Lisa, the coaster enthusiast?

Nothing terribly new to post...but I am bored (I took the day off work to drive my dad to the airport, but I was home by 3:30...so I am bored!)....

However, someone once showed me this website (http://www.themeparkreview.com/photos/index.htm) and now I am pretty much obsessed...From what I gather it is supposed to be a coaster enthusiast website (...a coaster enthusiast I am NOT!!!) but all of the different pictures and stories of the different types of theme parks from around the world really interest me...particularly the Disney's around the world, and now I have found myself wanting to know more and more about these parks...

The first one I stumbled upon was Disney seas, in Tokyo...it looks AMAZING!!!

First of all is has a VOLCANO!!! and tons of great styling...trust me, take a look at the website! I WANNA GO!!! It look is sort of like Epcot, but it features real and simulated cities that are based on the seas (i.e. American waterfront, Venice etc)...and from what I can tell the best ride is the Journey to the Centre of the Earth

I haven't seen pictures of the inside of the ride, but I've heard it may be like Dinosaur in AK, but more like a rollercoaster? and everyone says there is nothing like it!

Secondly, Tokyo Disneyland looks very cool! Which, from what I can tell is really just a transplanted California Disneyland, but with its own Japanese Twist. For example, the castle...

WEIRD!!!! but so cool! All of the rides seem to be the same, but something really strange happens over there...

Chip and Dale are the most popular characters! WHAT??!! like more popular that Mickey and Minnie...I don't get it??

Anyhoo, those are the two I really want to see...there is also Disneyland Paris (aka, Euro Disney)...which I stood outside of once, but I neither had the time or the Euro's to pay for a ticket, and I chose the Louvre over anything else at the time...

So in closing...I thought I should share...and if anyone who reads this (probably no one!) is planning, plans or has gone to any of these parks...please send me pictures...or e-mail me? I'd love to hear about them!!! or even better, take me with you??

Also, just as an ending note...one major hurdle between me and Disney has been passed...I am now an official degree holder. I now own a Honours Bachelor of Arts in studies in arts and culture. It was really exciting, and surreal at the same time. I am very excited to be done, but I also am pretty sad to be done with Brock, and to no longer being a part of arts and culture (only three graduates from my program this semester...we were a sad sad bunch!)...here are some pictures for your pleasure!

Me with the obligatory graduation punch...

Thats it for now...

6 months to the day...

6 MONTHS today!!!!

I can't really believe I still have so much time to wait...

I just have a little anecdote to share....just today, after my craptacular day at work (long story....looooong day!), a fellow Disney go-er e-mailed me to ask me if I'd like to switch departure dates with her. So at this point, I'm pretty excited, hoping that I could knock a few months off of my waiting time. So I ask her when her leaving date is, and she tells me that her contract starts...get this...NEXT WEEK!!! So, I'm not going to lie...I thought about it for a second and a half...but then realized that there is no way I could do that...first of all, I promised my employers that I'd be around until the last week of november, and while I think that they would probably understand in the long run (very easy going people that I work for!!!)...I think I would feel terribly for a very long time to leave them high and dry like that! Secondly, I would never have enough time to get all my stuff together (i.e insurance, packing etc etc) and thirdly, and MOST importantly I could never leave my life just like that...I have already given my friends a buffer zone of me leaving in 6 months, and my dad as well...and my dog! I COULDN'T DO IT!!!! so thats that I guess....

I am SOOOOOO excited to be going...but I really have no idea how I am going to last for 6 months...it seems SOOOOOO SOOOOOO SOOOOO far away! I've already been going stir crazy and its only been a month....any fellow disney alum that can shed any light on how to cope with the waiting, please share!! other than that...I am terribly excited that a month is behind me...and I have some fun stuff coming up to look forward to

1) convocation is next week...very exciting in itself (4 hard years of work!!) and me and my dad are going to spend the day in Niagara falls...after I walk the stage and get my diploma, we are off to the casino and niagara on the lake for dinner! it should be quite fun! (speaking of which...I have 4 days off next week...how that happened I have no idea, but I am going to milk it for all it is worth!!)

2) lots of fun summer stuff coming up...doogies (LOL!), the pool, some summer reading, road trips, concerts etc etc...

3) I've come to the conclusion that since I am actually earning

some money (i.e. haven't really worked since last summer!)...that I should do something fun in between now and december...so me and one of my sisters good friends have decided to go to Australia to visit my sissie! WOOOOO...nothing is for sure yet...but I've been researching...a week in sydney and a week (few days) in the sunshine coast....could be a blast!!

4) also...not terribly fun, but I have to prepare myself for school following disney (MA in arts administration in New Zealand!) which is going to be alot of work in itself...but I have received my acceptance pack, and am looking forward (dreading?) to planning for loan applications, housing, Visa's, emailing back and forth...maybe a few expensive phone calls etc

So in closing....6 months to go...lots of fun stuff/not so fun stuff to do in between! and I am still QUITE excited!!! WOOOOOOO

POTC 3!!!

...Just getting ready to go to work, drinking some tea, and I thought I'd post a little on my recent pirate-y adventure...


SO this is slightly delayed, but I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End a few days ago, and here is the story...

So about a week ago, I decided that I was going to pre-buy tickets online for the theatre just around the corner from me (for just myself....that's right, I go to the movies by myself....not usually, just for Pirates apparently!?) and they were completely sold out for the friday show...so not going to lie, I was a little depressed...but I accepted that I would probably have to go this weekend coming.

I then went on with my day, went to work...probably watched a disney movie or two, played at the park....dressed as a princess (I am a babysitter...I don't do this regularly...well as far as you know...) then I got a message from my friend telling me to re-check tickets cause her work friend found some tickets in Mississuaga...so as soon as I got home I checked tickets a little farther from home (i.e. Brantford, about a 30 minutes drive!) and low and behold there were seven left for the following day (friday the 25th) so I bought one...called up my friend at work and thanked her profusely!!

Friday then came around, and 9pm came very quickly! so I left with plenty of time to spare...but because I took a run to starbucks for a car treat, I didn't leave alot of time to get there! so I finally made it with about 10 minutes to spare...ran in (to what turned out to be a cinema in a mall) and gave in my pass to get my pre-bought ticket...now thank goodness I was only one person because everyone and thier mother were saving seats...but luckily I found a seat close to the end in the middle of the theatre, so I leapt over the rest of the row and sunk my tooshie in! Now little did I know that because it was opening night, they delayed the start by 15 minutes because of the backlog of people at the concession stand. Also little did I know (or maybe this only happens in Brantford) that they have security watching for movie pirates (tehehehe) and warned everyone that if they had a cell phone/Ipod (or any other type of electronic device) that was turned on during the duration of the movie that that person would be kicked out. Now I wouldn't normally have taken this seriously (and would have been texting like crazy, considering all my friends were at home...not taking part in my pirate-y adventure!) but they literally had unifromed guards patrolling the theatre for the whole show, so I promptly turned off everything I owned ASAP (cause let me tell you that they would have rued the day that they ever kicked me out of an opening pirates show!!!!)

So anyways, after all the security warnings for the rowdy 13 year old crowd (I was by far the oldest one there by at least 5 years!!) the movie finally started with a HUGE amount of trailers (the transformers one looks really good, but you couldn't pay me to actually see the movie....and the new disney one "enchanted" featuring the one and only Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey looks like it is also going to be an opening night-er) and I am not going to give away much of the plot....but if you are planning on going to see it, please be advised that spoilers be ahead...Rrrrrrrr

So I think I still LOVE Pirates: the curse of the black pearl the best, but this one definitely makes up for the silliness of dead man's chest!

LOTS of shirtless depps makes Lisa VERY happy!

I loved the storyline with Calypso and Fishface (aka. davey jones) made me like him and her a whole lot more than I did in number 2

LOVED LOVED LOVED the references to the DL and WDW ride in the middle....but I'm afraid that I was the only one in the theatre old enough to remember the old school pirates rides :(

The story was mighty confusing (a.k.a looooooooong and drawn out, with lots of pirate-y alliance switches) but stick with it....the last 45 minutes makes it VERY well worth the time!

KEITH RICHARDS....KEITH RICHARDS....KEITH RICHARDS enough said!! (may have been some of the best minutes of the film)

I really liked the trippiness of Jack's scenes in Davey jones' locker and in the brig....VERY sparrow!

All in all I thought it was really well done...a MUST see for SFX aficianados (the maelstrom was amazing!!!) and of course a must see for pirate losers/lovers such as myself!

Drink up me hearty's....YO HO!!

ps...I've since seen it a second time, this time around with pirate-y friend, and knowing all of the twists and turns....it was really interesting to see the reactions of the audience...and knowing what happens to certain characters...it was really fun to hear the chatty cathy beside me actually shut up for 10 minutes straight!

pps....as for disney stuff, it is almost 6 months on the dot until I leave, but I am going to do a big post on the 6 month mark...other than that, really nothing to post! I have met a few more people leaving on the 4th, and we are all very excited!!

...and a rusted staircase to nowhere...

LOL...this could be the one of the funniest things I have ever seen! A cat with large ears, and a rusted staircase to nowhere? I predict good things...

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/12176706.html?#cutid1

http://www.themeparkreview.com/japan2004/nara1.htm

Nostalgic for Some Disney Fun!

Nothing new to post today, but as I was watching LOST tonight (which by the way was absolutely INSANE!!!) and eating Special K chocolate-y Delight out of my newly purchased Mickey Mouse bowl, I started to feel nostalgic for my home away from home, and decided to post some pictures of my last trip (feb, 2007) to get everyone in the mood (but mostly ME!!)

Enjoy...

...and the adventure begins

Hello cyber world...Here I am...

So this is my first blog (obvious!) I apologize if it is uneventful..if so please just discontinue reading right now!
Anyhoo...My name is Lisa, and I just recently found out that I am going to be moving to Florida to work for the mouse for 1 year as a Canadian Cultural Representative in December of the year...and I COULDN'T BE MORE EXCITED!!!!!
I just finished school, and am taking a break from the job search to start this blog. The main reason I am doing this blog is for information for those who may want to apply to the program and for my lovely friends and family in Canada, so they can read and stay updated on my uber exciting adventure in Disney.
So basically, I am going to re-enact my recent adventures in a nut shell up until today.
SO waaaaaaaaaaay back in February, I had reading week, and I went to Disney to have a little fun in the florida sun! and I had a great time...Now before I left, I had some bad news regarding graduate studies, and long story short, my Dad and sister suggested that I apply to Disney (because we had known people who had done the program in the past...and LOVED it *ahem* Amanda!!)...so I DID!!
And after alot of waiting and stressing, Eric (from Cast-a-way) finally called me for a phone interview, only for me to find out that my tattoo (small inner wrist one) could potentially pose a problem. I had to then wait another week for him to find out if it was "okay" or not, and it turns out it was not a problem at all! so off to the Toronto face to face interviews I went...
(and for those of you who are wondering, he asked me no questions other than the tattoo one during my phone interview...so really I stressed for nothing!)
So about a month and a half later, I was on the GO train to the Grand Hotel in Toronto, dressed in my finest garb, to meet Eric and the Disney Folk (I got up far too early, and was there before Eric and friends had even gone for breakfast, so I sat happily in the front row with an INSANELY huge smile on my face, and filled in my Disney paperwork.) I loved the interviews so much, and the video, and the whole extravaganza...so I was more than ready when my actual interview rolled around about an hour and a half later. I was interviewed with two other girls, one going for the college program and one also going for the year long CR program...now in my "high on life" brain I thought that these two ladies did a much better job at answering the questions than I did, but I think what put me over the top was the pirate-y pictures of myself (the very one that is at the top of this blog)...thats right, I gave that in as my picture!!!
So about a week or so later, the College program people started to hear word of thier acceptance, and that in turn caused me to start checking my e-mails incessantly for a few days. Now my memory is not what it used to be (LOL!) but I think it may have been at the end of that week, that my fellow applicant, Lisa (yep, we're everywhere!!) messaged me in an emergency fashion, and sort of indecipherably to check my e-mail...and here is what I found...


CONGRATULATIONS!!!

You have been successful in your interview last week for the "CULTURAL REPRESENTATIVE PROGRAM" at Walt Disney World.

Your departure date and end date will be given to you when you call our office at xxx-xxx-xxx You can ask for Julie or Eric. We would really like to have all job offers sent out before the end of the week, so you can reach us starting at 9:30am all week. Please be patient, we are extremely busy at this time of year and we will get back to you ASAP.

I will need you to fax me a criminal back ground check to xxx-xxx-xxx ASAP.

Please call us ASAP and we will let you know what Position you have been hired into and go over the rest of the details, and answer any questions you may have!

It was a pleasure meeting you and thank you for attending our presentation and interviews.

Thanks
Eric Theriault

Now...I must add that first of all, I checked my school e-mail, which is the one I usually use for business-y type things (which this should be classified as...) and there was nothing there...so I am having a mini panic attack as I am checking my other e-mails, and junk mails, and when I finally found it I was ready to jump out of my skin, which I think I did!!! so I pretty much e-mailed, facebooked, and texted everyone I knew to tell them, and ran downstairs tell (scream?) my dad the great news!
SO then I had to try and call Cast-a-way to find my departure date, and they of course never answered/called me back, so I had to wait until the next day to find out my departure date and position, which is....

December 4th, 2007 - November 28th, 2008 (Food and Beverage!!!!)

as of right now, that is basically it...I have to wait for my info pack (which I am told will not come until late September), in order to go onto the next step, which involves a whole bunch of paperwork etc I am sure. But I will definetly keep you all updated! If you feel the urge, please leave a comment, let me know what you'd like to hear about?

And in the near future, I am in search of some short-term employment...fun shall be had by all!

Until next time my friends!