Having my friend here was pretty cool, especially as I had the time and money to do whatever we felt like! I stayed at her hotel pretty much every night for the two weeks that she was here which was a nice change... although I didn't enjoy the early mornings when I had to get a taxi back to the Commons, to get my work stuff and then rush back to hers after!
We ended up just doing the Disney parks... Lesley told me she hated roller coasters and I didn't realise how bad this was until after I took her on Space Mountain... during the ride I shouted back at her "are you ok?" cos she was very quiet and she went "no I hate it!!!!!!!!" and then screamed quite a bit. I'm a bad friend for laughing. I managed to get her onto Big Thunder Mountain, but she had decided by this point she was going to hate it, and she did... lol. She initially really wanted to go to Sea World but then CNN kept showing "Blackfish" (the documentary film, mostly about the whales at Sea World) every night. Usually late at night, most usually when we were drunk... and every time we would be planning our protest by the end of it.
The first day that we went to Magic Kingdom, Mickeys Not So Scary was on so we had to be out the park by 7pm. So we got lots done and then headed to Downtown Disney and had a wander through all the shops and had dinner at Planet Hollywood before heading back to the hotel. There was one night in the week before Christmas that MMNSS wasn't on, and we had been at Hollywood Studios that day, so we did all we needed to do and then headed to Magic Kingdom to watch Wishes. It was insanely busy as it was the only night not requiring an extra ticket, but we still managed to find a good spot pretty close in front of the castle. I took Lesley's camera from her and got plenty of photos for her, so that she could just enjoy it. Needless to say, she was crying by the end. I know how much coming here has always meant to her, so it was a big moment just to watch her taking it all in.
As I said, we spent a day at Hollywood Studios, seen all the shows... including a couple that I hadn't actually seen since being here. We also did a day at Animal Kingdom and I finally saw the Finding Nemo show which I hadn't seen yet! Was totally not what I expected! And of course... we did a day at Epcot. We did the Finding Nemo attraction and Spaceship Earth (cos you have to know what is inside the "golf ball!") but I knew that with Lesley's fear of heights, Soarin' was not for her and Test Track would be hit or miss... and Mission Space would have probably put her in an ambulance. So we pretty much spent all day going round the World Showcase, seeing the different shows and trying some of the Food and Wine stalls (and a fiesta margarita, cos it's like the law, or something...) I also took her on a walk down to the Boardwalk area and then we headed back to the World Showcase and got ourselves some really good seats in the beer garden area at the UK pavilion to watch Illuminations.
We spent a day doing the Iride, going allllllllll the way from one end, to the other side and hitting the outlets. Spent. A. Lot. Of. Money. Then on the way back up we stopped for food at TGI's which was nice, apart from our server feeling the need to explain tipping and gratuities to me. I may or may not have left a note on the back of the cheque explaining that while I am British, I am also a server in this country, and do not appreciate being lectured on tipping etiquette. We also did the outlets at this side and I brought Lesley to Lasses with me :) It was our Halloween Lasses and so we got our costumes on and then joined the Lasses at a big international party.
I was sad to see Lesley go, but I was also exhausted! Regardless, it's been back to work and business as usual. I have missed the last three Lasses now, due to sheer tiredness and this past week, sickness. Sad face. Means I missed the chance to see the last group of Lasses initiate but my days off have changed, meaning I no longer have the luxury of a Tuesday off, instead I have a 10:45am start. Yuk. However my schedule is pretty good as I have Sunday and Monday off, work an AM shift Tuesday-Thursday, and then have PM shifts on Fridays and Saturdays. So it's been nice to get finished in the afternoon and come home, eat a proper meal and just chill out a bit more. There's been so much going on... I need to try and blog a bit more :)
