DOUBLE DIGITS!

Hey all,

Yes the time has arrived. DOUBLE DIGITS! From starting the countdown at 217 days it has finally reached 99! I am over halfway to Disney now!

This means I have 99 days left of working for a Koala and his girlfriend;

Kenny and Belinda

And begin my year of working for a mouse and his girlfriend; 

Mickey and Minnie 

So that is all very exciting. It also means D-Day for the diet and exercise to begin now it's warming up. Time to shed the excess KG I've been lugging around, so I shall keep you updated on that matter also.

 

Oh I almost forgot! Next Saturday night the 8th, the girls and I are off to bowling and dinner. I'm loving our little dates we have been having, it's quite nice and then in a few weeks we are having another big QLD group meet up on the coast! HOORAY! Less driving for me! 

 

To finish up this blog regarding 99 days until I leave, I was told last week by Jeni that our welcome packs were being sent out which means... They should arrive this week hopefully!!! YAY! 

Until then, 

Stay Magical!
x

When it's all said and done

Hey Hey,

So not much is happening on the Disney front, August/September seem to be boring and slow months. However I did just finish paying off my flights so that is a weight off my shoulders.

Also this Saturday night Amy, Alice, Jessie, Nadine and myself are going out for dinner in Brisvegas. Shall be fun, I can't wait!

Until more than likely next month
Stay magical.
xx

We're Gonna Give It A JUMPSTART

Evening all.

So I've sent my NPC off and received a reply, so now there is nothing to do except finalize my flights this and next week and then wait for October to roll around. It seems so far away but already it is the 22nd August. It feels like yesterday that I got the acceptance e-mail and yet that was way back on June 1. Where has the past few months gone?

So this blog aside from informing you of all that is to talk about where I will live while over at Disney.

Lets start from the beginning... Once upon a time... KIDDING...

Okay so there are 4 complexes where the International College Program (ICP) Participants reside:

✩ Vista Way (VW) 

✩ Chatham Square (CS) 

✩ The Commons 
✩ Patterson Court (PC)

Now these 4 complexes are reasonably close to one another: Vista is one one side of the highway and Chatham, Commons and Patterson are on the other side next to each other. In each complex the buildings are co-ed where the rooms are not, and they come in 4 different sizes: 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedrooms. Generally through reading blogs and viewing vlogs, Australians and the New Zealanders are generally placed in Vista (it is the biggest and oldest of the 4 complexes), but it isn't odd to hear of them placed in other apartments (aside Commons - they are for the Cultural Exchange program).

Each of the apartments comes with some welcoming presents: 

Bedroom:

✩ Dresser with mirror

✩ Nightstand 

✩ Two twin beds

Dining Room:

✩ 1 Table with 4-6 Chairs

Living Room:

✩ Couch

✩ Chair

✩ Two End Tables 

✩ Computer Desk and Chair

✩ Coffee Table

Additional Items Provided:

✩ Shower Curtain

✩ Two Vanity Wastebaskets

✩ Kitchen Appliances, Utensils and Dishes

✩ Local Phone Service and 1 Central Phone

✩ Maintenance of the Apartment, including Pest Control

✩ All Utilities including Water, Electricity and Waster Disposal

✩ 24-Hour Security

✩ Cable TV Hook-up 

          

So now on to the complexes...


Vista Way: 

Vista Way is the oldest and biggest of the complexes. It it where most American College Program and the ICP are housed. It has recently been renovated in the past year or so, and it is the complex with the most amenities surrounding it. Vista Way also has the cheapest rent of the complexes. It is also where the buses "live".

 ✩ Vista Way 2 Bedroom Floor Plan 

 ✩ Vista Way 3 Bedroom Floor Plan

This is a list of what is surrounding and included in Vista Way: 

✩ Disney Learning Centre

✩ Clubroom Thirtheen502

✩ Laundry Facilities On The Ground Floor Of Each Building

✩ Pavilion

✩ Fitness Centre

✩ 2 Hot Tubs

✩ Outdoor Pool Table

✩ 2 Swimming Pools

✩ Basketball Court 
✩ 2 Racquetball Courts

✩ Tennis Court
 ✩ Volleyball Court  

Chatham Square: 
 

 

Chatham Square is right across from Mickey's Retreat (A Cast Member only area) and in the terms of rent it is priced in the middle of Vista and Patterson. With Mickey's Retreat being so close to Chatham not only do you have its amenities you also get Mickey's. Chatham also shares its bus with Patterson, so you don't have to get up early for a 5-10 minute walk and a plus, Chatham's Bus Stop is right out the front of security.

✩ Chatham compared to Vista (2 Bedroom) 

This is a list of what is surrounding and included in Chatham Square: 

✩ Laundry Facilities In Buildings 2, 7, 15 and 19

✩ 1 Swimming Pool

✩ Computer Lab

✩ Fitness Centre

✩ Outdoor Pool Table

✩ Tennis Court
✩ Vollyball Court  

It may not seem like much but Chatham is right next to Mickey's Retreat so you can go there and use facilities. 

