Monday May 24, 2015

WORKIN' IN THE FRONTIER

I had a wonderful opportunity to experience what it is like to work in Frontierland today and let me just start out by saying that it was one of the greatest nights I've had working in the KINGDOM!!  Don't get me wrong, Tomorrowland is my home and I will absolutely, without a doubt, always say that that is my favorite place to be, but Frontierland was equally as fun and magical for me. 

 

SO one of my friends Chelsea was deployed to Frontierland all week this week, but didn't really want to work there, so I asked her if I could pick up one of her shifts because one of my goals is to try and work in every land in the Magic Kingdom before my college program ends.  As of right now, I've working in Tomorrowland, Liberty Square, Main Street, and now Frontierland!  My shift was in Upper Frontierland, which meant that I could be working in either the Frontierland Trading Post, Big Al's, or the General Store, except that since I'm not food safety trained, I wasn't able to work in the General Store, which was fine.  I was really excited to be at the Trading Post though, because if you all know me, you know how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE pin trading and getting to look at all those pins was soo exciting!!  My first assignment was at Big Al's so I went outside to the cart and played with bubble guns and got to enjoy pin trading with lots and lots of guests.  I met lots of families and one in particular had come to visit their son who was in Entertainment.  He performed in the flash mob hoedown, which was so amazing to watch because I've never actually seen it as a guest before.  It was really neat!!   Then I was assigned to be a porch greeter outside the Trading Post so I greeted guest with my best "HOWDY" and talked with a lot of guests needing to find directions to other attractions and just guests who were enjoying a little snack on the porch steps.  I helped stock the cooler in the General Store, so I was able to go inside and let me just tell you that it smells absolutely amazing in there!!  After that, I was finally able to finish my night inside the Trading Post.  I was able to help make magic for a little girl by giving away a plush Marie doll, I assisted guests if they needed help at the shooting range right next store to the Trading Post, and I was able to play the fish game that they have inside for guests who wanted to pin trade.  It was a very exciting day and I got to close the store and stock some of the pins before I left for the night.  My friend Bianca was also works with me in Tomorrowland also picked up a shift in Zone 2 in Frontierland, so she got to experience working in the Briar Patch and in the Splash Mountain Shop.  We both really enjoyed it even though it wasn't our home, but I would love to go back hopefully one more time before my college program ends.  Only two and a half more months oh my!

TWO TLAND GIRLS IN THE FRONTIER

 

 ~ Krista Lauren Girod

Thursday May 7, 2015

STARLIT SPLASHIN'

Tonight was one of the greatest nights of my college program!!  For all the Spring CP's, Disney throws together an event called STARLIT SPLASH which takes place at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon.  They close down the entire water park just for CP's which is pretty exciting.  I originally wasn't going to be able to go because I worked until 11:45 PM and the event only was supposed to last from 7 PM - 1 AM, but I had switched shifts with a girl last minute and ended up getting off at 9:45 PM, so I was able to say I went for a few hours.  I was leaving work with my coworker Kaitlyn and had decided to go back to our apartments and change even though we both had brought a change of clothes for after work.  We met up with our other coworker Alexa and so we all decided to go together.  They had busses leaving from Chatham Square that took us straight to Typhoon Lagoon.  The busses were really nice and very convenient.  We got free t-shirts when we got there and decided to put our stuff in lockers.  The line for the lockers was soo long and they ran out of them so we had to wait for people to return their lockers before we could get one.  Once we finally did, we headed straight for the food because I had decided not to eat anything because I had heard that they were getting food catered for us.  They had nachos and pulled pork sandwiches so I ate that and it was really good.  Then we met us with our other coworkers Allison and Rebecca and then headed to the dance party where we met up with Chelsea, Taylor, and Raquel.  We danced for a good little while and it was really fun being with my FAVORITE Tomorrowland girls!!  We didn't go on any of the water slides because it was actually kind of chilly since it was nighttime and the water was kind of cold, but we did splash our feet in the big wave pool and take some cute pictures!!  I know I didn't end up staying long, but I was just happy I was able to say I went because I really wanted to!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Krista Lauren Girod

