DISNEY COLLEGE PROGRAM - A Spring 2013 Adventure! *COMPLETE* 11/20

[kimbo0569]

I've been reading your TR and hearing you talk about Coronado Springs and after showing pictures of it to my dh, he said he really didn't care where we stayed until he saw pictures of the waterslide at Coronado - his exact words were
"we're staying there! " I was looking at pictures of the rooms and it looks like Cabanas and Casitas have the nicer looking room (IMO). Walking around the resort doesn't bother me - we walk everywhere at home so we're used to it.

We've stayed at all of the other resorts - well my kids have only stayed with us at POR but dh and I have stayed at CBR and POFQ in the past. While I love all of them, I'm just looking for something different this time and deluxe unfortunately is not in our budget at this time.

 

[chiefdragon]

It is so amazing to read about all of your great times. Thank you so much for sharing each day with all of us

 

[TexasBelle]

Hey Jess!!!!!
I'm only on page 34 and I have a really long ways to go/read! But loving every minute of it because in 17 days (May 21st) my daughter checks in for DCP!!!! We are so excited.

I'm enjoying reading all your information on what happens and I keep calling Rae and telling her about things that you have said and because she's as excited as you are she's pretty much knew things that I've been telling her, (good research by her ) but I've not done as great of research as she has...

Her placement is Merchandising plus she also auditioned for characters in Austin but didn't make the cuts. She has lots of theatre, dance, cheer and gymnastics experiences. She's also 5'4 right in the middle of the height requirement.

I'm enjoying your report your such a precious young lady. I've read several of your other trip reports, I'm a really great lurker. I sure hope that Rae's experiences is as wonderful as your has been.

Looking forward to reading more but I'm have a going away party for Rae tomorrow night for all of her friends, her little kids that she teaches dance to, and family. Then after that It's time to start packing...

Here's a picture of Rae and her BF, I hope that maybe you will see her and introduce yourself to her. She's really nervous. Your so lucky that you had a friend going with you, she's meet a few people on FB DCP but nothing like having a BF with you.



Excited to read more.
Carolyn

 

[johnsonet]

Our next stop was the LIMITED TIME MAGIC DINOLAND DANCE PARTY! I forgot that this existed but Mark is ALL about character experiences so he knew about it. We headed over and THIS WAS THE BEST DANCE PARTY EVER. Usually at dance parties characters can only dance. No pictures, no autographs, no nothing except dancing. But at this dance party if you could catch their attention you could get them to sign and/or take pictures!!!

The first group of characters that we got to party with was Timon, Rafiki, and Terk. They were leaving soon though so we didn’t get to spend much time with them.

Then the fun began! Our new friends were Thumper, Miss Bunny, Lilo, and Stitch!

THEY DANCED TOGETHER OMG I WAS DYING OF CUTE.

Cutest bunnies EVER.

Mark's thing is to take selfies with the characters... and this is my FAVORITE one of the day. Miss Bunny was such a flirt and it was perfect!

DYIIIING!!

I would give anything to get to dance w/ Thumper and Miss Bunny.

Loving your TR. You are the best!

 

[cindianne320]

So glad you are feeling better!

I can't wait until my daughter is old enough to enjoy CRT!!!

Also- I can't wait for the big birthday trip- I've been following you and Lia for what seems like forever!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Hey Jess!!!! Was Mark at DHS today for the Star Wars 4th??!! There was a guy that looked like him standing in front of GMR but I didn't want to say anything and it didn't seem that you were around either!??!!

 

[JessicaFaye508]

Hey Jess!!!! Was Mark at DHS today for the Star Wars 4th??!! There was a guy that looked like him standing in front of GMR but I didn't want to say anything and it didn't seem that you were around either!??!!

Yes he was there! I had to work

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Yes he was there! I had to work

I thought it looked like him!!! I would have gone up to you guys for sure if you would have been there! I'll have to get by Coronado sometime and say hi. My DBF and I are staying at POP and WL over Memorial Day and POFQ over 4th of July with my family so no Coronado in our future!

