Magical Moment

Tonight we had a guest come in with a front desk member. We were informed of a problem in the resort, which I am not allowed to say, and the guest needed a lot of new items from the shop. We went to great lengths to get everything this guest would need.
It's not every day you have a family standing in your store so anger/frustrated/and upset that you feel that no matter what you do it won't be good enough. 

Well being that we are only a small resort gift shop we did have everything they would need, so we charged the front desk for everything we had and my leader took her own car and went to the closest store to buy them everything else they needed. They were so thankful, we said we would call their room and let them know when she was back. 

When my leader returned about 30 minutes later she said she needed to speak to me. I didn't really understand why, I mean she just need to call them. 
Instead she had me hand deliver the bag to the guest. The husband was soooo thankful. But it wasn't until the wife came out to see me that it really hit me. She burst into tears and just kept repeating "Thank you so much" over and over. When I got back and told my leader this she just smiled and asked how it felt to really make magic for someone who had lost all hope. 

I received a four keys fanatic card and a moment that touched my heart. 
I was thankful for a short second to be working on my favorite holiday. 

Radio Silence and Privacy

"Sometimes the people around you 

won't understand your journey. 

They don't need to, it's not 

for them." 

Sorry I've been kind of radio silent for a while. There's been a lot going on that I am not supposed to talk about (yes, mom you all ready know) that stems from my work location. So with that being said I haven't really done much. I know I said I would try to be posting more but I haven't really done a whole lot that wasn't cover in my vlogs on my youtube channel. I will list all the recent video below this somewhere. 

It's currently Halloween, when did that happen? Wanna here something scary..? Christmas starts tomorrow for me here. I don't know how I feel about TWO months of Christmas music. I can barely stand the month of it I have to deal with back home. Like I am pretty sure I may die this month. 

I spent most of my days off doing something in the parks or at the resorts, but its mainly all in my vlogs so again, I will list them. But here's a few photos. 

"As soon as I saw you I knew there would be an adventure."- Winnie the Pooh

We 100% had to get at least one photo here before Christmas started. 

So I shared this moment with these two beauties. Don't mind our faces, the sun was literally

hitting us all in the face. 

So first I made Amber put this on her head in the Contemporary. 

So it was only fair that I put something equally, if not more, embarrassing on my head 

at the Grand.

At Art of Animation we met some cars characters

But we mainly climbed on, and into things that said 

"Do not Climb" or "No climbing please." 

I clearly can't read.

"This is all so...sudden" -Ariel 

(You can see the sign I just so happened to be ignoring,,,,) 

(Sorry Disney)

Okay, so the second part of this blog I consider to be a tad bit more serious. I am not a very private person, heck, I have been putting my life on social media for the past almost 6 months for the entire world to see. I do not consider myself a private person. I do however value my privacy when it comes to my personal belongings. That doesn't mean that I won't let someone use my things from time to time BUT I would appreciate it if someone took the time to ask to use my stuff before doing it. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone for this, because I know its been happening and I have no actual proof of who is doing it. But it seriously drives me crazy. End rant I guess. 

21st birthday

Chubby Bunny Challenge

Resort Hopping

Thanks for reading! Have a magical day

The story of my 21st Birthday.

It all started at Applebee's with a waiter named Jeremy. Who was actually very attractive, so I can't complain. I kind of wished we had gotten a photo with him, but sadly we did not. We got there at 11:30 and I had to sit there and wait while everyone else with me, besdies Whitney, got to drink. We counted down from then on until it was midnight. I got my first legal drink : Fireball Whiskey Lemonade...

I don;t know what made me think this combination was actually a good idea but it was a terrible idea. Most disgusting thing I have ever tried, didn't matter though because we told the waiter that I hated it and he took it back and took it off my bill. Spent the rest of the time there dancing and drinking strawberry daiquiris. Lindsey someone how convinced me to do a Washington Apple Shot. It wasn't the nicest shot, but hey shots are shots right.

