At 7:30am on Sunday, my parents and I started our long drive, and made it as far as Columbia, South Carolina. That evening, we ate dinner at "Lizard's Thicket" which was a cute little southern restaurant. I had fried chicken, cinnamon apples, and cornbread. Yummm. Welcome to the South! The next morning, we drove off again and made it to our hotel in Orlando around 4:30. We stayed at a very nice Marriot (there were a group of 3 all clustered together), and there was a pool (that was both indoors and outdoors!), fitness room, restaurant, food court, etc. We were pretty tired from the long day and heat, so we explored a little and then chilled out.
On Tuesday, we went to Gatorland! My parents took my siblings there 27 years ago, so they thought I should experience it, too. It was a huge place with gators and crocs swimming in swamps, and birds (herons, egrets, cormorants, storks, and woodhens) flying everywhere. First, we saw an employee wrestle a gator, which was awesome. Then we saw the "Gator Jumparoo" show where two guys put skinned chickens on a pulley and hung them over the water so the gators would jump up to eat them. Unfortunately, this is mating season so they were pretty lazy and not too excited about the food. After that, we went around to see the macaws and cockatoos. Among others, they had a blue and gold macaw (my favorite!) and a military macaw (...hah). Then I went into the room with hundreds of budgies so I could feed them a stick of food. We had to shuffle our feet because there were SO MANY birds on the floor. Immediately, 6 or 7 flew to me. It was so cool, especially when the gorgeous sun conure came to me! We then wandered around the park's trails and suffered through the outrageous heat until we finally came to the exit. Before we left, I got my picture in front of the huge gator mouth.
Gatorland!!!!!
Wednesday consisted of lounging at the pool (it's a hard life!) and meeting up with my sister-in-law's parents and my niece, Abbie, for dinner. They were taking Abbie to their house in Florida and wanted to catch up. I'm glad I got to see Abbie. She loved the Disney princess shirt we got her at Wal-Mart (which has A TON of Disney merch).
Thursday was the big day! I went to Cumberland Park at 9am to go through housing meetings and fill out paperwork. They gave us a big spiel about apartment policies and other stuff, only half of which I heard because they talked so fast. I was a little overwhelmed after that. Then, my parents and I moved everything into my apartment! I met my roommate Sonia, and one of my other housemates, Alyssa. We rushed to get everything inside and slightly organized so I could drop the rents off at their hotel and then get over to the Casting building. Once I was there, I waited in a ton of lines and talked to some new PI's (one girl was from Meadville, PA who almost went to Juniata). Then I had to fill out more paperwork and wait in more lines, until I was done at 1ish. Then I ran across 6 lanes of traffic to get lunch at Downtown Disney. Wow, I'm glad the pedestrian signs weren't working.
At 2, I had a meeting with everyone from Animal Programs where I met my managers and fellow Conservation Education Presenter (CEP) PI's. There are 22 of us! We were given a binder with our schedule for the next few days, and reminded about The Disney Look. On Saturday at 7:45am, we have "Traditions" at Disney University, where we learn Company history and policies. Later, we'll have some meetings, and then get our costumes!! Safari vest, here I come!! We are going to look CLASSY.
After a stressful day, I hung out at the apartment for a bit, and then went to dinner with my parents. I had shrimp gumbo and fried alligator. WIN. No, it didn't taste like chicken. More like very bland calamari. But hey, have YOU eaten alligator? I didn't think so. :-)
That evening, I went with some fellow CEP's to Miller's Ale House for a PI meet-and-greet. It was insane. There were probably 40 or 50 of us. We literally took up half the restaurant. It was funny when people came up to us and asked us our names and PI titles. "Oh hi, I'm a Conservation Education Presenter, and so are these other 3 girls next to me." I guess it was easier to remember us, at least. Although I'm probably going to forget the names of half of the people I met. Oh well, at least we'll all have name tags soon!
Today, I did some shopping with my parents, because I was worried some of my clothes wouldn't work for the Disney Look. After relaxing for a bit at the apartment, I went to dinner with the 'rents and then went to Wal-Mart for the second time today. It was absolutely POURING rain, so my dad dropped us off. There were literally 50 people under the roof just outside of the entrance, waiting for cars to pick them up. It was like a natural disaster had just happened. Sheesh! Well, I better get used to this crazy Florida rain. After taking Mom and Dad back to the hotel, I said goodbye to them, as they're leaving tomorrow morning.
Alright, I have a very early morning tomorrow, so I'm heading to bed. See y'all later!
"Don't wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect."--Alan Cohen
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