Disney Survey

It's been a sloooow week. All of my friends are either out of town for the summer or working too much to hang out, and there's not much going on at work, either. And you may wonder why I haven't been writing more if I've got all of this free time. Well, the answer is that there's not much going on with the CP, either. So I just haven't had anything to write about.

But rather than go yet another weekend without posting anything, I decided that I would post my answers to a little Disney survey. I wanted to do one of these surveys before I left, because I have a sneaking suspicion that my experience at Disney World will shift my opinions on a lot of this. For example, I may love the Wishes Fireworks show now, but if I end up working on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom and have to hear the song a million times before the end of my program...well, I may not be loving that particular show so much anymore. So I wanted a record of just how much I loved "When You Wish Upon a Star" before it was ruined for me. :)

I plan to do this survey again towards the end of my program, to see how much things have changed. So let's get to it!

I got this survey from SurveyDumpster.com, and took out some of the questions that I thought were boring and/or stupid. Use the comments section to share your answers! (or to let me know how bad my taste is for liking The Emperor's New Groove. Either way.)

Movies
Which movie is your favorite? The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Which movie has the best story? Beauty and the Beast
Which movie did you laugh the most at? The Emperor's New Groove (I know, I know, but hey! This is my survey, and I can like whatever movies I want :P )
Which movie made you cry? The Lion King. And, full disclosure, here, not just the first time I saw it, either.
What is your favorite song from the movies? Tough one! Probably "When You Wish Upon a Star." It's such a classic!
If you were sucked into one of the Disney movies, which would you prefer? Sleeping Beauty, I suppose. The landscapes are gorgeous!
Which Disney movie probably shouldn't have been made? The Black Cauldron. What? You've never heard of it? My point exactly.
Are you sick of the sequels? No! I love seeing them pimp out my childhood friends. (kidding!)

The Parks
Have you ever been to Disneyland? Nope.
Have you ever been to Disney World? 4 times.
Have you been to any of the other Disney Parks around the world? Nope.
Which park is the best? Of the parks at WDW, I'd probably say Magic Kingdom. But that's just today. Tomorrow, who knows?
What's your favorite ride? Tower of Terror
What's your least favorite ride? Um...Tomorrowland Speedway? Never ridden it, but it looks pretty lame. Test Track has its moments, but it's definitely the biggest waste of time in the parks if the line is long.
Who have you been to Disney with? My family.
Would you go back? Maybe. August seems like a good time to go. ;)
Did you get autographs and/or pictures with your favorite characters? Of course!
Which character is your favorite picture with? My favorite character picture out of all our trips isn't even of me. My favorite picture is the one where my 14 year old brother, who refused to take pictures with any characters, saw Alice from Alice in Wonderland and rushed over to get his picture taken because she was hot. Boys. lol
Would you ever work for Disney? Hey, that's a great idea! :)
Would you remember where they were if you went back? Yeah. It's not that hard, really.
Which is the best show at Disney? It's sort of a tie between Fantasmic and Wishes. But I'll give the edge to Fantasmic because they provide you with some fairly comfortable seating instead of expecting you to sit on the sidewalk.
Which is the best restaurant? I really like the Garden Grill at Epcot. It's a small, comparably quiet restaurant, and the food is pretty good for in-park. Plus, it has a cool revolving dining room!
Which is the best hotel on Disney property? I've only ever stayed at the Value resort, but the Animal Kingdom Lodge would be my first choice if money was no object. (Savannah view room, of course!)

Getting my DIY On

Lately, I've been feeling very crafty. I used to do lots of crafts, even knitting and crocheting, but it's been a long time since I've had a real project to work on, and I'm really starting to get the itch. Part of my newfound inspiration could be my recent gorge on old Design*Sponge DIY posts. They're always entertaining, and their ideas are adorable, but at the same time make me want to smack myself in the forehead for not thinking of it myself.

I'm also thinking of how I can use these ideas in my apartment in Florida. Some of them are definitely ones that I'm going to tackle, and soon.

First, I'm going to try out the "Paper Coasters/Trivets" project from Design*Sponge.

I was using one lonely hand-me-down glass coaster rescued when my mom decided to get a new set for herself. Until, that is, it got wrapped up in my computer cord, and crashed to the floor. So now I have no coasters, and I'm thinking that my old N*Sync and Britney Spears CD cases would go to good use if I used them to make these coasters. (After I remove and carefully store the CDs elsewhere, of course. ;))

And this project from Photojojo is going to have me scavenging for glass jars for months, I fear:

Super cute, right? And this is one of those projects where I go "why didn't I think of that?". I'm seeing a lot more jelly, pickles, and other things that come in jars in my future.

