Sunday, January 23, 2011

On My Own

  So I completed training! Happy day :). The last day was Thursday on which I trained trash duty or as Disney terms "Dining Room".  I must admit, it really isnt that bad. I take a cart with two empty trash cans, find a full one onstage, switch out, go backstage, empty them into the A Vac and repeat. It's clean up that is disgusting, and I'm not going to say why because I might throw up after recalling what I had to do. Anyhoo my trainer Anthony was surprised that none of us trainee threw up. He said that there is always one. Oh I should probably explain what the A Vac is; it's a huge pipe coming up into the trash room, it sucks the trash from Pecos and takes it away from the Magic Kingom. I dont know where it ends up and I dont want to, I'm just glad that I'm not the person at the other end of the pipe. Ew.

    Now that I've ended training, I've worked filler, drinks and busser. I think busing tables is the best, even though the broom tried to eat my hand. Filler is easy too, I just take the trays from the kitchen's bridge thingy and fill in the rest of the order. So I put the chicken food on, the drinks, cookies, cakes and sour cream packets on. Yesterday while on filler duty, I had order 185 and I couldn't find them anywhere! I walked to each counter and shouted out "185! Your order is here! Order 1-8-5!". No such luck. Luiz has a loud projecting voice, so I got him to bellow out the order, still nothing. We looked at each, and Luiz went to throw out the food. This girl at the front of the line cried out "No!!". Luiz asked her if the food was hers, I thought " You've been standing there the whole time, watching us go up and down the counters and now you realise you're order 185?!!!" She showed us her receipt, she wasn't. Luiz threw out the food and she threw up her hands in exasperation- someone could have eaten that food. About 15 minutes, no joke, later a very angry man comes up, he's been waiting 15 minutes for his food and he wants to know where it is and why it has taken this long. I asked to see his receipt, yup the absentee Order 185 showed up. Luiz explained what happened and promptly got food for him. The man calmed down as I explained that it was me who had called the number. He laughed and said that my voice is very quiet, and he's partially deaf so no wonder why he didn't hear. My voice is quiet?

      Filler position is never dull! One of my fellow cast members noticed that my name tag said BYU ID, so he started asking me about Joseph Smith and his gold Bible, he wanted to know the whole story. So in between trays I managed to give the 1st discussion. He also asked me several questions about the New Testament, like why did the Jews not accept Christ when he lived among them, and which apostle was a tax collector who later became Paul. It felt like I was taking a test but I think I passed!

        This lady came up and wanted an extra iced water, so I got that for her and then she put her hand to her forehead and looked ill. She quickly explained she was diabetic and that could I get her some carbs? I started to say yes when she said that she needed bread right now and fast or she was going to pass out. I scrambled over to the kitchen bridge thingy and braved the kitchen people's wrath as I yelled that I needed a bun really fast. The kitchen people are surly, their favourite thing to to is to shoot the messangers (the fillers) and to move real slow. The only time they move fast is when the managers get annoyed and work along side of them; you really can't slack off with your managers at your side. Luckily the managers had them going so I got the bun pronto and scurried back to the lady. She said thanks and moved off while eating the bun. Whew, close call.

     Drinks is easy too- I scoop ice into a cup and push a certain button, cap the lid on and voila! The order is done. It's not my favourite because it's extremely fast paced, and surprisingly lots of people are picky about how much ice goes into their drink. At the end of a drinks day, my hands smell like Cola; the machine is automatic, I push a button and it knows how much soda to distribute, usually. Sometimes it gives too much and then it spills onto my hands or when I put the lid on, the soda overflows, onto my hands so my hands are always very sticky. And since its so fast paced, I dont have enough time to wash them off. Nasty nasty nasty.

