the journey of a million dreams

life in the magic kingdom is never a dull moment.

don't get me wrong, blizzard beach was super fun...but since magic kingdom is...well...the most popular theme park in the world, you see quite a lot of interesting things and meet way more interesting people. 

one of my favorite things about working in magic kingdom is getting to work the halloween parties because i LOVE seeing everyone's costumes. highlights include: a group of girls that came in handmade costumes that looked just like the festival of fantasy dancers' (our new parade), a family that came dressed as tourists with phrases like "how much are fast passes?", "what time is the 3 o'clock parade?", and "where's hogwarts?" on the back of their shirts, dream finder and figment, multiple maleficents, a lot of adorable carl and ellies, and a family that came dressed as wendy, john, and michael in their pajamas. i also love the halloween party because it's much more chill than a normal day AND they play better music...so i get to dance to thriller like a crazy white girl and get paid for it. the other night i got to meet a sweet lady who was decked out in tinker bell everything! had a tshirt, had a license plate on her electric scooter that said "pixie" and i of course commented on it. she proceeded to hand me a document that had her name on it...and her name was in fact actually pixie! so she explained that she was going back to the resort to change into her tinker bell outfit and her husband was going to be dressed as peter pan. we kept talking and i asked her if she had any pixie dust. OF COURSE she whipped out this little personalized vial of pixie dust and proceeded to pixie dust me. basically, she was my new favorite guest. sadly i didn't get to see her come back in the park, but i am sure she rocked that costume and had a wonderful night. 

i also was a kind cast member and picked up someone's 6:30am shift they were trying to give away on sunday. anyone that knows me knows that there are few things i hate more than mornings, so this was a huge leap for me. 

and actually, i'm here to report, that i really loved that morning. i got to see the sun rise over the contemporary resort and the seven seas lagoon. i got to talk to a bunch of excited families who were waiting in line to be let in for breakfast reservations. highlights include meeting a child who has never missed a day of school and was very proud of this fact, meeting a man who was SUPER pumped about getting a pirate makeover at our pirate's league (he even wore a pirates of the caribbean shirt), and watching everyone's excited faces during our morning show. bonus: i got to tell the newest pirate goodbye as he left the park in his full pirate makeup and OF COURSE i remembered him and complimented on the look. 

as wonderful as the morning was, i hate to say that the afternoon was absolutely terrible.

for some reason, we started to have issues with magic bands and annual passes not being activated which led to a LOT of angry families screaming at me (there is nothing i, nor any of our guest relations at park entry cast members can do about this). i even watched a couple storm out, swearing they would never be coming back to disney ever again. luckily, i finally got taken off of touch points and got to task...where i met a super sweet lady while i was stocking maps. she asked me about our fast pass system and how to get them because she was just "super excited about riding haunted mansion". so i started to tell her about where our fast pass kiosks are in the park until she was like "wait! i have the app! can't i use that somehow?" to which i answered "of course!" and she asked me to show her how so i took her step by step through it and helped her book her first three fast passes! her eyes lit up and she thanked me about 15 times and i told her to have the most magical day ever. so my spirit was lifted because let's face it, no one likes being yelled at, especially when it happens about 5 times in a row. 

luckily, last night i got to work another party shift. a fellow cast member had told me that guests had caught onto the fact that haunted mansion cast members name their bat headbands, so they assume that everyone has theirs named. i came up with the name "benny" just in case i was ever asked (yes, it may or may not be short for benedict cumberbatch, but that's beside the point). so yesterday as i was directing people towards the exit, a little boy asked me "why do you have a bat on your head?!". so i answered with "well, his name is benny, and benny just really likes hanging out in the magic kingdom so he decided to perch on my head so he could see everything since i'm tall. the mom just laughed and started to pull the kid away and he ran back and said "so do you love him?!" and i was like "of course! he's a pretty nice bat!" and the kid just smiled and went on his way.

basically, i just have too much fun at work. and i'm okay with that.

hello friends!

so i have officially made my triumphant return to disney, this time as a park greeter for the magic kingdom! 

i've officially been here for two weeks and i have never been more excited/exhausted in my life...except maybe during jetlag while abroad. 

it's been a whirlwind from finding a place to live, furniture shopping, getting everything delivered, going to orientation, followed by training, and FINALLY by earning my ears today after my assessment! 