This has also inspired me to finally finish a few DIY projects that I've been planning to do for months now: I'm finally going to make a headboard for my bed, and I'm going to finish that jewelry tree that I've already bought a gorgeous vase for.

Jewelry tree inspiration

It's going to happen! I'm gonna get my DIY on! I'll be sure to post pictures of my awesome completed projects. :)

Online Shopping: All The Cool Kids Are Doing It!

Disney announced yesterday that they would begin to sell some of their park merchandise online at DisneyStore.com. The selection is small: only one t-shirt style, Mickey ear hats, and a few other categories. But I'm sure this is just the beginning.

I think this is a pretty neat idea. The last time we went to WDW, I really wanted to buy the park soundtrack. But by the time our last day rolled around, I still hadn't picked it up, and no one wanted to spend our last few hours in a shop while we could be getting in one last ride. I toyed with buying it off Ebay, but there was a very small selection, and even used copies were almost full park price. So I never did buy it. If this option had been around back then, I probably would have sprung for the CD and bought it off the website. Now of course, I'm glad that I didn't, because I can get a 20% off discount when I buy the CD in a few months (woo hoo for cast discounts!) And that will be one of the first things I buy when I go into the park--after my first pair of Mickey Mouse ears. (Can you believe I've been to WDW 4 times and never had a pair? I don't deserve the label "Disney fan".)

The park CDs aren't actually offered on the website right now: like I said, it's a very limited selection. But just give them time...

As a (future) Merchandise CM, I also get to look at it from the perspective of my job...but I have absolutely no idea how it will affect it. I don't think it's going to really be that big of a deal. They've had a phone line where you could order park merchandise for years, so its not really that different. I just wanted to point out how cool it is that Disney news is now news that indirectly affects me. :)

Roommate Selection

I know I left my blog on a bit of a down note for quite a while...this wasn't intentional! My moment of crisis really was just a moment, and I've been feeling much better and excited once again for my Florida adventure. There just hasn't been much else to write about!

But today I'm going to address yet another of the big decisions that need to be made before August...roommate selection!

I've already talked about the Roommate Notification Process, but just in case you missed it, if I opt in to roommate notification, Disney will select a roommate for me and let me know their identity ahead of time so we can get to know each other and coordinate things we'll be bringing with us. But lots of other CPs are trying to find roommates on their own on discussion boards and in the CP Facebook group.

There are tons of posts out there that read like personal ads: "Female CP, arriving August 24th, looking for roommate. Crazies need not apply." And there's something to be said for this method. You can specify that you want a roommate who is neat, or who wants to help host lots of parties. Disney doesn't take personalities into consideration, mostly just gender, age, and arrival date. I've had a few Facebook messages and such from some very nice CPs, introducing themselves, and even though they were just asking general questions about my arrival, what role I would have, and all of that, I wondered if they were looking for a potential roommate. It's a good way to do it, I guess!

But, by golly, something about it just creeps me out a little bit. It seems to go against everything Dateline has ever told us. Giving out information about myself to an almost-total-stranger on-line? (And yes, I realize that that's exactly what I'm doing here at my blog. But for some reason it doesn't disturb me quite as much.) I just don't know if I can bring myself to do it.

Even if you find someone to room with through the internet, you really still don't know that person at all. Sure, you know more about them than you do when you do with roommate notification, but still...I think I'm going to take my chances, and see who Disney pairs me up with. If it just doesn't look like things are going to work out, you have the option of opting out of the match. I don't anticipate needing to do this, though. I get along pretty well with just about anybody. But it is nice to know that I have that out if I need it.

The website says that roommate notification will be done around June 1st. And...ooh! I just logged into the website, and it says that my date is ineligible for roommate notification, anyway! So the entirety of the above post is now null and void. It's a little frustrating that I have now finally made a decision, only to find out that there was no decision to be made! Oh, well. It does say that my date may become eligible later, and that I can sign up to be matched when/if that happens. But I think I'll just use this opportunity to ponder my decision for a few more days.

Remind Me: Why Am I Doing This, Again?

For the most part, it’s been a good week—I finished up the semester, working book buyback is going well. But today has been a little discouraging.

I was giving my degree audit a second look today to see if I was admitted to the program. Good news: I was. The paperwork went through. So then I started figuring how many hours I have left of required classes for my major. Since the semester is over, I have 60 hours under my belt, and have another 51, including my degree-required internship and Gen Eds, to go. So far, so good, right?

Both my current and former academic advisor told me that they thought I would be able to graduate early. So I was hoping that I would still be able to graduate on time even after my CP. To do that, I would have to finish up in 3 semesters after I got back from Florida. 6 of the 51 hours are a summer internship, so that means I have to take 15 hours per semester for the next 3 semesters. I should easily be able to accomplish that!

