Move In, Check In, & Casting

I've had a busy few days since my last post! On Monday I moved into my apartment with my roommates, Allie and Megan. It was a crazy day of unpacking, shopping, and assembling furniture! The day was even crazier because a Tropical Storm came through the area. Luckily, I was able to get all of my furniture and belongings inside before it started raining, so I stayed pretty dry during the storm!

We moved into a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom apartment in Davenport, Florida, which is about 20 minutes from Disney property. The area is very nice and the apartment is fantastic! I had a blast decorating and trying to make my bedroom my own. We still have some more decorating to do in the common areas, but the apartment is definitely coming together very nicely and I'm thrilled to be living with Megan and Allie again.

I also had to say goodbye to my parents and sister this week. They left the day after move-in, so the night before they left the four of us went out to our last family dinner for a while. We ate at Olivia's which is the restaurant at Old Key West Resort. Dinner was really good and we even experienced a magical moment while at dinner. My parents actually became Disney Vacation Club members and owners at Old Key West during their honeymoon 25 years ago. When we were talking to the waitress about this, she decided to make some magic for us during dessert! They made a toast to my parents and brought them out complimentary champagne and gave them a customized picture of the resort as a gift! We also all took a picture together with the chef, the manager of the restaurant, and some of the Cast Members working. It was honestly so much fun and I was so excited that my family got to experience a magical moment before leaving Disney!

Thanks to the amazing staff at Olivia's for making some magic for my family!

So, after moving in, saying goodbye to my family, and getting reacquainted with the Orlando area, I officially started my internship experience today! I had a Casting appointment at 11:30 this morning where I was fingerprinted, hired, and given more information about my training schedule. Basically, once you complete your Casting appointment, you are officially hired on by the Disney Team (assuming you pass your background check, of course!) Casting was so easy today. I was in and out of the building in less than 20 minutes, which is pretty incredible considering that during my College Program it took me two hours to get through Casting. I think the process is much easier and quicker for PI's because there are fewer of us, which is great for me! 

The Casting Center

Now I am officially checked in and ready to begin my internship. Tomorrow I will attend The Gathering to meet up with the fellow ASE interns and meet the ASE managers. I'll get the rest of my training schedule tomorrow before I have Traditions on Saturday morning. Be on the lookout for many more posts coming soon because the next few weeks are going to be so exciting as I start my dream internship!

Hello, Orlando!

I've made it! After about a 15 hour drive from Pennsylvania I am finally here in Orlando!

Yesterday my mom, sister, and I drove all the way from Philadelphia to St. Augustine, Florida. It was a really long day, but we felt very accomplished to have made it to Florida in one day's worth of driving. We left at 4:00am and arrived in St. Augustine around 6:30pm, so needless to say it was an exhausting day. Thankfully, because we got all the way to St. Augustine on the first day, we had a less than 2 hour drive to Orlando this morning! As soon as we arrived, we headed right to the furniture store to buy me a mattress, dresser, and sofa! It was super exciting to be able to pick out my own furniture (I felt like an actual adult) and I was so relieved that we were able to work it out so that my stuff could be delivered on Monday morning to my apartment. After furniture shopping, we grabbed some lunch, went to the grocery store to buy some things for my family for the weekend, and then checked into our hotel. After finally relaxing for a few hours, we headed to Disney Springs (still not sure if I can get used to its new name) for dinner and a fun evening! Disney Springs was almost completely unrecognizable to me - they've made so many changes and improvements since my last visit 2 years ago! It looks fantastic though, and I'm so excited to see how it all comes together once it is completely finished.

Welcome to Disney Springs!

We ate at Paradiso 37, which was somewhere new for all of us! The atmosphere was a lot of fun, the music was great, and we had a beautiful view of the sunset. The minute I saw the sunset I immediately fell in love with Florida all over again. I had to practically pinch myself when I realized I get to call this beautiful state home for the next year (and hopefully longer)!

The first of many Florida sunsets (the pictures doesn't even begin to capture the beauty!)

Tomorrow and Sunday we plan to do some last minute shopping and hopefully hit the Disney parks! There's a tropical storm that is supposed to make landfall in Florida soon, so it looks like a lot of rain is in the forecast for this weekend, but we're hoping to snag a few nice hours in the parks before the torrential downpour reaches Orlando.

I'm so thrilled to actually be here, IN ORLANDO(!), and ready to start this next chapter of my life. I hope you all enjoy following my Disney Dream, because I know for sure I am going to enjoy living it!

One Week

It's officially one week until check-in for my professional internship and about 6 hours before I leave my home in Pennsylvania and embark on my move to Florida! My mom, sister, and I are getting up bright and early to leave for the ~20 hour road trip to Florida! The cars are all packed (that's right - we needed two!) and I am completely ready to go. I'm so excited to finally be moving, but I'm also nervous! I need to buy a bunch of furniture down there plus go shopping for groceries and other basic supplies and I'm nervous there won't be enough time to get everything done.

Our plan is to drive all day tomorrow (Thursday) until we get to a decent stopping point for the night. Then, Friday we will finish the drive to Orlando, check in to our hotel, and go furniture shopping! I need a new mattress, sofa, and dresser, so we will definitely be busy. The plan on Saturday is to finish up any shopping we need to do and hopefully make it over to one of the parks before dinner time! Then, on Sunday, we are going to spend the entire day de-stressing in the Magic Kingdom! We even have dinner planned at the Grand Floridian with one of my roommates and her dad. I'm sure by Sunday we will all be exhausted and in need of a break. Finally, Monday I get to move in to my new apartment! I'm so excited to see what it looks like and how my roommates and I can make it our new home!

Next Wednesday (June 8), I officially start my professional internship. I have an 11:30 appointment at Casting where I will be filling out all my new hire paperwork and getting fingerprinted and officially "hired" by the company. I have a busy week of training after that, so look out for more posts about the start of my marine mammal professional internship!

I'm so thankful that I got to spend a little over a week at home saying goodbye to all my family and friends and getting to do some last minute Pennsylvania things (like going to a Phillies game!) before it was officially time to leave. Now I'm off to my new adventure, and I could not be more excited for what lies ahead! Keep checking back to find out more about my Florida adventures, and as always, keep on dreaming!