Week 1

 Day 2: Today is Tuesday and it's my first day here at the program full-time. I don't start training until Friday so I have this week to explore and enjoy the arks. I was very graciously given 3 park hopper passes to use this week so I can visit all the parks and get familiar with the area before I start work. However, before I did any of that, I had breakfast with my parents before taking them to the airport. It was a little bit of a drive but nice to spend some time before they flew home. Once I got back to my apartment, I took a bus to the ticketing and transportation center and then a monorail over to Epcot. One of my friends from high school is doing the program here, which is very nice to know someone else while I'm here but today was a day where I met up with them for the first time in a few years so it was great to see them! Overall, I was in a group of 4 (including me) while we explored around Epcot. Unintentionally, we were on a mission to see all the water features this park had to offer! We saw waterfalls, fountains, koi ponds, springs, and just about any other water feature you can think of! I also got to go on a few rides, like spaceship earth but I wasn't able to go on some of the newest rides like Guardians of the Galaxy or Ratatouille yet but I will soon hopefully! After my long Epcot excursion, I came back to Flamingo Crossings Village and enjoyed a welcome party themed after Alice in Wonderland, which was very fun. It was a little rainy so that wasn't great but that can't stop me from enjoying my time here! To finish off this first full day here, I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with my high school friend and some of my new friends as well. It was so fun! We talked and ate wings and played trivia for a little over an hour before we were too tired and had to go home. It was an absolutely wonderful way to start my first day and I can't wait to see where the rest of this week takes me!

Day 3: It's Wednesday today and it was a very relaxing day today. I woke up and had a slower start to my day, having some granola with strawberries for breakfast and then I made my way over to the busses to have a little visit over to Animal Kingdom! The bus ride took longer than I thought but it was quite relaxing still. It was a rainy day out so there weren't many people in the park but still more than I expected. I started just walking around and I got a booklet to become a wilderness explorer. If anyone is curious, there is an experience that can be done throughout Animal Kingdom where you are given a booklet with the wilderness explorer logo from the Pixar movie Up. You can take this book to 24 stations throughout the park and talk to many different cast members about different topics such as animal nutrition or conservation or animal calls. Keep in mind that this activity is typically aimed at children but I can speak from experience when I say that this is fun at any age. I also went on Kilimanjaro Safari near noon and I had a really funny tour guide for that so it was quite relaxing and fascinating to see. They have a baby elephant currently, which is one of the cutest things I've seen. I also got to see a giraffe with their head in a stump for a snack and a lioness laying out on a rock. Photos of both will be attached if anyone wants to see them. I also managed to get onto Kali River Rapids in Pandora but those were all the rides I did today. At that point, I headed home at around 2:30 and got back to my apartment where I had some delicious waffles for a snack. I honestly forgot how good waffles with peanut butter are. I made a short trip over to target for a few things, with a fun small Lego set for myself. I got some chicken tenders from PDQ which is a spot near my apartments and it was okay. The chicken wasn't great so I may not get their food again. I had much better food elsewhere lately, such as some good brisket. I ended up finishing out my day watching the 2015 live action Cinderella and I built my Lego set. It was a wonderful day! I can't wait for another good day tomorrow! Tomorrow is my last day before training begins and I plan to take full advantage!

