TaylorHaps

Disney World for Free!

23-27 January 2023

I took a red eye but didn’t sleep as much as I would have liked. Child. My shuttle bus was delayed but they gave me a gift card in apology 😊

You can use your magic band to activate each of the 50th anniversary statues. They play some audio when you do. And your band lights up and vibrates.

I collected them all week at the 4 different parks and earned the achievements in the Play app

I Lava You float from Sunshine Tree Terrace beautiful and tasty

I took a short video to show people who haven’t seen the show what those weird animal heads hidden in the Winnie the Pooh ride are

Rode their steamboat. It was pretty different!

Had lunch at the Diamond Horseshoe. No entertainment in theirs and it’s a sit-down reservation place

Apple cake and Ooey Gooey toffee cake. I really just came for the desserts 🙂

Came back to the hotel for a rest. Port Orleans Riverside…beautiful!

Splash closed for good a week before I came 🙁

Dinner at Columbia harbour house was delicious clam chowder, salmon, and a blueberry shake

First time they did projections on the Main Street buildings. We do it all the time!

We would never have done pyro with flats flyin like this!

For the 50th anniversary, each icon gets lit up every night in this cool way

Pressed penny silk pie and mint julep frozen lemonade from Casey’s corner

Wednesday started at Hollywood Studios. I got a walk-in for the Sci Fi Drive-inn

Ate at Boatwright’s at my hotel. Amazing cornbread!

Peach cobbler with blackberry ice cream. Dang!

Pretty much exactly the same as ours inside. Our queue is more fun 😊

Only got to ride this once. And that only because I begged a guest relations CM. Didn’t ever get to fantasmic 🙁

Went back to magic kingdom. Was almost on Pooh when it went 101. Lame.

Waited for mine train in the pouring rain only to have it go down when I was on it waiting for it to take off. They did give me a lightning lane for the next day but I had to go to city hall for it.

Thursday EPCOT! I did the duck tales challenges in each land. Found this in a fortune cookie at the China pavilion

Unlocked these at the Germany pavilion

This one in Mexico D

These 2 in England

Bought Steve some of the awesome peanuts we loved in Germany

Guardians: Cosmic Rewind is the coolest roller coaster I have ever been on!

Ate at the Coral Reef restaurant for lunch. So cool!

Arts festival made for some incredible treats!

And a fun community mural painting project! They gave you a little container of paint and you found that number and painted some squares in

That’s what it should look like at the end!

They did the coolest thing shooting off fireworks from the sides toward the middle!

Early morning on Friday as I checked out of the hotel and left my bags

First stop at Animal Kingdom: Avatar flight of passage. What an incredible ride!

Had lunch at Tusker House where I met characters

Saw lots of animals and none of them in cages 💚 I still don’t like them in captivity though. Makes me very sad.

Festival of the Lion king…cool show. Not at all what I was expecting.

Beelined from there to the bus, back to the hotel to catch the shuttle to the airport. Fun trip! I’m totally going to do it again soon. 😊

Anaheim Haps 2023

I love working different places and wearing the costumes!

See?!?

Enjoyed fantasmic from center stage. Love having friends here!

There’s my boat!

My roommate got Covid so I went a hotel for 4 days. Within walking distance of work (and play!) and with a nice pool. Lovely 😊

January 6 chillin at the hotel and missin my Steve

January 7 yummy appetizers at jazz kitchen before it goes down for refurbishment

January 9 hit to go test ride Mickey and Minnie’s runaway railway after my fan shift. Rode it 3 times!

They let us pose with the toontown trolley backstage

The Disney company is 100 years old! So many fun treats and events to honor the occasion! Lemon pie to start 💚

Also lemon cake, blueberry scone, strawberry croissant, and funky Twix like thing.

SO! MUCH! RAIN! We are under what they call an atmospheric river. Perfect description. It has been dumping on us almost non-stop for a month.

Guardians has a panel that refers to the tower of terror!

Quick few days home. Robyn came down and we played rockband!

I almost got to ride Space mountain with the lights on. I waited as long as I could but had to leave before they got on to catch my flight to Orlando. But these are my friends from boats 😊 a few of us spent a few hours slamming the park beforehand. It’s 7:32…yee haw!

Stellar combo…route beer float and cookie num num

Spent part of two days in the park with my cousin Melisa and her daughter Kaitlyn. So much fun!

Birthday party for Gary was so much fun!

Jul couldn’t come so she sent her octopus for me to hug

Played the white elephant game since we missed it at Christmas

I finally got my new name tag! For the 100tg anniversary we got to choose a character. Love me some kronk!

Hat wall! The hats really make the outfit 😊

My roommate Mackensie got hired into guest relations so I went to visit her at city hall 💚

Jen Taylor Ritz. HA! Looking forward to having enough room to sleep more people than one desperate one 😊

My cousin Laurie Mathis came down and stayed at my ritz. We went to the Jazz kitchen for dinner on Thursday night when she got in. Note to self: have this shrimp and catfish creole and this blueberry cobbler again!

