40 Magical Years at the Kingdom

Hi everyone! It's been a LONG time since I've updated my blog. I've been pretty busy, as a lot of great things have been happening in my life lately. I'll try and keep things short and sweet so I can get y'all (yes I have started saying "y'all") caught up.

Wednesday, Sept 28th: My week-long happy mood continued today! I've noticed that I have cycles where, for a few days, I am sooo grumpy and I just don't want to be here. However, then I'll get out of that slump and be really cheery and pleasant and realize how grateful I should be for all of the opportunities I've been given. A lot of the presenters are counting down to the end of our internship, but I'm trying to take advantage of the time I have left down here.

Thursday, Sept 29th: Today was a BTN day! When I was cleaning Jenn the goat's cage, I set my bucket of bleach water on the ground. I turned around for five seconds and she started drinking it! Luckily, I grabbed it pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I had left the door from her cage into Mocha the fallow deer's cage open a bit, and she ran into the other enclosure. She is such a little brat! After frantically trying to herd her back, I called Cait, and she came over with a fig newton and coerced her back into her cage pretty easily. After that eventful morning, I cleaned all of the flight cages (my favorite) and got to feed Jasper, one of our goats, a bottle. That night, Sonia and I met up at Epcot for the first day of the Food and Wine Festival! It's a two-month-long event where they have additional country pavilions in the World Showcase, they host special wine-tastings, and they have evening concerts. It's pretty much amazing.

Friday, Sept 30th: Sonia, her friend Ema, and I went to Earl of Sandwich (yum) and then Fantasia Gardens Mini-Golf. Later that afternoon, I went to the cast member stores near MK, and I bought a Cars sticker book for my nephew Aaron and some awesome Disney pins. That evening, I was feeling ambitious, so I applied to jobs/internships at the Texas State Aquarium and the Houston Zoo. Since then, I've applied to a ton of other positions, but I haven't heard back from many of them.

Saturday, Oct 1st: After work, the roomies and I went to Magic Kingdom for the 40th anniversary of its opening day of October 1st, 1971. They had had a special celebration that morning and they sold special pins and t-shirts (which were gone by 10am). IT WAS SO CROWDED. However, we still ended up getting on Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and It's A Small World pretty quickly. We also saw the "Wishes" fireworks, which were disappointingly no different than any other night. Getting out of the park was a friggin nightmare! We literally could not move for at least 15 minutes. Some people were hopping the fences and walking through the flowers to get closer to the exit. It was complete madness. The cast members actually took us backstage to get out because it was so crowded. Five monorails and an hour later, we finally made it to the parking lot! I will never ever go to MK when it's that crowded again. At least I got a sweet vintage MK park map as a souvenir!

In light of the Kingdom's 40th anniversary, here are some fun facts about it:
-It cost $400,000,000 to build MK.
-Admission to the park was $3.50 in 1971. For $4.95, you could get into the park and also receive a 7-ride coupon book. This book gave you passes for certain attractions, each of which was categorized as an A, B, C, D, or E ride. Additional ride tickets were 50 cents.
-5 Disneylands can fit in the parking lot of MK.
-The Walt Disney World Resort (WDW) property is the size of San Francisco.
-7,500 acres were set aside as conservation areas on the WDW property.
-2.6 million Mickey ice cream bars are sold every year.
-2.5 million garment pieces exist in the WDW costuming department. Wow, I didn't realize Mickey had such a big wardrobe haha.
-4% of all amateur photography is estimated to be taken at WDW and Disneyland. HAHAHA.
-600 million guests have visited WDW since it opened.

Tuesday, Oct 4th: I talked to the CUTEST kid ever at the gibbons exhibit today. He was probably only 4 or 5 years old, but he asked some really good questions. "What do they eat? Do they swim? Where do they sleep? How does their fur change color? Why don't they fall?" I talked to him and his mother for almost a half hour. It was one of my favorite guest interactions because the kid was so fascinated with the gibbons and he just asked question after question. After work, we went to Chatham Square for a Japanese-themed meet-and-greet. We had california rolls, sushi, rice, chicken, and ribs. Unfortunately, Minnie, Chip, and Dale were all running late, and we got tired of waiting for them so we went home before we could meet them. It was ok, though, because the roomies and I had a fun bowling night planned! We played 3 games, and during the final one, we all did crazy tricks, like bowling with the wrong hand, bowling after spinning 3 times, or sitting down and pushing the ball down the lane. It was so much fun!

Tonight, one of the presenters posted a video of a guy who proposed to his girlfriend with a flashmob dance to Bruno Mars' "Marry You" in Downtown Disney. Check it out here. Guys, pay attention to this. THIS is how you propose to someone you love.

Wednesday, Oct 5th: During our pre-shift meeting, the woman who is basically in charge of the presenters and all guest experiences at DAK talked about her work that she has done with Disney in Africa. They go over there every year to do teaching seminars and programs for the educators. They create entire books of curriculum so that the teachers in Africa can create a good foundation in science for the children. It was all very fascinating, and it makes me want to volunteer in a foreign country. I love learning about other cultures and helping out the less-fortunate, so it would be amazing if I could work in South America or Africa for a year or two. At least I can dream about it.

Tonight, we had another team-builder! We watched "Newsies," a musical about the newsboys' strike in 1899. The only reason I watched it was because Christian Bale was in it, but the movie was surprisingly well-done!