Patterson Court: 

Patterson Court is the most expensive complex to live in, as it was only built in 2008 everything is newer then the other complexes and you pay for it. Paterson is also the only complex without a bus stop so you have to walk over to Chatham to catch the bus (it's 5-10 minutes depending on your speed)

This is a list of what is surrounding and included in Patterson: 

✩ Laundry Facilities In Buildings 1, 4, 9 and 13

✩ 1 Swimming Pool

✩ Computer Lab

✩ Fitness Centre

✩ Outdoor Pool Table

It is less than Chatham and Vista, which is odd because Patterson in the newest complex but it's a short walk to Chatham which is right next to Mickey's Retreat so you can go there and use facilities.   

So that is pretty much the basic gist of the living complexes, one of which I will be living in 137 days from now. It has been info from Amy's Blog, Websites, Vlogs, Blogs, Previous ICP's I have spoken too.

So until next time,
Have a magical time. 
xx  

Meet Up ✓ NPC 2.0 ✓

Hey Hey,

So not much has happened from my last post aside from the meet up I organized happened last night and today I received my NPC back.

So the dinner was in Brisbane at Pancake Manor and I had 23 from 23 people turn up! Big win for me! And my booking for 25 didn't look silly. ( I think PM thought 25 of us wouldn't turn up. I proved them wrong! ) The dinner was good to finally put Facey pictures to actual humans in the flesh and I made some new friends.

I will give a shout out to Alice and her favourite shoes:

Kidding, though these did provide great laughs!

So dinner was at 6:30 and before we knew, it was 9pm! Where did the time go? Was great fun, and I will defiantly be organizing another soon, maybe somewhere on the Coast. I'm not sure, but I'll work it out.

So today's big news was I got my NPC back and the result: 

*Drumroll Please* 

I am really good at hiding things from the Australian Federal Police because I'm a clean skin!

They had NOTHING on me because I'm a goody goody!

So I will be scanning that into my computer and then happy days as I send it off to Yummy Jobs. :D

Also on a side note, tomorrow is D-Day for my rego so once that is paid every cent made after is for the Disney $$ or more like Flights, Visa, Travel insurance. Not looking forward to the future bills on their way to me.

But thats all for now!
Have a magical night! 

xx

NPC ✓

Hey Hey,

So today I sent my NPC (National Police Check) away. $43 and then a $5.95 charge from the post office...

Also STB is no longer partnered with Disney, so everything we do now goes through them.

I had heard that there's a few problems with that, so I was a little worried when I sent Jeff an e-mail, but we had a quick 4 e-mail conversation which ended in Jeni contacting me on my Friday morning.

However, Jeni rang me the next day: THURSDAY morning. A day ahead, I unfortunately missed it, so I shot her an e-mail but haven't heard back since, I may ring her like I said in my e-mail.

Also a few other CP's are saying they received an e-mail from Disney with some info, I'm still waiting to receive mine, so we will see what happens over the next few days.

That's all for now. Still have $515 to pay on my flights by Sept 18, so I really have to start putting some money on those! Hopefully I will do this other wise, who knows what will happen then.

Oh and a gloating moment, I brought my $US at $1.08, then it went up to $1.12 and I was like oh I missed out by like a few cents, but today because of all the issues over in America and their debt the dollar has gone back to $1.04 - WINNING for me. :D end gloat!

So until then,
Stay magical
xx

Travel Card ✓

Hey Hey!

So today was the day. The funds were cleared from my bank account.
I went to ANZ and withdrew $1000.00 cold, hard cash!
Was amazing to hold in my hand.

And into Australia Post I went.
After a few questions, handing over my drivers license and medicare card then followed the dreaded: handing over my cash. :(

It was a sad moment, but it got me this:

And on this it holds: One Thousand and Fourty Nine Dollars! (And some cents like .05 or something) 

HAPPY DAYS! The America fund has begun!

Stay tuned guys, 6 days until the background check gets sent away!

Until then

Stay Magical. 

xx

Accomodation and Transfers

Hello.

Badabing badaboom. Things are rolling along quite nicely.

I received our updated travel itinerary yesterday and today I went and put my half of our accommodation and transfer into Amy's (check her blog out: amysdisneyadventure) bank account today. So now it's official I have a bed to sleep in and a way from the airport early in the morning to my room. In the words of Charlie Sheen WINNING!

Picture of the hotel we will be staying at:  

Also Christine from NZ (check out her blog: kiwidisney) will be traveling with us from LAX to Orlando on our flight, which is exciting.

As for our 9 hour layover I'm thinking maybe jumping in a cab and going down to Santa Monica for a few hours to kill some time. Airports are kinda boring after an hour or so.

So yeah, Santa Monica hasn't been decided yet, but hopefully we can do that : )

Also Tax should be back soon, so I can pay off my flights and put some money on a spending card. Yipee, and only 10 days until I can send off my police check, which is when my next update will probably be.

Also we have been discussing ideas for hoodies and shirts and these are the most popular designs so far:

Christine's:

Mikaela's:

So a poll will go up on the groups facebook page soon and hopefully a design will be selected. : )

But anywho, until next time.
Stay Magical.
x