But then there’s that one stupid little requirement: I have to have a total of 125 credit hours to graduate. Even after I’ve completed all of my required Gen Eds, the requirements for my major, and a couple of electives that I’ve already taken, I will only have 111 hours down. That means that I will still need to take an entire 14 credit semester of just electives.

On top of that, I discovered today that I may have problems with my Honors College Membership. To remain a member of the Honors College at my school, you have to meet the General Honors Curriculum requirement, which basically boils down to this: during your first five semesters, you have to take five honors classes. Which I have done. But, even though I’ve read the requirements many, many times, I never caught this little jewel until today: “…in addition to the Freshman Honors Seminar.” This entire time, I thought that the Seminar counted as one of my five classes. So this means that next semester—my fifth semester—I am technically required to take another Honors course. But I won’t even be here!

I don’t really think this will be a problem. I haven’t talked to them yet, but I’m sure they will make an exception for a situation like this. And regarding my graduation date, I have been skeptical since the beginning when they were telling me they thought I could finish in 3 ½ years. So graduating a semester later now doesn’t really surprise me that much. But the stress is just starting to build, and with the problems I had with Student Employment last week (even though that’s all been resolved; I can work this summer), I’m starting to get a little discouraged.

So, today, for the first time, Disney isn’t looking so hot. I am having a few doubts, and today it even crossed my mind how much easier it would be to just stay here and finish up school as originally planned. I know that I still want to do Disney, but it just isn’t sounding as exciting as it did a few weeks ago. The reality of the situation is starting to set in and I’m not loving every aspect of it. I know I just need to work though it, though, and things will look brighter when all of this is settled. After all, none of these are major problems. But I guess I was hoping for no problems at all!

It’s a little cheesy, I know, but I’m just going to make this my mantra for the rest of the discouraging days (weeks? months?) to come: “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Know who said that? A pretty smart fella named Walt Disney. :)

Por Favor Manténganse Alejado De Las Puertas

Perdoneme, ¿dónde está el baño?

Habla mas despacio, por favor.

Hablo español un poco solomente, pero estoy aprendiendo.

Don't worry--your translation function isn't broken. I've decided to try to learn Spanish. Over the summer, I'm going to really try to teach myself the basics. I've got a couple of CDs from the library, and I've been listening to them on my commute to and from work each day. It's going pretty well, except that I look like a weirdo to the people next to me at stop lights, sitting in my car mumbling "Me llamo Bethany. Mucho gusto" along with the CD.

I learned a lot of Spanish from Monty Python...

which means that, naturally, I know how to warn

people about the dangers of llamas. Very helpful.

I took some classes in high school, so I already know a lot of the basics. The problem for me is just coming up with the right phrase at the right time. I can remember the phrases without any hitch...but I really have to think to remember which one means what. And don't even get me started on feminine/masculine forms!

The one thing I do have going for me, though, is that I pretty much have the pronunciations down. Spanish pronunciation is a lot easier than English anyway, and that is one thing that stayed with me from high school. I can read the words, and generally have a pretty good idea about how they should be pronounced.

I don't expect to be fluent in Spanish in just a few months, but I would at least like to be able to work my way through a basic conversation with a minimum of charades-playing. It'd be nice to be able to take an actual class, but there's not one offered at any time that I could make. I think this self-teaching method will work out okay for me, though. Really, what else have I got to do this summer?

Finished With Finals (Already!)

Yay! I am done with finals for an entire year! I just took my last final, and since I will be at Disney next semester, I won't have to take another final until NEXT MAY! That's a very exciting prospect.

So now that the semester is officially done, I am just trying to figure out how I'm going to pass the next three months. For the next week, I'm going to continue working at my regular job part-time, and picking up extra hours at the school bookstore doing text book buyback. Then, I will be able to go to full-time, something student workers are not really supposed to be able to do.

Student workers are only allowed to get 1000 hours per calendar year. Under normal circumstances, this works out to abot 20 hours per week. But since I won't be here to work between August and January, I can work 40 hours per week over the summer, and still not go over the 1000 hour limit. I really love my job, so this will be a great way to spend the summer. And it feels really great to have a definite plan for the next few months, because I wasn't sure that they would be able to find enough hours for me to be in the office full-time. But I guess it's going to work out after all!

Right now, I'm off to do text book buyback for the first time. It's going to be a great way to pick up some extra cash over the next week, and I'm excited to do something new for a while. Manual labor is fun when you don't have to do it very often! :) Actually, I'm not exactly sure what this is going to entail: I am assuming that we will be sorting and boxing up the books, but I really won't know until I go in in a little while. But I'm sure I'll be back complaining to you guys soon about how much my muscles hurt, and how much I'm ready for the week to be over. lol. I'm a wimp! :)

Trying To Find My Laughing Place!

