The Rest of Disney with the Family!!

Well it has been an amazing time here in Orlando with my family visiting. I can’t believe they are going home tomorrow. We have been up to a lot of fun things so lets get you all caught up.

Wednesday evening we went to see Cirque du Soliel’s production called La Nouba. We had amazing seats and my dad was even involved in the pre show. As always there was so much acrobatics and it really amazes me how these people can be flying up in the air without any hesitation. The show had so many clowns and even these little girls who had batons and were throwing them around and doing some very intricate tricks. We all really enjoyed it and I would definitely go back and see it again.

Thursday I had work during the day. My family went to visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom. They enjoyed the park very much. In the evening, we met up with our cousin’s who where visiting for the day before they headed on a cruise. It was great to see them all since it has been a whole 2 months for me. We had dinner at Boatwright’s Dining Hall. I had the ribs. They were excellent and full of flavor. After dinner, we had a drink and had some time to chat. It was getting late and they had to get up early so we headed home.

Friday we had some relaxing time in the morning, and then headed to the Magic Kingdom in the evening. We lucked out and got fast passes to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This ride is a small rollercoaster and is the newest to the park. After riding it, I wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t as fast and didn’t have to many big drops in it. I think Space Mountain is much better. We also went on the People Mover, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger’s Spin. Character stops were also on the agenda and we even had the pleasure to meet some that are not normally out. They include Snow White, Tinkerbell, Ariel, Cinderella and Aurora. We met up with our cousins for dinner and my little cousin wanted to go on the haunted mansion… Again. So my mom and I took her on the ride. She loved it! After that we headed over to right in front of Cinderella’s Castle to wait for the Main Street Electrical Parade followed by the nighttime fireworks show… Wishes! The parade was so nice. I have never seen it in full, so it was nice to do that before it leaves Magic Kingdom in October. Wishes began promptly at 10pm. I haven’t seen it since my very first day with my friends and it was so nice to see it again. Brought back all those memories, which I feel like was so long ago! So to sum it up, Magic Kingdom (Day 2 for the familia) was a success.

Saturday was another rest day for all and I worked.

Yesterday, we hit up the last theme park at Disney World… the one at which I work…. Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I planned a great day for us. First we went to Indiana Jones’ stunt show. Then we went on rockin roller coaster. Followed by Voyager of the little mermaid. What a cute show… they even sprinkle you with water to make you feel like you are under the sea…. So refreshing. After that we went to Tower of Terror, which was not a favorite for my parents. They both were very mad at me as I made them go on it!  Since the ride is on Sunset (where I work), we visited and I saw of my friends and of course we had a snack. Next stop was Star Tours, which is one of the most popular rides at HS. It is a simulator that takes you on an adventure from one planet to another. It was even in 3D!

As there is so much to do in HS, we didn’t stop for a second and headed straight to see the Beauty and the Beast show. I haven’t seen it since I have been here, so I was excited. It was such a nice excerpt from the movie. It highlighted the main parts very well and Belle and Gaston sang live for all of us. Thee did an amazing job. After that, we headed over to our dinner reservation at 50’s Prime Time Café. It was an experience and well worth the price. It’s everything you think about the 50’s. The décor, the way the cast member’s act and especially the menu! We had a blast at the restaurant and it made our experience at HS just that much better. After that we headed over to the Frozen show. Everyone was laughing up a storm and it was such a great show. We ended off the night with the Toy Story Mania ride and of course Fantasmic! Fantasmic was different then the first few times I saw it. It was a great end to my families vacation and of course my time with them.

On a side note… I just realized that I have now been away for 2 months! Boy is time flying by so fast. I cannot believe everything I have done so far.

Until next time,

Michelle 

xoxo

(Amanda and I on the boat ride over to Magic Kingdom)

(The Family at 50's prime time)

My Special Guests Arrive!

t's been another week since I have written my blog. I am going to be writing one blog a week for a while as work is taking up a lot of my time. School is also right around corner. 

Last Saturday I had the day off so I went to Disney Springs to get some tickets for Cirque du Soleil and my personalized magic band. A magic band is something that is exclusive to Disney. You can hook up your park passes and also your fast passes to the band. It makes it a lot easier when you’re in the park. If you stay at a Disney resort you can hook a credit card to it and use your magic band to pay for things. Most importantly resort guests use it to access their room. It is a handy device. 

