First proper week of work!

Time bloody flies here! Been here for two weeks now and feels pretty normal. The most bizarre thing is feeling cold when the temperature is below 22 degrees and FREEZING if its below 20! Its a bit of a nightmare remembering what I did on each particular day so will try my best to keep this in order...

Wednesday - First day of work at the Rose & Crown! I was doing seating which is basically taking the guests who have already checked in, to their table. They are checked in by the "greeter" who takes all their details and gives them a pager, when their table is ready then a receipt is printer off by the assigner (person who assigns guests to specific tables). So the seater just waits for receipt to print out and that tells you where to take them and you have a bit of a chat while you take them to their table and give them menus. Not difficult. The table numbers are pretty easy to learn as well. Really enjoyed it and got into the swing of it pretty quickly :) I also did a bit of chippy filling and opening chippy as there was a slight staff shortage early on.

Thursday - I was doing another seater shift from 3pm till close and saw quite a lot of Illuminations while closing up which ain't too bad! Rushed home from work to get ready really quickly to get the taxi to Cowboys again. Only me and Harriet went that night as everyone else was too tired, etc and was another fun night :)

Friday - Day off!!! Was a little bit rough from the night before and me, Scott and Jess all had the day off so chilled by the pool for a couple of hours and then went back to the apartment to get quickly ready again. Then met back with Jess and headed off to Hollywood Studios! I was so excited lol! The park was pretty quiet and we did the Little Mermaid, The Muppets, Star Tours as walk ons and then did Rock & Rollercoaster which was about a 25 minute wait. I love that ride!!! And our photo was HILARIOUS, the kid behind us looked so terrified. Tried getting a photo of it but it got too much glare. Sad face! Then we went to get hotdogs and did some wandering about the shops before going to see Fantasmic.

Saturday - Day off round 2! Me, Scott, Jess and Laura (from the Canadian arrivals group) all went to Animal Kingdom and then Harriet and Rachel met up with us. Did lots of attractions including Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, Festival of the Lion King and Kilimanjaro Safari. Also did the Kali River Rapids and got ridiculously wet! It was a bit of a cold and drizzly day so not the best time to be completely drenched! We went back to our apartments and got quickly ready (this a theme round here!) to go to Applebees for 2 for 1 drinks :) Was a good chilled night, needed it!

Sunday - Back to work! Did a greeter shift today which was good, I like to know what's going on and it's a good way of interacting with the guests as well. There is quite often a bit of a language barrier though and I usually need people to spell their surnames before I get them right! It also rained pretty heavy which meant moving most of the podium into the pub but myself and Claire (my trainer) had to stay outside under the tarp. We got WET!! The back of our skirts got completely soaked just from water flashing up and the material of the skirt is super absorbant. Was soooooooo glad to get finished and get changed when I got home! When I finished work I got changed quickly again to go to House of Blues (HOB) which was another eye opening experience. Guys having proper dance offs all over the place haha!

Monday - Had a beer cart/stocker shift today. This meant being trained in setting up the beer cart and then serving guests, using the till and pouring the drinks. I love a bit of bar service so I quite enjoyed this! It wasn't terribly busy though which was a bit rubbish as time goes faster and is more enjoyable when it's busy. The second half of the shift was stocking for the beer cart, certain items for the pub and chippy condiments. This does involve a lot of walking about between fridges and different areas to get stock and means changing kegs and gas. The gas and kegs I've done a million times before so didn't take much learning, more like showing me where everything was. The weather did change though and get raining on and off which meant wearing one of the oh-so-lovely raincoats. It gets hot inside those!! I was working from 11am until 9:30pm and managed to get finished before 9:30pm so we could rush home and yet again quickly get changed! We were going to our first Lasses, which was a last (meaning people are leaving) Can't divulge on the nights activities but it wasn't as scary as some people make it out to be and was a lot of fun :)

Tuesday - Did a greeter shift until 5pm and was pretty uneventful! Hasn't been too busy in the parks at the moment so have been taking lots of walk in's. Was really tired after work but really needed to make a trip to Walmart so me and Jen headed off... and just missed the bus! Which means waiting an hour for the second bus :( So we chilled by the pool for a bit before getting the bus and going a bit crazy in the frozen food aisle lol! Got home and had a quick munch before literally crashing out as my head hit my pillow!

