Thunder Mountain Girls

On Monday, I visited Magic Kingdom for the second time since I've been down here.  The first time Lexi--my roommate--and I went to see Summer Nightastic, their summer fireworks show.  This time, Jenna, Lindsey, and I conquered the whole park.

We got fast passes (which are free at Disney, by the way) at Splash Mountain then went straight to Thunder Mountain next door.  We got in line right in front of a father and his two daughters.  The girls were probably 6 and 4, if I had to guess, and they were both wearing green dresses with pink cupcakes on them and sneakers with Disney princesses on the side.

Lindsey started talking to them a little, but somehow I ended up talking to them more.  We were in line for probably 20 minutes and the younger one especially kept up the conversation.  They were both so cute and so sweet.  When we got to the point where you board the ride, they were put in the first car and we were put in the last.  They also go on the train before us, so I thought I wouldn't see them again.  (The younger one also tried to ride with us at first.  How cute.)  We rode Thunder Mountain and then decided to go do Haunted Mansion before going back for Splash Mountain.  Somehow, the girls came out of the ride after us.  So the younger one said goodbye and we continued to walk down the boardwalk a little quicker than them.  She kept waving and saying, "Bye Girl!  Bye Girl!"  So cute.  Her mom and grandpa were waiting for them along the boardwalk, so they stopped but she ran to the other side of the fence and kept yelling until we were out of sight.  It was so sweet.

I just love having an impact one someone like that.  And hey, if the kids are happy, the parents are happy.  I'm a little jealous of the girls too because they were just having so much fun there and there is nothing like experiencing Disney World as a kid.  Even if she doesn't remember me today, it still made her happy at the time.

Ahhh, I kind of love Disney World.

On the Stand, In the Lake

Tuesday was my first day of guarding on my own!  Super exciting, but super nerve-wracking.  To start the day off, I had training at 7:00AM.  All life guards have to do in-service training twice a month, but since I just finished my class and just started, I only have it once for August.  We split into four groups and went around in groups to practice infant and child CPR, adult CPR, spinal backboard, and unconscious backboard.  After we rotated through the four stations, we went back to our original station; mine happened to be the marina.  When we got down there, the coordinator pulled out three people who work on the lake in addition to life guarding and then told the rest of us to open the dock. 

Well, one of the other guards saw a baby (it's a doll) floating in the water, so he grabbed a tube and jumped in.  After he pulled out the baby, other guards started working on it and he saw one of our coordinators floating in the water on the other side of the boat.  He jumped in again, but since he was unconscious, we had to use a backboard to get him out.  Well, since the lake is deeper than our pools, we had to float the backboard in order to get him on it and that takes two people to do.  Guess who had to jump in and help.  This guy!  (Here's a picture of the lake into which I jumped.)

After that, I had my regular shift at Pop Century.  It was interesting.  The weather wasn't that great for swimming, but I loved it being cooler than usual.  So the pools were pretty quiet and nothing too exciting happened.  But I've now officially guarded on my own!  YAY!  (Here are pictures of the three pools I guarded today--Hippy Dippy, Bowling, and Computer.)

Here's a picture of the pool at Old Port Royale at Caribbean Beach.  It's the one I'm guarding today for my second day on my own.

Greetings from Morocco!

Here's the story of my favorite moment so far here at Disney World.  I'm going to apologize in advance because sadly, I forgot my camera yesterday when we went to Epcot and Blizzard Beach, so there is no photographic documentation of this moment--or day.

It all started about 9 years ago.  My big sister had a golf tournament down here, so my mom decided to take advantage of that and plan a second Disney World trip.  Most of the time at the parks it was just me with my mom as Rachel was either golfing or sleeping.  So on the day we went to Epcot, my mom bought me a passport for the World Showcase.  If you don't know, the World Showcase is one half of the Epcot park.  It's made up of 11 countries--Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada.  In order to work at the World Showcase, you must be from the country you're representing.  All the architecture is from the country, the costumes represent the country, and they usually have very tasty food at one or two restaurants in each country.  You can also buy things that the country is famous for, and see shows and presentations about the culture.  Some of the countries--like Norway--even have a ride.

If you have an Epcot passport, you can go around to each country and get it stamped and written in from someone working there.  They have designated areas to get them stamped.  They people of course write in their own language and you put stickers on the page that have pictures of the country.  Well, 9 years ago I got 10 stamps.  The only country I was missing was Morocco.

