Showing posts with label long drive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label long drive. Show all posts

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Tomorrow (Well, Today, Actually...)!!!

The day is finally here!! My car is mostly packed, and I'm leaving for Disney tomorrow (well, technically today)!!! Ahhhh! I can't even contain my excitement! Although I would much rather skip the 16+ hour drive and just be in Florida, I guess I'll have to deal with it. We're leaving at 7am this morning (eek!) and will be stopping in Columbia, South Carolina for the night (10 hours). We'll finish off the drive (6 hours) to Florida on Monday morning. My dad and I will be taking turns driving so it hopefully won't be too awful.

I've been relatively busy getting ready for today. However, I've mostly been procrastinating haha. I've been reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows so I can catch up on everything before the final movie comes out in July. It's still just as great a book as it was when I read it the first time. I couldn't put it down, and my packing had to wait until I finished it. Besides that, I finished up some last-minute shopping, got my oil changed, filled my gas tank, deposited money into my checking, and finally successfully installed my new car cd player/radio (well, my dad did). Unfortunately, the radio has limited reception because the tuner is bad (only one of the many problems my dad and I encountered while installing it), but at least the cd player and iPod connector work, so this drive will be tolerable.

It took us several hours to pack everything in space bags, plastic bins, and boxes, and then cram it into my car. Thank goodness for the car carrier (we had to MacGyver a contraption to keep it on the roof because we ordered the wrong straps), because there's no way all of my stuff plus my parents' suitcase would have fit.

My little car is ready to go! Let's just hope she makes it all the way to FL without trouble!

Alright, well I should go get some sleep before the long drive. I'll be in Florida by Monday evening and my first day of training in Animal Kingdom is Thursday! This is still very surreal, and I don't think it will hit me until I walk through the turnstiles of The Happiest Place On Earth.


Oh, one more thing. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! I'm sure my dad is really excited about spending the whole day driving. :-)

"The invariable mark of a dream is to see it come true."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Packing Strategies and Living Situations

Wow, this summer is flying by! 19 days until I leave for Disney and 23 until I start working!!

On Wednesday, I got my official email with the times I'm supposed to check-in to Cumberland Apartments and to Casting (basically Human Resources) to fill out paperwork (and meet Mickey!!!) on the 23rd. I also have received several emails about how to prepare for hurricane season. Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Pennsylvania anymore...

Legit.

In the past few days, I've worked on cleaning out my closet and drawers because I've realized I have way too many clothes. Although, ultimately, this new-found extra space will be used for my load of Disney clothes that I'll be collecting during my internship. :-)

During this cleaning process, I've started to freak out about packing. How in the world am I going to fit everything into my little Nissan plus have room for my parents, their suitcases, and I???? This is going to be a very uncomfortable ride, I'm sure. We're driving from PA to a family friend's house in South Carolina, sleeping there overnight, and then finishing the drive to Orlando the next day. That means it's about a 17-hour trip altogether. Thank goodness I won't have to make that drive alone when I go back home in January--I'll probably be taking the Autotrain.

To save room, I have some space bags for my clothing, and I may invest in a waterproof roof top cargo bag. That would help A TON! Also, I still need to find some kind of packing list that previous PIs have used. I want to be as prepared as possible so I don't have to buy much stuff when I get to Florida. If you have lived in FL or have any general packing tips for me, please leave me a comment!!

If you're wondering about my living situation, I'll fill you in on where I'll be in Florida. I'm going to live in Cumberland Apartments, which is company-sponsored housing about 15 minutes (without traffic) from Disney. My apartment will either be 2 or 3 bedrooms (with two girls in each room). We have a kitchen (which I've heard is pretty nice), a living room, a dining room, two bathrooms, two walk-in closets, and a utility room (YAY FOR A WASHER AND DRYER!!!).

The awesome thing about that place is it's fully furnished, down to silverware and plates. So at least I won't have to worry about transporting many big things! The only problem is that there's not a whole lot of furniture in the bedroom, so we may have to buy a few things once we're there. The rent is also super expensive, but it's deducted from our payroll, so at least I'll never have to cough up a ton of cash. On a brighter note, I'm stoked about all of the cool things that Cumberland has to offer: a fitness club, a theatre/media room, billiards/game room, b-ball court, 2 pools and spas, picnic area with grills, and a biweekly housekeeping service! I think the price will definitely be worth it in the end. 

I have no clue who my roommates are going to be. I know a bunch of people in the Disney PI facebook group got to know each other a few months ago, and ended up requesting roommates. However, I was a little busy with school work, so I didn't get a chance to know everyone quite as well. Let's just hope my future roomies are nice!

On a completely unrelated note, I have been really bored lately, so I've been watching a lot of movies online. I've decided that I'm going to watch one animated Disney movie every day until the 19th. So far, I've watched Pocahontas, Monsters Inc, Tarzan, The Fox and the Hound, and The Little Mermaid. I have to say, I'm a sucker for Disney movies. My guilty pleasure is singing along to Mulan, Pocahontas, and Aladdin with my friends. Yeah, I'm a dork. I'm ok with it.

Alright, I'm gonna go finish watching The Little Mermaid. If you want, please "follow" my blog on the right hand side of this page. :-)

"If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse." -Walt Disney