   Last night I did busing tables, first time too! People are more nice I think in the dining room, they've just eaten or have their food so they've had a chance to calm down. Oh story time! I was going around the Siesta Room washing all the tables when I noticed this little girl watching me. More like scrutinizing me actually, I smiled and waved at her but she just stared. I figured that she was trying to figure out the pattern on my apron and went back to washing. When I turned around again, she had taken her napkin and was 'washing' the tables too! Her parents were laughing as she went up on tiptoe to carefully polish the tabletops.

           There are four dining areas; Pairie, Siesta, Corral and Widow Maker which includes the actual Widow Maker room and the Jack Sparrow dining room. Almost all the names make sense, Pairie room is the outside dining area, Jack Sparrow dining room links to the Pirates area of Adventure etc but not Widow Maker. That one I don't get, why would anyone call a dining room that name?

Monday, January 17, 2011

Earning my ears.

   The last couple of days have been crazy- but I'll catch up :D. So I've been doing On the Job Training, which means I learn how to do my jobs while in Pecos' Bill. Basically I'm a shadow during this time. My trainer is Franck, and I call him that because Disney is a first name company. It's a little mind boggling to learn that the CEO of the Company follows Walt Disney's footsteps and walks around the park mingling with the Guests and that if I see him I'm suppose to smile and say "Hi Phil!". Whoooaaa! I'm to call my head head head boss by his first name!

     I'm being trained along with two other girls. Sam is a BYUI CP (college program) just like me and Farah is from a college here in Florida. We're all 'earning our ears', so our name tags have a little red flag on them. It's like a Get Out of Jail Free ticket, it protects me from getting into trouble if I dont know something. I like working with both of them, Sam gets a little hyper after 11 pm. On Saturday we trained to be a filler- once the trays come from the kitchen with fries and the burgers, we fill out the rest of the order and give the tray to the Guests. FIllers get the most interaction with the Guests, most of them are nice and pretty relaxed once they see us with their tray.

   This one man came up and asked if we believed in toothpicks. Once Franck explained. No, I thought 'oh boy! he's going to be the first irate guest of the day!'. Not even close. The man cheerfully recommended that Franck bring the idea of having toothpicks at the next employee meeting and with his great idea, Franck would be made manager. Franck thanked him for the sugguestion, and the man happily wished all of us a to have a great day and walked off. I was shocked at how happy he was even though we couldn't help him get his toothpick, most of the guests are that way too. The only mad Guest was this lady who was really upbeat. She came marching up to the counter but when she started to complain to another Cast Member, she didn't sound mad at all. She just got louder and told us "This is Rip Off City! Thanks for making my day" while waving around her receip, and then stormed off. It was kinda weird. None of the other Cast Members were that concerned though: 1) we dont have any control over the price and 2) she left. I like the filler position.

    Anyhoo, Franck is really nice, and he's so funny, just like most of my coworkers at Pecos' Bill. I like working there even though working the Toppings Bar is way intimidating! I trainedfor that yesterday. I had no clue how fast people could eat tomatoes and lettuce- faster than the rabbits can chew up my mum's callalillies! The topping bar has everything you could possibly want to put on a taco salad or a hamburger, which is why it's so stressful. I have to keep an eye on everything, and once I start to get low, I have to hurry to the back and get everything together. Somethings are stored downstairs or in the back cooler, so that takes a while to find it and then I have to prepare it; drain/cut/wash, wrap it, and label it and then take it out front. Also I have to keep the stations and bowls that I use clean, so it's just like too much at once. Oy, too many things to keep track of and move around.

     I think Franck really enjoys training- he's paid to have us 3 girls follow him everywhere and hang on to his every word like a drowning man does to a floating device. The dish washing guys are pretty funny, when (believe it or not) a slow time comes around and there's nothing for them to do. They start yelling in Spanish and they sing and bang around while randomly shouting "Arriba, Arriba!". I think they're bored just a little bit during parade time. Most of the people speak Creole, Spanish or Portuguese. Franck speaks a little French and I think a couple others do too. Everyone is a big tease around Pecos Bill, Franck pulls on the girls ponytails and whacks the guys around the head, and every girl slaps him upside the head and the guys punch him back. This girl, once she found out who was training us, she looked horrified and told us not to listen to Franck because we end up in big trouble.

