Mickey, I'm Home!

Greetings from Orlando! It has been a long and emotional day but my pixie dust has landed me sprawled out on my king sized bed here at the Holiday Inn in Orlando. My day started at 9 this morning when I had to wake up to finish packing (never will I be packed the day before, I mean let's be honest) and making sure I had everything. Still, on the way to the airport I was giving my mom a list of things to mail down! Then I started my goodbyes, you would think my eyes were Splash Mountain. It's weird to think I could channel my inner 10 and go from "Allonsy!" to "I don't want to go" over WDW (if you understand the reference, hello new best friend!) I just wish New Jersey and Florida were closer, at least Rhode Island is manageable.

I flew out of Newark International and landed in Orlando, the flight overall was about 3 hours, stark contrast from my 4 hour train rides from RI to NJ as my mom pointed out. I ended up sitting next to a family who had a little Yorkie in front of them on the plane, adorable but it made me miss my dog that much more.

I got on and off the plane with no problems. I collected my luggage and proceeded to book my Mears transportation. The buses come within 30 minutes and take you and various passengers to the surrounding resorts.

Waiting for my shuttle and there are palm trees! Kind of a big deal for a small town Jersey Girl! It was a beautiful 88 degrees and sunny, I can get used to this! It was weird sitting out there in front of the Disney Magical Express buses and seeing people on their way to WDW, I'm actually here!

 I was the last stop and pulled in to the hotel at about 9. I ended up getting a handicap room, I guess because it has 1 bed in it and it's just me that's what they gave me. No complaints!

 There is a closet to the left and above the fridge there your standard hotel essentials and a microwave. The bathroom is on the right behind that door

 

King size bed all to myself? Don't mind if I do! 

Handicap bathroom, interesting. Don't worry, there is another shower head above that little one! And you know, a toilet

You can guess where I will be spending my night tonight

 Best hotel keys EVER!

I just grabbed some jammy dodgers from the vending machine (such a Who post tonight!) and will try and take some pictures of the pool after hours possibly. But I need to rest up for my day tomorrow! You think I'm going to let a whole day go when I'm this close to Disney?! Tomorrow I will be hitting up DTD to catch the tail end of Independence Day festivities like getting some pins, the 4th of July cupcake, and then resort hopping and ending at the Poly for the 4th of July fireworks!

I'm Going to Disney World!

The next time you read a post from me I will most likely be in my hotel room in Florida. It is now past midnight so it is July 6, the day I fly out of Newark to arrive in Orlando. In typical fashion, I'm not done packing. I do have my suitcase mostly done at 38 pounds and still have to gather up my last odds and ends tomorrow after getting ready.

So far it is already a vast contrast from last year's 'Disney Eve'. I remember packing in the living room of my old house and then that night crying with my mom in the kitchen. I was an absolute mess and she just held me as I let it all out. This is what I called my "Rapunzel Waiting for the Lights Moment"

But instead of a really hot guy giving me the advice in a boat, it was my mom in our pajamas in the kitchen. I was asking every question, voicing every concern: "What is my roommates don't like me? What if I don't like Disney anymore? What if my chefs hate me or I mess up? What if I find out this isn't for me?" you name it, I was worried about it. I had heard that the Disney programs were the best months of your life, what if they weren't? What if I was that one rotten egg? BUT then what if they were the best? How do you just pick up and move on after that?

Needless to say, my worrying was unnecessary, I ended up having a great time and finding another new dream within the same company that I love. I haven't found myself crying in my mom's arms though tonight. I cried on the couch with my dog earlier but that has been the extent of it. But to be honest, I am terrified. Terrified because I know what to expect and now I find myself in the same boat, what if it's worse than last time? and then what if it's better? This time it's 5 months, the longest I have ever been away from home. I know it's not much compared to some but for a little small town America girl like me who is close to her family, it's a lot. For some bizarre reason I have found myself asking "What if I don't like Disney anymore? What if I get tired of it?" Like really? REALLY MEG? But I feel like because I'm still so rocky mentally, my brain is just clouding up every positive thought I could be having right now. Sometimes I just wish my brain had an off switch (and a super reboot switch so I can actually remember things for tests!) so I can just do something with a clear head for once.