When I got back from the movie, I learned about the sad passing of Steve Jobs. Although he was always associated with Apple, he had ties to Disney and Pixar, so he's near and dear to my heart. RIP, Steve. You changed the face of technology forever.

Thursday, Oct 6th: The best part of my day was when I took an injured armadillo for a walk at BTN! He was absolutely adorable (except for the fact that he smelled like pee). This was only the second live armadillo I'd ever seen! Unfortunately, he had been run over by a car, so his legs didn't work very well. Hopefully we can rehab him back to health!

Friday, Oct 7th: In the morning, Sonia, Melissa Hartley, and I went to costuming to buy our winter clothing. I'm still not convinced that it will ever go below 50 degrees here, but we'll see. Later, Sonia, and I went to Downtown Disney. I bought the park passes for my family's upcoming visit, ate lunch at Pollo Campanero (I highly recommend it), went to the pin trading store, and then did some grocery shopping. For dinner, Cici's Pizza was having a really cheap all-you-can-eat buffet, so of course we went there. By the time Sonia, Cassie, and I arrived, the other presenters were already eating. Somehow, they convinced the manager to let us cut to the front of the super long line so we could sit with them. I had 5 pieces of pizza (including some dessert slices), breadsticks, soup, a brownie, and a cinnamon roll for $2.12. EPIC WIN.

Saturday, Oct. 8th: In the morning, Julie and I got driven to CS for our one-on-one meetings with the Education Manager. My meeting went really well. She told me that I was doing great out in the parks, but I could improve by working on my confidence at animal exhibits. I knew I definitely needed to work on that because I don't feel nearly as comfortable there as I do at the KDCs. I ended the day closing the Tree of Life KDC with Megan, but at 3:45, we got a call from Core Team. She said, "Attention all education presenters, the KDC's will now be closed, so please return to the CCC." YES!!! We got to go home at 4:05 instead of 5:15!! Apparently, there were only 6,000 guests in the park that day, so it wasn't even worth it for us to be there. We were all SO excited to leave early.

Sunday, Oct. 9th: After a rainy day at work, Sonia and I went to All-Star Sports so we could confirm my family's reservations. Then, we went to Walgreens to buy hair dye. I dyed my hair a really dark brown color. It turned out really well, but since then, it has started to go lighter again. Damn you, Florida sun!

Tuesday, Oct. 11th: Today we had our zookeeping seminar!! I had been waiting for this for a long time. Our speakers were Michael, a rhino keeper from Pittsburgh (he used to intern at the Zoo!!), and Paul, a manager who LOVES birds. Whenever Paul mentioned that we would be visiting the rhino barn, everyone was excited. Then he said we would also visit the backstage aviary. I immediately squealed and my face lit up. Everyone just laughed at my uber excitement. They first did a short presentation on what it takes to be a keeper, and then we started our tour!! We split into two groups, and mine went with Michael to see the rhinos first. We also caught a glimpse of the cheetahs. They are such beautiful animals!! The rhinos, on the other hand, are disgustingly smelly. The stench combined with the heat started to really get to me, and I felt incredibly nauseous. Erin and Sonia made sure I was ok, and I started to feel a little better after we left the gross smell. I would've considered leaving at that point, but y'all know I wouldn't miss a chance to see some cool birds, so I stuck it out. Paul showed us all the cages with the injured/"retired" birds, in addition some endangered species. We even saw the Micronesian Kingfisher, which Disney has successfully bred several times! Then, Paul took us to the incubator rooms where they take care of the eggs and baby birds. That was the end of the tour, and I was feeling well enough to stay at work. However, when I opened up Camp with Melissa, I started to feel soooo sick again. It was awful! I made it until noon, when I realized that I couldn't make it through the rest of the day. Core Team drove me back to the CCC, and then Cassie picked me up and took me home. I slept for three hours, but my stomach still wasn't feeling right. I figure out that I had the stomach flu. It took me almost a week to get back to 100%. That night, my roommates and I had a game night for all of our Presenter/Seas interns. 13 people showed up, so it was definitely a success. We played some intense games of "Last Word" and "Cranium." It was good to just have a fun night with friends, because we hadn't done that in a while.

Wednesday, Oct. 12th: This morning, I had my interview for the Conservation Education alumni internships. It was a little intimidating because there were several managers there, but I'd say it went relatively well. When I got home from work, I had an email from the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans. They wanted to set up an interview for their crane department internship for winter 2011. Unfortunately, they wanted someone to start in late November. I was really disappointed that I had to turn them down, but hopefully I'll find something better for when January rolls around. Anyway, my day turned out better, because I picked up my parents who had just flown in that morning, and we had dinner at Olive Garden!!

Ok, that's enough for now. Next time, I'll post some pictures from Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party with my family, and talk about James Cameron and Stan Lee visiting DAK!

"Laughter is America's most important export."--Walt Disney

A Not-So-Scary Adventure

Alright, I hope you're ready for a picture-loaded update about my past few weeks at The House of Mouse! There have been so many great things happening lately, and I'm realizing more and more how thankful I am for this experience.

Friday, Sept 16th: Today was a fabulous day off! A few weeks ago, I bought a few Disney souvenirs for my fellow members of the "Sassy Couch" and the other Juniatian editors. Today, I finally put the package in the mail!! Sometimes, I miss editorial board meetings, layout party nights, and bossing around photographers. And then I wake up and realize that I really don't miss all that responsibility.

Later on, I bought most of my Halloween costume (Blue and Gold Macaw). Wait until you see the pictures, because it ended up being epic!!!

