Stay-cation! (part 1)

Soooo... my family got here a week ago and I haven't taken any extra time off so I've been cramming in lots of stuff on my actual days off. They aren't staying on property and have a nice wee villa and a car so they keep themselves entertained when I'm not with them.

Last Saturday I met them before work and had a quick wander of the outlets and some lunch and then they kept on shopping. I had PM shifts (what else!) on Sunday and Monday and then they picked me up from the Commons on Monday night when I got in from work. My mum said to bring anything I needed washed... hadn't done proper laundry in a good couple of weeks so I literally stuffed everything into my massive pink laundry bag and dragged it out to the car with me. My mum washed, dried and ironed it all :) Result! My drier is pretty crap, it only seems to like making clothes hot and damp so this was a proper novelty.

Got some food at the villa and stayed up chatting for a bit, had some of their duty free booze then went off to bed. Would of gone straight to sleep but I discovered the tv in my own room. Yayyyy! Small things in life people! 

On the Tuesday we were having an Epcot day... my family have never done this park before so I've been holding off from doing a lot of the attractions until they got here so we could do them together. Had breakfast and then headed out to the park. First thing we did was Spaceship Earth, mainly so my mum would finally know what is in the "big golf ball". Then we headed over to Test Track and already the fast passes were at the later stages of the day so we decided just to do the standby line.. it said two hours but it wasn't even one. My brother really enjoyed it and I discovered that he hysterically laughs on the rides like I do. I'm not the only weird one! 

After this we walked over to the Showcase and just went to the American pavilion for some lunch as my brother is a right fussy person and loves chicken nuggets lol. Then we went back to Mexico and worked our way right around the whole showcase. Had to give my mum and stepdad a row at the UK pavilion as I was not up for them embarrassing me, I do enough of that myself thanks! We then went back and stood in the massive line for Soaring (which they all loved so that was a result), then headed back to the car to go back to the villa for dinner and freshen up a bit. 

Got back to the park around 8pm and found a spot between Canada and the UK for the fireworks and my mum and I went to get ourselves a margarita. I see the fireworks about 5 days a week, but to be able to see it as a guest is a bit different so I used the opportunity to get some really good photos. It was Extra Magic that means that the park is open until 11 but only resort guests can go on any attractions (booo). My mum bought some presents for my nephews first birthday at Mouse Gears using my discount and then we were just having a bit of a wander, while waiting for the park to clear out a bit and a really nice cast member let us on the Nemo ride. The ride itself is not all that exciting but the aquarium is pretty cool (who doesn't like dolphins?!) so it was a good end to the night. 

The next day we headed off to Tarpon Springs which is bit further past Tampa on the coast. It has the highest percentage of Greek people in the whole of the USA and this is very apparent! The little touristy shore front is full of Greek restaurants, bakerys, shops full of tacky crap and a hell of a lot of sea sponges. There are fishermen who go into the Gulf for 4 weeks at a time and come back with a hell of a lot of sponges and then these are sold in all the little stores. All the architecture is very Greek, all blue and white colours everywhere and it really felt like I was in Greece and not Florida! My stepdad had already inquired about a boat trip so we got lunch and then had a wander about the shops before heading off on the boat. 

The boat trip took us along the Anclote river and the Gulf of Mexico and is one of the only boat trips where you can see dolphins and maybe manatees. We were lucky as the boat path goes directly through the area where a pod of dolphins are living. The boat stopped for a bit so we could watch them and try to get photos (easier said than done). There was even a baby dolphin, not more than a couple months old that was swimming right up to the boat, so cute! There are a lot of huge sandbanks and we headed out to an island which is home to a lighthouse, a lot of shells and not much else! Everyone on the boat went off to collect shells for half an hour and I finally got my feet in some real sand... and the sea! The water was unbelievably hot! It was like the best bath ever, with crystal clear water and white sand. We then got back on the boat and headed back to land.  

We then decided to spend the last hour or so of sunshine at another beach nearby so drove out to it... it was the weirdest beach! The sand was like mud that we all got stuck in and the water was even hotter here! No graceful exits in or out! The amount of boats that got stuck as they also tried to come in was also hilarious. Watching men being all brave, and getting out the ladders on the back of their boat as they descend into the water... and then they realise it only comes up to their knees. Rinsed as much sand off of us as we could and then got back in the car for the journey home.