The next morning we got up, got ready, and of course was late to my own birthday event. But all in all my birthday at EPCOT was amazing. Today I feel like my liver has left on a vacation but, it was well worth it.
There's way to many photos to include them in here, but you can see them all in my Vlog, which will be linked below.
I survived the world show case in EPCOT, and I didn't throw up on my 21st birthday. I did something right.
Although, I honestly can't wait until my first weekend back home with the chance to go out and celebrate with all my friends and family.

 My 21st birthday.

Five Months (Two days late)

It never occured to me that I didn't write my "Happy 5 months" blog, although I did post about it on facebook. So this is the story of my five months at Disney. 
I plan to keep this one of the shorter side, as I have often done a lot of look back types of blogs lately. 
So here we go. 

There was that time I met Alice, and nearly cried, 

I could have left the program and moved home that day, because 

all my dreams came true in that moment. 

The first time I actually waited to meet Marie, with 

a childhood friend, whom I hadn't seen in years. 

That one time that Duffy apparently broke my heart. 

That one time my roommates had been using a pancake as a 

ball and I found it in my shoe the next morning. 

I have had a lot of ups and downs so far on my Disney College Program. I have made friends, lost friends, said goodbye to friends. I've learned a lot about myself, I've grown a lot. I've gone on adventures, explored, and made life long memories with 5 of the best roommates I could ask for. I've had fights with the same 5 amazing roommates, I've butted heads with everyone of them. And although at this current time I am not overly close with any of them, besides Ashley, I will always look back at the good times I did have with, and remember those times. Who knows what will happen there, 2 and 1/2 months is a long time and things can change in the blink of an eye. 

Home situations and enjoying life.

So since my blog about 'change is in the air' things have yet again changed. We had are meeting and it went surprisingly well. No one was fighting, it was a calm environment. The housing ladies were really nice, they even bought us cookies, which let me tell you were soooooo goood. So after about 45 minutes of this meeting we ended things by agreeing to make a chore chart and agreeing to have verbal communication with each other and no longer try to resolve things via group messages or regular text messages. 
So with the housing situation under control everything seems to be getting a little bit better. One day at a time right ? 
The house is clean, and that's really all that matters. 

So now, I am focused on planning my birthday and celebrating it my way. and having a really good time even though all my friends and family from back home can't be here. 

I recieved two cards in the mail today, one from my Grandma, and one from my Aunt Tammy. So thank you both very much, again! And I also got a gift from Lauren tonight at work, which was a really well thought out and thoughtful gift. So thank you again Lauren! 

My birthday is now TWO days away, considering I am writing this at 1:37 A.M. 
and I am soooooo very excited! 

That's all my life really consists of right now, nothing extra amazing has happened. Just clearing things up. 

Have a magical day everyone. 

It's a new day.

"Don't start your day with the broken pieces of 

yesterday. Every morning we wake up is the 

first day of the rest of our lives."

I've decided to gain a new outlook on this program, because begging to come home because I am miserable is getting a little old. So now, I am not looking at this program as I have to survive X amount of days until I get to go home. I'm going to look at it as there's X amount of days until this once in a life time journey is over, so what else can I do in that short amount of time. 

I have been waking up every day worried about 'stepping on someone else's toes' or being so stressed about trying to keep my apartment cleaning that I haven't actually been living for me. I mean, yes, I do get to go on adventure to the park with some of my best friends. But I am usually not actually there I am always thinking about other things, or the things that I could change. 

Not anymore. 

The remainder of this program is going to be about me, every day is a chance to start over, to recreate something I've almost ruined. So instead of being miserable about having to go to work, or cleaning, or not getting to do something because I would rather have food money, I am going to make a difference in how I see this program. 

I still might not be able to do much, considering I really don't make very good money...But still there's a chance I could actually do a lot more than I think I could. 

"Some people just come into your life

and you just know you would 

never be able to replace them

if they left."

I just want to take the time to acknowledge three of my bestfriends on this program: Ashley, Amber, and Lindsey. Who through every step of this program no matter what was going on have always stood by me. They are the people I am going to miss the most when I leave in January...Because I know I won't have anyone in my life as special as these three girls. I have a lot of other friends here that I will miss dearly, but I know that I am going to remain in constant contact with these three. 

