So Little Time and So Much To Do

Living in Florida temorarily will give me the rare opportunity to be a long-term tourist. Unlike someone who might move there permanently, I will have no desire to try to blend in with the locals. And, unlike a short-term tourist, I will have the opportunity to try to see as much of Orlando as my little heart desires. It's the best of both worlds! Besides the obvious (spending time in WDW and at the beach), there are a million other things I want to do during my 4-month stay. But I am going down there to work, after all, so I know I won't have time to do it all. However, because I am such a good, organized person, I also know that the key to getting stuff done is to prioritize. So here it is, my list of the top 100 things I want to do while I'm in Orlando (Kidding, kidding! I narrowed it down to 5.)

Busch Gardens

I've been to most of the other major Florida theme parks, but never Busch Gardens. It's basically like Sea World with mammals and better roller coasters. Like this one, a floorless coaster with the closest thing to a 90-degree drop I've ever seen. See the tiny people hurtling face-down towards the ground? "Space Mountain" this ain't.

Cirque du Soleil - La Nouba

I've always wanted to see a Cirque show, and I don't think I'll ever get a better opportunity. This show takes place at Downtown Disney, and I can even get a Cast Member Discount on the pricey tickets! Other things on my list may or may not happen, but Cirque is the one thing on this list that I will do...even if it means eating nothing but Ramen Noodles for a month so that I can afford a ticket.

Skyventure

Have you ever leaned really close into a box fan and said, "Luke, I am your father"? Then you understand how much fun a fan can be. That's the concept behind Skyventure, except that instead of simply causing your voice to sound like Darth Vader, this giant fan is under you and keeps you suspended in air, recreating the sensation of Sky Diving. Click here to see an awesome video of the experience. Okay, so actually this is nothing like talking into a box fan. But that's fun, too, right?

Sleuth Dinner Show

As a mystery enthusiast, I've always wanted to see one of these Mystery Dinner Theatre things. Guests at Sleuth find themselves in the middle of a comical, quizzical who-dunnit. It's sort of expensive, and doesn't involve flying (see Skyventure) so as fun as this one sounds, it's not exactly a priority. But if the opportunity arises, I will definitely take it. (Note to self: remember to pack magnifying glass and deerstalker cap.)

ICE at the Gaylord Palms Resort

An annual Christmas exhibit of Ice Sculptures at a fancy resort may not sound very exciting, but just look at these pictures! A giant ice slide, a giant ice Santa, and giant blue parkas for everyone! Cheesy Christmas fun at its finest.

The key to fitting everything I want to do into a short 4-month period will be pushing past the inevitable bone-weariness after working full days at the park. I'll just have to remember that sleeping is for wimps. I'll sleep when I'm dead! (Or maybe when I get back to Missouri. That would probably be a good idea.)

My Life Lately, in 696 Words or Less

Updates on a few of my summer goals:

• Work Full Time--Check! At least one thing on my list is being done. But, boy, is it being done slowly! Since I work on campus, a large part of my job depends on the demands of students, faculty, and administrators thrown into the full-fledged tizzies that are the fall and spring semesters. But during the summer, things are oh-so-quiet.
  They make working in an office seem so glamorous on TV...
  
  Last summer, working part-time, I felt like things were slow. But they were sort of pleasantly slow. In the "take your time with what little work you have to do and pace yourself so you don't get too bored" sort of way. But working full-time, there's just not nearly enough to do here. I've gone home early several days the last few weeks. My supervisor encouraged me to stay, because she knew I wanted the hours, but I just feel bad sitting around being paid to do nothing. In the three weeks since school got out, I have dusted every surface of the office, organized my work space, and even ventured into the dreaded "back room" to organize the mess we call our storage space. It's all stream-lined, cleaned, and de-clutterfied now. Which makes me wonder...what am I going to do for the next 2 months?!
  
  
• Volunteer--It's not my fault! I applied at the Make-A-Wish foundation, but they said they didn't need any help right now. So, basically I'm blaming this wonderful charity for my lack of volunteerism. It's all their fault! Just kidding. I know I really should try to find somewhere else. Someone out there needs help! But I just haven't yet. I'll get to it.
  
  
• Learn Spanish--This is going...okay, I guess. To be honest, I haven't been practicing much, lately. I need to get back on that! But before I got lazy, I was really doing pretty well. I can now give basic directions. However, they translate to something like this: "Left. Go straight and right at next to bank." As you might have figured out, I haven't really gotten to grammer yet. Hopefully I'll get motivated to do that very soon so I can stop sounding like I learned Spanish from a broken See 'n Say.
  
  
• Get Crafty!--Check! I dove back into crafts with a passion after my DIY binge at the ever-wonderful DesignSponge.com. And the one that really ended up catching my fancy was an old friend--knitting! In the last couple of weeks, I've bought knitting needles of all types and sizes, deliciously candy-colored yarns for hats, gloves, and scarves to come, and almost completed a bag. Seriously! The first project of my Craft Revival is almost finished! I started sewing the lining in yesterday, but here's a picture from a couple of days ago when I was blocking the sides:
  Instead of being completed and sewn at the top, this bag is actually designed to be finished on the needles--making this a very cute bag to carry my future knitting projects in! I'm very, very proud of my baby, so expect to see more pictures in a few days! I've already started my next project, even. No pictures of this work-in-progress, but don't worry...you'll get to see them (I know you were worried! Oh, come on. Can't you at least pretend that you're really excited to see these pictures?)

