The Everything Happens for a Reason TR--Last Trip as a WDW CM*ONE MORE SLEEP! pg 25

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

HI DIS!!!!

Some of you might remember me from my TR/Blog from my adventures as a WDW CM. Well, I'm back!!!! If not, my name is Megan from Pittsburgh, then Cinderella's Castle, then AK, then back to the Castle and now Cincinnati.

Brief History for newbies!!

I have been a WDW fan since I could remember. My parents first took me to WDW when I was 2, DL when I was almost 3. We took day trips to WDW from when I was 2-6 when visiting my g-parents in southern FL in the winters.

The first week long WDW vacation we took was back in 1992. My brother had just turned 5 and I had just turned 7 and we stayed at POFQ which became our home for our next 2 trips in '94 and '96. In '98 we did a split stay at Poly and POR and were supposed to stay at POFQ in 2000 for our LAST DISNEY TRIP EVER (according to dad) but he surprised us and we stayed at WL. When you're 15 and 13 and had been to WDW, you know that when you drive under the MK sign you aren't going to POFQ-minus the back road. We pulled up to WL and dad told us we were just "checking it out" and when the guard told us to enjoy our stay my brother and I were so surprised! WL then became our "home" in '03, '05, and '07 when we were NEVER GOING BACK lol.

After college in 2007 + student teaching that fall, I decided that I wanted to take a chance and build my resume instead of living at home and subbing from day to day at schools and so I applied for the College Program (CP). I interviewed and was accepted a week later for BBB-MK. I was a CP from Jan '08-June '08 and then applied for a Professional Internship (PI) and was accepted at AK-Education Presenter from June '08-Jan '09. Out of 20 interns I was chosen as one of five to be given seasonal status to continue working at WDW for AK and then back to BBB.

With the failing economy right now, WDW is not hiring and with my work being "cut" by Sept, I began looking for other jobs in March and stumbled upon a teaching job in Cincinnati, interviewed in May and was hired on the spot!!! I'm currently teaching for 5 year olds at a private children's academy!!


COMING UP:
-MY TITLE
-MY TRIP
-MY PICTURES!!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

MY TITLE:


So you might be wondering, what's with the title?!

A little bit about WDW seasonal status for those who don't know. Some CPs, PI's, and retired people often apply for seasonal status at WDW. Why you ask? You only have to work at WDW for 40 hours a year and you get to keep all of your discounts, getting in for free, and special tours and CM experiences (IE: BLT tour before it opens to DVC members).

The status is not meant for you to work year after year at 40 hours a week but if you attempt it, they will cut you off working after 9 months. I had worked full-time hours from Jan-May and was told that I could be "cut" by Sept. and would not be allowed to work again until January. I was super lucky in that I landed my teaching job yet still have my status!!!

Sadly though with my current job, it does not provide vacation time until after a year. I get a few days off paid until then so we can't take a week long vacation which would be nice!! Since I still have my CM status and it will most likely expire since I don't have vacation time to work my 40 hours we have to get one last trip in before it expires in Jan!!!!!


WHO WILL BE GOING?????

CAST OF TRIP:

Me: Favorite of anything WDW related and have discovered podcasts which I LOVE!!!

DDad: Says every trip we will never go back and we do! He swore he would NEVER go to WDW in Dec and after going last year, he has decided it is the only time he'll go now. HAHA.

DMOM: Loves beach vacations and cherishes our WDW days off at the pool, spa, or DTD shopping.

DBro: Just as big of WDW fan as me. Has every book, podcast, dvd, you name it. His dream would be to work at Disney in some sort of communications related field. He's getting there after being accepted to grad school for the fall!!


A picture of us at Dbro's college graduation in May:

UP NEXT:
-TRIP DETAILS
-MORE PICS
-MY LAST DAYS AT DISNEY

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

TRIP DETAILS:

When thinking of a time to go to WDW between now and Jan for my dad it was a no brainer, his choice was December.

Dbro: October because he has never been to WDW for MNSSHP or F&W.

Dmom: Didn't care except not Sept because of the school year starting.

Me: Didn't care but it would have to be over a long weekend with me using 2 of my 3 paid days off and one not paid day off.

What did we come up with???????

DECEMBER!!!

Why? Reasons include:
1. Dad is paying so he gets to pick
2. We can escape the snow (fyi: I have not seen snow in 2 years!)
3. We can celebrate and early Xmas
4. Dbro will be done with his semester of grad school...hopefully
5. Did I mention Dad is paying??????
6. Celebrate moving. Dad is currently working a new job in Cincinnati. Mom and Bro are still living in Pittsburgh until the house sells and then will relocate to OH.
7. And well Dad is paying so ya...


