Time really does fly by.......

Helllllllo world, yes I know what you are thinking, am I still alive. Well yes and I am mad at myself for not keeping up with my blog but from here on I now vow to keep up with it no matter what! Okay so I am going to try to include everything that has happened this past month. First thing I must talk about is my move into a different apartment. A few weeks ago, the girls I was living with went to housing and told them I was using vulgar language around the apartment (which was a complete lie) and because of that I was forced to pack everything up after settling in and move into a new apartment.....fun.....I know......especially going from living with 3 other girls to 5 new girls. Let me just say I absolutely love it here, all my roommates are amazing and I just know this is where I was meant to be. There hasn't been really any other major life events going on besides working, working, and working. I also started my class that I will be taking this summer which is Exploring Leadership and I kinda regret signing up for a class but come on, how many chances does one get to take a class led by a professional disney instructor or whatever term I am looking for. One last thing I want to include is that I went to Be Our Guest this weekend and let me tell you......I haven't had food as good as that since I went on the Disney Cruise.......it was amazing and my friend Alex was so nice and treated me. I feel that it is necessary to include pictures so here you go!

The main ballroom just like the movie

The lovely menu

The napkin

And my delicious meal

I had the grey stuff (yes it was delicious) I don't have the picture of it but believe me it is fabulous. Other than that there's not too much going on I work everyday this week but I don't close at all which is weird but completely fine by me. But the next day I have off if something wonderful in my life happens you guys will be the first to know, and I hope you have a magical night :)

I'm still alive.......sorta

Hellllllo everyone! I know you're probably thinking 'Is Sam still alive cause I haven't heard from her at all' okay maybe no one is thinking that but let's just pretend that you are. WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW EXHAUSTED I AM. This is what my schedule was this week

Mon: Training Day 1, 3:45pm-2:30am
Tues: Training Day 2, 2:15pm-1:30am
Wed: Training Day 3, 10:15am-7:30pm
Thurs: Training/Assessment Day 6:30am-3:15pm
Fri: On my own (on the 24hour day...) 4:00pm-2:15am

But truthfully I probably will not be out of work til like four because let me tell you....cleaning a popcorn machine is not fun.....at all. Especially when your coordinator wants it to shine like the Empire State Building. Since my role is Outdoor Foods that means I will work anywhere in the park so literally everyday this week I had on a different costume and out of all 6 that I have I really only like 2 of them I'll post some pictures later on because I currently do not have a phone either.......yay.......and homegirl has no money for one right now. But anyways after going through all the boring learning modules and learning the basics and stuff when we finally got out on stage at the cart I LOVED IT. Guests come to WDW because they are happy they are there to have a wonderful time and that one interaction that I had with a guest could make their day 10x better than it already is. Yeah there are disadvantages to it but thats how it is at every job I mean I'm working at the happiest place on earth what is there not to be happy about? Besides the hour long walk it takes me to just get to where I need to clock in, I LOVE IT. I've already met a whole bunch of people that I am excited to work with and basically I just can't wait to see what these next 8 months have in store. Now since I am a CP (College programmer) I'm scheduled full time and this is what my schedule is for next week

Sun: Main Street 4:45pm-12:45am
Mon: West Side 3:30pm-12:15am
Tues: West Side 3:45pm-11:45pm
Wed: Main Street 4:30pm-12:00am
Thurs: Fantasyland 10:30am-8:45pm
Fri: off
Sat: West Side 5:15pm-1:15am

If you hear a faint noise in the distance that is me crying......but man am I already loving all the money I am going to be making $$$$$

But to end things on a good note I FINALLY EARNED MY EARS and I am so ecstatic about that!  That is all I have to really update you on now, classes are going to be starting soon so the next time I will most likely write a blog is on how that goes. Ta-Ta for now!