On Thursday I had work in the afternoon so we spent the morning at their pool and then they dropped me back off at the Commons :( Really felt like I had been on holiday and wasn't very keen to go back right away! The plan for this week will be the same sort of schedule so we are going to hit both Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom on the Tuesday and then probs another beach place on the Wednesday. I finally look like I have a tan again!

2 months gone already!!!

I've spent today being extremely lazy and slobbing around when I should of been out doing a million and one things that need to be done, so in an effort to be somewhat productive, I'm having another update on the blog.

Sooooo, to start off with I thought I'd just put this out there. I loved reading blogs during the agony of the waiting process. Loved it. Spent hours trawling the internet for them and a ridiculous amount of time reading them. Hated all the blogs that were started and abruptly ended after one entry.  I'm not writing this for anyone else, I'm doing it for me so if people don't like that then don't read it! This is for me, I can barely remember what happened yesterday (which is why I take so long writing these, I literally have to trawl through Facebook and my work schedule to retrace my steps) so I have this to look back on and remember all the little things.

So with that out the way, this is what I've been up to...

Thursday 30th May - Went to work for yet another PM shift and then went out with a bunch of people to Bar B Q bar which is in Downtown Orlando. Very weird experience walking through the city for the first time! The bar itself is huge, there's even a bar and dance floor up on the roof, surrounded by all these massive buildings and skyscrapers. It was heaving busy so we headed back downstairs and had a good laugh and dance about. I got pretty drunk after being given too many shots and strong drinks and managed to fall on the way back to the taxi. Anyone that knows me back home and has seen me on a night out will know that I fall down A LOT so I'm surprised it took this long to happen haha! Probably to do with almost never wearing heels!

Friday 31st May - Called in as I felt completely rotten the next day. Hangover wasn't too shabby which is most likely due to me throwing up a lot when I got home the night before but my throat was really, really killing me. The sore throat has been happening a lot recently and got to the point where I had blisters and ulcers all over the inside of my mouth and down my throat. I wondered if it was tonsillitis but then another celiac sufferer pointed out to me that this is yet another symptom. Eugh... I had the celiac thing under control at home and never really had a lot of problems with it when I first got here, but now I'm suffering worse than ever. Pretty much everything makes me ill now, I get the most uncomfortable pains and side effects and I think its why I lost a lot of weight as well. Didn't get the info about the sore throat till later the next week and in that time I racked up a lot of gluten and wheat packed meals!

Saturday 1st June - Had the Saturday off as I had swapped shifts with someone so me, Jen, Harriet and Scott headed off to Magic Kingdom for a few hours. I feel like I don't see them unless I'm at work or on nights out so was good to see them for a day! First we got off the bus at the Polynesian and had some lunch there. I love this resort! Then we got the monorail over to MK and did the Monsters Inc Laugh floor and Stitch's Great Escape and had a bit of a wander about the shops. Decided to get some cheap food so got the bus back to Vista and walked over for some very cheap food! Its already cheap there but Disney employees get a discount so its like $3 for all you can eat pizza, pasta, salad and dessert. Stuffed ourselves and then headed home, where my sore tummy ensured that I had a quite night in!

Sunday 2nd June - Went back to work for my PM shift which was pretty non eventful, can't remember anything specific from that day other than it was my older brothers birthday back home! After work I just stayed in as I still wasn't feeling terribly great so just caught up with some tv.

Monday 3rd June - Another non eventful day, went to work and then didn't go to Lasses that night as I still wasn't feeling good and didn't want to feel worse the next day. Bit annoying that I missed one as I had managed to rack up a few weeks in a row but I just didn't want to feel any worse!

Tuesday 4th June - Regular days off! The latest arrival group arrived and was good to have some new people around after having no new arrivals for over a month. I wanted to go sunbathing but it was pretty cloudy out so instead I went to Publix and did some laundry and then me and Charlotte got the bus over to Vista to go to Cici's (danger food!). It was much busier this time and we had a wander through dollar tree beforehand as there was a big line. When we left, the heavens had opened and it was properly pouring it down, ruining my carefully straightened hair! Typical! 

