My must do's in Magic Kingdom!

Hi everyone!! Thought I'd do a post on what I really want to do in each of the Theme Parks in WDW while I am out there on my ICP, with free admission ;) lol. I have been to WDW 3 times but there are still a lot of things I have not been able to experience, and now I know a few more things thanks to being a member of the DIS boards and learning things from reading other people's trip reports.

Main Street USA

1 - Take a ride around the park on the Walt Disney World Railroad.

2 - Meet Mickey in Town Square Theatre

3 - Try and photograph all the upper windows along Main Street which are all references to Disney Imagineers.

4 - Eat at Casey's Corner

5 - Watch the 3 o'clock parade

6 - Watch the Night time parade

7 - Watch Celebrate the Magic and Wishes from the Hub :)

8 - Play The Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom Game

9 - See the Opening Show

Adventureland

1 - See the Enchanted Tiki Room, the last time I seen it, it was the Under New Management Show.

2 - Ride the Jungle Cruise

3 - Go on Magic Carpets of Aladdin

4 - Ride POTC ride

5 - Explore Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

6 - Go to Aloha Isle and have the famous Dole Whip!!!!

Frontierland

1 - Ride Big Thunder Mountain, both day and night!

2 - Ride Splash Mountain, both day and night!!

3 - See Country Bear Jamboree

4 - Eat at Peco Bill's at have a BBQ Pork Sandwich

Liberty Square

1 - Go see the Hall of Presidents

2 - Ride the Haunted Mansion, both day and night! I think riding at night would be extra creepy :)

3 - Take a relaxing ride on Liberty Square Riverboat, with an ice cream in hand :)

Fantasyland

1 - Ride the Carousel  It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and the Tea Cups.

2 - Eat at Pinocchio Village Haus while watching the It's a Small World boats float pass below.

3 - Eat at Be Our Guest Restaurant

4 - Experience Enchanted Tales with Belle

5 - Ride Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid

6 - Eat at Gaston's Tavern and try LeFou's Brew.

7 - Ride Dumbo and the Barnstormer including the Great Goofini

Tomorrowland

1 - Ride Astro Orbiter, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Stitch's Great Escape, Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Speedway and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover.

2 - Watch the Carousel of Progress and Monster's Inc Laugh Floor

3 - Eat at Cosmic Ray's Stalight Cafe

I think that is everything!!! lol Hopefully I can manage to experience all of this. 

Have a Magical Day!!! Only 143 days to go!!!

A Trip down Disney Memory Lane!

Hi everyone!! Thought I would do a post on my previous Disney Trips :)

My very first holiday abroad was when I was 4, in 1997 and we went to Disneyland Paris for a few days. I don't remember much but my parents videoed the trip so we have the memories from it to look back on :) Of course I grew up with watching the Disney movies anyway, there's footage of me when I was 2 watching Beauty and the Beast on video and during the song "Belle" I was walking around with a wee wooden basket pretending to be Belle :) One of my favourite moments in the film is when she sits at the fountain and the sheep come along.

Then in 2001 we went on our first trip to WDW!!! We went for a week in May and I loved it! We stayed off property and rented a car, although I do remember getting lost when we first tried to find our hotel!!

Fast forward to 2004 we had a holiday to DLP for another few days but this time we stayed on property!! We stayed at Sequoia Lodge and it was a good age for me and my sister since if we wanted to go on rides my parents were happy to let us go onto the ride ourselves and we would meet them at the exit :) DLP also had a second park so there was more to do for us on this trip.

Christmas 2005 came and to be honest 2005 wasn't a great year for me or my family, but for Christmas my grandparents surprised us with a trip to WDW for a week with them and my auntie and uncle. It was a great holiday and definitely made my love for Disney even stronger :)

2008 brought my third trip to WDW with my sister, Granny, Auntie and Uncle for two weeks. This was the first time I had stayed on Disney property and I loved the Disney transport system, it worked really well for us. Also being there for two weeks allowed us to take our time and also we had two lazy days to relax by the pool and make sure we had a nice tan ;) hahaha

After the trip in 2008, I honestly had no idea when my next Disney trip would be, I had GCSE's and A Levels in front of me after that trip. Then in 2011, in my final year of secondary school, loads of people in my year were planning holidays with friends, then I was talking to my friend an we both said how it would be nice to go away to somewhere where it wasn't all about getting drunk and the beach and we both suggested DLP!! So we went in June 2011 to celebrate the end of school, exams and my birthday :D We even had my Birthday dinner in Cafe Mickey!! This was a brilliant trip, we enjoyed the rides, the characters and just the freedom of it all. At the end of that trip I honestly imagined that the next time I would go to Disney, most likely WDW, was when I had a stable job after uni and could afford to go!!!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined, even in 2008, I would have the courage to even apply to the program and contemplate living in another country for 10 weeks!!! And yet here I am accepted onto the program and going!! Yes I will still miss my family so much but there's Skype and I know this experience will make me stronger as a person. Especially since I decided to stay at home whilst studying at university, which means I have never lived away from home before. Also I will be able to say that my first job was working for Walt Disney World!!! :D I'll be able to work and play in the most amazing place!!

Have a Magical Day!!! Only 145 days to go!!!  

Other Expenses...

