Family, friends and a little big o' magic!!!

So this weekend was just fabulous with my parents and the Mandels. We had a spectacular time!! I picked mom and dad up on Friday at the airport and we headed to Universal (eeeek, traitorous!) and had lots of fun there. We ate in Margaritaville which had good food, good music and a volcano that erupted every hour or so. Mom and I split one of the best burgers I've had in a while and after that we went on Spiderman which is an awesome ride. I convinced dad to go on the Hulk coaster with me (his first one in 8 years) and after that we decided to head to the other park. We saw Shrek 4D and then the Terminator show because we missed those last time. We had oodles of fun and decided to head out towards the hotel. I showed them my apartment and we decided on dinner at Kobe, mmmm sushi. After checking in, we ate with Scott and Joni and it was delicious as always there. We just hung out after dinner. It was nice and relaxing.

Saturday entailed shopping at Cast Connection, the outlet mall and chillin' all day. We had dinner at Ohana, my fave, but we were a little bit disappointed in their trying to split up our group and we were kind of on the outskirts so didn't have quite as much ambiance as the middle of the room has. But the food was amazing and we had a good time. We rode the monorail to the Grand Floridian which is absolutely gorgeous and then headed back to the Polynesian so Scott's friends who were also with us could help back home.

Sunday we got up super duper early and headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge just so my parents and Scott and Joni could see it. They loved it and after that we headed to Epcot for some food, wine and fun. We rode Finding Nemo and Journey into the Imagination, did a little shopping and ate some awesome food. I also tried the Octoberfest beer in Germany and the Cherry Wheat beer at the Hops and Barley Market. The Cherry was amazing, a new fave. We all took a little nap in the American Adventure and then decided to head to MGM.

It sadly rained for a big period of time when we were at the Studios but we got back doored at Tower (thank you Jess!!) and then hid in a store while it was raining and I got us VIP seats at Fantasmic!. We had dinner, strange that I haven't had lots of food in the park since I don't eat there that often! After that we headed up to the show and got drizzled on for another half hour but it went on anyway. Yayyy!! The seats were awesome and we had lots of fun. We chilled at the hotel for a little when we got back and it was just an all around fun and relaxing weekend. I dropped mom and dad off at the airport on Monday and had class right after followed by a shopping spree at Target. Then Kristina and I went to the County Fair they had for college programmers at Chatham and we got free dinners and really cute pics with Mickey and Minnie. We had a ball. We went to see Across the Universe after and I looooved it and then hung out until Heroes. It was an all around awesome 4 days off. I have work this week from 3-9 T-Th and then 11:30-8 on Friday and Saturday so I get home a bit early on those days which is pretty sweet. It's gonna be a good two weeks till I go home which I'm super excited about also!!! Yayyy!!!

Yayyyy for visitors!!!!

So these last three days of work weren't too bad, a little (okay, a LOT) hot. It was almost unbearably humid today hitting almost NINETY percent humidity. YOWZA!! But some really fun things did happen this week.

Tuesday I was working late for an under 2000 person convention. It was open bar so we expected some craziness but it was actually very tame. The best part of all was when the duty manager called my manager and asked if he wanted to send a bunch of us on coaster and tower with the lights on. It was super cool and it was even cooler because I was working and going on rides. :-)

The last two days weren't that bad either but I'm kind of lagging at work just because it's been so hot and humid. Tonight I was working Fantasmic! streets and it was all fine until an older lady fell and hit her head on the pavement and I had to do a BBP (blood borne pathogen) spill. I had to clean up the blood that was on the pavement but there wasn't too much. I have to say that my stomach has definitely gotten stronger since I've been here!!

Tonight I am just hanging out and doing some cleaning before my parents and the Mandels come in tomorrow. I'm super excited to see all of them and I know it's going to be a really fun weekend. :-)

What a week!!!!

So this past week was really SOOO much fun. I worked Monday-Friday (wow, a regular work week!!) and then I ended up flying home last minute on Saturday for Richard and Ilene's 25th anniversary party that Lane, Martee and I have been planning. We went to the parks on Friday though and that was LOTS of fun!!! Then the Torf family came and I had a great time seeing them while I was working Friday night. It was a really fantastic week. Mom, Dad, and the Mandels are coming on Friday so I have three days of work and then another exciting weekend ahead!!! Enjoy the pics. :-)

At Animal Kingdom - right before the creepy photopass dude had us do some weird pose, I think he may have thought I was pregnant. Jerk.

Probably one of my favorite pictures of Lane ever. He's just so cute!!!

Me and Shan in our second home. :-)

Me and Laney Pooh, what a cute couple!!!

Mom, Dad and me at the Fischman's

What a great weekend!!!