 

[SummerInDisney]

I've just started catching up on your TRs again and I have to say, your college program experience looks amazing. Also I couldn't help but notice your ALDC shirt in the last picture

 

[JessicaFaye508]

May 2nd, 2013 - Carrabas!

This morning I woke up and we had our last Corporate Communications class!

After class Mark and I went to Carrabas which is right near our apartments. We have heard that is it good but we don’t have any near us. So we had it on our bucket list to try it out. We were VERY satisfied!

First off, the bread was fantastic and warm.

Mark got mozzarella sticks which were AMAZING.

Mark got veal parm:

And I got delicious chicken parm! I had the leftovers for dinner the next day and they were SO GOOD.

After that I went home and just laid on Mark’s couch while he watched Big Brother – Canada. Aka his newest obsession. All of his roommates went to see Iron Man 3 so it was a pretty quiet night.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 3rd, 2013 - Dream Along With Mickey Makes Me Emotional.

Lindsay and I decided to go to Magic Kingdom before work today!

We got Casey's Corner hot dogs. Main Street USA was BEAUTIFUL today. The Dapper Dans were singing and Dream Along With Mickey was going on and all of this happiness was rushing to me. It was a lovely afternoon.

I posted on twitter:
Walking down Main Street hearing the Dapper Dans and Dream Along with Mickey makes me remember how incredibly happy and blessed I am.

We ate our hot dogs with the perfect view of DAWM over at Tomorrowland Terrace!

Then we went back to the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor and had Mickey ice cream cones!!! THEY WERE THE CUTEST. They melted so fast but I loved them.

Lindsay got cookies and cream!

And I got some classic vanilla bean!

THE CUTEST.

After that we wandered over to Frontierland. The lines for everything were awful so we just ended up browsing the merch shops. I got a Finding Nemo 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PIN. How is that even possible?!?! Didn't I JUST go to the movie theater to see it?! Wow. Life goes by too fast.

Lindsay had to work at 3 pm so we said goodbye. On my way out, I stopped at watched the finale number of Dream Along With Mickey. I swear, after Mark leaves me, whenever I see this show I'm just going to cry. ALWAYS.

I posted on twitter:
Dream Along with Mickey makes me want to bawl my eyes out.

I posted on twitter:
Maybe I should just date Peter Pan.

I went back to the apartment, napped for 20 minutes, and then worked from 5:30 pm till 1 am.

Continued in Next Post​

 

[JessicaFaye508]

May 4th, 2013 - May the Fourth be With You!

This morning I woke up at 7 am and got ready to go. It was such an early morning but we had an important mission to complete.

Hint: MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU.

Yes, we were headed to Hollywood Studios! No, I have never seen the Star Wars movies. However, today I was in the SPIRIT. Multiple people over the course of my life have introduced Star Wars to me just by talking about it, so I felt like my little bit of knowledge justified this adventure.

We headed right to Hollywood Studios around 8 and it was raining! Yucky. Thank god I had my umbrella in my car!

We left the stage parking lot, walked to the main entrance, and had to wait for them to let us in. There were extra magic hours this morning but we couldn't get in until 9.

Thank God we got there when we did because the line for the park entrance was INSANE. The first place we went was right over to the gift shop where the limited edition merchandise was going to be on sale.

We grabbed our selections and made ourselves comfortable because we had a crazy wait ahead of us.

We got in line at 9:06 am and it was already winding back and forth every which way. It was Russell, Mark, and me waiting in line. A manager told us that there weren't going to be any limited edition pins left by the time we got to the register. That just set a bad mood for a lot of guests, but we still wanted shirts so we stayed in line.

I saw Nicole in line with her boyfriend, Jim, so we were super excited to see each other! I don't think they ended up waiting for the merch... but I don't blame them. This line was INSANE.

Cuddling with Jedi Mickey!

After waiting for TWO HOURS we finally made it up to the counter. TWO HOURS PEOPLE. And I am barely a Star Wars fan. Like... what was going on in my mind!?

