Week #7 - Mardi Gras, New Work Locations, & Finally Going to Hollywood Studios!

Welcome back to the blog and my recap of Week #7 at Disney World. February 23rd started off another week and was just a pretty normal Sunday with me working in Animal Kingdom.

That next day, though, on Monday, it was exciting because I was finally doing my first work shift away from my normal "home" location! With merchandise, it's nice because you can fairly easily trade shifts with others; you just communicate with people that are trying to trade their shifts for other locations through a Facebook group and swap them on our Disney Hub website where work schedules are posted. Anyways, this day I had switched to work at Big Top Souvenirs, the big store near Dumbo in Magic Kingdom. It was a ton of fun and stayed pretty busy which I enjoyed! I interacted with so many kids and families, and sold a crazy amount of bubble wands! :) On the way back to the parking lot after work, I even got to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks going off which was pretty cool!

That night, I headed over to Disney Springs to meet up with my new friend Jason. We walked around some different shops and then ate dinner at Blaze Pizza. It was such a fun night!

Tuesday I had work the first part of the day, but since this was Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for me to go explore at Port Orleans French Quarter and order some Mickey beignets! I had no idea there would be so much going on, but when I arrived, there was a ton of festivities planned that had already happened or was going to happen that night. After eating the delicious beignets, I got in line for the special character meet and greet, which happened to be Louis from Princess and the Frog! They had a dance party going on, eating contests, photo booths, and had even had a decorated golf cart parade earlier in the day. It was fun to see how it's celebrated so much there.

 

I left there after awhile and drove over to the Polynesian Resort, where I met my friend Shelby who had just gotten off work. We had been wanting to try a new dole whip they were featuring there and it was so delicious! We also decided to get some dinner at Capt. Cook's quick service restaurant, which has one of my favorite Disney food items, the pulled pork nachos. They are amazing! It was just an enjoyable, relaxing night as it always is when you go to hang out at the Poly.

Lava You Dole Whip

Pulled pork nachos from Capt. Cook's

Wednesday I had work, and once again I traded for another location. This one was also in my home park of Animal Kingdom, but it was Island Mercantile, a larger shop in a different section of the park. They sell a lot more general merchandise, so it was a good experience working in a bigger store.

Thursday was a big day, because I was finally able to go to Hollywood Studios. All cast members had been blocked out from visiting this park because of how busy it gets from Star Wars Galaxy's Edge crowds. However, we had the opportunity to sign up for a day to come experience the new ride Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway and then stay in the park if we wanted. Luckily Shelby and I were able to get the same day and the first time of the day so then we had a full day to spend in the park! When we first got there, they made us seal our phones in a bag since it wasn't even open to the public yet and no spoilers were supposed to get out online. Then we got up to the ride, but it broke down right when we got there unfortunately so we had to come back to ride it later! When we finally got to, though, it was amazing! It's such a cute ride that uses some really awesome technology, and I think it'd be enjoyable for any age.

    

Next, we got to both see Galaxy's Edge for the first time ever which was really cool! I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but it still was neat to see all the work that was put into creating this entire land. Our first stop was at Oga's Cantina, based off of the cantina from the movies. They had some unique drinks that were fun to try! 

We got to see the Millenium Falcon and go inside to ride Smuggler's Run, one of the 2 rides in Galaxy's Edge. Each person had a different role and we had to all help pilot the mission. Other than that, we just took some fun pictures and enjoyed exploring the rest of the land. 

Our next stop was Toy Story Land. Shelby had never been here and I'd only been once. The crowds were just insane in the whole park on this day, so the only ride we ended up doing in this area was Slinky Dog Dash, which we waited almost 2 hours for. It was dark by the time we rode it so it was cool riding it with the track all lit up! 

   

Finally, the last stop of the night was going to watch Fantasmic, the nightly show at Hollywood Studios. It had been years since I'd seen it, so it was a lot of fun getting to experience it again. It was such a cold night but we braved the weather! Then we went ahead and left the park after a very fun and busy day. 

Friday was another normal day of work. Nothing too exciting about it, just another day of making magic in Animal Kingdom!

Saturday I went to Magic Kingdom and met up with Jason. He had to work that afternoon, but we had a great morning going on several rides and riding the PeopleMover, which is one of our favorites, twice since most rides had long wait times! Then after he left for work, I hung around Magic Kingdom for awhile longer and tried out a couple of new snacks - the cream cheese pretzel and Coke icee with a candy straw. I also watched the Festival of Fantasy parade before heading out of the park. The rest of the night I just relaxed and caught up on some things I needed to get done around the apartment. That ended another eventful week!