 

Monday May 4, 2015

Orlando Premium Outlets International Drive

Soooo, I'm sorry for all the delayed blog posts!!  I' have been working on a blog post for a while now and I'm trying to catch you all up on my Disney adventures within the month of April.  But, I've decided to write again because I have some very exciting plans coming up!  So, this coming Saturday May 9th, my younger brother Kaleb is graduating high school and I'm flying home just for the day to see his graduation and then my parents are driving me back early Sunday morning to Florida and then they are going to stay for the rest of the week to visit!!  I'm so so excited to see them all!  My mom already visited by herself in late March, but this time my dad and brother are coming too!!  My mom can't stop talking about it and neither can I so we're definitely going to have a great time together!  I've been so busy and haven't had a chance to go shopping in a while for something to wear for my brother's graduation, and since I was off today, me and Laura decided to make a day out of it and go to the Orlando Premium Outlets on International Drive in the hopes of finding something to wear and to also find a gift for me brother.  I would've gone to the outlets on Vineland Drive which are closer to our apartments, but I really like the Forever 21 better at the outlets on International Drive because it seems bigger, so that's why we went over there!  Me and Laura spent forever trying to find a parking spot and had to stalk this family to their car in order to claim that spot!  HAHA!  People go crazy about finding parking spots in Florida, especially at outlet malls!

 

Of course, Forever 21 was our first stop!  We spent like two hours in there!  I was finding so many cute things so it took me so long to try on everything!  I ended up buying some cute sandals, a pair of maroon printed shorts, an off white shirt, a mint colored tank top, and a white lace shift dress that I think will look super cute for my brother's graduation!  I always love having something new to wear!! 

 

Then we went into the Nike outlet store because my brother really loves everything Nike, so I found him these shirts that he really likes that say Nike Orlando on them so I bought him two like that and then bought him a $25 giftcard that has Nike Orlando on the cover so I hope he likes his graduation present!! HEHE!!

 

I ended up finding a cute necklace and bracelets at Charlotte Russe!!  I'm literally obsessed with there jewelry because you can buy two things for $10!!!  I think they'll both look cute with the dress I plan on wearing to his graduation!

After that, I wanted to stop by the Disney Store Outlet just because I always love seeing what's new and when we walked in, the first thing I noticed was that they had all these pin boards set up for people to trade pins with!  If you don't know me, pin trading is one of my favorite things to do, and I noticed that the pin boards had some really good pins that I wanted to trade!  Of course I didn't bring any of my pins with me, but I bought two packs of pins for $4.99 each and one had six pins and the other had 4 with a landyard, so me and Laura waited in line so that we could pin trade!  I found some really cool pins and I was so excited!  I found three princess shoes - Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White, I found a Space Mountain License Plate which I thought was really cool, and then I found one more of the princess Rear View Mirrors, so now I have Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White!  I had so much fun and apparently, the outlet store does this big pin trading event every first Monday of the month between 5:00-6:30 PM.  I definitely want to go back!!

Lastly, Laura wanted to stop in PacSun real quick and the first thing I noticed when I walked in the store was a sign that said BUY ONE GET ONE FREE for all denim shorts and I like freaked out because that's such a good deal!!  We both tried on like 12 pairs of shorts before both choosing just two that we liked!  I found some really cute white denim shorts and another pair that has a high to low wash and they are super cute!!  I can't wait to wear all my new clothes next week when my family comes!!  Today was a really fun shopping trip and I can't wait to go shopping again once I save up some more of my money! LOL!

ALL THE DENIM @ PACSUN

 

 

~ Krista Lauren Girod

 

Saturday March 14, 2015

"Why, Aren't You Lookin' Dapper Today?!"

I can't believe today is already here!!  I've been wanting to participate in Dapper Day since I noticed it was something a lot of CP's do when they come since there is one offered in both the spring and the fall time.  Both me and Emily decided that we really wanted to go, and y'all came along with us when we shopped for dresses this past Tuesday!  We wanted to try to get there as close to park opening as we could!  Emily drove me to Magic Kingdom and her roommate Katie met us there!!  We started the day at Starbucks and I got a blueberry scone and a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino!  Then we spent most of our morning in the new HUB area taking super cute pictures!  It was such a pretty day and I LOVED seeing everyone in their Dapper Day dresses!!

