3rd Family Visit

Over Memorial Day weekend, my family came down again to visit me in Disney World! During this visit, we stayed at the Beach Club Resort. I was able to get to spend 2.5 entire days with them, and during those days we spent time at the pool (which is the largest resort pool on Disney property), did a little bit of shopping, and of course, went to the parks! I also was able to spend time with them before/after I worked, which was nice. It's so much better to go back to a nice resort and good dinner after work than back to my apartment where I make myself a lackluster dinner!

Outside the Beach Club

When I went to Animal Kingdom with my family, we got VIP seating to watch Finding Nemo! We also ate at Yak & Yeti and went on the Maharajah Jungle Trek. In Epcot, we ate at Coral Reef and Le Cellier and watched Illuminations. At Magic Kingdom, my sister's friend, Jenn, was celebrating her 18th birthday, so my family was able to spend the entire day together, including eating breakfast at Cinderella's Castle with the princesses and riding the Seven Dwarves Mine Train on the first day it opened! Finally, before I drove them to the airport, we had breakfast at Cape May Cafe with Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. It was awesome to spend some time with my family and show them what it's like to live and work in Disney. 

Breakfast in Cinderella's Castle

The best part about saying goodbye to my family this time is that I get to see them again in less than a week! This Thursday, I am flying home for a week to help celebrate my sister's high school graduation. Obviously, I am beyond thrilled to be going home for a mini-vacation and to be able to see my extended family and friends from home, and MY DOG AND CAT!!!! 

Stay tuned for more exciting posts, and as always, keep on dreaming!

2nd Family Visit

A large part of the reason I was so behind in my posting was that just last week I received my second visit from my mom and dad! It was awesome to see my parents, and this time, they stayed for an entire week, so I had plenty of mom and dad time to myself!

For this visit, we stayed at Bay Lake at the Contemporary Resort. I love staying here because it's within walking distance to Magic Kingdom AND has a monorail run right through the Contemporary, so it's easy to get to Epcot as well! Also, the resort is just really nice and has an all around great feel to it.

I did a lot of fun things during their visit! The first day included a trip to the Kennedy Space Center, which was so much cooler than I expected! I was expecting a museum type thing, but it was actually its own park! We got to see a lot of cool exhibits, including the Atlantis Space Shuttle and the Space Shuttle Launch Center. If you're ever in the Orlando area and have some time to spend away from Disney World, I highly recommend the Kennedy Space Center!

During their visit, we also had a trip to Gatorland. I have to say, Gatorland was not my favorite place, but please keep in mind that these thoughts are coming from me, a conservation biology major who wants to go into the animal training and care field. I personally thought that the conditions in Gatorland were not up to the standards that they should be. I was really against the use of gators for certain forms of entertainment (like paying $8 to sit on a gator... is that even humane???). However, while Gatorland was extremely cheesy and not my personal cup of tea, I have to admit that they did try their best to spread conservation messages to the public. And hey, my dad loved it!

I also had the chance to cross something off my bucket list during the visit - scuba diving in The Seas! The experience was AMAZING. If you're ever going to scuba dive, I highly recommend The Seas! It is like luxury diving; you don't have to clean or put away your equipment, you get a towel handed to you as you get out, and you have a warm shower waiting for you immediately! In addition to the great Guest service that Disney provided for the experience, actually getting into the tank and diving was awesome. I felt like a celebrity because I got to go up to the windows and wave to all of the Guests! I even had some people take pictures of me! Aside from all of the people watching and waving, I got to swim alongside sharks, stingrays, and sea turtles. Honestly, this was one of the best things I've done on my program. If you are scuba certified YOU MUST GO DIVING IN THE SEAS!!!! Take my word for it, it's well worth it!

Your local celebrity Megan scuba diving in The Seas

Finally, my parents were amazing and scheduled a fireworks cruise for us and some of my friends! We got to meet at the dock at the Contemporary Resort and take our own private boat out into Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks. Afterwards, we all got to hang out at the top of Bay Lake Resort at the Top of the World bar and lounge. It's reserved exclusively for vacation club members staying at Bay Lake Tower, so we felt really special that we even got to go up there! Plus, the views of the Magic Kingdom were amazing. The whole thing was awesome, and I was so glad to get to spend some time with both my friends and family. It was a beautiful night with great people!

My friends and I on the boat

Wishes from the Seven Seas Lagoon

In addition to all of our fun activities, I also had the opportunity to eat in some great restaurants with my parents, including Narcoossee's (Grand Floridian), California Grill (Contemporary), Tutto Ristorante (Italy - Epcot), Fifty's Prime Time Cafe (Hollywood Studios) and Le Cellier (Canada - Epcot). All of these restaurants are great and I most definitely recommend them. Plus, they are all excellent dining experiences in the Walt Disney World Resort, and it's always nice to get spoiled a little bit while on vacation!

So, to summarize, I had a great time with my family when they came to visit me. Thanks once again, Mom and Dad, for a great visit and for all of the fun things we did! You guys are both the best!

