Hollywood Studios

Last Thursday, my friend Chris and I both had the day off, so we went to Hollywood Studios for the day. When we got there, we first went to see if Toy Story Mania had any fast passes, but alas, they were gone(we figured they would be). So we went to Rock n roller coaster and got fast passes there then got in line for Tower of Terror. I was really excited to go because I had wanting to go on this ride ever since I was little. The ride was pretty cool and has a really cool theme to it. After TT we went and stood in line for Rock n Rollercoaster, even though we had fast passes for later that evening. It is the best ride! It's a roller coaster inside and it is fast! I love it and am glad we went on it twice! After that we went and stood in line for Toy Story Mania. It took us two hours to get to the ride(finally). Luckily it was worth it! It was a lot of fun and really fast paced! the whole waiting area too is really entertaining because you are in andy's room and there are a lot of classic games in there that are blown up to huge sizes. Even the Crayons have little "wax" pieces from coloring. It's hard to explain, but if you go on it, you will understand.
After that ride, we went and ate food at Pizza Planet(after I got my picture taken with Lightning Mcqueen and Mater...see above). Pizza Planet was good. We then went and watched Muppetvision 3D one of Chris's favorite shows. It was funny! I found a poster of my favorite tv show Lost, which was loads of fun to see! We went on Star Tours next, then we were going to go on the Great Movie Ride, but while we were in line, decided to watch the voyage of the Little Mermaid instead. It was a short show, but very cute! I especially liked the Under the Sea part :D We then went to use our fastpasses, and we noticed that there were a lot of people already going to get seats for Fantasmic, an hour and a half before it started, so we decided that we would go to the later showing instead. The fastpass line for Rock n Rollercoaster is so much better because it is a lot shorter waiting time, and the ride is still awesome the second time around. After that we went to see if Toy Story was still a long line(which it was). We also went to a Villians shop where I found a very cute Nightmare before Christmas hat that was on sale(plus my discount). We walked around the streets of new york and san fran for a little bit and i got my picture taken with an umbrella that gets rained on(to be like singin in the rain). I learned later how to make it rain on the umbrella though, so I need to go back to get another picture taken with it. After walking around, we decided to do the Great Movie Ride, which was good again, but I liked it the first time better. We then went to the art of animation, where we learned about the process from a cast member and mushu the dragon. We recorded our voices to a scene from Beauty and the Beast, and I found out I am most like Cinderella(lol) and then we took an animation class. We drew Mickey winking, and from the first circle, this little girl behind us kept crying cuz she didnt think she could do it. It was frustrating, and it was really bothering Chris. When the teacher first said no crying, I thought she was kidding! Mine didn't end up looking so bad, and I had fun doing it. At that time we had to walk really fast to make it to Fantasmic in time, which we made it just in time! It was such a beautiful show! I wanted to cry at the end because I was so touched. Disney never seizes to amaze me, even when I know the secrets of things....*shhhhh* lol. We left after the show and went back to our apartments. It was a fun day! Oh one thing that was funny was Chris wore a pin I was given that was a Happy (un)Birthday Pin and it said my name Jessica on it. Cast members kept wishing him happy birthday, and only two even questioned it, the one that I traded pins with(and bought an awesome converse jack sparrow first release pin) and the person at the front of the line for the Great Movie Ride. It was funny to see peoples reactions. Hollywood Studios was so much fun and I am glad that I got to finally go!

start of training

On Day Four, I started my training. I got to the costuming building at Magic Kingdom and there I met my first trainer Jack, as well as tried on my costume to get the right size. Now, I must tell you that if you ever are going to work for Disney, their sizes, at least pants and skirts, are two sizes bigger than what you normally would wear. Also, you need to wear them at your natural waistline...or at your belly button. My costume is a blue skirt with chickens and hearts and flowers on them, and a white button up shirt(which you tuck in) that has embroidering on it. That day was a walk around with Jack and the other girl I was training with, Christine. We walked around and learned more about "the basics"(the four things that we should be doing as cast members...do i remember them all right now? nope.) Jack was very friendly, and loves flirting with all the cute girls. Dont worry, his wife knows. He is such a sweet guy and was so great to learn from! That night after work, I went shopping with my friend Chris to the outlet mall a few minutes walk from where we live. I had to find some shoes for work. Technically I shouldn't have the ones I do have, but I am using them because they are comfortable.