Wednesday - Back to greeter! Was strange to open podium by myself but was all good and helped to open the beer cart as well. Again it wasn't a particularly busy day and I was only meant to work from 11-5 but got ER'd (early release) at around 2:30pm so hurried home quickly to get changed and then me and Jen headed to Magic Kingdom as she had the day off and no plans! We managed to get quite a few rides done including Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and Pirates of the Carribean and then Laura joined us to get food from Caseys and camp out on the street for Wishes :) Came home and tried to get to bed ASAP as I had a really early start the next day.

Thursday - Today! We had to go to the Social Security offices today to get our SS number which is required within 30days of starting work. So we had to get up at 5am to go over to the Commons Clubhouse to pick up paperwork and get on a coach to take us their. We go in before the general public so it has to be that early! Due to my nifty planning I got our little group to get our paperwork first and seen first so we were back to the Commons pretty quickly. We then made a group decision to go quickly to Animal Kingdom as not everyone had been yet and then come back, get changed and go to Typhoon Lagoon as its hot weather. Ended up staying at Animal Kingdom and I got MEGA tired after lunch time. When we headed home the bus that was due had broken down and so took even longer to get home :( I had to nap when I got in but didn't get a good sleep as it was too hot. Still feeling pretty ropey so just trying to chill tonight. Got tomorrow off as well and not due in till Saturday at 4pm so will see what tomorrow brings!

First week!

Cannot believe I've been here a week already, but at the same time it feels like I've been here for agessss! Will try to keep this short and sweet but anyone who has read my previous entries will know that I like to go on a bit.... 

WednesdayDrink water people. Drink lots of water. Drink so much water that you need the bathroom a lot!! Cos without realising it I was dehydrated from the flight and what followed was not so fun.There was a bit of waiting around for the coach to take us to Vista Way from Chatham for our morning meeting, then more standing about waiting to check in at the desk. By then I was really feeling thirsty. Then got a wee cup of water while standing doing more waiting. Then we are standing in the shade signing forms and I just went funny really suddenly, hands were shaking and I was seeing spots, feeling like I need to puke and was going to faint. Jen looked at me and was like are you ok, and I was like just get the woman I'm going to faint. The woman came back over and as I went to sit down I thought I was about to puke and was looking for the nearest bin and kind of gulped and then it all went away. They kept asking if I wanted to sit down some more but I was back to normal again just as quickly as it came over me. Never felt like that before and don't particularly want to so I now carry water EVERYWHERE!!!!!Drama over, got our housing ID, its actually an alright photo considering "the incident" happened two minutes before hand. Although they re-size it so everyone's face is shorter and fatter, kind of look like cabbage patch kids. Then we walked across to the premium outlets (just across the road from The Commons) and got lunch then went to our next meeting.Which was cheesy. Really cheesy. We've seen some cheese already but nothing like this. They brought us all (like a 100 people from different programmes) into this big lecture hall type room with the lights off, disco lights on, smoke machine filling the room with smoke, big cheesy tvs on with slogans like "Cheer if your excited!!!" while the staff dance to Disney music. This will take some getting used to! It was just a bunch of rules and explaining stuff that's in the program book. Did you know that the legal drinking age is 21? Did you know that they will tell you this fact pretty much every time they speak to you? Can they not see my wrinkles ?We found another UK girl today called Jess! So our group has grown to 5! Met a lot of the Canadian's and people from other countries that I've been talking to through my blogs, facebook and twitter which was pretty cool! We went back to the apartment and got changed then headed to Downtown Disney for a bit of wander and dinner at Planet Hollywood which was yum! :) We had another early start the next day so we headed home after dinner.