By some MIRACLE and grace from God there were still pins available. I got one of the Fourth Be With You pins and also a Revenge of the Fifth pin. They are very large pins!

Then I also got a Revenge the Fifth shirt! Yay for limited edition stuff!

Then I also got a pin set with Star Wars characters on different Disney attractions that Surge told me about yesterday. It was even cuter in person! Dang, I was really in the spirit.

After that we needed lunch. We went to an all-around favorite - Pizza Planet!

I got pepperoni pizza and it was perfect. NOMS.

Then for dessert, Sergio and I split the DARTH VADER CUPCAKE. Holy God, that was amazing. It was a moist chocolate cupcake with fluffy PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING and chocolate on top of that. It was literally perfect. It wasn't super heavy either!

Cupcake cross section so you can see the peanut butter frosting:

After that I left the park and headed over to Coronado for my 1-9:30 pm shift.

I finished and headed home! MY MOMMY IS COMING TOMORROW!!!!

Continued in Next Post​

 

[vyse22]

OMG I am a Star Wars fan and a Stitch fan. Those pins and that shirt are amazing. Why didn't I take my vacation a week later. I am glad you are feeling better though and hope you have an amazing May with all your friends and family coming in.

 

[HulaTimon]

I've really enjoyed reading your posts and am envious of you! Thank you for all the time you spend writing these so we can live vicariously through you.

I also wanted to tell you about the awesome Disney Store in Florida, Theme Park Connection. Since you love collecting Disney stuff, you should definitely check it out!

 

[SmallWorld71]

Yay for your Mom coming!

 

[missx0xdelaney]

Omg, I LOVE the Vader cupcake! There is literally nothing more tasty! I'm so excited to get one in 18 days! I'm pretty jealous about your sweet May 4 merch, but I'm hoping the SWW merch is just as awesome!

 

[JessicaFaye508]

May 5th, 2013 (Part 1) - MY MOM IS HERE!!!!!!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody! I woke up at 7 am today and headed in for my 8:45 am – 2:45 pm shift.

When I left work it was absolutely GORGEOUS outside! My Mom arrived a little after 11 AM so I was going to go meet her at the hotel! We were able to get two free nights at the Marriott Grand Vista, so we were staying there for the first two nights of our trip! The hotel is about 5-7 minutes past Patterson! It’s super close to SeaWorld.

I got to the hotel and Mom met me near the security gate. REUNITED AT LAST!!!!!! Thank God she's finally here!

We drove to our building and went to the room. I actually had to insert the room key into a KEY SLOT. What is this ancient practice!? I’m so used to “touch to enter” because I talk about it every single day.

We dropped off our stuff, picked up Mark, and headed over to Epcot! Mark and my Mom were so excited to be reunited, too. They’re best friends.

We got to Epcot and were discussing the whole “funny question” scenario, as per usual.

Caption: “WHERE’S THE BALL?”

We walked right in Epcot and went straight to Japan. We were all starving and we wanted a snack, so we got some Frushi! My Mom thought it was the most delicious and brilliant thing.

We kept walking and we saw standard Donald out greeting! Donald never has his normal outfit on so we definitely had to stop by and take some pictures!

This picture literally sums up our lives.... me watching Mark take character selfies.

After that we walked all the way to Norway and went on THE MAELSTROM! There was about a 20-25 minute line but it was well worth it. Obviously. It's the Maelstrom. We just had so much to catch up on with my Mom anyway so we talked and talked throughout the queue.

The Maelstrom was a wonderful Scandinavian adventure. Then we had about 20 minutes until our Akershus reservation so we checked in a little bit early and we were seated almost immediately. It was AWESOME.

We went in and met Belle first. She was absolutely beautiful.

We were seated at a lovely table and our perfect princess dinner was about to begin! Our waitress took our drink orders. I got the all natural lemonade with wildberry foam, of course! It’s my favorite drink of all time besides water.

Then mark got the strawberry lemonade!

Very fancy stuff, right?

This meal begins with an appetizer buffet, which was fantastic because I was starving.