After Disney Springs, I headed home and met up with my friend Stephanie. She and I went to the outlets and did some browsing. It was a hot day and the outlets for busy. We headed back to my place and chilled for a bit. She headed home and I headed to meet my FAMILY!!! They had finally arrived into Orlando. I had a nice dinner with them and then I went back to my place for the night as I had to work on Sunday.

Sunday and Monday I was working. Nothing special to report! 

Tuesday was my first day off this week and I got to spend it with the family at Epcot. We got to see a lot of characters while we were at the parks. We say Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Aladdin and Jasmine, Belle, Ana, Elsa and Daisy Duck. The lines were not too long so we were lucky. We booked a fast pass for Soarin. It was worth it. The ride was great and we got to fly over many destination throughout the world. It even smelled like the places too which made the experience even better. We then went to see the circle of life movie. It was ok and was based on helping the earth with the characters from the Lion King. After that we went on the Nemo ride. It was super cute and you just say in a sea shell and went around watching clips from the movie. After that we headed to club cool. This is sponsored by coke and you are able to sample different samples of coke products from different countries. My dad's favorite was the pineapple Fanta as it reminded him of a Portuguese pop called Sumol. Then we were hungry so we had lunch. 

After Lunch, we headed over to the Mission space ride. We had a fast pass but we didn't end up needing it as the line was only 10 minutes long. It was so cool to be able to get USA safely to Mars. Then it was time to go over to the world pavilions. 

First up was the Canadian Pavilion. We saw the beautiful O Canada film. Seeing it again just brought back more memories of home. We walked through the into France. Here we met Belle. She was very chatty and polite. We then headed to Morocco and then too Italy where we stopped to eat dinner. We went to Via Napoli and we ordered a half a meter pizza (picture below). It looked huge at first, but between the 4 of us we managed to eat it all. Off to Norway to see the Ana and Elsa, but before then I treated my sister and father to my new favorite beer.... the Schofferhofer from Germany! Then we went to Mexico and we enjoyed a short boat ride. It was very nice and quite. Then we headed to get our seats for Epcot's Nighttime fireworks called Illuminations.

Illuminations was very grand and very telling of the world and what Epcot is all about. The colours they used and the way they utilized the world showcase lagoon was just brilliant! I would definitely see it again. 

I will leave it there for now and you will here all about our experience at Cirque de Soleil in my blog in Sunday. 

Until then,

Michelle 

xoxo

(The 1/2 meter pizza, YUMMY!!!)

The Santos Family infront of the Epcot Ball

Cheers with the Grapefruit Beer!

Exploring Animal Kingdom

Well it's been a week since I have written a post. I have been working so much I haven't had much time to spend doing fun things so I didn't have anything great to write about. But today is my day off and I decided to head to the parks bright and early! Before I get to that I wanted to share a special moment I had at work yesterday. This moment made my day and my shift was just so much better because of it!

At Disney, we have an activity called "magical moments". This is when a cast member has the opportunity to make a guests day by offering something to them. It could be an extra fast pass, or a voucher to be redeemed in the parks. In food and beverage at Sunset, we can offer a cupcake or ice cream or sometimes we give pretzels or churros away. It really depends on what position you are in. 

Magical moments can also be interacting with guests, especially kids and playing with them. Yesterday at the start of my shift, I got assigned to magical moments and at sunset that means we get hula-hoops and mermaid wands and we play with the kids outside. I had laid everything out and finally got some kids to come and play and this little girl walked up. At first she was really shy, but I started taking to her and she warmed up to me pretty quickly. I learned her name was Isabel, she was 3 and she was from the UK. She is obsessed with the teacup ride in MK and was adamant that she was going to go on it later that day. I started playing with her and she asked me to play with the mermaid wand so I gave it to her. Shortly after my coordinator came and told me to get a new assignment, which meant my time was up. I politely asked her for the wand back and gave her a cupcake to make her feel special and to thank her for playing with me. I went to put the stuff away and when I can back to the area, a fellow custodial cast member told me a little girl in a blue dress was looking for me. I located her family and I went up to the table. Her mom asked if she could have a picture with me, as she was quite fond of me. I politely said yes and took the picture with her. I was so honored from such a small interaction to be asked to take a photo with her. These moments continue to reassure me that this was the right choice for me and that I am capable of making someone's day just like that. 

