Saturday, September 30, 2017

WDWCP: Honorable Mentions

As hard as I tried, I couldn't condense my entire Walt Disney World College Program experience into one month's worth of daily blog posts. But that's good, that means I have many more memories to carry with me in life. I've decided to have this Honorable Mention post... basically some fun photos that weren't shared, and maybe some quick stories to go with them!

Let's start with night 1! Looking at these next two photos you wouldn't probably think this was the night we all arrived. I think the Puerto Rico contingency already had known each other prior to arriving, but I'm not entirely sure. This first photo is a typical example of life with Zaira... she HATED being in photos! This is the work that would go into trying to get her to cooperate. I feel bad because I don't remember the name of the smiling girl, but the guy in the hat is Alejandro, and then my dear David on the far right.


Later that night it was our first almost pajama party. We started out looking like the cool kids that would probably party a lot. Looks can be deceiving! After this mini-party ended David and I spent hours on that couch talking about anything and everything. The start of a beautiful friendship!


Jamie and I unintentionally ended up spending a day at the Disney-MGM Studios with the PR gang... below you will see Juan and David, with Maria and Brenda... Jamie and I being the pale ones. Man, I loved those Winnie the Pooh overalls! This was at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground, another thing that does not exist anymore.


Everybody knows the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, right? That ride is so darn cool, and even better now than when first checked into the Hollywood Tower Hotel. I think it was love at first drop for me with that elevator ride!


We were total tourists on that trip to the Studios, hitting up every photo op. Below you can see us in front of the Great Movie Ride, sadly ANOTHER thing they got rid of. Don't even get me started on that. Okay, so I do think it is cool there will be a Mickey Mouse ride, BUT... this was such a classic that you could always count on being there as your air conditioned break off of your feet. I miss it already and it only just left.


Can we talk about my shoes in that photo above? I freaking LOVED those. And I got them free!!! Remember the Pepsi points you could get from buying Pepsi? Yeah, my awesome Tevas cost me $0.00. I wore those until a dog chewed them up I think.

One of my favorite places to eat in all of Walt Disney World is the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. I love the atmosphere so much. (I'm not one that picks places based on their menu since I am the world's pickiest eater and I eat off the kids menu.) You eat in cars in the setting of a drive-in theater. Totally cute and I recommend getting some dining reservations if you would like to eat here. During this trip I had my kid's meal and it came in a glow in the dark Frisbee that I of course still have and only just recently (last week) took down and put in a safe box with my other Disney collectibles!


Here we are eating in the car... and we were excited to have one with Oregon plates!


I love me some Muppets, so of course Sarah and I had to get cozy with the cranky old men!


Aww, remember when it was the Disney-MGM Studios?


Do you remember my story of New Year's Eve and waiting backstage? This photo with Bossi is the same place we sat forever just waiting for our bus, which is what we are doing in this photo as well!


This was my favorite part of the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground... the sniffing dog nose!


Here we are at Pleasure Island, Jamie and I, with Germane and Gianni - fellow Cast Members from Pecos Bill Cafe


Every. Single. Day. of work.... 3 o'clock... the parade. It started in Frontierland and I swear you wouldn't really need a watch because you could count on hearing "When you wish upon a star" promptly at 3 o'clock for the start of the Remember the Magic parade. I have that entire parade memorized, and even found a mp3 of it online. You'd think I wouldn't want to hear it ever again after this, but no, I love listening to it!



Here's a random shot of a bunch of us from the Frontierland food area. We had some sort of meeting and don't we all look so happy? There are familiar faces here that have been in the blog already. Back row we have Rebecca, Ann-Laure and Christina. The front row we have Erica, Jamie and myself. Holli is in there in her chef jacket as well. She is a fellow Oregonian that I also can't track down anywhere


On Main Street USA you could visit the 25th Anniversary Welcome Center. This is where we would get our buttons and posters that I swear every single apartment in Vista Way had plastered on their walls!

