Seasons Greetings!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Tasha got a Rapunzel doll and a laptop.

Kelsi got Toy Story sheets and a video camera.

We hope your holiday was as lovely as ours! See you soon!

The Disney Look (Costumed)

So about a month ago, we both got an email about the famous Disney Look. We'd already heard all about it, of course, but it was still a nice summary of the official dress code of Disneyland. If you want to check out all the information Disney offers, look here. Here's a quick survey of a few of the Disney Look guidelines that are especially pertinent to me and Tasha:

Hair, Makeup, and Fingernails

Hair should be 'neatly combed' and conservatively colored; extreme hair colors are not permitted. Basically, it just needs to look natural and professional. Makeup should be well-blended and in neutral colors. If Tasha wants to wear nail polish, it has to be a "classic" shade; no black, gold, neon, or multi-colored. Since I am in Quick Service Food & Beverage, I'm not allowed to wear nail polish at all (which isn't that big of a deal, because I only ever wear clear coats anyway).

Costumes and Accessories

We will be responsible for keeping our costumes neat and clean. Hair accessories need to match the costume, and no more than "three small accessories" can be worn at once. Rings, earrings, and a "classic, business style" watch are allowed, but no bracelets or necklaces. Earrings can't be larger than a quarter.

Footwear

THE BIG MYSTERY. We don't know what kind of shoes we need to buy for our costumes yet, but on the Disney website, it says we will have adequate time to buy shoes before we start work in costume.

So there are the guidelines for Costumed Cast Members, female! I don't think that any of the rules will be a huge problem for either of us. Check back sometime soon for a post on the Disney Look for non-costumed roles.

Links We Love

Happy Friday!

So we're not leaving Utah til January 17th. Does that mean we're just sitting around, staring at the four walls? No! Tasha and I have been planning like crazy, booking flights, doing Disney research, and, of course, wasting plenty of time on the Internet.

I thought we could share some of our favorite links for all you college-program-in-waiters, to beef up your time-wasting resources. Enjoy!

College Fashion: Clothes are fun! Right? Also, this site has a very fun series where they make clothing sets inspired by Disney movies. Check it out.

Team Coco: We are BIG Conan O'Brien fans. Huge!

Food Gawker: I'm not the best cook in the world, but it's still fun to look at and daydream.

Hark! A Vagrant: Our favorite comic! It's chock full of history jokes and hilarity.

StumbleUpon: Tasha wastes more time on this than I do. To be fair.

So there you go, five more links to check out if you're mindlessly killing time. Have a great weekend, we'll see you Monday!

The Flight, Part 1: What We'll Do

We love traveling.

But even more than that, we love making the travel plans.

Tasha and I just bought our plane tickets to Orlando. We'll be flying out of Utah on January 17th in the early afternoon, and arriving in Orlando at about 9:00 p.m.

We're looking at a four hour flight (minimum). Not counting the layover.

Needless to say, we'll be bringing along a lot of goodies to keep us occupied.

traveling entertainment by Kelsinki on Polyvore.com

Natasha's Travel Essentials

One: Elton John

Or just music in general. Tash and I both plan on loading up our iPods with long, interesting travel playlists. Elton John just happens to be one of Tasha's personal favorites.

Two: Sketching Supplies

Of course Tasha will be bringing along a sketchbook and some coloring pencils. She's definitely going to be doodling some Disney heroines during the flight (especially Rapunzel and Esmeralda), and airports are the best place to people watch-and-sketch.

Three: Midnight Pomegranate

Natasha bathes in the Midnight Pomegranate scent from Bath and Body Works. This is not an exaggeration. She will most certainly have a travel-sized bottle of body spray tucked into her carry-on.

Four: Variety Kit-Kats

Tasha's favorites are the dark and white chocolate. I, on the other hand, only like regular.

Five: Airplane Reading

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, American Creation by Joseph J. Ellis, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Shared Travel Essentials

Six: Fruit Crisps

More airplane snackage! We'll both be bringing our own favorite candy, but Fruit Crisps are lighter and healthy(ish), and also happen to be the best granola bars around. Tash and I both love them, so we'll be sharing.

Seven: Playing Cards

We come from a game-playing family. I've been looking up a lot of two-player card games that I've never heard of and really want to try on the airplane.

Eight: Water

Staying hydrated is important! We'll want to have cold water in our bag all the time to keep us going during our long day.

Nine: Coloring Books

A mutual love! Coloring books are the best way to pass the time when you're flying. Tasha already has a neato Tangled coloring book, and I'm sort of hoping to find a Princess and the Frog one before we go.

Kelsi's Travel Essentials

Ten: Airplane Reading

Tried by War by James M. McPherson, His Finest Hour by Christopher Catherwood, and The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.