You don't find friends like them very often, that would move hell or high water to change the world for you. So thank you ladies for continually having my back through anything and everything that has hapened on this bumpy road. 

I love you all very much. 

on that note, I am off to get ready for my strange shift at work (1:30 P.M. to 7:30 P.M.) 

P.S. My vlog apparently took over three thousand minutes to half upload yesterday and still has another 400 and something, so it probably won't be up until tonight...fingers crossed nothing changes on that! 

Have a Magical day! 

Adventure is still out there, somewhere.

I've always wanted to take one of these 

Iconic balloon photos. 

Someone once said "You don't have bad weeks, you have bad days. You need to take it one day at a time." So even though I feel like my whole world is kind of crumbling beneath my feet I somehow made the best of it for two days. (*Too further read why my world it crumbling follow the link at the bottom of the page!)

I will only be posting small bits and pieces of the two days in this blog, as I will also be making a vlog about it at some point when I have a couple extra hours. 

SO lets go! 

After making a trip to a housing meeting my morning started here.

With a free Starbucks thanks to Amber's rewards card, and of course I took proper care to make

sure they spelled my name right. 

P-R-I-N-C-E-S-S 

(A.K.A I am basic)

After I large blow up in my apartment and another trip to housing, we decided we needed to go on an 

ADVENTURE. So we caught a bus to the Polynesian resort, so that we could catch the monorail 

This would of course lead to us exploring a little bit of the Resort gift shop. 

Where we found this giant mirror, which just happened to be perfect for a photo session. 

Once on the monorail we sat and got a history lesson about the four parks 

from our driver because we were being held at the station due to work being done 

on the yellow train which was in the Magic Kingdom station. 

When we finally reached Magic Kingdom I once again proved how basic I am. 

P-R-I-N-C-E-S-S A-R-I-E-L 

With a pumpkin spice frap, with three pumps white mocha 

We then learned what Space Mountain really looks like, and 

even though I said I would never go on it again, I probably still will be, who's afraid of

a couple metal beams. 

We also learned that the Pooh ride makes you feel like you are on

hard core drugs. Like WHY IS THIS A KIDS RIDE

I then went with my two favorite people, to meet my favorite fairy. 

We waited for a while to meet up with family members that were visiting.

(Tom & Karen, their son Bobby, his wife Melissa, and their children Chris and Richard)

We spent the rest of the night wander magic kingdom and riding some rides, Ashley was there too, just didn't want to be in a family photo.

Goodnight Magic Kingdom.

Good Morning Drama

Haters gonna Hate-hate-hate...

I clearly caught a case of the Taylor Swifts with everything going on 

in my apartment lately. So after a morning of unnecessary drama I'm just gunna 

Shake it off. 

Besides I was off to Hollywood Studios for more adventures

Like taking really bad photos with my main man Walt.

Celebrating Melissa's birthday at Hollywood and Vine

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, again

(Which was sooo yummy, thanks again!)

Staying to see my FAVORITE show that Disney has to offer

Fantasmic. PLENTY of videos will be in my up coming vlog.

And riding my favorite ride, three times. 

#TeamPrincessHands 

Princess hands for the winning family photo.

Previous Blog (Not published on any other social media. Only readable through this link)

Change is in the air...

"and suddenly you know ...

It's time to start something new, and 

trust the magic of beginnings." 

I've never been afraid of change, I actually enjoy change, it's like starting over. 

When things in my apartment got bad, I think we all saw it...but only two of us wanted to change it. Wanted to make it so we didn't have to live like we were, so we started a change. But not only good things come with change, the bad comes with it as well.

You see, when you live with so many people you need to factor in their opinions as well, and we didn't. We did what we thought was best for all of us, because we had tried to reason, and speak with our roommates and nothing had progressed. Well now we sit here and wait for a meeting with housing to see where we go from here..

