Animal Kingdom: Burudika @ the Street Party in Harambe

Here's a taste of what happends in Africa during the Burudika Street Party :)

Halloween Pins and Dancing

So….we went to the Halloween party Tuesday night. It was miserable. Lol. We decided to be ready by 5:30 so we could get there a little early. Well with girls I should have known that wasn’t going to happen. Lol. We ended up leaving around 6:30 so we got there as soon as the party started. It was suppose to be all of the roommates because it was Katie’s birthday (we’ve been planning this for a month), but only four of us ended up going. So that didn’t help the situation. My costume was cute, but itchy and my wings wouldn’t stay up so I didn’t get to wear them. That didn’t help either. THEN it rained…that REALLY didn’t help. But I did get to meet Tink. That was really all I wanted.

 

Oh and Terance :)

 

I did get some candy and got to see the parade. It was pretty stinkin’ awesome. Except the headless horseman wasn’t going because of the rain so that really sucked. That’s like the highlight of the parade. But Christopher Robin is in the parade along with the grave diggers who scrape shovels on the pavement which is awesome. The villains are in it along with the hyenas from the Lions King! And the Boo to You Parade song is the best.

We did watch the fireworks, but we were a little too close to the castle to really see them. But they were still pretty fantastic. I was done with the whole thing around 10:30 and when I’m done with something, I’m done! And I’m gonna be in a pissed off mood until I’m back home. And that’s what happened. Michelle and I got separated from the other two girls and couldn’t get a hold of them and ended up sitting on a bench for 45 min waiting for them to call us back. And it was cold and I was exhausted and it was just not good. So we ended up getting home around 1 and I went straight to bed because I had work in the morning.

So needless to say it will not be one of the highlights of my program. Lol.

Works been good. I did have a kid step on my toe the other day asked if my boots were steel toed. Um…NO. But thanks. And did the parents do anything? Of course not. I have had a lot of fun with the Wilderness Explorers lately. And there have been a lot lately. I have found that if I’m at a position I don’t like if I interact with the Explorers whether I have a badge bag or not it makes it much better. For example, at Rehab (my least favorite position) I make sure the Explorers are finding there trail markers since the person at Entrance usually doesn’t tell them to and by the time they get to valley (at the end) for their Hiking badge they’ve missed all the markers. So that makes some positions a little more fun.

I had parade yesterday. And let me just say it was pretty much the stupidest day ever. First I almost showed up to work 2 hours early. We have a big calendar on the fridge that everyone writes their schedule on so we all know when we’re all working and once I write my schedule on there that’s usually what I go by. Well it said 11:45 to 7:30 and I know that’s what the HUB said because I remember thinking that it was going to be my longest shift yet and it was freaking 15 min short of being an eight hour shift. WELL when I got to the bus stop something told me to check my schedule. Mind you the bus just turned the corner. Sure enough it changed and I didn’t have to be there until 1! I remember the day before at work seeing my schedule for the next day and seeing that it was 1 it just didn’t click. Sooooo thankfully I didn’t get on the bus (I would have been pissed beyond belief if I would have gotten all the way to work and found out) and I walked back home and watched the Office for an hour. So I eventually get to work and I knew the day was going to be kind of weird because I had parade, but instead of going home afterwards I was going back to the trail and had to close the Village that night. And I was only scheduled a 30 min break for the whole shift. Well I got that 30 min break 30 min after I got there! I was like seriously??? I just ate before I got to work and I still have six hours to go! So I was pissed. Then parade came after my break. So this is only the second parade shift I’ve had. I was assigned to be the clipper. Which consist of clipping the ropes before and after parade. Which sucks because we got new ropes with new clippers and they hurt your thumb! So yeah. I really do like parade because after you set up you literally stand and walk around for an hour talking to guest. And the African street band/street party is playing and they’re so much fun to listen to. I caught myself at one point standing there listening to them and looking around and thinking to myself that I love my job and I’m working at the best possible place in Disney J So after parade we don’t have to clock back in until 4:30 and we usually have about 10 – 15 min to spare. So the coordinator who was on parade let us dance to the street party (they play before and after parade). It was so much fun!

Then I headed back to the trail and I was still bitter about having to work three more hours without another break, BUT I did end up getting one more 15 so I was little happier after that. Lol.

So I totally didn’t mention (because I haven’t blogged since then) that we had a baby African Pigmy Goose hatch in the Aviary. But I found out yesterday the dad accidentally crushed him L He was sooo cute! So it was nice while it lasted. Lol.

