'Tis the Season

Happy Holidays!

The Christmas festivities have already begun here at Walt Disney World!! As of November 1st, the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights was lit up at Hollywood Studios, decorations were up at Magic Kingdom, and there was plenty of holiday spirit to go around. Recently at Epcot, Christmas decorations and displays have begun appearing, including the huge Christmas tree near the world showcase. It's amazing how things happen overnight here at this magical place! Elsa also stopped by Magic Kingdom, leaving her traces of ice on Cinderella's Castle... I haven't seen it yet in person, but I've seen pictures of it lit up, all majestic and covered in frosted lights! Gotta love Elsa...

Cheers to new friends!

What I love about the DCP is that you can meet new people anywhere you go! One day I was headed to Hollywood Studios to meet up with a friend who ended up running late, so I took the bus by myself. On the bus, I started chatting with a few other girls who were going to the park as well. It turns out that one of the girls had plans with a friend, but they fell through earlier, so we decided to hang out at Hollywood Studios together! We were chatting about what we were studying at school and I found out that she wants to study speech-language pathology. It's always exciting when I meet someone else who is studying to become an SLP as well, since it is a smaller program of study compared to others! She is also from Kansas.. we talked about Kansas for a bit since my dad is from there, and I've grown up visiting my grandma, who lives in Kansas still.

We had a blast at Hollywood Studios.. 

I was planning on going on Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, and Dallas had never been on either ride. It seemed to be the perfect night for trying new things, seeing as we decided on a whim to hang out together at the park. So we went on Tower of Terror and then Rockin' Roller Coaster.. each two times! So much fun!! They are my top two favorite rides, easily. We both had no idea why she didn't try out the rides sooner, but better late than never, right?:) I got her hooked! 

Hollywood Studios & the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, complete with fake snow:)

Christmas Parade Taping

I bet you didn't know that Disney films their Christmas parade and show over a month early! I didn't know either until I heard from fellow cast members that they were going to the parade taping at Magic Kingdom. They had several different days that they filmed the concerts and parade. My friend Anna and I had plans to go to Magic Kingdom one morning, and she told me that Jason Derulo and Ariana Grande were going to be performing! WHAT! So we decided to go watch.

What day is it? "Christmas!!" Is it hot outside? "No!!"

As part of the audience, we had to get in the right mind set. It wasn't just any November day... it was Christmas day! And it definitely wasn't 90 degrees.. not on Christmas day! Just kidding. It was definitely 90 degrees and I definitely got a sunburn on the back of my neck. But it was worth several hours out in the sun! The host did a good job keeping the audience entertained during the down times of filming. There was a choir there that did the background singing for Jason and Ariana, and David Foster was the pianist. (He is a famous producer, composer, songwriter, and arranger who has won 16 Grammy Awards. He has worked with many notable artists, including Michael Buble, Josh Groban, and Whitney Houston!) I had never heard of him before, but I realized I've definitely heard his some of his work, after learning about who he has worked with.

There was some talent in the crowd that day!

The host and David Foster searched for people in the crowd who could sing during the down times. Not just sing.. but sing really well!! Several people got a shot at singing; the host had them come up to the front of the crowd and handed them the mic. Some were really good, others not so much.. For the ones that could sing really well, the band would start to join - beginning with David Foster on the piano, followed by the drummer, bassist, and guitarist. It was really neat to see the musicians collaborating with the singer, on a moment's notice.

One person in particular stood out and really impressed the crowd and David Foster as well (he was much harder to please). After several people had turns to sing, a young man was finally selected. He made his way through the crowd to the stage, and the host asked him what he would like to sing. He wanted to sing a song written for Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, by (you'll never guess)... DAVID FOSTER himself. Needless to say, David was already impressed. The the young man proceeded to ask David to play the song "from the bridge." He definitely knows his stuff! So David started playing the piano, and then the singer joined in. And boy, could he sing!! David was so impressed that he stopped playing the piano and asked the man to come up on stage to sing, rather than just singing from below in the audience. He had his moment to shine on stage, and the audience went wild!! Here is a video:

Grocery Shopping and Adventure Day! and then work... :(

Nothing like a little fun before having to go in for an evening of work. You're probably thinking wait... did she just say grocery shopping is fun? Yep I did. It's fun when you shop at Trader Joe's!!! Thanks to Enrico, I got a ride to the grocery store. Also I introduced him to a whole new world (Disney pun intended). He'd never been to Trader Joe's, and he also said that it was more fun than going to Disney! I had a good chuckle when he said that. 

Next, we to Disney's Animal Kingdom. A Disney adventure is not complete without singing some Disney songs! We listened to some Lion King and Hercules songs on the way there, and with impeccable timing our final song ended just as we pulled into our parking spot at DAK. Love when that happens! It was  a sunny 80 degree day, and we were greeted by the sight of the Christmas tree at the park entrance. We rode Dinosaur and Expedition Everest roller coaster twice (I always have to go on rides two times for some reason.. I'm gathering a pattern here). I also saw Finding Nemo The Musical, and can cross that off my Disney bucket list.