Yesterday, when Dexter, Jenna, and I went to Epcot, I took my old passport.  I have no idea why I kept it so long.  It's basically just been in a basket of junk for the last 9 years and every time I would go through it, there was just something keeping me from throwing it away.  My mom mailed it to me last week, so I was dying to go to Epcot.

When we walked through the World Showcase, we stopped to eat at Mexico, did the ride at Norway, and then continued on to Morocco.  I stood in line with a bunch of 10 year old kids to get the stamp from a girl from the country.  She wasn't too enthusiastic about the kids.  She would ask their name, write something, stamp it, continue.  But as I got to the front of the line, I got more and more excited.  Literally more excited than the little kids.  When I handed her my passport, I asked her to read to me what was written in Arabic.  You see, I was very upset that Morocco closed before I got there, but one of the custodians for the restaurant wrote in my book anyway.  She actually took a moment to talk to me about it, ask why mine was so different from everyone else's, etc.  She flipped through it a little and told me mine is a lot cooler than the new ones they have.  Finally, she gave me the stamp.

I was so happy, I literally had a new spring in my step.  It's been 9 years since I got that book and I haven't spent more than a second thinking about it since then.  All of a sudden it seemed to be the most important thing in the world again and I had to complete my book.  The stamp is probably a little bit different than the old one, but after waiting a long time, I've finally completed my passport to Epcot.

I can't even think about it without getting a huge smile or even a little bit of a tear.  That's the Disney magic for you.

Disney's Newest Life Guard

Great news!  I passed my life guard class yesterday!  We get a license here through Ellis & Associates and we have to attend a three day class and pass the tests in order to receive that license.  It was very rigorous.  Lots of information to learn in just three days, but we finished yesterday afternoon and I'm proud to say I'm officially a licensed life guard!  I start my on job training today at Caribbean Beach Resort and Pop Century Resort.  Should be interesting to actually shadow someone on the stand for a full day.

In order to pass the class, we had to do a group test.  The group test was a simulated rescue situation.  You and your team get to your area and start scanning the pool when an emergency happens.  Our situation happened to be a spinal injury after someone did a cannon ball in the 3 feet deep water.  Luckily for us, we practiced the spinal rescues over and over again during our hour of practice time.  We nailed it!  After lunch we had our individual CPR tests.  We had to pass adult, child, and infant.  I did child first and had to be retested on that one because I forgot the two test breaths after the initial assessment thanks to nerves.  I passed the retest without a problem, though.  Finally, we had a written test.  I got zero wrong!

I was so relieved to have passed the class, but now I'm nervous for being on the job.  Hopefully today goes well.  They said a good day for a life guard is when nothing happens.  And they said if you want to know what being a life guard feels like, fill up your bath tub, put a rubber ducky in it and stare at if for 8 hours.  If you want to know what being a life guard feels like during the winter, take the rubber ducky out and stare at the water for 8 hours.  EEK!

To celebrate, we went out to Buffalo Wild Wings.  Apparently that's the place to be on Wednesdays all across the country.  Except instead of trivia, it turns into a club.  Who knew?  

In other Disney news, I went to Epcot last weekend and did Journey into Imagination with Figment, the Capital EO show--I don't recommend it--and the Test Track.  We got right on at the test track.  Thank you single rider lines!  It was really hot though, so we didn't stay long.  But I got my Epcot Passport in the mail yesterday, so now I have to go back and get that last stamp at Morocco!  I'm hoping to go to one of the parks again or one of the water parks this weekend!

More pictures to come later.  With my inconsistent internet here, it's been taking for ever just to even get to my own blog, let alone anything else.  What fun.

Oh, Oh It's Magic!

Get ready.  This may be a long one.

{DAY ONE}

I made it at Disney!  I was incredibly impressed with the efficiency of the process.  I thought it would take forever, but it all went off quite quickly.  It was awesome!  Before going to my new apartment, I decided to stop at Chick-fil-a.  Never going back.  Ever.  Terrible food.  So I got over it and went to move in.  