Things shouldn't have gotten as bad as they had been getting here, and it wasn't just some people weren't doing things, this wasn't us pointing at them and saying "The four of you are the problem." This was us saying "Look, all six of us have things we could work on, so lets figure it out." Because we are never all home at once, we are never all going to agree on the next course of action so the only probable way to go about it was to request a housing meeting. Things need to change around here. 

Well, now that we started the journey to change that bad things that come have started to make there way as well, like: 

what if they decided to move us all apart? 

what if things never go back to the way that they were? 

what if my remaining roommates never speak to me again? 

I don't want to move, not this late in the program, I don't want to be split up from Ashley. 

We are six young women with every different personalities, and it was only a matter of time before something like this actually happened. 

I am going to be linking this into the bottom of my next blog, only because I am knowingly publishing this online. Not that I have said anything wrong in this post, I just don't want to rock the boat any more than I already have. 

Why I didn't extend...

"Whenever you find yourself doubting 

how far you can go, just remember

how far you have come. 

Remember everything you have

faced, all the battles you have won, and all

the fears you have overcome."

-Unknown

Why I didn't extend my Disney College Program....

I decided it was best for me if I just went home. I've been struggling with things for the past few months whether it be: Homesickness, roommates problems, or problems at work. I felt that my choices were, 

A,) Extend and pray that my role gets changed, and I can move apartments. 

B.) Extend and end up feeling the same way and stuck at the same location (I do love All Star, but I don't want to extend into it, I would want to do something different) 

C.) Go home and focus my time and attention on another battle that needs to be won. 

I fought with this choice for a long time, I remember telling my mom "Who knows when I will be home, I already know I am going to extend when its offered." I did not even read the extensions are out email for a week after I received it. 

I think then I knew that I had decided in the back of my mind that my program was ending in January. I am fine with that. Don't get me wrong, I would love to stay had my program been better than it was for me. 

A lot of people are excited about extensions, and I've decided that I am just going to go home and take this next semester off to focus on myself. 

I would recommend this program in a heart beat, it has changed me in so many ways, and I've grown because of it. So Yes, I think it's a program worth doing. 

Let's face it, there are many reasons I don't want to extend and I am not going to make this post a list of all the horrible things that have factored into this choice. I viewed this program as a battle, and by completing the program on January 5th I have won the battle. 

But on a side note, if you are interested in the Disney College Program you can contact we with any questions you may have! If you are interested in applying let me know so that you can list me as referral! 

Memory Monday.

On March 12, 2014 at 8:18 A.M. I found out my life was going to change, and at the time all I remember is shaking as I held my phone and read the email from the Disney College Program. I remember the night I applied I said "It's not like I am going to get accepted, so why not apply? What is there to lose." Boy was I wrong. After being fast tracked through my interview process and finding out a shocking two weeks after my application was submitted, when it normally takes months, that I was going to be moving down to Orlando for the night 9 months of my life. I was excited, but I was never scared. I knew that I would miss home, but I never thought I would be 'homesick'. 

Then it started, the count downs on my phone, written in my planners, and on every form of social media I have. Fast forward to the day I received the Disney post card, and spammed everyone's news feed with this photo: 

Congradulations Kayla. I'd been accepted into an internship program that 22,000 other people wanted to get into. 3,200 sometimes for the fall advantage program had been accepted, and another batch of 3-4,000 for just plan fall. I had accomplished getting into a really competitive program, that I really had no idea of what I was actually getting into. 

Fast forward again to May 18th, when I boarded a plane (after a boat load of complications) and ended up in Orlando. 

I was leaving everything and everyone I have ever known to get on a plane and fly what in driving time would be 24 hours away. I wasn't afraid of leaving, at the time, all I could think about was the amazing time I would be having the next day at check-in. 

I was going to be living with what I thought was just three other girls. Amy, Lex, and Tabitha, and even though I had been talking to them for weeks as it seemed, and we had agreed to live together, how well did I really know them?  I didn't. 