I mention Dbro's school because he is going to an Ohio grad school and they have finals until 18 but he is toying with the idea of doing online school and living at home in Pittsburgh or Cincinnati.

So we were clueless on what dates to book but came up with 2 dates:

DEC: 10-15
AND
DEC: 16-21


RESORT INFO:

Between our trips in the past and me being a CM with discounts we have stayed at almost all the WDW resorts except: GF, YB club, BW, and FW.

Of course dads choice is WL. He believes it is magical at xmas and with us booking this early we should get it and at a good deal and we did!!

WL Dec 10-15
Courtyard View Bunk Bed
$200.00 a night
-not including a DDP but CMs are usually offered it a month before and will add it at $20 a person

We were VERY tempted at Poly which was an extra $20 a night but since dad believes WL is magical at Xmas that won.

Thinking we'd book the same resort for the following week and then cancel based on Bro's finals schedule but when I went to book it, I discovered that WL was an extra $50 a night for the room and AKL-Pool Bunk Bed was $50 cheaper.

Sadly we ended up booking AKL for the second week

AKL-Dec 16-21
Pool View with Bunk Bed
$200.00 a night
-not including a DDP

Last Dec we stayed at AKL and ended up upgrading from a standard to savannah view a few days before the trip. AKL was nice at Xmas but we all agreed it's not home like WL and I ended up with food poisoning at the end of the trip so I did not have fond memories lol!!!!

We're hoping we can cancel one of the ressies ASAP based on when Bro starts school the end of Aug!!!!!


PICTURES!!!!:

Mom, Dad, and I at Teppan Edo in April:

Myself and roomie Elyse at Epcot on my Bday in March:

UP NEXT:
-MY FINAL DAYS WORKING AT WDW
-MORE PICTURES
-MORE TRIP DETAILS!!!!!!!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Well Geez! I figured I'd have some viewers by now!? Oh well! In time maybe??!! Until then I will continue!!


MY LAST DAYS AT WDW:

As said before, I had left WDW back in May to start a new job. I had been home the 2nd week of May and had gone to Cincinnati on a whim for the interview and had it on May 11 and was offered the job. I flew back to WDW on the 14 and moved on May 24 and started work on the 26th.

When I had gotten back to WDW I had spent the next week 1/2 working as I had already agreed to take shifts from FGITs at BBB. When off work I tried my hardest to make it to something WDW but between working 12 hour shifts, saying bye to friends, cleaning, packing, and shipping boxes, I didn't get to do a whole lot!!

My parents thought about taking a long weekend and flying down for one last visit but seeing as I had 10 days left before the move, they decided to fly Dbro down and help me drive.

On May 22, I checked into POP and met up with my college roomie who bought DVC in Jan. She just so happened to be there at SSR for the holiday weekend to celebrate an early masters graduation/bf's first time at WDW. Here she is opening her gifts from me:

The next day May 23, myself, roomie, roomie bf, roomie mom, and roomie dad went to DHS for EMH before I had to go to MCO to pick up Dbro. Late morning I headed out to MCO to pick up my Dbro. After getting him, we went back to POP for him to settle in and headed back to DHS. Here he is excited about SWW.

We also went to Epcot and ate at Biergarten for one last time

During our meal in Germany, I got a text from roomie saying that roomie bf had proposed to her in front of the castle!!!!!!!!!! But during our meal the flood gates opened to a major storm and in route to MK to see roomie, she and roomie bf had left to go back to SSR (I was lucky to meet up with roomie and fam at AK the following morning before the long drive to OH).

This is my last monorail ride Sadly it was monorail pink, my favorite one

After doing some rides and saying we weren't going to watch Spectro, we ended up watching it, I mean how could we not?! After that it was Wishes. I had always gotten those WDW chills when seeing FW shows but let me tell you..during the WHOLE show I cried like a baby and after it was over I stood in the middle of main street and cried for about 10 mins and after that my brother put his arm around my shoulder and we headed off to Jungle Cruise.

As we walked out one last time I took this picture..while crying again!

It only took a month away from WDW that I began to get Disney Homesick!!!!


UP NEXT:

-A FEW TRIP DETAILS
-MORE PICTURES!!!!

 

[SnoopyDancer]

Congratulations on your new job! I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed reading your trip reports (even if I mostly lurked). I'm glad you're getting to go back to WDW in December. I hope everything works out and you get to stay at WL.

