Princesses in Epcot

     Today was another one of those fantastic days.  Brooke, Alyssa and I decided to spend the day in Epcot.  We donned our tiaras and headed over first thing in the morning.  

      We met Chip and Dale right away, then rode Soarin, my first time!  It's easily one of the coolest rides in Disney World.  I totally understand why it always has such a long wait!

     We stopped in to see Aladdin and Jasmine, and Belle.   

      And of course, couldn't pass up a chance to see Duffy!  He even acted like I was a princess, so sweet!

     We decided to grab lunch in Italy, at Via Napoli.  It was delicious!  I had arancini, which is a ball of fried risotto, filled with mozzarella and meat ragu.  That first bite blew me away, they were so unlike anything I've had before, the texture and taste were so much better than I had expected.  The atmosphere feels authentically Italian (from somebody who's never been to Italy at least), and all the Italian staff was friendly and attentive.  The cast member discount wasn't too shabby either!

     We spent the rest of the day strolling around the World Showcase, and stopped in to see Mickey and Pluto.

      As evening came, we headed to Hollywood Studios, to meet Guy.  We rode Tower of Terror, and Rock'n'Rollercoaster before our reservation at Sci-Fi Dine In Theater.

      Sci-Fi Dine In, is such a cool place.  It's designed to look like a big drive in movie theater, with old sci-fi movie clips showing, and everybody sits in booths designed to look like cars.

 

     It really did feel like a fun night out at the drive in!  The food was good, burgers and such, nothing to write home about, the setting, and company was really what made it!

xoxo

Happy Birthday, Ashley!

     Last night, I finally had my first Dole Whip!  I went to The Polynesian with Brooke, Brittany, Alyssa, and Guy, to watch Wishes from the beach of the resort.  On our way to the sand, we stopped into Captain Cook's, which has a self-serve machine with vanilla ice cream and Pineapple Dole Whip!

     We grabbed some lounge chairs, and enjoyed the show.  It was pretty neat to see it from another perspective, and they even had the music piped in (which was only mildly interrupted by the guy snoring and snorting a few chairs over).  It wasn't as magnificent as seeing it from in front of the castle, but definitely a more relaxed way to do it!  While we were there, we also saw them showing Peter Pan on a big inflatable screen on the other end of the beach.  I'd love to go to something like that one day, too!

     We headed straight home afterwards, as we had another big day planned, for our friend Ashley's birthday.  In the morning, Alyssa, Guy and I met her and one of her roommates, bright and early at the TTC.  We headed to Magic Kingdom, for some characters and rides!

 

      I even got to meet Gaston, outside Gaston's Tavern!  He gave me a hard time about my Beauty and The Beast shirt, so I had to quickly assure him that he was in my heart, and that's what was more important.  He loved that, of course!

      After MK, before Ashley met some of her other roommates at Hollywood Studios, we decided to check out Cast Connection and Property Control, and meet up with Brooke.  Cast Connection and Property Control are stores specifically for cast members.
     Cast connection is crazy discounted, and for only cast members.  It features merchandise that can't be sold to guests, as it's either damaged, a piece is missing, or the packaging is removed or damaged.  Some things in there, don't seem worth buying, even for the super low price.  But some things, just have the plastic wrap ripped off, or the cap of the pen was removed.  A woman working there even told me that a lot of the shirts they sell in there, were sample designs that were not approved for mass production, so you could get something really original!
     Property Control allows cast members to bring in guests.  It's excess merchandise, merchandise that's out of season, and dishes and furniture from around the resort, that's been replaced, but is still in good condition. The prices aren't as low, but nothing is broken!
     We all got some great finds during our shopping, and then we headed home!  Yet another successful day on the DCP!

xoxo

Kowabunga!

     The past two days off have been a nice reprieve to turn my brain off, after the tedious days at Disney University.  I took all of yesterday to chill, get myself organized, do some laundry, and clean the apartment.  In the evening, I headed to Epcot with Brittany, Alyssa, and a new friend, Ashley.  We made a mandatory stop at Club Cool, visited Test Track in the single riders line, and met up with another new friend, Guy, to catch Illuminations.  It was my first time seeing it, and it's truly spectacular!  It could very well give Wishes a run for it's money!

 

     This morning, I got up early with Brooke, and Bonnie (a girl from my D.U. training), and headed to Typhoon Lagoon.  We had plans to meet some other girls from training there as well.  We went on all the raft slides, and caught a bunch of giant waves in the wave pool.  We also spent a good amount of time in my favorite attraction, the lazy river!
     The other gals wound up not being able to make it, and we left the park around 1:30, before the weather got dark.  It's pretty neat that we can just head into a park for free, and just hang for a few hours!

 

 

 

     Brooke and I headed to Downtown Disney to meet up with Brittany, as she got off work at World of Disney.  We grabbed dinner at Earl of Sandwich, and strolled around to do some shopping.  I bought some little odds and ends, but by far, my best purchase of the evening...a tiara from Arribas Brothers!

     Such a simple evening, has been one of my favorite so far!  We headed back fairly early, since tomorrow is my first day of on the job training at Old Key West!

I've got some serious butterflies!

xoxo