ThursdayToday we had the talk from Immigration. This is where they scare the crap out of you with ways that you can be deported. A big man from federal government comes and talks to you about what will happen if you get caught doing something you shouldn't be. Bottom line - just don't do it. Don't put yourself in situations where you have to ask yourself if it's a good idea because more than likely, it's not. We've heard so many stories about people getting termed for really ridiculous stuff (like photo bombing!) and they have been verified as being real... so just behave yourself and especially when you're on Disney property! If you are termed then you have 24-48 hours to leave the country. After this you're looking at being deported by a federal agent who will arrest you, escort you on a plane and when you get to the UK, he's not handing you over to your family but the UK government. If you get in trouble and have to make a court appearance then it won't happen within that 48 hours so you will need to go home and come back every time you are required in court. If you don't go to court then a warrant will be put out for your arrest and if you ever come back to the States again, you be detained at the border. Not worth ruining your life for.Scary stuff over with, we had the next day off and had our UK throw in that night. We are all of drinking age :) so got some drink from Walmart, got dinner and got ready then had some drinks at Harriet's apartment. Eventually met up with more and more people on our way to get the taxi to down town Orlando and go to Cowboys! For those not in the know, Cowboys is a proper American line dancing bar that also plays pop/dance. Was a fun night meeting and seeing people :)



FridayUgh. This was a sucky, sucky day. Didn't get drunk enough on Thursday to be as ill as I was on Friday. I had planned on having a pool day and ended up spending the day between my bed and my bathroom as I was been violently ill from midday right through till late at night. It was 30 degrees outside and I had a hoody on, wrapped in a comforter shivering! Definately had picked up some sort of stomach bug and it lingered for a couple days but Friday was the worst stomach bug I've ever had. So glad for the people I have around me though, they regularly dropped off bottled water and then came round late with a little care package for me :) I was crying and feeling really sorry for myself as Traditions was the next morning and for quite a long time it didn't look like I would make it. 

SaturdayThankfully the bug eased up! I woke up briefly at 3am and could tell right away that I felt better and then woke up a couple hours later to get ready for Traditions! I'm not going to go into great detail about this as there's a couple of fun surprises but it was a good day and the guys taking it were really funny! We got our  ID that we can use for the parks so we rushed home to get changed and come back to Magic Kingdom for our first Wishes! It was mega busy and we got split up at times but we managed to see Wishes and then went to look at the new Fantasy Land, met Ariel and went on the carousel. Got ice cream, went into a few shops and took LOTS of photos!

SundayWe had more training over at Disney University which was e-learning and going through a big thing on food safety/hygiene. Nothing too taxing! There are a lot of early morning starts when you first start and we really tried to not exhaust ourselves any more than necessary so we had a lot more chill time than other groups have done, but each to their own! We also picked up our shoes (F&B have shoes provided as they have to be ones suitable for walking through kitchens but Merch have to provide their own).

MondayEpcot Discovery Day! We went to Epcot and had a quick little class and then went for a trip right through Epcot. We walked from the main entrance and then got to go on Spaceship Earth :) and had a quick look around and headed to World Showcase where a boat took us round so we could see all the different pavilions. Then we had a tour of our own pavilion at the UK and went to costuming to get our costumes sorted out. We are allowed 5 costumes so that's handy! Got a locker and dropped some stuff there then headed back to The Commons. Got our schedules today so we knew pretty much where and when we would be working for the next couple of weeks.

TuesdayCrazy to have been here a week!!! We went back to Epcot and spent the morning doing yet again more e-learning and then went back to the UK pavilion again to meet with our manager. After this we took the chance to walk right around the World Showcase (1.2 miles) and get to properly see the pavilions. Then we went over to go on the Nemo ride and had fun looking at the fish, sharks, dolphins and manatees. Went quickly home and changed and then JUST got back in time to see Illuminations over the World Showcase :) Then we met up with some others and walked over to the Boardwalk area and some of us went to Jellyrolls. This is a bar that has duelling piano players, you write down songs you want to hear and wrap a tip in it then leave it on the piano and they will play pretty much everything and anything. Free popcorn, huge drinks and free entry for cast members :) We also saw a couple get engaged!

