🎵 NOTHING CAN STOP ME NOW 🎵| DAEP UPDATE #33 & #34

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

Hey there, pals!

Since rediscovering a routine for my busy life on the Disney Academic Exchange Program and finding a connection to the moon of Pandora, I’ve found myself to be happier and a successful Avatar’s Flight of Passage technician when performing human to avatar links for the Pandora Conservation Initiative (PCI) - a scientist group project dedicated to conserving the flora and fauna of Pandora. After having a few professional conversations with the leads of the PCI, including Dr Stevens and Dr Ogden, I realised the only way to continue maintaining my happiness on the moon of Pandora was down to me to create those inseparable bonds that I talked about in my last post.

The studying most certainly is underway for the Spring semester both on the moon of Pandora and on Earth! Just like last semester, the Central Michigan University assignments have been coming in thick and fast. Luckily, the same types of assignments that I have to submit are pretty much identical to last semester. The only difference is the written papers have unique titles. And for my topical paper, I decided to write about the development and history of Avatar’s Flight of Passage and the PCI.

My week at the PCI has been a little bit crazy, both in a good way and a bad way! When you’re working with Dr Stevens and Dr Ogden on an experiment for the continuous study of mountain banshees (dragon-like creatures), things are bound to go wrong. And, a lot of that happened this week, resulting in sudden terminations of some avatar linking connections mid-flight! On the other hand, I did have a couple of standout moments, especially with the Guests (Travellers), including Chloe and Christi from Dance Moms! I do see a lot of young Travellers who are frightened to link with an avatar and fly on the back of a banshee. This time, I let the young Traveller use their imagination combined with my knowledge of what it is like to link with an avatar. The Traveller decided that she wanted to ride a unicorn and I responded that flying on a banshee was exactly the same as flying on a unicorn. Not only did I get a huge round of applause from the other Travellers in the Link Chamber, but the once scared young Traveller came running out of the Link Chamber, gave me a massive hug and a high five and said they had the best ride ever! The other standout moments from this week has been seeing familiar faces from Earth travel to the moon of Pandora and visit me at the Pandora Conservation Initiative, as well as getting to know my fellow PCI technicians. It is the sweetest moments like these that completely make my day, even if the plans have not always gone the way they’d hoped! 😊

I spent a lot of free time to hang out with friends from the Pandora Conservation Initiative to further help build relationships with my fellow PCI technicians, as well as maintain the wonderful relationships that I have with my former fairy classmates at fairy school.

Like the last couple of updates, once again, I was out to Universal this week. This time, I went with a fellow PCI technician. This trip was different compared to my previous ones because I got to do a lot of the rides that I had not done before. These included: The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Skull Island: Reign of Kong and the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. However, I was most excited about riding Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, which was a new addition to Universal Island’s of Adventure for 2019. And, the ride was AWESOME! It was even more awesome by seeing the reaction of a great PCI technician and friend reacting to my first ever experience on Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure!

Credit: universal.wdwinfo.com

From one magical school to another, I paid another visit to fairy school the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to go and say “Hello” to some friends who did not get to see me last week when I made my surprise return to Fairy Godmother school. Also, I was meeting a former fairy classmate for the evening, as she had organised a get together to celebrate her graduating fairy school. The evening was spent at Scats Cats Club in Port Orleans French Quarter. I had never been to Port Orleans Resort before (with the exception of stopping here during my six parks in one day challenge), so it was cool to explore another one of the many resorts at the Walt Disney World Resort. Those of us that went to the get together all got beignets, which I describe as doughnuts but without the hole in the middle – some of us had classic flavour combinations and some of us got Mardi Gras-themed specials. Afterwards, we all went and got drinks from the bar and sang, danced, clapped and chatted the night away with a live jazz band playing music in the background. I had such a wonderful evening and it just goes to show that you don’t always have to visit a theme park to have fun!

My final piece of news for this week was trying out Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway for the very first time. In fact, this was my first trip to Hollywood Studios in what seems like forever. Excited as ever to try something new, I arrived at the attraction entrance with another PCI technician from the Pandora Conservation Initiative. However, as soon as we got to Hollywood Studios, we found that Engineer Goofy’s train was having some technical difficulties. To bypass time, my fellow PCI technician and I saw the Muppets 3D show, which I had never seen before. So I was able to check off another completed attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort – one step closer to experiencing ever single attraction, which was on my bucket list. There was some uncertainty about whether Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway was going to reopen again, but thankfully we were able to embark on our picnic adventure! And WOW is all I can say! I loved the uniqueness of the attraction, plus no two rides are ever the same and there is so much theming to look at!

Before I walked through the gates to Hollywood Studios, I was granted a wish to be able to stay in the park for the entire day. Sadly, the PCI technician who I experienced Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway with departed early, but I was able to meet up with one of the PCI technicians that I trained with after exploring Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge and riding Toy Story Mania. Together, we rode the Twilight Zone’s Tower of Terror and watched Frozen Sing-Along before concluding the night by watching Fantasmic!

I most certainly have found my feet a lot quicker this time around than I did seven months ago with creating bonds, wanting to make the most out of my program and grow as a person by making responsible choices for myself. And, it really goes to show that nothing can stop you if you put your mind to make every dream a reality. Trust me, you can do it too!

Thank you so much for reading and have a magical day!

- Hannah

DISCLAIMER: this blog is my personal experience on the Disney Academic Exchange Program (DAEP) 2019-2020 and may not reflect everyone’s experience. Other programs and future participants on the DAEP may have slight adjustments to their programs that may not be featured in any of my blog posts. That being said, if you do leave any questions, I will try to answer them as best as I possibly can 😊