Eleven: My Computer

What's this I hear about wifi in airplanes? Is that just a rumor? Well, whether it is or isn't, I'll definitely be carrying my computer with me everywhere. Maybe I will even do some blogging whilst in flight!

Twelve: Peanut Butter M&Ms

My favorite! Tasha likes them too, maybe we will work out a candy barter system.

Thirteen: Writing Supplies

My ultimate favorite thing to do while flying is write lists. To-do lists, favorites lists, et cetera. I'm sure I'll be organizing papers and writing budgets and time charts all the way to Orlando, to prepare for our move-in to college housing.

Fourteen: Johnny Cash

I am on a Johnny Cash kick lately. If that is still the case in January, I will probably be listening to a lot of his music on the way to Florida.

Excuses To Buy New Clothing

There's a lot of shopping that needs to be done before Disney College, as many of you know, I'm sure, but the most important is obviously new clothes! Especially for the Disney Look. Kelsi and myself both have Polyvore accounts, a site where you can make sets of clothes from several different sites on the web and publish them. It's loads of fun, a great time-waster, and if you don't already know what it is, check it out. It really helps out with planning your day-to-day outfits!

Kelsi's account can be found here.

Tasha's account can be found here.

Here's the outfits Kelsi and I plan on traveling in. In this two-some, we love cardigans!

And here's us in some business attire. Kelsi's note: I will be doing a post about the Disney Look in the future, I promise!

More outfits to come, I'm sure! I can't wait to draw some outfits for walking around in the park!

If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It!

I don't know if it's the recent onslaught of snowstorms in Utah or just end-of-semester burnout, but I have been fantasizing about Disney College so much lately. Thus, instead of paying attention in class, I make lists in my margins of things Tash and I want to do in Florida, packing lists, grocery lists, et cetera. I've seen a lot of other bloggers share their Disney goals, so I thought we could do the same!

Tasha and Kelsi's Disney College Bucket List
1. Conquer the Kingdom: That is, ride every attraction and see every show in the Magic Kingdom in just one day.
2. Spend at least one full day at every Disney park: Water parks included.
3. See every single show and parade in DisneyWorld: Also, I hear that seeing "Wishes" from the Polynesian resort is extra magical? We will shoot for that as well.
4. Take a picture with every character: Every single one! This is probably our most ambitious goal but also very important. Also, we need to both be present in all the photos! Crazy!
5. Eat at a restaurant in every country in the World Showcase: I really want to go to Le Cellier in Canada. I hear reservations are booked months in advance! Intimidating!
6. Spend at least one weekend at one of the Disney resorts: I've only been to DisneyWorld once, so I don't know a lot about the hotels they have to offer. I just like the idea of checking into a luxurious resort and having some calming time in the midst of our (sure-to-be-crazy) work schedules.
7. Have parties for every Pixar movie: This isn't exactly related to the parks and is also kind of weird, but Tash and I have wanted to have a Ratatouille party FOREVER (as in, have a party where we watch Ratatouille and eat ratatouille. Genius!). So I think it would be great to have parties in which we watch a Pixar movie and have snacks that are related to that movie! Initial brainstorms include: eat pizza and watch Toy Story (with our favorite toys), eat goldfish crackers and watch Finding Nemo. What can I say? We are nerds.

So there you go! If anyone has any suggestions of things we can add to the list, we are very open. And we are getting so excited! This is not quite a comprehensive list yet, we'll probably keep editing it until January.

ON A FINAL NOTE: If any of you out there can't get enough of this Disney College madness, Tash and I also have a seldom-updated Listography account! We'll hopefully be updating it more often now that we are closer to departure.

A Disney Questionnaire!

Here’s a post about all our basic information and some fun facts about us, just in case anyone is interested. We will be checking in to Disney on the 19th of January. We were planning on flying down from Utah…sometime! We actually have not bought our plane tickets yet much to Kelsi’s dismay (It has mostly been me as the slacker). As of right now, we’re pretty sure that we want to be housed in Patterson. In Utah we don’t get a lot of bugs because of the dry climate, so avoiding cockroaches and crocodiles is VERY important to us, and we’ll be making a point to do everything we can to do so, thank you very much. Besides that, we’re both in the Advantage Program, so we’ll be leaving Florida on August 5th. And finally, Kelsi’s role is Quick Service Food and Beverage and my role is Custodial!

We are both very excited and obviously would love to know more about you! Here’s a little more individual information about us:

TASHA.

