I may not be any TLC "extreme coupon-er" but I sure felt like it the other night. I have been buying the Sunday paper just for the coupons every week and two weeks in I have already started saving. However, I didn't realize how much I could save until I went to Walgreens with my friend Andy after our nightly swim. I had a coupon for ice cream, gummy candy, and mini oreos/chips-ahoy and given that we were just going to get ice cream, we decided we needed toppings (I'm going to make a great nutritionist one day, just not that day.). We walked around the store and got everything we needed looking like America's latest and greatest fat kids. As we walked up to the counter the Walgreen's guy looked at us and then started laughing when I announced, "We have coupons!" Well on these coupons, we could get three of the items for a super low price, so we got three of everything. The computer system crashed after he swiped the first item. Great. But after he got it working, we walked out of there with three different pints of ice cream, gummibears, gummiworms, gummicherries, two packages of mini oreos, and one package of mini chips-ahoy all for seven dollars, saving a total of twelve dollars. Mama done raised me right.
Now if only I could find coupons for healthy things... :)
When we got back we turned Toy Story 3 on and made the most deliciously awesome sundae of all time. Moose Tracks, Belgian Chocolate, and Cookie Dough ice cream topped with oreos, chips-ahoy, gummiworms, gummibears, and of course one gummicherry to go on top. Not to mention Andy's homemade caramel. Talk about magical.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Happy Anniversary!
For those of you who don't know, Disney offers buttons to every guest that comes into the park. Whether it's your birthday, anniversary, or your happily ever after, you can simply go to the guest relations when you enter the park and request a button for to wear for the day. When I found this out, I realized I had to get them all before I left. So far, I have three. When I went to Magic Kingdom for the first time in years, I got a first time button. When I went to Hollywood Studios I got a "I'm Celebrating" button in which I wrote "life" under because that's pretty much what I do everyday. However, when I went to Hollywood Studios for the third time, my friend Andy and I celebrated our three year anniversary. Holding hands and acting excited to be celebrating our third year together after knowing each other for only three weeks was pretty much nothing short of amazing. The lady at guest relations was kind enough to write "3 years" surrounded by hearts on both of our buttons.
We were wished a happy anniversary by many people, and some we even wished back (but only if they were wearing the same pin). We went on a few rides and then celebrated with a romantic dinner at Pizza Planet. The little girl in front of us was wearing a "Happy Birthday" button and doing as we always do, wished her a happy birthday. She was a little shy, but her mom made her wish us a happy anniversary and then stared at us with a peculiar look. She then said, "Three years and no kids?" Without hesitation we both said "NO!" which made her step back a little. Robyn (our friend who was with us and also my roommate) explained to her that we were just dating. Makes more sense now doesn't it lady?!
We waited for our food and then decided to sit outside. Another little girl was sitting inside and was making faces at us the whole time so we of course had to make faces back. When we had finished she didn't see us get up and take care of our trash and started to get an upset look on her face. It was awesome to her light up as we stood there waving goodbye until she spotted us. Her parents looked a little annoyed. Oh well.
We went on to ride the Tower of Terror four times and then Rock n' Roller coaster twice. A bus ride home and then our anniversary was over. It was the most romantic three year anniversary I've ever had. :)
We were wished a happy anniversary by many people, and some we even wished back (but only if they were wearing the same pin). We went on a few rides and then celebrated with a romantic dinner at Pizza Planet. The little girl in front of us was wearing a "Happy Birthday" button and doing as we always do, wished her a happy birthday. She was a little shy, but her mom made her wish us a happy anniversary and then stared at us with a peculiar look. She then said, "Three years and no kids?" Without hesitation we both said "NO!" which made her step back a little. Robyn (our friend who was with us and also my roommate) explained to her that we were just dating. Makes more sense now doesn't it lady?!
We waited for our food and then decided to sit outside. Another little girl was sitting inside and was making faces at us the whole time so we of course had to make faces back. When we had finished she didn't see us get up and take care of our trash and started to get an upset look on her face. It was awesome to her light up as we stood there waving goodbye until she spotted us. Her parents looked a little annoyed. Oh well.
