Marta Smiles

Alright, so I haven’t written anything in roughly two months. WHAT? I will say right now, that I am a bit angry with myself that I didn’t hold true to my word that I would be updating and blogging and yadda yadda yadda. I do however have some wonderful memories that I would really like to put down in words so that I can retrieve them at any point and to share!

Where to begin, well, these past two months and two days have been positively AHMAZING. I can’t even believe it’s already been two months! Time really flies when you’re dreaming :) Cheesy, I know, but that’s allowed here! Now we shall start from the very beginning!

1. -So I checked in on August 15th to begin my Disney College Program. I got to check in pretty early and I don’t regret it one bit. I met up with two of my roommates that I met on Facebook prior to check in. Then we met the other three in line! It all went swimmingly from there. We all breezed through the check-in process(went through Vista way-to casting-and then to our apartment!) We got a three bedroom apartment at Patterson court and it is very nice. We are all very happy here! (The other complexes aren’t awful, but we felt best fit here!) Here is a check-list of things that I brought with me)(JAMIE)

• Complete bed set
• Bathroom mats
• Business attire/dress clothes
• Casual summer wear
• Jeans/sweaters (It’s starting to cool off down here!)
• Work out clothes
• Swim suits
• Towels
• TV
• Pictures
• Alarm clock
• Writing utensils
• Hamper
• Laundry basket
• Toiletries
• I.D’s of all sorts
• Combination lock
• Laptop/chargers
• Some food to hold me over for the first few days

I did discover, though, that I would need to buy quite a bit when I got down here. SO my parents stayed a little bit longer and helped me to shop and buy the finishing touches! These items included:

• Lamp
• More food
• Cleaning supples
• Detergent
• Lotions/liquid soaps (We drove down, but we didn’t want anythign to spill or explode)
• Wireless router
• Random decorative things (Nothing extravagant)

From there I’ve pretty much been coasting on the same stuff. Clothing wise especially. I very much like to buy new clothes every once in a while. It’s very hard to do so when the most available thing to you without having a car, is a Wal Mart. 

-I checked in on a Wednesday and was almost completely settled on the following Friday. My roommates and I decided that it would be fun to play at Magic Kingdom on Friday since we all got our Cast I.D.’s on Saturday morning. We all had different timings for our traditions class so we paired up and went at separate times. I will never ever forget the moment when my roommate, Elise, said, “Close your eyes,” in the middle of town square. After being skeptical about it I obliged and so she lead me somewhere that I was unsure of. She finally told me to open my eyes and there it was. It was Cinderella’s castle! It was glowing in it’s magical glory with all of Main Street lit up in the night! It was so special, it got me a little teary eyed! Haha! Later on that evening we all sat down to watch Disney’s Electrical Parade! It was magical as ever! Seeing all the characters with lights all over their costumes making them glow as they did and do every night! SO MAGICAL. After the parade, we headed over in front of Cinderella’s castle so that we could watch WISHES, Disney’s fireworks show. We were in for a pleasant surprise when a little segment called “Magical Memories and You” started displaying on the castle! Unfortunately, they aren’t doing that anymore, but I hear it might be coming back! Anyways, that ended and “Wishes” starts. Can I just say, I love DIsney World. This fireworks show is my FAVORITE EVER. It started and I got chills. I was just staring at the castle saying, “I work here.” I bawled like a little baby. It was tears of joy for sure. I hold that night very close to my heart because of how special I felt and how amazing it was to see it all for the first time. Every time I feel a little bit down, I think back to that feeling and these memories to understand how it is such a blessing to be here!

-The day after my first [park] magical memory I had Welcome to Entertainment. It was a lot of fun and we were surprised to travel to Magic Kingdom and look at random aspects of Entertainment around the park. We walk up to the castle and our instructors walk away from us. What starts playing, but the show that I had been watching back home on youtube and falling in love with. IT WAS “DREAM ALONG WITH MICKEY” I almost died. It was so magical and wonderful and another dream come true. I finally go to watch my favorite show. In real life! It was a beautiful day that day. I took a lesson from my old pal Peter Pan and I certainly let my dreams set sail. 

- After I settled into the apartment and started getting to know my job a little better I got to pay attention to meeting more people and making more friends! I got to play in the parks a lot more! I got to notice more about the parks themselves and their surroundings. I am still NEEDING to explore and try and successfully do everything that Disney has to offer. Which is a lot. But I am going to plan my days off to spend entire days at the parks just doing EVERYTHING. It’s going to happen. It needs to happen. Otherwise, what the heck am I doing here!? 

-While I’m not working, I go to Wal Mart, play in the parks, eat at Chik-fil-a, go to Downtown Disney, clean (for housing inspection, we got a white glove, nbd :P), do laundry, watch movies, organize, hang out with friends, meet new people, sing DIsney, buy Disney music, take pictures, have fun…the list could go on. Opportunities are endless!