• What are you most excited for about living in Florida? Meeting new people and experiencing different activities that are exclusive to Florida.
• What are your goals for when working at the park? I want to be a part of the legacy I suppose, and fully invest in the Disney expectations. Oh, and of course I want to conquer the Kingdom.
• What park do you hope to be placed in? Animal Kingdom for the hours, if ya’ know what I mean ;)
• What is your favorite park? Hollywood Studios! I love a little art and drama mixed up in one magical scene!
• What is your favorite attraction at Disney World? Oh gee, that’s a tough one, but I love the Great Movie Ride, The Tower of Terror and I’m a sucker for history so I can’t leave out the Hall of Presidents.
• What is your favorite attraction at Disneyland? Storybook Land and Indiana Jones.
• What is a favorite memory inside the Disney parks? So many! Maybe when I was a kid I would sit on my dad’s shoulders and watch the Electric Parade at Disneyland. That was magical.
• What are some of your favorite traditions inside the Disney parks? Getting churros is obviously very important; I also can’t deny those bread bowls… And when I’m with my cousin, Keaton, the caramel apples are number one! I guess I just love their food.
• What is a favorite thing you have bought from inside the parks? I collect mugs so I always have to get a new one when I go. My favorite is probably the Epoct mug. It has a bunch of Mickey heads with different flags for various countries on them.
• Who is your favorite Disney character? Alice and Roger Radcliffe, of course!
• What is your favorite Disney movie? I love Hunchback of Notre Dame but two new favorites are The Princess and the Frog and Tangled.
• Who is your favorite Pixar character? Russell, Boo, and Bonnie. There is nothing like a cute kid. Oh and Woody. Please marry me.
• What is your favorite Pixar movie? Up and Monsters Inc.
• What are your plans with Disney in the future? I want to be a character designer for animated films so Pixar or bust, baby! Actually, I really love history, and I’m thinking of minoring in American history so it would be equally cool if I was some sort of research something or other for the Disney/Pixar movies as well.

KELSI.

• What are you most excited for about living in Florida? Living in the South, in a climate/culture that is totally different from Utah. And being able to go the Disney parks every day.
• What are your goals for when working at the park? Conquer the Kingdom! Have lots of fun every day! Talk to people! And have a totally positive attitude. I know it sounds cheesy, but I don't want to walk away from this internship feeling like I wasted seven months in misery.
• What park do you hope to be placed in? The Animal Kingdom is my number one choice, but anywhere would be fine. Really!
• What is your favorite park? Magic Kingdom, of course!
• What is your favorite attraction at Disney World? I really loved the Great Movie Ride the first time I rode it, and also the Expedition Everest ride at Animal Kingdom. My favorite ride of all time, ever, is the Haunted Mansion.
• What is your favorite attraction at Disneyland? The Haunted Mansion, but Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye is a close second.
• What is a favorite memory inside the Disney parks? That is a tough one. Probably running around with my brothers, trying to go on every ride as many times as possible. Also, my first (and only, so far) trip to DisneyWorld, where Tash and I got to ride Splash Mountain before we did anything else!
• What are some of your favorite traditions inside the Disney parks? Getting a churro, of course! Riding Indiana Jones as many times as possible. Taking pictures of everything.
• What is a favorite thing you have bought from inside the parks? I collect decks of cards, so I have more of them than anything else. And I actually use them still, which is nice!
• Who is your favorite Disney character? Jane from Tarzan, Roger Radcliffe from 101 Dalmatians.
• What is your favorite Disney movie? Peter Pan. The Princess and the Frog and Tangled are high on the list as well!
• Who is your favorite Pixar character? Carl and Ellie Fredrickson, Woody and Buzz, Syndrome from The Incredibles.
• What is your favorite Pixar movie? Up! Easily!
• What are your plans with Disney in the future? I would really, really love to work for the Disney parks doing concept design. Really!
  

Of course we want to know more about you! Maybe even send us a link to your blog, we love reading them!

This is Halloween

Happy (belated) Halloween!

Tash and I are both big fans of Halloween. Dressing up! Junk food all weekend! Spooky movies! The Monster Mash! What's not to love?

This year we decided to pull our costume inspiration from one of our favorite Pixar movies: UP. Thus:

My sister-in-law Kristin took the pictures, she blogged about it here, and posted much more lovely pictures. We needed to look pro because we entered a costume contest with one of the photos.

So there you go! Thanks for reading, come back soon for some real Disney College related news!

"Hello, this is Natasha."

Alright. My turn.

So, my interview started off a little strange. I thought the interviewer was going to call at 7 pm but she called at 7:32. Although I was in panic mode, I seem to do these things like this (mix up dates and times) a lot so no one else should probably be surprised.

But eventually, after sending ten thousand text messages to Kelsen and taking a quick catnap, she called. I was nervous, yeah, but surprisingly much more comfortable with the interviewer than when I was doing practice interviews with Kelsen. My interviewer was not so chipper. It wasn't like she was mean or anything, she was just to the point. That made me more nervous than I expected, so be prepared for that. Anyway, here are some questions she asked me:

What was your favorite job you worked for?

Tell me about an experience where you had a unsatisfied costumer.

What do you expect you'll be doing as a custodian?

Why do you want to work for Disney?

