Some imagination, huh?!?

I was working Fantasmic! again last night but it wasn't nearly as bad as a few nights ago. I had help from two other guys who are really nice so that bagging took about thirty minutes instead of the usual hour and thirty minutes when you do it alone. It rained a little on and off but it didn't rain for the show so that was good.

When I was wandering around Sunset before I had to be back I met a family from Israel and talked to them for a few minutes. I'm always really excited when I meet Israelis, or Jews (and I haven't met that many on the program) so I talked with them. Then later when they were leaving Fantasmic! they saw me and said, "Great show!! Thanks for the recommendation" so they were cute.

When I was doing my thing up in Fantasmic! this lady who worked up there as an usher basically came up to me and said, "You are SO on it tonight!". When I stared at her blankly she told me that the custodial who was up there last night had overflowing trash cans and it was all messy but that I was doing a great job. She had been watching me run around before the show started. The cans overflow really quickly up there because they use these stupid cardboard trays for everyone, not to mention how much waste they create because they don't get recycled. But that was nice to be recognized but someone other than a manager or custodial person. :-)

I got two free movie tickets because our area is cast member injury free for over 130 days. YAYYY. Even though I've only been there for about 60 of them, I still got tickets. Woohooo!! And they're good anytime so that's almost a $20 value. Movies are $8 or $9 dollars here. Yowzaaa.

So today I don't have work until 5 pm because it's extra magic hours. I'm just gonna chill, work out, do some homework and maybe laundry. Day 6 or 10, then only 4 more and Lane's going to be here!!! I'm really excited for him to come. We're going to Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner on Saturday and then I think we're going to go to Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival on Sunday. It's gonna be a blast. :-)

I would LOVE to stay late.

So I finished day 4 of 10. I'm doing pretty okay too. Right now I'm exhausted but I was at work from 10-8 so that's pretty much why I'm so sleepy!!!

Yesterday was SO much fun. We went to Animal Kingdom and had a friggin blast. We danced with the African music troupe peeps and they were so much fun. My friend Shan took really funny videos of us doing it. We rode Expedition Everest 3 times and Dinosaur once, then saw The Festival of the Lion King. I went to work after that. I had this incredibly boring class called "Safety In Motion" and it was about moving in safe ways (duh). It was fun though I was just "working the streets" yesterday on Sunset. Haha.

Today I was in Icon alllll day. It was actually really good. The new High School Musical show has started so that was fun. I know a lot more of the words than I used to in the songs. :-)

I had to do powervac again for the parade and that was really hot but besides that it was a good day. Then my manager, C one of my faves (an Illinois alum, woot!) asked me to stay an hour late which I gladly did since I would be working overtime then. So I stayed and now I am home and have crashed on our big squishy chair!!

Tomorrow and the day after I have short shifts in the evening so that's nice to know that I have time in the mornings to do whatever I want to!!! For now I'm going to try to watch Grey's Anatomy online (I'm having a hard time rarrr) and then go to sleep early. Night!!!

Can I take your picture!??!

Yesterday I worked in Icon again. It was actually pretty good. I had a short 6 hour shift so it went by really fast. Now the new High School Musical 2 started so that's something that brings more people to the area so that was more fun too. I took lots of pictures again and traded pins all day. There was this one couple who we were talking to who were so nice. It was their 25th wedding anniversary and their first visit ever to Disney World. They had just gotten into pin trading and were very excited that I had a pin they were looking for. I offered to take a picture for them and then gave them an anniversary present (pixie dust pins of course). They were really excited and when I told them that there were two other kinds they were like "Ohhhh maybe we'll have to find those!!!". They went on their merry way and I helped some other guests out after talking to them.

Later, the same couple comes back up to me and says, "Allie!! We remembered your name!! Look what we found!!" and pulled out another pixie dust pin. They were all excited that they found one of the other ones to trade and wanted to know which one they were still looking for. It was really cute.

I had the closing trash run and was dreading it because last time I did the same trash run it took me almost an hour and a half but last night it took about an hour to do so that was good!!! I get to work back on Sunset today but it looks like it's going to pour so maybe another rainy day pushing water. (It's okay, I love playing with the big squeegee!!)

They came to replace our carpet today which is kind of nice because now we have nice new carpet in our rooms and in the living room. The living room carpet was disgusting and all stained so it's cool that they changed it. And it made me clean a little. :-)

Sun showers are fun.

So Saturday was pretty uneventful. I worked a closing 6 hour shift on Sunset which was fine, the usual. There were fun people working so that was good! It rained at night (oh goodness, I know, soooo surprising!!) but it was a good night. I had yesterday and today off so I have been running errands, cleaning, working out and doing my thing.