Wednesday 5th June - Headed back over to Vista again to get some stuff from Walgreens and had another wander over to Dollar Tree then there was a housing event on over at Chatham so we headed over to meet up with a bunch of people and meet all the new arrivals. It was drizzly weather yet again and we kind of all just hung out at this one table. Other people got food but it was pizza which I had defo had enough of! They had a character meet set up in one of the classrooms so we joined the line and got some photos with Perry. The event finished at 10pm so we left and then walked back to Commons. Me and Jen couldn't decide if we were going to go out or not but decided to in the end. Went back downtown to I Bar this time which was a lot of fun. It plays cheesy music all night long so we were dancing about like morons and singing away. 

Thursday 6th June - I was working a 2pm-8pm seater shift which was fine by me as its the earliest I ever get to finish work but it was raining and really quiet at work. One of our co-ordinators sent some of us to go clean the keg fridge which was really annoying but then he cut us around 6pm so me and Harriet headed home to change and go back out again. As usual Transtar were up to their usual games and the bus I was wanting to get was late! Always at the worst times! It was Anna's birthday and some of us went for dinner at Bongos, which is a Cuban place at Down Town Disney. It was good, but not amazing which is a shame when it looked so good on the menu. Everything comes with rice and they mark the gluten free dishes on the menu which was a nice change! For a country that is obsessed with allergies, illnesses, etc they are rubbish for labelling foods and menus out here. We decided to get a taxi back to the commons so we would be able to get the taxi to Cowboys. Squeezed into the taxis and headed out for another fun night.

Friday 7th June - Had another non eventful day at work, Its been raining a lot recently which has kept people away from the park and makes the day dragggggg by! When I got in I just stayed in but ended up not being able to sleep until about 5am which is pretty annoying!

Saturday 8th June - Went to work via Walgreens to get stuff for my Lasses outfit for Monday. Had a chippy shift which was the quietest day ever! It rained really heavily and the crowds never came back. Took a miserable amount of money but was just glad to be inside the chippy and out of the rain! Thought about going out that night but it was another night at Cowboys and was mostly servers going for a last cowboys so I just stayed in instead. All these nights in explain why I'm not so skint this week!

Sunday 9th June - My two month anniversary!! We couldn't decide what to do at first, its difficult to get all of our arrival group in the same place at the same time. We finally decided to go for dinner at Kouzzina at the Boardwalk. I had a PM shift and it was really busy, I was doing greeting and it was crazy, I kept running out of pagers which was annoying. Of course, when you are in a hurry to get out of work, it never happens so I had to quickly change out of my costume and run over to the Boardwalk where the others were waiting at the table. We shared a bottle of wine and my meal was AMAZING! Best thing I've had since being here. It was also the most expensive but I preferred to have really enjoyed it than spending money on a so-so meal. I had the short ribs with smoked feta mashed potatoes... so good. Best cheesy mash ever lol! Had a chocolate martini for dessert and that was really yummy as well. Harriet got the chocolate liqueur flight which was so cool, three different liqueurs with huge strawberrys and like a little squeezy vial of the liqueurs to squeeze into them. Yum! Had a lot of people asking us to go to House of Blues but I'm not really a big fan, I rarely have good nights out there which is a shame. By the time we finished dinner we didn't really have time to go either so we just went home.

Monday 10th June - Got up and made my Lasses costume... which isn't so much an outfit that you wear lol. It was a themed night as it was a Last and we had to dress as a song title. So I did "It's Raining Men" and got an umbrella and cut out and then attached pictures of men from thread. Snazzy. Lol! Went to work, managed not to get rained on and did my first magical moment! For those that don't know, we can do a magical moment which involves picking a child and asking them to help start the fireworks. There was a family with two cute little girls and earlier the girls had told Anna that they had met Belle and were really excited about it. I asked their server to find out their names and then went over and asked if there was two girls called Kayleigh and Stella there. They looked at me so confused and I was like "I'm so happy I found you, I've been looking everywhere for you!!", then said that Mickey was stuck on the monorail and couldn't start the fireworks but Belle remembered meeting them and said they would be able to help me. When I told them this, the older girl had her mouth hanging open and just nodding away. So when I said will you help me, she was just like "yes, yes yes yes yes!" . I then said I would go get the magic wand and would be back soon and she cracked me up by saying "but I need to eat my dinner first!" I came back with the wand when it was time and we had a little practise of pointing the wand (with the light off of course, we don't want to start the fireworks early) and then did it for real. The youngest girl didn't really like the fireworks at first, but this isn't unusual as they are so close and the show involves a lot of fire which is scary for kids. The parents were really happy and I left them with little certificates, pins and lots of Mickey stickers.

