"And Tomorrow Night, Lights Will Appear. Just Like They Do On My BIRTHDAY Each Year..." (Tangled)

This is so embarrassing!!!

Here it is, nearly THREE MONTHS since my last post, and I haven't updated you guys one bit!

Since the last time I posted, many things have happened here in the magical world of Disney.

Work has stayed the same. Some of my coworkers have been deployed to other work locations, such as the Magic Kingdom or other resorts, like All-Star Music and All-Star Sports.

I'm slightly jealous that they've been able to work at other places, but at the same time, at least I don't have to worry about getting a new costume, making it to the new location on time, learning new tasks for that location, etc. I get to do the same ol' thing....over and over and over and over! (Can you see my excitement just bubbling over?)

Outside of work, things have DEFINITELY changed since September.

Halloween has come and gone (I mentioned a few posts ago about Chris and I going to the Halloween party on September 19th. It was a lot of fun!)

Halloween lasted from September 19th to October 31st. It's VERY safe to say that I am TIRED of Halloween, at least until next year!

One thing that happened during Halloween was that the Contemporary (and other resorts) had cast member pumpkin carving contests! Here's my pumpkin entry before and then after with its inspiration:

And here are the other cast members' pumpkin entries (there were a lot more than I expected!):

There are the winners. I unfortunately didn't win, but I still had fun!

The second that the park closes and the last guest leaves Magic Kingdom on October 31st, the decorating crews get to work taking down all of the Halloween decorations and prepare to put up all the Christmas decorations!

I went to Company D (a store with cast-exclusive merchandise) to purchase my Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP for short) ticket for November 19th (the last day to go to a Christmas party at the cast member price). I told myself that it was my birthday present to me since I would probably be working on my actual birthday (which fell on Black Friday this year).

The first week of November, I actually flew home for a week. My sweet Memaw passed away, and I wanted to be with my family and say goodbye to her one last time.

Memaw and I before one of my school dances

Papaw and Memaw hanging out!

Me with Memaw and Papaw at my high school graduation! 

We went through all of Memaw's pictures, and my mom found this one. She wrote "Disney World, 1972".....one year after WDW opened!!! AAAAND she's posing with none other than the best character ever, TIGGER!!!!!!! Needless to say, I just HAD to have this picture to keep forever!!!!

All the girls in the family were able to go through Memaw's jewelry and pick out what we wanted of hers. I have always been in love with her elephant necklace, so I kept it. I was also able to keep her entire jewelry box because it meant a lot to me. I played with it so much as I was growing up and always loved winding it up and listening to the music it played.

Spending that week at home was wonderful, and part of me didn't even want to come back to Florida, but duty called (plus all of my stuff and my car was here, soooo I kinda had to come back).

Once I was back here, I was excited to see all of the Christmas decorations. Magic Kingdom looked awesome! Let me find some pictures to show you!

Yes, that is Disney Snow come from the rooftops. But don't try to catch any on your tongue....it's soap!

Isn't it gorgeous?

Those pictures are from the TWO MVMCP's I went to. Yes, that's right. I went to 2 Christmas parties. Why, you ask? Well, one of my coworkers came down with the flu and didn't want her party ticket to go to waste, so I bought it from her. It was a good idea for me because then I could do whatever I could one night, and whatever I wasn't able to do that night, I could try to do the next night I went! Brilliant, huh? I know :)

They give out cookies and hot chocolate at the Christmas parties, and I definitely had my fair share of each!

I met Sandy Claws (Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas dressed up as Santa Claus).

I was wearing my Santa hat that had Mickey ears sticking out from the sides. Jack asked me if I sewed the extra ears onto my head myself. Then he wanted to test how well they worked, so he cackled very loudly at me to see if I could hear extra well with my extra set of ears. Needless to say, they work haha

Did I mention that the princes were out with the respective princesses? I didn't?? WELLL!!!! Guess which princes I met?! (If you know me at all, you'll know at least ONE of them!)

FLYNN RIDER (with Rapunzel) and PRINCE CHARMING (with Cinderella)!!!!!!!!!!!

I also met (wait for it..............)