And so the adventure begins!

Soooo.... a lot has happened in the last couple of days! I've been sending lengthy regular emails to my mum though so it's a good way of keeping track of what's been going on.

On Tuesday morning I got up at 5am after 2 hours sleep, got ready and my mum took me to the airport. My luggage was about 3kgs overweight but the woman let me away with it thank god! My first flight to Dublin was on a teeny tiny plane but was pretty uneventful. Started feeling pretty sleepy near the end so was glad to get off. 

My mum took photos of my plane as it flew over our house lol

When we arrived in Dublin they told all the people that were going to the States to get onto a seperate bus on the runway that would take us to Terminal 2. It picked up a bunch of people as it went along and then dropped us right at the door to the US Pre-clearance. This is unique, only Dublin has it. Basically it means that you clear immigration at Dublin so you don't have to do it in Orlando. I filled in a little blue form (you will need to know your address in the States, regardless if you enter at Dublin, Orlando or elsewhere. Use the address you put on your visa forms)  and then took my boarding card, passport, blue form and my white I94 card to a desk where the woman stamped the card, filled in the bit she needed to and gave me back the smaller half of the white card. DO NOT LOOSE THIS!!!!!! They might staple it into your passport, they didn't for me but the arrivals team did it for me. Then I stood in line to get questioned by the officer, finger prints and photo taken which didn't take long and then headed through another security gate into the departure area. What is a bit poop about this part is that there's very little in this part of the airport. Its just for flights heading to the States and only has a very small coffee shop/bar and very limited duty free for sale.

Tried to sleep on the second flight but had a lot of mild turbulence that kept me awake, felt like sitting in the back of a hackney cab going over speed bumps. Got pretty bad as we hit New York state so the plane circled for about 20 minutes until it was re-directed onto a different flight path, still got in 15 mins early though.

I thought I would have to go through some sort of passport control again at Orlando, but nope - everyone straight off the plane and off to collect their luggage. The other guys took 40 mins-1hr in the queues so I would recommend it to anyone going out there as I spent about 15 mins in Dublin and they did all the leg work for you. However because I missed passport control I came out at a totally different bit to where everyone normally comes out and where we had all arranged to meet and my battery was dying so I checked the arrivals board and plugged my phone on charge at the first socket I spotted (this seemed to be quite normal so I didn't feel guilty!) Finally managed to find the other Jen (who knew there was 2 Disney stores in the airport!?) and then it took quite a while for Harriet and then Scott to get through immigration and by then me and Jen had been in the airport for hours.

Got the Mears shuttle bus to drop us off and then had a panic because we were dropped off at what we thought was the  "Welcome Point" but there wasn't a soul there, luckily Harriet has a US sim already so phoned the free US toll number and a wee guy came along on a golf cart type thing to pick us and our luggage up cos the taxi dropped us at the wrong place. And then we got Disn-ied. Although the guy was pretty insistent that we all thoroughly washed our hands before we had a cookie because we had been in multiple airports. They sat us down, gave us warm cookies and bottled water and info packs on what we need to do for the next couple of days. And a wee welcome pack with washing detergent and softener lol. Then they loaded up all our luggage and dropped us off at our apartments -  the driver comes with you to help with luggage and also to introduce you, aka bang the door like a crazy man while shouting "NEW ROOMMATE!!!!!" None of our roommates were in though when we arrived. And we aren't sharing with anyone we know, the two other girls are in the same apartment block but different apartments. My apartment is block 1 - right next to the pool/bus stop/clubhouse/etc. Lifesaver!

