044 - 6/2/10

Have you ever noticed that when you're a little bit stressed, it seems like you're suddenly extremely stressed? Yeah, well that's my life right now. Between school and moving and packing I'm just exhausted from how stressed out I am. As we speak, I have a horribly horrible migrane. I attempted to pack a little today, and ended up filling my suitcase with about six pairs of jeans. Do I need six pairs of jeans? I doubt it. However, I just downsized from about 20 pairs to six, so that's getting somewhere at least, right? I'm currently super tired, so I'm just going to quickly post today's letter.

P


Pink's Hot Dogs

One day, a FT asked me if I had ever been to Pink’s. Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about, and still probably wouldn’t know if he had never filled me in. He suggested we take a late night drive down to Hollywood (about an hour away) so I could experience Pink’s. We ended up getting there at about 1AM (they always close at 1 or 2), and the line was about a half hour long! During the day, the line can completely wrap around the building, it’s intense. The hot dogs are SO good, and they aren’t really expensive either. They have a valet guy that will park your car for you, and he is so nice. If you want the ultimate hot dog experience, I would highly recommend going to Pink’s! Whatever you do though, go to the original in Hollywood, not one of those new locations like Knott’s or LAX or Planet Hollywood.



Parking

If you live in CP housing and plan on bringing a car, you're more than likely going to have to park it down the block and around the corner. There is parking under the complex, but it seems to be reserved for the actually permanent residents of the complex. If you work late at night and plan on driving, please find someone to go home with you. The walk from the parking structure to the apartments is scary. I always made sure I had at least one person with me at night. Honestly, that area is sketchy. Katie and I had a terrifying encounter with some overly friendly guys at the Von's one night, so trust me. I'm not saying to stay in and never leave, just be aware of your surroundings. Parking at the parks is free, as long as you have your CM ID. You can park at Mickey and Friends or Lion King, but using your ID won't work at DTD. I'd suggest Mickey and Friends because its the easiest to get in and out of from the apartments. Plus, Lion King tends to be closed. If you're running to DTD for dinner or a movie though, just park in their lot. It makes life easier.

043 - 6/1/10

It's finally June! Oh my gosh how time is flying! Now, if only it could be June 14 already! Today is going to be relatively short, considering I'm super tired. I stayed up way too late last night watching this amazing show I was just recently turned onto: Firefly. Yeah, it was on in like 2000, but its a good show! O is all about what I did at Disneyland!


O


ODV(!)

When I worked at Disneyland, my role was Outdoor Vending. Well, at DLR its Outdoor Vending at least. At DCA, they call themselves Outdoor Ventures, but it’s all the same really. From what I hear, ODV is now part of QSFB, as opposed to being its own department. I may be wrong though, as I heard this through the grapevine. Basically, I sold churros, popcorn, pretzels, ice cream, cotton candy, turkey legs, chimichangas, frozen lemonade, and beverages of all sorts. At nights, you could also work the glow cart, which is all the pretty light up stuff before the parades and fireworks. Oh, and we sold balloons too! In other words, Disneyland would be nothing without us. ODV is one of the only departments where you could be scheduled in Tomorrowland on Monday, Critter Country on Tuesday, and then Main Street on Wednesday. It was fun to always be in a different place, but also slightly frustrating. You’re only allowed to check out three costumes at a time, but you could be in four or five different lands over the course of a week. Plus, I don’t know how many times I would forget where I was when I was directing a guest to a specific attraction or the restrooms. I never got bored though, that’s for sure. Especially once I got trained at DCA, because then I could work anywhere. The one downside of DCA is that almost all the ODV carts had cash registers. At DLR, we did everything out of our five pocket apron and did the math in our heads. After doing that for a month and a half, using a register just slowed things down SO much. Two years ago, ODV was the largest department in all of Disneyland. That made it really easy to pick up shifts, and give them away too. Even though I wasn’t really looking forward to ODV, I ended up loving it and making a ton of friends! This picture is of the popcorn stand in front of the castle (clearly) and is actually the original popcorn stand from when the park opened. It’s one of my favorite ODV carts to work. That weird blob in the middle of the picture is where the drinks are usually displayed. This stand hadn't been set up yet.

042 - 5/31/10

Happy Memorial Day to all! I hope you all took a little time out of your day to thank someone that has served our country. After all, they're the reason we don't have school today! Its quickly hitting me that I have a LOT to do in the next 13 days, and not enough time. I spent my weekend at my mom's house trying to clean, and now that I'm back at my house, I've got so much to sort through and pack! Currently, my room looks like this:

This week, my focus is on finishing up the quarter. I've got a 3 page paper to write for my religion class (shouldn't be too hard) and I have to finish up my web site for my web site construction class. It's all about Hollywood Studios, which is by far my favorite park. Now its time for today's letter!


N


Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria

So, this restaurant is located in Downtown Disney, next to where the Mickey and Friends tram stops. Obviously, the place serves Italian food, and expensive Italian food at that. A few of us stumbled into Naples one night after we realized that everyone was eating at DTD at the same exact time as us. The food is WAY overpriced and really not all that great. Our waitress was completely oblivious to us and, needless to say, did not get a very good tip. We ordered the Pizza Salsicce, which is sausage, peppers, and onions. The pizza wasn't necessarily bad, it just was really dry. I've had real authentic Italian pizza before, and this wasn't it. If you really want to eat here, I'd just go to the counter service area outside, Napolini. Its still pricey, but not nearly as expensive as the restaurant itself. If you're looking for a delicious, relatively nice restaurant at DTD, I would highly suggest Tortilla Jo's. I went there for my ex's birthday with his family, and the place was so nice and nowhere near as pricey as Naples. I'm pretty sure I had Tacos Suaves when we went, but that almost two years ago.

