Top five favorite things to do in Disney World's Magic Kingdom

I'm sure that many of you know that I am a Disney fanatic and if you don't know then where have you been?!

I took my first trip to the magical world of Disney in 2015 with my bestie Amber and I never looked back! I have been a total of 4 times now and I feel like I have developed my top 5 favorite things to do while in the Magic Kingdom and I wanted to share those with you today!

1. My absolute hands down number one favorite is watching Wishes. Wishes is the fireworks show that happens at Cinderella's castle every night. I cry and sing a long and any trip I go on to Disney I HAVE to see Wishes. There is just something so magical and Disney-esque about it and even when I'm not at Disney I will watch YouTube videos of the fireworks show because I just love it that much!

2. Ariel's Under the Sea ride. Even though Aurora is my favorite princess Ariel is my second favorite princess so I always have to find time to make it to this ride. I normally want to ride this one at least twice because the lines are usually never more than a 15 minute wait and being that Ariel is one of my favorite princesses I love being able to ride through the movie of The Little Mermaid!

3. Big Thunder Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster is, according to me, the best roller coaster at Disney's Magic Kingdom. It has the best turns and drops of any of the other rides in this particular park and the best spot to ride is is the back. When Daniel and I went for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween (Which you can read about here) there was no wait time, which is unusual, for this ride and we rode it 3 times in a row and it was awesome. Any time I am going I always reserve a fastpass for this ride because it is a very popular one with long wait times.

4. Meeting characters. Since I didn't start going to Disney World until my adult life I have had an anxiety about meeting characters for the first time and for the first few trips I made I was always terrified and didn't know what to say when meeting them. It was only this last trip I took, less than a month ago, that I really became comfortable with meeting characters and I started to enjoy it. During my last trip to Disney it rained a little bit towards the end of the day and so lines to meet characters were super short and I met a total of 8 characters in Magic Kingdom 5 of which I had never met before!

5. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This is the other roller coaster type ride in Disney's Magic Kingdom and I always use a fastpass for this ride because wait times are normally 60 plus minutes long. It is a fun ride but it is a more tame version of a roller coaster. I love being able to watch the dwarfs sing heigh-ho in the middle of the ride and see Snow White in the dwarves house at the end of the ride. It is a really quick ride but definitely one to do when at Magic Kingdom.

What are some of your favorite things to do in Disney's Magic Kingdom? Did I mention your favorite thing or ride? Let me know! Let's talk about all things Disney! Tweet me (@thejesslauren) or leave a comment!

xoxo Jess

My Experience at a Disney Broadway Open Casting Call

Hello my loves!

So I did something really exciting last weekend and I auditioned for the National Touring and Broadway casts of both Disney's Aladdin and Disney's The Lion King! Today I wanted to talk about my experience and also some tips I have if you ever want to audition for a casting director of a Broadway show!

Disney was holding an open casting call for adult singers and dancers and their team and casting agents were travelling to different cities around the U.S. The casting call I went to happened to be the last stop in New Orleans, Louisiana. The website said check ins went from 9-11 and audition duration was to be determined based on the amount of people who showed up.

I wanted to get their early to make sure I ended up somewhere around the beginning of the line and so I aimed to get there at 8:30 a.m. When I arrived there was already a line around the building outside so I was very nervous about the amount of people there but even just getting there was a huge accomplishment because I was SO nervous! I have done so many community theater shows and auditions but something about being in front of an agent who casts national touring shows and shows on Broadway was extra nerve wracking!

One thing that helped calm my nerves was talking to the people around me. I didn't go with any friends so that added the extra edge to my nerves but by making friends with the people around me I didn't feel so nervous and I felt better because they were all super nervous too. After standing there for about 10 minutes I heard someone say my name and there were two friends who I have done community theater shows with who were there too and it was such a nice and unexpected surprise! I ended up walking back to them and standing with them and it was so nice to have them there and it really helped to calm my nerves!

We were finally talked to by one of the people running the auditions and were told that because of the turn out our original amount of 16 bars of music was being cut down to 8 bars and that they were starting check in soon. This sparked panic among everyone who was auditioning because then you had to choose on the spot which half of your piece you wanted to choose. Which half was the better one to choose, which half was more impressive, etc. I am so glad I chose a song I have auditioned with before and that is in my repertoire of music I have so it was easy for me to choose.

We finally made our way around and were given numbers and I was number 102. We were then led inside to a holding room for everyone while we waited to be called in groups of 10. I ended up seeing 3 more people I knew when we were in there and it was nice to have people to catch up with while waiting.

Our group waited probably for a little less than 2 hours total before our numbers were called. We luckily had a friend who had auditioned in a group ahead of us so we sort of knew what to expect. We knew that we got to go in and audition one by one which was comforting. I auditioned for The Voice two years ago and in that audition you had to sing in front of everyone in your group and that was SO nerve wracking!!

I was the second one in my group to go in and I was expecting for there to be this huge panel of people but there were only two which eased my nerves. I handed the music to my accompanist and gave him my tempo and then just started. The whole of the audition lasted for maybe 20 seconds and then one of the directors said 'thank you so much Jessica' and that was it!

