The beginning of my magical Disney World experience!

I finally have time to blog! And I have so much to talk about, so hopefully I can talk about it all!

So far, I absolutely love it here in Florida! My plane landed at 7 in the morning yesterday (4 am Washington time), and I didn’t sleep at all, so I was praying that I would be able to function and stay awake all day, and surprisingly I was able to. There was so much going on that sleep didn’t even cross my mind!

Day 1 at Disney World:
A shuttle took me from the airport to the Vista Way apartments, where all the Disney interns meet and check in. It was only a half hour drive to get there. It was a long line of filling out paperwork and showing ID. I took longer than most of the interns though because apparently I “wasn’t in the system”. So basically I was never accepted! I knew this might be a problem when I switched coming this winter instead of in the summer. But the recruiting lady I talked with on the phone 2 months ago said I was switched, and it even showed my dates switched on my Disney website login. So I had to go occupy myself for another hour while the Disney recruiters basically rehired me and put me in the system.

Around 11:30, I was finally in the system and got my housing key and housing card and found out where I was living. There are four housing complexes for the Disney interns, and all the BYU and BYU-Idaho students live at Chatham Square, and there are 30 different buildings there. The LDS students live in buildings 26-30. I live in building 29, which has its ups and downs. The good news is that I live right across the hall from one of my friends at school, which is crazy that it happened! Her roommates are awesome, and I’ve met a bunch of awesome girls and guys that live in my building. I’m also on the bottom floor so I didn’t have to haul my heavy bags up the stairs! My apartment is huge (pictures to come soon), and I live with 3 other girls who are wonderful! The laundry room is right on the first floor by my apartment, and the mail kiosk is right across the street. It’s right by the pool and fitness center, which I can see outside my window. I’m pretty sure guys working out at the fitness center know girls living in building 29 are checking them out, so they take off their shirts and flex… more than they need to. That’s my view outside my window, and all I can see when nighttime comes around! Pretty odd for sure. Sorry I’m just not into that! The bad news is that my apartment is clear in the back corner of Chatham Square. It’s about a 5 minute walk from the bus stop and clubhouse. That's the only negative thing about it, and it's not even too bad, just when I go grocery shopping and have to carry a bunch of stuff from the bus stop. I like where I’m living a lot so I won’t complain.

I went to my apartment, met two of my roommates on the shuttle on the way there, unpacked a little bit, then took a bus and went to casting. Casting is where they officially announce your role and where you’ll be working (either in the Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon). So I still was lucky enough to keep my role as a Vacations Planner, and I’ll be working in the Magic Kingdom. A lot of girls I know are working in Magic Kingdom as well, mostly as waitresses in one of the restaurants. My friend Cheyenne that I knew before I came here is a Character Attendant in the Animal Kingdom. I just want to go to all the parks and see everything there is already! I will soon enough once this hectic week ends!

Casting took 3-4 hours because we had to fill out even more paperwork, give them our paperwork we filled out already before we came, do a background check, take fingerprints, get our schedule for the rest of the week and a bunch of other random things. I took an extra hour since I wasn’t in the system before. But once that ended I was so relieved to be done with it.

From casting I went back to my apartment for a couple hours, finished unpacking, then took a bus to get groceries at wal-mart. They have an amazing transportation system. There are buses that can take you almost anywhere you need to go, to all the Disney parks, shopping places, etc. You just have to check the times they arrive and whatnot. But I went to wal-mart with a few friends and got as much as a could carry from the bus stop in front of my apartment complex to my building. I had 4 bags total with mostly food and hangers. I have to go back later today to get more stuff for my apartment, which my roommates and I will split up.

Once that was all over with, it was about 8:30 at night, and I was exhausted! I visited with my roommates and crashed in my bed about 11:00. I slept for 10 straight hours… it was wonderful! My bed isn’t even that comfortable, and it makes a noise whenever you move. They are newer mattresses too I don’t know why they do that. But I was so out of it so luckily it didn’t bother me last night when I needed sleep!

Day 2 at Disney World:
The only thing I had going on today was a Housing Welcome Meeting at 12:45. It was nice to sleep in and take my time getting ready. My roommate Adrianna and I watched the first half of The Bachelor before the meeting! The meeting took about 2 hours and went over the basics of everything dealing with housing to other important information we needed to know and remember.

Once the meeting ended, my roommates and I went across the street to the outlet mall and got lunch. It’s so nice walking around in the sun with palm trees everywhere! It’s not too warm today though, but it’s still sunny enough for me to work on my tan!

All I have going on today is going to wal-mart, dying my hair (since my blonde highlights don’t approve the “Disney Look”), and visiting and relaxing with friends, maybe go swimming later too. Tomorrow is supposed to be a big day, and we have what is called Traditions. Traditions I hear is a pretty big deal. I have to dress professionally and have the “Disney Look”. I will get my vacation planning outfit, which they call a costume. And I will also get my Disney name tag and Disney pass to get into the parks for free! I’m also pretty sure I will get my working schedule. Traditions might be all day long, I have no idea. But I will for sure blog about it when I am free!

Here is what my schedule looks like so far for the next few days:
-Wednesday is Traditions at 2 in the afternoon, and will probably last a few hours. At night my friends and I are finally going to Disney World since I'll have my pass to get in!
-Thursday I have training for my job at 8:30 in the morning. I might have training everyday at the same time until next Monday, but I will find that out for sure on Thursday.
-Next Tuesday I am going on a tour of the Magic Kingdom since I’m working in that part of Disney. That is at 7:15 in the morning.

I can’t wait to be on a daily routine once training ends so I can finally go and do more fun things during the day when I don’t work! I can’t get over being in Florida and being in some sun, and how I will be here for the next 3 months!

Here are some pictures of my apartment, and the only pictures I've had time to take so far, which some of my family is dying to see!


Welcome to Chatham Square, building 29!


My apartment is on the right under the stairs on the first floor :)


Right when you first walk in. The door on the right leads to my two roommates bathroom/ public bathroom, then into my roommates room.


The kitchen


The dining room


The living room


View of kitchen and dining room from my bedroom


View of living room from my bedroom


Outside the living room glass doors is our little balcony


My large bedroom!


Bedroom looking at it from my bed, and the bathroom door


My very nice bathroom and the closet door


The big sink


My awesome walk in closet!


Other half of closet


Lockers in the closet to put laptop, camera, etc. so they don't get stolen


My view from my bedroom window... the fitness center and the pool is behind it