Day five was the class, "Once Upon a Time...Is Now." This morning I missed the bus(I looked at the time wrong) and luckily the bus going to Traditions that day let me on. It was a good thing because if I had taken the next bus, I would have gotten there too late, as the class left for MK(magic kingdom) like a few minutes after I got there. I know for a fact that I was blessed and that it was the Lord's hand in helping me. The lady who let me on the Traditions bus was even from Salt Lake! So this class was a tour of the Magic Kingdom. We learned a lot about the park, and got to ride two rides, Buzz Lightyear and Haunted Mansion. It was a fun class and I am glad I made it. That night I went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot with Chris and two of his roommates. It was a blast! Chris left though while we were at Epcot to eat with his parents and me and his roommates went to eat at the American Pavilion. I also got my first ever funnel cake there, and oh my gosh it was amazing! We went to the Boardwalk so Brenden(the others name was Bryan) could get some dessert from the pastry shop he was going to work at. We then got lost in the hotel there looking for the cast bus we needed to take back to our apartments, but luckily a nice bell hop showed us where to go.

Saturday(Day six) Brittney and I had the class Merchantainment. There we learned all about retail and how to work the registers. I had a hard time staying awake in that class, especially cuz a lot of it was review for me. I had fun working on the registers though, because it was like playing when we were kids. Man what i would have given to have a play register like that when I was a kid! After Merchantainment(where I got a pin that says Merchantainment on it, you can only get it through that class), we went to Cast Connections and Property Control to look for merchandise treasures. I found some pins, a shirt and a scarf. It was a fun place, but it's easy to spend a lot of money there if you aren't careful. Then Brittney and I went home and changed so we could go find her car that her parents left her at Saratoga resort. We got off the wrong bus stop so we had to walk a ways to find her car, but it wasn't so bad. We then went to Hollywood Studios for an hour, because it closed early, where we rode The Great Movie Ride and Star Tours! On Star Tours, we had just passed Endor the moon, and it felt like we crashed, because some lady had pressed an emergency button(where in the heck is an emergency button????) and wanted off. She left then they had to start the ride again. After studios, we went to MK again and went to eat at the Starlight Cafe. We used some remaining meals from her parents that were going to expire that day, and when Chris and his roommates met up with us, they used some as well. After we ate we went on some rides. When we got off Splash Mountain, it started to pour rain! We already were wet! Chris bought a poncho, and after he bought it, it stopped raining. Ha ha! We finally got to ride Peter Pan, because we took advantage of people being at the fireworks. I still havent ridden Pooh, Dumbo, or the Carosel in Fantasyland.

I had to work Sunday, so I didnt get to go to church, or the evening sacrament :( But this day my trainer was Andrea, and I started to work on registers. Monday, my trainer was Sally(i think) and it was just a day to finish everything up. After that I became an official cast member, and the next day I started work on my own without a trainer, and I was nervous, but it wasn't too bad. Sometimes I still get nervous, but I ask someone else who has been there longer, or I ask a coordinater or manager.

Today I learned floor stock for the first time, but no one taught me really what needed to be done, so some things i was supposed to do didnt get done :( luckily people were nice to me about it, and i know now what needs to be done. Let's just hope someone teaches me what needs to be done for area stock. *crosses fingers*

Day three-traditions

so Wednesday(aug. 12) we had our Traditions class. It is a four hour class(for regular non college program cast members its eight hours!) about the past present and future of the Disney Company. It wasn't too bad of a class. Our instructors were pretty interesting and they helped keep me awake, especially since we all had to be at the bus by 6:45 am when it didn't even start until 8! I was glad to have the earlier one though, because we got our cast id's, which meant we could finally go play in the parks! After Traditions, we went home to our apartment and got ready to go to Magic Kingdom! We decided to head to Epcot though first, because my two other roommates wanted to go there. We rode Spaceship Earth and The Seas with Finding Nemo. We also went to Club Cool to taste the different sodas from around the world. The Beverly one is most interesting!

After Club Cool we walked the World Showcase. We went into the Japanese pavillion shop so I could get me some chopsticks to finally eat my ramen I had just bought!(I always eat ramen with chopsticks). They are really cute and have little bunnies on them. :D I also bought a bottle of my favorite Japanese soda with the marble stopper in the top! I am so glad that they have them there, and that I get a discount on them ;) Ha ha! They also cost as much as they do at home too! Oh I forgot we also checked out the World Traveler shop where Brittney was going to be working at.

