Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving my parents came to visit and they kept me very busy! I was completely exhausted by the end of the weekend! I got really lucky because I ended up having Thanksgiving and Black Friday off because my normal days off have been Thursday and Friday. This was great given that my family was flying in on Wednesday night. On Thursday we went to a character breakfast at the Grand Floridian, where we were staying, so that I could meet a couple characters that have been on my list, most importantly Mary Poppins!

After our character breakfast we went over to Hollywood Studios and did some shopping since I have 50% off now and rode Tower of Terror. Dad chickened out, but Mom, Brandon and I went. The park was really busy so we basically just decided to go over to Epcot before dinner. Mom wanted to see the holidays around the world, but there ended up not being like any holiday stuff in the world showcase so we walked the world showcase, had a couple drinks and then went to Italy for dinner. Yes, we ate Italian food on Thanksgiving. It was a nice restaurant and we all liked whatever we ate. Brandon said it was some of the best spaghetti and meatballs he had ever had. After dinner we did some more shopping and then went back to hotel since we were getting up early the next morning!

On Friday morning Mom had signed us all up for a backstage tour of Animal Kingdom called Wild by Design. It was a really interesting tour about how they designed each area of Animal Kingdom. He was saying how the ground was supposed to show you where you are and then how the different countries were supposed to look as they really would look. This is different than the World Showcase where the countries look like postcards! We also got to meet with a couple of the keepers, one that works with the gibbons and one that works in the aviaries. The aviary keeper was actually a cello performance major in school which is funny! It was a great tour and I am sure my Mom could tell you more than I could!

Afterwards we explored Animal Kingdom and despite Brandon's protests we got some character pictures!

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to chill out for a little while because we were all tired. We had dinner at the Grand Floridian and then headed over to Magic Kingdom and did a few rides while people were watching the parade since the park was open until midnight!

Here is the beautiful castle all decorated for Christmas!

The next morning we headed back over to Epcot so they could get fast passes for Soarin' and they had always wanted to go to Le Cellier which is the steak house in Epcot and probably one of the most well known restaurants in the World Showcase. My family loved their steaks and my salmon burger was great. Then I had to go to work and they continued playing in Epcot. It was a great weekend, but I was completely exhausted!

Ryan is coming again next weekend which is funny because last time my parents were here and then he was here. We will be going to Universal Studios though, so it will be a very different weekend!

In reflection...

I am now realizing that I am nearing the end of my program and I have been thinking about this program and the effect it has had and will have in my life. What I realized most is that I really want to be a teacher. While playing in the parks and our little side trips have been fun, this type of work is so not what I was meant to be doing.

I hear about my friend's student teaching experiences all the time and I am so jealous of them! I miss being in a classroom and working with kids that are not on vacation! Sometimes I get worried because the kids drive me nuts half of the time, but when I am their teacher they will not treat me the same as the lady on the glow cart.

I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher, but this experience has confirmed it. When I found out that I was accepted to the program, I was nervous that I might like working in disney better than teaching and that I wouldn't want to come home at the end. This is funny to think about now because it is quite the opposite. I could not be more excited to begin teaching!

A few weeks ago I received confirmation that I will be student teaching at Kendall Elementary School in Naperville District 204. This is great because not only is it a great school with a great teacher, but there is at least one teacher retiring in that district at the end of this year.

This summer I took a two week course called Orff Level 1 which is a method of teaching general music created by Carl Orff. My teacher for the course emphasized using children's literature in her teaching. This really inspired me and opened my mind up to even more possibilities for teaching! When I finished the course, I really was not excited to go to Disney at all because I just wanted to use all of those ideas!

So the sum up, I can't wait to be a teacher! Disney was a fun little adventure for me to have and now I am ready to enter the real world and be the best teacher I can be! I am so incredibly excited for my future and thanks to ISU I feel prepared for whatever I will face!

Georgia on my mind...

