Twenty Fourteen: A Year in Review

In 2014....

I celebrated my Birthday at Magic Kingdom.
I became a Wilderness Explorer.
I earned my ears & became an expedition guide at Kali Rapids Expeditions (the #1 rafting company in Anandapur).
I dined with royalty and in not just one, but two castles.
I saw Justin Timberlake, Demi Lovato, Little Mix, 5SOS & 1D live in concert.
I met Little Mix.
I had "Dreams that Glow Wondrous Dazzling Brilliantly" in a Festival of Fantasy.
I had class in Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom.
I fell in love with an ape.
I became obsessed with the sky, and now appreciate every sunset, star, rainbow...you name it!
I flew with elephants.
I spent time in a garden full of butterflies flying around me.
I celebrated my program at Typhoon Lagoon with Pirates.
I earned both my Mousters and Ducktorate Degrees :)
I walked on the Yellow Brick Road.
I went mining with the Dwarfs early before they invited other guests to ride.
I ended many nights by admiring any number of firework shows.
I attended Hogwarts for a day.
I flew to Never Land.
I celebrated Animal Kingdom's 16th Birthday.
I went backstage of a show at Epcot.
I danced on Main Street.
I just kept swimming.
I wished in a well.
I saw a double rainbow.
I danced at a Disney Audition.
I attended my Disney graduation with the 2 best mice around.
I went to the zoo for a picnic.
I worked at a farm.
I worked on a train.
I played in Chicago.
I revisited my home in Florida twice.
I met Robin Roberts.
I celebrated Christmas in a Kingdom.
I made friends for life.
I celebrated magic.
...just to name a few!

It is interesting, because for the first time in my life, I spent an entire year not in the traditional and conventional confines of "school," but I learned the most I ever have. It is such a cliché to say that I've grown so much and learned a lot as a person, especially at the end of a year, but it is absolutely true. I learned things this year that I never knew I never knew.

I am such a strong person now (not yet physically), and an overall more content human being. Of course the year didn't come free of some downsides. I cried a lot (over things that retrospectively didn't deserve it), I got pretty sick, and I had days that left me feeling really negative. But you know what? I smiled and laughed a lot more, and I had my personal best year as far as feeling more positive overall that I've had in a long time. 

I'm learning to gain some perspective, and choose to look for the positive in any given situation or circumstance, and not succumb to the negative which before has overwhelmed me. Going into 2015, I have a few things I plan to work on to better myself, and I look forward to having the chance to improve.

I know that 2015 will come with many ups and downs, and I'm prepared for that as much as I can be. It's all about how we react to the things that come our way!

There is also nothing wrong with trying to create more high points in your life, and that is something I plan to do for myself. At Disney, we created happiness, and we maintained the magic for others, why not do this for ourselves? I plan to.

Do you make resolutions for the New Year? If so, tell me, what are you motivating yourself to work on or change? You can do it!

Thank you for spending a bit of your year with me, it's been fun!
Until next year!
x Lauren

“Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

-Walt Disney-

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DAK and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party | WDW in December Day 5

My final day in the parks was first spent at DAK in the morning, watching Finding Nemo: The Musical--one of my all-time favorites, saying goodbye to my friends that were working, and riding Everest with one of the managers from my time with Disney.

"es-cah-pay"

"They're good!" Yes, Dory, I would agree with you! They are!

"That's my dad!"

Then it was off to Magic Kingdom for the final evening of my visit. I went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, which I wrote much more about in a previous post as part of my Disney Happiness Project! 

That previous post has a lot of pictures from the party, including all of my character photos from that evening! I met the Seven Dwarfs, Snow White and Snow Prince, Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip, Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, Cinderella and Prince Charming, and Prince Ali and Abu! All of those photos can be seen in that post! It also has a few other pictures from the night of the castle show, Main Street covered in snow, fireworks, and Anna and Elsa in the parade! I didn't want to repeat them here for the sake of those who read every one of my posts :)

I have many photos that I didn't share in that post, however, and I thought I would share them with you all now! If you want to see all of the others though, just click on the link above or here :)

....and that's a wrap on my trip! I hope you've enjoyed looking through my pictures, and that you were able to experience a little bit of the Disney magic I felt while I was back down there! If you would like to look back through the other days of my trip, or if you missed a day, you can find them on the right panel of my blog in the Archive. 

"There's no place like home for the holidays!" That's exactly how I feel, which is why the trip down to my Disney home was so special and such a blessing!

Now, I begin mentally planning my next visit for what is hopefully the not-too-distant future! Don't worry, I'll take you all along with me when it happens! :)

x Lauren

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Four Parks in One Day | WDW in December Day 4

Day 4 was spent with my friend, Lane. We set out to Magic Kingdom, and then got some Starbucks on Main Street before our jam-packed day!

We met up with my sister, Christine, and friend, Jenny! Christine's roommate loves to hang out with Pluto, so we thought we would pay him a visit and see for ourselves!

 Christine and her pal!

Group hug! I love Pluto- meeting him was so much fun!

Here is the same picture, but from the camera we were looking at!

From Christine's Instagram.

I said this before on my Instagram, but anytime I hang out with my sister, a photo shoot is bound to occur, which you'll see in a series of photos in a moment and throughout this post!

This perfectly captures our friendship at most times, haha! I love you, Lane!

 Thank you for taking the photos of Lane and me, Jenny! 

Back down to Main Street! My sister posted a Vine from our time watching this little show!

Next, the four of us hopped over to Epcot!

Thanks again to Jenny for taking these upcoming photos of Christine and me, and to both Jenny and Lane for your patience! :) We love Morocco!

Next we went over to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus! They were hanging out in The American Adventure!

PC: Christine

...and then we had lunch in Japan!

A little bit after this, we finished up at Epcot, and Lane and I then hopped over to DAK so that I could briefly catch up with one of my old coworkers, Aaron! Thanks for the photos, Lane, and for making us laugh so much!

Finally, to complete our 4-park day, we hopped over to Hollywood Studios so that we could stare at "The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights." It is worth staring at.

Oh, and we rode Tower. We clearly had a blast. :)

After spending time at the parks, Lane and I went to Downtown Disney to meet up with some other friends and old coworkers to celebrate our friend, Kaitlyn's birthday! It was a full, and very happy day!

x Lauren

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