After Epcot we went to Magic Kingdom, and we looked around the different shops, especially at Main Street Fantasyland, so that Lauren and I could see where we could/would be working. My area is very cute but busy as well. We went into Toon Town to find my friend Nick, so he and I could finally meet, but as soon as I found him, I turned around for just a second, and he was gone! I guess he went on break, but I didn't have my phone on me to ask, as I had left it in the car on accident. Since he was no where to be found we left to play and ride some rides. We also ate at Peco's Bill's in Frontierland. We rode Pirate's(only a five minute wait!) and I think Snow White, and Buzz Lightyear, and Stitch's Great Escape. As well as Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It rained a little that day, which made it nice and cool at times. We then watched some of Wishes as we left the park to go home. It was an awesome day! Well, the only snag was that to enter the parks we had to show our photo id's because they hadn't been activated yet. (it took 24 hours), and we couldn't get fast passes. *shrugs* still a good first day with our id's. :D

Oh i almost forgot! we also got our name badges! Mine says Jessica, and below it, it reads Utah State University!

Day two-Free day

Tuesday was my free day, and I wanted to sleep in, but ended up waking up a little earlier than I wanted to. While I was messing around on my computer though, I got a call from Casting. Believe you me, seeing a Florida area code on your phone, then hearing "problem" in the call is a scary thing! Luckily all they needed to do was get my fingerprints redone. So my friend Jessyka(Whom I finally met the night before! XD) came along with me to Casting, and we got it done quick and easy! We then went to Downtown Disney to look around, and I finally got to see Tren-D, the new teen oriented Disney store. It was amazing and there is a lot of things I loved in there! A lot was even pretty good prices too! We then went on a search for the bus stop that would take us back to the apartments. Finally we found it then went back to my apartment and had some food. Jessyka left to go change into nicer clothes for our trip to Epcot(she let me in with her maingate because we had a reservation at Les Chefs de France in the French Pavillion).

We got on the bus to Epcot and Jessyka and I realized that I couldn't get into park at the cast entrance where the bus would drop us off, because I didn't have my cast ID yet. We talked to the security guard when we got there, and she confirmed what we already knew, but she told us that we could walk to the front of the park from there, but that it was REALLY far. It was far, but it wasn't as far as she made it out to be. We did get really sweaty....eeewww! Ha ha! Anyways, we made it to the front and then had to walk clear to the French Pavillion in the World Showcase. We were a little early so we started walking to some of the other Pavillions. As we were walking, we saw the Beast coming out to do a meet and greet with Belle, so we got in line to meet them both! Belle saw my "first visit" button I was wearing and asked how I liked her castle so far. She was cute :D Jessyka and I got our picture taken with them. We also saw a belly dancer at the Morrocco Pavillion then went back to go to dinner.

Dinner was amazing! I ended up having salad, pasta with Guyiere(or something like that) cheese on top and a creamy sauce, and this clear lemonade that tasted like sprite(it was French). Jessyka had escargot and she loved it! While we ate a cast member came out with a cart and a silver platter with a silver lid on top. She opened the lid and there was Remy from Ratatouille chef hat and all! He was so cute and even moved and squeeked! It was definitely a magical moment! After dinner we walked down to the Germany Pavillion to take the boat across the Lagoon to leave the park. I came home and I was exhausted, so Brittney put in 17 again and we both fell asleep to it.

Day One

So sorry guys that this post(and the others to follow) are so late! As you can imagine it has been such a crazy week! Anyways, Monday rolls around, and I am picked up at 7:30 by my roommate to be Brittney and her parents, and off we went to check in! We got there around 8 and they let us in at that time, which was an hour early. Brittney and I chose a two bedroom apartment at Chatham, and our roommates are Lauren from Texas and Amanda from Chicago. Lauren is in Merchandise like Brittney and I, and Amanda is a lifeguard! (Funny story, while Brittney was in line getting her parking sticker, one of the girls in line looked at my booklet and was all "Hey! I am your roommate!" It was pretty awesome!)

After Check-in(which for us went quick, because we were one of the first) we drove to our apartment! We chose our room, which we chose the one towards the front of the apartment, because the bathroom and closet are separate. After checking that out, we had to catch a bus to go to Casting where we got our paperwork done and learned our LOCATION! ha ha! I learned that my location is Fantasyland! I had really wanted that place, so I was more than happy! We had to get our fingerprints done and turn in papers and it was just a lot of lines and walking around this maze of a building, but let me tell you, the building was GORGEOUS! It is one of my favorite so far, but really, all of WDW is beautiful! Disney sure pays attention to details!

After Casting, we had a meeting at the IP(international program) housing The Commons, and they talked about the rules for housing and what can get you terminated. It wasn't a too bad meeting, it was just really cold! After the meeting, we came back and started unpacking. Brittney's parents had checked out of my hotel for me and brought all my luggage over too. My friend Jessyka came over to meet me officially, and to come shopping with me and Brittney. We went to Panda Express to eat and then shopping at Target. I got a lot of stuff, which makes me glad XD ha ha! We then came home and unpacked all of our stuff! Anyways that's day one for you all!