We went on to ride the Tower of Terror four times and then Rock n' Roller coaster twice. A bus ride home and then our anniversary was over. It was the most romantic three year anniversary I've ever had. :)
Saturday, September 24, 2011
All Play and No Work
I put on my black and white pinstripe pants, white t-shirt, and begin to button the buttons on my white chef coat. I make sure my green sharpie, black pen, and Disney issued name tag are ready to go in my knife kit. All my hair gets pushed back into a bun, ensuring no hair falls out later on in the night. The clock reads 2:00 p.m. Time to go. I grab my hat and my knife kit and fly out the door to my friends car and we zoom off to work. By 2:20 I'm rushing through the doors and swiping my time card, all the while taking a glance towards the doors to see the sun one last time for the day. Up the stairs I go, eager to start my day and see my co-workers as if I didn't see them 16 hours ago. Pre-meal starts promptly at 2:30, followed by two hours of prep. I've been assigned the same station every day since I started six days ago. Working in the pantry isn't the funnest job, but it helps me finesse the plate into a piece of art and build up my speed when the waiters slam us with orders all at once. It feels good to have my knife back in my hands as I cut strawberries into 1/8" cubes and remember how precise I have to be with my cuts in the world of fine dining. The clock now reads 4:30 p.m. Time for break.
We all head down the stairs to the cafeteria and get some snacks. I made the mistake of high-fiving one of the dishwashers on my first day and now I have to give him a high-five everyday during break. Luckily, I'm not the only one who he insists on high-fiving. At 5:15 it's time to get back to work. We finish prepping the station and continue to do so until the first ticket inches out of the machine, eager to be read and quickly filled. I grab the desired plate and begin making a salad or a cheese plate. By the end of the night I've done enough salads for a small army, but practice makes perfect and people need to be fed. The middle of service can get a little crazy as one person throws together a salad as the other plates a dessert and tries to fill the ticket as fast as they can, often doing more than one at once. The work isn't hard, but standing on my feet can be tiring and the stress of filling the ticket for a table of 12 in six minutes or less takes it toll too. My station is often the first to send out orders and the last as well. We're scheduled every night until an hour after closing and some nights we're still filling tickets after that. The station gets cleaned and we all say our goodbyes in the parking lot until tomorrow when we come back to do it all over again.
If there is anything I have learned, it's that the eight hours of work I've been doing isn't really work. I have too much fun during every second that I am there to think otherwise and the people I work with feel the same way. I hear them say a lot that the pay is horrible, but they love it so they keep doing it. No amount of school can ever teach me that.
We all head down the stairs to the cafeteria and get some snacks. I made the mistake of high-fiving one of the dishwashers on my first day and now I have to give him a high-five everyday during break. Luckily, I'm not the only one who he insists on high-fiving. At 5:15 it's time to get back to work. We finish prepping the station and continue to do so until the first ticket inches out of the machine, eager to be read and quickly filled. I grab the desired plate and begin making a salad or a cheese plate. By the end of the night I've done enough salads for a small army, but practice makes perfect and people need to be fed. The middle of service can get a little crazy as one person throws together a salad as the other plates a dessert and tries to fill the ticket as fast as they can, often doing more than one at once. The work isn't hard, but standing on my feet can be tiring and the stress of filling the ticket for a table of 12 in six minutes or less takes it toll too. My station is often the first to send out orders and the last as well. We're scheduled every night until an hour after closing and some nights we're still filling tickets after that. The station gets cleaned and we all say our goodbyes in the parking lot until tomorrow when we come back to do it all over again.
If there is anything I have learned, it's that the eight hours of work I've been doing isn't really work. I have too much fun during every second that I am there to think otherwise and the people I work with feel the same way. I hear them say a lot that the pay is horrible, but they love it so they keep doing it. No amount of school can ever teach me that.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
What a Magical Kingdom!
It was already blazing hot at 10 o'clock in the morning as I stood in line waiting for the monorail doors to open. This was a ride in itself. As soon as they opened people started cramming themselves into it, eager to get to the Magic Kingdom as fast as they could. I was one of them.