     But no worries, this is yet another case of the Disney humour....... which I still dont understand. I thought I was pretty good at being able to tell when people are joking, not anymore. They say everything with such a straight face! I'm pretty sure that I'm going to end up with the nickname of Miss Guillible because Franck will tell us to do something and I go "Really??" and he'll just start laughing and say "Of course! No!!". This is going to take some time to get used to.

    For Sunday I found out two great things! 1, I really can get ready in 15 minutes and look ok. and 2) the water at the church building tastes normal! The water here in Florida is distusting, it smells like a funky combination of sulphur, sewage and chlorine (It's a good thing I brought body spray....) and sadly it tastes just like how it smells. Yuck. I'm going to Wal Mart today and buying a case of water. Well that's it for the weekend. TTFN!

Let the trainings begin!

     Today was another bright and early day! Well ok I confess it was more like a dark and early morning because today I woke up at 5 am. Interesting fact: the couch is more comfortable than my bed. Anyhoo, trainings started at the Disney University again but I soon was transferred to the secret Cast Member entrance to the Magic Kingdom.  There I learned Disney secrets and cool stuff. Sorry, no confession: I am not at liberity to say but it's pretty cool :D.

      We, the new College Program students who are soon to work at the Magic Kingdom, went from the secret place to onstage to the Magic Kingdom. My teachers started to teach us how to create magic. Example, if some one walks up to me and asks,"What's that wire from the Castle?", to create magic I can say something like, "Oh that's not a wire. That's a line that Peter Pan drew in the sky so Tinkerbell can always find her way back to Neverland". Pretty good huh. I can't take credit for it sadly, it's the example the teacher gave to us but I think I shall use it :)

        Our other teacher, Laura, taught us to be mindful of our audience. The example she gave was a story, I think I remember it all but if not I'll just fill in the holes w/ my own, about how the Haunted Mansion came to be in DisneyWorld. Back in the late 1960s when Walt Disney was buying up parcels of land in Florida, his Imagineers came down to start planning what attractions to build and just see what Florida looked like. During their explorations of the land, they found an old but very beautiful mansion hidden away in the middle of the orange groves. No one seemed to know the history of it and since they Imagineers didn't want to tear down the stone mansion, they thought maybe they could somehow include it in the theme park once they knew of its past. After some research and digging around and the findings of journals, the Imagineers found out the history of this lovely building. Be ye warned, it's a bit of a gruesome story.

     A long time ago, in the late 1800s there was a very wealthy family in upstate New York. They had everything they wanted in the world, a sweet young son and wealth beyond anyone's dreams. But their happiness couldn't have lasted, the lovely mother fell, very ill and no doctor could seem to help her. So the only thing left to do was to recommend that the family move south to Florida because back in those days the medical field believed that warmer air would help cure everything they couldn't.

    Once in Florida the family built this huge lovely stone mansion and happiness returned but alas! It couldn't last, the mother fell ill again and died. The father was so heartbroken that his true love died that as it often happen, he too died only 3 months later. The little boy who was only 8 at the time, was left to be raised and cared by the servants.
He grew up ever so lonely and once he turned 18, he wished to travel and see if he could find someone to fill in the loneliness and lighten the shadow of tragedy in his life. Luckily he was very wealthy and could afford to travel all over the United States. Amongst his wanderings he came across a band of gypsies, being supersititious like most people in his time, he asked them to read his palm. They told him that he would find love and his sad heart would trouble him no more. The young man thanked them and went across the river to go an inn at the nearest town. There the first thing he saw was this beautiful young lady. He fell deeply in love with her; true love at first sight!

   The young man began to rapidly court her, and eventually asked her to marry him. She said yes, he also asked her to come to Florida to see where he lived. The girl said yes again and they travelled to Florida ever so happy. But when they got back, he introduced her to the head servant (who had raised him and loved the young man like his own son). The head servant disapproved of the fiancee, there wasn't something right about this whole situation. It had happened too fast and too soon.