I had no problem going to the parks by myself. I still enjoy alone time with just me and my camera. On the day of the photo below I was just hanging out and getting some photos of friends and the area we spent all of our time in before my program came to an end. I had waited around and spent time with Vinny during his lunch break. As I was leaving, stupid Joe tossed a cigarette at me, which stayed on my back-pack. Fortunately someone else saw and came and flicked it off. So Joe apparently had a crush on me. He told me this one night when he was driving me home. I did not have those same feelings, as obviously Vinny was my main squeeze. I guess this was his childish behavior since I had come to have lunch with Vinny and not him. In my journal I even said that if I see him again he might not be able to ever conceive children after I was done! I did some therapy shopping after this and got myself a cute little Christmas Winnie the Pooh doll, that I nearly lost in the San Francisco airport on my way home.

Check out the train station.... 25 candles!



This is a photo of the Disney University. I have been here many times - for a new ID card, classes, shopping, doing my electives for my Mousters Degree. It was a pretty cool place!


This is another shot of our Traditions group. Where the heck is David?? Maybe he took the photo. Our scavenger hunt started at the Polynesian Resort, which is where this was taken - at the Monorail station to be exact.


Something I have always enjoyed, and not just because it is FREE, is to go resort hopping. Vinny and I did that a lot. It is a cool way to get all the Disney feels without feeling your bank account get smaller and smaller. In these next two silly photos we were at the Wilderness Lodge. I always enjoyed the Wilderness Lodge because it helped me feel I was back home in the Pacific Northwest... if the PNW had insane humidity and tons of tourists in fanny packs and lycra. Oh! That Winnie the Pooh I talked about is in the photo below actually! I got the tiny one, not that really tall one that probably cost more than my frugal ass would spend.


Remember the Masquerade Ball? I'm just adding this photo because we are freaking cute!


Here is my part of Vista Way. My little corner... new stuffed animals, my airplane blanket, the dresser I got my first concussion on, and a No Doubt poster and that 25th Anniversary poster I just mentioned. The other corner had my Romeo & Juliet poster. Who wouldn't want to look at Leonardo DiCaprio every night before bed??


And lastly .... a trip to Typhoon Lagoon with Miss Jamie! In this first photo you can see Miss Tilly (the boat) behind her, and a massive wave about to crush down on Jamie!


This water park has serious waves. I mean look at me?? I shouldn't even share that photo below, but it is so awful that it is hilarious!


Plugging your nose is Key!!!



That poor little girl in that man's arms!! This couldn't have ended pretty! At one point I had an entire person land on me underwater!


And that is it ladies and gentleman! There is only one post left to follow this one, but this really is the end of the stories! I hope you enjoyed them, I enjoyed writing them!




See ya real soon! °o°

Friday, September 29, 2017

WDWCP: Now It's Time To Say Goodbye

We are nearing the end of this series, which means this is the good bye post. I don't even want to write it because I'm sad all over again about my time coming to its close. January 3rd was my final day of work at Pecos Bill Cafe. I had spent all of the 2nd packing, and shipping boxes back to Oregon, but I did get to have one final day of work. All of those last days were spent getting photos of friends, most of which you have already seen earlier in this series, and exchanging addresses. Physical addresses since we didn't exactly use e-mail at this point yet! I did get an ER that day (Early Release) and leave 4 hours early. That allowed more time for packing and preparing for my last night. My last day in Frontierland was on my hot dog cart with my friend Ryan. We were an awesome hot dog team, so it felt right that we finished this out together.  Before I left all together they threw me into Sunshine Tree Terrace to help with ice cream desserts. Why? I have no idea. I was not helpful. I had no idea what the heck I was doing. But it was fun to be by the Enchanted Tiki Room and experience one final location before I clocked out.

