Wandering Aimlessly

I love Orlando. I'm not sure if I've said that before... <.g> I do, though. Being there this week reminded me of how much I love it. I can't wait to move there. I'm thinking a year, tops, at this job, and I'll be back in Florida. If I like the job, maybe I can do the same thing at a bank down there. If not, maybe my experience will get me a different one. Either way, I can't wait to go back.

One of the things I love so much is that you can just randomly run into people you know practically everywhere you go. <.sigh> I'm going to try to run through my vacation, to remember it ALL. This may only be fun for me, and will be SUPER long, but I don't care. I want to remember ALL of it. <.g>

Wednesday, January 1, 2003
I got an hour and a half of sleep. I had to be at the airport at 5 in the morning. I arrived in Orlando at about 10:30 and Carolyn picked me up. We went back to Meg's apartment, where Amy, Grace, Lisa, Meg and Meg's roommates Amber and Katherine were hanging out. We watched movies and I took a mini nap, and then we went to Margaritaville to see BlueStone Circle. It was great to be back. They played a lot of their old stuff, sets we knew from this summer. It was a wonderful way to kick off my return to Orlando.

Thursday, January 2, 2003
An early morning again. I *thought* I had to be at work at Toy Story Pizza Planet at 11. So C and I got up early to go to Access Control to get my ID, then to the hotel to check us in, and then to MGM to drop me off. I had to get costumes, which was an ordeal because they'd printed my ID badly and it wouldn't scan. Yeesh. So once that was taken care of, I got to work ten minutes early. OR twenty minutes late, as they had put me on the schedule for 10:30 and not bothered to tell me. So I was greeted by the new GT "You're Kate and you're late." Ooookay. Sorry. Hard when someone changes your schedule on you and you have NO way to find out if they don't call you! Ah well. I have never been late to work before in my LIFE. They changed my schedule, though, so that I started at 11 as planned.

So working was good. A lot of people have left, but everyone who was still there remembered me! It was SO nice. They had me filling... by myself, for a while, it turned out. Then there was no soda person, so tickets were TERRIBLY backed up. I felt bad, but I was going as quickly as I could. Then they pulled me to put me on REGISTER. My HOME! I was on register nearly every day this summer. I love being on register. =) It didn't take that long to remember it all. So it was fun to work again.

Aarti got in that day, so I headed over to the hotel to meet up with them. We all went back to Meg's and ended up going to the Orlando Ale House, where I met this random guy. The pick-up line of the century... "Are your shoes Nine West?" Lol! I was like "Um... I think they're imposters." Ha ha. I got them for $20. What a line. But he was pretty nice, if not a little... I don't know. Odd. He sat and talked with us the entire night, bought us dessert and "my friends" (since I don't drink it) beer. He, apparently, is very rich and knows EVERYONE in Orlando. All the owners of the Ale House knew him, so... it was interesting. He was nice, but I was NOT giving him my number, no matter how many times he asked.

Friday, January 3, 2003
Aarti and I stayed at the hotel. All Star Sports. We, again, got up pretty early. There's No Sleeping in Florida. That is our motto. Carolyn picked us up and we went to Property Control. Got a hat and some stationary. Afterwards we went to eat at Donato's, and then back to the apartment for a bit. HEATHER came in! It was SO good to see her. We all (Carolyn, Aarti, Heather, Amy and I) went out to dinner with Marcus and Joaquin at a Mexican restaurant. Yummy. It was really good to see them again. Afterwards, we went back to Margaritaville (minus the boys and Amy) for some more BlueStone, and to introduce Aarti to them. It was great, once again. AJ did this awesome little old school rap set, and danced, and it was hysterical! I love them. It was our last night to see Amy Jo before she left, though. Sadness. It was great to see her and her friends for the time we did have. To bed super-late once again.

Saturday, January 4, 2003
My FIRST day back at a park. I was itching for it. Aarti, Heather and I went to Disney-MGM Studios. It was SO GOOD to be back there. MGM is my favorite park. I had to return my costumes, which was once again an ordeal due to the non-scanning of my ID. We dragged Aarti on Tower of Terror, which I think she hated. We went to TSPP and visited for a few minutes, saw the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, went on Star Tours, had a disasterous meal at the Sci-Fi Dine-In, stalked (and finally were able to visit with) Stephen, did Who Wants To Be a Millionaire: Play It and dragged Aarti on Rockin' Roller Coaster, which I think she hated. I believe that's all we were able to do before we had to book it out of there.

