Changing my Fate

Thought the title was appropriate for the new movie coming out soon (which I am very excited to see by the way) and for the news I am about to share.

For the past year, I have been working as a special education teacher and, while I love my kids with all my heart and love teaching them, the school and politics within caused several problems for me. The environment became uncomfortable and I did not feel like I was able to give my all to what I was doing. So I began searching for somewhere that might allow me to grow and learn, to challenge me and work to my full potential.

After lots of work and searching and a lot of help from some great friends, I am happy to announce that, after my WDW trip with my sister this week, I will be starting a brand new adventure in Florida. In the next several weeks, I will be moving into my new apartment in Kissimmee, FL.

That is not all though; As of the first week in July, I will begin my training for a new position...working in Hollywood Studios! I am excited to be within this park, not because it is my favorite park-actually the opposite-I do not know much about the Studios and hope to learn more and get a better appreciation for it.  It is an attractions position, but I look at it as a starting point on a huge opportunity to grow within the company. I had always hoped that this would become a reality and now it finally has!

I will still be working for Celebrations (though, over the next few weeks, please be patient with me as far as answering emails and interacting via Social Media) and I still hope to blog and interact, hopefully more now that I will be close to the magic. I want to make Twitterscursions a regular thing that I do hopefully a couple times a month so that I can bring the magic more to those of you who live farther away.

I will be at least tweeting along on my moving journey, so please follow along! I am naturally nervous, but am looking forward to sharing this new adventure with you! :)

Disney Bucket List Update

I figured now was a good time to update the Disney Bucket List; I have stayed in a couple new hotels, had a new drink and ran in another Disney race since my last post. Besides, I am aware of some BIG changes to this list coming soon, so I thought I should give it an update now before the big hit.....more info on that later, but for now, the list!

Disney Bucket List

1. Move to Florida

2. Work for Walt Disney World in Any Capacity

3. Work for Youth Services for Walt Disney World

4. Take a Picture in front of Walt Disney World’s Castle

5. Take a Picture in front of Disneyland’s Castle

6. Take a Picture in front of Disneyland Paris’ Castle

7. Take a Picture in front of Hong Kong Disneyland’s Castle

8. Take a Picture in front of Tokyo Disneyland’s Castle

9. Take a Picture in front of Shanghai Disneyland’s Castle

10 See It’s A Small World in Disneyland Paris

11. Eat at every restaurant in Epcot: Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, Biergarten, Bistro De Paris, Chefs De France, La Hacienda De San Angel, Le Cellier, Nine Dragons, Marrakesh, Rose and Crown, San Angel Inn, Teppan Edo, Tokyo Dining, Tutto Italia, Via Napoli

12. Have a drink in each country in Epcot: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, Morocco, France, UK, Canada

13. Drink around the world completely in one day, but remember it

14. Get a picture with Mickey in each Disney Park

15. Get 999,999 on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin

16. Get 999,999 on Toy Story Midway Mania

17. Stay at every Walt Disney World Resort: Pop Century, All Star Sports, All Star Music, All Star Movies, Art of Animation Resort, Port Orleans French Quarter, Port Orleans Riverside, Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, Contemporary, Old Key West, Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge, Grand Floridian, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Saratoga Springs, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Boardwalk

18. Stay at every Disneyland Resort

19. Eat at Victoria and Alberts

20. Run in a race through each Walt Disney World Park: AK, MK, DHS, Epcot

21. Run in a race through each Disneyland Park

22. Get the Coast to Coast medal

23. See all of the movies in world Showcase: Canada, France, Norway, China

24. Do a Drawing at the Animation Studios

25. Spend an entire day in Animal Kingdom

26. Rent a Boat

27. Tour the Cinderella Castle Suite and the Dream Suite

28. Spend a holiday in each park

29. Try on a Kimono

30. Tour Animal Kingdom with Joe Rohde

31. Do every tour that Disney offers: Wild Africa Tour, Backstage Safari, Wild by Design, Backstage Magic, Disney’s Family Magic Tour, Keys to the Kingdom, Marceline to Magic Kingdom Tour, The Magic Behind Our Steam Trains Tour, Holiday D-Lights, Yuletide Fantasy, Around the World at Epcot, Gardens of the World, Behind the Seeds at Epcot, Dolphins in Depth, Epcot DiveQuest, Seas Aqua Tour, UnDISCOVERed Future World

