Beaches and Cream

Ok friends, it's finally time for my first restaurant review!! 

Since Disney food and the theming of Disney restaurant are basically the greatest thing ever, you know I had to try about a million places, and I've still barely grazed all the restaurants on property.  One of my new favorites since participating in the DCP is Beaches and Cream at The Beach Club Resort.  It's a small little place designed after old-fashioned soda fountain, and it's nestled on a quaint little boardwalk overlooking the pool area!  When you walk up, you're greeted by these adorable beachy signs.

The longer one is actually the soda shop menu, because not only do they serve delicious ice cream sundaes, but they also have burgers and other American classics! (There's also an ice cream window where you can just go up and order ice cream to go.)  I never actually took a good picture of the inside (blasphemy, I know), but here's a photo off of the Disney Parks website!

Super beachy and bright and adorable!

As roommates, Beaches and Cream was our very first night out together! We went for their claim to fame, The Kitchen Sink!  Basically it is a literal kitchen sink shaped dish filled with every type of ice cream and topping they have.

   

We had SO much fun eating this, and my roommate Mallory even made a hilarious vlog about it! You can and should watch that here because it really is quite magical. We literally sucked every last drop out of that bowl, and we successfully finished the Kitchen Sink!

All 6 of us, plus our amazing waitress! 

SO it's REVIEW TIME. I'll reveiw everything on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the worst & 5 being the best.

Atmosphere: 5 - the beachy vibe makes for a great spot!

Quality of Service: 5 - I've only eaten here twice, but I've had two fantastic waitresses!

Quality of Food: 5 - Obviously their ice cream is TO DIE for, but their burger was also the best I had across property!

Overall: 5

Thanks for tuning in! And be sure to stop by Beaches and Cream on your next visit to WDW! 

xo Sarah

Check-In, Casting, Traditions...the Whole Shebang.

Hello friends!

So this blog was kind of a flop while I was on my program. Despite having a long list of things I wanted to write about, I never did. HOWEVER now that I've been home for almost 3 months (excuse me, what?!) and I'm going through insane PDD, I've decided to start this up again and write about different aspects of the program!

Let me start with check in day. With the new DORMS system, you no longer have to arrive at Vista Way at ungodly hours of the morning to get the apartment you want! Our check in started at 8, so my roommates and I all decided to meet up at 7 outside of Vista! We were some of the first ones there, and we did have to wait a little outside the complex before they let us in, but we all got to bond so it was wonderful! We got led through the Complex to where check in would be taking place, and we had to go through a bunch of stations to get our program guides, register cars, etc. Honestly, most of check in was a big blur to me because I was just too excited that I was finally there! What I did remember was moving into the next room to get our locations! When I say all of my roommates and I screamed when I found out that my location was going to be Cinderella Castle, it's an understatement. I'm pretty sure we got some odd looks, but we were all so happy! From there, we were split into groups - one group who would be going to Casting that day, and one group who would be going the next day. I was the only one out of all my roommates who would be going the next day, so I had quite a bit of down time. I basically sat around the family and friends waiting area with Josh until my roommate Kelsey could drive us back to the hotel to pick up my luggage!  (Side note about luggage, etc - the DCP Transtar busses are running to take you from Vista to the other complexes with your luggage if you need it, HOWEVER, even on check in day, only program participants are allowed on them, so plan accordingly!) After picking up my luggage (4 suitcases...oi) it was OFF TO CHATHAM!!!

Somewhere along the check in process, we had found out that we would be in a 3 bedroom apartment in Chatham, which was our top choice, so we were happy campers! Chatham is absolutely huge and I basically got lost the first time I walked around it, which is why your program guide has a handy dandy map of all the complexes! We got super lucky and were placed in building 15, which is actually the first building on the left when you're entering security.  PLUS we were on the first floor which made it so much easier moving in and whenever we had groceries and stuff!

The red circle is our building, and as you can see, it's SUPER close to the clubhouse and the bus stop! The little pink star thingy was our laundry room so that was wonderful.

After unpacking and getting acquainted and all that jazz, I had to get a good night sleep for casting the next day!! Casting sounds real exciting, and the Casting Center building is cool, but it was actually quite boring. It was just a whole lot of paperwork and background checks. 