Hello again!! I know two blog posts in one day!! Can you tell I'm off uni for a while ;)

Again this post should not put people off the ICP but just to be aware of costs that you may not have anticipated!! :) If you are thinking of applying, go do it!!! :)

After Christmas I had some money as gifts so I decided to buy myself a cheap(ish) video camera so I can video all of the Disney Parks in their glory!!! :) That cost me £150, I still need memory cards and a case for it but I may be asking them for my birthday (which is actually the day I leave for London but I'll probably celebrate with my Dad's birthday the week before). I probably will buy an extra memory card for my photo camera as well which I got for Christmas a couple of years ago.

Another thing is laptop, originally I was going to bring my own laptop which I have had for 3 and 1/2 years now, I got it for my A Levels / getting through my GCSE's :) I love it and it is ideal since it has an SD card reader in it and plenty of memory, the only thing I would have had to buy is a webcam. But my dad was concerned about it being stolen and my parents had kind of toyed with the idea of getting an extra laptop so my dad can work on stuff  while in the living room and my mum can use it whenever she wants. My dad then saw a refurbished laptop plus a webcam for £140 on ebay. The seller obviously done this for a living and seemed like a genuine seller, so I went halfers on a refurbed laptop with extra memory and a webcam. This laptop will then be used by me when I'm in Florida and by my parents any other time :) This means if it gets stolen, it isn't the end of the world, to be honest if someone saw the laptop they probably wouldn't bother stealing it because it looks old and ugly hahaha :) It is slower than my own laptop but it will do fine!

The only two downsides of this refurbed laptop is that it does not have a SD card reader and it only has 30GB of memory :O So I will have to buy a SD card reader and an external hard drive. Although to be honest an external hard drive would be useful for having a back up of files at home anyway. With a quick look on Argos I found a 500GB hard drive for £50!! So a SD card reader and external hard drive are next on my to buy list!!

So far that's all the "other expenses" I have encountered! I will let you know of any others that creep up on me lol 

Have a Magical Day!!! Only 146 days to go!!

Money, Money, Money...

Hi everyone!! Unfortunately this will be a bit of a, not sad, but realistic post today. Before I start, this post should not put anyone off applying for the ICP but it is something that you should think about!! If you are reading this and thinking of applying, honestly go for it!! I just want people aware of the expense of the program and seriously think about if it is manageable. Also I live in NI which means I had to fly to both of my interviews but then again I will have hardly any transport expenses for the Embassy interview.

When I first applied for this program I realised that if I did get through to the interview stages I would have to travel. This was not a problem financially because I had some savings which I was prepared to use. So I got through to the pre-screens and had to travel to Liverpool. Also I should say my mum accompanied me on both trips!! :) So I probably spent double what I should have, but the extra support was helpful!! I had to pay for flights, a hotel, two taxis to and from the airport, dinner at the airport the first night and dinner at the airport the second day, plus some money for coffee/tea/frappicinos lol

When I got through to the face to face interviews at Disney HQ in London, this is where things got more expensive!!! I paid for flights, petrol money to get down to Dublin airport (since it was cheaper than Belfast),  two nights at the Premier Inn near Heathrow, tube tickets in and out of London, breakfast for two mornings, lunch near Disney HQ, dinner at hotel after interview, taxi back to airport plus some money for Starbucks and for the coach back up to Belfast.

After being accepted onto the program the first expense was the fee for the CRB check, unfortunately this is mandatory! and cost £60. Then flights... admittedly I could have done it a bit cheaper if I had decided to fly back to England and then have an extra flight back to NI but I decided I would like to fly back to Dublin so it means either my parents could pick me up or I can get the coach back to Belfast. My flight from Belfast - London Gatwick: £51, Hotel in Gatwick: £39, Flight Gatwick - Orlando with Virgin through STA: £375 then Flight Orlando - Dublin: £492.

The next expense I have to consider is Visa, I think it will cost approx £100 but I will confirm this amount when I have done it!! lol Thankfully there is an American Embassy in Belfast up the road from my University which means my transport costs will be like an extra £2 on top of my normal uni commute :) After the Visa I then have medical insurance to pay which is done through Disney and costs $70 a month. Lastly I have a program assessment fee of $100 which has to be paid for about a month before I go.

All of these expenses are obvious and the Flights, Visa and insurance are mentioned in the Step-by-Step guide that Yummy Jobs sent us but there are other expenses that I have encountered already that may not be so obvious and I'll cover them in another blog since this is pretty long!! lol

Have a Magical Day!! 146 days to go!!

Exams and CRB Check

Well my January exams are now over!! YAY! I'll find out the results at the start of February, I think I've passed them ok so I won't have to resit them in August! :) One less thing to worry about!

Also in the post today I received my CRB check certificate :D I am not a criminal which is good to know ;) hahaha It was quite surreal to see "Name of Employer: Walt Disney World"!! It's one of them little things that remind you that yes you will be working for Disney!! Every so often you kind of forget about the whole thing, then someone will post something on the facebook group or you'll see something and get all excited again :)

Also I have booked my flight back from Orlando!! All I have to do now is book a flight to London in June and a hotel in Gatwick for the night :) I am getting there!!!

Hopefully in February sometime we will get our Disney Packs!! That will be very exciting!! Then we can start to think about Visas!! That will mean a trip up the road from my University to the American Embassy in Belfast!

That's about it for now!! Have a Magical Day!!!

149 days to go!!!

Yay It's 2013!!

Hi everyone!! Happy New Year!!

It is now 2013 and that means one thing...I'm working at WDW THIS YEAR!!! :D

Still can't quite believe it to be honest lol

Nothing has changed really since my last update. But I hope to book my other flights and the hotel for Gatwick hopefully at the end of this month when my student loan comes in!!

Have a Magical Day!!!

156 days to go!!!