The Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride (Week One)

Just like the title implies, my first week in the Disney College Program was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions and experiences!

I flew to Orlando on January 27th, just barely escaping record setting cold in my home state. My parents unfortunately couldn't travel down with me to move in so it was my first time ever traveling completely solo and only my second time on a plane. I was so scared of traveling alone that I almost didn't get on the plane! I thankfully made it to Orlando just fine. I spent the night at Disney's All Star Sports Resort, and checked in to Vista Way at 10:45am on the 28th. At check-in, they took pictures for housing IDs and gave us our apartment assignments. I was placed in a three bedroom/six person apartment.

Trying to find my building while hauling my gigantic suitcase, bag, and backpack was a real adventure. After several wrong turns, and the help of another kind CP who had moved in the week before, I was able to find my building. When I walked into my apartment for the first time I was so nervous! My nerves were absolutely for nothing, because my roommates are some of the sweetest girls in the world! I share a room with Maria (who I initially linked with on Facebook for rooming), and I was also randomly put in the same apartment as one of my friends from my group chat during the application process! Everyone was pretty confused when Corinne and I saw each other for the first time and immediately started screaming. Kamryn, Lauren, and Alexa are our other roommates and are also nice.

I had casting the same day at 2:30 and had the 'brilliant' idea just to take an Uber so I wouldn't have to leave an two hours early to take the bus. Bad plan. My Uber driver dropped me off literal miles away from where I was supposed to be! I didn't know what the building looked like, so when he dropped me off I assumed it was correct. I wound up at a really fancy Disney office building. It was neat, but I was panicking because I was going to be late to casting. Spoiler alert: the bus was late too! By the time I got to casting at almost 3, the other people in my casting time were just showing up. I thankfully didn't get into trouble for being late, and nobody even noticed that I was. The next part of my day was shopping.

Since I didn't have a car in Florida and didn't have family to help me out, my friend Faith graciously drove me to Target so I could get groceries and bedding. We both spent most of the Target trip laughing hysterically about my inability to make decisions. I changed my mind on what comforter to get at least three times, and then didn't realize until I got home that I accidentally bought a full/queen sized comforter for my twin bed. I've accepted my fate with the ridiculously large comforter because I didn't want to go all the way back.

That same night, Faith and I met up with our friend Tommy at Disney Springs. It was my first time there, and I absolutely loved it! I couldn't wait to start buying souvenirs, but I forced myself to stick to only two items: a Baymax plush because he's one of my favorite characters, and a 2019 Disney World sweatshirt.

As you can probably guess, I was absolutely exhausted by the end of my first night. I was sure I'd be asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, but the noise from the six-lane highway that runs right alongside Vista kept me awake the whole night. I've lived in the country my whole life, so having all the noise was crazy! I invested in some earplugs, and my sleep schedule improved enormously. ;)

Tuesday and Wednesday were thankfully much quieter than that first day. I did a lot of cleaning and decorating! It was pretty cold (for Florida, at least) and I didn't pack anything warm so I stayed indoors. Wednesday night was the housing welcome party for the 1/28 arrivals. We spent hours dancing to everything from Hannah Montana to Footloose to High School Musical to Drake.

On Thursday, Maria and I met up with the other girls we had originally planned to live with. We did some resort hopping and then ate dinner at Planet Hollywood in Disney Springs. I had a ton of fun with them! I also got to see the castle for the first time (albeit from a distance) and that was cool. I also bought a new pair of rose gold ears because mine went missing sometime during my travels.

Friday of course was the big day: TRADITIONS! I don't want to spoil everything that happens at Traditions, so I'll leave it at the fact that it's a very special experience. Part of Traditions is receiving your blue ID (the nametag Disney employees wear) and your access to the parks. Maria and I were the only ones with Friday morning Traditions, so as soon as Traditions was done we zoomed back to Vista to change and head to Magic Kingdom with our friend Kailyn!

The feeling of walking into Magic Kingdom and down Main Street for the first time is something I'm never going to forget. It sounds cliche and silly, but it really felt magical. Seeing Cinderella's Castle in person for the first time ever was so cool! I had grown up watching Disney movies and seeing pictures from the parks, and suddenly it was all right in front of me. We hit several rides (Pirates of the Caribbean will always hold a special place in my heart because it was my first ride!) and then went back to the castle to watch Happily Ever After. I got chills as soon as the music started.

Like the song says, I found my happily ever after. ❤️