Orlandooooooo!

Today I kissed my life in West Palm Beach behind and finally made my three hour journey to Orlando! 

The trip here actually went by quite quickly. We couldn't check in to our hotel yet so we spent some time at the Loop, browsing stores and such. We also made a stop at target and then had lunch at chick-fil-a. Orlando chick-fil-a tastes way better than WPB chick-fil-a, just saying.

After lunch I texted Danica and she said she was free until 1:30 when she had to leave for traditions. So, Adam and I headed over to her apartment in Chatham! It was amazing to finally see the complexes in person. I absolutely cannot wait to live in mine. We hung out and talked to Danica, Mariola, & their housemates- Emily and Teresa! It was so exciting to finally meet Mariola after six whole months of talking. A while after we got there Amy and their other housemate Kris got home from Traditions and it was so exciting to meet them as well! They told us all about their check-in process and we just had quite a few fantastic conversations. 

Eventually, after Teresa baked some cookies and Danica changed up her outfit a few times, they all headed out to their traditions. Kris left to go to the park with her parents, leaving Amy, Emily, Adam and I to chat. We talked about character palooza and how we need to go a bunch of times to meet as many rare characters as possible. We talked about our excitement for heritage. Amy and I talked jonas, one direction, ed sheeran, and demi. Also, she's the sweetest because she brought me a playbill from Nick's run in H2$ on Broadway! 

Emily and Amy decided to head over to the Up themed welcome party and invited Adam and me to tag along. We walked over to the field with them but we saw a long line and a security person so we figured they might be checking for IDs and left instead of risking anyone getting in trouble. Amy texted me later and informed me that we totally could have stayed, they never checked IDs. Ugh, why am I always so cautious?

Adam and I came to our hotel and checked in. We relaxed for a bit and then ordered pizza and we're spending the night just hanging out in the room.

Words can't describe how ecstatic I am to be here and how ready I am to begin this journey. I can already tell that this program is one of the biggest blessings I've been given in life. I know I'm going to grow as a person - I'm more social than I've ever been and I just got here, so that's a start. This is the beginning of many changes in my life for the better. 

Only three days 'til check-in!

Tomorrow's the day!

I can't believe that today is my last day in South Florida. I've spent the majority of my life here and it's so strange to think of starting over again somewhere new, but I couldn't be more excited. So many opportunities and adventures are ahead and I can't wait to get started.

I spent most of last night skyping with Veronica. She and I had never talked just the two of us before (except for when she called to check on some things for DORMS but that hardly counts), so it was really nice to finally have that time to get to know her outside of our usual group conversation settings. Once Cami got home, we made it into a google hangout and all three of us talked for quite a while. It was the most chaotic group chat ever because the computer kept freezing Cami & I and Veronica's microphone didn't work for the entire duration of the conversation, so she mostly communicated through body language. When she had something lengthy to say she typed it in the text box to the side of the screen, but Cami's computer wouldn't let her see that, so I ended up reading all of Veronica's comments for her. Haha. I'm really excited to finally be living with them and Jessica. I feel like we've all known each other for forever at this point.

I'm also really excited because Adam and I are probably meeting up with Amy, Danica, and Mariola for lunch or dinner or something one of the days before check-in! I absolutely can't wait to meet them! Amy's pretty much free until Tuesday she said so we'll hopefully/probably meet up in the parks or something as well. :)

And Kelly also messaged me saying we should meet up if I was going to be in the parks this weekend, so I'm basically meeting all of my favorite people in the next five days, considering breakfast with all of Adam's roommates and my roommates on Monday morning!

I've been pretty much done packing for nearly a week now. Everything is even in my car except my suitcase. I just need to do some last minute laundry and pack up bathroom stuff and I am all set and ready to go.

I'm getting rather nervous about finding out my work location. I saw a merch CP from the facebook group got Wide World of Sports and while I'd still be excited about working in Disney, that's legitimately the last place on Disney property I'd want to work (unless we're counting the Downtown Disney area "not Disney" hotels and cast member exclusive stores). If I get any of the theme parks, Grand Floridian, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Pop Century, or Port Orleans, you'll probably see me doing cartwheels at check-in. If it's Magic Kingdom, my squeals probably won't be containable.

