Craziness continues!

Another full day, and it doesn't look like they'll be stopping anytime soon. I was on the bus to Disney University at 6:30am, and was at DU by 7:15, which meant I had time to take pictures of some of the murals and decorations :)

Beauty and the Beast wall! Love.

Today I had my first real day of training, where they teach us all the boring things that they have to legally teach you - like how to check the temperature of food, and that we have to throw it out when it's sitting at a certain temperature that's neither hot nor cold enough. A lot of it doesn't actually apply to me, since I'm not preparing any food. But, I was getting paid to sit there, so I was okay with it ;) And then I was finished! Our trainers got us set up on the Hub, our go-to for everything work related! It shows me what discounts I have, my schedule, and any block-out dates for the parks. When both Sam and I had finished some e-training, we went down to Magic Kingdom costuming which is right across the street from DU to pick up my shoes! Most cast members have to buy their own, but some roles get assigned shoes, like Food & Beverage and Custodial roles, to make sure they're no-slip. I was a little worried about the ugly factor, but they are just comfy white sneakers, which are really nice! (Expensive shoes too, I probably saved about 100$).

When I got home, I was able to facetime with Dad and say hi :) And tell him all about my day yesterday at the MK. It is so nice to be able to talk and see family faces from here! :) I even got to say hi to Daniel because he was home :)

Sam and I got changed and smothered ourselves in sunscreen to go to the pool for a couple hours! We've got one specifically for our complex, and we hadn't been yet. It was a perfect day for it - bright and sunny but a bit of a breeze. There's a lot of shaded and sunny spots, and the water was such a nice temperature :) It was nice to be able to talk to Sam one-on-one for a bit too and get to know her :)

While at the pool, she and I decided that we wanted to go to Epcot! I hadn't been yet, and I knew I would be working there and couldn't wait to see it again, and Sam has never been. We took our time eating dinner and before we knew it, it was getting late. We made it to Epcot around 8, after going through the cast entrance, taking a second bus to the guest entrance and going through the turnstiles. And right in front of us was the iconic Epcot ball!

We didn't really go into either side of Future World, but instead headed right for the World Showcase. Seeing the totem poles at Canada made us both laugh, but when I pointed out Quebec's Château Frontenac, Sam got a little more excited. We were home! (Ish). Even though the pavillion is mostly based off stereotypes, it was so much fun to know we were surrounded by Canadians (only cultural representatives work in the pavilions) and to see familiar things. The maple syrup and maples leaves and moose and hockey shirts were all so comforting :) Sam, who was only so-so impressed by Epcot when we walked through the front gates, thinks the World Showcase is one of the coolest things she's seen, and she decided she wanted to see the rest of it. That was okay by me, but I had an early morning the next day (another 5:30am!) and figured we should watch Illuminations (the Epcot fireworks) from the side of the lagoon closest to the buses for an easier trip home.

Oh Canada!

 So, as we left the Canadian pavilion at 8:15pm, I knew we only had 45 minutes to make it all the way around the lagoon; normally a full-day adventure. We booked it around the World Showcase so fast! We limited ourselves to three pictures per pavilion, but I took a picture of every single one! Canada, UK, France, Morocco, Japan, America, Italy, Germany, China, Norway and Mexico. We even stopped for a German pretzel, which was delicious!

Between the UK and France, though, I had to stop and get my picture taken on this bridge. While the bridge took us to the rest of the World Showcase, the other pathway would have taken us to the boardwalk and to the Beach Club, which is the resort my family has stayed at both of the last two trips to Disney and all of the Disney trips we've taken as a group of five. It felt weird to enter Epcot from the main entrance and not these gates. I miss the Beach Club. And my family.

Sam and I made it back to the Epcot-ball side of the lagoon with15 minutes to spare. That's ride, World Showcase in 30 minutes. I'm so proud of that accomplishment. Sam called her family to say hello and to etll them how cool Epcot was! She spoke to each family member and told them all that they have to come here when they come visit in July :)

When Illuminations started, we didn't have as good a view as I had expected we would have, and Sam suggested we come back when we can claim a better spot more than 10 minutes in advance.

So it was about 5 minutes past 9 when we decided we'd rather see Wishes. At the Magic Kingdom. Which starts at 10. And I knew that the projection show started at 9:45. We ran.

We booked it to the monorails. And when I say booked it, I mean we ran flat out. We made it to the monorail platform just in time - the monorail was on it's way and they were about to shut the gates. The gates shut when there are enough people already lined up that the monorail will be full, and anyone behind the gates must wait for the next one.

We literally reached them just as the cast member was saying, "Okay, can the next party please stop and wait for the next one!" But we squeezed through anyway, making it look like we were with the family in front of us. We made it through just as the monorail pulled up, and Sam had a window view of her first monorail ride. During the ride, I overheard a small conversation from the couple beside me about switching monorails. So I asked them if the monorail we were on went directly to MK. It didn't. The Epcot monorail only goes to the MK parking lot. From there, another two monorail loops are available - one from MK parking lot to MK and back, and one that does the MK and the nearby resorts.

So, when the monorail pulled up, Sam and I started running again. Down from one platform, over to the next, and up to the monorail level. Just as we got there, this beauty was pulling up:

And we got to get in it! We jumped in and it took off for the Magic Kingdom :) When we got off, the entire mad dash had taken us about a half hour, so we had 10 minutes to find a good spot for the light show and fireworks. We got up to the gates and saw the 'Let the Memories Begin' sign before I realized Sam had never been to MK before. She had seen the fireworks from the Polynesian Resort during the week we arrived, before we had our passes, but she had never passed through the gates. I took her picture by the sign and we walked through the gates into a beautifully lit up Main Street USA.

Even I was in awe, and I have been there before :) And the castle loomed at the end of the street, and we decided that a 'good' spot wasn't good enough. We wanted to get as close as we could. So we wormed through and excused ourselves and a little bit of pushing through the crowds. All of a sudden, we were stopped by a cast member who told us that if we wanted to watch, we needed to be behind the tape line we were standing on. And even though we weren't at the very front, we were at the front of a section and I realized all the people in front of us were going to have to move. And once the cast members started to clear people out, we were at the very front of a section with a pathway in front of us, ten feet of free space. No one's heads were blocking our cameras, no one with children on their shoulders. It was amazing! Sam and I just started clicking away on our cameras, iPods, phones, anything where we wanted a background or photos. It was beautiful. When the light show began, I had enough camera battery to film the whole 10 minutes! Then I sat and enjoyed the fireworks :) Sam had tears in her eyes by the time it was done :) It was the perfect way for her to spend her first moments at MK :)

We held hands and fought our way out of the park when they were over, squeezing through small spaces in between strollers and people and lampposts. We made it to the gate and we walked to the Contemporary resort, a five minute walk with a cast member bus stop :)

With sore feet we waited for the bus with huge smile on our faces. The shoes I had worn were brand new, and I had worn them to break them in on a leisurely stroll through Epcot. Good to know they can handle mad dashes as well ;)

Thanks Grandma!

And now we're home! Another long but wonderful day behind us, with weeks more of them ahead :)