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!!!

Parades!

I'm now officially part of the Magic Kingdom parade department! So if you're in Disney World you may just see me marching in the parade or up on a float. The parades are such an amazing part of the Disney experience and I am so excited to be a part of it.

On my days off this week I went to Blizzard Beach, one of Disney's water parks and I went to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Blizzard Beach was a lot of fun and home to Summit Plummet, one of the world's tallest and fastest water slide. It's 12 stories high and so much fun! I got to visit with a couple characters in Epcot. I met Mary Poppins, Repunzel, and Goofy. Hollywood studios I rode my favorites a few more times, Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster.

My parents are coming in one week, and I can't wait to share it with them!
Have a magical day!
Emily

So, since my last post I worked Sunday with Donald at Animal Kingdom, Monday and Tuesday were my days off, Wednesday and Thursday I was friends with Minnie and Mickey at Magic Kingdom, and today I worked Animal Kingdom with Donald. At Magic Kingdom we get to hang out inside, which is nice with this Florida humidity. Animal Kingdom is a lot of fun though because there are so many more people and characters that I get to work with. I haven't worked the other parks yet so I don't have those to compare it to. On my days off this week I went to Blizzard Beach but it started to thunder so they shut down the rides because it's a water park. After that, I went to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM), and had a great time there riding rides like Tower of Terror and Rockin' Rollercoaster. I know I've said this before but I'll say it again, Disney World is awesome! It takes so much work to bring it all to life but it's amazing how much the production of the park brings happiness to people. Have a magical day!

Training at Disney World often gets interrupted by special guests.

Today I finished my four days of training that I had this week! So now I'm officially a Disney employee. My first real day is on Sunday as a character performer. Today and yesterday we practiced in the park with our trainers present. We basically had a real day of work though because we were with real guests in Epcot. Today I spent the day with Mickey Mouse which was a lot of fun! And yesterday I spent the day with his best friend Donald. I'm having such a great time. It's amazing living in Disney World because it's like being on a never ending vacation! Tomorrow I have the day off, which I am so thankful for because I am pretty exhausted from this week. I miss everyone back home a lot and I am excited to hear about my family that is coming to visit me.

So, I received this weeks training schedule today. I'll be training for character performer Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday pretty much all day. I also got my schedule for next week when I start work! I will be spending a lot of time with my friends Mickey, Minnie, and Donald for the week and hopefully for longer; I'll find out more at training.

Today was my first day of training. I took a class that they titled Welcome to Entertainment! The class had character performers (which is what I am), character attendants, photographers, and costumers. We did a lot of safety information that we had to get done. It was hard to sit in a chair for 8 hours today. Luckily, we got to take a break from sitting and go into Magic Kingdom. There we watched a show that was so awesome! It had Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, the princesses with their princes, Peter Pan and Wendy, and an evil witch. The show was really well done and I can't wait to see it again.

Last night I went to visit Magic Kingdom as a guest. It was so much fun! Disney World is such a wonderful place that I can't believe I didn't get here sooner.

Have a magical day!
Emily

Life in Disney blog: August 16

Hello from Disney World!!!
I finally made it here despite some hold ups on my way here. The flight was pretty easy but it took off at 5:25am so I had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning! That was just really early for me. They ended up making me check my carry on because I had too many bags trying to get on the plane in Houston. The people working were not very nice. I don't know if it was the company was like that or if it was because it was so early in the morning. But, once we got on the plane in Houston we sat on the plane for an hour because they realized the steering on the ground was broken so they had to fix it real quick while we waited on the plane. I arrived late for check in but that worked out fine, they gave me all my stuff anyways.

Yesterday, I had to go to a casting meeting where they told everybody where they were going to be working. So everyone else found out what park they were going to be in but since I'm  a character performer, entertainment has to tell me what I will be when I start training with them. I start training on Sunday so hopefully I will find out what character I am going to be then. Apparently, I'm Mouse height; so maybe I'll end up being Mickey!

Today, we had to go to a housing meeting about what we are allowed and not allowed to do in our new apartments. It actually ended up being a lot of fun and I met a bunch of new people. Tonight we plan on going to Downtown Disney and exploring that area of the park.

My roommates are really nice. Right now we have 5 girls in our three bedroom apartment. It is supposed to be 6 so we might be getting another roommate. There's Katie who is from California, Michelle who is from Montana, Andrea who lives in El Paso, and Krystal from Tennessee who I share a room with. There are a lot of international students here, I've especially met a lot of people from England.

I'll definitely update after my training on Sunday to let you know if I found out what character I'm going to be.

Tomorrow is my last day in San Marcos before I leave for Disney! I'm not excited about waking up really early for my flight at 5:30am on Wednesday, but it's the only flight that would get me there on time. My new roommate is really nice and offered to pick me up from the airport, so now I don't have to worry about getting myself to the park. I can't wait to get there and start working.

I still do not know what character I am going to be. I will let everybody know the moment I find out!

12 days till I leave for Disney and this is about how I feel right now...

I moved into my new apartment where I will be living until I leave on the 15th. Everything is just piled up in boxes and I'm sleeping on an air mattress, but it'll do for 12 days. I've moved a lot of boxes into storage but I still have a lot of stuff to pack or box up. I'm sure once I'm there I will be relieved that I flew, but it's a pain trying to get everything in one suitcase. Tonight is the first night of my dance concert that I choreographed for. I'll work on packing for a few more hours, then I have to get to the studio!

18 days till I leave! The packing is going very slowly. I'm packing up my entire room either putting it in my suitcase or boxing it for storage. Just thought I would share this cute Mickey/Minnie picture! If you want to contact me here is my email address: emilyt63@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you.

So I've decided to keep a blog to share what I am doing with all those people who asked me to keep them updated while I am gone on the Disney College Program. I am starting this early because I start to pack very early for things. I leave in 28 days (not that I'm counting or anything).

With only a little less than a month to go, it is at last time for me to start packing. My move will be fairly complicated and is going to take a good amount of coordination on my part. First, I am moving to a different apartment across the complex from where I am now. Then, I will move everything out of that apartment so that the girl subleasing my place can live in there. I will take all of my non-Disney items to a storage unit where it will wait for my return. All else will go on the plane with me to Disney.

If anybody has any suggestions of items that are most easily forgotten, I would really appreciate any reminders. Also, if you've been to Disney World and remember wishing you had brought something, let me know about that too!

Peace, Emily

P.S.- All views in this blog are solely of me, Emily, and not the thoughts or views of Disney. (I think I'm supposed to say that.) :)