Amy Beatrice

, by Amy Beatrice

Week Nine | Working For The Mouse (CEP/DCP)

Saturday 12th August - Work

This week seems to be the week where I gave up making a note of the mundane things I was doing before/after work so there are a few days where I apparently just did nothing!

Sunday 13th August - Epcot and Universe of Energy

This was the day that Universe of Energy closed and Courtney and I had the morning off so we decided to go and ride it whilst we still could because Courtney had never done it before. When we got there it was down because apparently someone had walked onto the track so we went to the China pavilion to get some orange chicken (because we can't go to Epcot without getting orange chicken). After lunch we went to do Imagination with Figment but that was also down. We tried to do Universe of Energy again but it was still down and we didn't have time to wait before Courtney had to go to work so we went over to the seas and had a look at some of the animals. After Courtney had left for work, Universe of Energy was finally back up again so I went on it before doing some shopping and then getting an early night before work in the morning.

Monday 14th August - Chip and Dale Campfire Sing-a-long

I went to work in the morning and then went to Fort Wilderness for the evening with Jenna to do the Chip and Dale Campfire Singalong. It was good but the format of it meant that we only got to meet one of them which was kind of a disappointment. We then bought a smores kit and roasted marshmallows on one of the campfires and they started playing one of the Cars films. Once we'd eaten our smores we got the bus to the beach at the resort and watched the end of the Happily Ever After fireworks. When they'd finished we got the boat over to Wilderness Lodge to get the bus back home and we were the only 2 people on it. Whilst we were going over there the water pageant started and our driver let us watch it whilst we were still on the water and we were super close which was so cool.

Tuesday 15th August - Work

Wednesday 16th August - 12 hour shift

I had my first and luckily only 12 hour shift from 7:30-7:30, doing dining room. I really wasn't looking forward to doing this shift anyway because of how long it was so the fact that it was on dining room, my least favourite position, made it even worse. It was a very long and tiring day because I was just on my feet the entire time, and it was also pretty boring because for a lot of the shift I was there by myself. Thankfully I managed to get an ER and my manager let me leave at 5pm so my 12 hour shift turned into a 91/2 hour shift... it still sucked but it was much better than it could have been!

Thursday 17th August - Shopping and Cheesecake Factory

Me and some of my flatmates had the day off so we decided to have a break from the parks and went to do some shopping. We went to the premium outlets first where I went to Victoria's Secret and bought about 5 different things for the same price as just one of them cost at full price. We then got an Uber over to the Mall at Millennia and went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch before browsing around the shops; I bought some hand sanitisers from Bath and Bodyworks because I have to stock up on about 10 of them every time I go to America. We had all been too full to have dessert at lunchtime so we went back to the Cheesecake Factory and got some cheesecake to take home with us. We then spent the evening in our flat watching High School Musical and eating our cheesecake - I had a white chocolate and raspberry one and it was delicious!

Friday 18th August - Work

Thanks for reading!

Amy xxx

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, by Amy Beatrice

In 2019, blogging

2019 New Year's Resolutions

Based on what i've seen online, 2018 has been a bit of a strange one for almost everyone; it seems to have lasted forever but has flown by at the same time, and has been full of some amazing highs but also some pretty awful lows too. For me, 2018 was the year I graduated, turned 21, finally saw Taylor Swift live, had an amazing holiday to WDW with my mum and sister, became a Disney cast member again, and was reunited with my CEP roommates, but I also struggled with my mental health more than I ever have done before.

Going into 2019 I'm feeling pretty motivated to make this year the best that it can be so I sat down and made myself a few resolutions. This isn't something I do every year because I don't want to put pressure on myself or feel bad if I don't achieve them but I think I've made them quite manageable and not too tricky to keep up with (let's see if I'm still saying that in 6 months time!). So here are my New Year's resolutions for 2019:

1. Get a job in copywriting

This one is the big one for this year; having now graduated from uni and finished as a Christmas temp it's time for me to find a full time job. It's taken a very long time but after years of having no idea i've finally figured out that copywriting is the career I want to go into. Whilst I know I'm very unlikely to just land a perfect job straight away, my goal is to have a copywriting job of some sort by the end of the year. This one is definitely the hardest of all of my resolutions as it's not just down to me but I'm feeling motivated and ready to apply to as many openings as it takes.