 

 

We didn't really ride any rides, but me and Emily went to meet Ariel because it was a MUST considering how OBSESSED Emily is with The Little Mermaid - you guys have no idea how crazy this girl is about Ariel!!  We had a lovely meet and greet! 

Emily met up with one of her friends who used to work at Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin so he was able to get us on the ride through the FastPass line!  After that, me and Emily bought soft pretzels at the Launching Pad in Tomorrowland and walked over to the new HUB area to eat them before she had to leave for work.  I walked back to Tomorrowland and went inside the Space Mountain gift shop and charged my cell phone because it was getting pretty low and I needed it for work.  I ended up talking with all my friends who were working in the shop that day which was fun and I did vlog a little bit so be on the lookout for that!  I know I'm VERY behind, but hopefully it will be up soon!  I still had about an hour and a half before I had to go change for work, so I ended up watching the Carousel of Progress by myself.  I'm not going to lie, but I'm not really sure if I like going to the parks by myself.  For a couple of hours I guess it's not that bad and you can do whatever you want which is nice, but at the same time you see all these families having a good time together and I just feel really lonely.  I was going to go change for work early, but then I ran into one of my coworkers, Abbey, and she was by herself and I still have like an hour before I wanted to leave, so I walked with her to the new HUB area and ended up getting a hot dog for dinner from Casey's Corner (for the first time!!) and ate that as we watched the Move it! Shake It! Dance & Plat It! Street Party.  I'm glad I ran into her so that I wasn't alone!  HAHA!  I needed to run back to the front of the park to pick up my stuff that I had put in a locker for the day so I didn't have to carry it around and then I went to change and go to work!  I'm soo happy that I got to participate in Dapper Day because it was soooo worth it!!!  Such a fun day that I'll never forget!

 

~ Krista Lauren Girod

 



Wednesday March 11, 2015

JAMBO Everyone!!

Today I so happened to be off because I had traded shifts with one of my coworkers named Peyton so I worked her Sunday and she was supposed to work today for me!  I made plans to go to Animal Kingdom today with Kristen and Emily and I was soo excited to wear my cute new elephant print shorts that I had bought at Forever 21 yesterday!  I got all dressed up and ready, and then Katie came in my room crying because she was really nervous about her sunburn that she had gotten from the other day at Flower and Garden and from working outside in the sun.  She asked if I could take her to an urgent care place before she had to go to work.  I drove her to CENTRA CARE which wasn't far at all from the Downtown Disney entrance.  We were there for about two hours and the doctor gave Katie a medical restriction in order for her coordinators to give her a modified schedule for the next two weeks.  By the time we finished, it was time for her to go to work, so I drove her over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge so she could go to work and then I left to go meet Kristen at Animal Kingdom.



When I got there, Emily was at class.  She's taking Exploring Environmentality and Sustainability, so she had to meet her class at Rafiki's Planet Watch and they took a backstage tour of Kilimanjaro Safaris and it sounded really neat.  Anyways, I met Kristen in the front of the park and we took some cute pictures and then went to PIZZAFARI since I was really hungry!  We sat and talked for a while in there and then after that we walked around and went in some shops for a good while.  I got some Jungle Juice in an adorable souvenir cup and it was soo yummy!! 

 

 

After Emily's class was over, we met up with her and we both rode Expedition Everest again and I ran into Rachel Branham who makes vlogs just like me, so I said hello to her and we had a good time!  After that, we left the park and headed back to our apartment for a little bit and then met up with Marissa at Epcot because Kristen and Emily had reservations at San Angel Inn at the Mexico pavilion.  I wasn't very hungry because I was still pretty stuffed from the pizza I ate earlier, but I did get an appetizer, which was the perfect amount of food!  We stayed until the park closed and then came back for the night.  It was a really nice day off!!