magic kingdom orientation was...well, magical. i mean, we got paid to ride the haunted mansion, learn a bunch of fun facts, and watch the festival of fantasy parade. it made being up so early worth it, and that means a lot coming from a night owl like myself. 

my training days have been interesting...it's been very repetitive since it's the same exact training i got at blizzard last year since i'm working with the same technology. my first day of training, we walked around main street USA and i even knew some facts that my trainer didn't know! not surprising since no one can know everything about the magic kingdom! it's always a collaborative effort here at disney. we got paid to ride the monorail, ferry, and train, as well as watch the parade (abbreviated version due to lightning/rain in the area) again. the rest of my training days were spent with wonderful trainers (i had a different one every day) and i truly had a blast with them! my first trainer matthew declared that i was "quite a character" during my first time back on touchpoints and let's be real, that's pretty accurate. i've also befriended some other new park greeters around my age, as well as some CPs (college program kids), and some guest relations people we work with. an exciting moment occurred today as i discovered that one of the guest relations girls that worked with me at blizzard also works at magic kingdom now so we can have even more dance parties while we welcome all of you to the most magical place on earth!

the downside to all of this is i am having to get used to that wonderful florida heat again/dealing with thousands of people for long hours every day. don't get me wrong, i love it, but it is EXHAUSTING. i've been a bit sleep deprived as well due to some late night conversations with my friend and her new boyfriend, but what can you do. 

yesterday i had a migraine and got sick at work...didn't tell anyone, and proceeded to go work out on the touchpoints for a solid hour and a half with a smile on my face like nothing had happened. i also took some medicine and felt much better, so don't worry, i wasn't being careless! just trying to keep the show on the road! 

i've met some great families as well....many from the UK at the moment whom i love to converse with. i also met two families from conway and tabor city  (both small towns near my hometown) yesterday and we all freaked out together at the front entrance (gotta love those nametags with hometown listed). 

basically, so far i'm having a blast back here at disney. passing out mickey mouse stickers, answering guest questions, sprinkling pixie dust on the touchpoints for princesses, and just being that first smiling face you see when you walk up to the magic kingdom are all highlights every day and i couldn't ask for a more magical job at the moment. it may not pay a lot, but the emotional payoff for me is beyond worth it. knowing that i get to help create lasting memories for our guests is just such a wonderful feeling and i don't take it for granted- even when i'm exhausted, running off of no sleep, battling migraines, and being yelled at by some guests (which thankfully hasn't happened here yet). i just remember that this may be their first and only time to the park or their first vacation in many years so they deserve the best from me and my fellow cast members. 

so yeah, there's a quick update! i hope to see all of you real soon! please don't hesitate to ask me questions or just let me know when you'll be heading to disney because i'd love to say hey! 

thanks for reading, 

alright, as your resident lover of all things scandinavian, i just had to share my thoughts on the recent announcement by disney to close the maelstrom and change it into a frozen-themed ride. 

first of all, i love disney. second of all, i love scandinavia. and i really, really love the two together. especially because walking through norway and the other world showcase countries really helped ease my reverse culture shock last summer after i returned from a semester abroad in denmark. 

that being said, yes, i totally agree that norway/the maelstrom is in desperate need of a refurb. i thought that the country of norway would jump at the chance to improve their pavilion based on the success of frozen, which was indeed inspired by norway/scandinavia. however, from what i can tell from this announcement, clearly norway wanted nothing to do with the pavilion, so disney took over. 

i should also note that yes, i love frozen. it is a beautiful animated feature with great characters and wonderful songs. and yes, i loved the frozen summer fun party at hollywood studios because i feel like the studios needed something more. i love meeting anna and elsa at magic kingdom. and i do love the idea of a frozen attraction.

HOWEVER, the frozen attraction should be in fantasyland in the magic kingdom, NOT in the world showcase in the experimental prototype community of tomorrow (EPCOT for you newbies).

the purpose of the world showcase is to let families get a glimpse of different cultures through the attractions, cast members from the respective countries, decor, shops, and restaurants- for people to LEARN about these countries that they may never actually get to visit in their lifetime. to broaden their horizons (hey, that used to be an EPCOT ride...) and open their minds to these cultures. 

by replacing the maelstrom with a frozen ride, people lose that cultural experience, as the ride does showcase several factors of norwegian culture from vikings, to trolls, to offshore drilling, to the norse gods. frozen is inspired by norway, sure, but it takes place in a fictional land and if you wanna get technical, the story was based on a hans christian andersen fairytale entitled "the snow queen". HCA is Danish....so obviously disney should just add denmark to the world showcase (that's a blog post for another time). 