Travel Day

These are my beds in my hotel room at Pop Century resort in WDW.
A high view of my beautiful hometown of American Fork! I miss you all!


Sunday I had to wake up early to get ready and finish packing the essentials before we could leave for the airport. When we got there, we had about an hour before my plane left, and the line for southwest check-in was HUGE! It was the longest line for any of the airlines(the others were rather short). Mom stood in line with me while the boys sat on a bench to wait. I already had my boarding passes, so we just needed to check my luggage in. We got up there, and my parents were worried that my big suitcase was going to be over the fifty lb limit, but luckily it weighed in as 45 lbs! the other one was about 33 lbs. not too bad right?

My first flight was from Salt Lake to Vegas, it was a nice short flight, and I was able to pick out the different cities in Utah along the way! I saw Salt Lake, Murray, American Fork, Provo, Utah Lake(not a city, but still cool from above!) Payson, Nephi, Richfield, Parowan, Ceder City, and St. George(there were a few more that I didn't list). It was super neat for me to see them, because it allowed me to say my last goodbye to them all. :D I was especially sad flying over AF, because it's my hometown and I miss it already.

I got into Vegas and met up with BethAnne, a girl I met from disboards(a forum I joined when I first applied to the program). She and I had the same flight from Vegas to Orlando. We talked during our layover and then I boarded the plane first, because my letter and number were in the first group. I got us seats, and then it was off to Florida! We had no idea where we were whenever we looked out the windows, because everything just looks sort of the same. Well, it does go from looking orange and brown to lots of green! There was a little bit of turbulence, as we flew over some rain clouds, but other than that, we got into Orlando ten minutes early.

At the airport, we had to take this tram from the plan terminals to where our luggage would be. Our luggage was in terminal A, on the 2nd floor. We waited for a while for my luggage, and finally it came! I never had recieved my luggage tags from Disney Magical Express, so I had to lug my luggage around everywhere, it was for sure over 100 lbs all together! (my muscles are still sore). I went to level one to find the magical express, but it was nowhere to be found! I saw one of the buses outside, and found some other confused people, and they talked to the bus driver, who told us we had to go clear across to terminal B! I was not happy, for my luggage was heavy and it was pretty far. We treked over, but I got behind, for I had to stop and rest everynow and then. When I finally got to the right terminal, I felt so lost and I wanted to cry, so I called my dad and he calmed me down a bit. I then called BethAnne(she was waiting for her sister) and she was going to come help me, but I then finally found the right place. I had to wait in another line, and when I talked to the cast member, he said I wasn't in the system(explains why I never got luggage tags) but luckily he let me go on anyways XD. I then went to a red carpet where they told me which line to get in(i was in C6) and then waited for my bus to come(there were other people there too). I got on the bus, glad to be rid of my luggage for a bit, and called my dad while a movie about WDW played. It took about maybe twenty to thirty minutes to get to my hotel, and when i got there, I was so glad that one of the cast members offered to help me with my luggage. He was such a blessing! I went and got checked in and then he showed me where my room was while pulling my luggage on a cart. I got to my room and I thanked him and asked if there was anything else(like maybe a tip?) and he said nope, smiled, and left. Wow! He was so kind! I didn't settle in really, because I was starving!

Everything Pop is a cafeteria and gift shop combined. I ended up having the chicken breast nuggets and fries, and, of course, a chocolate milk. It was pretty pricey, but I was hungry! I made fry sauce myself with the ketchup and mayo there, and it was pretty good. The food was yummy and Hatching Pete was on tv. After I ate I went to my room and chilled on my bed talking to people on the phone and watching the Disney Channel, then I went to bed! There you go! Love you all!

TWO WEEKS!

Can you believe that it is only two weeks until I leave for Florida? In all reality it is even less time, because it is really now Monday(time wise). I can not wait to leave! I randomly go into bouts of excitement. At church, work, when I am with friends, they happen anywhere! I also get really nervous as well. Today I found out my possible location. I won't say it on here though...but in two weeks I will let you all know for sure where I am at. I'll just say that I am VERY pleased. :D Today I wrote down my packing list, and I went into detail, because I don't want to forget anything! I also made a list of things I need to buy. I want to start packing now, but my mom wants me to get my room cleaned first. I already feel like I have thrown away enough in my room, and that I will get to it after I return from Florida...though I guess we know that would not happen, so I might as well get it done now right? I go to Bear Lake this week with my singles ward. I am excited for that, but not as excited as I am for WDW. Bear Lake is one of my most favorite places to vacation, especially with the singles ward. This will be my third time going and hopefully not the last! The water is SO blue and this time of year it is pretty warm. Let's hope I don't get burned like I did last year!