Katie is Back!!!

The wifi is finally working here at our apartment so I am back from the dead to update you!! A LOT has happened in the past three weeks so I will be probably be posting multiple updates to cover everything. 
Okay so the day after check-in I had a housing meeting, which was just a short meeting about rules of the complex and safety. It was sort of fun, they gave us copies of the DCP newsletter and gave away free DCP merch for answering questions. Then I came home and went to Walmart again with Claudia because I had not had half enough time the night before to get everything I needed! I finished setting up my room that night and got all settled in.

On Wednesday the fourth, I didn't have anything to do so Ashley drove Sydney and I to the Milenia Mall. It was very fancy, and made me think of a lot of the malls I used to shop at in California. However, all the stores were a little out of my price range so I didn't end up buying anything.


 Then we headed over to Downtown Disney, where we checked out all the shops and took fun photos.


Finally, I had traditions on Thursday the fifth!! I was the first one of all my roommates to go, so I had to be up at 5:30 to catch the 6:55 bus. It was not enjoyable but as I quickly learned, it was not to be the first time I was up that early.

I took the special events bus from the welcome center, but apparently I could have taken an A or B bus from the normal station as well. 

My Traditions Outfit!

Upon arrival at Disney University, we were split into 3 groups and taken into a large room with beautiful Disney murals on the walls.

During the class we spent a lot of time introducing ideas and topics that will be repeated and covered more in depth later in training--things like "safeD begins with me" and "the four keys" and "you create happieness!" 

Everyone got some great free goodies and little disney prizes for answering questions, and a surprise visit from a special friend...it was so fun! It was very long though, my class ran a little over 5 hours long. The walking part of the class was longer than I expected though, which was nice because I really loved being able to see everything that we did (I'm not telling what it was so as not to ruin the surprise!). I think the very best part was getting our WDW nametag at the very end...oh and our Disney ID's to get into the parks! 


None of my roommates were done with traditions yet, so I went to Epcot with my new friend Cailey who I met during the class! We went on Mission Space first thing, and then walked around all of the countries.

 It was so beautiful there when the sun came out! 

Then we hopped on the monorail to MK for an hour or so where we spent some time on main street shopping and wandered around adventureland and frontierland and got some lovely sunset photos! But since we had both been up since 5:30 for traditions, we were tired so we got on the monorail to the Grand Floridian to catch a cast bus back to Vista. We then proceeded to wait over an hour for a bus, which was not enjoyable, especially since the temperature started dropping rapidly at that point and we were all alone in the cast parking lot! I will definitely be carching a bus from the Polynesian or Contemporary in the future because waiting at the Grand was not enjoyable.



Friday morning dawned bright and early--Sydney and I both had the day off and we were heading to MK!:)
We went on Peter Pan and went through the new interactive Queue which was so adorable! Honestly I didn't even notice I was waiting in line because I was enjoying walking through the Darlings house so much! 

Then we rode Big Thunder Mountain, which was actually a first for me, and was quite enjoyable. 

We caught a few more smaller rides before lunch at Pinocchio's Village Haus where I got some amazing bread called Garlic Pesto Bread Knots for 4$! 

Then we went around Storybook Circus and did a little shopping there before heading up to Main Street to meet Tinker Bell and wait for the other girls to meet us, who had finally got out of their traditions class. 

Later, we also watched the Festival of Fantasy Parade, which was beautiful, and went to the Hall of Presidents, which was also a first for me. 

Then Megan, Abby and Claudia arrived and we went to Cosmic Rays for dinner, and met the Little Mermaid! Then Sydney left because she was tired and had to be up early, and we went on to ride Pirate of the Carribean and Haunted Mansion. We took photos in the tangled area, and then headed up to main street to meet Ashley for Wishes! 
After the amazing fireworks we swam upstream through the exiting crowds to get in line for the new seven dwarves mine train ride, and got on with only a 45 minute wait. It was so adorable, and so smooth! The ride queue was also fun, though chilly since it was all outdoors. Then we had one last ride, Buzz Lightyear before heading out for the night. But it would still be a long time before we were home! We took a resort bus to the Polynesian (no more Grand Floridian!) and then had to wait 45 minutes for our cast bus to take us back to Vista. We did eventually make it back though, around 12:30am, which was lovely since I had to be up at 5:00am the next morning! #theresnosleepingindisney

I will upload the photos for the next part hopefully tomorrow so check back soon to get the rest of the scoop on my Disney Life:D