-2 days

The day after tomorrow I leave Austin to make my way to Lake Buena Vista effing Florida!

It still hasn't entirely hit me. I still have majority of my packing to do and goodbyes to say. I'm sure I'll cry at some point. haha. I'm so incredibly excited to do this. And anxious. And proud of myself for actually going through with this. I've needed something like this for so long. I'm really happy to be going but I'm scared at the same time I think. I haven't lived with my parents for over two years, but I go to school in the same city and I still live like four blocks away from them, so this will be my "college experience" in the sense of truly being on my own and throwing myself into a situation that I'm not entirely comfortable with. Its scary but liberating at the same time. I feel like its long overdue.

Tomorrow I have to pack my life up, spend a few hours with my parents, and see all my friends at numerous New Years Eve parties. Then around 10:00 AM on New Years Day, I have to pick my mom, my sister Lauren, and her friend Adrienne and starting driving! We're taking two days to get to Birmingham Alabama to have Christmas with my family for a few days, then we're driving to Orlando to move me in! Its so crazy. I can't wait.

Ahhh I can't wait!!

List of things I want to do at Disney

Today is my last day at my job that I've had for five years. Five years that have blown past. Its making moving to Disney that much more real! Soooo exciting!

In full copy cat fashion, I want to make a list of things I want to do in my time at Disney. I have 18 weeks (that sounds short, doesnt it?) to do my best to complete the things on this list. I'll come back to edit and add along the way. Since I've only actually been to Disney World once, I have a lot of things on my list that will make you gasp at the very thought of being without them for the past 21 years. See a fellow Spring 2010er for the brains behind this operation: Stephanie.

• Ride every single ride and see every single show.
• Enjoy a dole whip.
• Witness Illuminations and Wishes.
  
• Visit all of the resorts.
• Pick a pearl in the Japan pavilion of Epcot's World Showcase.
• Have a meal in every World Showcase restaurant.
• Get an autograph book.
• Take photographs wearing vintage dresses in Disney's Hollywood Studios.
• Learn dances from High School Musical and do them in a large group in the parks.
• Start a Disney jumping pictures photo album

Journey into Narnia

• Start a collection of all things Baloo. 
• Ride the monorail.
• See Cirque du Soleil: La Nouba.
• Have an ice cream cone on the Boardwalk.
• See the opening welcome show for each park.
• Do the Characters In Flight balloon ride and not cry, haha. Also applicable: Ride Tower of Terror and not cry. There's a fear of heights theme here. 
• Start learning Spanish. 
• Visit Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and Wet n Wild.
  
• Read/Watch Harry Potter for the first time, undoubtedly obsess, then visit the Harry Potter section at Universal. 
• Eat adventurously.
• Visit both the Gulf side and the Atlantic Ocean beaches!! I've never been to an ocean before (only the Gulf of Mexico) so I'm SUPER excited about this one. 
• Go to a drive in movie theatre.
• Visit Celebration and Winter Park.
• Go indoor skydiving at SkyVenture Orlando (!!!)
• Visit Disney Quest, Blizzard Beach, and Typhoon Lagoon.
• Shop for vintage dresses in College Park. 
• Visit WonderWorks!
• Orlando Science Museum (yay science!)
• Others to come haha.

The Results Are In

After exactly one month, I was tired of waiting around for Disney to e-mail me about the results of my audition, so I shot them an e-mail.

Their reply:

We would like to thank you for attending the recent Walt Disney World® Entertainment audition in your area. Unfortunately, you were not selected for a role as a Character Performer.

So, that's that. I almost wished I hadn't e-mailed them and I had just waited for the official e-mail. My good friend Lauren got an e-mail detailing that she was apparently in the character pool (which means she passed the audition but there weren't enough spots open in her height range) and that seems to be the general consensus for those of us that were still waiting after the massive e-mail blast from WDW Entertainment. My e-mail doesn't say anything about being pooled, and its not the official mail merge style e-mail, so I won't really know I guess.

In all this waiting, I've actually decided that I'd like to do Photopass more than Character Performer anyway, but it still would have been nice to know I did well.

But moving forward... I leave Austin in 23 days.  My mom, my sister Lauren, and her friend Adrienne are going to drive with me. We're stopping over in Birmingham to see our family on the way and they're staying through the seventh to help me move in and see where I live and all that.

Its coming up so quickly! I can't effing wait.