Traditions

Today I had Traditions and basically it was the first day at work. So with that being said me, Alexis and Nicole had to be on the bus at 6:55am (......yay....) so I got up about 5:15 to start getting ready and we headed over to Chatham around 6:40. We got to Disney University around 7:15ish I would say and once we were lead off the bus we went inside where they split us into two groups and lead us into a classroom where we were presented with our beautiful blue id's that get us into the parks FOR FREE!!!!!! Once the class start we go over the boring safety stuff and what disney is all about then we watch a few videos and then they let us on a short break then once we got back to the classroom we had these red boxes sitting on our desks and after our leaders talked for a little more we got to open them and they were our very own first pair of Mickey ears! Pretty exciting stuff! So after they talked for a little more we finally got to go on a backstage tour of the Magic Kingdom and check out the Utilidors! Once we got to the entrance of the Utilidors we caught a few glimpses of Ariel and Peter Pan which was exciting to me. Then we walked all the way underground to Main Street where we got a quick short tour because it started to rain, but anywho we finally made it back to disney university where I was really starting to get anxious because I was ready for that beautiful nametag! After our leaders for the day talked a little more we got a special visit from the boss man himself.....Mickey Mouse! He also brought along a present......our nametags! Once our leaders started calling names out I was getting more and more excited and when he finally called mine I like hesitated for some reason because I thought he said the wrong school but anyways I got my name tag then after a few more words we were finally let out an headed back home so we can get changed, eat and hit the parks!......if it wasn't raining.....thank you Florida and now I will stop typing so I can show you some pictures I got to take today.

just a show for my outfit for Traditions cause I know a lot of people are not to sure what to wear

Disney University on the outside

Goofy hanging from the ceiling

and Pluto....

not such a good picture but there is Chip n Dale

The big red box at our tables after a short break along with a very small picture of my company I.D.

Very first pair of Mickey ears as cast members!

the boss man himself stopping by to say Hi!

A glance at my beautiful nametag

and lastly me with my nametag :)))

Like I said it is raining so hopefully later we'll got hit the parks but as for the rest of my week I have to get up super early again tomorrow for my second day of Orientation and the same for Friday but I just honestly cannot tell you how happy and thankful an how blessed I am to be where I am I cannot wait to tell you guys how the next few days go so stay tuned for that! Oh and have a magical day!

Casting

After all the long lines and waiting at Vista I had to hop on the bus to Casting at 11am. I was done with everything at Vista around 10:30ish and was starving so I drove over to Chick-fil-A behind Vista and got something to hold me over. By time I got back to Vista they were already loading people on to the bus to go to casting. So I hopped on the bus and found my roommate Alexis and sat with her. Casting was only 10 minutes away from Vista and our Guide I guess you can call him was super funny so it went by pretty quick. Once we got to Casting we had to wait on the bus for a few minutes then we were let off.

The door knobs on the doors to enter Casting

Once you get inside to Casting this little hall here is decorated with figures of disney characters which is super cute

More pictures.....

/

and more.......

After we waited in this long line we were split into groups and brought into a room where we received our schedule for Traditions and for Orientation at our work locations. Then we waited in another long line.......

After waiting in this line we just talked to someone about what the next few days were gonna be and what to wear to Traditions and all that fun stuff. Then after that we had to yep wait in more long lines where we just do our background checks, get our fingers printed and blah blah blah. I got to casting at 11am and didnt leave til 1:45 so future CPers make sure you have something to eat with you or someone to talk to while you're waiting because Casting takes FOREVER.

Once I was done with that the bus took us back to Vista where my car was and from there it was time to go see my new apartment and start unpacking! I don't have anything planned today and tomorrow besides the housing meeting and then tomorrow we have people coming in to move furniture around so I haven't really been able to unpack anything but then thursday is Traditions and me, Alexis and Nicole have to be on the bus at 6:55am to take us to Disney University.......yay.....so look forward to a Traditions post but that's all for now folks.

Check-In Day

Yesterday at Check-In I thought was gonna be a long time to take however it went by pretty fast. Disney sent me an email a couple nights before saying they were going to send another email the next day for my designated time to check in, however I did't get it. Check-In started at 7am but I didn't get to Vista Way til about 9, as soon as I got in line a lady came by and gave me a temporary name tag and my program guide aka The bible as some call it.

The line for check in at Vista Way

My temporary name tag

Program guide aka "the bible"

After standing in line for a few more minutes I finally found out what I was waiting to find out for so long and that is where I was working..............

I'll be working what I'm not entirely too sure where exactly I'll be working but I'll be in the Magic Kingdom working Outdoor Food Carts and truthfully I wanted a resort but if I got picked for a park Magic Kingdom was my last pick just because of the travel time but who cares I'm so excited to be where I was placed it will be a tons of fun!

After waiting in line for a few more minutes I got my housing assignment which as you can see in the  above picture I'll be living in Patterson Court with my lovely roommates and I am really extra happy because we are on the first floor and not the third thank you lord I'll be doing a apartment tour a little later, but after I got my housing assignment it was time to take my picture for my housing i.d. that I am suppose to carry with me at all times and here is a lovely picture of that

I know I'm so cute right? After that we were split into groups where a trainer talked to us about what our next few days was gonna be like and all that fun stuff. Then we went off to talk to another trainer about the Education Opportunities and the different types of seminars that are offered, THEN after that we just went off to talk about safety then from there it was off to casting yay!.......I say that half sarcastically.