I'm confident that this program is going to be the best time of my life so far. I just want to get started already.

It's January 13th!

Only one week until I check-in! I can't even believe it.

Some of the greatest CP friends I've been blessed to know are checking-in today and I'm so excited for them to begin their Disney adventure. I absolutely cannot wait to meet and hug all of them next week after months and months of talking.

Time is ticking away and before I know it, the view out my window will be much more magical. :)

12 days from check-in!

I cannot believe that so much time has passed since my last entry and that I'm less than two weeks away from checking-in to my program! Time went by so much faster than I thought it would. The past couple of months have been incredibly busy, but in a way I'm happy that there were so many distractions, because it made time go by faster.

November was rather uneventful after my birthday. Adam and I went and saw Frozen Thanksgiving day. Clearly I loved it, though I don't believe it lives up to "the best film since the Lion King" title that it's been given. I worked close to 40 hours Thanksgiving week because of Black Friday (including a dreadful 7pm-4am shift). My dad, Adam, and I also moved the weekend following Thanksgiving, which added even more chaos into the mix.

I took all of my finals the first week of December. It was a relief to not have to worry about assignments anymore, because I had more free time to focus on DCP related excitement. I continued working almost 40 hours a week through the end of December. Adam and I saw Saving Mr. Banks opening weekend and I cried so many times during it. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to help continue the legacy of Walt Disney. This program is everything that I've ever wanted and all of those emotions hit me during the film.

My last day at work was the Sunday before Christmas. I've spent the past year and a half at SuperTarget Starbucks, so it was weird to say goodbye for good, but needless to say I was thrilled about it. I did lots of Christmas shopping, because I wanted to try and makeup for all the presents that my mom would have bought if she were still alive. Christmas was such a big deal to her and celebrating it without her was absolutely heartbreaking. I spent the 23rd and 24th with my Grandma and some of my other family members. All of my presents had something to do with Disney or my new apartment (including my new bedding that I adore). Christmas Eve night Adam, my dad, and I went to church. Afterwards, Adam and I made cookies for Santa. My dad got me a new TV, a curling wand, Tangled and This Is Us on DVD and some other miscellaneous things. Adam ordered a really cute scrapbook for me. He and I also cooked dinner and it came out amazing. I was pretty proud of us.

New Year's Eve was spent with our best friend Paige and her family. We played lots of Disney board games and tried our hardest to bring up topics of conversation other than our move. We won't see them again until they come visit us on the program, which Adam and I are both already looking forward to.

This past weekend we went camping near Gainesville with a group of our other friends. It was freezing cold for Florida and it was my first time ever camping. I enjoyed the experience, but I don't think I'm really cut out for camping- unless it's at Fort Wilderness, that is.

My dad is more than ready for Adam and I to move, so we made the decision this weekend that we're going to stay in a cheaper hotel before check-in and leave a few days early. This means that we're now leaving in a week and I feel like there's so much left to do.

Last night I made plans with my best friend since middle school, Kourtney. We're going to go to dinner Friday night and that'll be the last time I see her until she decides to come visit me. It's going to be sad to say goodbye to her, because even though we don't get to spend as much time together as we'd like to, she was my closest friend during my teenage years and knowing that chapter is coming to a close is pretty rough. I made plans with Jalen for this weekend as well.

I still have some last minute shopping to do, though Adam and I did most of our shopping the day after Christmas (there were amazing sales). I just finished filling out DORMS, so all that's left to do with that is printing. My grandma and I are going to get my car fixed and shop tomorrow. My roommates and I have plans to have dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings the night before check-in with their families. All of my packing is done except for my clothes. Everything is all coming together and it's becoming so real. I cannot believe how close I am to meeting all of these amazing people that I've spent countless hours talking to over the past few months. Soon I'll be settled into my apartment, with my three incredible roommates. Jessica and I will have our perfect Little Mermaid themed bathroom all set up. I'll finally know where I'm working. All of my dreams are coming true in less than two weeks!