    The imagineers found the servant's journals and according to them on the day of the wedding, the groom could be no where to be found! All the servants looked everywhere for him, and then they noticed something- the bride to be was missing too! All of a sudden, a peculiar weeping sound filled the mansion. The head servant realised it was coming from the attic, which was even more strange for no one ever went into the attic. They raced up the many flights of stairs and burst into attic and stopped in horror at the sight that greeted their eyes. The young bride was wailing, she was covered in blood, and the young man was dead! The servants were baffled, what had happened? Want to know the rest? Go on the ride The Haunted Mansion.

    The point of this story is that I can tell it to the adults and teenagers, it makes the ride more fun. But if an already kinda scared child goes up to me, and wants to know why the Mansion is haunted, I dont tell them that story. If I did, the angry parents won't be thanking me. I could just tell them what the Imagineers originally thought the Haunted Mansion to be- a rest or retirement home for 999 ghosts who have way too much fun and energy. Confession: I believed this story to be true until Laura said that the doctors sent the family to Florida and then my disbelief was confirmed when she said that the manservant kept a journal. How long did you believe this story to be true?

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Disney Milieu

Disney Milieu
Today was Traditions, a day where I learned about the standards Disney traditions and heritage were given by Walt Disney's legacy. It's quite the bit to live up to but I think I'm up to the task. The main point of going to Traditions is to learn that being part of Disney is to make other people smile.
This morning I didn't bounce out of bed with a smile, more like a groan; I had a 6:50 am bus to catch. I got ready for the day but didn't really wake up until 6:10 when my roommate (who also had had to have her Traditions class reschedule at the same time as me) knocked on my door and said we were going to be late. I was wide awake that point! Miss Traditions and postpone everything again? Soo not happening on my watch! Before I bolted out the door, my rommie said that we had 5 minutes to get to the bus stop, I looked at my phone which said that it was 6:10 am. Turns outs that the ole 50-sounds-like-15-trick was the culprit in the misunderstanding and the bus really did leave at 6:50 not 6:15 for Traditions.
Traditions was located at the D.U. or Disney University, I don't remember what the building looked like because I was too busy trying not to freeze and fall asleep. But I do remember that the inside of the lobby was really warm :). Our classroom was 104 and I love the decor! They had different Disney characters sketched stenciled on the wall and then they'd put a strip of colour in the middle. So the picture of Mike and Sully had colour only across their heads. It was pretty cool. I wish I had a picture as an example but I'm a Cast Member not a Guest so I somehow dont think that would make a very good impression on my bosses........:D. Besides I'd feel silly acting like a tourist when dressed up trousers and a blouse.
Speaking of silly, I'm really happy that the two girls teaching Traditions didn't have us acting like EFY kids. You know, they come in and ask how everybody is going so everyone says "Fine", "Good" or whatever in a totally acceptable volume of voice for the inside and then the leader says something like, "Awww that was pathetic! Come on, HOW IS EVERYONE DOING?" and then once people get the hint and scream back "WE'RE DOING GREAT!" and they show their satisfaction by yelling, "MUCH BETTER!". It's fun and everything when you're dressed in cut off holey jeans and flip flops, but you feel very silly doing that when wearing nylons and trousers.
Traditions was so much fun! We covered how to have integrity whilst working and heard a message from Bob Iger (the top executive president) talking about how important it is to uphold the Disney image. Next we assigned a team leader for each table. My leader was named Rem, short for Rememington. I think his mother was a Rememington Steele fan. Next we covered a bunch of important historic dates from Disney history. Like what year Walt was born, who Oswald the luck rabbit was, the year that the first Disney Store opened and things like that. I'm proud to say I knew most of them. Yay me! The girl next to me was a huuuggeee Disney fan too :D so we had fun gushing over Disney. We next learned about the Disney goal: to make happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for all ages everywhere. We also learned about the 4 important cornerstones of how to accomplish this goal; Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficency. One of our teachers asked us to appoint a scribe, every one in my group pointed to me because I have semi nice handingwriting (I think).
