Bucket List Progress

I've been a busy busy bee these past couple days. I've...

-character hunted at Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot (finished AK, made progress everywhere else)

-made progress on Epcot, AK and Hollywood Studios attractions

-visited three resorts

-indulged in some decadent desserts (Ghiradelli - yum, Mousse - OMG, Pretzel - meh)

Tomorrow (or today, since it's nearly 1am), I will be heading to the MK in the morning to try and finish the characters I haven't met yet, and then I'm hanging out with my friend Kim, so hopefully we'll do something that I can cross off my list.

Saturday, AKA the night my family arrives (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), I will be spending the morning exploring a few resorts and then heading either to Hollywood Studios to character hunt or Epcot. We shall see.

Can't believe I've only got a week left.

This is surreal.

Magic Kingdom "Character Hunting"

Today (or, I suppose it's technically yesterday, since its nearly one in the morning), I had quite possibly the most productive character hunting day ever. Since I woke up for some reason at five in the morning and couldn't fall back asleep, I was ready to go at 7:30am to catch my bus to make it to the MK to watch the opening show (which was also on my bucket list...score!).

After the welcome show, I met Pluto and Daisy with minimum waits in the Town Square courtyard.

Then I headed to Adventureland to meet Aladdin and Jasmine (I was first in line!)

and Ariel and Eric (I was third).

After my adventures over in Adventureland, I went to Fantasyland to see the Fairy Godmother (unfortunately, I didn't snap a photo with her) and Lady Tremaine, Drizella and Anastasia (you know them as the Evil Stepmother and Ugly Stepsisters from Cinderella).

Then, it was back to Main Street to meet up with my favorite nanny, Mary Poppins.

After learning how to be practically perfect in every way, I made my way over to Tomorrowland to see Buzz Lightyear (who was a total gentleman)

and Chip and Dale.

Heading all the way back across the park to Adventureland, I stopped over by the teacups to meet Alice (and unfortunately missed the White Rabbit by three minutes - boo!)

and then went to meet Goofy dressed in his Pirates getup.

After scavenging for gold with Goofy, I was shrunk down to the size of a pixie and met Tinkerbell

and her friend Vidia.

On my way back to Main Street, I ran into my favorite person in Disney World - Peter Pan

and then Snow White, right outside of the theater where I met

Mickey and his sweetheart Minnie

and three princesses - Cinderella

Belle

and Aurora (who is tied with Ariel for my favorite princess).

Keeping count? That's Twenty Five Characters in under five hours. Impressed? I know I am.

Then I caught the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade (my favorite parade!), hopped over to Epcot with the intention of meeting more characters (didn't happen, I was a bit worn out at that point so I ended up working on the attractions instead) and then hopped back over to the Magic Kingdom with the intention of meeting Tiana, Naveen and some more fairies. Well, Naveen was working in the restaurant so I decided to pass on Tiana until they were together - so I met Terence (Tinkerbell's bestest friend) instead.

I was going to wait for Rosetta, one of her other fairy friends, but in the end decided to save her for another day and rode a few of my favorite attractions instead - Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan's Flight, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Snow White's Scary Adventures.

That's Twenty Six characters and Nine attractions - not bad for a day's work.

Disney: A Bucket List

Unfortunately, my time down here in Orlando on the Disney College Program is quickly coming to an end - I have fifteen days left in the most magical place on Earth! Which means...crunch time. I've gotta get off my butt, stop watching so much Netflix (as much as I adore it) and get out there and do everything I've been meaning to do during my internship but haven't gotten around to.

To keep myself accountable (and make sure I get it all done!), I present to you my Official Disney World Bucket List: 

• Go "character hunting" in the Magic Kingdom
• Ride every attraction at Hollywood Studios
• Enjoy a chocolate mousse in the France pavilion in Epcot (completed: 5/9)
• Try a Babycakes vegan gluten-free cupcake in Downtown Disney (completed: 5/1)
• Go "character hunting" in Epcot
• Explore the Resorts on property
• Ride every attraction at the Magic Kingdom
• Watch Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios (completed: 5/10)
• Enjoy a pumpkin funnel cake in the American pavilion in Epcot
• Explore the Boardwalk (completed: 4/25)
• Go "character hunting" in Hollywood Studios
• Eat at the Prime Time Cafe at Hollywood Studios(completed: 5/3)
• Ride every attraction at the Animal Kingdom
• Enjoy a Cream Cheese Pretzel (completed: 5/10)
• Watch Illuminations at Epcot (completed:5/9)
• Enjoy something delicious at Ghirardelli in Downtown Disney (completed: 5/7)
• Go "character hunting" in the Animal Kingdom (completed: 5/9)
• Ride every attraction at Epcot
• Enjoy a Mickey Premium Bar (completed: 4/26)
• Watch the Magic Kingdom Morning Show (completed: 5/2)