Since almost August my friend Sarah has been planning on going on a trip for the weekend in November 12-13. So, we requested it off months ago and have been planning on going. At the time, it seemed like such a long time from now, but time really has been flying down here!

We left in the afternoon on Thursday and drove about 4 1/2 hours to Savannah, Georgia. We decided we were really going to be tourists. So, we picked up tons of pamphlets and figured out what we would do!

For the first night we arrived we just explored the downtown area, got dinner, and then went to the pool for just a chill night.

The next morning we took a trolley tour of Savannah where we were the youngest people by about 20 years. It was funny because the driver kept making jokes and we were the only ones that laughed. Most of the jokes were surrounding the fact that anywhere you walk in Savannah you can carry an "alcoholic beverage of your choice"as he kept saying. This is because many people hop from bar to bar and basically everything is within walking distance! The trolley tour was only $15 which was the most expensive thing we did in Savannah, which is quite different from Disney prices that we are getting used to! The tour gave us a good idea of the area and what kinds of things we would want to do the rest of the day.

It turns out there was so much to do in Savannah! We went down to River Street which was a great shopping area and we had a coupon from one of the pamphlets for River Street Sweets! It was a very pretty cobble stone street right along the river!

The last shopping stop we made was to The Paula Deen Store. If you have ever watched the food network, I am sure you know who this lovely Southern belle is! She also has a restaurant, which we decided not to go to, but we did get a slice of butter cake from her gift shop!

Savannah is also well known for being one of the most haunted cities in the country. So, we had lots of options for different Ghost tours to take. The one we decided to take was a hearse tour. Yes, we rode in a hearse all over Savannah and the tour guide showed us all of the haunted houses where there were lots of crazy murders! Then he drove us out to this cemetery where he told us a very creepy story about this kind of outcast guy in the town that was accused of murdering children. Then he slammed on the breaks and screamed. All of us screamed, but my friend Aleks who is standing next to me in the picture below was crying and had the best reaction ever! She was absolutely terrified to take this tour to begin with. It was a ton of fun, but the best part was waiting at the hotel for the hearse to pick us up!

The next day we had a big list of things to do! So we went and started the day with a good breakfast at Goosefeathers which is a really sweet little breakfast place where you can tell a lot of locals go to get breakfast in the morning. In fact, a bride and all of her bridesmaids were in line behind us! We had some amazing quiche and were off to start our day. Savannah is a city of squares. You walk a couple of blocks and there is a square, walk a couple more, and there is another square. So, we decided to walk around and visit the square where Forrest sat in the movie Forrest Gump to tell his story. There is no bench there, but you can see where they sat.

We decided that we definitely needed to do a mansion tour so we decided to tour the Davenport House Museum. This was quite a disappointment. The house was basically empty and the refurbishment wasn't very good.

The last stop of the trip was to the Savannah History Museum. Let me tell you that we paid $5.00 for this museum and it was really not worth even that much. It was a very tiny museum that basically pay the $5.00 to see the actual bench the Forrest sat on, but it was a nice little end to our day.

Before we left, we had to get some barbecue so we went to Sticky Fingers, which we found out later is a chain, but it was really good! Then we were on the road headed back to Disney. It was a great trip and we didn't want to go back!

Everyone here is ready to go home including me. Pretty much everyone has a countdown to the day they leave. While I have had fun here, I will definitely be ready to go home!

Wow! So behind! Christmas parties!

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been kind of lazy with my posting!

Since Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parties began I have only worked them twice. This is because I am normally off on Thursdays and Fridays and those are party nights.

I am not sure if I mentioned this on my blog, but I went to the cast preview for the christmas parade with a bunch of my coworkers and we had a blast! The parade is the longest parade we have and it end with everyone's favorite guy, Santa!

The parade was absolutely fantastic! It just makes you feel happy and some of the floats smell like evergreen trees and gingerbread! It is a lot of fun to watch and guests seem to really like it as well.