again, after riding the maelstrom upon my return from a semester in scandinavia, i thought disney could have showcased the country a bit better because honestly, i'd rather see more vikings or be immersed in a recreation of their BREATHTAKING landscapes than see...offshore drilling and be awkwardly dropped off in a half-hearted attempt at the creation of a norwegian seatown with an out of date film that everyone walks through.

but frozen is not the proper answer because it does not fulfill the vision of the world showcase. i understand why disney made the decision (money makes the world go round, as they say), but i am not pleased because i expected more from them. especially since EPCOT was such a huge vision of Walt Disney's and because he was so passionate about educating the masses through new and innovative experiences. frozen will be a fun little voyage- i'm picturing something along the lines of "it's a small world" with "let it go" on repeat...but no one will be learning anything about norway. 

and that makes me sad, because it's a beautiful country with so many amazing things happening there...but so many people will never know that because they'll never get to travel there. they would have a higher chance of going to EPCOT and riding on a refurbed maelstrom that told a story of the rich culture of norway...and who knows, maybe they'd be inspired to visit the actual country someday to learn more. 

i know that when i first learned i'd be studying abroad in denmark, i though i was pretty clueless about the culture...until i remembered that norway was right above it. so i remembered my many voyages on the maelstrom (which has always been one of my favorite WDW rides) and got more excited about experiencing the fascinating culture first hand and learning more about the history of scandinavia. 

sadly, i only have two weeks left here at blizzard beach for the summer. lately i've been thinking a lot about the things i've learned here, so i figured i'd share them with you.

i think it all hit me monday night during the one republic concert i attended on a whim with my friends that came to visit from south carolina. now, i was by no means a die hard one republic fan, however i knew a good amount of songs, but now i can say they've gained a fan because their show was absolutely INCREDIBLE. i think everything hit when they played one of my favorite songs "good life" (which is featured in a disney world commercial). they talked about the inspiration behind the song which basically came from a night out in london and waking up with tons of pictures and new numbers of people they couldn't remember, but realizing how wonderful their lives have been (i mean come on, traveling all around the world playing music? that's not fun at all...). once they started playing it, i immediately started crying. not sobbing or anything, but just the happy little tear up cry you do when you have an epiphany and everything just kinda hits you at one moment. i of course flashed back to being abroad and all of my experiences in copenhagen and the many other cities (including london) that i've had the pleasure and honor of visiting. however, it also made me realize just how good my life this summer has been even though i'm not in copenhagen (my favorite city in the whole wide world) anymore. and these would be some reasons why:

1) i get to dance around without getting punished (backstory: i once got detention for skipping or "dancing" down the hallway of my high school).

2) i get to work with some pretty cool cast members.

3) i get to meet families from ALL OVER THE WORLD. yup, from brazil, to china, to germany, to india, to alaska, to good ole south carolina, and even a few from my favorite scandinavian countries! how many jobs do you get to interact with such a diverse group of people EVERY day!? did i mention i deal with thousands of guests each day? crazy amazing.

4) i get to make magic. whether it's putting pixie dust on our new touch points for little girls when they tap their ticket to mickey, passing out a birthday button and tattoo to a guy and singing "22" by taylor swift since it was his 22nd birthday, to convincing a kid to wear a life jacket because mr. smee told me captain hook wears one, to simply high fiving people with the mickey glove as they leave...i get to help create those magical moments for our guests each and every day. aka i get to help create lasting memories every day. no pressure/no big deal, right?

5) i get to help make people smile. i guess this is an extension of making magic, but i personally derive a lot of joy out of making people smile. because you really never ever know what's going on in someone's life. so i never take a single "have an ice day!", "thanks for coming!", "ski ya later!", or even a high five for granted because even the smallest things can make people's day! 

6) i've learned more about guest relations or customer service than i could've ever learned in a class. interacting with thousands of guests each day and providing exceptional guest service is what we do and there aren't many people who get that opportunity at such a young age, so i feel very lucky. 

and i could go on and on, but you get the general idea. 

as for things i've learned this summer...

1) florida is super hot, and just keeps getting hotter.

2) an umbrella is a necessity here and will become your most used accessory. 