Saturday, Sept 17th: I was interpreting at the military macaw exhibit in the morning, and a guy came up to me and said, "Oh, I have one of those, a Red-Fronted Macaw, and a Blue and Gold Macaw at home!" Well, that pretty much killed my "choose your pets wisely" conservation message. I asked him how old one of his birds was, and he said two years. WOW. I hope you write him into your will, you moron!! You'll have that friend around for at least 40 years.

Sunday, Sept 18th: Julie and I closed Conservation Station today, and we had a lot of fun joking around and talking about hockey. After work, Sonia, Steph, Mike, Emily, and I went to Wal-Mart to buy our Lightning/Blues preseason tickets (they're playing in Orlando on Wednesday). However, it all ended up being a huge mess and we left frustrated and empty-handed. (Don't worry, though, it all worked out in the end!)

Monday, Sept 19th: Today was a horrible day. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed (although my bed is against the wall, so I don't really know if that's possible) and I think my bad mood was infectious during work. However, it got a little better later on when Sonia and I went shopping. We finished up buying our costume materials and then pigged out at Burger King.

Tuesday, Sept 20th: I had CS again today, only this time I worked with Melissa Hartley. The day went by pretty fast because we sang (or attempted to) country songs the entire time! I'm glad I have a friend here who appreciates good music like I do! That night, I went shopping with Melissa, her roommate Paola, and Sonia. I tried to find some cowgirl boots for our future outing to Cowboys, but I failed. When we got home, I continued gluing feathers onto my costume. I swear there will be blue and yellow feathers stuck in our carpet forever!

Wednesday, Sept 21st: I went to work early because it was the day of my invertebrate tour!! (It was also the start to a fantastic week!) We got to go behind-the-scenes in the bug trailer and at Conservation Station. The keeper that did our tour let us touch a Hissing Cockroach, Florida Millipede, and a few snakes. We learned a lot about the bugs and arachnids we use every day in the park, in addition to some other critters that Guests can see at CS. It was a great tour, but I wish we had been able to touch more creepy-crawlies!

After the tour, we went back to our normal work schedules. At one of the KDC's, I met a woman from Hampton who was convinced she had seen me when I was interning at the National Aviary. That's crazy if it's actually true!

Right after work, Sonia, Katrina, and I drove to the Amway Center for our hockey game! We met up with Mike after having a few issues with parking, and headed inside just in time for the start of the game. I realize that Orlando doesn't have a hockey team, but I saw so many jerseys from different teams that night! Of course, I was wearing my Staal shirt, and there were at least 5 or 6 other Pens fans!! I was looking forward to seeing four former Penguins play for the Lightning (Malone, Moore, Hall, and Ouellet). Unfortunately, only Ouellet was in the lineup. Although it started off slowly, it ended up being a great game, despite the Blues winning. It was just awesome to go to a hockey game for the first time in 3+ years! Hopefully, I'll be able to go to the Pens/Lightning game in Tampa later this year!!

Thursday, Sept 22nd: It was a great day at the refuge!! Although we were short-handed on staff members, we had the help of Julia. She's a little 82-year-old Hispanic woman who works like a CHAMP. Because of her, we actually finished our work early, and Stacey let us watch her feed the big cats! The best part was that we got to pet Oliver the Florida Bobcat and Zema the Western Cougar!!! SO AWESOME. Although I know that will never happen again, it was a nice surprise!

That night, a bunch of my friends and I went out to Cowboys, all clad in plaid (hah)! It was basically heaven for me because all I heard was country music. We all tried to learn how to line dance, but that was an epic fail (as you probably could have guessed). It was such a fun night, and I definitely want to go back there at some point.

Friday, Sept 23rd: In the morning, Sonia, Karen, and I went to DAK to ride Primeval Whirl, Everest, and the Safari. We even got a glimpse of little Jabali, the baby elephant that was born in August.

That evening was Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom!!! It was soooo amazing! While Sonia and I were on the monorail in full costume, a girl said to her dad, "Look, she's from Rio!" That pretty much made my night. I felt like a real Disney character! When we arrived at MK, we met up with some presenters to collect candy, meet characters (many of which only come out for this celebration), and watch the special villains show, "Hall-o-wishes" fireworks, and "Boo To You" parade. I came SO close to meeting Tarzan, but he left right before we got to the front of the line. However, Jane Porter and Terk loved my costume. I also got my picture taken with Cruella DeVille, which was great! Also, the parade was probably the best parade that Disney has. It started off with the Headless Horseman riding by on his horse, and then a ton of characters came through in their special Halloween costumes. The highlights for me were the laughing hyenas, Captain Barbosa, the Haunted Mansion ghosts, the Snow White Queen, and Malificent. I can't wait to go back in October with my family!!

Saturday, Sept 24th: I had another lovely day at work, except for the moment when I saw a kid wearing a Flyers shirt with Jagr's name on the back. It made me sick to my stomach. The sad thing was that he probably wasn't even old enough to remember Jagr's glory day with the Pens.

After we got home from DAK, we had a barbeque/pool party at Cumberland. It was nice for almost all of the presenters to hang out together and just relax for a while. Good times.