Yesterday was the end of my first ever 12 Week Body-for-Life Challenge. I exercised and changed my eating habits for 12 weeks straight working out 6 days a week (alright, since I've been here either 5 or 6 days a week). I'm super proud of myself but more exciting I have lost 9 pounds in the last three months. I've gained muscle and stamina and I couldn't be more proud of myself for finishing (even though some people thought I may not go the whole time). I haven't used my inhaler in who knows how long too so the health benefits are showing too already.

Today my roomie and I got up and did cardio. She decided that she wants to work out with me so she and I both started a new 12 Week program. My goal is to lose another 10 pounds before I leave Florida.

So besides running errands and such I am just going to do some work today and hang out. :-) Have a great week everyone!!

It's getting BREEZY!!!!

Well today was really interesting! I was working an 8 hour shift in Icon which is the area around the big sorcerer Mickey's hat (the icon of our park, icon area . . .). I have worked there once before in the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! but today I was just sweeping around the big hat. For about 45 minutes, I had to stand in front of a ladies' restroom that was down for maintenance and tell people that. I was SO not popular. Almost half of the ladies I told that to looked like they were going to strangle me. My favorite though was the lady who had her 3 year old daughter with her who said she had to go so badly that the lady ran into the men's bathroom with her daughter!! And there were men in there!!! I couldn't really do much and the guys didn't seem to care that much. I just kind of laughed. After that, I took about 80 pictures for people and traded pins for a while which was really fun. Then, I had to do powervac for the parade which is like a gigantic loud vacuum we take around after the parade to get all of the popcorn and messy debris left by the audience. Right after that I had to do a trash run and empty all the cans around the hat and OH GOODNESS I missed Sunset!!! There were so many cans and everything was much more spread out than Sunset. I felt like a foreigner.

All of these responsibilities made the day go by really fast though because I kept having to be somewhere else. It was good. I traded lots and lots of pins today which is always fun. Then, I met a really cute family near the end of my shift and there were two daughters about 7 and 10 who were trading with me. The family was telling me about how it was their last day and they were hoping Fantasmic! wouldn't be canceled due to rain and the girls were just so darn cute that I gave them pixie dust pins. They were really super excited as most people are to get free souvenirs from Disney. :-)

Tonight I came home and got Panera for dinner with the gift card my incredibly generous parents gave me (thanks guys) and then worked out. At Panera, I was getting an iced green tea thing for my roommate and I was telling the nice boy behind the counter how I've never had one and he went and gave me a smaller one for free!!! Just like the pixie dust recipients, I was pretty excited. Tomorrow I work a short shift, 3:30-9:30 and then it's my weekend!!! Yayyy!!!! I plan on being lazy and getting my homework done for my class. It's turning out to be a great week!!!

Is is monsoon season?!?!?!

Work was really good today. First Jess and I went to property control and Cast Connection before work and it was AMAZING!!! They have everything so cheap like the 3 dollar Stitch hat I bought. I was pretty super excited.

At work I was on zone 2 which is Tower of Terror (normally the coaster but it's not up right now). So I was just kind of chillin' around that area and talking to lots of different guests. I did lots of pin trading today which is always fun. My favorite was this old couple who I went to trade with. They had so many full series of the hidden Mickey pins (the ones you can only get from cast members) and then this really awkward family comes up and asks if they can trade to them. The old man is so sweet and trades them what they wanted and then the awkward fam walks away. I reach into my pouch and pull out a pixie dust pack even though he had all three kinds on his lanyard and say that since he was so sweet to that family I wanted him to have these pins that he could use to trade. They were so excited they even shook my hand before walking away. It's stuff like that that just makes my entire week!!!

Another awesome story was how when I was in Fantasmic! a few nights ago, this boy runs through the big rush of people leaving to come over and say in an awesome British accent "That was the GREATEST show I've ever seen!!! Thank you so much!!!" and then runs back to his mom. It was soooo cute!!

Two days ago, I got my first "Guest Service Fanatic" card. These are recognition cards that managers can give out when they see you doing things that are above and beyond and I got one for my guest/cast interaction with this lady who was waiting to meet up with the rest of her party. My manager came over and the lady said that I was so polite and had such a good time talking with me. It was pretty exciting.

I have one more day of work and then 2 days off so that's pretty sweet. :-)

Yes, it IS that hot in Orlando.

Today at work was just sweltering. It was 91 degrees and hotter at some points and guests felt the need to keep asking me "Is it AWAYS this hot in Orlando?!". Yes, it is. Check weather.com, it's a great resource. It's been that hot and it will continue to be that hot for at least another week or two. And the Rock 'n Roller Coaster (commonly called the Rock 'n Roll Roller Coaster . . . come on people, understand the play on words) is down for refurbishment until early October and all these people come over and ask, "What?!?! It's down?!?!?!". Uh, yes. It was in the times guide, the tip board, and all over the front of the park. And online. It's down. I'm sorry we're not exciting enough with out the cool roller coaster.