3) working 6-8 hours in the florida heat is physically exhausting. like, i've literally come home from work, stripped out of my costume, then just gone to sleep for hours. 

4) work isn't about the money, it's about the experience. 

5) brazilian tour groups are really that crazy.

6) food trucks are magical.

7) european families are way more understanding than american families when it comes to a negative situation.

8) the first experience in costuming is the worst, it gets better each time. 

9) safety, courtesy, show, and efficiency make the world go round.

10) people will inevitably treat you better if you treat them how you want to be treated.

11) a lot of people don't know the macarena.

12) apparently people like my dance moves.

13) the water parks are the only places that have the "just married" buttons left since they don't make them anymore.

14) people are monsters in the parking lot.

15) you can learn a lot about a person/family from a casual 5 minute conversation.

16) people really do appreciate the little things. like little hints on what to do in the park or other parks. 

17) self-control. i've learned lots of it. and patience. because there will always be difficult people.

18) people still believe in magic and the magic is very much alive. 

19) i think i've learned the entire playlist for the park.

20) and i've learned LOTS of fun, icy puns.

again, i could go on, but if you stuck with me this long, thanks, you're awesome, i won't bore you anymore! 

another one republic song that i'm now hooked on is called "i lived". they described the song as being their anthem and honestly, i could call it mine as well. maybe you can make it yours too, because i think is how we should all live our lives.

"i, i did it all, i owned every second that this world could give, i saw so many places, the things that i did, yeah with every broken bone, i lived."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_7iOuCZNj0

oh and of course, never forget that you should NEVER GROW UP. :) 

first off, i apologize for the lack of posts on here! my internet was messed up for two weeks and i was living off of 3G on my phone and let's be real, i type way too much to blog off a phone.

anywho, working at blizzard beach has been pretty flippin' awesome. i think i knew it would be as soon as i met my amazing trainer, ron. basically, when you picture the ideal disney cast member, you're picturing ron. older man, cheerful to everyone, knowledgeable about everything, makes sure the job is done right and goes the extra mile to do more. i could do a whole blog post about how much i love this man, but sadly it's been like a month since i've updated this so there's much to be told. just know that all compliments i receive should basically be given to ron because he taught me well and encouraged me to go above and beyond with everything on the job. 

that being said, you can often catch me at the front entrance screaming "HI PRINCESS!"or "HEY PIRATE!" to little kids, passing out buttons and tattoos for birthdays or just simply because (i believe everyone has a reason to celebrate so i pass those buttons out a lot), doing the macarena, singing goodbyes to guests, wearing a mickey glove giving high fives, starting hula hoop contests with guests, blowing bubbles, and just being generally ridiculous. i just try to keep work fun, and the guests love it too which is always a plus! 

i can also recite the inclement weather policies to you, tell you where the nearest bathrooms to the entrance are, which slides you should ride, where to rent lockers, and tell you how to get to any of the other parks.

sadly, i am not god, therefore i still cannot tell you when slides will reopen during inclement weather, no matter how many thousands of times you ask. but hey, i'm sure that smart phone you're talking to your family on can help you get a general idea. 

i've also been able to speak some spanish which is super exciting cause i haven't gotten to practice it in a long time! obviously i'm a little (okay, a LOT) rusty, but it's starting to come back!

however i think one of my favorite parts of the job is getting to interact with the guests...because i've literally talked to families from alllllll over the world. seriously though, i've talked to many people from scotland, england, brazil, and argentina and states ranging from florida, to new york, to alaska (seriously, i met a family today who flew in from alaska to come to BLIZZARD beach...what). i met a family from germany the other day and gave them buttons just because i love scandinavia which they just laughed at. haven't met any danes yet, but y'all know it'll be the best day ever when i do!  

i love hearing about all of their disney experiences so far and i also make sure to ask questions about their home countries/states because i'm always curious and trying to learn more about the world. i've even met a few people who know my small little hometown in south carolina (SUPER shocking). 

now i would be lying if i were to say that everyone is awesome and work is perfect and i've never had any rude guests because yes, there are rude people everywhere. i've heard people call my fellow cast members names, heard people swear that they'll never come back, heard stories of the shenanigans that goes on at the ticketing window, and even had a woman complain to me about her parking spot. however, for each of those stories, i can think of hundreds of good ones ranging from simply watching a little girl's face light up after calling her princess, having a whole family thank me profusely for getting them all birthday tattoos, convincing a little boy to wear his life jacket because "mr. smee told me captain hook wears his life jacket to get away from the crocodile...all the cool pirates do!", having a guest scream out "I LOVE YOU!" while you're doing the macarana, or simply hearing guests say this was the best vacation they've had and that they had a fabulous day. 