Sunday, Sept 25th: Once again, it was a great day--mostly because the Steelers were playing at 8:20, so I could actually watch the game! I met up with Aaron, an intern who's also a Steelers fan, and we watched it at ESPN Club on the Boardwalk. The place was pretty cool--there were signed jerseys on the walls (including some from Lemieux, Jagr, and Mullen) and a huge gift shop with all the sports memorabilia you could ever dream of. For those of you who need to watch several games at once to keep up with your fantasy football, they had at least 10 different tv's, and one huge projector screen. The game itself wasn't bad, although our O-line was pretty awful, as usual. Luckily, we still pulled off the win.

Monday, Sept 26th: I was in a really good mood today, despite the fact that we only had 11 (instead of 14) presenters due to some sicknesses that were going around. The schedule for some of the presenters was crazy--a few people had to go to KDC's twice. Luckily, mine was pretty normal. After work, Sonia and I went to Sweet Tomatoes (a sweet buffet restaurant) for Mexican food night, and then Target for some grocery shopping.

Tuesday, Sept 27th: After our pre-shift meeting, one of our leaders showed us THE CUTEST letter ever. A girl sent this note in to Disney--check it out.

How precious is that?? Anyway, my great story of the day occurred when I did a pledge to induct a kid into our Kids' Discovery Club. He was wearing a Flyers shirt. I asked him to raise his right hand and repeat after me: "I promise to take care of all the animals that fly, that swim, and that dance. And I promise to clean my room, eat all my vegetables, root for the Penguins, and listen to my parents." MWAHAHA. He totally fell for the Penguins part, and his family got a kick out of it.

After work, we all went to Medieval Times, an event where you watch a jousting tournament and eat dinner like a peasant (without utensils) while you enjoy the festivities. Each section of the arena was assigned to a different knight--ours was the black and white knight. They went through a whole role play and did different types of jousting competitions. Following the show, we stuck around to get our pictures taken with the prince, princess, king, and knights. It was quite a fun night!

Left to right: The hot prince; My dinner and banner for my knight; the winner--red knight!

Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading about my latest adventures. Next time, I'll be talking about the 40th anniversary of Magic Kingdom. I'll even throw in a few fun facts about the attractions and costs of MK way back when in 1971!

"Live off the land. Never take more than you need."--Betty Settee, Inuit woman

Beaches, Burns, and Birds

Hi all! I realize I haven't updated the blog very much lately, but I'm gonna try and catch up a little bit!

Saturday, Sept 3rd: Happy (real) International Vulture Day!

Sunday, Sept 4th: Today, one of the managers from The Seas came to talk to us about the Conservation Education position they have. I've decided I'm not going to apply for that because I don't think it's a step up from what I'm doing now, and I don't know enough about marine animals. Although I do have a heads up on most of the other current Ed. Presenters because I'm already scuba certified.

Monday, Sept 5th: After work (and a trip to eat fatty foods at McDonald's), Sonia, Steph, and I went shopping at Forever XXI. When we walked in, Steph said, "I don't know why, but I bet you're someone who likes plaid." HAHA. You have no idea. I ended up buying two dresses--one of which I have to give credit to Sonia for finding. :-)

Tuesday, Sept 6th: Sonia, Melissa Hartley, and I watched "White Chicks" after work, and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I'd forgotten how much I loved that movie!! Also, big news--I applied for two Disney alumni internships...Conservation Education (Community and Group) and Research Administration. The first one would involve writing curriculum and teaching camps and fun stuff like that. The latter would be a lot of computer work, video editing, and possibly a bit of Photoshop stuff.

Wednesday, Sept 7th: Today was my day off, so Cassie and I went to the beach!! We drove part of the way with the top of her convertible down...yeah! When we got to St. Petersburg Beach, we couldn't find the actual beach--just a harbor. After asking for directions, we drove to a beach at Treasure Island. Yes, it was as awesome as the name suggests. The sand was beautiful, and there was barely anyone there. We jumped around in the waves for a bit, then fell asleep on our towels. Then we decided to look for the ice cream parlor that sold funnel cake sundaes, but that was an epic fail. Instead, we went to The Dairy Inn. I got honey barbeque wings, and then a chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream cone. YUM. After a fun afternoon, we headed home. On the car ride, my sun burn slowly started to show up. By the time we got home, I was BURNT TO A CRISP. Thank goodness I had a huge bottle of aloe waiting for me! That night, I took a nap just so I wouldn't have to deal with the painful sunburn. After a while, I decided I should stop being lazy, so Sonia and I watched "A Bug's Life."

Treasure Island Beach

Thursday, Sept 8th: Today was our Conservation Biology seminar with Dr. Anne Savage! She talked about Proyecto Titi, a program dedicated to the conservation of Cotton-Top Tamarins, along with sea turtle tracking, and other primate research. She then took us to the Wildlife Tracking Center at Conservation Station, where we got to learn a little bit about elephant communication.

Directly after the seminar, I drove to BTN. I finally got trained to clean the birds of prey cages and make their diets!! BEST DAY EVER. I was responsible for Cookie (Turkey Vulture), Great Horned Owl, Barred Owls, Winnie (Bald Eagle), Screech Owls, and Whizzer (Red-Tailed Hawk). It took forever to finish all of that, but it was fun! At the end of the day, Ariel, another intern, asked me to help her change the bandages on Tarot, a hawk who has bumblefoot. I ended up staying until almost 7:00, but it was so worth it!

Friday, Sept 9th: At work, I saw a ton of families with Steelers clothing! One couple had a stroller covered in Stiller logos, and a water bottle with their logo on it. The husband was also carrying a terrible towel. I LOVE seeing so many fans in the park!!