But regardless of how well my brain is working or how I'm feeling, I'm boarding a plane later. I may not be crying now but I will be an absolute wreck later. I can't sugar coat that from y'all, you will have an amazing program ahead of you but getting through the departure day is hard. I hate goodbyes, I hate knowing I won't be petting my dog for a while or that I won't walk downstairs to read the papers with my dad listening to Jersey radio on the weekends, or that I can't go grocery shopping with my mom after work for a while, it's the little things. But I'm happy knowing that I will at least be seeing them soon. If all goes well financially (which it hasn't for 4 years so fingers crossed) I will see my dad and brother at the end of next month and my mom next September. My mom and I have vowed to be skinnier the next time we see each other (this came about after an intense breakdown in a fitting room I had this week), I vowed to myself to get back on track.

So blogger, maybe I'll do a post from the gate or something but chances are it will be from Orlando!

Post-Disney Depression: Literally

I'm a person of words, I'd much rather spend an hour sitting there trying to figure out how to put my feelings into words than spewing it out in 5 minutes in person. In person I forget details, I try to make it seem smaller than it is, if it's something I don't want to talk about-I'll be done talking about it in a matter of seconds. So this is it, this is me putting everything I've been feeling out in the open because I don't think I'd be able to talk about it out loud. This isn't an attention seeking post or an 'I want your pity post' but I'm heading to Florida with more than just physical luggage this time around.

Disney Housing Selection and Rent Amounts

I did my first program last year and I'm already starting off doing something new that the program has introduced. Last year, everything with housing was done on arrival day. If you wanted to live with certain people you had to wait in line with them together and then select your housing (or whatever was available was given to you) at the housing table part of check-in.

This year, Disney has started the housing process before you even board the plane (heck, if you're like me it's before you even started thinking about packing!) About 10 days before your arrival date, you will receive 2 emails from Disney housing containing a code and a temporary password to register for housing within 72 hours. To put into perspective, my arrival date is July 8th and I received my email yesterday, June 25th.

With the code and the password you can select preferences for the Disney apartment complexes or D.O.R.M.S: Disney Onsite Resident Management System. From here you have to fill out a little bit of information such as your contact info, an emergency contact and any specifications you need made for you apartment in regards to marriage, drinking age, and special needs accommodations.

From there they give you a list of the apartment complexes and their rental rates. Disney will take out rent for you apartment every week. So when you get your weekly paychecks, that number is AFTER rent has been taken out. The rates for this coming program are as follows: 

Vista Way:                    

2 Bedroom: $96          

3 Bedroom: $86      

                                       

The Commons 

1 Bedroom: $105

2 Bedroom: $105

3 Bedroom: $93

4 Bedroom: $93

Chatham Square 

1 Bedroom: $101

2 Bedroom: $101

3 Bedroom: $91                               

4 Bedroom: $91

Patterson Court: 

1 Bedroom: $101

2 Bedroom: $101

3 Bedroom: $91      

There are 2 persons to each room, if you have a 1 bedroom you will share it with 1 other person but if you have a 3 bedroom you will share your room with 1 person but have 4 other roommates for 5 roommates in total. To put rent into perspective, my rent for a 3 bedroom in Patterson last year was $89/week. Also, figure a week averages to 4 weeks a month. A fully furnished 3 bedroom at Patterson with bus transportation will cost you $364 a month and I was just paying $400 a month to live in an unfurnished crap house, I would take Patterson any day!

Once they cover the charges, from there you can pick preferences. I stress that they are preferences because housing cannot guarantee anything til day of  but having these preferences ahead of time gives them the chance to work around them. You can select your top 3 choices in regards to which complex you want and then your top 3 choices for room size. I picked: 1) 3 bedroom Patterson 2) 4 bedroom Chatham and then 3) 2 bedroom Commons. Once you pick a size, you can't pick that size for your next preference otherwise I would have done 3 bedroom for all of them. If you don't have a preference you can let housing pick for you!

You can also pick roommates for you as well. I was told I can pick up to 1 roommate with the guidelines that they needed to have the same arrival and departure date as me. I just opted for random!

When all is said and done you get to print a boarding pass to take with you to housing and 2 more forms of paperwork and bring with you to your arrival date. They also disclose that you will be turned away and told to come at a later time if you arrive to check in at or before 7 AM since housing quiet hours are in effect until then. Check in is normally either 8 or 9 until 12.

I know that was lengthy but I hope it was informative and answered some of your questions! This is new to me as well so I will do more housing follow up posts in regards to this selection once I actually check in in 12 days! Any remaining questions? Leave them in the comments below!

A Lesson from Julie Andrews: Recognizing Fear

So yesterday morning I had the pleasure of waking up to this email:

 

It is coming, and fast! 2 weeks from tonight I will be off a plane, out of the hotel and into my apartment. AH!