The next morning we woke up bright and early to get ready to head over to Vista Way, even though I hardly ate anything at breakfast because I was so excited. When we got there I had to say goodbye to my mom for the time being as I went to stand in line with all the other People waiting to check in. I made my first friend in that line, Abner, and although we aren't close now it was nice to know that I had someone. Tabitha found me next and I was just so excited to finally meet the girl that I had been talking to via Facebook and Text messages. Lex and Amy caught up with us, although Amy was put in another line, the rest of us got to stay together. We got handed our planners and rule guide which had our apartment number, which complex, and how many roommates on the back. 

Vista Way

Apartment 611

6 roommates. 

S-I-X roommates? So who were these strangers going to be? Would we even get along with them? 

Turns out, that they were the best two additions to our apartment that we could have asked for. Libby and Ashley. 

Our first week was a vacation compared to the rest of the program. 

I wasn't afraid of coming here, I was never afraid of leaving everything behind for a period of time and moving here. I was never afraid to live with 6 strangers. I know sometimes I don't shine the best light on this program, but it's a great program. I have learned so much about myself and growing up since I've been down here. 

I remember how excited I was to get to come down here and do this program, and yes sometimes I sit here and say "Why did you even apply for this program, you hate it here." I don't always hate it here. Yes, I hate certain things about the program, certain things about living with 6 girls...but as my 5 month mark approaches I can honestly say I am glad I am doing this program. 

Sometimes, I want to quit. That's normal. Sometimes I can't imagine that in three months I will not be here. That's a hard one. I am torn on that choice, I did not apply to extend my program, for a reason. I'm sure I don't need to share those reasons, because I feel as though I had made them apparent ( although I will probably be doing a post about it.) 

Sometimes, I think maybe I should apply, I still have time, But no, I am not going to do that.  I know what it's been like the past almost 5 months for me here. Yes, you can argue that it's "not that bad" but until you've felt what I have felt you have no say in the matter. 

I do love this program, for so many reasons. But I also hate it for a fair share of reasons. 

Getting excited

So, as I am sure everyone knows by now my 21st birthday isn't too far away (11 days to be exact, who's counting?) so I have been arranging a get together with my closest friends and fellow cast members down here and we are going to do a day in EPCOT to drink around the world!! yay. And lucky we out Discount increases 2 days before my birthday! 

At the same time that I am really excited to FINALLY be 21, and I also kind of sad about it because usually I just do something small with my family and friends and we have had my 21st birthday party planned since I was born pracitically. So It's weird that I am not going to be there to do anything with them. We will be celebrating in January when I come home, so I basically get two birthdays in one year!! 

I've just been really busy lately with work, so I haven't been doing much! Tuesday Ashley and I have a magic Kingdom outing planned after her flight gets in, which should be cool considering the new Haunted Manison merchandise location, Momento Mori, just opened a few days back. From all the pictures it looks really cool. Although it's so popular you now have to wait in line to get inside the store, and they only let a certain number of people in at a time. 
I am still excited to see it. I may try and convince her we should go to EPCOT after we finish at MK because its' a halloween party night and MK closes at 7. 
Who knows. So that's all going to be the majority of my next vlog! 

Busy, Busy, and Busy.

So, I know I haven't been very attentive to my blog lately. There's a reason for that, I've been writing a lot of stuff down in my journal lately, mainly so because a lot of it is stuff I cannot put out on the internet for everyone to read. There's been a lot going on with me lately, and I've been really stressed. This stress has been causing me to have a lot of anxiety/panic attacks...and I've only ever had maybe one or two of those in my entire life if I think back on it. I can usually handle my stress fairly well. But in this case, I think being so far away from home and not having anyone I really knew I could whole heartedly spill my guts too kind of freaked me out. 
Don't take that the wrong way, I have friends down here that I love and trust with my life. But sometimes there are just those select few people that you spill your guts to no matter what because you know they will tell you the truth, not what you want to hear. In this case that's what I needed, someone to tell me to step back and take a deep breath because at the rate I was going I wasn't making sure I was being healthy throughout the entirety of the situations. 

This wasn't just one event, it was several things to do with the environment I am currently in. It was a combination of my injury and work, and things at our apartment, and mainly more work. It's a lot to handle when you feel like you are all alone. Sometimes it all gets just to overwhelming.

