Ohana Food

So sorry for the delay everyone. I had a few camera malfunctions but I got the pics thanks to my friend Alex from upstate NY. One of the sweetest guys I have met here.  

So this was dessert.... It was Banana Bread Pudding with ice cream and an amazing Banana's Foster like sauce. We all split 2 plates of it. It was one of the best desserts I have ever had in my life.

This is the whole group who had family dinner at Ohana.

This is me smiling over my huge plate of food and it was all so amazing.

The bread had a hint of coconut flavor in it. It was the only thing I wasn't crazy about at dinner. However, the salad was soooooo good. 

Wings with a sauce that had a hint of cinnamon in it. Best wings I have ever had in my life. And the dumplings...not normally a dumpling person but these were pretty good.

Veggies and noodles. 

These guys would just go around and have these skewers of meat. There was pork, shrimp, steak, and chicken.

My plate sort of at the start of dinner.

Sorry I haven't been doing a ton of blogging but I hope you all enjoy these pics. More to come soon.

First Day Tomorrow

Hey everyone! So sorry I haven't been able to blog more. I have been so busy training since Thursday on the computer and I have my first day at Port Orleans Resort tomorrow. There are 2 sides to the resort. French Quarter and Riverside. Here are some pics for you. :) 

My training that I have been doing all week has been so much fun. While it had its boring parts it was such a blast and I met some really fun people in the process. We all have tonight off and a whole bunch of us are going to the 'Ohana restaurant at Disney's Polynesian Resort. It is a family style setting so they will bring huge dishes of Hawaiian food out and we will pass the dishes around and eat! I am extremely excited. I am going to take my camera and take pictures of all of the food and I will blog them sometime tomorrow. 

So far I have only been to 2 parks. I have been to Magic Kingdom 3 times and Epcot 1 time. I plan on going to the other parks on my days off. By the time I get off work most of the parks are closed except for Magic Kingdom so we have been spending a lot of time there. 

As I told my parents on the phone this evening, I am going to be extremely depressed when I come home. While I have a chance to extend my program and stay until January of 2014, I really need to finish school and I have a really good internship waiting for me in Fort Wayne. I hope that I have a chance to come back down for an internship or something of that nature. It would be amazing to live down here year round.

Well, I have to go and eat!

Love you all, 

xoxoox Raven 

Sorry it's taken so long...

I'm in Florida!!!! May I just start off by saying the weather here is absolutely wonderful and I am so grateful for it. My mom and I arrived here on Sunday January 13. We stayed at a hotel and got up around 5 am on Monday so that I could go check in at the program. When we got there at 7 am there was a huge huge line. I    was thinking to myself "Oh my gosh, what did I get myself into?". While waiting in line, I met an older lady who had finished her program just a few months ago. She got an internship and now works as a photographer for Disney Weddings! I was so excited because I want an internship at Disney Weddings so badly! Meeting her showed me that being here is worth it and it is completely possible for me to reach my goals.

Anyways, so it took a little over 4 hours to get through the first part of the check-in process. The first part you get a program guide that has just about everything that you need to know about the program. Then, you get your housing I.D. and you get to pick where you live and how many people you live with. I chose to live in Vista Way. Vista Way is the oldest but it is sort of central to everything else. I have 5 roommates and they are absolutely amazing! The apartment is pretty big. There are 3 bedrooms (there are two people in a room).  Each bedroom has a walk-in closet and a dresser and a night stand. Then, there are 2 bathrooms (4 of us share one bathroom). The whole bathroom thing sounds awful but we're so far so good! I also found out that I will be working at the Port of Orleans Resort. If any of you have time look it up. It's very old New Orleans looking.

After the first part of check-in you go to the Disney Casting Building to fill out all of your forms and they do a background check. It was another long wait that started at about 11:30 am and I didn't get back to my apartment until about 2 pm. All in all it was just a really long day. Unfortunately, mom had to leave that night. :(

Anyways, yesterday was our housing meeting where they talk about what can get you kicked out and what not to do (It is basically one strike and you're out here). The meeting only lasted about an hour and a half.

Then last night myself, and 3 of my roommates hung out with other CP (College Program) kids at Downtown Disney. It is so lively there and there is music everywhere you walk and it is just amazing!

Today is a free day and we have no idea what we're going to do. We do not get our main entrance pass (the pass gets us in to all the parks) until tomorrow where we have our Disney Traditions meeting. Traditions is all about the history of Disney and we will be taking a tour of Magic Kingdom!

I am so loving it down here and at this point I am dreading coming home. :( I am so happy to have this opportunity. There were 12,000 people that applied and only 4,000 got in. I feel so amazing.

One last thing, I have to tell you all about my wonderful boyfriend, Michael. He was strong enough to let me leave him for 4 months to do this and not many guys would be willing to do that. I wish with all my heart that he was here with me but as I told him, I needed to do this on my own. When I talked to him last night I was so happy to hear that he is flying in on May 16 to spend time with me (I am finished May 17 and we will be getting on a cruise to the Bahamas May 19). It will be his first time in Orlando and I cannot wait to show him some of the things that I am experiencing.

Thank you all for reading and I will try to blog as much as possible (hopefully 3-4 days a week).

Love you all and wish you were here,
Raven

"So...How do you get to live at Disney for 4 months?"

So every time someone finds out I got into a college program at Disney World they want an explanation. Here is the explanation...

I heard about the Disney College Program a couple of years ago and looked into it a little bit. At the time, I was too young to apply so I didn't look into it any further. The program consists of living at Disney World or Disneyland for a certain period of time and working there. College classes are also offered.

Earlier this fall I received an e-mail stating that Disney was taking applications for their Winter/Spring Program. I decided to apply just to see how far I would make it in the process (I didn't think there was any chance I would get in). I made it through the initial application and the online interview. The final step was the phone interview. I was really nervous for the 15 minute interview but I thought that it had gone well. 3 days later, at one o'clock in the morning I received an e-mail informing me that I got accepted into the program as a concierge. I was in shock. I started crying and I called my Dad and just started bawling. They were tears of joy and tears of shock and I scared to death I was going to have to decide whether or not to go.

I would miss a semester of school, which I could deal with. I would have to leave my wonderful, fantastic job as a bridal consultant/third key manager (They are saving my job for me for when I get back. So thankful :) ). And I would have to leave my family and friends for 4 months. It was so much to think about. I prayed and talked to everyone about the decision I had to make. After a few days, I decided to go.

So, here I am now. I leave a week from tomorrow and I have yet to start packing. I have been too busy saying good-bye to everyone I know and love. I cannot wait to share all of my stories and memories with everyone. I only wish that I could take all of you with me. :)

Until next week,
Raven