The doors opened again and people began flooding out of them, which I'm sure is quite funny to see because as soon as they run out of the monorail, they all run to the nearest entrance and try to shove 5 people into a one person place. Of course, I was shoved in as well, but I was in. Immediately, we went to guest relations to find a button to wear for the day (we've gotta get them all!) and I picked out my first time button. Ok, so it was my first time in years, but I had a button!
Of course there were pictures taken in front of the castle and dealing with the hundreds of people also wanting that magical photo, was nothing short of challenging. As our group of 5 ran after our "Mom" we all went to Tomorrowland and rode all the rides except for the Buzz Lightyear ride (thanks Mom!) and quickly moved on to the next ride and the next ride and the next ride. Now usually, it's extremely difficult to ride every ride in the park on the same day, but we came pretty darn close! We rode everyone that was worth riding, and even did a couple twice (Splash Mountain and Space Mountain).
Splash Mountain happened to be closed when we went to grab our fast passes, so we had to wait until it was opened. It gave us time to ride some other rides until finally it was open. We shoved ourselves into the herd of people waiting to get theirs as soon as it opened and all ran to get them as fast as we could so we could hurry up and wait. Off we went on more rides and then quickly walked (we had a light jog as a pace all day) back to get in line. Finally we were on this ride, hoping to get a relief from the heat with the giant splash at the end. I couldn't help but smile the entire time, bringing back memories of when my family and I went on it after waiting almost 3 hours and getting drenched. I loved every moment of it. After getting very wet, we got off, excited to see what was coming next. What came next was probably my most favorite part of the day! Woody and Jessie from Toy Story were right there as we came off the ride! 30 minutes later, I had my picture taken next to them, giving them hugs and definitely more excited than the little kids in front of me.
But because we had so much fun the first time on Splash Mountain, and the fast pass line was close to the line for Jessie and Woody, we decided, why not go a second time? Of course that met we had to go do something else first and then jump back in line. We had 6 people at this point, meaning the 8 passenger boat was going to have two people that were fortunate to go with us crazy people. Now seeing that we were on a ride, we all had to put our arms up. The ENTIRE time. We screamed every time we went around a corner down a little slope or even up one. If we went around a corner, not only were we yelling and acting obnoxious, but we would lean to one side. I may have been the one encouraging and leading this obnoxious behavior, but you'll never really know, will you? The people behind us, well at first they were scared, but by the end, they were joining in. Then came time for the big drop. Arms up, vocal chords engaged all the way to the top. But our picture, had to be nothing short of epic. Thumbs up and and goofy faces as we plunged down the 50 foot drop. By the time we got to the bottom, we had gone back to our original positions. The ride continued and we continued to scream and hold our arms up (and so did the couple with us). The ride was a little backed up toward the loading dock and then someone had the epic idea to start a wave. Now you can only imagine what happened after. Starting in our boat and three times later, boats behind us were joining in. Most epic ride ever. We continued to scream as we got off, cast members joining in as well. Magical.
The rest of the day was pretty epic as well and ended with ice cream for dinner as we watched the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle. We took the ferry back to the buses, all hot and feeling gross from the past 12 hours. The bus ride was cool, but didn't take away from the grungy feeling. We were finally back and made sure anything important was not in our pockets. Two seconds later we were all in the pool, fully clothed and very relieved.
The doors opened again and people began flooding out of them, which I'm sure is quite funny to see because as soon as they run out of the monorail, they all run to the nearest entrance and try to shove 5 people into a one person place. Of course, I was shoved in as well, but I was in. Immediately, we went to guest relations to find a button to wear for the day (we've gotta get them all!) and I picked out my first time button. Ok, so it was my first time in years, but I had a button!
Of course there were pictures taken in front of the castle and dealing with the hundreds of people also wanting that magical photo, was nothing short of challenging. As our group of 5 ran after our "Mom" we all went to Tomorrowland and rode all the rides except for the Buzz Lightyear ride (thanks Mom!) and quickly moved on to the next ride and the next ride and the next ride. Now usually, it's extremely difficult to ride every ride in the park on the same day, but we came pretty darn close! We rode everyone that was worth riding, and even did a couple twice (Splash Mountain and Space Mountain).