This will be an adventure trying to complete it all in the next two weeks, but luckily - I already have a good start. I've completed three things and I am about 3/4 of the way done with six of the items on my list. Today, I went character hunting in the Magic Kingdom (more about that to come) and worked on the attractions at Epcot. I'm only missing six characters in the Magic Kingdom, and then it'll be complete! (Which characters? Woody, Jessie, Rosetta, White Rabbit, Tiana and Naveen)


Tomorrow - I'm thinking character hunting in either Animal Kingdom or Epcot, followed by working on the attractions at Hollywood Studios and watching Fantasmic. I'm setting my alarm for 8am, so hopefully I'll be able to get a good start despite my (terrible) sunburn today. I won't be forgetting sunscreen ever again. 

Hoppity Hop Hop Hoppity Hop Hop, Easter's on it's way....

and the Easter Bunny and Mrs Easter Bunny are back at the Magic Kingdom!

I got to photograph them yesterday, and they are soooo cute! Pictures to come.

Characters on Main Street

This week, I've been deployed on Main Street all week, which means I get to wear the blue shirt-white knickers combo. I love Main Street...and now that I am character trained, I love it EVEN MORE.

Being character trained on Main Street ROCKS.

At night time, I have the opportunity to photograph Mickey, Minnie anddd the Princesses - usually Cinderella, Belle and Aurora. During the day - I have all of those opportunities plus the characters who hang out outside - Pluto, Daisy, Snow White and Pinnochio.

I'm almost always with one of them... and it is fantastic. Time flies, and I have never laughed or cried or aww'd so much at work.

Characters in "East"

At the Magic Kingdom, there are three deployments where I can be place to assist guests with photos. The first is West, which is mostly characters, so many locations go down in the evening as they go to sleep for the night. Second is Main Street, which has a combination of characters, castle and the View - definitely the most variety. And last is East, which is mostly castle, but has three characters who have PhotoPass with them during the day.

I've been deployed in East all week, so I haven't had many opportunities to photograph character meet and greets because I mostly work at night. The characters in East - Rapunzel, Buzz Lightyear and Chip & Dale - have outdoor meet and greet locations, so they are only out until the sun goes down. So when I start work at six or seven, I don't have the opportunity to photograph them.

But earlier this week, I started work at three for a few days - which meant I got to work with both Rapunzel and Buzz! It was so much fun and the time flew. Since Rapunzel isn't in a parade like Buzz, so she doesn't have to save her voice, she can talk to the guests - and she is hilarious! The little girls who come see her are ADORABLE. Since Buzz is in the parade, he can't talk to guests because he has to save his voice - but he definitely communicates with them in his own way - and all our guests love it! My favorite is when little boys hug his legs because he's so tall.

Next week, I'm deployed on Main Street all week - which means a LOT of Character opportunities! I'll definitely give you an update with my opinions!

Character Training - I've finally "Earned my Ears"!

Today, I got character trained! It was wonderful and fantastic and everything that I hoped it to be, but I suppose I should start at the beginning.

Character training was at Epcot, somewhere I've never worked before so, of course, I got completely lost trying to figure out where the Photopass base was. It isn't laid out like Magic Kingdom at ALL, so I was very confused. Luckily, a stray Epcot PhotoPass photographer saw my wide eyes and took pity on me, so she showed me around.

Once I made it to base, I had to check out a camera and meet up with the rest of my training group - which was one girl from Hollywood Studios and two photographers from Magic Kingdom - my friends Travis and Mary! That was awesome, it was nice to train with people for once - especially people who I was already friends with!

The first part of the day was pretty basic - lots of slide shows and such. It was the same as the rest of the training, except character oriented. The second part of the day rocked though - we got to try our hand at photographing character meet and greets. Which, at Epcot, meant Daisy and Stitch, followed by Donald when he was hanging out in Mexico, followed by Mulan in China.

It was AMAZING.

Character meet and greets are so fast paced that time just flies. Anddd, it was so much fun! I loved each one, but I think Mulan was my favorite because she talks to guests, and little kids and their interactions with her are hilarious.

After Mulan, it was time to do a photo review and then the day was over... I was done by 5pm, which was so strange coming from the Magic Kingdom!

Now that I've officially earned my ears - Character Training was the last step - I finally got to remove the red ribbon from my name tag! YAY! I'm now officially a fully trained cast member...score!