 

Oh and GUESS WHAT???!!!!  I got ACCEPTED for nursing school a couple of days ago and I'm beyond excited to start a new adventure in the fall!!  I'll start in August for m Fall semester of college and I'm very very excited to see and learn lots of new things!!  I have to accept my offer by Wednesday March 25th so I'll have to accept it soon!  There's a lot of things I need to do for it, and they send a big large envelope full of information, so I'm going to have a lot of things to take care of before June 4th when the rest of my paperwork needs to be turned in.  I just feel so blessed that everything worked out perfecting in God's plan and there bigger and better things coming my way very soon!

 



 

~ Krista Lauren Girod

Tuesday March 10, 2015

Shopping for Dapper Day Dresses & First Floorstock Shift

Me and Emily made plans to go to the outlet mall today to look for really CUTE dresses to wear for Dapper Day on Saturday!  I'm so excited about attending it because ever since I've found out about it, I've wanted to go and it looks like it's going to be so much fun!  For those of you who may not know what Dapper Day is, it's a really fun tradition at Disney where guests can come to the parks dressed up looking your best in classic, dapper attire.  You all should definitely Google it and check it out!

 

 

We decided to go to the outlets on International Drive which were about 25-30 minutes away.  We walked straight to Forever 21 because I had a feeling I would be able to find a dress there for a decent price.  I tried on quite a bit of dresses, and don't worry, I vlogged a little bit just for you guys, and Emily tried on a handful of dresses too!  I fell in love with the second dress I tried on!!  It's off white with lace and it looks very vintage!  Emily found a cute blue and white classy-looking dress and we both want to wear pearls and pretty purses and shoes!  I also ended up finding two cute pairs of shorts - one that had elephants on it and looked super cute for a park day in Animal Kingdom and another pair that looked similar to those but were black!  I can't wait to actually go SUMMER SHOPPING!!

 

 

After we finished shopping, I had to rush back to my apartment and quickly change for work at 4!  The bus came at 3 but it looked like it was running a little late so I got really nervous and decided to drive myself to work for the first time!  I got really nervous because it took me a while to find a parking spot, but I eventually did!  YAY!  I had my very first FLOORSTOCK shift today and I was excited to see what it would be like!  I ended up stocking Mickey's Star Traders and the Speedway cart, but since there were a couple of people who already had been out to Speedway, all I really needed to focus on was MST.  It was very crowded and there was a lot to restock.  I focused on making the pin trading display looking a lot more full and more organized, I stocked a lot of the plush, mugs, and the drink cooler.  Stocking is a lot more laidback than doing registers, but I'm not sure what I like more.  I kind of like them both.  I love interacting with the guests when I'm on register, but I also love taking my time and reorganizing the stores when I'm stocking.  I love them both!!  Today was a pretty good day and I'm really excited for Saturday to come now!!

 

~ Krista Lauren Girod

Monday March 9, 2015

Flower and Garden Festival with Katie and Janet

So first of all, I just wanted to apologize for not blogging in a little while.  I have been working a lot, but just to catch all of you up, I absolutely love Tomorrowland!!  I'm finally starting to feel comfortable working there and I've already met so many amazing people.  There's about 40 or more college programmer's working in my location including quite a few international students!  I'm meeting a lot of friends and I really really really love everything about this program!! 

 

I had a really fun day at work yesterday!  I was actually supposed to have the day off, but I switched shifts with my friend Peyton so she's working my Wednesday shift and I worked her Sunday shift!  I had a lot of great guest interactions!  I was put on Photo Viewer in the Space Mountain gift shop and in the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin shop.  I printed a lot of photos for guests and pin traded a bunch also, which I love!!  At the end of the night, we had some guests come off the Buzz Lightyear ride.  It was a mom and her son and some other members of their party.  The son was disabled and when he went to get on the ride, he slammed his foot in the door that comes down on the ride with the space ranger guns to shoot at the targets.  His mom was worried that his foot might be broker or sprained since it was very swollen and he was crying a lot.  Buzz Lightyear was his favorite ride and it made the mother very upset to see him like that.  I asked my coworker Taylor to ask them if they wanted medical attention and they did.  I was very nervous, but tried to look and stay calm.  I called our coordinator on duty just to make sure that it was okay to call an ALPHA, which is our code for an ambulance, so I had to call an Alpha code and dial 911.  The doctors came very soon after and our coordinators came in to help assist us.  When one of the coordinators asked the mother what his favorite ride and movie were and he said this ride, I went ahead and grabbed a Buzz Lightyear plush and our coordinators wrote a NO STRINGS ATTATCHED for the boy.  A no strings attached card is something that coordinators can fill out for any type of merchandise less than $25 for guest service recovery.  My coordinator Caitlyn gave my a FOUR KEYS CARD for handling the situation effortlessly and I was very appreciative of it.  I just wanted to make sure that the guest was taken care of and that I was doing the right thing!