Being an alumni of the program has not shielded me from what my brain does best, get anxious and over think. It still has not hit me that I'm about to leave home for 5 months and to be honest, it probably won't happen til the night before where I'm trying to rearrange my suitcase a hundred times to make it all fit.

I'm starting to doubt, think and question. My mom tells me she won't be as worried this time around because I know what I'm getting into, last year was 100% unknown. But I feel like I'm more worried this year BECAUSE I have done the program before. I'm already pointing out the fact to myself that I'm going down completely alone. Last year a bunch of us from my school checked in at the same time, 3 of us ended up working together so I already had a net of people to fall back on. This time it's just me, all my friends are already down there and now I'm the only one from my school checking in on July 8th.

and then because of that, what about my coworkers? I've tried searching for my location but because it's backstage there's hardly anything, I can't even picture it. and now I go into a workplace not knowing anyone. Again, I'm on my own.

and I just keep thinking of all the things that can make this different than the last one. What if I don't get Patterson and get Vista? What if my roommates are horrible? What if I make no friends? What if this program makes me reevaluate practically my entire life and my career? They always say you should be able to picture yourself where you're going. I can't see myself boarding a plane or moving into a new apartment or going to Traditions again or even seeing New Fantasyland for the first time, it's like it's not even going to happen. But I went through this last year too. My brain just makes things way more complicated than they are and very very annoying.

but I stumbled across something on my tumblr today that made me feel a little bit better. I absolutely adore Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins, The Princess Diaries, and The Sound of Music are three of my favorite films and she has just always been someone I have admired. She has been a living projection of nothing but grace, class, courage and strength. So why, of all people, would Julie Andrews show...fear? Well, this was my little pick me up today: 

 

It's ok that I'm scared, it's normal. This post is getting a bit long but I'm sure somewhere in the near future I will use my Rapunzel waiting for the lanterns analogy.  My return to the DCP is Julie's return to Broadway, although  hers is obviously a more significant feat. But my fear won't stop me from boarding the plane or make me chicken out at check-in, it will just give me more drive to go forth and prove myself wrong.

2 weeks!

2 weeks from tonight I believe I will still be in an airplane on my way to Orlando International Airport. I'll arrive in beautiful Orlando and take the shuttle to the Holiday Inn and spend the night unwinding, probably with some Chick-Fil-A!

And then the next day it's off to non-park Disney things! It's not worth it for me to get my campus rep ID so instead I will be using the hotel buses to take me to the parks and use the Disney vacation buses from there to get around. I'm definitely going to hit up Downtown Disney to get my hands on some Independence Week merchandise and also try this lovely beauty:

Doesn't it look delicious!? Independence week is July 1-July 7 so I'm flying down the night before so I can spend the whole day catching up on the tail end of all things Red White & Blue!

and to top it off I will go back home to the Polynesian to see Cinderella Castle in patriotic colors and to watch Wishes! for the first time since I last saw it bawling my eyes out.

It still hasn't hit me that I'm going but I'm sure as it gets closer and closer the butterflies will start fluttering a bit faster!

3 Weeks!

The countdown keeps getting smaller and smaller, only 3 weeks until I check in for my second Disney Culinary Program!

3 weeks from now I should be moved into my apartment, possibly hit up Downtown Disney, who knows! I would have checked in, gone to Casting and met my roommates. It's so close but yet so far!

It still hasn't hit me that I'm leaving in a few weeks. My plane and hotel are booked but I have not started packing (heck, I'll do that the night before!) and I can't even imagine saying goodbye to everyone yet. I still have 2 weeks of work and then 1 week to myself to get things done and make my rounds.

Disney countdowns go by really fast! Both of my countdowns started around the 115 day mark and now I'm at 21, crazy!

Q&A: Disney Culinary Program

What Do YOU Want?

Hey everyone!

So we have a little less than a month to go before I return to Florida for another Disney Culinary Program and then this blog really gets going! I want to make more posts but not sure where to start, there are so many I could do! So help me out! What topic do you want to see written about next? Is there a certain area you want more information about? Any pictures you'd like to see? You name it!

Leave what you want the next post to be about in the comments below and stay tuned my friends!

1 Month Until Check In!

1 month from today I will be checking in to my 2nd Disney Culinary Program! I leave home July 6 and check in on the 8th and don't leave until November 22nd! 5 months of baking for Epcot ahead!

Don't forget to leave questions about anything in the comments!