On christmas parties nights there are also special fireworks. They are definitely not as exciting as the halloween fireworks, but they are pretty. The section that always gets me tearing up is the "I'll be Home for Christmas" section because I will not be home for Christmas. In reality, I will probably be working a very very long shift that day. It will also be a crazy work day for me because the park will reach capacity at about 80, 000 people. Up until now I have not seen the park go above 60, 000. To be honest, I am actually pretty scared!

In addition to the fireworks there is a stage show called Celebrate the Season. It is an adorable little stage show where Goofy dresses up as Santa and the characters sing all the classic Christmas songs! The only other bonus of the Christmas parties is that you get hot cocoa and cookies, but you are actually paying for that with your additional ticket for the party!

I almost forgot the best part of the holiday season! Every day, meaning not just on Christmas party nights, Disney does Cinderella's Christmas Wish. It is an adorable little show where the characters all come out and comment on how beautiful Main Street looks with all the decorations, but the castle isn't decorated! So Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, and Donald all discuss how they think the castle should be decorated. The fairy godmother comes out and tells them that it really should be Cinderella's decision since it is her castle after all! Then the fairy godmother calls Cinderella comes out and requests that the castle glitter like her glass slipper. Then with a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo, the castle is sparkling with lights. It is absolutely breath taking and gets all of the girls working glow crying!

I wish I had a picture of the castle, but I haven't really had much time to go to the parks lately!  I will definitely get one soon!

For now, as promised, here is a picture of my Christmas party costume!

Acing the Interview

As a part of the Disney College Program, people can take classes. Since I am finished with all my course work I decided not to take any of these classes. However, they do offer seminar classes. I decided on Monday that I would go to a class called Acing the Interview. Disney is such a well known company that I thought that their advice on interviewing would be really great to have, since interviewing absolutely terrifies me!

The course was taught by this really awesome lady that has been with the company for like 20 years and has been a recruiter, meaning she conducts lots of interviews, for a very long time. She really taught the class well using a step-by-step process. Starting with before the interview, getting the call about the interview, rehearsing the interview, what to bring and after the interview.

She gave some really great advice especially about things that you would not have thought about before. The best piece of advice I took away was about rehearsing the interview. She said to ask yourself 4 basic questions:
- Why are you here?
- What can you do for our team (school in my case)?
- What kind of person are you?
- What distinguishes you from the rest?

I think that those are great things to think about especially being a teacher because what sets you apart is how much you care about the school and the students. Doing the research beforehand is so important because then you will know how to answer the questions so that they fit the job you are interviewing for.

Another piece of advice she gave about making an impression is first to have a great handshake. Disney is big on handshakes and if you don't impress them right away you will probably not get the job. She also said to think of the interview as a conversation between 2 people. Before I took this class, I just thought about it as almost a presentation in front of a panel of people, but it really is a conversation between 2 people. This way they know the type of person you are and whether you will be a good fit for their school, company, etc.

The other advice they gave was to always send a thank you note! Disney hospitality at its finest. She said to keep Thank you cards in your car and after the interview go to your car, write the letter and send it. One time she was between 2 candidates for a job that were equally qualified and she decided to choose the candidate after receiving a thank you card.

The other great advice she gave was if the answer is no and you do not get the job. She said don't be defeated, give yourself credit, say "thank you," and ask for feedback. I think that everyone feels like a failure if they don't get the job. I know that this is going to happen to me many times over the coming year (hopefully not too many) and I need to give myself credit and always ask for feedback. I feel like that would be important since I will not have much experience with interviewing.

This class really put me at ease a little bit about the interview process. I know I will be really nervous, but I feel a little more prepared now!

Mickey "Blankets with Sleeves"

This past Saturday a cool front came through Florida. It was in the 50s and down to the 40s at night. This felt really cold to me which is funny since that is warm for Chicago this time of year. I guess I have adapted to Florida weather. Of course, the night a cold front comes through I have to work outside on a glow cart from about 6:00 until 11:00. My total shift was from 4:30-12:45, but really it was about 4 hours spent outside. Just as Disney sells ponchos and umbrellas when it rains, they sell blankets when it's cold.

