Probably Getting Gorgeously Tanned in Summer

Hello friends!

I have a week's worth of adventure days to catch you up on.

My lovely friend Lesley (whom you may remember from the 29-time-on-Star-Tours day) was visiting this week. I knew she was coming and that she was coming to see me at Epcot after she arrived, but she still managed to surprise me while I was at the bar. Therefore, pictures were necessary. In retrospect, I regret not getting any of the two of us while I was in costume, but she's coming back in October so more fun will be had then.

Happy to be photographed, so-so about serving alcohol. 

We stayed at Pop Century resort and made a hard commitment to sleep in as frequently as possible. We made it to Hollywood Studios on our first day in time for our Rockn Roller Coaster FastPass at 12:15. It was also May the 4th, aka Star Wars Day ("May the 4th Be With You"... get it?), so Hollywood Studios was the place to be. It was also drizzly all morning so the park was not as full as we were anticipating. We were able to ride Star Tours with a minimal wait, we experienced Muppet Vision 3D, and just before we attended the Frozen Sing Along, we were able to have a surprise meet and greet with Olaf! It was one of his very first days in the park and we were able to see him with, again, a minimal wait. Sticking it out during rainy days has its rewards, people. Also, looking super cool in a poncho is its own reward.

Ponchos are totally rock and/or roll. 

We only stuck around til 3, because we felt a nap was necessary. When we returned, it was to Magic Kingdom, as we felt we needed to conquer it. We arrived when it was just bucketing down rain, meaning we made straight for Emporium to purchase and mail some postcards (to wait out the rain), and find my former coordinator and now leader at Emporium, Dave. We were at Magic Kingdom from 7pm until 1am, the end of Extra Magic Hours, in which we did actually all the attractions one needs when attending Magic Kingdom on vacation - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mickey's Philharmagic, Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Mad Tea Party (we don't spin in the tea cups, we just sit in them). There was probably more. We felt very accomplished. And very hungry. So we made an emergency trip to McDonald's near the All Star Resorts, since everything else was closed.

Lesley, Ariel and I taking a "shellfie".
See what I did there. 

We obviously slept in hard the next day, then finally rolled into Epcot in the early afternoon. We had a leisurely day of wandering around World Showcase in our matching Epcot 30th anniversary shirts, checking out the the new band in Canada (they're called "Alberta Bound"), eating an entire baguette in France (and telling people where they can purchase said baguette), getting our own private boat for the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico, and generally having a wonderful day. We ended the day by going to Disney Springs for a late meal at House of Blues (despite all the eating, we were starving) and some shopping at World of Disney.

Cheers from the American Adventure!
See Spaceship Earth behind us?

Baymax selfies! 

Friday was our Universal Studios day. We had many adventures at Universal on my last program, so this park deserved its own day on our vacation. We were able to get there for 11, even though it closed at 6 (whyyyyyy though), we still got all the money's worth of fun. We started in the Universal Studios half with The Mummy, Transformers, ET Adventure, Men in Black and finally lunch in Springfield. We were evacuated off of Kang and Kodos Twirl & Hurl, although it never actually started so it was less of an adventure. But we were given an Express Pass (Universal's FastPasses) to use later in the park, so no big deal. Then we explored Diagon Alley and escaped from Gringott's Bank, before taking the Hogwarts Express to Islands of Adventure.

Clowning around with Krusty in Springfield

You have to pay for a picture with ET. Nope. 

We started with a quick single riders trip through Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, then moved along to Marvel Super Hero Island to use our Express Passes for Spiderman. Our passes were never taken from us, so we used them again in Seuss Landing to board the High in the Sky Seuss Troller Train Ride (that's the real name of the ride). We also did the Cat in the Hat ride before circling back through Hogsmeade to board the Flight of the Hippogriff before we had to leave. Universal Gradventure was that night, so there were tons of elementary school grads from across the country in their matching tees and it was terrifying.

Unmatched shirts today.
We're lucky no one got lost. 

Hogwarts Express, and somehow the Hulk coaster.
#badshow

Mandatory castle picture. You can kind of see the castle...

We went back to our hotel, dined, then changed into our newest matching shirts and went to Hollywood Studios at 9, which had extra magic hours until midnight. Basically we're park champions. We met Olaf again, watched the Star Wars fireworks, rode Star Tours again, braved a stampede for Great Movie Ride, rode Rockn Roller Coaster again and ended our day with a small wait for Toy Story Midway Mania, already showing signs of expansion (another track is happening soon-ish).

We match Olaf's carrot nose!

It was fantastic times, and my Fitbit steps were through the roof. Vacation is the best exercise there is.