Our apartment was pretty quiet, with everyone working and packing. I left Vista Way for my final date with Vinny. Not gonna lie, there were tears from both of us before and after, and discussions of how to get him to Oregon. sigh. Vinny picked me up and we went to Universal Studios for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. This is pre-City Walk and Islands of Adventure. Does that old school sign even exist there anymore? I don't know!

We had a really yummy dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. It is a massive building. Very impressive. Dinner was filled with mixed emotions. Happy to be there together, but really sad because we knew in only a matter of hours he would be picking me up at Vista Way to take me to the airport.


I totally forced him to take one final photo, so he modeled the Hard Rock Cafe matchbook so he could at least have something to do with his hands, versus just sitting there feeling silly. Always a good sport!!!


Even the Hard Rock Cafe was all decorated for Christmas. I seriously love the theme parks and tourist traps during the holidays!

Sadly, the night did come to an end and I was back for my final night in my twin bed of apartment 3101. The morning would be here too soon.

The sun was barely up when I was starting to leave. Security wouldn't let Vinny in, so I had to haul my incredibly full bags all the way out of Vista Way to where he was waiting in the extra parking lot. I had two full suitcases, and then my two carry-ons. This is in addition to all of the things I had already shipped home! I ran into Justin, from Boston, in the parking lot, so he helped me out with my bags. I was very appreciative!

I think I probably quietly cried the entire way to the airport. As we pulled in No Doubt came on the radio, Don't Speak. Every time I hear it now, even 20 years later, I always remember that as the song we last heard together. I know that is ridiculously sappy, but for some reason that just always stuck with me. This was prior to September 11, so Vinny was able to come all the way through the terminal with me. My flight ended up delayed, so we had a little more time together before I had to get on. As I took off I could see him watching in the window. Ugh, I was so sad!!

Because of the delay, my trip home got a little stressful. Of course I landed in San Francisco for my layover. I know now to avoid SFO at all costs. It is just a terrible airport!! We circled the airport for so long, and I kept staring at my Mickey Mouse watch. I was in the air when I was supposed to be taking off on my next flight. People were courteous and I was able to get out of that plane relatively fast, lugging my bags along with me. I was running from one end of the terminal to the other. At one point I dropped my Christmas Pooh bear, so someone came chasing after me with it. I had to go through security again just to get to my actual plane. Pain in the ass! And I had this cup full of change, so on the x-rays that showed up as a solid blob, meaning my entire stuffed carry-on bag was emptied and I had to repack. I somehow made it on to my plane since it, too, was delayed.

My mom and grandparents were waiting for me in Portland. I didn't even get to go back home. I slept in Vista Way one night, and then next I was sleeping in my dorm, ready for school the next day! It was a whirlwind, stressful, sad end.

But this blog series isn't at an end! I have a couple more posts lined up before we say good bye and move on to something else. Thank you so much for coming along with me down memory lane. I am so glad I decided to share my stories because it really has brought me right back to that time in my life!


This picture still makes me so sad.


See ya real soon!  °o°


Thursday, September 28, 2017

WDWCP: Vista Way Life

We Oregonians didn't understand
the thick, crunchy Florida grass.
Living. Learning. Earning. The three things you are signing up for when you join the Walt Disney World College Program. When I did my second program it didn't seem that there was as much focus on Learning with seminars like I there was in 1997. I'm very happy I had the chance to do a lot of Learning! Earning? Well, that's up for debate. I mean you can sure work a lot - but you're not bringing home a big paycheck. BUT you are getting paid to do your college internship in the greatest place on Earth, so can you really complain? Nah. But the biggest thing you experience every single day is the Living. With strangers that become friends who turn into family. And in 1997 if you were a CP, you were living at Vista Way! 



This post may end up photo heavy, with random stories of life inside of our gated community. Gated doesn't even fully describe it. It is surrounded by solid walls! To get in you have to show your ID, and if you are a guest, getting in requires paperwork done by the resident, and then matching ID to be shown by the guest coming in. A pain in the butt! And to get in you had to be over 18 as well.