We travelled to the Magic Kingdom via the special cast member route, I found out that as scribe I got to write down examples of those 4 things from what I saw exemplified in the park. I had soo many written down! The other girl in my group laughed at my reaction when we first appeared in Main Street, I was super excited because this was my first time in Disney World! Not be cliched but it was magical!! But as wonderful this was, something even better happened next! Once we finished at the Magic Kingdom, we went back to the classroom and restarted the lecture, someone knocked on the door! Our teachers looked puzzled, who could that be?
It was Mickey Mouse! He came up to the classroom with a gift (our Disney IDs!) and wanted to know how was our learning coming along. So the teachers said great and asked Mickey if he wanted to hear what we've learned . Yes was his answer. Our teachers asked who was the Company's founder, "Walt" was the answer. As a prize the boy was given a Donald Duck figurine. One teacher asked Mickey if he wanted to help give out the prizes, of course he wanted to. The next question was "What is the Company's goal?" I was picked and I answered and Mickey Mouse gave me a figurine of himself ! :D My day was made! Oh lol so before the teacher asked the next question, she told Mickey to plug his ears. He just cocked his ears , looked at her and stepped back in surprise. She insisted and he put his hands kinda over his ears. So she asked what was the name that preceded Mickey's name, and a girl answered "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit!". At the mention of Oswald, Mickey really did plug his ears! While that was correct, it wasnt what our teacher was looking for, it was really how Mickey was originally going to be named Mortimer.
After Mickey left, we learned about making sure we go the extra mile to make our Guests happy, and not spoil the magic that we all work so hard to create. Like doing something nice or being really friendly to the Guests because that's what they will remember the most. It's true, and besides who wants to ruin someone else's holiday? They really stressed to keep the magic alive for everyone, no matter what their age is. So that means no what your age is, if you're going to ask me how many Mickey Mouses there are, I'm going to tell you, "Just one, it's Mickey Mouse not Mickey Mice afterall". Well once I'm not a Cast Member I can, right now I'd probably just smile and say " There's only one Mickey"; part of keeping the magic is done by not being smart mouthed to the Guests........I may or may not have to work on that one........
Soo once we were done learning about well, everything! We got our our name tags!!!!!! WHEEE!!! I'm offically part of the Disney team now :D :D :D!!! This is a pretty deal :D Once my roommie and I got out of Traditions and I sorted out the rest of my schedule, we did the only sane, normal thing that a brand new member of the Disney team would do- we headed over to the parks! We actually went to the Magic Kingdom because my roommate wanted to see my face when I first spotted the Cinderella Castle. GORGEOUS!
We got on Space Mountain, and just like everything else, it weirded me out! For almost everything is really similar to Disneyland but it's different. Like Main Street's building's colours are similar and positioned closely to Main Street USA but they're huge! It's kinda like Disneyland on steroids at Disneyworld. Oh so confession: I like Disneyland's Space Mountain definitely better than Disney World's. DW's Space isn't dark so you can see the tracks and the music is quirky and the ride is slow! It's like you're slowly spiralling down whereas DL's Spce is fast, has matching music playing and is exciting. But I still liked DW's Space :D.
I did a bit of shopping, literally a bit cause I bought a purse and a ID holder. And so tonight I really did find out that one can cut up potatoes with a mere butter knife. I still dont recommend it. But I got home and realised that unless I tried, I would be eating baked beans for the 4th meal in a row. I shuddered and quickly went to work.
Well that's pretty much it for today's Grand Adventure. Tomorrow I get to wake up at 5 am. I haven't had to wake up before 7 for a class since I graduated from Seminary! Still, I think I'm going to love it here. TTFN!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

It rains even in the Magic Kingdom but the sun will come to shine

       The title of this entry is a bit misleading if read the literal way, because no, it did not rain in Orlando today. This rain is the same rain referred to in the phrase "Don't rain on my parade". I wish there was an umbrella invented that kept this kind of rain off my parades.