As angry as that paragraph sounded, I really had a good time today at work. It was incredibly hot but it was fun. I talked to lots of guests today which makes time go by SO much faster. Then we had this welcome thingy with all the new custodial college programmers and that was fun too (we got candy and played trivia games). Then I gave out another pixie dust pin to this lady who was on her 50th visit to the parks and it was her birthday too so I just had to give it to her. She was super excited about it.

Tonight I went to dinner with some of the roomies to Bahama Breeze. The food was AWESOME and we had fun making fun of our slow waiter. Really I just think that any food that isn't made by me or my microwave is good.

So now I'm going to just hang out a bit and go to sleep kind of early. I don't have to be at work until 1:30 but I want to work out early and clean up for a while so yeah. Bye all!!!

Oh yeah!!!! :-) And a happy new year!!!!

So I totally forgot to write about the most exciting thing that has happened in the last week. My sister got engaged!! Yayy!!! She's going to get married and I'm super excited. I also got a BRAND NEW computer today so I am currently playing on it and putting all of my stuff onto it. It's pretty and white and new. I'm in love.

This past week at work was actually very hot but fun. My favorite day was when I got to make this little boy's day. As I walked past him with my pan and broom, I saw him drop his Mickey Premium ice cream bar. The chocolate was alllll over his face, pants, shirt, just everywhere. Another custodian and I picked up the dropped ice cream and I went and got him a new one. He seemed extremely excited but very shy. After talking to his mom and grandma for a few minutes, I thought that he was the perfect little boy to give my second pixie dust pin to. I asked if he liked pin trading and his mom and grandma said he was OBSESSED. It was also his first trip to Disney so I told him that I had a special present for him for his first trip. I pulled out the pin to give to him and he was soooo excited!! His eyes just lit up and even though the only thing he said to me the entire time I talked to his mom and grandma was "thank you" twice I still think he was super excited about the pixie dust pin.

I got back last night from visiting Joni and family. It was very fun and relaxing. I definitely enjoyed seeing some familiar faces (not to mention getting good food and laundry done!)!!! All in all, I had a good "weekend".

I just got home from working an early shift. I think we're going to hang out for a little bit and then head to Magic Kingdom to try out the new and improved Haunted Mansion (yayyy!!). I'm pretty stoked. After that I'm sure we'll just come home and chill for a while. I have another early shift tomorrow so I will probably head to bed kind of early!! :-)

SO much work!

I'm getting ready to go visit some family friends but I haven't updated in a while so I thought i would do that before I leave. Work has been going pretty well. It's very hot out still and it keeps raining so then we got hot and sticky. I've done Fantasmic twice in the last week so I'm getting a little bit tired of it but I think they're going to keep putting me on it for some reason. BOOO. The streets are hard to do up there. But both times I've done it it's been canceled so whatever. I'm just having fun hanging with the roomies when we don't have work.

Haunted Mansion reopens today (the 13th, mwuahaha). It's opening in time for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party which my roommates and I will be attending right after Halloween. You get to trick or treat in Magic Kingdom and the characters are there all dressed up in their "favorite costumes". I'm excited!!!

Besides that, there are lots of new College Program kids on Sunset at MGM. So far, they're pretty cool, some of them are going to be a little bit of a problem but it's not MY problem so it's okay. :-) Bye for now!!!!

Great Birthday!!!!!!!

I had such a great birthday!!!! I shopped in the morning of my birthday and then headed to work. After twenty minutes, they let me leave!! Yayy!!!! When I came back to the apartment there were decorations in the apartment like balloons and a Happy Birthday banner, it was so cute!!! So I came back and chilled and then went back to MGM with one of my roomies. We rode some stuff and did the drawing studio in Magic of Disney Animation (my fave) and then met up with Jessica when she was done with work. We went on Tower of Terror (twice, she got us back on a second time without waiting!) and then we went to Fantasmic. It was great as usual and then we came back to the apartment and drank here.

Thursday we all went to breakfast at IHOP which was really fun. They sang to me and gave me a little sundae. I was very embarrassed and surprised, it was great. Then we went to pick up paychecks and fix our accounts at Vista Credit Union. After that we went to the BEST thing about being a cast member, Cast Connection. It's like a Disney outlet store on steroids that you can only go to if you are a cast member or with a cast member. It's huge and great!!! We spent some money and then Autumn and I went to Magic Kingdom. This was also fantastic. We traded pins, rode a bunch of my favorite rides like Buzz Lightyear, the Laugh Floor and Peter Pan and then we headed back to the apartment. We decided to hang out for a while and then after Kristina got home we went to Buffalo Wild Wings again to chill and eat wings. We had so much fun, it was a great ending to a great birthday celebration.