  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

The murals inside the Casting Center are all so beautiful!!

"Impossible." "You mean impassable! Nothing's impossible!"

(by far my favorite part of Casting)

Later that week, my roommate/coworker Sarah (yes we have the same name, we're twins) and I had TRADITIONS! Now this was incredibly exciting, but unfortunately, I really can't say much about it. We had the first one of the day, so we were up bright and early to get on the bus to take us there. It was a LONG day but so, so much fun!! After that, we were officially Disney cast members so we RAN to Magic Kingdom to play for the very first time!! 

So yeah that was a lot of info, but that was basically my first week on the program! It was crazy, and filled with a TON of information, but it was so much fun!

That's all for now friends, see ya real soon!

xo Sarah

Wait...It's Almost March??

Hello friends!

I've gotten a lot of grief from people for not posting more often like I said I would, and it's true, I have definitely been slacking.  I have quite a few posts in the making and for some reason I've just never gotten around to posting any of them.  I've been so crazy busy with work and trying to fit in as much park time as possible, that I've kind of let this project fall into the sidelines.  Starting today though, I plan on changing that! I'm roughly a month and a half into my program now, and I want to really start documenting everything that's happening, right down to the little details! I've been writing little things down and taking pictures of things that make me happy here, for the campaign "100 Happy Days," so I've decided I'm going to move that here and have a continuous post where every day I write down one thing that made me smile; especially those magical moments I have at work! Along with this, I do have my restaurant posts coming as promised, and I will FINALLY write about check in, casting and Traditions!

As for a quick update with life here in Florida - the weather is finally getting warmer! For a while, we were having mornings in the 30s and eventually even my body thought 50s and 60s were cold!  I've been working a lot, and while constant 12 hour, open to close shifts (7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.) can get really tiring, I'm absolutely in love with my job.  I love the people I work with, especially all the CPs, and I adore making magic for these little girls (and boys)!
I've gone on a little exploring here in Florida, including a recent day trip to Tampa with my roommate Kelsey to go to Busch Gardens! While I can safely say that I still love Disney more, it was so much fun to get away and go on a bunch of roller coasters!

Today, I'm even more excited! I have the next few days off from work because the Loell's are coming! I'm so excited to see them and stay in a Disney resort for the first time in a long time! It's going to be like a mini-vacation and I am so thrilled!

That's all for now my friends! TTFN!
xo Sarah

Magic Kingdom fun with Josh!

Hello everyone! It's time for my very first DCP update!
Today is day 2 of my program and so much has already happened!

Josh and I arrived in Orlando on Saturday to absolutely GORGEOUS weather - mid to high 70s and very little humidity.  I was itching to get on Disney property, so after a minor fiasco with the Orlando public bus system (let's just say they're changing the bus routes and Google maps hasn't updated them yet) we made it to Downtown Disney! I basically started skipping around like a 5 year old and ran to Guest Services where we got our Magic Kingdom tickets for the next day! We ate at Cookes of Dublin for dinner and it was delicious. It's just a quick-service place, but the food is wonderful and there's cute seating inside! While we were there it started pouring in typical Florida fashion, so we made our way over to get lost in World of Disney. After mentally making a list of everything I wanted to buy once I get my Cast Member discount, we went back to the hotel to prepare for a full day in Magic Kingdom!

Sunday in the Magic Kingdom was perfect. We ran off the monorail right at rope drop when they started singing the good morning song and obviously I sang along with every word while Josh laughed at me. We walked into the park and were greeted by this beautiful sight

The park was essentially empty all morning; we walked on multiple rides and met Alice and the White Rabbit, Ariel and Gaston with not long waits at all! We managed to do essentially everything in the park, and stayed until park close with a wonderful ending to the day by watching Wishes! Here are some pictures from the day!

Meeting Alice and the White Rabbit

Outside Gaston's Tavern in Fantasyland

Gaston was beyond perfect. It was like he was straight out of the movie.

Just hanging out under the sea with Ariel.

My favorite castle-picture spot.

For more pictures, you can check out my Flickr here! My next few posts will be more DCP relevant; about my apartment complex, Casting and Traditions, roommate adventures, and my first "restaurant review!" :)

xo Sarah