it's moments like these that make me so proud to work for a company that truly does make dreams come true each day. i really do look forward to work each day because you never know what excitement you'll experience, what magic you'll make, or what guests you'll meet. i couldn't ask for a job that makes me happier because after all helping others, working with people, and disney are a few of my greatest passions in life. i just can't work a simple desk job at any typical internship y'all, that's not my style. i'm thankful for this opportunity, just like all of my other experiences in my life and i don't regret this decision for a second because while families are making memories that last a lifetime, so am i, and they are just as rewarding i can promise you that. 

come visit me and see me rock this lovely costume at the front entrance!

or this one if i'm working parking. (not a huge fan of it, hence the face). 

my boss seems to like me alright...

i'd venture to say he loves me.

sometimes you even grow mickey hands.

so there's a quick little update on the "ice life" at blizzard. 

alright so tuesday i had my orientation at blizzard beach! 

i arrived at 7:40 for the 8am class (AREN'T YOU PROUD OF ME DAD!?) and chilled in cast services where our trainers taught us how to clock in before the class started. there were about twelve people in our class including a girl from england, a guy from hong kong, a guy from my traditions class, and a guy from simpsonville, sc (near wofford!)! we played a name game which involved throwing a snow ball which was fun, and then headed out into the park for the grand tour before the guests arrived. we got to ride the infamous chair lift that guests sometimes wait hours to ride to the top of mount gushmore (where many of the slides are located including the second tallest waterslide in the world, summit plummet) before the guests had even entered the park! once we got to the top, we were lucky enough to see blizzard beach's magical moment occur: each morning, they choose a family to be the ski captains of the day and they get to ride summit plummet first to open the park for the day. they all receive medals and get a special cabana to chill in all day! that's the disney touch ladies and gentlemen! 

after our grand tour which was super hot (we were all wearing professional attire in a waterpark in the 90+ degree heat), we headed back to the classroom and learned more about those lovely four keys and some more facts about blizzard beach, ending with a "not jeopardy" game that was basically jeopardy about the park. here's a fact for those interested: blizzard beach opened on april fool's day in 1995, so now you can answer the final jeopardy question! ;)

after forecast blizzard, a majority of the class had to stay for safety in motion training for an extra hour (including me), then afterwards many of us had to complete online training. for some reason i had the most out of everyone and actually still have two left to complete because i couldn't finish all of them in the remaining 2.5 hours i had left on the schedule for that day. my online training mainly dealt with how to treat guests with disabilities and the services we provide for them as well as my personal favorite, how to spot a pedophile (sarcasm y'all, i've been through that training about 4 times now since i was a camp counselor all those years). 

luckily my trainers were super awesome and kept making faces at me and encouraging me throughout the whole 2.5 hours of online training. yes, all cast members are that fun backstage as well. after i finished i clocked out, headed home, watched pretty little liars and slept!

since i was not scheduled again until the next tuesday for my on the job training, i had another week to just chill and do whatever, so i did what any normal person would do anddd...went back to the theme parks!

basic things i've learned: 

it's way easier to accomplish things in the parks alone or with only two people. 

the best illuminations fireworks view is from the outside seating of rose and crown (in the UK pavilion)...but seriously, i've seen the fireworks like 5 billion times...that spot was how the show was meant to be seen.

downtown disney is an absolute nightmare in the summer because it's SO crowded.

foreign tourists will steal your table while you wait for your fish n chips at cookes of dublin. 

DENMARK IS THE FIRST COUNTRY YOU SEE IN "IT'S A SMALL WORLD". (yes, i almost died)

it really does rain basically every day here so you should always have your umbrella with you (and by rain i mean monsoon). 