I bet your kids will enjoy hearing your stories about working at Disney. I think it's so cool you got to work at AK. Good luck with everything!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Congratulations on your new job! I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed reading your trip reports (even if I mostly lurked). I'm glad you're getting to go back to WDW in December. I hope everything works out and you get to stay at WL.

I bet your kids will enjoy hearing your stories about working at Disney. I think it's so cool you got to work at AK. Good luck with everything!

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I only have one view Unless there are a bunch of lurkers!!!

..I saw the Nov hours are out so I just gotta make it to Septemeber until they open up Dec and then the real planning will begin!!!

 

[MomPlanner22]

Megan I am a big lurker and have always enjoyed your reports!

I am originally from Cincinnati myself and all I can say is -- I miss LaRosa's and am jealous you can eat there!!!

I'm looking forward to reading your report!

 

[Captdonswife]

Copngrats on the new job! Can't wait to read the rest of your report! I'll bet it will be great!!

Vicky (Captdonswife)

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Megan I am a big lurker and have always enjoyed your reports!

I am originally from Cincinnati myself and all I can say is -- I miss LaRosa's and am jealous you can eat there!!!

I'm looking forward to reading your report!

Thanks for reading!! I live in the Fairfield area (for the moment until my apt in Hamilton opens up) and I live within walking distance of LaRosa's. It's pretty good pizza!!!

Copngrats on the new job! Can't wait to read the rest of your report! I'll bet it will be great!!

Vicky (Captdonswife)

Thanks for reading!!!!!

 

[disneymomof1]

subbing, loving your report so far, Happy Planning !!!!

 

[dizmom2mwjk]

I hope you enjoy teaching this fall! It will make you love Disney even more...as a parent, I love knowing when teachers have a love of something specific, as it makes appreciation gifts easier!!!

Enjoy planning your trip!

 

[MickeyisBeast]

I'm here! Joining in :]

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

subbing, loving your report so far, Happy Planning !!!!

Thanks for reading!!

I hope to have an update real soon!!!

I hope you enjoy teaching this fall! It will make you love Disney even more...as a parent, I love knowing when teachers have a love of something specific, as it makes appreciation gifts easier!!!

Enjoy planning your trip!

Thanks for reading!!

I'm very excited about the fall. I started in May when the older kids had their graduation for pre-k and now I'll get to start, next week actually with a new batch of kiddos!! It is sad but exciting at the same time. They always ask to hear Disney stories and see pictures!!

I'm here! Joining in :]

Thanks for joining!! I love your TR so much--you'll be starting a pre-tr when this one is over right?! lol.

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

WELCOME VIEWERS!!!!!!

I thought I would take some time to update since it has been awhile. Dec trips are wonderful but waiting for them is horrible, mixed with the fact that the date is not set in stone, I can't make ADRs, and park hours are not posted yet!!

The fam and I have not talked about the trip much...sad isn't it? Dbro has made a final decision to go to a Pittsburgh city university to begin his Master's. He had his heart set on the Cleveland city school but since no one in my family has established an Ohio residency yet (mine still FL and dm/ddad are still PA until they officially move) the cost for tuition would be through the roof so for now he will settle with the PA school. *Hopefully* he will schedule classes soon so see when he'll be in school so we can make a final decision on a date!

Other than that, nothing else to report.

We have of course decided on the *musts* of the trip:
-MVMCP, my CM tix discount is only good for the Nov. parties so we will be paying full price for this.
-Candlelight with dining package, even if we end up getting a CM DDP, we will pay full price for this and do a 2 pointer meal or a breakfast/dinner type deal
-See the lights at DHS, not much to plan for on this. We did not see them flip the switch last year and I never saw it on days off so I would like to see this.

Last Dec when my fam came to visit we had the same amount of days in the park-4 days.

We used 3 days of my main gate tickets and then paid for the MVMCP tickets and went to DTD/Resorts during the morning/afternoon and went to MK at 4 for the party. We will be doing the same type of schedule again this year.

Other than that we will just sit and wait. We will discuss ADRs eventually. We have our favs of every park:
MK-LTT, only with characters of course!
Epcot-Teppan Edo
DHS-Sci Fi
AK- Yak n Yetti
DTD- RFC
Resort-WCC


We'll have to wait and see if we do any repeats or not!!!!!!!

For now that is pretty much it. I'm busy these days getting my classroom ready for my new group of 4 yr olds that we'll get next week!! I already got a huge supply of glue and crayons that were on sale at Walmart.

No new Disney pictures sadly but here are some from this past weekend!!