We got back to the hotel in time to get ready and squish into Carolyn's car once again. Did I mention that she had all of her stuff packed for moving in for her Advanced Internship? Yeah, her trunk and 2/3 of her back seat were PACKED. And I mean packed. Not an inch of extra space. As it would be if I was moving somewhere for six months. The interesting part was that Carolyn had the only car, and she had to transport herself, Heather, Aarti, and me. We worked it so that Carolyn drove, I sat in the passanger seat, Heather was in the third of a seat left in the back, and Aarti so elegantly straddled the gear shift. Or "shaft" as we referred to it as. <.giggle> It was quite a picture, I'm sure.

Anyway. We all drove to meet Karen (I got to see Karen!) at our old Wendy's meeting place to see I-4 play at Borders! It was an adventure finding the Borders, and we ended up about 20 minutes late, but we made it. I guess it was a last-minute show (they hadn't scheduled it when I left on the 1st, but Karen checked their webpage between then and the 3rd, so...), so Jared and Brent weren't there. It was all acoustic, though, and it was such a small show that we got to hear all the band banter. Much fun it was. We were dorkily singing along to their songs, though, and I guess not many people do that. They stopped and pointed it out, all surprised. it was fun! Lol. Embarrassing, but fun. Afterwards (it was a 2-hour show! Woohoo!) we chatted with them a bit, and they remember us. <.g> Scott said "These are our oldest fans!" Ha ha. This summer, we were always the only ones who hadn't come with them. It's definitely fun to be amongst the "oldest fans." So we got some pictures, met Andy, who has joined since this summer when Caleb left, and bought their new "CD," which they burned and made labels for themsevles. Heehee. So cute.

Afterwards, Aarti, Heather, Carolyn and I went to the Orlando Ale House to meet up with Chris and Charles, who were also in town visiting. C and I went to the bar to chat with Chris and Charles, and as we were standing there, this guy walked in. Let me back up a moment, rewind to that very same afternoon at MGM. We were getting on Rockin' Roller Coaster, and we turned a corner. I saw this cast member, and you know how you look at someone, but are on your way walking and don't stop? So I walked past, and as I was walking away, thought, 'that looks like PJ.' But no, why would PJ be in Florida? He was on program in 2000 with me, so he couldn't be back working for Christmas break... you have to work once a year to keep your status. So I didn't turn around or anything, just thought to myself that there's someone working there that looks like PJ. Fast forward back to the Ale House. This guy is standing there, and I kind of blink at him for a moment before saying, "PJ???" It was him!! I couldn't believe it. Chris and Carolyn also worked with us, so it was a Spring 2000 Animal Kingdom ODF reunion. <.giggle> I was so glad I looked cute! It's great to run into people you haven't seen in years and look good for them. Ha ha. Anyway. He was on program again this fall, and was just finishing up. SO great to see him. Went to bed late again. Because (say it with me) there's No Sleeping in Florida.

Sunday, January 5, 2003
Got up early once more. Got to see GINA!! It was awesome to see her. I miss that girl sooooo much. She came to our hotel, and then she, Aarti and I went back to MGM to complain about our awful Sci-Fi dining experience and to visit Stephen again, one last time. I didn't get to say good-bye because he was supposed to come go PI Monday night *ahem* but more about that later. So after our brief time at MGM, we went to meet Heather and Sak (a friend from her program this summer) at Magic Kingdom. We went on Space Mountain, Alien Encounter, the Aladdin ride, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Small World, the Carousel, the Dumbo ride, Snow White's Scary Adventure... what else? We missed Big Thunder Mountain, which I'm kind of sad about, since it's my favorite ride there, but that's okay. We also had an interesting dining experience... there were these birds. Crazy birds. They stole a woman's churro, followed us to Columbia Harbor House (from Pecos Bill's, where half of us had gotten food), and were basically just scary! Like the movie. Awful. So we were eating, minding our own business and trying to protect our food, when Sak kind of ducked. He looked at me with this look on his face like "what was that??" Well, a bird had pooped on his head. Right there, splat, on his scalp. <.giggle> We pretty much died laughing. I'm SO glad it happened to him and not one of us, because he has a shaved head and was able to wash it off. It would have been all in our hair! So, yeah. That was quite funny. <.g> After MK, we actually went to BED. Early. What a concept!