Saturday, Sept 10th: The best part of my day happened while I was at the Dino KDC. I said to a child, "Dinosaurs aren't around anymore, so how can we help the animals that we still have today?" He answered very enthusiastically, "WITH AN ASTEROID!" Bahahaha that was my favorite child ever.

Sunday, Sept 11th: First and foremost, today was the 10th anniversary of 9/11. God bless America and all those who lost their lives in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania on that horrible day.

Monday, Sept 12th: Wow, my updates are getting progressively shorter and shorter. Anyway, today, Nick and I worked together at Conservation Station. The whole time, we were singing "Eye of the Tiger" in Spanish ("El Ojo del Tigre"). We had a good time butchering the Spanish language.

Tuesday, Sept 13th: After work, the presenters had a behind-the-scenes tour of The Seas at Epcot!! It was a ton of fun! We went backstage to the food prep area, dolphin holding, main tank, and manatee tank. It reminded me of that episode of Full House when the whole family went on vacation in Disney World, and Joey and Jesse did their radio show in the main tank. Good 90s memories. Anyway, after the tour, we rode Test Track. That ride isn't nearly as scary as it was when I was 13 or 14! Still fun, though!

Wednesday, Sept 14th: As Sonia and I walked downstairs to leave the apartment that morning, Sonia said, "Damn, Alison, your calves are toned! Whenever you walk, the muscles are like 'BAM!'" Hahahahaha. I guess all the walking at work has paid off!! Haha that literally made my day. I'm glad my job has forced me to get back into shape!

Thursday, Sept 15th: Refuge day!! I was assigned the squirrels and Jasper (the goat). At the end of the day, Debbie asked me if I wanted to take Izzy, the 9-month-old opossum, on a walk. Ummm, YES! She's so adorable. Before I left for the day, I helped feed milk to a baby squirrel with a syringe, and I put fresh water in the baby room cages. I love that place so much!! It's hard work to take care of all our animals, but it's so rewarding.

Izzy the opossum!

Alright, now I'm at least a little bit caught up with the past few weeks. I've had a really crazy week, so I'm gonna head to bed. Next time, I'll tell you about my invertebrate tour, the Lightning hockey game, and Mickey's Not-So-Scary-Halloween Party!! Let's just say my costume was "for the birds"!

"Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land."--Aldo Leopold

Can You Take Our Picture? It's For A Scavenger Hunt.

Hey y'all! Sorry I haven't written a blog in a while, I've been crazy busy with work and the refuge. I've got a lot to talk about in this entry, but the good news is I have tons of pictures!

Wednesday, Aug 24th: Today was the epic scavenger hunt at Epcot for the Presenters' team-building activity! Sonia, Cassie, and I were a team (they let Cassie come because she loves scavenger hunts). We had to answer different questions and take pictures around the World Showcase. Every time we needed a group shot, Cassie would go up to someone and ask if they could take a picture. Then I always added in, "It's for a scavenger hunt." I figured they might find it weird that we wanted a picture in front of a random statue, or with a family all wearing the same shirt. So, that became the quote of the night and is the title of this entry. Anyway, back to the scavenger hunt--The three of us DOMINATED. Below are some pictures of us: in Mexico, in Norway, with a family all dressed the same, and with "Justin Beaver" in Canada.

Thursday, Aug 25th: I went back to the refuge (which I will now call BTN) today, and I was assigned to take care of the barnyard animals. I put Koko the Emu's food in her enclosure, and then cleaned Mocha (the deer) and Jennifer's (the goat) cage. Most of the day, the other interns and I washed dishes, but then we got to clean the bird cage with mockingbirds, doves, thrashers, and sparrows. We pulled the hose inside, so the door was left open a little bit. Somehow, the mockingbird escaped--luckily it was close to being released anyway, and we didn't get in trouble. Oops.

That evening, Sonia came home and told Cassie and I that we had won the scavenger hunt!! YEAH!! One of the questions we got wrong was "Name 4 famous Canadians." We had been in a hurry when we wrote the answers, and Cassie wrote down "Cindy Crosby." FAIL. Haha...oh well, we still won!

A bit later, Cassie and I went to grocery bingo at one of the CP apartments. I WON!! I got 2 reusable bags full of food, plus some toilet paper, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, and toothpaste. I've never won anything in my life, but tonight I won the scavenger hunt AND bingo!!

Friday, Aug 26th: Today was my day off, so I cleaned up the apartment a bit and hung some more of my pictures on my bedroom wall. Also, I found out that Jazzie, who I studied abroad with, was coming to Orlando for the week!

Saturday, Aug 27th: Nothing much happened today, except it rained a lot because of Hurricane Irene! Luckily, she pretty much passed over us.

Sunday, Aug 28th: Pretty much the only exciting part about work was when one of the primate keepers came to tell us about the siamangs. They were relatively sure that the mother was pregnant (it's often hard to predict their pregnancies ahead of time)! She ended up having a baby a few days later! It looks like a naked mole rat or some sort of ugly alien. Hopefully she grows fur soon--that would make her much cuter.