The pool is where we spent a lot of time. Pool #1 seemed to be the unofficial "International" pool where the Epcot cast stayed, so we were almost always at Pool #2. That was fine, it was closer to our apartment anyway, and right by the bus stop. The days at the pool were pretty quiet, since most of us would probably be at work or playing around in a park or the beach. At night, that was a different story!


It seemed like many friendships were created at the pool in the night. People I never saw any other time or place, but we'd all end up hanging out together to finish off our evening. And no, Danielle was NOT a lifeguard, she only accidentally dressed the part!

Perhaps the most infamous thing of Vista Way is the HOT TUB. Oh my gosh, we loved that thing!! It was next to Pool #2 and quite large, enough to fit a big group of us. Close to the pool, but apparently far enough away for an unsuspecting couple in the pool to not care that we were there and they continued about their .... um... shenanigans. And the hot tub got the bad rap?? We only saw dirty business happen in the pool!

Tragedy struck when we grabbed our towels, went to the hot tub and it was closed!! WHAT??? Sure, the water was all foamy and weird, but closed?? For DAYS we had no hot tub. How did we survive?? 

Say Hello to Benji, another friend from Puerto Rico!
Sarah had selfie game
before "selfies" were even a thing!
On nights when we weren't in the water we would wander around the entirety of Vista Way. We seemed to pop into occasional parties for a few minutes here and there. I always felt so awkward, but Danielle didn't have a shy bone in her body, so I just let her lead the way and tried to not embarrass her by my presence.

In our apartment we were totally NOT cool! Like I said before, we pretty much watched the Weather Channel.  A lot. The main gal was pregnant, so we watched her baby bump grow during our internship. Seriously, we are not cool!!

Looking back at photos, I was reminded how we were never in our own beds either. Most of the time if you see a picture of someone in a bed, it wasn't theirs. In this post alone you'll see me on Danielle's bed and in Marcy's. We just kind of rotated wherever we felt like going, and nobody ever cared!

THE Vista Way hot tub! Benji, girl who I forgot, Marcy, Quame, and myself

Our apartment wasn't always butterflies and rainbows and unconditional love. Oh no!!! We were nearly the site of WWIII at one point! Marcy and I were in our room, with our door shut, when it started. By the time it was done we had our door LOCKED and our ears plastered to the walls to try to hear everything going on. Tension had been building between Sarah and Danielle, which isn't good since they were in a room together and only half way through our program. I don't remember the details of the fight, but it was BIG!! There was yelling, arguing, everything. I imagine part of it involved Danielle's lack of helping keep the apartment clean. ONE time she helped. She sort of vacuumed. You'll see that photo below. Yeah, it was such a rarity, so we had to capture that moment! Oh my, I almost forgot... Operation Toilet Paper!!! Danielle would never buy toilet paper for our bathroom, so I think we started hiding it in our lockers and taking in the roll with us when needed, leaving her with nothing. That is cracking me up right now. But it did work, and I think that may have bee part of the WWIII argument!


Zaira ALWAYS hid from the camera. This is Marcy's side of our room.


There was tension with Zaira as well. She was always bundled up in her winter clothes. But we lived in Florida. It wasn't exactly cold there like I was used to in Oregon. Well, Zaira would get hot - seeing as she was in sweaters and socks and leggings all the time, so she'd crank on the air conditioning. Disney doesn't exactly provide you with a ton of bedding. Basically a fitted sheet, a normal sheet and a thin blanket. I had an airline blanket from flying to Florida that I would use to try to get another layer. I'd end up sleeping in full pajama pants and long sleeved shirts and sometimes even socks, because it was the Arctic Tundra in 3101. Well, that came to a stop after another late night fight when the four of us on our half of the apartment couldn't take it anymore. I'm sure Danielle or Sarah fixed it - since I am excellent at avoiding confrontation and would rather suffer than say anything.