She asked me a lot of questions about Full Service Food and Beverage so I expected that that was the role I was going to get, but I was pleasantly surprised with Custodial. So you never know.

The thing that helped me the most was being prepared. Also, be smiling the whole time, it helps with the cheery factor.

Ring, Ring

For all those prospective Disney College applicants, we wanted to do a couple of quick posts about The Phone Interview.

I'll start with mine, and Tasha will post all about hers at a later date. Hopefully we have some useful information for some Disney College hopefuls out there!

Kelsi's Telephone Interview

I scheduled my phone interview for August 24th at one p.m. It wasn't very strategic scheduling- it was the same day that I was moving out of the house and the day after I bought Mockingjay, so I had been up til 5 a.m. the night before, reading. But I digress!

I was nervous, I'll admit it. But I did feel well-prepared; I spent all morning reading up on common interview questions, plus Tasha had told me all about her own interview (which was the night before mine).

When my phone finally rang (11 minutes after one), I'm pretty sure my lungs shriveled up in sheer terror. But it wasn't bad. My interviewer had a very chirpy voice and a very Southern accent, and she was sweet and chatty. Some of the questions she asked that I remember:

-Why do you want to work for Disney?

-Do you prefer to work individually or as a team?

-Do you have any experience with public speaking?

-What would you do if a roommate was inconsiderate of your sleeping schedule?

So after about fifteen minutes of such questions, we wrapped up the interview, I thanked my interviewer, hung up, and finally relaxed after two weeks of stress...

And then, ten minutes later, she called me back! Turns out, she'd forgotten to ask some important questions (about computers and also cleaning). So be prepared for the (slim) possibility of getting a second call. It definitely caught me off guard.

Overall, things went well enough; I was nervous, but I didn't end up regretting any of my answers. I made sure to sincerely thank the interviewer when we were finished. I think there was a little too much nerves-induced maniacal laughing on my part, but it didn't end up to be that much of a problem.

The number one tip I can give is to be relaxed and cheerful. It isn't that bad of an interview, and you feel so great when you're finished.

So that was my interview! Tasha will be posting hers soon, I'm sure!

Our Favorites

In celebration of our invitations I decided to draw our favorite Disney Characters!

I love Alice and Roger. Sign me up for this music class!



And Kelsi loves Jane Porter and Peter Pan. Peter's all, "Look, guys I found a new mom!"

Chalk It Up

For those of you who don't know us, Tasha and I have been extremely excited about the prospect of Disney College for a long time. (Or at least since the fall of 2009 when I learned that such a thing existed).

We hit the hard-core planning stage in the summer. You know:

Reading all the Disney College blogs the Internet had to offer.

Poring over old maps of the parks and Disney photos to try and pinpoint the dream work locations.

Searching the official Disney College website to scrape up any information that had potential value.

AND

Going on spontaneous shopping sprees to buy supplies that we will "need" in Orlando.

These shopping sprees led to the purchases of the following:

A neat map shower curtain.

Two BPA-free water bottles.

A plastic "Alice in Wonderland" plate.

AND

A box of sidewalk chalk.

Although we vowed to save the shower curtain, water bottles, et cetera, for Orlando (as in, put them on a shelf in Tasha's room and leave them there), the sidewalk chalk we authorized for Utah use, as long as it was Disney College related.

This was the result:

A colorful, by-no-means-comprehensive To Do list for Disney College, split up into three sections:

$: Things to buy before the program

B: Things to do before the program

D: Things to do during the program

We had a ball.

{excuse my homeless person outfit}

Items on the list include:

D: Go to a Civil War battlefield

$: Jazzercise videos

B: Steal our Aunt Marcee's secret Dippidee recipes

We swiped inspiration from several other Disney College bucket lists. My favorite goal that I've seen has been something called Conquering the Kingdom: ride every ride and see every show in the Magic Kingdom in only one day.

We are clearly drowning in our excitement.

Thanks for reading!

Hello, Internet!

Welcome to Natasha and Kelsen's blog. We are cousins and best friends and planning on attending the Walt Disney World College Program for the Spring Advantage season.

We will be recording our fantastic adventures and experiences of Utah and Florida in this very blog. Exciting times are ahead!


Here is a little more about us (in the form of word clouds, idea borrowed from this lovely blog):

kelsen

crazy hair. the twilight zone. banana ice cream. professional writing. crocodiles. conan o'brien. ballet flats. johnny cash. twitter. swimming. the civil war. impatient. sunburns easily. non-alcoholic sangria. web comics.

natasha

dramatic makeup. midnight pomegranate. swedish horses. the scarlet pimpernel. elvis presley. animation. conan o'brien. aviator sunglasses. hiking. coral. deviantart. u.s. history buff. intimidating. rice pudding. nail polish.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back soon for more thrills and excitement!