One of my three roommates was there, so I met her--Lexi.  While I was taking my stuff from my car to my room, I met another one--Kandy.  They both seemed really nice!  Thank goodness.  We had to go to the bus stop within the next hour or so in order to go to the casting building for all of our check in and business stuff.  Once again, I was surprised by their organization and efficiency.  There were so many people there and with everything we had to do, its quite incredible that it was over in two hours.  After that, most kids were free for the rest of the evening.  However, as a life guard I had to go take my test.  I tried to go to Target in between, but I got lost on the Disney property and gave up, so I just went about an hour early to the testing sight.  

Slowly, other kids started to trickle in and there were probably about 20 or 25 total.  I started to get really nervous talking to the other kids who said they were life guards or on the swimming team, etc.  We had to do a vision test, the 200 yard swim test, the surface dive to retrieve the 10 pound brick, and the 2 minute tread.  I was a little skeptical about the vision test even, but I had to read "TEAM IMPROVEMENT" or something of the sort.  No big deal.  Then I got nervous for the swim test.  But I pushed through for the 4 laps (8 pool lengths), knowing I could do it and knowing a job at Disney was at the end.  I finished!  After that, they said we had to go feet first all the way down to the bottom of the pool, which is not how I was taught before, so I got nervous again.  But it turned out to be easier than I thought.  Finally, the tread.  My weakness.  It was really helpful that the guy giving the test talked to us and asked us a lot of questions (that only required raising your hand), because the time went by a lot quicker.  When he said, "Okay, let's count down from 1000." I started to get tired and thought there was no way I could finish.  Thinking, surely if I stop only 30 seconds before I'll still be able to life guard somewhere at least.  Well, he said, "999, 998...okay, you're done."  Thank God I stuck with it!  I'm super proud of myself.  There were probably at least five people that couldn't even complete one of the three things, so I'm super happy I finished.

We got our job assignment.  I'll be at Pop Century Resort and Caribbean Beach Resort.  I'm excited for that because I've never been to either.  One of the guys I tested with will also be starting there, so at least I kind of know someone.

After the test, two of the other girls--Jenna and Abbey--and I went out to dinner at Panera.  We got a little lost, but now I just know where some other stuff is.  Turns out the restaurant was actually only a five minute drive from where we live, but it took us about twenty minutes.  After that, I had to go to Target to get sheets!  I would have waited until the next day, but I needed to sleep on something!  So after I finished there, I got back super excited to have bedding and a router for our internet.  Well, of course I left the bag with the router--and shampoo and conditioner, pillow cases, razors, etc--in it at Target.  That's when I had my freak out session.  Luckily it was no problem getting it back and everything was fine.  It was definitely a long day.

{DAY TWO}

I had to go to a housing presentation in the morning.  It was longer than I expected, but it was obviously a lot of useful information about our complexes, the rules, the perks, etc.  Of course right when we got out it started to pour so nobody wanted to walk back.  The presentation was at the international students' complex, so none of us lived there.  That was fun.  The girls I was with, fortunately, called their roommate to come pick us up.  So that was nice to not have to walk back or wait any longer.  I don't know if I can get used to this kind of rain...

I hit up Panera for lunch again.  I think I might be spending a lot of time there in the coming months.  It's delicious.  After lunch, I drove out to see my friend Kristen.  She and her sister bought me a birthday balloon and a birthday cake, which was so sweet--and delicious.  We hung out for a while before I decided to go back and do some grocery shopping.  That ended up taking longer than I expected and I couldn't believe how much it cost!  I actually bought some stuff for my room, including a wire shelf that I kind of, sort of put together by myself.  Nothing too heavy is on the shelves, so hopefully it'll stay up.  That was a real pain trying to put it together.  But after that, I organized my room and tried to unpack some of the stuff I brought.  Still left some stuff packed though.  Oy.  It's a bigger project than you would think.  Finally, I called it a night and turned in early.  (You can see my full closet organization here.)

{DAY THREE}

This one was an early day!  I had to be at the bus stop at 6:45AM in order to go to Disney University for our Traditions class.  This was just a half day, professional dress seminar about Disney and some of the professional expectations.  The presentation was FANTASTIC!  It's so much easier to sit there and listen to people who are enthusiastic about their topic and really good at what they do.  The presentation was seemingly flawless, and even had a few surprises, that of course I can't share with you all.  Sorry!  It made getting all of that information so much easier.  And we finally got our official name tags!  Yippie!