Well, I've run into the first (but I'm sure not the last!) problem with the school regarding my CP. I am a student worker, and to be eligible to work in the summer, we are required to be pre-enrolled for the upcoming fall semester. Even though I'm not going to be getting any credit from Disney, I will still have full-time student status through my school. But that status won't show up until right before the fall semester. So right now, one week before the semester ends, I am not eligible to work during the summer.

Originally, I talked to someone there who said that all I would need to be eligible to work this summer was documentation from the Career Center that I would have full-time student status this fall. But the Career Center said there's nothing that they can give me until I actually have the status!

So I called back over to Student Employment, and the new woman I talked to told me about an exception form that I have to fill out. So I have now filled out the form, and am getting ready to take it over to Student Employment. I will let you all know how it goes! *Fingers Crossed!*

A: Bills, Credit Card Offers, and Germs

Q: Name three things that always come in an envelope!

As I was licking an envelope just moments ago to send off in the mail, it got me thinking: that is really, really gross! How terrible is it that, after all this time, with all we know about germs now, we still lick envelopes? And then people put their fingers inside, right on the part we've licked, to open it. Disgusting!

Don't do it, Johnny! You'll get germs all over your pretty hat!

Maybe I'm just a germaphobe, but I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who is bothered by this. In a perfect world, everyone would use the envelopes like the ones Netflix movies get sent back in. They have a sticky strip, covered by a piece of paper. When you're ready to seal the envelope, you just peel off the paper strip, and stick! What could be easier? I wish people would stand up and say, "Hey! I will do the responsible thing and not send my germs through the United States Postal Service." *Sigh* Someday. But until then, I guess I'll just have to be sure to use a letter opener...and then dissinfect that letter opener after each use.

Embracing the College-Style Aesthetic

My mom brought up a good question recently: What am I going to do about bedding while I'm in Florida? Okay, maybe not the most exciting question in the world for most people. But for me, the interior designer, a light bulb came on. I get a whole new apartment to decorate! (Okay, fine. My roommates can have some say...if they feel they must.) I'm generally the type of person who goes for the clean, sophisticated, put-together look, with a minimum of clutter. Like this:Pretty, huh? But I am actually looking forward to decorating my room with whatever momentos, pictures of my friends, raggedy quilts, etc. float my boat. It will be fun! It's only for 4 months, and I don't want to spend my time and efforts trying to make my room look pulled together when my roommate will probably be decorating her half with magazine cut-outs of Robert Pattinson. So, as the old adage goes, if you can't beat 'em, why not join 'em?

Maybe it's sad that this gets me so excited. Am I that uptight; that the thought of letting loose is such an event? I say no. I say that I'm just a girl who knows the importance of good taste...and the importance of choosing the right time to ignore said taste.

So in the spirit of my new vision, here is the first item that has been chosen to grace the walls of my room while at Disney:

This double sided poster from "New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo", Flight of the Conchords. The poster came with their CD, and the only problem I have with it is trying to decide which side I'll have to turn to the wall! Originally I thought I liked the picture on the left, but the more I look at the trippy one with the frog, the more I like it. It's a little bit like an I-Spy book on acid. This is an important decision, y'all! I need help! So let me know what you think in the comments section.

Well, I'm off. Writing about my new style-less style has gotten me excited about all things tasteless. I hear the store down the street is having a sale on beanbags and fake plants and I've just got to get over there! (just kidding....I don't think I'll ever get to that point. ;))

Here We Go...

In a way, yesterday was the start of a lot of changes coming my way. Last night I said goodbye to my boyfriend, who is going back home for the summer to do his internship. I already miss him like crazy, and although we're already planning meet-in-the-middle trips to see each other, it's going to be a difficult summer. And to make matters worse, I probably won't even see him before I leave for Florida. So for the next 7 months, my boyfriend and I will live half a country away from each other.

For a few months, this has been my countdown--how much time do I have left with Erik? But now the deadline is here, and, thinking about it this morning, I realized how many other deadlines have been creeping closer: I've only got two weeks left of classes, including my final exams. After that, I'll be working full-time (location TBD, but I have a promising lead) and only be three months away from Disney.

I just have a feeling that things are going to start snowballing out of control (in a pleasant, exciting way) very soon. Before I know it August will be here, and I probably won't feel ready. That's just the way things go. But I'm trying to brace myself and prepare for all of the changes as best I can. That's all I can do for now.