I knew going in I probably wasn't going to get a call back, not for lack of talent, but because my look probably wasn't the right fit for either Aladdin or The Lion King but even having the experience was so worth it!

Some tips for you for any big or small auditions that I have as a take away from this are:

-Bring your own water. There is no guarantee that there will be a water fountain or water anywhere and in this case there wasn't!

-Make sure you have a music resume and headshot. Even if you don't have much experience having any sort of experience you do have put on a resume is something they will want along with a headshot. I just went to Fed-Ex-Kinkos and got them to print mine on thick glossy card stock and it looks so professional.

-Put your music in a binder and make it easy for your accompanist to follow. Print out your music and hole punch it and mark where you want to begin and end your audition segment so that they clearly know where you want to start and end.

-Be comfortable with what you are performing. I chose a song I was very comfortable with so that when my nerves kicked in I wouldn't accidentally forget the words or melody.

- Bring something to keep your mind off of everything while you wait. Have a book or a favorite game you like to play on your phone. We all played Heads Up and it really helped get our minds off of everything.

-Be confident. Even if you are nervous out of your mind go into that audition room confident in your abilities. Remind yourself that it is less than a minute of your entire life and if performing is something you want to do the more auditions you go to the better at them you get.


I hope you guys enjoyed re-living my audition experience with me! If you have any audition experiences you want to share I would love to hear them! Leave me a comment or tweet me (@thejesslauren)!

xoxo Jess

April Favorites

Hello my beauties!

Today I wanted to talk about things I have been loving in the month of April! I can't believe it is already May and that another month has flown by! If you want to look at prices or purchase anything the links are embedded within each title! I have found an eclectic bunch of things to love this month so let's jump right in!

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation

If you read my post about my favorite foundations (click here to read it if you missed it) then you will know that one of my favorite drugstore foundations has been the Maybelline Fit Me foundation! I have been grabbing this foundation just about every day and I have been loving the light buildable coverage it has offered me and it gives my skin a nice dewy glow that I have been enjoying for this warmer spring weather! It never feels heavy on my face and I think it is the perfect foundation for the spring and summer when I want to be a little less heavy handed with my makeup base.

Urban Decay Naked Palette

I own all three of the original Urban Decay Naked palettes and I usually find myself going through a rotation with them during the year and right now I am loving the original Naked palette! I have found myself going for Sidecar shadow all over my lid and then smudging Smog in the crease. Both colors have a bright metallic color but they blend together beautifully and just really bring out the green color of my eyes. Most brown shades tend to do that and I really have been loving this smokey eye look this month!

Hask Monoi Coconut Oil Shampoo and Conditioner

I have been LOVING this shampoo and conditioner! My bestie Amber and I discovered it on a Target shopping trip and it not only works great but it smells amazing! It smells like a beach day with coconut SPF except its shampoo and conditioner for your hair! This stuff is SO much more affordable than the other shampoo and conditioner I usually use and like I said it works great! I have been loving it this month and definitely plan on repurchasing it when I run out!

NuMe 25mm Curling Wand

I have found myself curling my hair pretty much every day this month. I got my NuMe curling wand on sale with an amazing discount code and I have been obsessed with it ever since it arrived! I have been growing my hair out to a slightly longer length (just above shoulder length) just to be able to curl my hair in loose waves because I think the style is really pretty and I have just wanted to be able to do it with my hair for so long and when I was able to snag this amazing curling wand on a discount I couldn't resist! I have fallen in love with the way my hair looks in this style and have been finding it hard to straighten my hair because I just want to have it curled all the time! I highly recommend this brand for any of their styling tools and just keep a look out for them to run a sale so you can snatch one up on an amazing discount too!

Swing Dresses

I have been obsessed with swing dresses for the majority of the last two months if I'm honest and I can't get enough of them! Most all of mine have come from American Eagle but the one in the link is the one pictured above. I love the way a swing dress is so flattering but also comfortable to wear. They look amazing but also don't take a lot of effort! I have enjoyed styling mine with a jean jacket for work and comfy flats or keds. These types of dresses can be easily dressed up or left casual and I have just been enjoying living in them! I have acquired about 5 swing dresses over the last 2 months and I can't wait to add more to my wardrobe for the summer time!

Troye Sivan

I have been obsessed with not only Blue Neighborhood but also Wild and all Troye Sivan discography. I have been listening to his music NON STOP. Any time I am in the car his albums are on and even now as I am writing this post I am listening to him. I have loved his music for a while but I have just been recently in love with it to the point of playing it non stop. If you haven't listened to his music before then you really need to! Listen to it on Spotify if you aren't sure you want to purchase but I promise you will listen to two songs and be hooked and want to buy and listen to it all!

Snapchat

I have been obsessed with snapchat and posting stuff to my story. I have loved snapchat since I downloaded it when it first came out but with the addition of many new snapchat face filters and trying to document more of my day I have been using it a lot more! It's a lot of snaps with my dog, rehearsals for the show I'm in, work, and my favorite music! I'm also in Disney when this post is going live so I will be snapping that the entire time I'm there as well if you wanted to follow along! :)

I have been loving a lot of stuff in April but these are definitely the most loved of all! What are some of the things you have loved over the month of April? Let me know by leaving a comment or tweet me (@thejesslauren)!

xoxo Jess