Cleaning!!!! If you look on the wall behind my shoulder in the background, that is our House of Blues tablecloth we decorated during dinner!
Really, aside from those two instances, I think life in 3101 at Vista Way was pretty darn happy! It drove Zaira nuts that I ate breakfast standing up. I hardly ever ate, but when it was breakfast time I'd just fix toast while getting ready and eat it standing up. I still do that to this day. She was the mom of our apartment though, and wanted us to sit at the table. Nah, not gonna happen! Oh man, and we were so poor and didn't have all the resources you would in your own home, so we improved. Sarah taught me to make grilled cheese by toasting my bread in our toaster, and then sticking the cheese slices in between and melting it in the microwave. Bland, but it did the job!

When Halloween came around we decorated our apartment. You may notice the decorations in the photo above of Sarah and I at our apartment door. Security and Vista Way rules won, and we were forced to take them down. Seriously? Look at those decorations. Harmless and not damaging anything at all.

Here's our kitchen, and this photo shows almost all of it! We never had food in it because to get food you'd have to sign up for a ride to the Super Walmart in Kissimmee (we lived in Lake Buena Vista), or get the shuttle to Goodings, which is so overpriced. So I would just walk to Walgreens on the corner and get my food - hence why I never ate. Frosted oatmeal cookies for a dollar? Sure, I can afford that. Crackers? Okay, I can pay $1 for those, too.


This photo below is funny to me because I have so many like this in my album. Me on Danielle's bed, Sarah on hers. What you can't see is her pants are probably undone - because she had just gotten her belly button pierced when the rest of us got tattoos. So she was in recovery - so many recovery photos I ended up with!


Danielle and I spent a lot of apartment time together. She worked nights, and I pretty much worked all damn day when I was scheduled. But if I had a day off, she and I were together. On the day of the photo to the right she decided to give me a make over. So enjoy -- young Ronda in make up with curled hair. Actually, I really like my hair in that photo now that I look at it. I wonder how she did it and can I do it myself? I'm NOT skilled with hair, which goes without saying. You have eyes. You can see!

We had a lot of fun that day though. She and I ended up going to Downtown Disney to walk around and shop. And it was either Juan or Alejandro that did a double take when he saw me. That made my day right there! (They were super cute, fyi.) This was the day I forgot my laundry in the dryer outside of our apartment. I think Sarah had a dress stolen from the dryers, so I was in panic mode not wanting to lose clothes. HAAAAA -- nobody would want to take my clothes, okay??!! I wouldn't even want to take most of my clothes. I ended up using the house phone at Planet Hollywood to call my apartment, and one of the roomies saved the day for me! I got a new dress (below), that I LOVED! And so of course Danielle and I made it another night out to Pleasure Island and the Rock'n'Roll Beach Club with my new, temporary, look!


The interns these days mock Vista Way (i.e. Vista LAY) and don't want to live there. Disney has multiple locations now for the interns to live, so of course others are newer. But for us Vista Way was fabulous. I had never seen apartments so nice before and it was far better than my tiny dorm at college!

I danced and sang a lot in our apartment - mood lighting and my own solo productions of Starlight Express. Danielle and I had all kinds of crazy girls only conversations that I didn't write about and won't speak about! We had nice family time with all of us - and Maria and Luis, plus visitors from other apartments. Sure we had a tiny bathroom area to share, but it was all part of the experience. I absolutely loved it and while I was excited to see my family, I was sad when I had to pack up my things to go home. I knew I'd be back, but I knew it wouldn't be the same.

I did spend a lot of time in Vista Way when I moved back and did a second internship, but I lived in my own off-property apartment. It was fun, but not the same, because I didn't have MY roommates and our crazy dynamic. Basically, WDWCP Fall 1997 was the BEST and don't you dare try to argue it with me!!

See ya real soon!  °o°


You can see Vista Way marked with the red dot. Epcot and the former Downtown Disney, now Disney Springs, is visible here - to give you a frame of reference as to where we lived.