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Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Waiting Game

   Most of you reading this blog probably are aware of this, but some of you may not be (since I have no idea who reads this), but I was diagnosed in 2006 with pretty significant  scoliosis. It never used to bother me at all until last year; I experienced lower back pain, went to PT for it, felt better, and moved on. However, it has recently been coming back. At first I didn't think anything of it; then, I realized it usually hurt after working on days when I was put at positions that required "heavy" lifting. I talked to my doctor and my manager at Casey's and was told to see Health Services for a medical accommodations form. I filed one out, played phone tag for about a month, and finally heard back last week. I was told my restriction of no lifting/pushing/pulling more than 15lbs. was accepted and that they would be in contact with my area manager to determine if I will remain at Casey's or have to be recasted to a different role. I may not always love the hours I work at Casey's, but I love the people I work with, the friends I have there, the atmosphere, and my managers/coordinators. I still had not heard back as of today, but on my way to the gym this evening, I missed a phone call from the accommodations office and received a message saying please return the call at my earliest convenience. I assume this means they finally talked to the area manager and made a decision. I sincerely hope I can remain at Casey's; I honestly don't think there's anything that would be affected other than I couldn't be stocker, but that's usually assigned to a guy anyway. Hopefully, I will hear back tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed that I will be able to stay where I am!!!

Princessing

    Today Kaitlyn and I both had off, but didn't have class since it's spring break week (because it is so busy here, there is no guarantee that you will have class day off). We didn't know what we wanted to do, but we both came up with the idea of finding characters to meet. She has an autograph book and I just wanted pictures, so that is what we did! Started out in the Magic Kingdom, but eventually just got sick of the HUGE crowd and left for Epcot. Despite the masses of guests, it was a lot of fun and we never had to wait more than 10 minutes to meet a character. We didn't get to see everyone we wanted, but we've got more time here for that. This is who we did find:

Mr. Easter Bunny


getting Mickey's signature

picture with my boss!

meeting Mary Poppins


small child's balloon positioned perfectly 

Rapunzel's tower

found Pascal!

talking with Alice

her eyes look kind of demonic....



hug from Pooh....he's my favorite!


line to meet them was too long, but I got their picture still

with Belle

Beauty and the Beast topiary

Princess Aurora

Limited Time Magic

   Every year, Walt Disney World and Disneyland have a theme or motto. A few years ago was "Year of a Million Dreams", last year was "Year of More Magic", and this year is "Limited Time Magic". What this means is that each week or so something new, special, surprising, and, unfortunately, fleeting will take place; whether it's a show, characters, attractions, or something else, it has probably never been done before and will probably not happen again. Blink and you miss it!
    Last week, the Limited Time Magic was a special Easter Egg hunt in Epcot through the World Showcase. We were given a map and stickers to mark which country had which egg. It wasn't too hard, but there were some that took a little longer to find than I'd like to admit! Once completed, we returned our maps to the Port of Entry for our prize......a Vinylmation keychain! It was such a cute activity; lots of families were participating and the little kids were so excited every time they spotted the eggs. I'm so glad I was able to take part!

our map and stickers before

I see it!

finished map with my prize....it's Simba!
  

Monday, March 25, 2013

Epcot in Bloom

   Wednesday may have been the first day of spring, but here is Disney World it started on March 6th with the first day of the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. I had no idea that this was even an event that went on here; when I was here for my senior class trip, it was the International Food and Wine Festival (which I also didn't know was a thing!). This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Flower and Garden Fest, so obviously I've been missing out my entire life! 
   You might be thinking, how exciting can flowers be? because that's exactly what I was thinking. I mean, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love gardens and seeing exotic plants and creative arrangements, but really how many times can you see flowers and be wowed? I couldn't have been more wrong! I wish I could go every day (which I suppose I could, theoretically); there is just so much to see, and I don't think it could all be done in one day! There are incredible topiary displays throughout the park, several garden marketplace kiosks around World Showcase offering food and drink derived from and inspired by plants, the HGTV designer's stage that features hit personalities from HGTV shows sharing ideas and tips (one of my favorites will be here during the last weekend and I can't wait!!), a Flower Power concert series with some pretty well known (albeit old) bands, and much more. Claire and I went last week and were amazed! I am so excited to experience it with Mom and Dad in May :)

Topiaries as we walked into the park

Festival Center





 Vera Bradley teamed up with Disney!

Buzz outside Mission Space

Okay, not Flower and Garden, but Claire and I went on Mission Space

Cars garden





Monsters University display

Pooh Bear and friends


 Lady and the Tramp topiary (Lady looks a little scary haha)

Lion King

I passed!!!

    Quick update: I went to the Magic Kingdom this morning to be assessed on my ASL (American Sign Language) knowledge and I passed! My new name tag will be in in about 3 weeks and it will have an extra little pin thing attached that lets guests know I can help them order and answer questions they might have. I was nervous, but I guess I did well!