Not the best day today.....

First let me start this off by saying I have not had the best day ever today I had to go to the dermatologists and get a some lab work done which was not fun at all, then I realized my car insurance still hadn't gone through so that's another $100 I had to shell out and then my roommate messaged me about getting an email about getting put into an apartment slated for triple occupancy which honestly freaked me out cause I really don't like the whole bunk bed idea, the only upside to that is the rent will be super cheap so I got super anxious because I didn't receive that email but I checked my email an hour later and found this lovely letter

I'm not too bummed I just really was hoping we weren't gonna get an apartment that had triple occupancy but I do like the rent being cheaper. All my other roommates except for Alexis confirmed they got this email which is making me nervous because I wanted to room with Alexis and now I'm scared that's not gonna happen but let's just wait and see I guess.......only 5 more days!

Last day at Chick-fil-A :(

Today was my last day at Chick-fil-A @ St. Pete Beach and it went by so fast. I cannot express how much I loved working here for the past 8 months out of all the three locations I worked at, SPB has been my favorite. I have made so many amazing friends here that I hope to never lose contact with. Just in general, working at CFA for these past three years has taught me so many lessons that I know will be of value to me when I get to disney and I am thankful for that. Even though I am ecstatic about not having to work and I have the rest of this week to prepare for my move, I am truly sad to go but thanks for the memories SPB and I'll see ya later! :)

Just a few pics of the awesome people I am going to miss working with. 

Almost there!

Yesterday, all the May 12th arrivals received the email for DORMS (Disney Onsite Resident Management System) which is where we put who we want to room with and which complex we want to live in, as well as a few required documents that we each have to fill out individually. As soon as all my roommates confirmed they got the email, I went ahead and put in all of our preferences, filled out my forms and then they received an email that confirmed everything was right. We put Patterson as our first pick and I really hope we get it which I'm sure we will since we're the first arrivals for Fall Advantage. But now we only got 12 days left and we don't want to wait anymore we are ready! 

This is your boarding pass that you print out and bring with you to check in day, so it makes the whole process go by quicker. Ahhhhhhhh 12 days is too far away!

Only 2 weeks left!

I cannot express how excited and nervous I am to be moving out and going to Orlando to start this amazing journey. I cannot believe that time is passing by so fast and I received this lovely email today as another reminder that I will be leaving in no time!

I've written out my packing list, only have a few items left to buy, just have to add a few more things to my bucket list and I am all set!

At last I have found my lovely roommates!

I am sooooo happy to announce I have the found 3 lovely ladies that I am going to be living with for the next 8 months. I was starting to worry I wouldn't find any cause I didn't want to be adventurous.

I will be rooming with Alexis. She goes to Gulf Coast State College and is majoring in Theatre and the best part is we both got QSFB so we might end up working together! She is awesome and I can't wait to meet her in person.

Ali and Nicole will be rooming together. Ali goes to Grand Valley State College in Michigan and is studying Occupational Health and Safety Management and Environmental Studies and she will be working as a lifeguard. Nicole goes to Mesa Community College and is studying Biology and she is also working as a lifeguard which I think is cool because me and Alexis are working QSFB and Ali and Nicole are lifeguards.

We are still trying to decide which complex to live in but I think we'll end up in Vista which is funny cause we were all against it at first, but honestly it doesn't matter wherever we are will be awesome I'm just so happy that I found these awesome girls. Only 19 days til Check-In! 

Summer classes at Disney University!

Tonight at midnight was when registration opened for CPs who are arriving May-June including me. I did all my research on classes and knew for a fact I wanted to take Disney Heritage, I had planned to be leaving the page open ready to register as soon as it hit midnight but of course I didn't get home from the movies until 12:30. Once I opened the site I frantically looked for Disney Heritage and couldn't find it so I knew it was full, it now looks like I will be taking Advanced Studies in Hospitality Management and Exploring Leadership. I'm a little iffy on these but I'm sure I will end up liking them in the end and besides there's always next semester for Disney Heritage :)

Roommate Survey!

