TRAVELLING TO A DIFFERENT LAND THREE TIMES OVER | DAEP UPDATE #5 & #6

*ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN AND NOT OF THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY OR YUMMY JOBS*

Bright suns, pals!

Yes, I thought I would greet you all differently this week because I got to experience Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!! Now, I know nothing about Star Wars, so I have well and truly given myself a VIP card to the #iveneverseenstarwars club. But, that does not stop me from the excitement of a brand new addition to a theme park.

Sadly, Rise of the Resistance was not ready for opening. But, I did get to experience Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run. This ride was super fun but very disorientating. I have never been good with simulation rides, however, I could not miss the chance to be one of the first people to ride Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run.

Hey, howdy, hey toys! My second stop on my trip to Hollywood Studios was at Toy Story Land, where I got to experience every attraction. My, my, I really enjoyed myself in Toy Story Land and it has to be up there with one of my favourite themed lands in any theme park!

This trip to Hollywood Studios seems all happy and jolly, but I ventured to the Twilight Zone...

One of my most anticipated attractions was to ride the Twilight Zone’s Tower of Terror and I have done it! Throughout the queue line, I was super nervous because I had absolutely no idea what to expect! The anticipation and suspense of the ride are absolutely spot on. In all honesty, the attraction is not as bad as it looks from the exterior in my eyes – some may disagree with me on that one. Once I got off, I wanted to jump straight back in the queue line and do it all over again!

Kaltxì! That means ‘Hello!’ in the Na’vi language. The last of the new theme park ‘lands’ that I had never visited before was Pandora – the World of Avatar in Disney's Animal Kingdom. Like Star Wars, I have never seen Avatar – I am really doing well with my knowledge of iconic movie sagas! Just like Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, there are two attractions that feature in Pandora: Na’vi River Journey and Avatar’s Flight of Passage. I was fortunate enough to experience both and wow… the level of detail that has gone into bringing the story to life is incredible! It reminded me of just how lucky I was to be a part of the Walt Disney World Resort and bringing the stories to life for the Guests.

Let’s just say, the new additions to some of the theme parks since my last vacation to the Walt Disney World Resort did not disappoint because there is so much detail everywhere you look!

You may remember from a few weeks ago that I was having a bit of a tough time. Sadly, things have not eased. I thought my apartment were going to be sweet and friendly… turns out this was not the case. Recently, there has been a lot of roommate drama within my apartment where all of the girls had suddenly turned on me. I wish I knew the causes of this because it was clearly something to do with me… I had been excluded from social events and had heard some really mean things that were said behind my back. And so, I just brushed it all off, pretending that none of this was happening, distanced myself where necessary and hope it would all resolve naturally. That’s my mindset right now.

To brighten up my mood, one of my friends from the UK, who was in my apartment during my first year of university, was on vacation to the Walt Disney World Resort while I was on my program! So, we decided to meet up and walk around Disney Springs! I got so much joy from hanging out with them, but I was so sad that I couldn’t do a park day with them – unfortunately, our schedules just didn’t match up to make it happen.

At fairy school, there have been a lot of new changes to our classes, which are really exciting! We have brand new merchandise, so I now have to learn how to sew these new items; and, I have new numbers to memorise for my accounting classes, too!

This week, I challenged myself to go on a fairy school field trip to other merchandise gift shops and try out a shift there. For my very field trip, I went to Toy Story Land in Hollywood Studios! I was no longer in fairy school, instead, I was playing in Andy’s backyard! At first, I was a lost toy. You know, the toy that no child wants to play with. I was that toy. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Luckily, I had an instructions manual for how to round up all of the toys when a thunderstorm arrived. Following the success of my field trip to Andy’s backyard, this has only motivated me even more to explore more of the Walt Disney World Resort on fairy school field trips.

Smiles All Round!

It has been quite some time since I last sat down and wrote a program update for you pals. And, my only explanation for this is I have just been living in the moment. I have been taking full advantage of the experience that the Walt Disney World Resort is giving me, and I am still going to live my adventure to its fullest potential.

I'm getting back into the swing of things of writing up a blog post, so please bear with me while I'm creating more content for you to read, which I really hope you are liking!

Thank you for continued support and have a magical day!

-Hannah

DISCLAIMER: this blog is my personal experience on the Disney Academic Exchange Program and in no way reflects everyone's experience! Other programs and future participants on the DAEP may have slight adjustments which may not be reflected in my posts. That being said, if you do leave any questions, I will try to answer them as best I can or cover topics in blogposts :)