Was in a really good mood after this and headed home to get ready for Lasses. Had a really good night and there was some really amazing costumes. Came home and munched on popcorn before finally going to bed!

Tuesday 11th June - Slept most of the day as I was just so tired so never did any of the stuff that I needed to  do today which means I need to try and get it all done tomorrow! Woops! Did make a big lot of spag bol though which will keep me going for dinners for a while! My family get here on Friday which is exciting!! Even more exciting, they are bringing me Cadburys chocolate!

Finally, going to mention a really cute thing I saw when I was walking into work one day, but can't remember which day it was. We see a lot of people celebrating getting over illnesses or Make a Wish families but this particular family just caught my eye. I was doing my usual speed walk through the park to get to work and there was a man just in front of me with a bright green printed t-shirt and I was like "what does that say?" As I got closer I could see a sort of caricature picture of a little girl with short hair, and then as I got closer I could see that she had a speech bubble that said "I kicked cancers ass!", then it had a little score board that said "Jessica 1- Cancer 0". Then in big writing it had at the bottom "if she can beat cancer, I can do anything"  As I passed the man, I could then see this little girl who looked exactly like the drawing on the tshirt and she was the happiest little kid I've ever seen, just running about pushing her younger sibling in a stroller. When you live in the "Disney bubble", you sometimes switch off and don't appreciate where you are and how amazing everything actually is. That little girl just running about and laughing at nothing in particular definitely made me re-think my mood and brightened up my day. :)

A long overdue update

OK, so it's been 2 weeks. Not that long. But in "Disney" time, a lot can happen in two weeks!

Firstly before I start rambling, I want to say thanks to all the people that have tweeted, pm'd me on Facebook, etc. I really appreciate it and will hopefully see some of you in the future. Secondly, I can't believe how many views my little blog is receiving every day... it's just insane!

So starting from where I left off two weeks ago....

Thursday 16th May - I FINALLY GOT A PHONE THAT WORKS!!! YAY!!!!! No more being uncontactable unless I'm glued to my laptop! I also bought bathroom scales and discovered that I'd lost 12lbs since getting to Florida :) I headed off to Hollywood Studios with Jen and had an afternoon of chilling then watching Fantasmic where we bumped into a couple of our Canadian pals as well. Went home and then decided last minute to go out with the UK lot to Sun On The Beach (SOB). Crazy but fun night, ended with a trip home via Maccy D's... but never actually ended up eating it as I sat out in the middle of the Commons chatting with Charlotte until a ridiculous time in the morning. Woops!

Friday 17th May - Not a good day, felt crap and properly thought I was going to faint twice at work so got sent home early :( Had a quiet evening and spent the night in my bed catching up with tv on my laptop.

Saturday 18th May - First stocker shift. Horrendous! Ended up getting completely stressed out as I was being called here, there and everywhere and still felt horrid and just weak. Not good when having to lug about crates and kegs of beer :( The managers swapped me to a seating instead but I didn't feel any better about it and was just stressed out about the next stocker shift. I've been doing this crap at home for ages, the problem here is that people (other cast members) are extremely impatient and can be downright rude which stresses me out!

Sunday 19th May - Went to work and then when I was getting home, just as I was about to walk in my front door I saw a tiny little snake. As I bent down to look at it, A COCKROACH RAN UP MY BARE LEG!!!! Most horrible thing ever! I shook it off and practically ran screaming into my apartment. After this, I decided I had to go out!! Was going to get the bus to Downtown Disney and meet the others at Raglan Road and ended up sitting with a couple of UK-ers who were rather drunk and rather funny! Had to pretty much carry two of them across the carpark, least they were having a good time! Wasn't really into this night at all though and kept loosing people and eventually had enough so I went to walk out, at which time I found some of my Canadian friends and so walked back to the bus stop with them, venting about life! I also had a bit of an arguement with an American guy on the bus... he was being a douchebag and I clearly needed to let off some steam. I won that arguement lol....