Splash Mountain happened to be closed when we went to grab our fast passes, so we had to wait until it was opened. It gave us time to ride some other rides until finally it was open. We shoved ourselves into the herd of people waiting to get theirs as soon as it opened and all ran to get them as fast as we could so we could hurry up and wait. Off we went on more rides and then quickly walked (we had a light jog as a pace all day) back to get in line. Finally we were on this ride, hoping to get a relief from the heat with the giant splash at the end. I couldn't help but smile the entire time, bringing back memories of when my family and I went on it after waiting almost 3 hours and getting drenched. I loved every moment of it. After getting very wet, we got off, excited to see what was coming next. What came next was probably my most favorite part of the day! Woody and Jessie from Toy Story were right there as we came off the ride! 30 minutes later, I had my picture taken next to them, giving them hugs and definitely more excited than the little kids in front of me.
But because we had so much fun the first time on Splash Mountain, and the fast pass line was close to the line for Jessie and Woody, we decided, why not go a second time? Of course that met we had to go do something else first and then jump back in line. We had 6 people at this point, meaning the 8 passenger boat was going to have two people that were fortunate to go with us crazy people. Now seeing that we were on a ride, we all had to put our arms up. The ENTIRE time. We screamed every time we went around a corner down a little slope or even up one. If we went around a corner, not only were we yelling and acting obnoxious, but we would lean to one side. I may have been the one encouraging and leading this obnoxious behavior, but you'll never really know, will you? The people behind us, well at first they were scared, but by the end, they were joining in. Then came time for the big drop. Arms up, vocal chords engaged all the way to the top. But our picture, had to be nothing short of epic. Thumbs up and and goofy faces as we plunged down the 50 foot drop. By the time we got to the bottom, we had gone back to our original positions. The ride continued and we continued to scream and hold our arms up (and so did the couple with us). The ride was a little backed up toward the loading dock and then someone had the epic idea to start a wave. Now you can only imagine what happened after. Starting in our boat and three times later, boats behind us were joining in. Most epic ride ever. We continued to scream as we got off, cast members joining in as well. Magical.
The rest of the day was pretty epic as well and ended with ice cream for dinner as we watched the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle. We took the ferry back to the buses, all hot and feeling gross from the past 12 hours. The bus ride was cool, but didn't take away from the grungy feeling. We were finally back and made sure anything important was not in our pockets. Two seconds later we were all in the pool, fully clothed and very relieved.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Wettin' My Flippers
So the other day, my roommates had class in the morning and me, being awesome as usual, did not. We decided we should go to the water park due to the blazing Florida sun, so we decided on Blizzard Beach. On went our swimsuits and we ran to the bus, only to see it leaving the bus spot. Fantasmic. The next bus wouldn't be there for another hour. But ah-ha! The bus for Typhoon Lagoon was waiting patiently just for us! Sign from Jeebus? Perhaps.
We arrive to see that it is raining and people are leaving. Last I checked, it was a water park, so we stayed. First up was the wave pool. I didn't almost die this time (that comes later), so I think it went great! Except for the part that I scraped the top of my foot on the bottom and ended up with a bloody foot. I did as my mother has always taught me and just sucked it up! Next up was the swimming with sharks!
"Hold up a minute, Meg."
"Yes?"
"Didn't you just say you're foot was bleeding?"
"Uh huh."
"Ummmmmm..."
Ok, so my foot was bleeding. And I was about to jump in a tank of salt water with some hungry sharks. Mama said suck it up, right? Well, one less appendage later, I was fine! Just kidding people! They only nibbled my toes! Again, just kidding! I asked two out of three cast members that I saw, and both said I'd be fine. Ok, so I got my snorkeling gear on and got in. Three seconds in, I was doing great! I found Dory, who I assumed was trying to figure out who she was looking for, but couldn't find Nemo. It wasn't until I was past the little island that I started panicking a little because of the little baby shark. I inhaled a little salt water somehow too. That was nice.
The rest of the day was spent zipping down water slides and ended with a nice family dinner at a friend's apartment. Oh, and then more swimming! Talk about magical!