Pin trading…so I ordered pins from ebay before my program because I’m a big pin trader and love to do it when I go to the parks. Well I’ve traded in the parks once. lol. I actually do more personal pin trading at work. Lol. And it’s always with my co-workers. So there are five of us CPs on the trail. And we’re all really close and get along really well which I’m super duper glad about. But we all have work lanyards and every time we see each other we always check out each other pins to see who has the best ones and to see if we’ve gotten anything new. Well I always put extra pins on my lanyard these and days because I always come home with fewer pins than I’m suppose to have. Lol. Because I either trade with a guest and they give me a really good pin and I pocket it or one of the other CPs has an awesome pin and I trade with them and pocket it. Lol. I’m running out of pins to trade so I ordered more online last night. Lol. I’m going to have to get another personal lanyard because I’m running out of room already! But I’m super happy with all my pins so far. I’ve come across some awesome ones!

 

So character auditions!! One of the CPs at work kept saying that there was an audition coming up next Wednesday and I should go, but I didn’t take her seriously because first of all it wasn’t on the Disney Auditions website and second of all every audition that is on there is not for CPs. So I was like whatever. Well come to find out it is for CPs! And that’s why it wasn’t on the website. I guess there was flyer at the front desk of Vista. Ok thanks for letting the rest of know! Ugh…but anyway when I found out we could go I was freaking out because I really want to go, but I was working that day. So I posted my schedule as soon as I found out and thankfully someone picked it up so I’m going!! If I get it, I will for sure have to extend. But that will ok with me. So I’m super excited and super nervous at the same time. I’ve only been to a face audition and all I had to do was stand there and look pretty. Lol. This time I’m going to have to learn a dance. And I don’t dance! Lol. But I’m going into it with a positive attitude and I’m just going to have fun with it.

So I get a three day weekend! Just have to make it through tomorrow. I went in early today because I need to talk to a manager, but of course they all went to lunch at the same freaking time. So I’m going to go in early again tomorrow and try again. After I talk to them I’ll tell you what it’s about. Nothing majorly important. Lol.

OMG Grey’s Anatomy started back up Thursday!!! I worked until 7:30 and of course I closed with Anne Marie who always wants to stay until all the tables have cleared in Tusker whether or not it’s time to leave or not. Well I told her I had to leave at 7:30 because I had to catch the 7:45 bus so I could get home in time to catch Grey’s at 9! Lol. Well I made it and I commandeered the TV for two hours and it was awesome. I love that freaking show! But up until now I’ve watched it on Netflix so the commercials are killer. Lol.

Ok I’ll for sure let you know how auditions go! J

 

Quick Update

I promise to elaborate in the next couple days (hopefully tomorrow night).

So Halloween party…miserable.

Going to character auditions on Wednesday…yay!

Work…eh.

J

A Couple Things...

First of all...I've gotten in the habbit of not proof reading my entries before I post them so sorry about the misspelled words and sentences that don't make sense. lol.
Second of all...I just noticed all the comments!! I hate that I don't get noticed about comments on here like facebook. LOL.
So Summer and daddy...I love you both so much and miss you like crazy! I really do like the comments :) So I'll be sure to check them now. lol.

Do I Look Like I Speak Spanish?!

Yeah, so the whole blogging every now and then thing is not working for me since I tend to forget about my blog when I do that.

Nothing super exciting has happened lately. My days off last week were ok. Michelle and I went to Animal Kingdom because I’ve been dying to play there since I work there.

 

 

So of course the first thing we did when we got there was Pangani. Lol. So I gave Michelle a private tour. Lol. Then we did the Safari. Oh we did become Wilderness Explorers, but that didn’t last long because we didn’t want to carry the books around with us so we ditched those pretty fast. Lol. Then we caught the Festival of the Lion King show which was absolutely fabulous! I didn’t see it on my last program, but it is one of the only things I remember about Animal Kingdom from my first trip to Disney when I was younger. But it as amazing. Definitely worth seeing again. Multiple times. Lol.

 

 

 

Then we ate lunch at Restaurantasoraus. Totally did not know that Animal Kingdom had corn dog nuggets! (My favorite Disney food for those of you who don’t know). It was on the kids menu which kind of awesome because it was cheaper than getting them in MK and they came in a sand pail with a shovel! Lol.

 

 

The daily rain shower came while we were eating so we waited it out and then headed over to ride Dinosaur. So this ride freaks me out and I always end up closing my eyes through over half of it. Lol.