041 - 5/30/10

Today was my going away party with my family and a few family friends. It was definitely good to see everyone. I got two $15 Disney gift cards, a neck pillow, and a book called Girl Power. I love getting presents! Our waiter asked me if it was my birthday. I told him no, but informed him that he could sing to me if he really wanted to. My family is thinking about coming to visit me for Christmas, which would be really cool if they did. I can't believe I only have two weeks until I leave! I have so much to do before then! I've been doing a lot of shopping lately, and I've gotten some really really cute stuff. Plus, I've been cleaning my room at my mom's house, and I found my favorite pair of sunglasses! I did the math today, and if I keep doing a letter a day, I'll finish the day before I leave! Talk about good timing right? I might have a few days of double posting (both ABCs and packing updates), but it depends on how busy I get. Anyways, today is the letter....


M



Malibu

I’m not really a fan of the beach or anything, but Malibu is definitely worth the time to check out. Not only is there an awesome Juicy Couture store (my absolute favorite) in Malibu, but its just all around a beautiful place. Have you ever wondered where Pepperdine University is? Well, if you’re in Malibu, I doubt you’ll miss it. Talk about a school with a view! The Pacific Coast Highway is really pretty too. It’s about an hour to an hour and a half from Anaheim, but the drive through the mountains is so so so pretty.


Magic Mountain

It’s a bit of a drive to Magic Mountain, but I personally think its worth it. I went to MM when I was in high school (I think), and I had a lot of fun. If you like coasters, you will love MM. Goliath is probably one of the most intimidating coasters I have ever been on in my life, but it was worth facing. I was in tears as we climbed the drop, but once it was over I realized how awesome it was. My favorite ride was by far Freefall. From what I hear though, the ride isn’t open anymore, which is heart breaking. I remember having a massive headache about halfway through the day, from going on so many thrill rides back to back. Looking back, I realize that was probably a sign that I should have called it quits. Of course, I didn’t though. MM is about an hour or so from Anaheim as well, but the drive isn’t nearly as pretty as the drive to Malibu.

040 - 5/29/10

I was going to do the letter L about Los Angeles, but I thought that would be way too easy. Instead, I decided to share a little story with all of you (from a DCP e-mail I received when it happened). I used to live an hour outside of Vegas, so I can vouch that the drive really isn't that long. Granted, its mainly desert, but still. If you're 21, you'd probably enjoy a weekend trip to Vegas. Especially if you get lucky, like Sarah did.

L

Las Vegas

So Sarah heads off to Vegas with Mom to do a little celebrating for her 21st birthday. They're getting ready to head out when Sarah realizes she has a $5 play slip for MGM and needs to spend it.  So she plops down at a penny slot machine, and bet the max, a whopping 40 cents, twice. The first 7 comes up, then another, and another and another and then the 5th 7 appears, bells and whistles ringing, lights flashing and Sarah and her Mom sitting there wondering how many pennies 77777 pays out! That's when the gentleman sitting next to her (likely kicking himself at this very minute for choosing the wrong machine) points up and says, I think you just won that car....! Who says what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Sarah, congratulations and we're sure, a very happy birthday to you indeed!

039 - 5/26/10

I can't believe I have less than three weeks until I'm in Florida! I've started packing (very very slowly) and it's getting me more excited. I also only have a week and a half left of classes, which is extremely exciting. Every day I seem to have some issue or another with this school, and I cannot wait to leave. Well, I just noticed I may need to start doubling up on letters, considering I leave in 18 days and all. For today though, I've only got one: K.


K


Knott's Berry Farm

My mom and I decided to go down to California for Thanksgiving, about a month after I left my program. She found a really good rate at the Knott’s Berry Farm Resort Hotel, so we ended up staying there. We also had our Thanksgiving dinner at Knott’s. The hotel room was pretty nice, but our dinner wasn’t all that great. We were told it was supposed to be a character meal, but there were no characters. Plus, we had a really long wait even though we had reservations. We actually had no intentions of even going to the park, but ended up going Thanksgiving night because we had nothing else to do and the admission was relatively inexpensive by the time we decided to go. I’ve got to say though, it was disappointing. Maybe its from spending all that time at Disneyland, but it just seemed dirty. Plus, the employees seemed to hate their jobs. The rides were OK, but definitely not worth the lines we had to stand in. Overall, I’d say not to waste your money. If you know someone that can get you in for cheap, then maybe. Otherwise, save your money or go to Magic Mountain.

038 - 5/22/10

I think I figured something out for J. It isn't going to be very long, but I think a lot of you will find it helpful. It also isn't Disney-correct, but please don't hurt me for that! Anyways, on to today's letter!

J

Job Hours

So, I know that technically this post should be "Role Hours" but then I wouldn't have anything for the letter J! Anyways, from the sounds of it hours at WDW are different for CPs than they are at DLR. According to what I've been hearing, CPs work a lot of late nights down in Florida. However, I don't remember that being the case when I was in California. In fact, about 85% of the time, I had to be at work before the park even opened. I only remember one or two shifts when I worked any later than eight or nine at night. Usually when I had to be up early, my roommate was up pretty early too. She was a Vacation Planner, and her hours seemed to vary a little more. Vacation Planners at DLR are the same as Main Entrance Operations at WDW. She worked the ticket booths and parade control mainly, which is why she would work later sometimes. I also had friends working various QSFB, Merch, and Attraction locations, and a majority of the time, they were off at night too. I know this because we used to get big groups together and go to the park at night. Plus, there were a lot of drunk girls stumbling around the apartments relatively early on in the night. So, if you're going to DLR and thinking you're only going to be working night shifts, don't get your hopes up. Working early is nice though, because then you have a majority of your day left to do whatever you please.