My roommate Mackensie came with us on Friday. Such a blast! Went up into the Twain wheelhouse

22 February. Cast preview of the magic Happens parade. Free cookie!

Beautiful show! Hung out with Mackensie.

Built the GiGi stained glass puzzle that Steve gave me

Back for round 2 of the Celebrate Gospel choirs. Just as incredible the second time!

Grand Californian Getaway

13-15 January 2023

Steve flew down for a few days. We stayed at the Grand Californian (bucket list!) on the concierge level since I had an incredible discount for the holidays.

The parks were really fun together. We just took it really slow

This is the view from our balcony. Unfortunately it was too cold to swim.

But we did take advantage of the free food they had at various points in the day. The biggest draw (free alcohol) didn’t apply to us so I don’t think we will do club level again.

Pixar Pal-a-round. Still Mickey’s fun wheel in my head

Ate at the blue bayou that night. Yummy food! We had so much good food this trip

It was pretty rainy but we didn’t mind. Raincoat and rain poncho and we are set.

We did guardians 3 times! Steve’s favorite ride 😊

That night we watched world of color from the balcony of the hotel. Such a cool view! afterward we hurried to have our last hour at Disneyland and they closed the park an hour early because of the rain! We had no idea and I was really upset.

Steve left the next afternoon so we just had a relaxing morning. We ate lunch at the Craftsman Grill. Incredible pizza and impossible meatballs!

We took separate ubers (him to the airport and me to my house) since my car had chosen the day before Steve came to need urgent and serious mechanical care. Despite that, we had such a great time! 💚

Disney Pin Collections

I love collecting pins but I don’t keep most of them. Just snap a photo and then trade away!

Ferris wheel collection…I actually didn’t get the one with the little green men but I got tired of waiting 🙂

17 July. Completed this the day it came out!

Disney Figurine Photos

I love thinking of fun places to take these and getting good shots. And the funny looks I get 🙂

I would love to have gotten the tower glowing but then there wouldn’t have been enough light to see her

Looking in a mirror at Bibbidi Bobbidi boo

With the wilderness at grizzly waterfall

At the Beast’s Library in front of the fire

With the statue of his sweetie in the central plaza

I moved to Anaheim alone to pursue a career at Disneyland. Moved some stuff down on October 16th, went back again for a week, drove my car down with the rest of my stuff, and then started at Disney on October 29th.

First day of training…Traditions. What an incredible day! I shared my inspiring story and one of the facilitators made me a button 😊

Mickey brought us all our badges at the end

Couldn’t get into the parks that first weekend which made me sad but I was able to take a photo of me in front of the park.

My apartment is really close to Disneyland. I can crawl out my window onto the roof and watch the fireworks!

Spent the first weekend getting my room all set up. I rent a room in a 3-bedroom condo in a gated community that is a 5 minute drive (10-minute bike ride) from the park. My roommates also work there is it has been fun talking to them about their experiences

Since I couldn’t go play, I ate in downtown Disney and played with the free photo lenses.

Later I did the ones that you had to be in the park for. What fun!

I brought something from each member of my family to help keep them with me in a way. 💚 Alex’s Iroh bobble head, Tingo who Mars loved for so many years, the jar that I made Ada in Young Women’s, and one of the sticky animals that Steve sticks up all over the place. They sit on my bedside table. 😊

I went home for the week after my first weekend of training and the snow painted me a beautiful scene.

My first costume. Guest Interaction and Show Operations training. Still didn’t have an attraction assigned.

Cast preview for the new Christmas parade. They gave us free peppermint suckers. It was freezing cold, but still so much fun!

My place is a gated community with a pool. Too cold to get fully in except on the sunniest days since it’s not heated but I do some kicking stuff in the hot tub 😊

Teri was here for a couple of days with her work so I spent a little bit of time with the group and then each night stole her to go do the parks in a better, more magical way. We had a lovely time. She didn’t get to go on small world so I went in her honor later.

They added some characters in wheelchairs. Love it 💚

Found some of the hidden 25s fur the 25th anniversary of the holiday version

Went camping at Doheny beach on Nov 16-17

It was a bit cold but nothing was keeping me from going out of my paddle board! Didn’t stay up but had a wonderful time.

Put up a tent but ended up in my car. So cold!

And had a beautiful experience doing baptisms at the Newport Beach temple. I was the only one there!

Got the highest score I have ever gotten. Hit zurgs chest like 8-9 times!

I love coming into the park as a guest. I do it most days.

Fireworks are awesome reflected off the water in front of the edelweiss seating area

I had thanksgiving dinner alone. I ate turkey dinner. Just without the turkey. and the apple pie at carnation cafe is unforgettable.