Friday, March 22, 2013

Never Stop Learning

   When I came to Orlando for the Disney College Program, I figured it would end up being like my summer. Normally in the summer, if I don't take class, I hardly ever think about school or what I'd learned the previous semester; my brain gets a few months break. However, this has not been the case, and I've found that I absolutely love that! My roommates know I'm a nursing student so they ask me basic questions when they don't feel well or are looking for a certain medicine, and I can (hopefully) help them in some capacity (though I by no means encourage them to ignore talking to an actual doctor or nurse!). Being able to use that knowledge is exciting, yes, but the real pride and excitement for my learning came from helping a family at work last week.
   It was toward the end of the night, and Casey's was less than busy, but we still had 3 registers open and I was filler for one of them. I noticed one of my coworkers at the closed register trying to help this family, but it looked as though she was having a difficult time. I went over to see if she needed me to find someone or if I could help, and realized the family she was trying to assist was deaf. I took ASL last semester at Nazareth and LOVED it! I don't by any stretch of the imagination consider myself excellent at it, but I felt I knew enough to at least try to communicate with this family. So, I quickly told the girl on the register I was filler for what was going on and that I would be right back; opened the register that was closed; and, using sign language, took their order completely and successfully! I was so proud of myself and incredibly happy that I could assist those guests. I didn't need to remember how to sign too much, but I did get to use some of the vocabulary I have taught myself while down here using my book from school and an app my professor at Naz recommended. Of course, I emailed my professor as soon as I had the chance to tell her about my experience.
   I am also hoping to take the language test within the next week or so to receive a new name tag that says I am able to assist any deaf or hard of hearing guests that may come into Casey's and need to sign.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

More Visitors!

   Jeez, I am so out of order with these! I apologize if it confuses anyone (but who pays attention to what day it is in Florida?).
   Last Wednesday (or WedNAZday, right Tori? ☺), I had another visitor in Disney World....okay, so they didn't come specifically to see me, but I like to think it was part of the reason they came. My friend, Katie, from high school and her wonderful mom came for a few days to celebrate her mom's birthday and hang out in Disney just because (it's always a great day for Disney!). Katie goes to school in Miami, so they drove up (down? I'm bad with geography) from there Monday and stayed until Wednesday afternoon. They were so kind as to invite me to join them for breakfast at the Grand Floridian, which is where they were staying, so I got to spend almost the entire day with them! They hadn't been to Hollywood Studios yet this trip so that's where we headed off to after breakfast. Katie's mom had never been on Tower of Terror, so, of course, that was number one on our priority list! The standby wait time was far too long, so we grabbed Fast Passes (that, thankfully, were within the time range we would be there still) and did some other rides in the meantime. Unfortunately, Rock n' Roller-coaster had a super long wait time as well, and Fast Passes were already for 3:30pm at 10 o'clock in the morning! When the FPs were valid we ran back to Tower and hopped right on....that ride just never gets old; I scream every time like it's the first time I'm riding!
   From there, we ran over to Indiana Jones Stunt Show, which I had never seen before. There was standing room only by the time we arrived, but that was fine....the show is only 30min long. For this show, they pick guests to be part of it and play the roles of Cairo Market shoppers, but they also have to do funny stunts and little skits. One guy was hammin' it up and had everyone laughing so hard! It was a really cool to show to see with all the effects that they have available.
   Around 2:30, we decided we'd pretty much done everything we had wanted (except Rock n' Rollercoaster), so we went back to the Floridian for a quick lunch. The "Gasparilla Grill" there has delicious food; I think we had eaten there once on our family trip back in '08. One thing that Katie and her mom found amazing this time at Disney, was the care that they have for their guests; Katie was recently diagnosed with a significant food allergy and every place they went to eat on Disney property brought a chef right out to the table to take her order and ensure she could eat what she wanted safely....very impressive!
   Lunch was the last thing we had time for since they needed to get back to Miami and I needed to get to class, but I enjoyed the few hours I got to spend with them.
   Come visit any time!

Indiana Jones Show (that's a large man!)


Katie and I in front of the Sorcerer's Hat

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Splash Mountain

   After having been closed for 3 months for refurbishments, Splash Mountain reopened today and I was on the second log to go! I woke up at 8:00 this morning, threw on jeans capris and a sweatshirt, got in my car, and drove to MK for the park opening. I quickly walked the the back of the park and got in line. Apparently, since it was thundering and lightening the outdoor rides weren't running, but at 9:15, the waiting time after lightening was over. However, they were having technical difficulties with Splash so it didn't open at 9:15. The cast members working at the ride were trying so hard for some reason to get us to leave, but hardly anyone did. At 9:45, the ride opened and I was so glad I had waited. I got to ride it and in the front row nonetheless!! I could not have been more excited! Andrew's all time favorite ride is Splash Mountain, so for him I risked my new phone and took pictures on the ride including one right before the big drop! After I rode it, I left the park and came home; yes, I went to the Magic Kingdom rode one ride and left. Because I can.

newly redone Splash Mountain!









just before the big drop!