We quickly dropped off our stuff then me, Harriet and Jen went to Walmart and Scott went to sleep lol! We were pretty sensible, every other person seems to spend about $200, we spent like $70-80 and just got the essentials like bedding, towels and just a little bit of food and snacks. Came back to apartment and there was people in and I unpacked for a bit and then chatted to a couple of my roommates. I'm in a 3 bed/3 bath apartment. I've still to meet one girl and two of them moved out today (Thursday) so I'm looking forward to not being the new girl!

Think I will continue with day 2 in a seperate post as this will get a bit long!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya, tomorrow!

I leave for the airport in 7 hours!!!!!!!!!!!

And it's STILL not sunk in at all, I'm like an emotionless robot. Waiting for the big reality moment but so far it's not happening! 

The last week has been pretty mellow. Pottered about for a week while the family were away and had some much needed lazy down time. Yesterday I had a big Sunday dinner with all the family and took a bunch of photos and then today I went for lunch with my mum, sister and little nephew. Got some dollars and last minute bits and pieces (and good old Cadbury's chocolate) and stuffed it into my serious heavy suitcases.

To say that I'm shitting it about my luggage is an understatement. The other day me and my younger brother weighed them and I was 1kg under my total weight allowance and since then I've stuffed more crap in there. Eeerppp.... they are really friggen heavy! Now they are sitting downstairs waiting for me to pop my make up in there tomorrow after I get ready.

I've got all my paperwork printed, copies given to my mum and in my bag. I've checked in online, printed my boarding pass and set my alarm for 5am (eek). I called up Orange today and suspended my phone contract for 6 months... still quite annoying that I will still need to pay for the rest, and I've arranged for my phone to be unlocked although they say it can take up to 20 days. How utterly ridiculous!! And having to pay £20 for the pleasure! I've made plans to meet up with the rest of my arrival group at the airport in Orlando and printed off the $5 off coupon for the Mears shuttle (its normally $21 per person). Had my shower, done my nails and had my last fake tan session for the year haha! 

The weather is hot, hot, hot in Orlando (with some typical tropical rain) and I can't believe that I'll be there in 24 hours!!!! So this has been my last UK-side blog and from now on it will be less of an advice-type blog and more about my adventures! Everyone says that it's difficult to blog while on the programme but I'm determined to keep it up :)

This time next week...

I'll be landing in Orlando, Florida!!!

Where the hell have the last few weeks gone? 

I finished work on Thursday, was a pretty boring shift to be honest. On Friday I just finally got to chill (and sleep properly without stressing about work) and started the preparations for my leaving party on Saturday :)
Saturday night was fun, lot of people made it, even if it was just briefly and I managed to not get really drunk which was a bonus. Howeverrrr... I totally forgot to take a single photo! Fail!! I was so busy running about talking to everyone that I just forgot. Oops. I got lovely presents from my work though so there's some tangible memories!

Sunday was a lazy day. My friend had stayed the night so we had a pj day and watched crap on tv, well deserved. She left and then I headed off to bed so I was up early the next day. Yesterday I went for a goodbye lunch with my best friend and a few cocktails. Feels so weird saying bye to people... it seems more like a normal "see you later" rather than "see you in a year!". I think it's maybe because this has all taken so long so I still don't believe it in my head. There hasn't been a single tear yet! There's been a few moments of sudden panic but then it goes away again. 

Last night I started packing... it's been hanging over me like a dark cloud so I started the marathon task of ironing and packing clothes. Right now I have one full case and piles of stuff to go in the other one. I want to get all that stuff in, see what allowance (if any) I have left before deciding on what else to pap in there haha, and what I will just need to buy there. I have all my clothes, it's just all my bits and bobs I'm thinking about now.

Tomorrow is a day for sorting insurance and more packing. My family are on holiday until Saturday and we have a family dinner planned for Sunday. Before I know it Tuesday will be here so I'm just trying to do as much as possible. I keep hitting a wall of tiredness in the evenings and then end up ironing till 3am but at least it's getting done! So my last pre-Florida blog post is likely to be next Monday - the day before! 

On a side note, I've recently hit over 5,000 page views. So thank you, random blog readers! :)