time and I know they did too! Here's some pictures from the week!

Infront of Epcot!

Polynesian Resort!

The picture Keith sent me before they arrived! 

Keith, Mary and Mom drinking German steins in Germany!

Sean, Mary, myself and Scott at Art of Animation Resort!

Us and Keith at the Boardwalk!

Mary and I at Animal Kingdom!

View from our hotel room, bowling pin shaped pool!

Funny picture of the boys!

Group picture on the boat!

Class Today!

Every Monday, I sit at home debating whether to go to class or not but as soon as I get home I'm so happy I got myself to go. We are currently working on our resumes, cover letters and references pages in class and their due in 2 weeks. We talked about many things in class today that I really enjoyed. My teacher is one of the most inspirational leaders I've ever had. She shared a quote with us today that I really liked, "Your professionalism has a direct and powerful effect on how you are seen, the impact you make and the success you achieve!" Today was all about how people view you and how your attitude, appearance and image all really matter. She kept saying remember the 12 and explained it like this...

The Rules of 12

1st 12 words: Express gratitude

1st 12 steps: Walk with confidence

1st 12 inches: Have impeccable grooming meaning from your head to shoulders (Including haircut, appropriate jewelry, etc)

Last 12 inches: Be well maintained from your knees to your shoes (Clean shoes, pants the right length, etc)

Being consistent with how people view you in the business world is the main concept I got out of class today. She ended class by showing us an inspirational video that had to do with today's topics, and if you have a chance take a couple minutes to watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

Tonight I got invited to go out with some part time co-workers! My family is coming in exactly 1 week from today and I AM SO EXCITED!!!

My life is awesome

I've been pretty busy these past couple days. It's so hard because when I'm off all I want to do is sleep sometimes because of how tired I am, but I also don't want to waste the days away! Allie's friends are checking into Cornoado Springs which is a Disney resort I hadn't been to yet. It was beautiful! Below I posted a picture that showed up on my camera really well, but int he hotel was not as visible. This was the hidden mickey at this resort. 

 Walking around Cornado Springs!

Allie had never been to Art of Animations, so we Allie Hailey and I went and walked around on Monday. Here's a silly picture of us in The Lion King section of the resort. 

A picture of us in the cars section!

Monday night we went out to a club called Falefel. It's fun because we get in for really cheap because we're Disney employees. It's amazing how many places offer discounts just because we work for Disney. Below is a picture of some girls I work with!

Tuesday we decided to go back to Universal Studios. I got to check out the park I hadn't been to yet and it was really cool. There were some fun rides but I think I liked Islands of Adventures more because I'm just obsessed with the Harry Potter section of it. I got to ride the rollar coaster in that section this time and it was SOOO much fun! Here's a picture of me and another work friend practicing being wizards :)  We ended the day eating at City Walk at The Bob Marley restaurant. It was really cool and fun but we had terrible service so it was a bummer. 

I woke up this morning, went to Starbucks and then laid out by the pool. Now I'm just getting ready for work, listening to Luke Bryan's new album! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Adventures!

I have been very busy these past 2 days but it's been so much fun! Yesterday was Kristen's birthday so we decided to go to Cocoa Beach for the day. It was a little chilly but the beach was beautiful! It was really cool because they were setting up for a surf competition that was happening there this weekend so they're we lots of people, tents and food vendors out. Below is a picture of Morgan, myself and Kristen. We went with her roommates and it was a nice day. The beach was only about 45 minutes away so we will definitely go again soon.

During the night we went to a "Paint Party". Basically, you wear all white and everyone has paint bottles and you dance and get squirted with paint. It was honestly a blast. By the end of the night I was COVERED! But it was something different and if they have another one I would totally go again. 

Today we started off the morning by going to the Victoria Secret Outlet. It was awesome because all the bathing suits were on sale for super cheap. Hailey and I then decided to go to Universal Studios. I decided to buy a season pass, with a helpful donation from my dad, because if I go more than twice it's paid off for. I was mostly excited to go see the "Wizardly World of Harry Potter!" It was sooo cool! It's pretty small but they did a great job with the replica. I went on the ride inside the castle and I loved it. It was a mix between and ride and a virtual movie...kind of like "Soarin" but you move more. It freaked me out at some parts because of how realistic it was but overall it was great. We walked around one of the Universal parks called, Island of Adventures and then came home. I work again tomorrow and Sunday and then have another 2 days off which is really nice. Here's some pictures of me in the Harry Potter world!