Now onto my adventure today! I started off my day at MK. I got to the park around 10:30 and went to the carousel of progress. It was a 20 minutes show and was boring. The only good part was the air conditioning. Next I went to do meet and greets with some characters. I started off with Tiger and Pooh! It was a 30-minute wait but totally worth it. Tiger had a lot of energy as per usual; and he was bouncing around everywhere! That crazy Tiger! Pooh bear was more relaxed and mellow. After that I headed over to princess hall and met Cinderella and Aurora. My last character visit at MK was with tinker bell. She was so cute and very talkative. She was also very kind and sweet to all the little girls who visited her.  Before I left MK, I went and visited by friend Rebecca at the main entrance and headed off to catch the bus to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

I arrived at Animal Kingdom and met up with two of my other friends, Stephanie and Kyley. We had gotten fast passes for Expedition Everest (the roller coaster), Kilimanjaro Safari and the Jungle Book Show. Expedition Everest was a blast. It is quite scary the first time you do it but know that I have done it several times (I went on it 6 times today); it is not scary and very fun. After that we walked to Dinoland to get on a ride there. Unfortunately the lineup was long and not worth the wait. We walked around a bit and looked in some shops. Stephanie then headed to work and Kyley and I headed to the safari. The safari was very true in nature.. It took us through all the different climates. We saw so many animals and it was much better than the first time I went. After that we got some Dole Whip followed by the Lion King Show. This show is amazing and I would recommend everyone to go and see it. It is so interactive and the acrobatics and the entertainers make it spectacular. I have seen it twice, and will continue to see it when I’m at AK.

After the show Kyley and I went on Everest again before she headed home. She had to work early and needed to sleep. I continued on my journey and met some more characters. I saw Pocahontas and Minnie and Mickey. After that I had some food and headed back to Everest. I rode that a couple more times and then I decided to do a nighttime safari. Nighttime safaris are much different than daytimes one’s as different animals are out and every driver also makes the experience unique. I recommend doing both a daytime and nighttime safari. I then headed to wait in line for the Jungle book show. My friends from work met up with me and we all watched the show together. It was a bit of a let down for me and I wouldn’t see it again. Nothing really blew me away.

Overall the day was a busy one, but I saw some thing and met some characters I have yet to experience. I was happy I actually did something fun on my day off. Now I have another few days of work ahead of me and of course I have some special victors coming on Saturday.  I can’t wait to see them.

Until next time,

Michelle

xoxo

Myself, Stephanie and Kyley in Dinoland

Zebra's just chilling

Tiger and Pooh with me

 Kyley and I on the Safari

 Mickey and Minnie Explorers

My work friends

From Left: Sandra, Vickey, Me, and Alex

The Magic of Disney

This blog is going to be a short one today. The last 4 days have been much of the same routine, which consists of going to work and coming home and chilling with my friends and doing that all over again.

Throughout my shifts I have been in a good mix of roles and I have been able to interact with guests face to face. Being on register and bussing (although it’s not my favorite role), have given me this opportunity. I love that I get to talk to kids. Some of them just ramble on about what they have been up to and what their favorite thing about the park is. Other won’t say anything because of shyness or unfamiliar territory.  I get to offer them stickers as a nice gesture and most of the time it makes their day. If they are crying or upset, this small gesture usually takes their mind off of whatever was bothering them. These child interactions really assist in making the time go by faster, and it helps to justify why people want to work for Disney.