                THE CIRCLE OF LIFEEEE

News from back home <3 

Here is a photo of my beautiful Tri Delta family with their Disney gifts that I sent them for Initiation! My lovely grand littles Maddie and Amanda were initiated into Tri Delta last weekend. Such an exciting time for them! I cannot wait to meet them in January when I'm back in Oregon. This photo of them made my day!:) DL to you guys back at home!

Lauren (little), Amanda and Maddie (G littles), and Tori (little)

More pictures!

Frozone from The Incredibles

Merry Christmas from Walt Disney World!

Soarin' through the DCP {pun intended}

How cool would a behind-the-scenes tour of a Disney attraction be?

Well I can tell you that it is pretty amazing. I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing the Disney attraction Soarin' in a cast member exclusive behind-the-scenes tour. In our break room at work there will sometimes be postings on the bulletin board to enter a drawing for tours of attractions, and I was lucky enough to be drawn! 

And so the tour began at 8am one sunny morning..

We started on the outside of The Land building, which houses Soarin'. There are so many interesting details and facts about the building itself, such as the way the building is designed and they way it has changed over the years, that make it so unique. The people who designed the building even took into account the way that the shadows fall in the interior from the light streaming in from the skylight above. Falling a certain way as the sun sets, the shadows add to the atmosphere of the building.

On to the fun part!

Soarin' has a flying theme, of course! Beginning on the outside of the ride you get to see all of the little details and thought put into the design. I didn't even realize most of the details until they were pointed out in the tour! There is a check-in desk just like at airport gates, and a little gift shop that looks like a newsstand at the airport. The queue (which is 1/4 mile long) is lined with blue lights, indicating the path of travel just as they do on an airport runway. The original ride is in California, and they took the exact same blueprint and built a replica of it. The ride in California is designed to withstand earthquakes, and so here in Florida, should an earthquake ever occur, Soarin' is the place to be. 

Other fun facts...

We also learned how the film used in the ride was made - some of the scenes they only had one chance to capture it! The music was written by Jerry Goldsmith, who jumped at the chance to compose it. He is known for composing music for many aviation themed movies, and wanted the Soarin' soundtrack to only be used in reference to the ride, and not for anything else. We got to see all of the backstage hallways and corridors, as well as the entrance that they bring the VIPs through. Our tour guide told us about a few celebrities she has brought through the ride as well as some cool stories of other VIPs that have come through. A few mentioned were Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Neil Patrick Harris, and Michael Buble.

I had a blast on the tour and it was really cool to learn about everything that goes on behind the scenes, and all of the details that Disney puts into their attractions! Ask me for some more fun facts if you'd like to know more about Soarin' :)

Other recent adventures on Disney property..

Disney's Contemporary Resort

Polynesian

Sometimes, being stuck in the Disney bubble is a good thing. There is so much to do, and it is all at our fingertips. Another thing I can check off my list here is exploring a Disney resort hotel! (One down, many more to go...) Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is absolutely beautiful. Being there felt like I was in Hawaii. I definitely got confused a few times but then I would snap back to reality and realize I was in Florida still! I explored the hotel with a friend, and then we rented a small boat on the lake. We adventured out a little too far at one point and got caught by the security boat, but she said she didn't mind helping us out because it gave her something to do :) Around the lake you could see several Disney resorts including the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian, as well as Disney's Magic Kingdom. Afterwards we got Dole Whip and sat near the pool, eating it before it melted from the hot sun.

Imag Crew Unites

The "Imag" crew is what we call all of us friends that work at our location at Epcot. ("Imag" coming from Journey into Imagination ride that we work at). We got together again recently at the piano bar called Jellyrolls, which is at the Boardwalk. What is really cool is that you can walk there from Epcot; it only takes about 15 minutes. So I got off work one evening and walked over to meet up with the crew (all of whom had gotten off work a few hours before me) and we all got drinks and popcorn and enjoyed the music! (Not to mention the amazing dance moves and singing of Rico the opera singer:)

We also had one last gathering with Tara, who is leaving the program for a great job she just got in Dallas, Texas!! We will miss her so much! We went bowling at Splitsville, which is at Disney Springs. They have really good food and drinks, not to mention the great Disney cast member discounted bowling price! It's always a good time hanging out with the Imag crew outside of work. Ironically enough, we always end up talking about work. What's not to love about Figment and Captain EO? I'm hoping that I will be able to hang out with Tara in December when I do my department tour/campus visit at TCU in Fort Worth!

{Tara's in the middle}

 To everyone that actually reads this - thanks for reading! :)