Droomie and I at Pittsburgh Steeler Camp:

My friends daughter and I:

Friend from college and I

View from the field:

My 2nd cousin Caden's baptism:

Just for curiosity I looked up to see how much it would cost over Labor Day for a quick get-away and I could get a room at POP for $50 a night!! Until I checked flights and it was $350+ for Airtran out of Dayton so I guess I'll be waiting until Dec


Thanks for reading, hopefully in a week or so I'll have more updates!!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Hey Dis!!

First of all I would just like to say, I have NO idea why I'm up on my day off before 8am. It seems pretty crazy to me! I have lots to do today so I guess I'll have an early start at it?

I hope everyone had a great week. Mine was looking pretty grim until I got a call that I had been waiting for...my apt is finally ready!!
I had been put on an apt waiting list back in June and got the call on Wednesday that my apt. was ready! Living with my Ddad has been fine but my apt will be 20 mins away from school instead of 40 mins away so that will be wonderful. Ddad was less than pleased when he found out it was the one that was at the highest of my price range and did not approve at first (just like when I was accepted for my CP/PI..funny!!!!) but yesterday I got another great call from the insurance company and was approved for my insurance at the lowest rate so it looks like I have the green light from my dad for the apt!! I could be moving as early as next week or the following week!!!!!!!!

Well on to some Disney news:

Nothing new to add about the dates. We still have trip A and trip B. I get my vacation time starting on Aug 26 so I'm hoping by then Db will know his class schedule so we can decide on trip A or trip B. I'm still pulling for trip A but seeing as Db will still be in class that week/beginning finals, it's looking that trip B will be the more likely of the two.

I have also thrown out something for Db...
He has always wanted to do a tour at WDW and has never done it. I guess you figured when your Dsis (me) is at WDW/working, you have all the time int he world but not anymore!!

He has always had his heart set on KTTK (abrv?) and Segway.

I have done 3 official tours:
Segway (world showcase)
Dolphins in Depth
Seeds tour at the land (a part of my AK training, it was free )
*I have not officially done KTTK but my MK orientation guide is a tour guide as well and set up the orientation as if we were one of her tours

If you had to pick between Segway or KTTK tour which would you pick???
some things to keep in mind:
-we are only going to be at the parks for 4 days so KTTK tour might be taking up a TON of time since its a 4 hour tour but you can't beat what you learn and see
-one of the days we are not using a park ticket, we will just hang around till the party at 4
-depending on flight times leaving we could have time in the morning. Getting to WDW we will have late flights so that won't be an option


Any advice would be helpful. I told Db to do some research and let me know. I get a discount on both tours I believe so that is not an issue, if not I know Disney Visa will offer discounts as well or in some of the travel books as well.



Well that is it for now, I'm off to get my hair chopped off, see Time Traveler's Wife, gather some things for my new apt, and maybe hit up our local Fair tonight...


Thanks for the advice!!!

 

[jharrowell]

Hi, love the posts so far.

How about the new Epcot Segway tour that includes backstage elements?

You get some backstage stuff for DBro and you get to play on the Segways, which is always a bonus...

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Hi, love the posts so far.

How about the new Epcot Segway tour that includes backstage elements?

You get some backstage stuff for DBro and you get to play on the Segways, which is always a bonus...

Thanks! I'll have to check into that further. Do you know how new it is? I checked 3 different sites including the official WDW , Dis, and another and the only ones listed are Simply Segway and WS Segway.

KTTK would be nice for Db but seeing as I have already done the tour and used the tunnels for work, I'm not sure how much I would enjoy it so maybe I'll push for Segway but would do either of course lol!!!

 

[jharrowell]

Thanks! I'll have to check into that further. Do you know how new it is? I checked 3 different sites including the official WDW , Dis, and another and the only ones listed are Simply Segway and WS Segway.

It's very new, I only found out about it about a month ago on another site known for it's news and rumours.

I don't remember the name but it's something like "Epcot behind the scenes with Segway".

I believe it's a 3 hour tour...

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

It's very new, I only found out about it about a month ago on another site known for it's news and rumours.

I don't remember the name but it's something like "Epcot behind the scenes with Segway".

I believe it's a 3 hour tour...

Wow, thanks!! I'll have to look into that. I've been backstage before at Epcot for some of my AK training and when I did Dolphins, not as thrilling as MK I must say but still interesting to see what others can't!!

 

[SunnieRN]

Congratulations on the job and the apartment!! Just curious, is Dad helping subsidize the apartment and that is why he is against it? If that is too personal a question, please ignore it!!

Loving your Disney memories and looking forward to more of your plans!!

Ohhh, and Caden is beautiful!!!!!