THE SEVEN DWARFS!!!!!!!

I was super duper excited about meeting them! It was getting close to time for the dwarfs to go inside and get ready for bed, so we had to take our pictures extra quick!

I watched the Christmas parade, watched the Christmas Wishes fireworks show, and even was able to wear my Christmas sweatshirt and Santa hat the second night I went because it was actually pretty chilly (the first night wasn't...I wore short sleeves!)

In my personal opinion, the Halloween Party is a little better than the Christmas Party, but I think it's because people get so into dressing up, and it's fun to see all the costumes.

Anywho, I also had a BIRTHDAY since we last spoke. I am officially 25 years old now. A quarter of a century old. And yet....people STILL think I'm 18 years old. I guess I just age well (oh darn ;P)

For my birthday, I made reservations for breakfast AND lunch. Hey, it's my first (and probably last) birthday in Disney World, I'm definitely going to go all out!

I started my day eating breakfast at Trail's End, which is located at Fort Wilderness Resort.

Let me tell you something about this resort. If you want to come to Disney World and stay in a tent, this resort is for you. If camping is not your style, steer clear of this place. It's basically Fox Fire on steroids!

The security guard told us to park in the parking lot and head to the bus stop and catch a shuttle bus to the restaurant.

I know what you're probably thinking. "Wait, a shuttle bus? Exactly how big IS this resort?"

It's HUGE! And smelly....there were horses right beside the bus stop, and let's just say there wasn't any pleasant smells in the air that morning.

Once a shuttle bus arrived, we boarded and waiting for our stop....which ended up being 10 minutes away (which seemed like forever for me because I was starving)! We finally made it to the restaurant. I had made a reservation for 4 people. Me, one of my roommates, one of my coworkers, and one of my girlfriends that I hangout with here sometimes. My coworker is habitually early for nearly everything, and she said she was waiting for us outside of the restaurant, but I didn't see her. The seater took my roommate and me to a table, and we waited for the other two girls to join us. Our waitress was nice and pleasant at first, but throughout our meal, it was nearly impossible to get anything from her. We had to ask FIVE TIMES for refills. By the time she got them to us, we were ready to leave. And leaving wasn't an easy task either. We asked for the check to be separated equally, and she came back 10 minutes later with a completely combined check. When we asked her to separate it again, and also telling her that we were cast members, she told us that the computer wouldn't let her separate our checks (even though EVERY restaurant I've been to has given us separate checks before), and she would just charge each person $13.10. Whatever would get us out the fastest was a-okay with me.

After that craziness, we had spent nearly 2 hours in the restaurant, and only one of it was spent actually eating! We walked outside and wanted to get our picture taken. We asked a cast member who was messing around with some hula hoops trying to make a 3-D Mickey head if she would take our pictures. She said sure, but continued to mess with the hoops. Ten minutes go by and I finally told me friends to just take a selfie altogether. We started walking back towards the bus stop, and once we were about 20 feet from the hula hoop cast member, she hollers at us to let her take our picture. I turned around and told her we were fine and kept walking. Not the greatest start to my birthday, I'll tell ya that!

After breakfast, my coworker, Autumn, and I went to Magic Kingdom to play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. It's a neat card game where you collect spell cards and try to defeat evil villains who are trying to take over MK. I've defeated all of them on the easy level, and I am now on the 2nd/moderate level. It's very fun to collect all the cards. Hardcore gamers have hundreds of cards. I have 30 or 40 cards haha!

Next was lunch at Crystal Palace! Another one of my roommates and another coworker joined me, and we had an awesome time! The greatest part about this meal? My parents and brother surprised me by sending a birthday cake and a birthday card signed by Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore!!!! I was blown away! Even from 13 hours away, my family was still able to make my birthday extra special!

After an amazing lunch, my roommate and I spent the entire day in MK. We rode rides and met all sorts of characters. The awesome part about meeting different characters was that I was able to get them to sign my birthday card!

One of the best things about my birthday was that I was finally able to wear a Birthday celebration button and hear many many people wish me a Happy Birthday!

Best. Day. Ever!