Hello everyone!
It has been a while since I have posted about Disney. A lot has happened since Halloween season. We are now in full blown Christmas at Disney World. We have had all our Christmas parties and the parks are getting more and more crowded. The opening of New Fantasyland was very successful, with it being the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history. We have a new restaurant called "Be Our Guest" which is a Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant that is very good.

We have had a few Disney College Program events for the interns to have some fun since I last posted. Below is a picture of me and a few friends meeting Russel from Up. This picture is from our winter formal where we danced, ate great food, and could meet characters from Up, Cinderella, Peter Pan,and Alice and Wonderland. It was definitely a lot of fun. We even caught Russel dancing "Gangnam Style."

It was very rewarding to be given this dance in appreciation for all our hard work. We also had fun dressing up, since we all wear Disney clothes most of the time.

My family also came to visit me in the beginning of December! It was all four of us back together again in Disney after at least 10 years since we'd all been there. We had such a great time and I was able to spend a lot of time with them in the parks. Hanging out together and enjoying Disney was so much fun, especially since Jacob was able to come as well. We hit all four parks, finishing up with Magic Kingdom where we enjoyed New Fantasyland and the Christmas festivities. Here we are in front of the castle all lit up for Christmas.

Since my parents trip, we had a graduation ceremony for the Disney College Program participants leaving in January. There I received my certificate of completion for my program as well as my "Ducktorate" for finishing my class in "Marketing You."

I feel very accomplished that I have made it all the way through, because it has been a lot of hard work and many people did not complete their programs. I have another 10 days of work and then I pack up and go home. I really miss all the family I would have seen this holiday season, but this really has been a once in a lifetime opportunity. Thank you everyone for your support and "see you real soon!"

Halloween party and Grammy and Pawpaw's visit!

 

 Hey everyone! So Halloween at Disney World is officially over and now it is time for the Christmas season to begin. Our first Christmas party is this weekend. But this is a picture of me at our Halloween party. I ended up finding the time to attend one as a guest and it was a lot of fun. 

Here me and Katie (one of my six roommates) are with Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger. We are all dressed up in our Halloween costumes to celebrate the season. Katie was a taco, and I Superwoman. Katie got so much attention about her costume, it was fun to be with her.

Of course I have to include a picture of Mickey and Minnie. My blog post wouldn't be complete without it. Here they are in their Pirate/Princess costumes.

Grammy and Pawpaw came to visit me at Disney World too! We had such a great time and it was a real treat to be able to spend so much time with them while they were here. Here we are at a wine tasting during Epcot's Food and Wine Festival.

We also went to Cirque du Soleil which is located in Downtown Disney. The show was absolutely incredible and I am so glad I got a chance to experience it. Grammy and Pawpaw were celebrating their 59th Anniversary and they are sporting their "Happy Anniversary" buttons. Last but not least, they got a VIP visit to see Mickey in Town Square Theatre. He was very excited to get to meet them.

Storybook Circus!

Hi everyone!

This week a brand new area of Magic Kingdom opened up called Storybook Circus. It is a lot of fun. The area has a bunch of buildings that look like circus tents.

You can see the blue circus tent in the back off this picture of me at the entrance to Storybook Circus. I have been working here all week! It is a really fun area to work. The area where you meet characters is Pete's Silly Sideshow. Here I am at the entrance to that:

Here, you can meet Daisy, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald. Of course, they all have wonderful new costumes. Daisy is a fortune teller, Minnie is a Poodle Trainer, Donald is a snake charmer, and Goofy is a stunt man. The characters all stand in a big room together so they can play with each other when it is not busy. I think their favorite game is charades. I've been spending all my time lately hanging out with Minnie. Look how adorable she is in her brand new dress with her poodles!

Have a magical week!

What's New + Thompson/Russo vacation

Hello everyone!
It has been a while since I've posted and I'm sorry that I've been keeping everyone out of the loop. I'm still really busy but my hours have been cut some since my last post. That is really great since I was really working more than I wanted to before. The last couple weeks I have been working primarily character dining!!! It is very different from what I was doing before. It is much faster paced and you meet a lot more people. I don't really like that you don't get a full interaction with the characters but it is fun to add in characters to your dining experience. Working dining also means that I either start at 6am for breakfast or I get out late for dinner. So, although I have less hours it is more tiring because I have no consistency in my sleeping schedule.

I am working on my new class that I am taking called Marketing You! I really really love it. My teacher is absolutely amazing. She is a very good public speaker, she's funny, and she really makes the information interesting. The class is all about finding your dream job, building a path to get your dream job, and then getting it! It is such a practical important class for me right now. It is exactly what I needed to make my decision about what I am doing next.

Right now the Aunt Margie, Uncle Danny, Abby, Molly, and Mamaw and Papaw are here at Disney World for vacation. Luckily, I've been able to jump in and enjoy their time in Disney World with them. Mamaw and Papaw are leaving early tomorrow morning and the others have a couple more days here. It has been really fun and I've really enjoyed spending time with my family while I'm here. Here are some pictures:

My parents vacation and Halloween party!

I worked my first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party last week and I had two groups of friends visit me while they enjoyed the festivities. Here is a great picture of Mickey and my friends, with Mickey and Minnie with their awesome Vampire and Witch costumes on.

My parents came to visit me this past week and we had a great time visiting the parks. Here we are at Epcot, where we spent our first day. It was a lot of fun. I think we decided our favorite ride was Soarin'. I really enjoyed the fireworks show, Illuminations, at the end of the day as well.

The next day we went to Hollywood Studios. We all rode Tower of Terror twice! We got to see a fun band called Mulch, Sweat, and Shears and watched the Pixar parade. My Dad and I rode Rockin' Roller Coaster which was, as always, really fun. I left early this day to go work the Halloween Party and my parents stayed to see Fantasmic.

The third day we went to Animal Kingdom. This picture shows us in front of the Tree of Life. We watched a lot of shows at this park including: The Lion King, It's Tough to be a Bug, the Street Party band, and Findng Nemo the Musical. Finding Nemo was really amazing. I think it's probably the best show I've seen at Disney World. We rode Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, and the Safari. It poured down rain in the middle of the day but we had fun through it.

The last day of my parents trip they spent in Magic Kingdom and came to visit me while I was working. Here is a picture of them meeting Mickey. Mickey and Minnie were very excited to meet them. We had a great time and I'm glad they were able to come visit! I felt like I needed a vacation after their vacation though. I think I'm rested up now!

Have a magical Wednesday!

Character pictures

I met some real characters today! Here are some pictures.

Donald and my friends

Here is a picture of Donald with my friends!!!