32. Take the Haunted Mansion cast member tour

33. Go to Chip and Dale’s Sing A Long

34. Spend an entire day in the Magic Kingdom Train Station

35. Spend an entire day in the MK Rose Garden

Introducing Twitterscursions!

This is an idea I wanted to do for a while and now finally have the resources to do it!

A Twitterscursion (Twitter Excursion) is going to be a trip to the parks planned entirely by what is tweeted/messaged in to me. I wanted to bring as much of the Disney parks as I can back to the people who are home and are not able to be there, so I thought this would be a great way to do it! Just another way to spread the Disney magic!

I will name the park I am going to that day and what I do that day will be entirely dictated by what the people of Twitter would like to see. I will take pictures, video tape and even Ustream what I do that day, to the extent of what technology will allow me to do (aka, chances are I will not be able to broadcast from inside Pirates, but I will sure try!).

For my first ever Twitterscursion, I will be heading to Magic Kingdom. I mean, where else would be a good place to try something like this out than the first park?? This Tuesday (April 10th) I fly in to WDW and will get to the Magic Kingdom around 12 EDT. I will probably be hungry, so I need suggestions on where you would like your "food porn" from. After that, its all you! What attractions and shows would you like to see? What pictures do you want me to take? You can send me suggestions in advance and I will save them in a list to make sure I take them. You can send them to me that day and I will get to as many as I possibly can.

If this goes well, I will try to another Twitterscursion before I come back on Sunday.  Stand by on my twitter (twitter.com/lady_aurora) for all of the information.

If you are in the park and want to join me on this Twitterscursion, let me know! Just be prepared, I am not planning this adventure, our friends at home are!

Review: Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure

Is it just me, or did this game not get much press at all?? I have heard more about Epic Mickey 2, which is not out for another 5 months, than I have heard about this game! The only reason I have it is because my younger sister saw something about it and wanted to get it. And I do not know why Disney did not put as much advertising into this game, I think it’s great!

The premise of Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure is that you are a child on a field trip to an awesome theme park, Pixar Park! You run down this path and enter the hub of the park, which has the Pixar ball on the ground and the words Pixar for you to stand next to with the little birds from the “For the Birds” short flying around.

There are 5 spokes off of this hub leading to playsets for 5 different Pixar movies: Cars 1-2, Up, Toy Story 1-3, Incredibles and Ratatouille. There are kids running around all of these playsets playing pretend in their favorite movies scenes.

To play, you “walk” (to make your person walk, you move your arms up and down) over to the playset you choose and find the blue Pixar ball on the ground. The game for that ball will come up and you click on it. Another kid comes down and explains their idea for the game of pretend to you and then you are transported into that scene and the game begins!

One cool feature that this game has is that it scans your body to update your character so that the clothes and skin look like you. Make sure you do this in optimum light though; I had it give me incorrect colors a few times because it was too dark for it to scan. Once you are scanned in, it shows you what you will look like as a super hero, car, explorer, toy and rat for your different adventures.

This game is very active; it has you running, jumping, swimming, climbing, swinging, throwing, zip lining, pushing yourself down ramps, river rafting….and these are just in the first couple levels of each world! Compared to some other games out there for the Xbox Kinect, I find the controls to be very accurate, especially with activities like climbing; you really have to put your hand up where the pegs are, not just swing your arms in the air because you may not grab hold. The more coins and points you earn for your time in each level, the more you earn towards getting a new level and getting new friends to come to play with you.

This game also has the option for cooperative game play, so someone can just hop into the game with you and start playing! I have not been able to try out this feature as I do not have anyone to join me on my adventures right now, so I would be interested to hear how this feature works for others!