After that, I ended up going to Animal Kingdom with the kid I'll be working with at Pop Century and two of his roommates.  It started to pour just as we were leaving our apartments, so we all got soaked on the way to the bus stop.  We decided to just go to Hollywood Studios, but we had just missed that bus and Animal Kingdom's bus was coming, so we stuck with our original plan.  Well, along the route, about 5 to 10 minutes from the park, the bus broke down.  Something with the tire, but not positive if it was a flat or something else.  It took about 45 minutes for another bus to come and those poor kids were all late for their shifts.  We rode Dinosaur in Dinoland, USA right away.  I'm iffy on this one.  I hate stuff like that, but I think I need to give it another chance.  Just one more.  We rode Expedition Everest next.  It was my first time on that one and I LOVED it.  If you like rollercoasters, you have to go to this one in Animal Kingdom and Rock 'n Rollercoaster in Hollywood Studios.

We didn't stay much longer.  Everyone was tired because we had to be up so early that morning, so we went back to the complex.  I fell asleep for a little bit before one of my roommates got back.  We decided to order pizza, and the other two trickled in.  I finally met the fourth roommate.  Well, I had met her the first night, but it was pitch black and I couldn't really see her.  So finally we were all acquainted!  YAY!

{DAY FOUR}

Another early day.  But not quite as early as the day before.  Also another dress up day.  Thank goodness for all those professional clothes I got for my last job.  Phew!

We had to catch an early bus to Disney University again.  It was another half day, but this time we only worked on the computers.  We had a bunch of computer modules to complete in order to learn the business a little better.  It went by pretty quickly, and once again they made the whole thing a little easier by being interactive and creative.  It definitely helps with learning boring material.  I also got a handy dandy lanyard for my IDs.  Had to get the 101 Dalmatians one since my mom had to steal my Lucky shirt in order to wash it in the middle of the night.

I headed back to my apartment after I completed the classes.  My roommate, Lexi, and I decided to go see The Other Guys at Downtown Disney.  It was a pretty funny movie, but really confusing and just kind of strange.  I laughed out loud quite a bit though.  I would say go see it cheap, or rent it.  We walked around Downtown Disney for a little bit before we headed back.

That night we had a pool party at another one of the complexes.  It was sort of a welcome party for everyone.  The theme was In the Jungle, so some characters from the Jungle Book were there.  One of my friends through life guarding, Jenna, and I met a number of new people--mostly from other countries like France and Turkey.  There are a lot of international kids here right now, but I guess they all go back to their countries this month to start school again.  This is only a summer job for them.  Darn!  The pool party was pretty fun though.  Unfortunately it was only two hours, so at 8:00 sharp they kicked everyone out so they could clean up.

{DAY FIVE}

It was my last early day and my last dress up day.  I finally got to go to the place I'll be working--Caribbean Beach Resort and Pop Century Resort.  We did a number of welcome things, more orientation type stuff, and tours of both resorts.  At the end of the day, we got our costumes.  This is going to be interesting.  I have to wear my shirt and shorts at all times, so hello farmer's tan!  Luckily, they said I can wear my Chacos, so that will be a cool tan line.  (And I'll beat you, Kristen!  ...We have a competition to see who can get the best Chaco tan.  We're both losing.)

Of course our training got over about 10 minutes after the bus came, so we all had to wait for about 45 minutes as it started pouring.  On the bus, I met some more international kids.  One from Spain and one from Mexico.  It was interesting listening to them speak in Spanish.  Once or twice they had to stop because one used a word the other didn't know.  It was kind of cool.  I want to be bilingual...

After an accidental nap, Lexi and I decided to go see the last night of Summer Nightastic.  It's a special fireworks show at Cinderella's Castle at Magic Kingdom.  It's been going on all summer, but starting August 14 I guess they're going back to the regular show.  If I've seen the fireworks before, I don't remember.  (Sorry, Mom.)  It was fantastic.  I couldn't stop smiling and I probably even oohed and ahhed.  Who knows.  I loved it!  I feel so lucky that I get to be here for so long!

And...I had Saturday and Sunday off.  Amazing.  Finally, here are some pins that I got so I can start trading.  (Sadly we can't have them on when we work.)  From left to right: Pop Century Resort, Mickey Mouse from Fantasia, and Belle from Beauty & the Beast.