      But no worries! Today's rain was a minor set back; my background check is taking longer than usual so I was cancelled for today's event: Traditions. Traditions is very important for any Cast member because you get to learn about Disney's heritage( and other cool stuff that I didn't get to discover) and most importantly on completion of Traditions you receive the *pass*. Big moment, dont underestimate. Once you receive the pass for with the pass you can go into the parks for free, receive discounts and more so you get to start training and working for Disney. So how did this happen?

        Well it happened just like this. I got up today or rather bounced up today and got all ready and dressed up for Traditions. My roommate and I had it scheduled the same day so we were walking out our appartment and down the street when her phone rang. It was Disney phoning to say that her background check wasnt finished so she couldnt go to Traditions. Once she hung up and explained to me the situation, I gave out my sympathies because really, this thing bites! No sooner than I had closed my mouth then my phone starting to ring. Nooooo!! But yes, same thing. My roommate and I stared at each other with sagged shoulders.

          When the background check results haven't come through, it means that you're kinda stuck in limbo. You can't start training or orientation or work, you can't go into the parks either. You do, on the good side, have plenty of free time, especially with no TV or DVD player. Not having those things means lots and lots of free time. My roommate and I spent the day at Downtown Disney admiring the merchandise and chatting.

           I saw lots of beautiful things at Downtown Disney. My top item would be the cutest Minnie Mouse apron! It was red with white polka dots and a darling white ruffle. Awww, I want it. :D Then I saw these huge gorgeous Thomas Kinkade Disney paintings! Oh my they were spectacular! The one of Peter Pan is breath taking. The crocodile, Hook, Smee and the Lost Boys are hidden with in the clouds and if the painting is large enough one can see Nana floating above the roof tops. I didn't know this but Disney also makes baseball bats! Cool but weird. Ohh but that isnt as weird as the jacket I saw in the sports store; it had Tigger on it but it was an angry Tigger! Tigger and angry just don't go together. They just done. It's like positivism and Eeyore going together. It aint right, it aint natural.

          Later today my roommate got a call from Disney; she was back on track with the reschedulation of her Traditions class. Half an hour passed and no such luck for me. I sighed because it seems that Murphy's Law rules my life with an iron fist. Hakuna Matata because I got a call from Disney! So both my roommate and I have Traditions tomorrow, at 6:50 am. Boo ya! I'm back on track too :D.

         Random part: my kitchen doesnt have any knives besides a butter knife. I found this out when I went to make potato salad for my dinner. Yeah, butter knives really don't cut potatoes that well. I'm assumming this because I actually didnt try to slice/dice up raw potatoes up with one. Some days I be smart :P. So all in all, it was a grand adventure today. I think I'm going to love it here. TTFN!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Disney Confessions 101

I am a Disney fanatic. There I confessed, it's a bit unnecessary because anyone who spends 10 minutes within my presence can automatically tell that for themselves especially if they say the D word or 'Disney'. Last school semester I realised that I would need a job and the last place I worked at had gone out of business. No good, well actually very good because I hated....er didnt find highly favourable. But in any case I needed a job.


   And where should a Disney fanatic work at? Disney of course! So I applied and got accepted. My mum and I flew to Florida on Sunday. That in itself was an adventure. We woke up waaay early, 3:30 AM (!) to catch our flight from California to Wiscousin. You know, opnce I had left Idaho I had promised myself that I wouldn't see snow anymore until April. Ha. That promise was broken the minute I looked out the plane's window when we landed. All I could see what landscape that looked suspiciously cold. After some running around and a few misdirections Mum and I found our plane that took us to Orlando. Ahhh much better! The only white cold stuff around were the fluffy white clouds.

