About my Role in Magic Kingdom Outdoor Foods

Hey! Seeing as the ICP 2014 acceptances rolled out last week, I thought I would make an in depth video about my role in Magic Kingdom Outdoor Foods! I worked as a Vendor and a Parade Vendor, so in the video I speak about both of them, including a typical working day. I loved working in ODF and even though its hard work, I can honestly say its the best job I've ever had. Anyone who has been given QSFB can be placed in outdoor foods, so I hope I can provide a little insight as i couldn't find much on it before I went out there.

If you want to see my post on the training and what the costumes look like you can click here! If your new to my blog/youtube and have been accepted/are applying for the College Program, then you may also want to check out my vlogs as I documented my whole summer which you can check out on my channel here.

If you have any questions, as always, leave a comment or feel free to tweet/email me. Congratulations if you’ve made it through the application process and look forward to the best summer of your life <3

xox

Some Disney Parks Photographs

Hey! As I prepare a video which goes into detail about my role in Outdoor Foods, I thought i would share with you some of my photography from the summer. Some of these are from Walt Disney World and some are from Disneyland California! Can you guess which is which?

I would also like to say congratulations to all the accepted ICP 2014 participants who got their emails yesterday. It’s going to be your best summer ever =]

You can see more on my Flickr account here!
All these images are copyrighted to me (I'm a photographer, i know this stuff yo) so don’t use any without my permission, thank you.

xox

A year on

A year ago today I found out I had been accepted onto Disney’s International College Program. It’s crazy how times flies. This past year has literally been amazing. It’s been such a journey and I’ve met so many people. The ICP changed my life and now, looking back, I know it’s by far the best thing I have ever done. It’s so hard to describe it to people because I just cant express it in words.

I just wanted to write this post in a kind of tribute really and to document that moment I found out I was going to Florida. I found out I had gotten onto the program while I was at work. Back then I was a Charity Fundraiser and had just gotten out of someone's house having signed them up. Frustratingly I was in an area which had horrid signal and my emails were loading so slowly. I quickly checked my phone before plodding on and I saw i had mail from Yummy Jobs. I knew that was it. The email wouldn't open on my email app so I had to go onto the internet browser. In that few minuets, I really was terrified. My heart was pounding in my chest. When I opened the email and found out I was off to the most magical place in the world, i actually screamed. My team mates had gone on ahead of me so I ran to catch up with them squealing. I remember my team leader turning around and me diving on him going “I got it! I'm going to Disney!” My whole team hugged me and congratulated me while i basically had a freak out. I then phoned mum and dad, the boyfriend and my friends screaming down the phone at them!

I would recommend doing to program to everyone and wish desperately that I could go back. I will be applying for the year long CRP and will keep applying for it until i get to go back to working for the mouse. I’ve included a little overview of the program below including a look at my bucket list and ride counts.

Best summer ever.

xox

The Last Week Working in Magic Kingdom

My last week at work came around way too quickly for my liking. We had been told for most of the program that we are not aloud to trade away any shifts, call in sick or accept early releases for the last week as we are pre-paid. While it is true that you cannot trade away any shifts the rest is false. We’re not pre-paid (which is a pain for those who are going straight back to England) and we can get ER’s if the managers have approved it. It just so happens that me and my work friend rachel, another mobile vendor, were offered an ADO (approved day off) on Sunday 4th as soon as we got to the ODF garage as we weren't needed. Of course we jumped on it and tottled off to Epcot, riding things we hadn’t done yet (such as Ellen’s energy adventure) before heading off to Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic. Not a bad start to the week I'd say!

You can see my schedule for the last three weeks above! As a mobile vendor I got alot of ER’s due to weather (especially in the 2 weeks before this) and was sometimes swapped to vending locations. I’ll talk more about that in another post though! Anyway! Last week!

During that week I made sure I got to see the shows and parades on my route around Magic Kingdom, sometimes being a little naughty and just parking up instead of walking infront of them. On the last shift, me and Rachel practically ran back to the garage after ELP to park our carts and rushed out onto mainstreet to watch our last “working” celebrate the magic and wishes. It was a sad moment standing there at MSB knowing it had all come to an end, bumping out for the last time and saying goodbye to the team.

Working in Outdoor Foods was tough but I got to experience things no other role did. Best job I've ever had!

xox

Chatham Square 3 Bedroom

I realised I’ve never really posted about our apartment over here! We lived in apartment 28303, a 3 bedroom in Chatham Square. Luckily through Dorms we could pick our roommates, so I got to live with my best friends. I don’t really know what to say about it other than I miss our little apartment so much. Believe me when i say it was never as tidy as these photos haha! I miss coming home from work and flopping on the living room floor, us one by one coming home and each flopping! Our balcony, near the end, also became the home of an evil wasp which me and Rachael tried to scare away…with Rachael's pencil stick…yeh it didn't happen haha!

