Jambo

HELLO ANIMAL KINGDOM!

This morning I met with my fellow Animal Program Interns and was given a detailed tour of the Animal Kingdom Theme Park. Me.. thinking I was in WARM Florida.. decided I should be fine wearing just a sweater in 60 degree weather but I was FREEZING!! Luckily a nice boy saw me shaking and offered me his jacket. What do you know?…a new friend! That is the thing I LOVE here is that EVERYONE is so nice. You can’t be down or sad because YOU ARE IN DISNEY WORLD! It’s so perfect.

Well… I had no idea Animal Kingdom had so much back-story to the park. Each little building or sign has a specific meaning that goes deeper than just the appearance. For example: a man was traveling in Asia to deliver ice-cream and suddenly got a flat tire. He started to sell the ice-cream to the people in the village before it all melted. He made such a killing that he decided to stay and sell ice-cream forever. WHAT A GUY! I SCREAM FOR ICE-CREAM! Ha.

We spent about 4 hours walking the entire park, looking at each building/store/attraction and even learned where the secret doors are to backstage areas. We traveled through the Oasis, the Tree of Life, Asia, Africa, and even Camp Minnie Mickey.  It is so neat getting to experience the behind the scenes action because it is a whole new world!

The last stop of the day was at Kilimanjaro Safaris. As we were getting on the ride, our leader introduced us to one of the park’s Keepers. She is one of the many people who take care of the animals on a daily basis. Instead of the normal story of SIMBA ONE catching the poachers, we got a special informational tour. She talked to us about each of the animal’s habitat, where they are kept, what temperatures it needs to be for them to come out, and even the names of some of the animals. I was so excited to find out that they just acquired a new baby elephant and named it LUNA (Wendy Love).

It was a LONG day with a lot of walking, but after we were done with the informational part we were free to roam the park and ride rides!! I of course went straight to Expedition Everest!

My friends and I rode it 4 times! BAHH. SO FUN.
YETI YOU DON’T SCARE ME!

Before leaving the park though, I had to make one SPECIAL stop..

MICKEY MOUSE!!!!!!

My favorite part of the day happened while waiting in line to meet Mickey. I was looking at my phone and I felt someone hugging my leg. I looked down and it was the cutest little girl looking up at me…smiling. The parents immediately told her to stop and back away but I just laughed. 10 seconds later she did it again. I tried talking to her parents, but they spoke Spanish. I told them the best I could that it was ok and I didn’t mind. They asked what I was doing here and I explained I got a job in “la química”. I was able to carry on a conversation easier than I thought. Thank you Mrs. Clinton.

Anyway, just to have a random little girl look at me like I was something special made me realize why I am here. I am so anxious and excited to be able to help make guest’s experiences magical.

My head is spinning because I feel like there is so much information being thrown at me.  I hope I can remember it all! As much as I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE learning every inch of information about the parks, I am sooo ready to start my day to day job. :)

When I got back to my apartment, I decided to go on a run to relieve some energy and it felt so great! (Lindsay Fleig you would be proud) Even though I am in Florida, I still hafta start training to beat JANSEN in the annual 5k. HAHA.

Tomorrow I go back to Animal Kingdom for MORE TRAINING. . I’m excited to see what the day will bring!