Mark's plate:

Mom's plate is the prettiest:

Then CINDERELLA CAME TO MEET US! My Mom always gets so excited to see Cinderella. She was so pretty!

Then our food arrived but SO DID JASMINE.

She walked up to our table and guess what the heck she said.

JUST GUESS.

She was like “it looks like we could be sisters, doesn’t it?”

That’s twice in one week that I’ve had Jasmine tell me we could look like sisters. This is why she's my favorite princess. I have a connection with Jas.

She also asked where I was from. I told her and she was like “...well is that anything like Agrabah?” I WISH!!

Once Jasmine left I literally like forgot I had food in front of me. I was so excited about meeting her. I LOVE PRINCESSES AHHH.

So once I looked down and saw a delicious meal in front of me, I realized that it was time to dig in! I got the beef tips, which were SO YUMMY. The mashed potatoes were amazing and I just loved life.

Mark got the beef short ribs and he LOVED those. He said they just fell apart and were perfectly cooked. Short ribs are an amazing creation.

Mom got the meatball dish that is the most authentic one on the menu. She said it was REALLY good. She was so glad she went with something unique to Norway!

Continued in Next Post​

 

[JessicaFaye508]

May 5th, 2013 (Part 2) - A Perfect Princess Dinner at Akershus!

Snow was our next princess!

Lastly Ariel came by! She said that I have mermaid hair and I told her "I have wanted to be a mermaid since I was five." I pretty much gushed to her how much I loved her when I was a child (and still do) and she thought it was absolutely adorable.

Childhood (and adulthood) fave. <3

For dessert they just bring you out a plate of treats and you divide them up between your party. My favorite was the chocolate mousse, Marks favorite was the apple cake, and Moms favorite was the rice pudding. So honestly, it was PERFECT.

We absolutely LOVED this meal. I honestly have to say that I am IN LOVE WITH THIS PLACE. For breakfast AND for dinner. (I've never been for lunch but I'm sure it's great, too!) I highly recommend it.

After dinner we walked over to Mexico and got in line for THE THREE CABALLEROS! They were out for limited time magic this week!

The line took about 20 minutes but it was awesome to meet these guys! The photopass photographer and character attendant were SUPER rushed, but it was exciting anyway.

#selfie

Then we went back to future world and took some pictures on the way! Mom is SUPER excited about the Flower and Garden festival!

Mom and Mark checked out the butterfly house while I ran to the restroom. I grabbed this awesome monorail shot on my way back over!

REUNITED!

We saw a cute little baby bunny on our way out! We became one of those guests who spend more time looking at the wildlife rather than Disney World itself. LOL whoops.

Then we headed out of Epcot!

We dropped off Mark and then literally went back to the hotel room around 7 or 8 pm. My Mom and I both got up SO early today that we were too tired to do anything else. Relaxing sounded very appealing.

I pretty much laid in bed, watched Stacey (because this Marriott is great and has Stacey on its TVs) and caught up on trip reports! YAY!

Continued in Next Post​

 

[Jerzetta]

Your pictures are amazing. The ones of the castle are so professional looking with the fireworks. What camera do you use? Love your reports and look forward to reading more. Have fun with your mom.

 

[merbobear]

I'm excited for you that your mom is visiting! I hope you have a wonderful time with her!

I lovelove LOVE Akershus for dinner/lunch. I haven't eaten breakfast there, but I am sure it would be good I'm glad that you reviewed the dinner and mentioned the dessert, because I didn't realize that they changed the pastry w/ berries & marscapone mousse to an apple cake. I can't say I am super excited about that, but I'm glad I know in advance so I won't pout about it when it is presented to us at our table in a few days!

 

[abk96]

Great updates Jess. I'm so happy you are seeing your mom. That's so sweet that you get excited to see her. I hope my girls always are excited to see me.

Carrabba's is one of our favorite restaurants here in our city. Glad to hear you liked it there.

We're not Star Wars fans here in my house either but I had to say "May the Fourth Be With You" and my kids were like "What are you talking about?". I had to explain it and it wasn't that exciting to them. Oh well.

Enjoy the rest of your time with your mom.