2. Write at least 2 blog posts a month

It's amazing to think that i've been writing this blog for almost 3 years now when you look at how few posts i've actually published in that time. When I first started I found it hard to get the motivation to write when I spent so much of my time writing essays for uni, and I was definitely writing posts that I thought others would want to read rather than just what I wanted to write. Now i've found my footing and am writing for me more than anyone else, I love using this blog as a creative outlet and I have so many ideas and drafts waiting to be written. I know to some people 2 blog posts a week is nothing but I want to start off with a manageable goal and go from there.

3. Exercise more

I've specifically made this resolution quite vague so I'm not feeling stressed about going to the gym a certain number of times a week or only eating a certain number of calories a day. I'm not so fussed about doing this to lose weight either, but more just for my health, both physical and mental. I'm determined to get outside more, go on walks and just generally moving about a bit more.

4. Eat less meat

Again, this one is quite vague as I don't want to commit to a specific figure and then beat myself up for not achieving it. I would like to maybe have at least one day a week where I make a specific effort to not eat meat but right now my aim is to just eat less than I do currently.

5. Book/go on a holiday to somewhere new

As much as I love going to the Disney parks it's been a while since I've been somewhere completely new to me and gone to explore a new country or city. Because I don't know what job I will have I don't know if I'll be able to afford to actually go on this holiday this year but i'd like to at least have one booked. My dream at the moment is to go to Salzburg and visit all the places from the Sound of Music, one of my absolute favourite musicals.

6. Start to learn sign language

Having studied English Language, languages naturally fascinate me and sign language in particular. I learnt a bit about it when I was at uni but I want to start to learn how to actually speak it so I'm going to try and find some online courses or youtube videos to help me.

7. Read 12 books this year

Whilst you might expect an English student to read hundreds of books in a year, my dyslexia means I'm a slow reader and it can take a while for me to get into a book. When I was at uni I didn't want to spend my free time reading when I had to read so many textbooks and journal articles for my modules but in the 6 months since I graduated I think i've probably read more than I did in my whole 3 years at uni. I've created a Goodreads account and have set myself a reading challenge on there to keep me motivated to stick to my goal.

Do you have any New Year's resolutions? Let me know in the comments below

Thanks for reading,

Amy xxx

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, by Amy Beatrice

In Christmas, food

My Unpopular Christmas Opinions

Seeing as I'm lucky if I write 24 posts in an entire year let alone one month, I am not even trying to attempt to do Blogmas this year; I never have and I probably never will. I am however loving reading everyone else's Christmassy content and I wanted to write at least one festive post during the season.

Even though the vast majority of people in the UK celebrate Christmas, the way you choose to celebrate it is incredibly personal and can at times be pretty polarising. For a lot of people it's obviously about the religious aspects of the holiday, for others it may be about spending time with family and friends, or maybe its just all about the food and presents. But however you decide to celebrate of course you're going to believe that your way is the right way and everyone else is just wrong. From films to food, here are my unpopular opinions about celebrating the holidays.

1. Elf isn't the greatest Christmas film of all time

Maybe it's just over-hyped or maybe it's just because I don't like Will Ferrel but in my opinion Elf isn't the best Christmas film and it isn't even on my favourites list. I feel like someone a couple of years ago said that they loved Elf and then the internet just ran with it and it was suddenly everyone's favourite but I watched it after not seeing it for years and it's really not that great. Again, it's probably just because I don't like the kind of comedy that's in Will Ferrel films, but give me The Holiday or Love Actually over that any day.