Yesterday was my first day off this week. Gabby and I went to Walmart to do our shopping. We also went to the dollar store for some other cheap items that we needed. After we got home from errands, we got ready to go to church. Mass was not as full this week as we went at 6pm. After mass, we came home and had dinner and went over to our friend’s house until the early morning. We enjoyed each other’s company. The next few days should be interesting and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Xoxo

Michelle

Experiencing more of Disney World

The last few days have continued to be busy. On Monday, I was off from work and I had been meaning to send some mail, so I decided I would walk to this grocery store called Publix (it is like our IGA) and see if they had any stamps. Publix is about a 10-minute walk from my place and it is just behind the outlets. I walked there only to find out that they sold books of 20 stamps. That was too many for me so I went next door to the UPS store. They sold international stamps but only in a book of 10. That also wasn’t going to work for me.  I walked all the way back to my apartment and then decided to take our Disney bus to the postal office. They were bound to sell individual stamps. I walked in, bought the stamps, and sent the mail. This took all of about 5 minutes so I was left waiting for the bus to take me home for 30 minutes. The buses on this route don’t run, as often so you have to wait for it regardless. I got on the bus and headed home. I did a little bit of cleaning up as my roommate had left, so it was ok to make noise. The house was so quite as no one was home and it was a nice change from all the craziness that goes on sometimes.

Later that day, my friend Michael and I decided to go to Magic Kingdom. As we are cast members, we get admissions into the parks for free. We have a special card that allows us admission and also to get fast passes. We had been using our company issued ID’s to get in this far but they expire after 2 weeks. As they had just expired on Sunday, we were not 100% sure we would get it. So we headed over to guest relations and they didn't allow us to go in. We would have to wait for our admission cards to arrive. So, we decided we would head over to Disney Springs (Disney’s shopping district) as I hadn’t been yet and we didn’t need anything for admission. We met up with some of our other friends along the way.

The scenery at Disney Springs is beautiful and peaceful. It was very busy and there is so much to do there besides shopping. You can see Cirque du Soleil’s show called La Nouba, which is exclusive to Disney. You can watch a movie in the theatres or you can walk around and listen to the live music that's playing. It’s a wonderful atmosphere. After walking around Disney Springs and looking around, we headed back to our housing complexes and chilled with everyone.

Tuesday was my other day off this week. My friends and I decided to go to Epcot and check out all the pavilions. We arrived right as the pavilions were opening and of course we started our journey at the Canadian Pavilion. The scenery is very much influenced by the natives and we see a lot of these designs in Vancouver. They use wood structuring to make it look authentic. We walked around the gift shop first as it is right at the entrance and saw all the treats that you can only find in Canada. We then headed to watch the 15-minute film highlighting our country. All of my friends that came to Epcot were Canadian, so just watching this film and seeing BC on a screen really brought us back home and made us miss it.

After that we headed over to the UK Pavilion. Here we met Alice in Wonderland, and we also tried the fish and chips. They were delicious. We looked through some of the gift shops and then headed over to France. In France, my friends got some ice cream and I got a baguette and it was delicious. We also watched a stunt show on the main path and it was really funny. We then headed over to Morocco. In Morocco, we saw Aladdin and Jasmine. Japan was up next and one of my friends wanted to buy this marble soda, so we went looking for it. The gift shop in Japan is huge and of course the food sections is at the very back by the cash registers. After Japan, we walked straight passed the US and into Italy. We were all hungry so we decided to try one of the restaurants. It was delicious and the cannoli was so yummy. I would go back again just to eat the cannoli again. Lastly, we went to Norway. Norway has all the Frozen attractions. The ride they have was an 80 minutes wait so we decided we would do it another time. But we did go and meet Ana and Elsa, the movies main characters. They made great conversations with all of us and it really made the experience. We decided to head home at this point, since one of our friends had to go to work and we all had mail to pickup at our housing complexes before they closed. Later that evening, everyone gathered again.

It was back to work on Wednesday. I was working in the Market area, so I was in the kitchen my whole shift. It was a really slow day yesterday and time was going by at a snails pace. Everyone was so bored that my coworkers and I were breaking out into random song. After my break at 3pm, time was going by so slow and it took forever for 6:45pm to come. After work, I went to MK with one of my friends and we explored the park a bit more. We visited 2 of our other friends as they were working and then at 12:30am we headed home. I had a lot of fun hanging out with my friend, as she is on 10 days straight right now and I haven’t seen her very much.

That's all for me, I have to go and get ready to leave for work now and lets hope it is busier today.

Xoxo

Michelle 

(My friends from left in the bottom picture: Gabby, Susan, Myself, Michael, and Matty)

(Characters from top: Aladdin and Jasmine, Ana from Frozen, Alice in Wonderland and Elsa from Frozen)