That night, most of the Presenters went to T-Rex (a restaurant like Rainforest Cafe, only Dino-themed) for Karen's birthday. It was a ton of fun, and it was great to hang out with everyone outside of work. Unfortunately, there was a big fiasco with our checks, and it took a lot of work to separate our checks. Afterwards, we took a group picture outside. There were a bunch of rude people walking in front of the camera, so Karen yelled at them and then moved the queue rope so that they'd have to walk around. It was hilarious...until she moved it back on top of my foot. Thanks, Karen. :P

Monday, Aug 29th: In the morning, some of the Community Education managers came to talk to us about their internship that's available for next semester. Out of all the positions, this is the one I REALLY want. I would get to learn how to write curriculum, teach classes and camps, and make trips to hospitals to visit children. Basically perfect for me. After the managers left, my mentor group met with one of our leaders to talk about how to write resumes and cover letters.

Tuesday, Aug 30th: Today was kind of a bad day, until i saw Stitch (from "Lilo and Stitch") backstage. He patted me on the back and, all of a sudden, I felt a lot happier. I love when characters say hi to Cast Members. :-)

That night, I drove through a freaking hurricane to get to Magic Kingdom so I could meet up with Jazzie. I was literally the only person driving into the park, and I almost hydroplaned about 20 times. After going on a few rides, we saw the "Wishes" fireworks! That was the first time I had seen them, and they were pretty spectacular. I'm so happy I got to see Jazzie, even if was only for a few hours!

Jazzie and I at the Haunted Mansion cemetery!

Wednesday, Aug 31st: The Group Education team came to tell us about their internship, which I'm also applying for. For some reason, they brought a leaf from The Tree of Life, and we all got to touch it. It was like I was touching a piece of Disney history!

Thursday, Sept 1st: Today, Disney celebrated International Vulture Awareness Day. I had off, but it was my day at the refuge, so I couldn't go to DAK and do the fun vulture activities. :-(

At the refuge, I cleaned up Koko's cage and worked on organizing the produce. It was a bad day for me because there was some miscommunication and I messed a few things up. It's hard to remember everything I've learned when I'm only there once a week!

That evening, Sonia, Cassie, Melissa Hartley, and I went to the Disco-themed meet-and-greet. We met Mickey, who was wearing his spiffy, sparkly, blue suit! That Mouse has style.

Friday, Sept 2nd: Betsy, Steph, and I went to Magic Kingdom and we FINALLY got to ride Splash Mountain! I love how the lines for almost all of the rides are so short now. We stuck around for the "Dreams Come True" parade and it was AMAZING. I don't think any Disney parade could top it. After I did a bit of shopping, we headed to the Contemporary Resort on the monorail, and I bought a delicious Black Forest cupcake. 

I basically meet Disney characters for a living.

That night, the roomies and I watched Pocahontas and then made up interpretive dances to "Colors of the Wind" and "Just Around the Riverbend." That's one reason I love my roommates. We can just act like idiots with no shame whatsoever!

Ok, it's definitely time for bed. My weekend is officially over, and now it's time for another LONG six days straight of work. Peace out, everyone!

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."--E.B. White

Another Internship Opportunity

If you just got a little worried from the title, have no fear! I'm still at Disney, but I'm starting a second internship, too! But you'll hear more about that later...

Saturday, Aug 13th: After work, the roomies and I went shopping for Florida's weekend of tax-free clothing. (I miss PA for not having to pay clothing tax there!!) It was absolute CHAOS. There were people parked in the grass and on curbs! Unfortunately, I didn't end up finding much, but I did buy a new sweater at GAP and a McFlurry at McDonald's (yummm).

Sunday, Aug 14th: Sonia and I went to Forever XXI today, and I bought a few shirts and a new purse! Yay! I could have probably shopped in that store for hours; it was fabulous!! Afterward, we drove to EPCOT, where we eventually met up with Cassie and Alyssa. We explored The Seas, rode a few rides, and then worked on a Kim Possible mission in Norway. Yeah, we're THAT cool. Then we got some delicious ice cream, went on Soarin', and headed home. Another great night!

Monday, Aug 15th: Tonight, the roomies and I went to Vista Way because there was a welcoming party for the CP (College Program) kids. We got free pizza plus met Mickey, Chip, and Dale! WIN. Later that night, I received an email from Back To Nature Wildlife Refuge. I had applied a few days ago to volunteer there, and they said I should go in on Thursday to check out the facility and sign some papers!

Tuesday, Aug 16th: Work was pretty boring, but I found out that Bethany, Andy, and Aaron are coming to visit me in October, yay!!

Wednesday, Aug 17th:  At work, I had a few really good conversations with families in Spanish. Slowly, I'm starting to speak more and more fluently...ish. Later on, Sonia, Cassie, Alyssa, Steph, Melissa, and I went to Johnny Rocket's for dinner--my milkshake was delicious! Then we went to Fort Wilderness to watch "Lilo and Stitch." I never used to like that movie, but now I love it!!

Thursday, Aug 18th: Today I drove to Back To Nature (BTN)! Kelly, one of three full-time employees, asked if I wanted to be an intern instead of volunteer because I would be able to log more hours. Ummmm yes, of course! So she told me a little bit about the facility and had me read the intern manual and sign papers. I'll be working every Thursday and I'll get to clean cages (can I add "professional shit cleaner" to my resume?), feed the animals, and sometimes even take care of the babies that people bring in! They have about 43 permanent residentsthat include squirrels, opossums, goats, deer, raccoons, tortoises, doves, mockingbirds, owls, vultures, bald eagle, sandhill crane, emu, cougar, bobcat, and an arctic fox! Also, a ton of animals are brought in every day to be rehabilitated--sometimes up to 20! I can't wait to work with all of them!! Also, I'm excited to get some rehabilitation experience to put on my resume. The only bad thing is that I have to pay $7 in tolls each week. EW.