We arrive to see that it is raining and people are leaving. Last I checked, it was a water park, so we stayed. First up was the wave pool. I didn't almost die this time (that comes later), so I think it went great! Except for the part that I scraped the top of my foot on the bottom and ended up with a bloody foot. I did as my mother has always taught me and just sucked it up! Next up was the swimming with sharks!
"Hold up a minute, Meg."
"Yes?"
"Didn't you just say you're foot was bleeding?"
"Uh huh."
"Ummmmmm..."
Ok, so my foot was bleeding. And I was about to jump in a tank of salt water with some hungry sharks. Mama said suck it up, right? Well, one less appendage later, I was fine! Just kidding people! They only nibbled my toes! Again, just kidding! I asked two out of three cast members that I saw, and both said I'd be fine. Ok, so I got my snorkeling gear on and got in. Three seconds in, I was doing great! I found Dory, who I assumed was trying to figure out who she was looking for, but couldn't find Nemo. It wasn't until I was past the little island that I started panicking a little because of the little baby shark. I inhaled a little salt water somehow too. That was nice.
The rest of the day was spent zipping down water slides and ended with a nice family dinner at a friend's apartment. Oh, and then more swimming! Talk about magical!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Everyday I'm Shufflin'
After a pretty boring morning of training, one intense and much needed nap, and a vegetarian dinner, we all decided to spend the evening in Hollywood. On the bus again and only two hours until Disney's Hollywood Studios closed for the evening. We made a beeline for the Tower of Terror, only to see our other roommates (we had to split up before getting on the bus) just getting off from it, so we decided to go on Rock n' Rollin Coaster (the Aerosmith inspired ride) before coming back to it. Now, if you know anything about me, you know that I am not scared of an adventure and what ever seems to be the most daring, only screams at me to be the first in line to do it. Therefore, sitting in the very front was my only option. I don't want to give anything away, but when this thing started, I'm pretty sure my insides were playing scramble. It was intensely magical. Next up on the agenda was the Tower of Terror. I've heard things about this ride that made me a little scared to go on it, but when the little girl in front of me was skipping towards it, I figured it couldn't be that bad. Some little girls are evil apparently. JUST KIDDING. I absolutely loveeeeeeeee this ride and made me reconsider not wanting to go bungee jumping (seriously, lets go guys!). Absolutely amazing (if not proof of the picture taken while on the ride of me giving a perfect smile to the camera)!!!!
Getting off the ride just in time to catch the 8:30 show, we skipped on down to it. I've never watched animated cartoons on water before until now, nor have I been so amazed or simply happy to watch something. I keep finding myself extremely excited every time I see Mickey Mouse or any other character and I don't think the smile on my face left it the whole night. If you ever get a chance to check it out, make sure you do it! Ok, enough advertising, back to my story.
My First Magical Adventure
Yesterday started off like any other day. I got up, showered, dressed professionally, ate a quick breakfast, and then ran to catch the 6:17 a.m bus. Okay, so maybe it wasn't exactly like any other day considering I had to wake up at 5 a.m. I had a class in the morning across from the Magic Kingdom where I managed to meet the Mouse himself and then even a "Cast Member Only" tour through the Magic Kingdom. This tour however, cannot be given in detail. Like I said, it's a Cast Member only thing. And not only did I manage all of this, but I also got a card that gets me tons of discounts and into every park for free! Ummmm.... yes... So how exactly did I spend my afternoon you ask? Let me tell you.
We were dropped off in the employee parking lot of Epcot, behind all the rides, and with no apparent way to actually get in to the park. But just because we're new, doesn't have to mean we have to look new so just follow the crowd and we should get there, right? We followed the wrong crowd into the cafeteria. Definitely not Epcot. Let's try this again and since we're here, we might as well ask. Turns out we should have zigged when we zagged. Ohhhhhh look, there's the parkkkk....