Monday 20th May - Went to work as usual for yet another PM shift (my shifts are always PM's) and then bolted home to get ready for Lasses. As usual, I say I'm not going to go somewhere and end up going anyway! Glad I did as it was a really good night! Had a funny moment when I went into Walgreens and some random guy asked me what went with vodka? Must of been good advice I gave him, cos the guy standing behind me then asked what goes with bacardi? Nice to see someone benefiting from my drinking!

Tuesday 21st May - Day off!! Thankfully as I was feeling a bit rough and didn't wake up till mid afternoon as I went to an after party, after Lasses. Was going to go to Magic Kingdom with Charlotte but we ended up scrapping that plan as it was getting pretty late so we went for a wander round the outlets instead to look at pretty things we can't afford to buy!

Wednesday 22nd May - Another day off! Got up and got ready then headed out for a Disney day! Met with a couple of the Canadians and one of them has a car which truly is the most amazing thing after getting busses everywhere! We headed to Animal Kingdom first and did some rides and the safari and got some food before it started raining pretty heavy so we headed back to the car, went to Epcot to pick up another Canadian and then headed to Hollywood Studios for more food, rides and Fantasmic.

Thursday 23rd May - Back to work for a chippy shift that went really quick as it was busy! It was Claire's last day and she hung back to throw her shoes in the lagoon (a tradition) and then a group headed straight to Jellyrolls. I headed home for a shower and to get changed as I felt disgusting and managed to get ready realllly quick - which was a waste as the bus never came as it had broke down so had to wait an extra half hour for the next one! Finally got to Jellyrolls for big solo cups and a few songs before heading home again.

Friday 24th May - Another stocker of doom shift. This one wasn't as bad as the last as it wasn't busy to start with so managed to keep on top of things until later on. Then there was a storm warning and things had to be moved or put away which threw me off track. Still happy I managed to do it though! Went home and spent the evening watching tv in the livingroom and just chilling.

Saturday 25th May - Went to work and realised how sore I was from the day before! I could barely move my arms :( Went home in the usual rushed manner and got ready to go to Cowboys. Another really good night that definitely made me feel a lot better about things!

Sunday 26th May - Went to work, hangover free (yipee!) and had a non-eventful day as far as I can remember! The UK lot were going to Parliment instead of HOB but I was too tired so decided not to go out so that I could get up early the night day and get stuff organised for Lasses.

Monday 27th May - Got up and got the bus to Vista Way to walk over to Walgreens and Dollar Tree. The traffic was crazy at this point so I decided to walk back to Commons as it was quicker and the weather was good. There was so much traffic headed towards the outlets for the Memorial Day sales! Went to work and then did the usual rush home to get ready to go out. As it was a "last", we had a themed night so all had to represent the different countries of the World Showcase. Some peoples outfits were amazing! 

There was also an amazing proposal at the Uk pavilion... we write on the street and draw hopscotch, etc everyday and a guy asked if he could write "Will you marry me"... of course, being Disney, we went a bit beyond that... and you can watch what happened here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzP6nLN_Y7Y

Tuesday 28th May - Day off! Got up at a reasonable hour and did laundry then headed off to Magic Kingdom with Charlotte. We were just going to do a few rides but then we realised that our cast ID's are blocked out (meaning we can't go) from Monday 3rd of June until August so we ended up running about all over going on as much as possible. Even It's a Small World hahaa! Didn't leave the park till midnight but got a lot done!

Wednesday 29th May - Back to work for a PM beer cart shift which got hit with a rather annoying big thunder cloud! I somehow managed to stay dry though! A lot of people went out at night but I decided to have a quiet night in as today I had a realllllly long shift in the chippy! Which brings me right now, till 1am where I've spent a good hour typing all this out and trying to remember everything! Tomorrow is another day off and will hopefully be spent at Magic Kingdom again :) Only two weeks until my family get here!

Where does time fly?

Its been five weeks since we've been here and as ever, I can't ever remember the chronological timeline of events soooooooooo here's just another list of stuff thats been happening!

• Went to Epcot again with Laura and Kailei and spent the day going round the world showcase checking out shops, eating, taking photographs and a bit of drinking. Finally got my margarita from the Mexican pavilion! We decided to not see Illuminations and instead go over to Boardwalk where we ended up in the ESPN bar watching the hockey game. We were surrounded by Boston fans while the girls support the Leafs so it was a bit awkward. There was one particularly loud and annoying dude that I was ready to go all "Red Ross" on!!