-I have spent a good amount of time in each park. I love love love spending time in Magic Kingdom! I probably have spent the most of my free “park-time” there! I’m also at Epcot a lot as well. The Food & Wine festival is going on right now and let me tell you, that food is great! I haven’t spent as much time as Animal Kingdom as I would like and that goes the same with Hollywood Studios! I think that goes to show that I need to dedicate days and money to go to a park for a full day and just do EVERYTHING. :)

-New Fantasyland has been softly opening up! Enchanted Tales with Belle, Ariel’s grotto and her ride are up and running! I signed up for the cast preview next week which I totally excited and pumped about! I am going to get dressed up and take somewhere around a million pictures? Sounds like a good start to me.

- I love my job here. I love my friends here. I love where I live. I love my roommates. I love life here. Though, It’s not always sunshine and daisies I always try to make the best of it because it has always been a dream to be here. We are here to make magic for everyone in the world that walks through those gates and beyond! It’s so wonderful to be able to be a part of that magic and see the smiles that it brings to peoples faces. I appreciate and feel blessed for everything that I am a part of and everyone that I meet. Here are some great videos that just put me in a wonderful Disney mood :)

Dream Along With Mickey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD5tLmJ9NBc

Wishes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMxgILR8n6Y

Where dreams really do come true

:)

Really, there is so much to say about what I have experienced in one month of being here. I have been having a blast! I’ve played at the parks, met so many people, and worked like heck. I couldn’t be happier! Working at the happiest place on Earth does that to you sometimes :P 

SO because I have done so much I can’t exactly put it all down on paper until I have a few hours to kill haha! If y’all have any questions whatsoever, ask away! I am willing to answer anything! 

:)

Hello everybody! I finally get a chance to blog after such a hectic start of a week!

At the beginning of this week, I was on a road trip with my parents to come down to Disney World so that I could start my college program! I have been excited for this for months and the time is finally here :)

I had a wonderful time traveling with my parents this past weekend! We stopped at the Smoky Mountains; Helen, GA; Cherokee, NC and finally Orlando, Fl! We got to go to Cocoa Beach. I certainly felt like I should have been following around Jeannie and Major Anthony Nelson :P 

On Wednesday, August 15th, I woke up and 4 AM and headed to Vista Way at 5 for the Disney college program check-in! I met up with my roommates and we proceeded through the check-in process. We got our name stickers and went through to casting. Casting took us about two hours and after we got to move into our room! I have five other roommates, so we have a three bedroom apartment at Patterson Court. Each room has a bathroom which worked out really nicely for all of us! We have had some problems with the room the air conditioning has pooped out on us twice, there is an iron burn on the floor, we were missing some utensils, and my immediate roommate and I decided that we needed to scrub our bathroom down because, to our semi-neat-freak eyes, it was just about filthy (I’m not sure if they’re all like that, though). We called the front desk right when we discovered all those problems and maintenance came up to fix it fairly quickly! Other than all of that, I really love it here! 

We are all pretty much unpacked and rarin’ to go! We are all pretty much working in different areas and doing different things so we will pretty much be alone for training. We have traditions on the 18th and then training starts shortly after. 

I am very excited and I know all of them are. This experience is turning out to be so wonderful! (Not that I didn’t think it wouldn’t be!)

If anyone has any questions, please, let me know! I would be more than happy to help.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney

Jamie’s amazing gifts! Love you girl!

(What I planned on posting, but never got a chance)

Today is my last full day in Villa Park. I finished packing all of the most important things last night. I will have to finish packing in all the odds and ends tonight! This morning, I went to breakfast at Panera with my gal, Jamie! She surprised me with some incredibly crafty gifts. I love everything that she gave me! It was so sweet of her :) Earlier this week, my other friends and family surprised me as well. I couldn’t be more thankful to know such amazing people! It made the goodbyes even more difficult :( I am trying to see it as a “see ya real soon!” 

I am expecting this to be a journey of a lifetime. My parents and I are going to make a road trip out of the the long drive there! We are going to stop at a few places along the way which should be fun :) I plan on taking several hundred pictures so beware! 

I think that I am ready for this experience. I am extremely excited and I think that it will be everything that I expected and more!

What to do today:

• Breakfast with Jamie
• Coffee with Diana
• Target for some last minute items
• Go say bye to grandma
• Finish up packing
• Attempt to sleep!

FIVE MORE DAYS :D

andrewbumfield:

Finding Nemo (2003)

(Source: br4ndon, via nevertooold4disney)

(Source: czarc100, via nevertooold4disney)

Just random about packing and saying goodbyes. Probably going to be mostly blogs from now on! I feel like I have so much more to say AGH.

May or may not be starting a roommate vlog when we all get down to Florida! :)

heydisney:

h4kuna—m4tata:

waltdisneyworld-love:

My ultimate inspiration. Thank you for everything, Walt Disney. 

i don’t even want to begin to wonder where my life would be without you, walter.

The greatest inspiration of all. ♥

(via nevertooold4disney)

fancysomedisneymagic:

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.” 

― Walt Disney

(via nevertooold4disney)