Friday, Aug 19th: Boring day at work!

Saturday, Aug 20th: I decided to look for some internships online, but I didn't find any legit possibilities. However, I did find some volunteer opportunities in Tanzania, South Africa, Costa Rica, Guam, and TIPUTINI (the biodiversity station I stayed at for a week in Ecuador)!!! I wish I could get paid to work in such exotic places!

Sunday, Aug 21st: I was at the Africa KDC, and after going through all the clues with a little girl, I said, "This animal lives in Africa, has 3 toes, eats plants, and has a horn on his head. Do you know what it is?" Her guesses were: "A UNICORN!!...A PONY!!...A RHINO!!" Third time's a charm, I guess. Not gonna lie, it was pretty hilarious.

Also, I realized that today marked exactly two years since I arrived in Ecuador to study abroad. This made me so sad! Sometimes I wish I were back there with my host family, trying to tell the maid in broken Spanish that I needed toilet paper (ask me about that story--it's a classic), or listening to my host grandmother explain a Spanish "novela" (soap opera) to me when I didn't understand a single word she was saying.

Monday, Aug 22nd: Today I literally melted at work because I had the 3 hottest stations--Dinoland, Cotton-Top Tamarins, and Asia--all in a row.

Tuesday, Aug 23rd: I had fun with Megan while we were at Conservation Station! The whole time, we people-watched, and she pointed out all her fellow Canadians. Well, we had to entertain ourselves for two hours somehow! Later, at Dino, a kid knew EVERYTHING about the dinosaurs just by looking at the lower jaws!! At the end of the day, I closed Tree of Life with Megan, and it POURED the entire time. Luckily, it stopped just in time for us to leave at 5:00!

Alright, time to go. Next time, I'll tell you all about the awesome EPCOT scavenger hunt and my first day at BTN!

"I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

This One Time, at Disney World...

Hi! I have a lot of fun things to talk about in this entry, including my day at MK when I met a bunch of characters!! Here it is...

Thursday, August 4th: Today I went to Coronado Springs Resort with Cassie to search for Hidden Mickeys.The resort had a Mexican theme, complete with a Mayan temple surrounding the pool. One of the lifeguards told us where some of the alleged Mickeys were, but we couldn't find most of them. After we gave up on our scavenger hunt, we walked over to the cabanas. They each had their own little beach with some palm trees and a family-sized hammock. I'd love to stay there someday!

Friday, Aug. 5th: Melissa Hulbert, Steph Pierson, and I went to Magic Kingdom, and we met A TON of characters. I was SO excited to act like a little kid again and get their autographs and pictures with them! First, we met Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora. When we saw Minnie and Mickey, I let them sign with my "Mickey hand" pen that I got at Cumberland, and they were disappointed to see that it actually had 5 fingers instead of 4. Oops...sorry. Not official Disney merch! After that, we met Pinocchio, Buzz Lightyear, Angelica (from PotC: On Stranger Tides), Goofy, Aladdin, and Jasmine. It was an absolutely great day at MK!

Later on, the roomies and I went to Friendly's for dinner. It brought back memories of the one I went to after the Wildwood beach ultimate tourney a few years ago. Good times have always been had at Friendly's! A few other interns joined us, and they probably thought we were crazy. My roomies and I are so loud and we bicker all the time and joke around, but we all mean it in good fun. From the outside, you'd think we hate each other, but we actually get along really well. The best part of the night was when a woman came up to us and made balloon animals: Cassie had a shark, Alyssa had Minnie ears, Sonia had a monkey, and I had a blue and gold macaw(yes, I AM being that specific with my balloon haha). That whole day was one of the best I've had in quite a while.

Saturday, Aug. 6th: Nothing of note happened today, but two little kids gave me a hug after they did the Africa KDC. As Sonia would say, it was "so ca-yoooooot!"

Sunday, Aug. 7th: So today I walked over to Asia and heard the weirdest noise. It took me a few seconds, but then I realized the Siamangs were vocalizing!!! Check out a video of their call here. And look at the inflated vocal pouch on their neck--so cool! You have no idea how excited I was to hear this--it took them over a month to vocalize while I was there!

The highlight of my day was when I was at Conservation Station with Nicole. This Guest from Alabama  saw my Pittsburgh, PA name tag and proceeded to ask if I was Amish. No, sir, just because I'm from PA doesn't mean that I'm Amish. I live near the city, thank you very much. If I could have died of laughter right there, I would have. As if that wasn't hilarious enough, a Hispanic man came up to Nicole and I, and had his wife take a picture of the three of us together with his iPad. He then uploaded it to his facebook right there. Well, I guess I'm famous in some other country!

Monday, Aug. 8th: Nothing too eventful happened today.

Tuesday, Aug. 9th: I was at the Tree of Life and my next-door neighbor from home and her grandson stumbled upon the KDC and came down to visit! I knew they were in Disney, but I didn't think they'd be able to find me among the thousands of people.

That night, I started looking on the AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) website for some jobs and internships that I could do after Disney. I found THE PERFECT JOB at the North Carolina Aquarium. I would help with educational programs, do presentations, and be one of the primary bird trainers. That would be AMAZING. Ugh, too bad they probably need to fill the position asap because the deadline is soon. I guess that for now, I should focus on looking for internships instead.