So I had to drop Lane off at the airport today. Super sad. But we had an AMAZING weekend together. He finally got here around 11 ish on Saturday and I picked him up at the airport. I was just really excited to see him so that was great. We did a little shopping, I showed him my apartment and then I took him to Cast Connection and Property Control. We went to the India Palace near Kobe for lunch and it was awesome. They had a special lunch thingy and it was so good. Then for dinner we went to Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

The AKL is BEAUTIFUL!! It's like walking into Africa. It's decorated so awesomely. Boma was absolutely fantastic. There was over 60 selections of food on the buffet and the desserts were so amazing. My favorite things were the fou fou (mashed sweet and regular potatoes with lots of spices and such) and the chocolate mousse for dessert. It was great and the waiter knew I was college program and gave us a really nice discount because he felt bad for my small paychecks. :-)

Sunday we went to Animal Kingdom in the morning which was really fun especially since Lane has never been there. We went on Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safaris and saw my fave, It's Tough to be a Bug. Then we headed to Epcot where we had our most enjoyable time at the Food and Wine Festival. Lane, being the ambitious person he is decided we would go to every booth in the fest and get something at each. There are 28 booths. Mind you, we weren't drinking at every one (we would have collapsed) but we were sharing one small portion of food from each of the countries. Near the end I started to hand it off to him to finish but we tried some amazing food!!! The empanadas in Mexico were so good, the kilbasa and pierogies in Poland were amazing and Lane favored the Honey Wine from Ireland. It was so much fun going around to the countries. We finally crashed and went into a bit of a food coma so we decided to stop off at the pub in the UK. I had a favorite beer (Harp and Strongbow, mmmm) and we hung out while it rained for about half an hour. Then Lane had decided that we were going to go to China for dinner and the Nine Dragons restaurant was fantastic. They had spectacular jasmine tea and the food was outstanding. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Lane crashed since he's really not used to the heat or being out in it for long periods of time but we had such a blast.

I had my first exploration of guest service class and loved it. I think I'm really going to like hearing from all of the higher up managers about how they run the park in their various locations. I worked yesterday for Extra Magic Hours and was pretty exhausted by the end of my 4-12:30 shift. I was in Fantasmic! againnnn but it was pretty okay. It went by fast at least. Today I am going to do some grocery shopping, work out at some point and then go to work at 3:30. It's pretty nice, I have all 3:30-9:30 shifts the rest of this week so now more 8 hours. :-)

Wanna ride bikes???

So I finally have a few days off! Yayyyy. Lane is coming in as we speak so I am super excited to see him.

The last week at work has been pretty good. I was so exhausted from working so many days in a row that I was just getting burnt out. A few really awesome things happened though. First, it was National Custodial Day on October 2nd, you can laugh, I did too. But it was really nice because I got to work and I got to go straight to a little party they were holding for us. They had a whole big lunch spread for us including cake and cookies. It was just very nice since our job really is incredibly important to the park but definitely not the most glamorous or thankful. So that was pretty cool.

Another really fun thing was that they brought bikes back to the Studios backstage. They used to have bikes in the backstage areas for cast members to use to get to and from backstage places but then I guess people were naughty and they took them away. Well now they're back. I've forgotten how much fun it is to just ride a bike and my friends at work and I have had a fantastic time riding around to get to our various work locations. They're really nice bikes, they ride well and they have a little basket up front. They're also just regular bikes, not mountain bikes so they have old school handlebars and backpeddle brakes. They're sweet. :-)

It's icky and raining out right now but I'm hoping it will clear up a bit tomorrow so Lane and I can go to the parks. I'm hoping to do MGM so he can meet a few coworkers and then Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival and Illuminations. We're going to Boma tonight at the Animal Kingdom Lodge so that should be really awesome as well. Lane's flight has just been delayed so in the meantime I think I'm going to go work out before he gets here!! Hopefully I'll have some super pictures to put up after this weekend. Mom and dad come in two weeks, I can't wait!!!

9 days down, 2 to go!!!!!!

So I'm officially EXHAUSTED. Today was my 9th day of work in a row and I was scheduled for streets but the girl who was supposed to be in Fantasmic! restrooms called in so I moved up there. It was actually kind of good to have something to do because the park was really quiet today. I had a good time, I had good coworkers today so it made it go by faster. I talked to one couple from London for about 30 minutes so that was really fun. I did a lot of pin trading and just did my usual thang. :-)

I have two more days of 6 hour closing shifts and then Lane will be here!!!! I'm very excited to see him because it's been 2 months now and that's the longest we've gone without seeing each other. After Lane leaves I start my exploration class so that will be fun too. I'm also very excited to hopefully reconnect with someone I worked with who is bringing her family down. Hopefully I will be able to bring some extra magic to their trip. ;-) Then it's only two weeks until mom and dad come down and a little more than a month until the roomies are here!!!

It's gonna be a great month!!!!!!