• The day after this was our one month anniversary! Started the day by going to Publix with Jen which felt like it took forever and then went to do some laundry, etc. Then got the bus to Boardwalk with Jen, Jess and Harriet and got a table at the Riverside Bar and Grill while waiting for Scott to finish work and join us. We got app's while waiting which turned into my downfall as my pityful little appetite meant that I really struggled with my entree. Fail again! We then headed over to Jellyrolls where a couple of the Canadians joined us and we had some big drinks again :)
• Had Safety in Motion and Basics training classes... the less said the better. Boring! Although the Safety class was pretty bizarre with the rather stupid American guy who kept interrupting the class and then finished off with loudly interrupting and stating that he thought that me and two of the Canadian girls in the class were really hot. Awkward pause all around.
• I'd kept away from nights out for a while but have gone to HOB and Lasses in the last week. Still on edge a lot, sometimes things around here can seem so much better and then the next day it feels like you're back to square one. I'm definitely struggling with this a lot more than other people are, I just find myself feeling really isolated a lot.
• I've been working all PM shifts so I've used my mornings to catch up on sleep or lie in the sun for a couple hours... I know I have colour but I still feel pale! The eternal battle to be dark!
• Yesterday I lay out in the sun with Stacy for a bit and then at night went to Magic Kingdom with most of Stacy's arrival group, via the Polynesian beach to go see Wishes. Found by accident a really good viewing spot so will be camping out there from now on!

  

Swings and roundabouts

It's been an up and down kind of week. It's not that I want to go home, I just feel quite unsettled at times. I've cried more times than I care to remember. Buttt..... there are some lovely people out here that have made me feel so much better and picked me up when I'm down. I've been extremely hormonal which explains a lot of the crying!!

At home, before you leave on your big adventure then you're probably talking to people on facebook and going to meet ups... anyone that's read through my whole blog will know that I'm definitely one of those people. Everyone's friendly, everyone's best friends, etc etc etc. In reality, out here it is a lot different. In real life, everyone doesn't love everyone else and are all best friends forever, some people just prefer to hang out with certain people. There's bitching, gossip and it's just a bit of harsh reality. I'm not one of those people that only wants to hang out with a selective group, I like to mix it up.

My living situation is also quite difficult at times. I appreciate and like a bit of quiet time, but alllllll the time can feel extremely lonely. If I stay in this apartment for too long then I go a bit stir crazy. The weather has been pretty rotten recently as well, it's just been rain, rain and more rain. I don't mind that crazy hour of rain you get throughout the summer but at the moment, it's only rain! At home I would walk around puddles and avoid them at all costs, here I just charge through them in my flip flops, there's no way of keeping dry so you might as well just go with it!

That's the Negative Nancy part of my post over with..........

The upside is that the sun is back!! FINALLY!!!!!!

And although there have been some difficult parts of being here, there have been some really fun moments as well! Last week housing had arranged a night called Starlit Splash, where they hired out Typhoon Lagoon for cast members only between 7pm and midnight. Crazy night! DJ on the beach with lots of dancing, free food, t-shirts, jumping about in massive waves, swimming with sharks and fish and Jack Sparrow and other pirates kicking about. Thousands of International and college program participants all in the same park!

The day after I went to Hollywood Studios with Laura and Kailei and although it poured it down with rain, we had a good day! Went for lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine In for the first time which was pretty cool, sitting in a car getting my munch on.... couldn't finish anything though so ended up bringing most of it home in a to-go box, woops! Hid out under cover throughout most of the day and met some characters including the boss man.

The latest arrival group arrived on Tuesday, feels weird to not be the newest people here anymore! Had a similar night to our first night out and went to Cowboys. Got a bit drunker than I normally do here, but think I really just needed to let loose and felt a lot better for it afterwards. Although I did feel drunk for a big part of the next day (although I had no hangover!) so I'm glad I had the day off to just chill out. Went out in the evening (braved the rain!) and went for dinner with a group of people at Outback to finally get the steak I've been craving and it was damn good!!

I've completed my training for now and I'm no longer "Earning My Ears". I actually quite enjoy work, feels good to have some sort of routine going on as I generally have no idea what the day/date is and I tend to wake in a panic that I'm meant to be somewhere but can't remember. On that note... I need to go get ready for work! :) 

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!