            Speaking of Dinosaur the other day at work I was at Savannah when I heard that Dinosaur did a full scale evacuation because there was a Signal 25 alert. Which means it was on fire. Lol. It amazes me how often the AK attractions go 101 (down). It’s Tough to Be a Bug went 101 the other day because Hopper was spuing hydraulic fluid all over the audience. I can’t imagine how pissed people were after that. Lol.

So after Dino we rode Everest of course. Twice in a row because there was no wait. And I never noticed the Yeti until Michelle pointed it out. And it’s freaking scary!! Lol.

                                             (Everest is on top. Dino is the bottom. LOL)

 

We went up to Rafiki’s and met Rafiki. That was by far the weirdest character meet and greet. He snorted and stared at us and it was just weird. Lol. But this is one of my favorite pictures!

 

Then we ended our day with Finding Nemo the Musical. Ok let me just say this is a one time, been there done that thing. I was apprehensive of it to begin with because there are not songs in Finding Nemo so how are you going to make it a musical? Well Disney did it anyway. It was 40 minutes (yes, 40 minutes!!) of puppeteers singing ridiculous made up songs to EVERY scene of Nemo. Like I said…been there done that.

 

 

Then on Wednesday we hung out and went to Bdubs which was nothing worth writing about. I was really tired the next day so worked sucked so I will not be doing that again. Lol.

Work has been ok. I’m getting less closing shifts which is totally awesome. It’s kind of hit the point where it has become just another job. Like all the newness and funness has worn off. lol. A little. I mean I still like it and have a lot of fun and love talking to guest. But waking up has become much harder. Lol. I did get an ER the other day which was great. I can only request an ER (early release) if I’m not closing. So I was suppose to get off at 5, but I put in an ER for 2 and got it. Three hour shifts are the best. Lol. I try not to do that a lot since I’m only getting 30 a week to begin with. But it was a nice treat.

Yeah, I’m not really digging my paychecks. Last week I made a whopping $36 after rent was taken out. =/ It was that low because that was week I missed two shifts. But even full paychecks are not the greatest especially when I’m use to making sooooo much more back home. I’m hoping (kind of) that I’ll get more hours as we start to get busier.

So I’ve got to watch Stationing with the gorillas twice now! I had only seen it once in training. And I seem to always get pulled from Valley RIGHT before they do it. So getting to see it twice in one week was pretty awesome. What does suck about it is the stupid foreign people who think they own the world and can do whatever they want and don’t have to listen to you! I’m sorry if I offend anyone, but the foreigners are really irking me lately. And yes, it’s usually the ones who speak Spanish that are the worse. Do not start fluently speaking Spanish to me and then get pissed when I tell you I don’t speak Spanish! You should automatically assume I don’t speak Spanish. I’m obviously white! Ugh…sorry. It’s just irritating. I mean usually they’ll ask if I speak Spanish before they start asking questions, but I literally had a lady in Savannah start fluently speaking Spanish to me like I knew what she was saying and then rolled her eyes and stomped off after I said I’m sorry I don’t speak Spanish. Like for real??? Get a clue….

Anyway…back to my gorillas. So the keeper comes out and I tell people to please step back and give him room and these foreigners are like all up in his business yelling. I just want to slap them. They are also the ones I usually have to tell to stop whistling or yelling at the gorillas. They’re just annoying. And they always talk so loud! Like they have to yell at one another to be heard. I was in Outpost and had this family literally screaming (Spanish) at each other. I just don’t get some people.

But (lol) seeing Stationing is always awesome. And I really like explaining it to people when it’s over. They’re always really interested. I love the gorillas! Lol.

Costuming still doesn’t have pouches to hold my rain gear so I’m still getting soaked when it rains. Not closing has been fantastic! Lol. I have two closing shifts next week, but that’s it.

Our Halloween party is Tuesday! Oh and I’m really upset because I’ve always had Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, but now I’m getting Mondays and Tuesdays off which is really starting to annoy me….So I have tomorrow off. I really want to go to water park, but I don’t know if I will because I need to finish getting stuff for my costume. All the roomies have Tuesday night off so it’ll be the first time we’ve all got to hang out together and we’re super excited!

So I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do after the program and stuff and it seems to change like every week. lol. But this week I am for sure extending. I was at the bus stop today and contemplating life (lol) and realized that I’m for sure not going to go full time with Disney. So this will be the last time I’m here so I’m going to make the most of it. Because when I go home I’m going to find a job and get my own place and settle down into the “adult world” so I need to do as much as I can now. And I’m only going to have this opportunity once. I want to get the most out of being here before I don’t have the opportunity anymore. So as of now I’m extending. But we’ll see how I feel next week. lol.