 

I also sold my first Attractions Plus card to a family who wanted to buy four digital downloads from Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.  Each digital download is $14.95 plus tax so times four would've been a lot of money, so I suggested to him that he could buy an Attractions Plus card for $49.95 plus tax and that way he could have all the photos that he takes on any of the rides that take your photos in all four parks and it would save him a lot of money.  He was very happy that I had mentioned that to him and I felt very accomplished, and I successfully handled it all by myself!  YAY! 

 

So, today I had my first day off in six days, so I was very excited to do something FUN!!  I guess before I go on any further, I should tell you all a little bit about what happened this past week.  I've had a very stressful week not just with work, but with our roommate situation and I'm very upset about how everything happened.  Long story short, two of our original roommates - Catherine and Sherri moved out of our apartment on Wednesday March 4th and are living in Vista Way now with some new random roommates.  We also got a new roommate named Heather who works at the World of Disney and she seems really nice!  I won't go into too much detail about what happened, but basically Catherine and Sherri had a housing meeting on Wednesday because of some things that were brought to the housing teams attention and they thought it was best if they moved apartments, so now Emily is my roommate and she moved into Sherri's place and we have a total of seven roommates right now.  I cried a lot about what happened and there's just been a little bit of drama going on with that that's made me a little stressed out, but I wanted to let you all know what happened in case you don't seem too much of them anymore in my vlogs and what not. 

Anyways, so this morning I went to my guest service class from 11-1 PM and today's class topic was Food and Beverage.  We had two Food and Beverage managers who came to speak to our class about there line of business with the Walt Disney Company and we got to find out what makes Disney's dining services so unique and entertaining for our guests.  We got to play an Iron Chef challenge that allowed us to create our own food product.  We had to name it and decide how much to sell it for.  It was very fun!  We ended up creating a peanut butter and jelly banana crunch muffin that we sold for $6.25.  We didn't have many ingredients to choose from so we kind of had to use what we had to create something worth eating. 

 

After that, me and Katie met Janet at Epcot!!  I was so so excited to finally be going to Epcot because I've been wanting to experience the FLOWER AND GARDEN FESTIVAL for a long time now.  This year, Disney added a food experience to this event much like the Food and Wine Festival that happens in the fall since it was so popular.  We spent most of the day walking around World Showcase and looking at all the BEAUTIFUL flowers and topiaries.  They give you a passport that you can get stamped at each country when you try some of the food options and it was so much fun to walk around and try to get all the places stamped!!  Don't worry, I vlogged every moment!!  We mostly walked around and took lots of pictures and got to ride the boat ride in Mexico and the Finding Nemo ride!!  We had such a fun time and we're definitely going to have to go back to finish getting the rest of the stamps in our passports!!

 

 

AND THE PHOTOSHOOT BEGINS!!!

Me and Katie just had to take this picture right when we got to EPCOT

My lovely PASSPORT!!

 EPCOT was BEAUTIFUL today!!

 

 We just had to leave OUR mark in CHINA ~ DCP MICKEY

 



Eating chicken and couscous in MORROCO!!

Found BELLE and the BEAST

 I've always wanted to take a picture here and finally got to!

 PINEAPPLE SOFT SERVE at PINEAPPLE PROMENADE

 

LET IT GO!

Aren't our shadows CUTE & SASSY!?

 

BUTTERFLY GARDEN

~ Krista Lauren Girod