Other than these things, I've spent the rest of my time lately being robbed by homeless people, (He was drunk, my car was unlocked, and they arrested him. The only thing he got was some worthless text books. Seriously. I couldn't even sell them back. Worked out real well for him, didn't it?), unintentionally providing shelter for baby mice in the air filter of my car (This didn't work out so well for the mice...or for me! Smelled horrible!), and seeing Shakespeare in the Park (Unlike the other things mentioned here, this was a very pleasant experience.)

It's been a little crazy lately, but in a fun, interesting kind of way. And, yes, I just described being robbed by a drunk guy as sort of fun and interesting. Makes for a good story, anyway!

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. :)

Wilin' Away The Time

It's Day 6 of the post-interview count. I've heard of people getting acceptance letters as early as 6 days out, so I'm starting, against my better judgement, to get a little bit excited. When I passed my mailbox last night, I thought "maybe tomorrow!" All of this excitement just makes it that much harder to know that, realistically, I probably won't get my letter for at least another week. The anticipation is killing me!

So, because I have a long wait before I hear back, and an even longer wait before I leave for Florida in August, I've been trying to find ways to kill the time. And, for all of my fellow Fall '09 hopefuls/CPs, I thought I would share some of my favorite ways to kill the time...Disney style!

First of all, you can never know to much about the CP. There are a few great sites out there, and, of course, I don't have space to highlight them all. But a couple of my favorites are:

• http://www.disboards.com/ -- A wonderful, vibrant forum about all things Disney. The College Board, however, is really where it's at. (http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=90). Almost all of the topics on this board are about the CP, and there are some great folks here with a ton of knowledge. And you can also at least get acquainted with some of your fellow CPs before you arrive! Some people are even using the board to set up with roomates!
• http://wdwcpblog.blogspot.com/ -- Out of all the blogs I read while trying to decide if I wanted to do the program, this was by far the most detailed and one of the most entertaining. This site is his "un-official, hopefully definitive resource for future Disney College Program students". On this site, he also has a link to a more traditional day-by-day journal type blog that he kept while actually on the program (http://sarbruis.livejournal.com/?skip=60&tag=wdwcp.) While the first blog is more informative, the second is more entertaining. The writer is clever and funny, and everything I hope to be in my blog.

If you're doing the CP, and reading blogs about it, chances are you're a fan of Disney in general. If so, then why haven't you been checking out the following sites already?

• http://www.laughingplace.com/ -- Just like DisBoards is my first stop for CP related forums, LaughingPlace is the first place I go for general Disney. The site includes general information about the parks, a constantly updated list of links to Disney news called "The Latest", videos, and one of my favorite podcasts, which is put out on a weekly basis. Although the main focus here seems to be on the parks, EVERYTHING and ANYTHING Disney is covered here.
• http://www.jimhillmedia.com/ -- Another very entertaining blog. This one, however, is of a more professional type. Mr. Hill covers almost every aspect of breaking Disney news. He has many "inside sources", and always seems to have a scoop of some kind. (Disclaimer: Half of the "scoops" never seem to come to fruition. Whether Disney just changes their plans, or Mr. Hill's sources are giving him bad information is up for debate. Very heated, entertaining debate taking place in the Comments section after Mr. Hill's articles. :) ) Where this site really shines, though, is in his "Disney That Never Was" stories. Mr. Hill and his amazing collection of contributors have a seemingly inexhaustible supply of concept art and publicity materials from park attractions and movies that never got off the drawing table. Plus, the site often features articles from Disney insiders like Floyd Norman and Ron Schneider.
• http://www.disneylies.com/ --Taking a turn to the silly side, DisneyLies is the number one stop for, well, lies about Disney. For instance, did you know that the Magic Kingdom originally consisted of 43 elaborately themed lands, including Spy Alley, Pulp Novel Plaza, Adultyhood, Castlevania, and Jurassic Park? Or that all of the electricity for the Animal Kingdom park is generated by underground elephant-powered pistons? They've got a million of 'em! And after you've had your fill of Disney lies, head on over to...
• http://snopes.com/disney/disney.asp for some truthiness. Snopes is a pretty well-known site that lists urban legends, and gives them a "True", "False", or "Undetermined" status, with a little of the history behind each tale. There are so many Disney myths, that they recieved their own section, and are further divided up according to subject: Theme Parks, the Disney Company, and Walt Disney himself.

And, by the way, as you're checking out all of these great sites, don't forget about HappiestInternship.blogspot.com. The readership here has been growing, and I appreciate all of my new devotees. Please add me to your blog lists, or even become a Follower of my blog! Then you can say you were there when it was all started by a (computer) mouse. ;)