I go downstairs to check in to work and I am told that we were going to have a mickey "blanket with sleeves" cart out tonight (this means Mickey Snuggies, but Snuggie is copyright so we have to call them blankets with sleeves or "Mickeys" that they were trying to make happen.) Of course, I jumped at the chance to work the blanket cart and no one else wanted to do it so I volunteered. The problem was you couldn't really see the sleeves because the blankets were all rolled up so I decided, along with my managers, coordinator and coworkers that I needed to wear the "blanket with sleeves." So I put it on and hiked it up, put my name tag on the outside and tied my cash apron around my waist. I looked pretty ridiculous, but I figured it would be the only way to sell them.

The thing that is different about the blanket cart is that it doesn't stay in one place. I got to walk up and down main street and around in front of the castle all night. This was really nice because the blanket was keeping me warm and because I kept moving I never really felt cold.

When I stepped onto Main Street the whole street was decorated for Christmas. If you have never seen Disney at Christmastime (or November I guess which still baffles me since christmas is almost 2 months away!) you really need to see it! There is garland and wreaths everywhere. It was fantastic. It was such a nice surprise because I didn't know that the decorations were up already!

Now, I am walking up on down the street and all I hear is people laughing as they walk past and little kids saying "Look mom! It's a Mickey Snuggie!" It was so funny! I was laughing right along with them. This all seemed ridiculous, but they sold REALLY well! Guests were chasing me down! I had to get restocked twice throughout the night. We ran out of blankets. Guests were going up to other carts looking for the "snuggie lady" as I became by the end of the night. It was so much fun!

We got downstairs and I ended up being top seller selling about $1600 worth of blanks and another couple hundred dollars on the glow swords and other glow merchandise that was on my cart. I ended up making $1852 that night and I would have made even more if I had more blankets!

It was just such a fun night for me. From now on, I will always volunteer to work the blanket cart. Everyone was so cold sitting and waiting for the parade that they were desperate for something to keep them warm!

It was my favorite night of work yet. Tonight I get to work the first Christmas party. I will take a today when I put on the costume and try to blog tomorrow about the party!

I went to the cast preview of the Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade and it is the cutest parade I have ever seen. It just makes you feel really happy and totally puts you in the Christmas mood, even if it is November 8!

It's really not so scary...

So the halloween parties ended yesterday, but I did actually get a chance to attend one as a guest which was pretty exciting! It has been over a week, but I have been so busy I have not had a chance to blog about it!

I attended the party with my friend Sarah and her parents. Sarah had always want to get her hair "booed" as she called it, but really is just getting sparkly pixie dust stuff put in your hair. They do this at the barber shop on Main Street. It turned out pretty crazy and it literally looked like tinkerbell threw up on my hair. It was a lot of fun and we got lots of comments about it that night! There is also purple paint in my hair under the sparkle to match my shirt!

Then we of course rode some rides and got tons of candy all over the park, which we definitely ate as we walked around. When we went to haunted mansion there was this lady sitting outside on a bench talking to guests as they passed. She was really funny and I had no idea she was there! By far my favorite characters I saw that night were the stepsisters and stepmother from Cinderella. They were so funny and said, regarding our hair, "I think Tinkerbell burped on your hair!" then some sound came from the castle and one sister was like "Thanks Prince Charming!" while the other said "Yeah, like that would ever happen!" They were so much fun yelling at people as they passed and were the favorite characters I have seen since being at Disney.

The other extra special thing about the halloween parties is that the princes are out with their princesses so we got to see them together which was really fun! They were so sweet to us!

Then we got more candy and saw the parade and fireworks which I have now seen probably over 20 times, but it was nice to be able to get pictures of them!

The finale! The fireworks are all around the park! It is so bright!

Now that the Halloween parties are over the Christmas parties start on Monday and I am working glow the first one and just wait until you see the costume! You thought halloween was crazy? Just you wait!