2. Gingerbread and mince pies are gross

A very big part of probably everyone's Christmas is the food; from pigs in blankets to brandy flavoured everything, we eat a lot of great food that for some reason we don't let ourselves have at any other time of the year. But two of the most quintessentially Christmassy foods, gingerbread and mince pies, are, in my opinion, disgusting. Don't get me wrong, I love decorating a gingerbread house and eating all the sweets and icing but I hate the taste of ginger, and I don't like anything involving dried fruit so for me mince pies are just a waste of good pastry.

3. Yorkshire puddings don't belong in a Christmas dinner

Don't worry, I LOVE Yorkshire puddings. But in my opinion they belong with roast beef and not roast turkey. And, if I'm going to be having extra carbs with my Christmas dinner, I'm going to be having mountains of sage and onion stuffing and, more importantly, bread sauce.

4. Unthemed trees are nicer than themed ones

There are definitely some beautiful themed Christmas trees out there but for me, I love the completely random collection of decorations we have on our tree. Not only do they look great once they're all together but they hold so many memories. We have decorations from places all over the world, from New York, Sorrento and, of course, the Disney parks. We have decorations that my mum sews every year with the date on. And we have slightly terrible, slightly falling apart decorations that me and my brother and sister made when we were little that we could never get rid of. I would much rather have those memories to look back on than making sure all my baubles are a particular shape and colour.

5. I don't understand the hype surrounding the John Lewis Christmas advert every year

This part of Christmas is a bit of a weird one for me. Most people would say that Christmas is so much more than gifts and consumerism yet at the same time it seems that Christmas doesn't officially start until the Christmas advert of a giant retail store has been released. Now I know that it's just a bit of fun and yes, these adverts can be very moving and beautiful but at the end of the day it is just an advert. And if we are talking about Christmas adverts I think that John Lewis have felt too much pressure in the past few years to come up with something spectacular and a lot of other companies have really stepped up their game and overtaken them.

Do you agree with my opinions or will you be making sure you never get invited over to mine for Christmas? Let me know what your unpopular Christmas opinions are in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

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, by Amy Beatrice

In All Star Music, Disney

All Star Music Resort Review

On my most recent trip to Walt Disney World we stayed at the All Star Music resort, which is one of the five value resorts on property and one of the three 'All Star' resorts. We decided to stay here simply because it was the cheapest option available by a few hundred pounds at the time we booked and we knew we wouldn't be spending a huge amount of time there anyway. Having only stayed at a moderate (Riverside) and a deluxe (Wilderness Lodge) before, I wasn't too excited about staying here and was worried I would end up being a bit disappointed compared to what I had previously experienced, but I was pleasantly surprised and it was perfect for what we needed.

The Room

During our stay we were in the Broadway section (building number 7) which we loved because we are all big musical theatre fans. These are just standard rooms rather than preferred so we were at the back of the resort which meant we had a reasonable walk to get to our room but it also meant that it was super quiet as the only people walking past our room were those who were in rooms near us. We also didn't really hear any noises from the rooms around us which I know other people have complained about even in some of the most expensive resorts.

There wasn't a huge amount of theming in the room apart from a shower curtain with different musical instruments on it but it was really clean and had everything we needed. Even though it's a value resort, the room had a decent amount of space, especially considering we were mostly just there to sleep. There was plenty of floor space for suitcases whilst also having enough room to walk about, a small table with two chairs and a mirror, a TV, and a cabinet with drawers and a fridge. The beds weren't massive, and I think they were a bit smaller than the beds in the moderate I stayed at, but they were plenty big enough for me and my mum to share (although bare in mind we are both quite small). The beds were quite comfortable as well, especially after a long day in the parks.

The bathroom was a really good size, with a bath/shower and toilet, and I actually think it may have been bigger than the one at Riverside. I thought the shower was really powerful and everything was really clean. There was then a separate sink and mirror outside of the bathroom, as well as an ironing board, safe, and clothes rail, separated from the room by a curtain which is standard in most Disney rooms. The main difference with this one compared to Riverside was that there was only one sink compared to two but this wasn't really a problem as we just made sure we were organised with who needed the sink when.