Someday, everything will make perfect sense.

So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile

through the tears, and keep reminding 

yourself that everything happens for a 

Reason.

NOTE: There's a lot of stuff I won't be posting, due to it being either overly personal or inappropriate due to work.

10-01-2014

Since I stopped posting I did get to make a magical moment for a young guest that was visiting all the way from Philly. So that was exciting. She was telling me all about her night swimming in our HUGE pool, did a runway show to show us all her Barbie swimsuit. So we have this character cards that we give out, and I found one and said "Mickey Mouse asked me to make sure you got this." She screamed and hugged me. 

I spent my night that night watching bad horror movies with Libby, Nate, and Joey. That was interesting.  

10-02-2014

The day I 100% made up my mind: I WILL NOT be applying to extend my Disney College Program. I am actually excited to go home, with the events that have taken place so far this week it only cemented my decision. Also the day I came to realize that since I moved to Florida it's become 10X easier for my "Dad" to ignore me and break promises. (Thanks Dad.) 

Tonight I was also refereed to as "Carla" .... Is my name really that hard? K-A-Y-L-A. 

I almost for got, I got to help arrange a magical moment tonight. A guest approached me, he turned out to be a Disneyland Cast Member, and he wanted to set up a surprise for his Fiance for the last day of their stay with us at All Star! So I help him choose a gift and set up a drop off time, and he was so excited. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing whether or not it actually worked out for him...But I really hope it did! 

10-04-2014   2:30 A.M.

Only one home, so naturally eating Ramen and watching 19 kids and counting. It's a glorious level of peaceful. 

10-05-2014

SO today I have a lot of good news that I haven't shared yet

1.) They waived my rent (FINALLY)

2.) WE got a raise to $9,00

3.) Tomorrow I am stripping my hair.

10-06-2014

Stripped my hair, hated it, realized I liked it going to keep it a shade of  red. It's been an interesting couple of days

Update.

I was originally going to post some more from the Kayla Diaries today, but I felt as though a lot of what I had to say was personal, not only about myself but about some of the people I have chosen to write about. 
So instead I decided to give you guys a short (hopefully) update on how my life has been going here in Florida. 
Frankly, I think I make it seem a lot worse than it actually is. As I have said hundreds of times before I don't love it here, but getting through this is something I absolutely have to do. 
I have received my 10th and 11th four keys fanatic cards now. So there that! 
I've been under a lot of stress lately, and for some reason I keep have anxiety/panic attacks frequently. The majority of which take place at work, which is no surprise to me.
But I wanna share my most recent magical moment. This little girl and her dad came up to the registers with the items they were planning the purchase and right away she stole the show. She made the sound effect of clearing her throat, and said "Excuse me?" And I smiled and said "Yes, princess?" she giggled and said "Look at my swim suit!" and then proceeded to do a mini runway show, to show off her wonderful Ariel swim wear. She came back over picked up one of our lollipop sets threw her hand on her hip and said "Daddy, we need this." he laughed and continued to talk to the cast member ringing him up. I got out of these little character cards we give out and I got down on the floor with her and said "Princess, Mickey wanted me to make sure you got this." She took it and asked what it said, so I read it to her ("Hey Pal! I hope you have a Magical Celebration! Your pal, Mickey Mouse) and she got so excited she screamed and hugged it and then hugged me.

It's moments like those that make me realize not everything here is awful. It's moments like those  that I forget the level of stress I have placed on myself. 

Last night I got asked if I was "Happy here." and of course my general response to that question was no. And then it was rephrased "You're not happy at All Star or you're not happy here at the program." 
I was kind of taken back by this. I do love my All Star family. We all know I am not happy with the program and how it is turning out. But I never entirely blamed my work location, and I don't know if I can. After being deployed to another resort I had a whole new level of respect for my resort. So I think I am happy at All Star. I just think I am unhappy in general. Which is feeding in to my stress. And having those people at work that I absolutely dread seeing is also feeding into my stress and anxiety as well. 
So there's that. 

So that's all for right now. 
Have a magical day.