Love you guys!

And to the rest of you, thanks for sticking with me and reading this whole post! If you have any questions or need recommendations for activities from me, please let me know! I love to help other people plan their fun vacations/visits/etc. 

Until next time... keep on dreaming

The Kitchen Sink!

One of the huge things on my bucket list for the DCP was to eat the kitchen sink. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to say that I can cross that off my list! All of the CPs in my work location met up one night last week and headed over to the Beach Club to share some ice cream and hang out outside of Nemo!

The kitchen sink is a specialty at Beaches & Cream Soda Shop which is a small restaurant located in the Beach Club Resort. It's one scoop of all of their ice cream flavors, every single topping they have, and a whole can of whipped cream served in a bowl shaped just like a kitchen sink! They have sirens and lights that go off when they deliver it to your table and they make a big deal about the fact that you are attempting the kitchen sink!

Of course, my coworkers and I just ordered two kitchen sinks and split them among ourselves. They say that it serves 4 people, but we had a hard time finishing them with 6 people per sink! It's A LOT of ice cream! Nevertheless, we all had a great time and it was so nice to bond with my coworkers outside of the theater!

Here it is, in all its glory

The Nemo CPs after the Kitchen Sink!

1st Family Visit!

For the past few days, I got to experience the Guest side of Walt Disney World again when my family came to visit me! On Wednesday night, I checked into the Boardwalk Villas (we are vacation club members) for them and got the room all ready with groceries, the air mattress, and the presents I bought for them! Their flight landed, we had dinner on the Boardwalk, and then we relaxed in the room until it was time for bed. 

Disney's Boardwalk Resort

The next day, my mom, sister, her friend, and I got up early and went to Magic Kingdom. We ended up spending most of the day there! It was really nice to spend some time there with my family. We had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, and then after lunch I left for a brief period to go to my class! We met again for dinner at the Polynesian Resort and ate at the Kona Cafe before going back to the Magic Kingdom and watching Wishes from Main Street USA.

Wishes from Main Street USA

The next day, we all split up, but my mom and I headed to Hollywood Studios for the morning. We saw the Beauty and the Beast show, The Little Mermaid show, rode Tower of Terror, went on the Great Movie Ride, watched One Man's Dream, and grabbed lunch at Pizza Planet. After this, we hopped on the boat to Epcot and met up with my dad. We ended up walking around the countries and enjoying the different sites. We even met some more characters for my character challenge along the way!

That night, we all went back to our resort early, because we had to get ready for dinner at Victoria  & Albert's! This restaurant is located in Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and is the only 5-star restaurant on property. Needless to say, dinner was amazing, and definitely an experience I will not forget. 

My mom and I before dinner

Unfortunately, the next day I had to work, but that didn't stop my family from coming to visit me at Finding Nemo! They came to one of my shows and had premium seats, got to meet some of my coworkers, and saw me in action! Later that night, after my shift was over, we went to Hollywood Studios and had dinner in Mama Melrose's and then watched Fantasmic that night! It was a great day, even though I had to split my time between work and family!

My sister's selfie with me at work

The next morning was supposed to be my last night with my family, but because of all of the crazy winter weather at home (Philadelphia) their flight home was cancelled, so they were forced to stay another day in Disney! It definitely was not a disappoint to me! We had to move hotels because the Boardwalk did not have any more rooms, so we switched to Disney's Old Key West Resort. I love Old Key West, so I was happy to have the extra time with my family at one of my favorite resorts on property. After work that day, I came back to Old Key West and had an Oscar's "party" with my mom in the room. The party basically consisted of us ordering pizza and watching the entire awards show in our pajamas, but I still had a blast!

Unfortunately, our time together had to come to an end, so when I left for work this morning, I had to say goodbye to my family. Luckily for me, we were able to eat a character breakfast at 1900 Park Faire in the Grand Floridian this morning before I had to clock in. We got to meet Alice, Mary Poppins, Mad Hatter, Pooh, and Tigger! It was a great way to end my mini "vacation" with my family. 

Mom, Dad, Colleen, and Katie - thanks for an awesome trip and visit! I miss you guys already, and can't wait to see you again!

Luckily for me, my parents are coming for another visit in 33 days! (yay for vacation club!!!)

So, there's the summary of my first family visit. I had a wonderful time, and am looking forward to many more great memories here on the Disney College Program, both with my friends and family! (:

Be Our Guest!!!

This morning, my roommates and I got up early and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. This was one of the few and rare times that we all weren't working at the same time, so we decided to go to Be Our Guest for lunch! The restaurant is located inside the Beast's castle in the New Fantasyland, and it is beyond beautiful. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was fantastic! My only recommendation is to get there as soon as they open, because the line gets ridiculously long! Additionally, Be Our Guest is a quick service restaurant for lunch and a full service one for dinner, so keep that in mind when trying to eat there. Also, I'm done another thing from my bucket list!!!

Here are some pictures: