Imagine my surprise as I'm talking on the computer with my sister when she tells me she has a secret for me. After trying to drag it out of her, she calls my mom, and tells me that they are both coming down that weekend!!! It was just what I needed after having one of those "not-so Disney" days in general. So, off I go to work the next day, trying to get my schedule fixed so I can show my Mom and Kim where I work, live, and play for the fall of 2000. I started getting everything ready and clean the apartment for a visit from home!! =) I was so excited, even though they were coming in late on Saturday night and were leaving on Monday afternoon, I knew that Sunday would be the day that I could show them what my life was like down here in beautiful, sunny Orlando.
I got home from work on Saturday and on the answering machine was a message from my sister!!! They got an earlier flight and were waiting for me at the hotel!!!! So I ran over to the hotel (they stayed in the same one that Mom, Danny, and I stayed in before check-in) and was so excited that I couldn't even think straight. When I got up to their room, Kim was so excited that she couldn't even open the door!!! I went in and got two great big hugs, and found out that they brought me Bonnie Bell Cake!!!! (Bonnie Bell's is a family bakery from home that makes the best birthday cake in the whole wide world!!!) And my mom brought my some birthday presents (A photo album and some M&M's) and then the three of us went to Perkins to get some food! After that, I took them back over to Vista Way to introduce Kim to my roommmates, and to eat some cake! Showing Kim Vista Way was intresting - my mom had seen it when I checked in, and she was telling my sister all sorts of stories about what was going on then. Kim laughed when she saw the place, and she told me it reminded her of her first apartment! we laughed and joked for a while, and they looked at all the pictures that I took, then we headed back over to the holiday in to take a nap before our big day.
We got up the next day and went to Epcot. This guy that I've met down here, Justin (he works in Guest Relations - nice kid) helped me out with tickets for them, and I met him outside the gates, and he met my mom and my sister. Then we headed to the Tip Board, to meet another friend from Guest Relations, Marcello! He got my family VIP seating for Illuminations! So now we headed off to the Wonders of Life building, so they could see where I work everyday. We rode the ride, and then Stephen gave my mom and sister a backstage tour of the ride, and they got to see how everything works, and some of the computer systems for the ride. After that, we went to see Cranium Command. After that, we headed back to World Showcase, because our only goals for the rest of the day were to see Tigger, and to walk through Germany. We headed to UK to see all the friends from the Hundred Acre Wood, but Imagine my surprise when the cast member there told me that the characters weren't in the countries anymore!! The Disney Characters have gone on Holiday - they're all on a big red double-decker bus that stops throughout World Showcase about six times a day. So with this new information, we headed back throught the countries to see what we could see until the next time that the bus stopped. We walked back to Germany, and Italy and just looked at everything. When the bus stopped in Italy, we got in line for Tigger right away!!! After Tigger, we saw Mickey (my boss!) and Rafiki! Then all the characters got back on the bus and left again. We rode the Monorail, so my sister could at least see the Magic Kingdom - she'd never been to Walt Disney World before. We couldn't park hop because the tickets that Justin helped me with were one day, one park, but the monorail was just what we needed. We made it back to Epcot, and decided that it was time to eat lunch/dinner. We headed to the Rose & Crown in the UK for fish and chips. yummie. We walked back to the France/Morocco area and watched the 6:30 Tapestry of Nations Parade, then we headed back over to the Italy/Germany area to look around and grab our seats for Illuminations. It was the perfect day for me, and it helped me remember exactly what it means to work here for The Mouse, and what it was like to be a guest again.
On Monday, we slept in a little later, and when we finally got out of the hotel, we headed back over to Vista Way for a little bit. Then we headed to Downtown Disney to do some more shopping. It was still so neat to see the 'world' through the eyes of a true guest again. Shopping was a lot of fun, and Mom and Kim saw why I'm always so broke down here. =) Taking them to the airport was okay, we didn't cry, and everything was taken care of. Driving back home to Vista Way, I knew everything would be fine, that I'd make it through this program, and that I'd be a better person for it.
Wanna know what happens next? Well then, all you gotta do is go to my *Guest Satisfaction* page!
Or you could go back to the table of contents for my journal.
Still, you could choose to go back home.