I got to talk to Autumn tonight. Which is always one of my favorite things to do. I miss her sooo incredibly much. I got off at 6:30 tonight and the next CP bus came at 6:33. Well the same thing happened last night and by some miracle I made the bus. I clocked out as soon as I could (which is two minutes early), the Cast bus was as Pride Rock, and I powered walked across the parking lot and made it. So I was expecting the same thing to happen tonight….yeah, no. I clocked out, but the bus was not at Pride Rock so Katie (a co-worker) and I were gonna run. Well if you no me you know I don’t run. I got about three feet and thought I was going to die. So Katie kept running and eventually stopped and looked back at me and threw her arms up. lol. But I guess she flagged down the bus and it stopped for her. Well needless to say I missed it. And the next one didn’t come until 7:15 (stupid freaking buses) so I called Autumn. She always makes me laugh. I seriously cannot wait to see her again.

Let’s see…not much else is going on. Mom and Stephen will be here in a little over a month so I’m super excited about that!

Ear Infection

So I was suppose to work Thursday, but I woke up Wednesday night with excruciating pain in my left ear. Like hurt so bad I was crying…so I called in Thursday and went straight to the doctor. And an hour and half and $165 later (so much for having insurance!) he told me I had a middle inner ear infection and prescribed me amoxicillin. So I ended up not going to work Thursday and I gave away my shift for Friday to go to what ended up being the most ridiculous Disney even I’ve ever been to. But let me back up. I was really upset that I had to call in Thursday because I was scheduled to do a barn tour of the bats and tigers of Asia at work. But Thursday night the roommates and I went to the housing event Octoberfest (yes, in September). Everything was echoing, but at least my ear didn’t hurt anymore. We ended up meeting Snow White and Prince Charming. It was going to be Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder, but the rotated as soon as we got to the front of the line :/ Then we ate dinner which was really horrible German food because it was free Disney housing food. And what kind of Octoberfest doesn’t have some type of alcohol?? So we decided to go to Downtown Disney and get a drink. We had so much fun. I’m so thankful that we all get along so well. Other than the whole dishes thing…that we obviously can’t figure out.

 

Ok so Friday…Karie and I were planning on going to Hollywood because we were the only two off. I wanted to go early in the day, but I really like my sleep. Lol. So around 5:00 we decided to head that way. Well…the bus was packed after picking up Chatham. No one was able to get on at Vista. So we’re headed to Hollywood and traffic is backed up like you would not believe. So we ended up getting off at the Boardwalk resort even though we had no idea what to do from there. We ended up following a crowd to the boat dock that goes to Hollywood. While we’re waiting in line we over heard a lady say that half an hour ago Hollywood was an hour away from being at capacity. So we’re like freaking out and it’s taking us forever to get there. Well the boat ride was packed and the slowest boat I have ever been on. But after an hour we finally got there! And we got in. Woo Hoo. So the event didn’t start until 8 so we had some time to get some food. We ended up going to Pizza Planet because my corn dog stand was closed…I have never seen a queue line for a quick service, but what do you know, there’s a first time for everything. Soooooooooooooo many people!!! Shortly after the even started they stopped letting people in because the park was at capacity. I mean seriously?! The parks don’t reach capacity until Christmas time! When we were done eating it was almost 8 so we decided to go find a spot in front of the hat to watch everything. Yeah, that didn’t happen. We got stuck on a path that was supposed to be moving. Everything was tapped off and you’re supposed to be behind the tape, but there were so many people that nobody cared and the poor people working the event had no control. So we eventually watched the show from the side and we couldn’t even see the stage so we had to watch it from one of the screens. It was pretty awesome though. Hades hosted it with Meggera as his co-hostess. They introduced the 13 Villains one at a time. There was Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Cruelle-de-ville, Oggie-boogie, Captain Hook, Jafar, Bowler Hat guy, Shay Yu, the Big Bad Wolf, Follo, Governor Radcliffe, and Dr. Facilier. There was absolutely no way we could meet any of them because the line was longer than you could even imagine. Like hours of waiting. So we watched the awesome fireworks show and ended up leaving. But the wait for the bus was so long we ended up sharing a taxi with a couple other girls. Omg…the most unorganized, chaotic thing ever. AND I found out today at work that I missed ANOTHER barn tour because I gave away my shift…and it was the gorillas! And they were in there…training! Ugh…I was so upset when I heard that.