             Once we landed, we took the Magic Express to our hotel resort. The All Star Music Resort is gorgeous! Each pair of buildings has a different musical theme; our building was the Jazz Inn. The rooms are very nice and on one bed the towels were arranged in the shape of Mickey Mouse! Very nice, n'est-ce pas?
 We were going to head out to explore Downtown Disney but we ended up in the resort's gift shop, close enough. There were lots of fun things to admire and well want to buy.


        So an already too long story made short, I'm in Florida right now to work at Disney World! Confession: I am working at the Magic Kingdom at Pesco Bill's Cafe. Exciting? Definitely. Hmm I think I'll make this too long blog even longer, I'm going to write about my Grand Adventure of Day 1 at Disney.


         Day 1 was an adventure, I got to ride in a taxi, (first time ever) and travel to the Disney appartments and fill out a ton of paperwork. Maybe not a ton but close enough. I met alot of nice people there, lots of BYUI students too. When I went to the counter to get my house complex assigned, the lady told me that the guy before me was BYUI also. She had him going that she was a psychic; when he came to the counter she asked him how he liked BYUI and he was amazed. How did she know he asked. He was wearing a sweater shirt w/ BYUI written on the front. I guess he forgot he was wearing it :D. Disney put most of the BYU students at Chatham. Once we were done at here, we took a bus to Casting.

  A hundred lines later in the Casting Building, I got my ID card. I didnt mind the lines though, the murals are beautiful and there were lots of shiny gold statues of the main Disney characters. Yay for shiny! Oh so one of the statues were of Roger Rabbit, it took me a bit to realise who it was, one doesn't see Roger Rabbit that much so I was excited to see him. After I finished giving out my John  Hancock at Casting, I dragged my luggage to Chatham- that's my appartment complex. Later that day I met my roommies. My suitemate is a fellow BYUI student, and the other two are from BYU Hawaii. I think we're going to get along swell :).


           I think I mastered the bus schedule :D Totally by accident too. I accidently left my scriptures at the hotel room so I had to figure out what bus to take to get them. My mom couldnt take them, not only was there no room in her carry on but turns out that taking scriptures thru security is not a good idea. The gilded edges on the pages makes them glow funny under the scanner. I dont recommend having anything be funny in the airport; it gets you a quick trip to the TSA. And we all know what that means. Well I think that sums up the fun from Day 1!

        Day 2 started out with a housing meeting at the Commons. The Commons is housing for international students, and their clubhouse is beautiful! The courtyard has a raised stone fountain and a gym. The gym they can keep but I really liked the fountain. The meeting covered the basics rules and explanations of how the appartments were ran. Afterwards my roommates and I decided to go out and explore. And most importantly, explore somewhere that was conviently near food. We took a bus to go to Crossroads, the name made my suitmate and I laugh; at BYUI the school's foodplace is also called the Crossroads.

      So when I said I mastered the bus system, I now know that I must have lied. We ate at CiCi's, a pizza buffet like Craigos, that has a delicious apple dessert pizza. Afterwards we were walking around while waiting for the bus came, it didnt. After waiting for awhile we realised our mistake. We didn't get off at the Crossroads stop but rather the post office stop. And since the post office closed around 5, and it was 6 something the bus route had finished for the day. We were stranded! Luckily one of my roommates has a sister that works for Disney and also she luckily had a car and was luckily done with her shift. So she came by to pick us up/save us.  She recommends that we learn the bus system or always bring a bus schedule. I think she may have a good point there :D.

            Last story of Day 2, I figured out to get my appartment wireless internet so we don't need ethernet cables! Yes, moi the girl who has trouble with technology due to an acute case of OES (operator's error syndrome). Ok ok ok, I didnt do it completely by myself...........oh fine! I'll confess- I was walked through the process baby-step by baby-step by the very patient and helpful technical staff. But still! By the time I was off the phone, we had wireless so I get some credit, right?

     Well that sums up the The Grand Adventures of a Disney Fanatic for Day 1 and 2! You know, I think I'm going to love it here. TTFN!