Basic Information

Name: Samantha Gibson
Gender: Female
Orientation: Straight
Relationship Status: Single
Birthday/Age: September 8,1994 (19 but will be 20 during program)
Hometown: St. Petersburg, Florida
Major: Hospitality/Hotel Management
School: St. Petersburg College
Year in School: Freshman
Nationality: White
Religion: Christian
Are you allergic to anything?: No
Where do you currently work: Chick-fil-A

Disney College Program Details

Wellness/Non-Wellness: Wellness
Resort: Walt Disney World
Program/Dates: Fall Advantage (I arrive May 12th)
Role: Quick-service Food/Beverage
Desired housing complex: Patterson Court or Chatham
Desired number of roommates: 5 roommates (3-bedroom)

Lifestyle

Do you drink?: No
Do you smoke?: No
Do you party?:depending on the occasion.
Messy or tidy?: Very organized and clean.
Do you workout?: Not as often as I should, but I am active.
Do you like to cook?: Yes
Night or morning person?: I love to sleep but once I'm awake I am good to go.
Would you rather go out or stay in?: Both
What do you like to do on your days off?: Relax, watch some Netflix, catch up on school work if I have too and I like going out with friends. I'm looking forward to going to the parks a lot
Do you snore?: No
What does your bedroom normally look like?: Very clean, tidy, and organized.
Do you like it when your room is hot or cold?: Cool
How do you feel about sharing?: Generally as long as you ask and return it in shape, I'm okay with it!
What time do you usually go to bed?: 10pm-2am
What time do you wake up on free days?:  10am
I couldn't live with a roommate who: Doesn't do her share of cleaning/purchasing general household items we would all use, uses my belongings without asking, parties too much, has a bad reputation, is difficult to get along with, can't talk things out.
What would you want in a roommate?: A very good friend
Do you like having people over?: Yes, I like being a host!


Personality

Three words that describe me: Funny, outgoing, organized
One good quality: I'm easy to get along with pretty much anyone
One poor quality: I am really sensitive bout things sometimes
Are you outgoing or quiet?: Outgoing, but I can be quiet
Do you like hanging out with people or keeping to yourself?: I love hanging out with my friends, however, I love my alone time as well.
Favorite music: Pop and Rock
Favorite TV shows: Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, The Carrie Diaries, True Blood, Duck Dynasty and Nip/Tuck
Favorite movies (non-Disney): Back to the Future Trilogy, The Breakfast Club, Wayne's World, Sixteen Candles, Twilight Series, Harry Potter Series
Favorite Books: Fifty Shades of Gray, Harry Potter, The Fault In Our Stars

Disney "Stuff"

Favorite movie: Frozen AND The Little Mermaid
Favorite character: Olaf
Favorite prince: Flynn Rider
Favorite princess: Ariel and Anna
Favorite Villain: Ursula
How many times have you been to Disney: I have been to Disney World more times than I can count.
Favorite ride: Aerosmith: Rock n Roller Coaster
Magic Kingdom: Ariel's Under The Sea Adventure
Epcot: Test Track
Animal Kingdom: Expedition Everest
Hollywood Studios: Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Favorite Disney World Park: Hollywood Studios

Finally got my postcard!

 

The one thing I have been looking forward to the most was getting this beauty in the mail, and I actually started to worry that I was gonna be one of those people who didn't get theirs til after their program.....but I checked the mail today and instantly screamed out of happiness. This just shows that May 12th will be here before I know it and I honestly cannot wait!

Now I'm counting down the days!

Last night, I finally submitted my fees cause I wanted to make sure that I got a good date to arrive and such it cost $304.50 all together! Phew, that's alot. But that just makes me more excited that I'm ready to start packing now, haha. Now I just have to wait for my email that has all my paperwork and fun stuff that I need to fill out and also my DORMS stuff  which stands for (Disney's Onsite Resident Management System) which is where I will find my roommates. But now the countdown begins, I leave May 12th, 2014 and I will be sadly leaving to come back Januay 7, 2015. But I am so excited that I'm going to be there for the holidays, it's gonna be great!

The day I have been waiting for!

Today I came home from a long, exhausting day at work but the night before I had a feeling I was going to find out, I just knew it. So when I came home and sat down and opened my email I saw the Congratulations and immediately screamed! I couldn't believe it!

I can't wait to start this new chapter! I'm a little nervous about moving away from my family and living in an apartment with roommates for 7 months but I know I will do just fine. Even though I was hoping for a different role it looks like I'll be working Quick Service Food & Beverage but thats perfectly fine with me! Stay tuned for more updates! :)