 

 

So today at work I had my first parade shift. Pros and cons about parade. Pros: it makes your shift go by super fast and you pretty much stand there for two hours doing nothing. And you get off at 4:30 which is awesome. Cons: it’s freaking hot! Like my clothes were super wet from sweating so freaking much. Oh and people get really pissed off at you when you tell them that everything (including their feet) have to be behind the line. So I’m still not sure how I totally feel about parade shifts.

So summer and mom have sent me packages J I have enough homemade chocolate chip cookies to feed a hippo and my board is looking awesome! With pictures and cards. I’m missing home so much, but I really am loving my program.

Oh and my Halloween costume came in. yay! We’re so excited about our Halloween party in a couple weeks.

Free Pizza…at a Nightclub…No…

So I’ve had the most exciting/productive/Disney filled weekend yet. Lol. Monday night Michelle and I went to MagicKingdom with Michelle’s friend and some of his friends. Well his friends were two girls in entertainment…oh geez. Ok so people in entertainment our totally in their own world and think they are all that and more. So it was an interesting night. We watched the parade and of course they knew everyone so they were hollering and screaming. It was just a little much. But then we hung out at someone’s apartment when we got back and it was still entertainment people, but guys. Now guys are way better than girl entertainers mainly because they don’t act like they think they are real princesses. Lol. And they are usually gay and gay guys are just fun to hang out with. Lol. So we drank wine and watched youtube videos until 2 in the morning.

Then on Tuesday Michelle and I got up early (well 10am) and headed to MagicKingdom. Our goal was to meet as many characters as possible. We eventually met 16! It was awesome. (oh and all the fall/Halloween decorations are up which are amazing)!

 

So as soon as we enter the park we see Marie from the Aristocats so we got in line for her. She is one of my favorite fur characters. Sooo cute!

Then we got fastpasses to meet the princesses and went to the castle to watch Move It Shake It Celebrate It! Still one of my favorite things to do in the parks ever! So we met the princesses. Cinderella was so quiet we couldn’t understand a single word she said to us so that was awkward. Aurorawas not the prettiest Aurora I’ve seen. And Rapunzel was our favorite.

 

 

Then we hopped over to see Mickey because the wait was only 5 minutes. The parks are so dead right now it’s ridiculous.

Then we hoped over to Storybook Circus and met Donald, Goofy, Daisy, and Minnie. I love Minnie’s costume.

Then we ate lunch at Be Our Guest. So amazing! They started building it on my last program so it was pretty awesome to get to finally see the final product.

Then we watched the 3:00parade. Met Tiana. And we were very disappointed because Prince Naveen wasn’t out LHe’s my favorite.

Then we met Aladdin and Jasmine. They were my favorite to interact with.

Then we went to Tomorrowland and met Buzz Lightyear. Who signs your autograph book with a stamp. I was like, really Disney? Lol.

Then we met Tigger and Pooh who are just adorable.

We stood in line to meet the faries, but we were so exhausted that we ditched the line and headed home. Michelle made us Alfredo for dinner that was so good. Then we got ready for our weekly outing. So everyone knows we usually go to Senior Frogs. Well a lot of Michelle’s co-workers were going to take the “other” party bus to Lux. So I got over ruled and we ended up going with them. I’ve never been on this bus and there’s a reason. I’ve heard nothing but negative things about this bus and the guy who runs it. But I tried to keep a positive attitude for Michelle. Well I was totally right. The night was a disaster. We waited in line forever when we got there. There were free drinks until 1, but we were literally drinking out of Dixiecups so we were constantly at the bar instead of dancing. (um...we get free drinks at Senior Frogs out of a yard cup…) And there was free pizza…what??? Who provides free pizza at a nightclub? Who goes to a nightclub to eat pizza? It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. The music was way too loud. And the bus didn’t leave until 2:45!!! Ok when we go to Senior Frogs 2:00 is late enough. By the end of the night people were just sitting on the couches because we were just done. It was so bad. So at the end of the night I looked at Michelle and said “I told you so”! lol. So needless to say, we will be sticking with Senior Frogs on Tuesdays. Lol.

So today I’ve done nothing. I like having at least one day to just sleep and by lazy. I work tomorrow and then have Friday off so I can go to Hollywood for the Villain Party!

Oh I also got a package from Summer! I've been missing home lately so it was perfect :)