Wednesday, Aug. 10th: Today I was at the Flamingo exhibit because it was raining at the Cotton Top's area. I met a family that lived in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, so I asked them where they were specifically from. They actually live in the neighborhood I grew up in as a little kid! Also, their son goes to Avonworth Elementary School and has some of the same teachers I did!! Considering there are only about 1,500 students in grades K-12, that's pretty amazing that I saw a fellow Avonworthian in Disney World. (Is that what we're called? That sounds weird. Oh well.) To top it off, the next family I talked to was from Greensburg! *Cue the "It's A Small World" theme song*

Thursday, Aug. 11: We had our first of five leadership seminars today. This one focused on the "Disney Values" and the basics of how to be a good leader. Because it was technically my day off, I got to go home after the seminar. Nicole and I decided to see "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" with James Franco, and it was actually very good--the CG animation was pretty amazing.

That night, I tried to go to Publix, but my car failed to completely start. So I thought my battery had died. That's awesome because I had an important meeting the next day. I called AAA (because my windows were down and I was worried it would rain), and it took them forever to come. It was 10:30pm by the time they got here! The woman opened my hood, took one look, and said that the battery was fine--the terminal was just loose. Well, I guess I'm glad it wasn't as bad as I thought. She tightened it up for me and then said I should buy a new part and then my car would be fine.

Friday, Aug. 12: In the morning, I went to Epcot with Betsy because we both had a meeting with a few managers to discuss future career options. The first thing we did was see the "Captain EO" 4D movie. IT WAS GREAT. It's a movie that was made in 1986 exclusively for Disney World, and it was produced by George Lucas and starsMichael Jackson! MJ is Captain EO and he travels to space to give "The Supreme Leader" a peace offering. She captures MJ and his crew, but he ends up defeating her with his crazy dance moves. Let's just say this movie was the 80's at its best. While Betsy was in her meeting, I explored "The Seas with Nemo and Friends"aka The Seas. After my meeting (which went pretty well), we went on "The Sum of All Thrills," a simulator where you get to design your own rollercoaster and then actually ride it!! It's really cool!! Then after we went home, I went to Meineke to fix my car and Winn-Dixie to do some extreme couponing! Yeah!

"Disneyland is often called a magic kingdom because it combines fantasy and history, adventure and learning, together with every variety of recreation and fun designed to appeal to everyone."--Walt Disney

Year of the Forest and More!

Hello again! Here's a summary of what I've been up to during the past week or so.

Wednesday, July 27th: Today was DAK's celebration of the International Year of the Forest! We had a ton of fun special events going on at Conservation Station, and the presenters who were scheduled to work the KDC that's right next to it got to also help with the events. I was one of the lucky few! I helped out with two different stations. The first was a scavenger hunt for forest animals. There was a big backdrop, in addition to some logs, trees, and rocks where critters were hidden. After the kids found all the animals on their card, they had to match them to their habitat. Then they got to take it home and use the other side as a "backyard bingo" scavenger hunt that they could do later. At the second station, we had a three-paneled poster set up, and it depicted a mangrove forest, boreal forest, and tropical rainforest. We had 15 toy animals, and the kids had to match them to whatever home they thought they belonged to. Then they had to explain what adaptations made it possible for them to survive in those conditions. Although I only got to staff these stations for an hour, it was so much fun, and I hope I get to participate in more special events like this again!

When I got home that night, I found out that my bungee jumping picture that I took in Baños, Ecuador was one of the runners-up for the Juniata College photo contest last semester!! I was SO excited! It made it onto page 3 of the Juniata Magazine!!! Yayy! Check it out here.

Thursday, July 28th: The highlight of my day was getting the Cast Member discount at Chick-fil-A for dinner. Buy one meal, get one free! Alright!!

Friday, July 29th: I got some pictures printed at Wal-Mart, although it took forever. When I got home, I hung them up all over my wall. My room feels a little bit more like home, now.

Saturday, July 30th: Nothing really exciting happened today haha.

Sunday, July 31st: I tried out my new pedometer for the first time at work. It's pretty sweet because it counts the steps I take, converts it to miles, and tell me how many calories I burn. It also allows me to set a goal and tells me how close I am to completing it. Today, I walked over 10,800 steps (3.422 miles) and burned 343 calories! From now on, I'm going to see how much I walk every day and compare each letter in our rotation.

Monday, August 1st: I continued watching a bunch of Christian Bale movies because I absolutely love him, and I'm still really jealous that he's currently in Pittsburgh filming "The Dark Knight Rises" and I'm not there.

Tuesday, August 2nd: Today I finally got my hometown name tag! Now instead of it saying Juniata under my name, it says Pittsburgh, PA! Woot!

The best part of the day was when I was at the Cotton Top Tamarin exhibit. A little girl (maybe 7 or 8 years old) randomly came up to me and handed me an orange hibiscus flower then walked away. It was soo adorable! That's another one of those moments that makes me love my job.

Wednesday, August 3rd: I was at Dinoland in the afternoon, and one of my managers came to observe me so she could take notes on how I was interacting with the Guests. Of course, I happened to be speaking to a family entirely in Spanish. I did my best to give them most of the regular information and also explain to them how the KDC's worked. My manager also stayed around for me to talk to an English-speaking family, thank goodness. Afterward, she told me I did a great job with both interactions! I feel like I'm definitely getting more comfortable talking to people in Spanish, but I'm going to try to expand my conversations as much as I can each day.

That's all for now! Next time, I'll talk about my awesome day at Magic Kingdom when I met a ton of characters (basically the best day ever)!

"It's not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me."--Christian Bale