Next thing I know, we've gone on all the rides (this thrill seeker had to do them all first!) and I was walking around the world faster than any great world traveler has ever done. I met Mary Poppins in England and had dinner in Morocco (all served to me by Moroccans of course). After dinner I toured a Japanese shop where a lady by the name of Nao nonchalantly wrote my name in Japanese for me. I didn't even know it had a translation! After looking through the kimonos (sp?) and reminding myself that I can always come back, we left for dessert in Italy. Now as a girl who's biggest dream is to go to Italy, I was pretty excited to be served a gelato by three handsome Italian men. Then as I was eating my gelato, we walked over to Germany where I met a VERY handsome German man. I had to get him to pronounce my last name for me (it is after all of German decent) and then I flirtatiously asked him if I could just listen to him talk all day. He did say he needed to improve his English after all... (my last name means lion in German, pronounced lou-vah)
After I was done gawking at him we headed to Africa where we met a nice man from Kenya (Peter) and he asked my roommate to teach him how to play Mancala. After beating her he told us he didn't always win, but he didn't believe in losing. I'm pretty much in love with that motto. Afterwards we had a quick walk through China onto Norway and then we ended in Mexico we we watched the most spectacular fireworks display I have ever seen! After that, we all went home and quickly fell asleep only to be jolted awake again this morning at 5:30. Living the Disney Magic!
We were dropped off in the employee parking lot of Epcot, behind all the rides, and with no apparent way to actually get in to the park. But just because we're new, doesn't have to mean we have to look new so just follow the crowd and we should get there, right? We followed the wrong crowd into the cafeteria. Definitely not Epcot. Let's try this again and since we're here, we might as well ask. Turns out we should have zigged when we zagged. Ohhhhhh look, there's the parkkkk....
Next thing I know, we've gone on all the rides (this thrill seeker had to do them all first!) and I was walking around the world faster than any great world traveler has ever done. I met Mary Poppins in England and had dinner in Morocco (all served to me by Moroccans of course). After dinner I toured a Japanese shop where a lady by the name of Nao nonchalantly wrote my name in Japanese for me. I didn't even know it had a translation! After looking through the kimonos (sp?) and reminding myself that I can always come back, we left for dessert in Italy. Now as a girl who's biggest dream is to go to Italy, I was pretty excited to be served a gelato by three handsome Italian men. Then as I was eating my gelato, we walked over to Germany where I met a VERY handsome German man. I had to get him to pronounce my last name for me (it is after all of German decent) and then I flirtatiously asked him if I could just listen to him talk all day. He did say he needed to improve his English after all... (my last name means lion in German, pronounced lou-vah)
After I was done gawking at him we headed to Africa where we met a nice man from Kenya (Peter) and he asked my roommate to teach him how to play Mancala. After beating her he told us he didn't always win, but he didn't believe in losing. I'm pretty much in love with that motto. Afterwards we had a quick walk through China onto Norway and then we ended in Mexico we we watched the most spectacular fireworks display I have ever seen! After that, we all went home and quickly fell asleep only to be jolted awake again this morning at 5:30. Living the Disney Magic!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
On My Own
I woke up early Tuesday morning to the sound of a telephone ringing. My eyes shot open and my surroundings came to my attention. I quickly answered the phone to hear, "Good morning. This is your wake up call. It is now 4:30 a.m." The sound of the hotel operators voice was something I wasn't used to hearing. I knew I had to get up, regardless of how little sleep I had. After all, it was one of the biggest days of my life. I got ready and by 5:30, I had already said goodbye to my mom and loaded three months worth of baggage into the hotel's airport shuttle. Off I was, heading away from everything and everyone I have ever known. It was like the beginning of my freshman year of college all over again.
I had been loaded on to the plane, 30 minutes later than I was supposed to, but I was on it and it was heading to Orlando. As long as I got there before noon, I'd be just fine. The fasten seat belt sign was on and the engines were roaring, ready to be up in the sky. Of course sitting in my window seat, the best thing for me to do was look out the window. And as we were waiting to turn onto the runway I couldn't help but notice the skyscrapers in the distance. Charlotte, NC. Known to me as home. At least it was. I was heading to a new home for the next three months. I saw the building close to the one I should be living in and checked the clock one more time. Most of my friends were already sitting in their new classes, but not me. No. I was headed to Disney World.
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