Today I have just chilled, done laundry and gone grocery shopping. I got an awesome package from my parents (thanks!) and we are all just chilling now!!! I have to work tomorrow at 10 am but at least I get the night off. Thanks to everyone who made my birthday awesome!!!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!!

So yesterday at work was very strange. There was NO ONE in the park!!! It was really empty, especially compared to Labor Day. Since there was no one there really, it was a cinch to work because nothing got too dirty. I'm learning fast that to enjoy my job I really need to take pride in what I do, even if to you all it just sounds like I am cleaning toilets all the time . . . to me, I am keeping MGM clean and making magic for our guests. (Not in the bathroom mostly.) There is a new dude who is a "Debbie Downer" and I've realized that even though custodial work isn't the most glamorous or sometimes fun job in the park, I get to talk to people for the majority of my day and I make people happy by trading pins and creating memorable experiences for them.

Last night I got home from work and found a WHOLE stack of presents waiting for me. YAY!! I got some very nice gifts from friends and family (including a Publix gift card, what a fantastic idea, groceries for two weeks, seriously!) as well as other gift cards and a birthday cake mix that you bake in a flower pot. Hehehehe, I love it.

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings because it's close to our apartment and Kristina had friends from work who were going there. We had an awesome time, talked to some interesting random people and decided to go to Pleasure Island for a while after that. Kristina was nice enough to drive so we didn't have to worry about getting places and we just had a blast. At PI they told the people at the door that it was my birthday and they gave me a button and took our picture for us. The guy at the door spoke in an Irish accent for like half the time and we were wondering what was up with that. :-) The club was EMPTY also so we had the revolving dance floor all to ourselves. We just had a blast.

Then when I got back to the apartment lots of people had written on my Facebook wall and Jer had sent me an awesome birthday present. He compiled the answers to a survey that a bunch of my good friends and family answered and it really just made my night. The questions were about me and the answers were really funny. It was supposed to be a "taste of home" and it just made me smile.

So now I am up early and can't fall back asleep but that's okay. I am hanging out all morning and then going to work for about 2.5 hours and then coming to the apartment, then going BACK to MGM to play with two of my roomies who will be off work later. Everyone else is working kind of late tonight so we're gonna party in the apartment.

I'm just feeling really lucky now to have made such great friends here already and to have such amazing ones at home. :-)

Almost 22!!!

This crazy work week has actually FLOWN by. I'm really surprised because I thought it would go super slow but it has gone by really quickly. I'm on my last full day of work (number 8, holy cow!) and then tomorrow I have a 2.5 hour shift and then I get to celebrate!!! My roomies are being awesome about my birthday and we're gonna party it up in the next few days. Most of us have Thursday or Friday off so we are going to go to Pleasure Island possibly tonight and then hang out in the apartment tomorrow night. Then Thursday they're taking me out to breakfast (yay!) and then Pleasure Island again at night. Quite a fiasco. I was late to work yesterday for the first time and they were incredibly nice about it and actually switched my shift so I had a full shift of work. What nice managers!!! Now I am off to hang out before work, I can't decide what I'm going to do yet but I'm going to hang out. I'll post more later tonight or tomorrow.

6 Days Down, 3 to go!!!!!!!

I'm on my long stretch of work now and I'm almost done. Only two more days and then a 2 1/2 hour shift on my birthday!!! Tonight I worked in the Fantasmic restrooms which was pretty good. It was actually a lot slower than I thought it would be. I got to chill a lot and just sweep the streets and such. Tomorrow I'm working at 5 which is kind of nice because I get to sleep in and hang out all day until work. Two more days, two more days!!!!

The best part of my day two days ago was giving out a Pixie Dust Pin. Disney Pin Trading is all the rage out here. Kids and adults, they all trade these Disney pins and cast members get good ones, so they like to trade with us. But Pixie Dust Pins are special pins that only cast members are allowed to give out. You can’t buy them in the stores. There are two pins in each pack, one for the recipient to keep and one for them to give to someone else or trade with another person. Last night as Fantasmic was letting out (or Fantasmagoric as one guy called it yesterday) I saw this boy being led to Tower of Terror. We were telling the rest of his party that the park was already closed but his mom assured me his uncle was just playing a trick on him because he cried through the whole ride. As he comes closer, I see him wearing a birthday button. So I ask him how old he’s turning and such. I pull out the pin to give to him and when I tell him about it, it looks like his eyes may pop out of his head. He’s so super excited and his family seems to be so excited for him that it just made my entire day. I hope his pin helps him remember his birthday at Disney. :-)

Well for now I am off to watch Cocktail with the roommates and then go to sleep!!! Good night all!!!