Of course, you are not able to tell me how it is if you don’t have the game, so what are you waiting for?! You can purchase it here from Amazon: Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure

Disney Bucket List

I have been working on this Bucket List for a few weeks now, but after hearing Krystal on Magic 24.7 talking about it recently, I decided it would be a good idea to post my list. I figure, as I cross things off, I can update it and see how far I get. Feel free to leave me feedback on what you think of my bucket list and what ideas you have for me to add to it.

Disney Bucket List

1. Move to Florida

2. Work for Walt Disney World in Any Capacity

3. Work for Youth Services for Walt Disney World

4. Take a Picture in front of Walt Disney World’s Castle

5. Take a Picture in front of Disneyland’s Castle

6. Take a Picture in front of Disneyland Paris’ Castle

7. Take a Picture in front of Hong Kong Disneyland’s Castle

8. Take a Picture in front of Tokyo Disneyland’s Castle

9. Take a Picture in front of Shanghai Disneyland’s Castle

10 See It’s A Small World in Disneyland Paris

11. Eat at every restaurant in Epcot: Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, Biergarten, Bistro De Paris, Chefs De France, La Hacienda De San Angel, Le Cellier, Nine Dragons, Marrakesh, Rose and Crown, San Angel Inn, Teppan Edo, Tokyo Dining, Tutto Italia, Via Napoli

12. Have a drink in each country in Epcot: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, Morocco, France, UK, Canada

13. Drink around the world completely in one day, but remember it

14. Get a picture with Mickey in each Disney Park

15. Get 999,999 on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin

16. Get 999,999 on Toy Story Midway Mania

17. Stay at every Walt Disney World Resort: Pop Century, All Star Sports, All Star Music, All Star Movies, Art of Animation Resort, Port Orleans French Quarter, Port Orleans Riverside, Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, Contemporary, Old Key West, Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge, Grand Floridian, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Saratoga Springs, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Boardwalk

18. Stay at every Disneyland Resort

19. Eat at Victoria and Alberts

20. Run in a marathon through each Walt Disney World Park: AK, MK, DHS, Epcot

21. Run in a marathon through each Disneyland Park

22. Get the Coast to Coast medal

23. See all of the movies in world Showcase: Canada, France, Norway, China

24. Do a Drawing at the Animation Studios

25. Spend an entire day in Animal Kingdom

26. Rent a Boat

27. Tour the Cinderella Castle Suite and the Dream Suite

28. Spend a holiday in each park

29. Try on a Kimono

30. Tour Animal Kingdom with Joe Rohde

31. Do every tour that Disney offers: Wild Africa Tour, Backstage Safari, Wild by Design, Backstage Magic, Disney’s Family Magic Tour, Keys to the Kingdom, Marceline to Magic Kingdom Tour, The Magic Behind Our Steam Trains Tour, Holiday D-Lights, Yuletide Fantasy, Around the World at Epcot, Gardens of the World, Behind the Seeds at Epcot, Dolphins in Depth, Epcot DiveQuest, Seas Aqua Tour, UnDISCOVERed Future World

32. Take the Haunted Mansion cast member tour

My State of the Community Address

Allow me to first say that everything that is about to be said is my opinion and mine alone, which I am entitled to and it does not represent any other opinion of anyone I am affiliated with.

I am done watching from the sidelines. I need to speak my mind and it is going to happen now.

I entered this community nearly 3 years ago as a twitter novice just to make friends. And wow have I!! It was those friends who encouraged me to start a blog and speak my thoughts.  Without this community’s support, I know for an absolute fact that I would not be the same person I am today. Having this supportive network has helped me in countless ways and I would not trade it for the world. Just through an internet connection, I have made friendships that will last a lifetime! This community is just so full of love!

And then….it’s not…..