Day 4: Today was my last free day before my training starts and I took full advantage! Today was my Hollywood Studios exploration day! This was my first time back in around 10 years and it was fun! I had a nice relaxing morning and traveled via bus over to the entrance of Hollywood Studios and met one of my friends over by the entrance. It was incredibly hot and sunny out so I was properly drenched in spf 50+ sunscreen. We wandered around and explored the park for around an hour or so. It was extremely busy today so there were people everywhere and the wait times were super long. However, I love exploring through Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land. Disney does such a great job at theming to the smallest detail and it's so cool to see! I did get to see Kylo Ren come out of a ship with some stormtroopers in the middle of Galaxy's Edge which was also really cool. I will attach photos from this at the bottom, along with photos from a lot of my other excursions this week. After we explored for a while, my friend hopped on over to Epcot while I stayed in Hollywood Studios. I started the bounty hunters interactive excursion that is available with the MagicBand+ but I still have a long way to go to finish that project. That whole thing is really interesting though. You use your magic band to explore around Galaxy's Edge to find different doorways and collect "bounties". Just a fun extra thing for people to do. I finally bit the bullet and went on smuggler's run after a little while. I needed to get out of the heat for a while and they have a single rider's line so it was perfect! That was my first ride of the day and it was so fun! I was an engineer and though it was a little stressful but it went well and I loved it. After that, I went and got lunch at Woody's Lunch Box. I got their beef brisket melt and it was surprisingly pretty good. It definitely wasn't the best brisket sandwich I've had but it was cheesy and meaty and satisfying. I would give it a 6/10 on a rating scale. After I did that, I looked at wait times but they were still absurdly long. I did end up walking around and got in line for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway (even though the predicted wait time was 50 minutes). I timed the wait this time for my own curiosity and the wait was quite a bit shorter, being 23 minutes long. It was a really fun ride! It was very immersive and fun. I love the older school cartoon-y feel. It wasn't my overall favorite ride but it was still so fun. After that, I browsed some shops for a bit and saw some really cute products but I didn't get anything. After that, I ended up hopping back on a bus to go back to my apartment to get cleaned up a bit and cool down because I was drowning in sweat after being in the sun for that long. I ended up talking with one of my other friends who is actually coming to Disney in August (so exciting) and we just talked for an hour or two this afternoon which was quite nice. After that, I ended up heading back out to Hollywood studios again for 2 reasons. I was going to go on Rise of the Resistance (since I was by myself and didn't want to force someone else to wait in a super long line with me) and I wanted a big cookie. I ended up going on Star Tour first before either of my objectives since the wait was only 15 minutes and it was a good ride. A little simple but still immersive and it was worth the short wait that it had. It was then time for the main reason for my second trip. Rise of the Resistance was hyped up so much for me from so many people. The wait was listed for 70 minutes (and I can't say how accurate that is but the wait was quite long) and the queue was very interesting. The question in; was the wait worth it? In short: Absolutely yes! That ride was so immersive and so fun! I don't want to give away too much but there were so many unique animatronics and experiences throughout the entirety of the ride. I am a little more picky about my rides but truly good themed rides can make me even more invested into the story of different franchises. That is what happened with Avatar Flight of Passage in Pandora (which is still one of my favorites) and it is happening again with Rise of the Resistance. It has reignited my love for Star Wars and I would absolutely wait in a 70 minute line for that ride again. After this fantastic ride, I did get my Jack Jack's Nom Nom Cookie, which is a huge chocolate chip cookie. It wasn't my absolute favorite either. It was a lot of cookie which isn't a bad thing but it can become a lot if you're eating it by yourself like me. The outside, especially the edges, were more crispy than I would've preferred but overall, I would give the cookie a 6/10 as well. I think I'm going to go on a mission to find the best chocolate chip cookie at Walt Disney World. I'll keep y'all updated. I also took probably one of the most aesthetic photos of a cookie I could've ever taken. That will also be included at the end of this weekly update. Anyway, that was everything that happened today. It was a very busy day and I couldn't be happier on how it went. I start training tomorrow and I'll be training for 7 days straight so I'll be quite busy but I can make time to update. Wish me luck! 

Day 5: Today was my first day in training! It went really well! This was just about general information such as the company as a whole along with values and expectations. We also went over benefits and other aspects of our program. I got a new set of mickey ears and a goofy magnet though! I also got my official company ID and my nametag so I feel so official now! That training went from around 10-2:15 but after that, I just relaxed for a while since I did some general chores this morning. I even had time to take a nap. I ended out my day by going to Disney Springs for dinner. I first went over to the Lego store and got a set of Wall-E and Eve blockhead figures which are some of the cutest things I've seen in a while! Then I headed over to the tea and spice shop and got a berry iced tea. It wasn't my absolute favorite but it was pretty good! There was also a cover band playing near the town center which was pretty darn cool. They were playing some songs from the Temptations and other motown and funk groups. I had a classic bacon cheeseburger at D-Luxe burger which was honestly better than I expected! The sauce especially was super good. I took some time to digest by waiting in line at Gideon's Bakehouse. That is my next stop on my journey to find, taste, and rate all the classic chocolate chip cookies I can find at Walt Disney World. Gideon's Bakehouse is known for their nearly 1/2 pound cookies and they are delicious. This particular cookie gets a 9/10. The cookie is huge and soft and super chocolate-y. It had such a good texture and multiple kinds of chocolate and a little sprinkle of sea salt on top just to give it a little extra pizzazz. This is absolutely worth the wait, in my opinion but be aware that it is a LOT of cookie for one person. I did not finish this entire cookie. I have some saved to put in my lunch tomorrow. That was the last thing that happened today so now I'm just getting ready for bed. Can't wait to update tomorrow!

Day 6: Well, I'm considering this the end of week 1! I just had my last general training class, which was honestly a lot of safety training but it was still somewhat interesting. I got to hear some really cool stories of some of the things my trainers got to do for some guests! Other than that, this was my most relaxing day. I pretty much stayed home the whole day. I made orange chicken, which was delicious, and played games with a few friends! I also ended up having a bit of a spa day for myself since my roommate had a night shift tonight. Overall, it was a great way to end the week! For this upcoming week, I'm starting my food and Bev training so hopefully that goes well! I start with a few early mornings and then some night shifts, so some nice variety but I end the week with having Friday and Saturday off! It should be a good start!