Chatham is a lovely complex to be honest! Our place was a 2 min walk from the main gates/bus stop and right in front of the pool/mailbox. The beds are pretty un comfy and squeaky, you get used to it, although mine wasn't half as bad as Hayley’s (fun memory: when she was in the bathroom I went and jumped in her bed and pretended to sleeps). I roomed with Jennifer while Hayley and Rachael roomed together. I miss it more than anything.

You can see some more pictures here and a brief video clip here.

xox

Disney ICP 2013 Graduation

July 31st marked the day of our Disney graduation! The event is held at Chatham Square on the field by the pool which was conveniently right outside our apartment block. There’s food (although not many veggi options), music, games and meet and greets with the fab 5 (plus daisy). It was such an amazing time seeing all our British friends and meeting my room-mates work friends.

We got a few goodies from Disney including a certificate of completion, an ear hat and a cute little box.

After the event we headed off to Magic Kingdom where we watched the castle show, danced away at the Move it Shake It parade and the Tomorrowland Dance party then went on Buzz. Rachael managed to get reservations at Be Our Guest that evening so at 8ish we headed off to the restaurant. Having been there twice before I decided on having the Leek and Potato Soup starter as my main and a desert, the chocolate cake is so freaking amazing there. After a little meet and greet with the beast and a ride on the haunted mansion we headed off to our favourite frontierland haunt to round off the day watching ELP.

It was lovely to have all of us hanging out together! Work schedules sometimes clashed (although we were pretty lucky with getting similar days off). Graduation marked 9 days until our program end so a bittersweet day in all.

xox

Walt Disney World Shows & Parades

One of my favourite things to do in Disney is watch the shows and parades. There are so many amazing ones in Walt Disney World that i simply couldn't pick just one favourite. Lets start with Magic Kingdom shall we! I’m not going to cover every single one, just the favourites while giving you an ICP memory.

Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade, also known as the 3 o’clock parade (when is the 3 o’clock parade?) is the one I got to walk every day while parade vending or have front row seats while regular vending. I’ve seen it so many times that I can sing every word to the soundtrack and do all the dances. My favourite place to watch this from (while working) is the top of main street. It’s not too crowded so I got an amazing view from Popcorn 1.

Dream Along with Mickey is the castle show which is on a few times throughout the day. I watched this one a lot as a guest and also while working. I used to park my cart on the road bit in front of the castle and sing along. I had so many guests ask me how many times i’d seen the show haha! I wish I would have kept count.

Electric Light Parade we watched every night as guests in Magic Kingdom! My roommate Jen did costuming for ELP so it meant a lot to her, plus it was awesome seeing the characters run up to her in the crowd having recognised her. I must say it most definitely grew on me and its now one of my favourite things to see in MK. Our spot is usually outside Country Bear Jamboree for the 11o’clock parade. The area is practically empty so lots of character interaction.

Celebrate the Magic i believe is limited time magic, but its in the top three of my favourite shows. It’s basically a visual show accompanied by a badass sountrack projected onto the castle. The end bit, when Walt appears and says the famous “It was all started by a mouse” bit gets me every time. I basically got paid to watch this and Wishes at popcorn 2/MSB whenever I worked main street as we never got guests wanted to be served during it.

Wishes. This deserves a post of its own. How can I even describe Wishes. It’s just Disney. It’s magic, dreams and belief all intertwined into a marvellous night time spectacular. I’ve watched this from all over the park plus from a distance at the Polynesian and the roof of the Contemporary hotels. By far the best place to to watch it from mainstreet/infront of the castle. As I said above, I did practically get paid to watch this every night, even if I was in a different land, so probably saw it from every location in the park! Fantasmic may be my favourite show, but wishes will always be a first night and last night kinda deal.

Saving the best for last, Fantasmic! This was my all time favourite show at Walt Disney World. During the 9 weeks I was there I watched it 6 times and then once in Disneyland California. Just everything about it is perfection. The story, the soundtrack, the visuals. I liked the Hollywood Studios arena better than in DL but the show across the country had a better story (and Maleficent Dragon).

There are others shows such as illuminations at Epcot, Mickeys Jungle Jammin Parade at Animal Kingdom, Move it Shake it at Magic Kingdom and many “attraction” shows, but these are just a few of my favourites and ones which have the best memories. Also all photographs in this post were taken by me!

PS. I know i sucked at updating this blog during my ICP of my day-to-day happenings but I’m getting there with the highlights.

xox