Where Dreams Come True

My first week in the DCP has been great. I checked in on Monday morning, had my drug testing and housing meeting on Tuesday, and then Disney Traditions on Thursday!

Disney Traditions is the first paid day as a CM. It's kind of like a class where you learn the heritage and culture of Disney, which is incredibly important. It's all about how your role fits into the Disney Show. I have always admired everything about Disney and to see how I get to impact the Disney story was really cool. Traditions is held at Disney University, which is located behind Magic Kingdom. 

The Disney University building is pretty cool on the inside. The hallways are lined with photographs from Disney movies, Disney parks and resorts, Disney broadway shows, and other various Disney-related things. The ceiling tiles also have Disney characters hanging down from them. 

The beginning of Traditions was all about safety. How to be safe as a cast member, what to do in an emergency, etc. Then we talked about the company's common goal, how to achieve that goal, and the Disney heritage. I'm won't tell any spoilers, but there were definitely some fun surprises. 

The next part of Traditions was a tour of Magic Kingdom and we got to tour the famous Utilidors. We weren't allowed to take photos but it was what you would expect. It's just a system of tunnels under the park but it's still really cool to see in person. Since I'll be located in Magic Kingdom, I'm sure I'll be spending plenty of time down there. There's a cafeteria in the tunnels for cast members, but I didn't see anything else. 

After our tour, we received our nametags! We talked about all the opportunities available to cast members and how Disney can help us reach our goals. Overall, it was a great class. I may or may not have cried three times. 

Nametag!

Mulan in Epcot

Perfect way to celebrate a day off!

Lucky for me, I had yesterday and today off. I went to Epcot and Magic Kingdom yesterday, but I'm taking today easy. I wanted to stay home and prepare for my upcoming week. I have the next two days of orientation tomorrow and Monday, then I'll begin training at my location. I'm really excited but nervous too. Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading,
Katie

'Ohana Means Family

Hi there,

Sunday was the last day of our Disney vacation! It's been fun getting to relax and have fun with my family before the DCP starts. It was my first time staying at the Polynesian Resort and I loved everything about it. I have always wanted to stay here, but never had the chance. We were originally going to be staying at the Boardwalk Inn Resort this vacation due to construction but changed our minds. Although there is construction, we are still having a great time here. A few of my favorite things about this resort:

-The View

• Staying close to Magic Kingdom and being able to see Cinderella's Castle from the resort is great. The resort has a beach on Seven Seas Lagoon and you can watch the Wishes fireworks show from the beach. It's nice not having to deal with the mad rush of people leaving the park once the fireworks end. There's also an Electrical Water Pageant at night in the Seven Seas Lagoon. 

-The Monorail

• I've never stayed at a monorail resort but I'm obsessed now. You can take the monorail to the other monorail resorts (Grand Floridian or Contemporary) as well as Magic Kingdom and the TTC (transfers you to Epcot). It's fun riding the monorail to the parks instead of riding the busses. The worst part about the monorail is the line to after the parks close. We had a character meal at Chef Mickey's and 1900 Park Fare so it was fun riding over to the other monorail resorts and being able to explore. 

-Food

• Holy yum, the food at the Polynesian is so good. I've eaten at 'Ohanas before for the character breakfast as well as the Spirit of Aloha Luau (which is so cool, btw). The sweet bread is to die for. It's a bread with coconut and pineapple and YUM is all I gotta say. We had dinner at 'Ohanas for my brother's birthday and it was delicious. Everything is served family style and I couldn't get enough. The best treat at the Polynesian though is the Dole Whip. This stuff is life changing. There's only a small number of places in the world you can get this stuff. A Dole Whip is soft-serve ice cream with pineapple juice. I guess it's like a pineapple juice float. You can get vanilla or pineapple soft-serve. It's delicious, there's a reason these are so famous. You can't get Dole Whips at the Polynesian right now, but once Captain Cook's is renovated (which is very soon) then they will be back. 

I had to say goodbye to my family on Sunday morning. We had breakfast with Lilo and Stitch at 'Ohanas then they were on their way back to Oklahoma. I hate goodbyes but I can't wait to start my DCP!

Thanks for reading,

Katie

Sanaa

Hiya,

Last night we ate at Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and it was incredible. It serves African and Indian cuisine. We normally don't eat at more "exotic" places like this, but someone recommended it so we took the risk. Sanaa is located below the lobby of the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The AKL has savannas with giraffes, zebra, ostriches, gazelles, and many other animals. We were seated next to a window so if it wouldn't have been dark outside, we would've been able to see all theses animals while we dined.

While we waited to be seated, we walked around outside to get a closer look of the savannah. The Cast Members working (Vimbai and Johnson) were great. Vimbai was from Zimabwe and Johnson was from Botswana. They chatted with us about their home countries, the animals on the savannah, African culture, and working at Disney. They were very interesting to talk to and definitely made our night.

For our meal, we ordered naan with 9 accompaniments (my favorite was the Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle). This stuff was so good we had to order extra pieces of naan. We would've been happy with this just being our meal. I ordered the Lamb Shank and it was pretty good. I normally only eat chicken, but I enjoyed the lamb. I wish I would have asked for rice as my side instead of the sweet potato it came with. For dessert, I ordered Kulfi which is an Indian ice cream. I loved this place and can't wait to come back. I really stepped outside of my box and it payed off.

With a giraffe outside the AKL

A tortoise walking around outside the window while we waited to be seated

Our naan

The Lamb Shank 

Banana cheesecake dessert

Kids turtle dessert-so cute

If you ever find yourself at Walt Disney World and looking for something interesting to try, go to Sanaa. You won't regret it. 

Thanks for reading,
Katie

Adventure Is Out There

Hiya,

I leave for Florida in 21 days. Twenty-one short days. It seems as if I've been waiting a lifetime for this experience. And my program officially starts in exactly 1 month. I am crazy stressed about packing and making sure everything I need gets to Disney. I made my packing list about 2 weeks ago and tried to see what all I could fit in my bags but I'm still stressing. I'm only taking a suitcase, my backpack, and then a box of my housing stuff.

I've looked up several different packing lists for the DCP and have a fairly good idea of what I'll need while down there, but I'm known for overpacking (I filled an entire large suitcase for 3 days in New Orleans...why?). I just want to take everything with me, which isn't realistic. I found this great link (http://www.pinterest.com/stylebookapp/travel-packing-wardrobe-tips/) that's helpful with packing and organizing for travel. If anyone has any advice for packing a large amount of stuff in a suitcase, please help a sista out.

I talked to my work today about my options since I'm moving to Florida for 5 months. And it went about as good as it possibly could so I'm beyond excited. Everything has been falling into place for me and I couldn't be more thrilled about what the future holds for me.

Running Update: My marathon training starts September 8th. The schedule isn't terrible, I start with only 23 miles a week but I'll go into 40-50 miles per week later in training. My long runs seem manageable too...normally in the 10-16 range with a few 20 milers in there. My biggest concern is running two days in a row every week. I may have to change that up and take some days off. Once again, please send prayers for my body during this 18-week challenge.

My goal is to post weekly on this blog to let everyone know what's going on with my experience working for Disney. If anyone has suggestions about what they want to hear or any questions about working for Disney in general, always feel free to comment. :)

21 MORE DAYS UNTIL THIS IS MY OFFICIAL HOME

Thanks for reading,
Katie