I-4 is really that terrible, especially during the daily monsoon.

your first time in costuming is beyond overwhelming. 

eating alone at disney is enjoyable/not awkward at all...shout out to my amazing bartender/waiter TIM at flying fish! 

and being a cast member is literally the best because of all the perks you get. 

selfie from my forecast blizzard class/first official day of wearing the name tag! 

so for those of you who don't know me hi, i'm katelyn and i've grown up in SC and have loved disney ever since i came out of the womb 21 years ago covered in pixie dust. this fall, i will be a senior psychology major (with a possible theatre minor) at wofford college (a small liberal arts school in SC). 

for those of you who do know me hi, i love you, thanks for reading this and you all know how super duper excited i am about being here.

first order of business, how did i get here?

well, when i was in copenhagen studying abroad a little over a month ago, i still didn't know what i was doing this summer and decided it was time for me to finally start working at the place i've dreamed of working at since i was old enough to realize that i had to get a job one day. soooo i checked the disney jobs website and low and behold they had an attractions opening. so i applied, made it through the first two steps, and had to schedule an interview in orlando within 2 weeks. 

luckily, my birthday was coming up so we made a celebration out of it and i ended up having a wonderful recruiter who just had a conversation with me for who knows how long about random things ranging from my time in denmark to disney cruises to birthdays. the conversation ended when she looked at me and said "well katelyn, you're about to have the best birthday ever because I'M GONNA GIVE YOU A JOB!". 

of course, my jaw dropped and i asked "wait...seriously!?" and she was like "yeah!!!! welcome to the family!". she decided to place me at the entrance of blizzard beach since i will only be seasonal (have to go back to school in the fall) until next summer when i come back to work full time. apparently the training for rides takes so long that it wouldn't be worth it for me to work them for 3 months. but i don't really care because i'm still super ecstatic to be here putting my foot in the door of such an AMAZING company. 

so i moved down here last saturday and am living in this wonderful apartment all by myself which is super weird because i've always had roommates, just doin' my thing until my orientation day at blizzard beach on tuesday! 

it's been a fun week to say the least! 

sunday i went to the last star wars weekend of the year at hollywood studios with my friend tyler and some of his other disney friends! it was my first star wars weekend and it did not disappoint! highlights included the hyperspace hooplah show and meeting darth vader. my mission with vader was to get an epic jumping pic that made it look like he was holding me in a force grip. unfortunately all i had was my iphone so i was literally jumping up and down like a bunny which provided entertainment for the very long line. tyler ended up snapping the best pic:

oh and in case you wanted to see the hyperspace hooplah (SO worth it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKSp1dVTrYk

tuesday was the day i had been waiting for forever...TRADITIONS!

traditions is a class taken by every disney cast member that basically teaches you all about the history and values of the company. i won't go into much detail cause i don't want to ruin it for prospective cast members, but just know that it's a lot of fun and full of information about safety, courtesy, show, and efficiency (embrace them and love them). oh, and you get your company ID and name tag with some surprises thrown in along the way! needless to say, i cried about 3 times during the whole class because it has always been my dream to work here and help make other people's dreams come true. let's just say traditions gets you super pumped about working at walt disney world and creating magical moments for the guests! 

wednesday i headed to magic kingdom with tyler to use my cast id for the first time! we rode a few rides and walked around and watched wishes RIGHT in front of the castle. again, it made me think about how lucky and blessed i am to be able to work for such a magical company. then we headed to the polynesian for some dole whip (pineapple soft serve for those who don't know...you can only get it in magic kingdom, the polynesian, disneyland, and the dole plantation in hawaii and it is DELICIOUS!). 

thursday (yesterday), i wandered around EPCOT on my own for awhile and had my first margarita from mexico...but drank it in norway because you can't keep me away from scandinavia! afterwards i headed to mission space to test out the green team less intense training for my friend coming to visit next week (normally i do orange team more intense, but since she's scared i thought i'd check out the green to see how it compared). so while in line, i struck up a conversation with the people in front of me. while we were talking they said i looked really familiar and that they must've recognized me as a cast member somewhere...i told them i hadn't started working yet, but i'd been at star wars weekend and that's when they said "OH YEAH YOU WERE THE ONE IN THE DARTH VADER LINE!" so they immediately included me in their group. after we rode mission space, they invited me to join them on test track...i answered all of their questions about the new test track and threw in some disney facts too. we also bonded over our southern heritage since they were from atlanta! and they knew wofford which is always exciting! after test track we rode spaceship earth (classic) and they invited me to join them at hollywood studios for fantasmic! of course i obliged and enjoyed seeing fantasmic for the first time in a few years! nothing beats seeing kid's reactions to it for the first time! never gets old! afterwards i told them bye and thanks for letting me hang out with them, then headed to downtown disney to see the premiere of man of steel!