See you real soon,

Lindsey

Magical Moment: Our new friend Hayden at Rock'n Roller Coaster totally played along during the preshow and personally asked Steven Tyler for backstage passes "for the girls in the orange shirts". Thanks bro! Also to that one American Adventure CM who IDed me and did a double take at my birth year. I don't care if you do that every day, it made me feel awesome.

Pixie Dust to: My mom! For making sure Lesley's Magical Express info got to her in Woodstock, although it was mysteriously sent to Perth.

EDIT: Lesley made a video of our brief but memorable vacay. You can see it here!

Fall Apart in my Backyard

Less than three weeks between posts? I know. Craziness.

On Wednesday, April 27th, the early-rising merchies (myself included) gathered outside at the cart to say "See you real soon!" to our friend Eva, whose program has come to an end. Basically all the positions were covered by leaders and coordinators so we could all be together to watch the leaders say nice things about Eva and give her certificates for having been a trainer and having completed the program. Then we posed for pictures and we were all moose. We had our reasons. Shellby and I didn't work til later that afternoon, and Kristin and Micayla didn't work at all, so we went around to the attractions to see Colin, Terrie and Mel on their last days as well. We also accidentally got into a moose picture for the departing Le Cellier cast members. It was a big group leaving us this week.

The moose of merchandise.

Food & Bev Moose featuring merchandise.

On Thursday the 28th, I took a record-breaking FOUR modes of transportation to get to Magic Kingdom. I drove to the parking lot. I took a tram to the Ticket & Transportation Center. I took the resort monorail to the Grand Floridian. Where I was evacuated and had to take a bus. Magical? Anyway, believe it or not but I hadn't been to the Magic Kingdom since my trip with the Shank family two blog posts ago, so I was happy to be back. I had to send some mail (some of you will be getting MK mail!) and do a few other errand-y type things (yes, errands at Magic Kingdom are a thing), then I met my friend Patrick for random fun times at the most magical park in the most magical place on Earth. We were able to secure some pretty solid Fast Passes for Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain, and to be honest the park wasn't busy. We also visited Tom Sawyer Island, a part of the park I just never got around to exploring. It's (you guessed it) an island in the middle of the Rivers of America full of paths and bridges and forts and fun. It was also probably 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the park. That was probably the abundance of stairs though. We didn't stick around for Wishes, but we did go see Keanu at Disney Springs. I always enjoy movies with kittens.

Go away Guests, this is my island now. 

On Friday the 29th, I had my first Universal Studios adventure of this program. I acquired my annual pass and I'm ready to go until I leave (and after, my pass will be good til April 2017). I went with Matt, who was celebrating starting a new big kid job on Monday. We started in the Universal Studios half, under Matt's guidance (I haven't been in four years, I forgot everything), at the new Transformers ride, then onto the Mummy and Men In Black before heading to the (recently?) expanded Springfield area for lunch at Krusty Burger. I had a ribwich, and it was like a dream come true.

Universal Studios or Duff Gardens? 

After taking all the pictures of all the new things, we went through London to Diagon Alley to visit Gringott's, in which the new(ish) ride Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringott's is located. It was gooooooood. The whole new area is maaaaaaagical. After exploring, we considered taking the Knight Bus to Hogsmeade but ultimately took the Hogwarts Express with all the other Muggles, taking us over to the Islands of Adventure side of the park.

# 12 Grimmauld Place, London.
Read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. 

Diagon Alley, featuring fire-breathing
dragon atop Gringott's bank. 

Making new friends with the Knight Bus driver. 

We rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and I had Butterbeer to settle my stomach. Rides are getting hard, you guys. Aging isn't as easy as I make it look. We also got moderately damp on the Jurassic Park River Adventure before getting totally soaked on Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. Like eyeliner everywhere soaked. It was like 39 out though so we needed it.

Goodbye real life, I'm going to Hogwarts now. 

Hello, beautiful Hogwarts Express.  

Standard Queen-of-the-Castle picture. 

We finished the day off with the Spiderman ride, since the line was short and cool, then headed out... when we changed and went to Steak and Shake, Do all my adventures end with Steak and Shake? Probably.
And finally, last night, my squad and I reunited for a late night viewing of the new live-action Jungle Book. It was just stunning. I highly recommend. Maybe not for small children who think tigers are big kitties.

See you real soon!

Lindsey

Pixie Dust to: My merchandise coworkers on Saturday. They have hearts of gold, if I haven't already mentioned it.

Magical Moment: I'm happy to be in a place where people leave me Thank You cards just for talking to them. It's really rough being the face of Courtesy in World Showcase West Merchandise for the week, but someone has to do it.

Courtesy begins with me.