Sadly, I have also seen negativity in our community. People trying to get ahead of others, knocking others ideas, bad mouthing people’s opinions, complaining when one person gets an experience that they do not get. Newsflash: This does not make you or your ideas look any better when you put others ideas down! Not to mention the fact that it is SO un-Disneylike! Allow me to remind you what commonality this community shares: a passion and love for Walt Disney and his dream. Our common thread is based on a man who brought so much joy and shared so much with the world. How can a community based around such good principles fall off the wagon?

One of Walt’s visions was people being able to live, work and play together in a community. While his actual community was never made, I honestly believe that we have done so here, in this technologically connected community.  We are living Walt’s dream…or at least that is what I believe we should be doing.  We should be giving each other a helping hand, promoting each other, supporting each other, sharing ideas, building each other up.  That is what a community is all about.  None of this back stabbing, swindling, cheating, sneaky shenanigans that I have recently been seeing and hearing about.  That is so not Disney!

People who are paranoid that others are stealing your ideas or freak out when someone says something to you about your blog: Stop Caring!! Blog for you and you alone. Writing should be a therapeutic experience, it should not want to make you start drinking. Stop stressing and just have fun with it! If other people like it, good for them, but do it for you!

Let’s make this easy:

How to be a Good Disney Community tips:

- Be Genuine, be yourself!! Love you for you and others will follow! If people don’t like your opinion, that’s their problem, not yours.

- Give a helping hand to your fellow community members…This could be something as simple as retweeting an article of theirs that you enjoyed

-Congratulate someone when they get a special opportunity instead of pouting because you didn’t get it.  Be happy for them, show them support and learn from their experience to improve.

- Show support for other people’s work. Everyone works just as hard as you do to make their mark on the community, what’s the sense or thought process behind putting someone down? What do you gain?

- Compliment someone’s blog post, pictures or layout

- Say hello to someone (Seriously, this has become a dying art, what’s up with that??)

- Drop the negativity and attention seeking acts and tweets, it is not attractive and after a while, people will ignore you and your negative energy…you can guarantee I already have.

- Make friends with people because of who they are, not who they know.

- If you have a problem with someone, go to them and talk it out, do not start rumors about them or talk about them behind their back. (How old are we, seriously?!)

If you do not like this post….good for you.  As I stated above, this is my opinion. If you have your own opinion and would like to share it with me in a calm, adult manner, I would love to hear it. If you have constructive criticism, fire away, I’m all ears.  If you want to rant and rave about how this is unjust and an unfair portrayal of the current state of our community, I will be glad to listen, but do not expect to sway my opinion.

All I want is to be in a community who cares for each other, looks out for each other and wants the best for each other.  We should be working together to lift each other up and help each other to reach our full potential.  We cannot do that when we are so busy trying to best one another. Let’s all work each day to live up to Walt’s dream and the values that make us love his dream so much!

Princess Half Weekend Itinerary

Ok, so I have roughly planned out what I will be doing for the Princess Half Marathon weekend and thought I would share my plan.  Naturally, this is all subject to change as potential meet-ups are planned, but I am going to be sticking relatively close to this, so if you will be down at the same time and are looking for something to do, here is where I will be:

Friday 2/24

Fly in late evening

Sleep

Saturday into Sunday 2/25 and 26

Run the Princess 5k

5k After party

Back to the room and nap til around 4

Magic Kingdom

Dinner at the Plaza Restaurant

MK Close at 1

Relax at a MK resort until Cheering times are open at Magic Kingdom

Find Cheering spot for Half Marathon

Cheer on the marathoners

Sunday 2/26

Sleep in

Hollywood Studios

(Specifics not planned yet, any one who will be here also and would like to give suggestions for reservations, please let me know)

Monday 2/27

Epcot (Same as above, no specifics yet, if you have ideas, let me know)

Tuesday 2/28

Animal Kingdom Morning

Lunch and afternoon @ Downtown Disney

Fly home around 6pm

That crazyness that is the Marathon day and a half I have actually made a plancast event for, it's the 5k to MK to ChEAR Squad event. If you want to join any part of that crazyness with me, just join the event here: http://plancast.com/p/9l10/5k-mk-chear-squad