Monday, January 6, 2003
Heather, Aarti and I slept in. It was our one night of getting any sort of sleep, and I think we over-did it. <.g> Carolyn had to get up early to be at Vista Way for move-in, so we took our time getting ready. We went to the food court and had a real breakfast, and then Carolyn picked us up to show us her new pad. After visiting and meeting one of her roommates, Heather, Aarti and I went to Downtown Disney for some shopping. I bought a few things, but really have NO money. <.sigh> It's so sad, because I want it ALL! Lol. We had fun, though.

We went back to the hotel and got ready for Carolyn to pick us up. We went to Celebration, which I had never been to. Jen just got a full-time job with Disney and moved in to an apartment in Celebration, so we visited. She has an AWESOME apartment. I love it. After seeing her for a while, the rest of us went to dinner. Yet another dining mishap. Our waiter dropped a dish of vinegarette and it splashed all over us, the majority of it falling on Aarti's face, hair, and skirt. It was awful. I had it in my hair and my face, Heather got some in her eye, and C got splashed a bit as well. They didn't even give us a discount on our meal, which I thought they should have done. Ah well.

After that fiasco, we went to PI. My mom's cell phone plan sucks, and I didn't have service basically anywhere I went. Therefore, no one could even leave me a message. So of the people we were supposed to meet up with, we only got to see Chris and Charles briefly. We went to Motions first. We were dancing, when someone ran up to me, screaming, and grabbed me into a huge hug. It was Andrea!! We hadn't told her we were coming back down, and we didn't know she was still there, even. So it was a lot of fun to see her. We took some pictures. <.g> Then we went to Comedy Warehouse, which was pretty good. When we went back to Motions, I had a bit of a fiasco with a rude guy dancing behind me... it was not good. So that basically ruined the rest of the evening for me, unfortunately, but I found out how many guys will come and chat with a random girl leaning against the wall all by herself. <.g> Again, late to bed. Lol.

Tuesday, January 7, 2003
Our LAST DAY in Florida. *sob* We got up even earlier than usual, carrying on the tradition of No Sleeping in Florida. We checked out of the hotel, stored our luggage, and headed to MGM to meet a wonderful woman Heather had worked with, who was willing to get us into the park on her Maingate. It was fr-fr-freezing cold, as a couple days were, and we had a bit of a wait, but it turned out well. She got us in, bless her heart, and she wasn't even able to stay with us to play a bit. We did the Muppet 3D show, got pictures with Buzz and Woody, Sorcerer Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto. We did the Backlot Tour, which was shortened due to the weather, the Animation Tour, Playhouse Disney, and the Great Movie Ride. We even saw Minhee. Wow. She was "friends with" Mulan today. She didn't see us, but it was crazy. That's all of the roommates from this summer: Amy, Carolyn, Heather, Andrea, Minhee, and me. Kind of cool to see everyone. We then ate at TSPP again, and a wonderful guy I had just met on Thursday gave us pizzas and Cokes for just the price of the Coke. <.g> So sweet of him! I didn't even think he'd recognize me. Lol. There sure are perks to working at a restaurant!

We had to say good-bye to MGM and to Disney. SO SAD. Carolyn picked us up and took us to the airport. It was good-bye Carolyn, who gets to stay forever, good-bye Heather, whose plane left first, and then good-bye Aarti, who I will see shortly, I'm sure, as she's moving up to Chicago this week. =)

All in all, it was a GREAT trip. I think I was able to see everyone I'd wanted to, ran into a couple of people unexpectedly, and did most everything I'd planned on doing. There are a few things (Big Thunder Mountain, Jellyrolls, the Roxy, the Orlando Science Center) that I would have loved to have had time for, but the trip was too short. I guess I'll just have to come back. *g*