When we checked in we decided to opt out of housekeeping in exchange for a gift card loaded with $10 per night of our stay. You don't change your sheets and towels every day when you're at home so we decided we didn't need it doing just because we were on holiday. I would definitely recommend doing this, although I don't think its offered at every resort, as the gift card can be used for anything like merch or food and it is a decent amount of money.

Unfortunately, I was so excited when we first got there that I completely forgot to take pictures of the room, but if you are considering staying here you should be able to find pictures of a standard room on the Walt Disney World website.

Hotel Overview

Like all of the value resorts in Disney World, All Star Music is designed in the motel style with the doors to the rooms on the outside of the building. There are ten buildings based on five different musical themes; Calypso, Jazz, Rock, Country and Broadway. All of the theming was really impressive, with giant musical instruments and motifs that I think kids would love, and that's definitely a big plus for the value resorts compared to the moderates and deluxes. As well as the great theming, there was also a lot of green space and shady areas with trees and benches perfect for relaxing and reading a book or taking everything in and doing a bit of people watching.

There are two pools in the resort, the Calypso Pool and the Piano Pool. The Calypso Pool is the larger of the two, and is towards the front of the resort near the preferred rooms. It's shaped like a guitar and is Three Caballero's themed with Donald Duck, Jose, and Panchito taking pride of place in the centre. We didn't actually use the pool as none of us are really into that but it seemed to have a great mix of quiet periods in the mornings, kids activities in the afternoons and film screenings in the evenings. The Piano Pool is a smaller, quieter pool near the back of the resort and it looked like the perfect place to have more of a relaxing swim.

The main building at All Star Music, known as Melody Hall, is where you will find guest services and check in/out, the food court and the gift shop. The theming of this area is definitely a lot more basic than others I've seen but it does its job and definitely wouldn't be a deal breaker in terms of staying here. The shop was quite small but offered a small amount of food items, All Star merchandise and halloween merchandise, as well as some other generic Disney World items.

I was actually really impressed with the food court; it was really big and offered a great selection of food at all times of the day. As we were on the dining plan we mostly ate out in the parks at table service restaurants but there were a couple of days when we had a quick snack before or after we went to the parks for the day. They had the usual chicken nuggets and burgers but they also offered grilled fish, pizzas and pasta dishes so there really was something for everyone. They also had a great range of sweet items, including a pumpkin cheesecake, a spiced Day of the Dead cupcake and a unicorn cupcake, all of which were delicious. Being on the dining plan we also utilised the drinks fountains as often as we could and whilst there wasn't as big a selection as some of the resorts that have the freestyle machines, there was still plenty to choose from, including both hot and cold drinks.

The Buses

The buses at the resort weren't great but they also weren't horrendous. Overall the buses got us where we needed to be at the right time as we factored in plenty of extra time and I completely understand that it must be an incredible operation to get everyone staying at the resorts where they need to be throughout the entirety of Disney property.

The biggest issue we found was that for some reason at the weekend there was only one bus to and from Disney Springs for all three of the All Star resorts, even though the weekend is arguably the busiest time in Springs. This meant that buses would often turn up completely full from All Star Sports and no one from our resort could get on it. There was also one morning where four buses headed to Animal Kingdom arrived before even one came for Magic Kingdom so there was clearly something going wrong there. There was also one day when there was no Epcot bus for over 30 minutes even though they are supposed to arrive every 20 minutes and the bus driver then got lost meaning we very nearly missed one of our fastpasses. Having said this, these are all small gripes about an otherwise incredible resort stay and are probably issues with the overall bus system rather than this specific resort.

Overall I was so pleasantly surprised with this resort and I would definitely stay there again. Whilst it wasn't quite as luxurious as the other resorts I've stayed at I loved the theming and more in your face Disney aspects of it and I think it's great to be able to stay on property whilst sticking to a tighter budget.

Have you ever stayed at any of the All Star resorts? I'd love to know your thoughts on them in the comments below!

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, by Amy Beatrice

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Week Ten | Working For The Mouse (CEP/DCP)

Week Nine | Working For The Mouse (CEP/DCP)

2019 New Year's Resolutions

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All Star Music Resort Review

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