That night getting off the parking tram, I twisted my knee so bad that I couldn’t walk. Security found me a wheelchair and pushed me to my car. Went to the instacare the next day. Didn’t the weekend on bed rest. Had to call out of my shifts.

I went home for a few days the next week. Hobbled around. Went to the doctor on Thursday and she said that I should just wear a brace and work like normal 🙁

Went to the festival of trees with Gary’s fam and alex and ada. So fun!

With the permission of my kids, we used a chunk of our Christmas money to buy gifts for a family in need that our Disney group sponsored.

I decorated a gingerbread nativity since I left all my Christmas decorations at home

Alex and mars came down in December and we had a good time at the parks.

I wasn’t working but my friend Jocelyn took us up into the Twain wheelhouse. They loved it!

Alex’s friend Sasha was with us that day and he thought it was the highlight of the day! I’m proud of my boat 😊

That night, Alex and Sasha stayed in the park while mars and I drove out to the beach. The traffic was bad though so we didn’t get there until after dark.

One of the things that I love about my job is picking up shifts from all the different lands. This costume is for Main Street

Love the Twain costume! And the awesome pocket watch Steve got me for Christmas

Fantasyland GC. The greatest coat on the planet!

Had some great Christmas treats. Peppermint sundae

Bananas foster cream puff. The most amazing dessert currently at the park. The crème brûlée in the background is also great

Anne and Teri created a Christmas box for me. The sweetest thing. Now I have 2 decorations

The boats CMs do a secret Santa trade. I didn’t actually get mine until after the new year. Haha

On Christmas I opened and built my 1 present

And made Chinese food for my dinner. I talked to the fam on Christmas Eve while they were at hq but it made me sad so I got off the call pretty quickly

My family held Christmas for me. My flight home on the 26th got cancelled so I drove. Stopped to sleep for a few hours and made it on the 27th. The kids had already been hanging out for days so I’m really sad. Ada likes her Hercules blanket I got her

Carrot cake stayed too so that ada could stay longer.

I had to drive back home on the 30th. Ace turned over 400,000 miles on the way down! The trip home took 14 hours! I was 2 hours late for my fantasmic shift 🙁

New Year’s Eve was a soggy mess. Rained the whole shift. Everything got cancelled but we still worked. The dance party must go on. I talked to ada and Steve when they had their midnight. I wear my turtle necklace all the time. Helps me feel close to steve.

Built the Lego castle that echo gave me 💚

Disney with the Christensens 2022

19-22 Dec

We had such an AMAZING TIME! I was able to get 3 of them in with me for free. Thanks Disney!

We met in downtown Disney and went to eat at tortilla Jo’s. They seated us at this huge table upstairs overlooking the restaurant. The servers had to come up a whole long flight of stairs every time.

Did a little browsing through shops after that. I love Disney with my brother 💚

Ethan being a goofball 😊

Ellie is so ready to go on Tuesday morning!

Severe trauma commenced for some. Claire and Ellie both had a rough time. 🙁

And Ethan is chill to the comatose level. Haha

Ben rocked the pirate hat the whole time.

We arrived to save Ben and pull him from the Incredicoaster line. Ethan and Jace hopefully enjoyed it more than it appears. Kaylie couldn’t possibly 😊

I pulled off in the afternoon to work a shift on the Twain. I had hoped that my fam could come up into the wheelhouse with me, but I had a horrible mortifying run-in with another cast member and I left early and super upset.

We had dinner at the Golden Horseshoe. Didn’t even know this crazy long skinny table existed!

Thanks to my friends, we got amazing seats for fantasmic!

Christmas time is so wonderful at Disneyland

Wearing all my pins for Day 2 in the parks. 😊

Kaylie got matching shirts so they could have a nice Christmas photo with the castle. The sun was really bright so it ended up a bit squinty 🙁

We did one in the shade from the back of the castle 😊

We did splash several times since we were already wet and about ready to head back for nap time.

Ran into chip and dale in the wilderness park

Me and the girls got to hang out for a while.

Kaylie and I broke off and went on guardians…twice! She loves that rude so much and I really wanted her to do something fun for her after devoting all her time to the kids. Unfortunately the other photo did not make it. Alas.

Sad that I missed this! I was waiting at Indy for them and didn’t know about this detour 🙁

After naps, I took ben and max to see the Spider-Man show.

Grizzly with my ponchos this time so that we wouldn’t be cold all night

The girls and I finally made it on grizzly. It was down when we tried earlier.

After the kids shopped for their Christmas gifts from me, we posed at the tree one last time and then…

Oogie Boogie Trip with Gary

18-22 Oct 2022

We drove down together, swapping work and drive time. Spent parts of 5 days at the park and did the Oogie Boogie Bash! Then we drove to Vegas to see Hamilton. Kaylie flew down to join us but her flight was delayed and they missed most of the show. But they drove back down a couple of weeks later and got some decent seats for free.