So... yesterday was very interesting. It started nice and early, which is always a good way to start the day, and I headed off to Hollywood Studios with Vikki and Riyad after a little faffing. I was rather pleased with the small amount of faffing that we did do, as it does usually take us just as long to leave as it we spend at our destination, so all in all a good start to the day.
We decided to eat at Backlot Express to fulfil another of Vikki's restaurant quota, but the food was good and tasty, and we saw some excellent Disney service displayed, so I can't fault the place! Kim was lovely as I removed my purse from my bag and spilled change on the floor - we've all done it. Still, she ran over to help me pick the bits of change up, which was very kind and then chatted to us for a while, whilst we were deciding what to have. She also let us know that we could alter the menu if we wanted to, to accommodate our eating preference, which is great because Backlot is actually a Quick Service location! :) Next, me and Riyad got stuck in the queue behind a guest with considerable allergy concerns, which was long and boring for us, but obviously very important. The manager, Michael, came over to help the family with their meal choices, and was excellent, so was well worth watching and waiting for them to order. Still, Vikki had already grabbed her meal and found a table by the time we'd ordered, so we ended up sat chatting for ages! That was a lovely relaxing meal, and the atmosphere there was fantastic!
After that we took a boat to Epcot for work. Vikki started half an hour before me, and it was so busy in the park yesterday that it took ages to walk from one part to another! She cut it a little fine for work because of sheer guest volume, but she made it! :)
To start with at work, I was Chippie filling, which is one of my favourite jobs at the pavillion. It was nice and steady for a while, and there were three fillers, so it was breezy. Vikki ended up breaking someone out, and we were filling together for about an hour, which was nice. However, it was the busiest hour of the day so there wasn't too much downtime to write 'Did you know' facts on the trays. Bad times!
After my break, I got sent to seat. I had a lovely evening seating, really. I got chatting to a few tables, didn't forget any cutlery(!), and had some great guest interaction with a little boy who'd been to Animal Kingdom during the day. Lovely. I got to do Magic Moment, and the little girl really loved it! It was amazing - we even saw Tinkerbell! Then, last thing before we closed, me and Daniel sat this lovely family, and they really did make my day. They were so kind, and one of the guests was in a wheelchair, so we got chatting about his colouring skills and his big sister was so kind and said I'd made their day. That was so cute. I almost cried.
After that, it was less good. I almost died trying to get on the bus home, as people just wouldn't stop pushing. I was sure someone was going to get trampled. Then, to top it all off, I left my phone at work, so I had to go back and get that.
However, so far today I've managed to Skype my family and I got to see my Nanny as well, so it's all good. I'm now off to do my washing, because I really need some clothes.... :)
Thursday 30 December 2010
Monday 27 December 2010
Christmas at Disney
Safe to say I made it through my Disney Christmas. I had a minor work nightmare on the day itself, but nothing that couldn't be solved and all done now so that's enough about that!
Vikki has moved in now, which is great! It was just in time for Christmas, which was really lovely, as we got to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning together without considering the logistics of the thing. It has, however, hit my sleep patterns badly. Now Vikki doesn't have to be of property by 1am, we don't have an abrupt ending to our gatherings. Thus, we are now chatting and eating way into the night and I just don't get as much sleep. It's all good though.
Christmas day was weird - very different, but an experience that just clarified for me that I do love Christmas and I think I will appreciate being at home for Christmas more now. However, having said that, I did have a lovely Christmas here. The morning was spent eating croissants and unwrapping lovely presents from Vikki and Riyad and Dan. :) Mum, Dad and Ryan have given me some money for Christmas which I am very much looking forward to finding something to spend it on. Work was fun on Christmas day, as almost everyone was in and there were almost all of us tasking and seating, so we spent a lot of the playing hopskotch and giving out stickers in the sun. Good times! After I finished work, we all headed to Stuart's for Christmas dinner, cooked by Stuart and Dan. It was truly very very yummy and I really enjoyed the nice atmosphere with friends as well. It was Boxing Day by the time we were done, and me and Vikki had to head back to Patterson at 1 to be off Commons property in time. We headed straight to bed for another day at work on Boxing Day.
I wasn't feeling too great yesterday, so I was very thankful it was cold and work was fairly dead. Although I missed out on the overtime pay, I was grateful for my ER yesterday as I was feeling very unwell and going home early has definitely helped my health. :)
As for today, I've been posting a bit in the facebook CRP group. I am a bit concerned that people are given this impression that there's a huge split in the Merchandise/F&B camps. I just feel it's really unfair that people are given this impression before they get here. There are some people who only socialise within their groups, but for the most part we are all a group of friends. Fingers crossed that point has come across.
Still, I'd best go get ready for work as I start in a couple of hrs or so.
xxx
Vikki has moved in now, which is great! It was just in time for Christmas, which was really lovely, as we got to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning together without considering the logistics of the thing. It has, however, hit my sleep patterns badly. Now Vikki doesn't have to be of property by 1am, we don't have an abrupt ending to our gatherings. Thus, we are now chatting and eating way into the night and I just don't get as much sleep. It's all good though.
Christmas day was weird - very different, but an experience that just clarified for me that I do love Christmas and I think I will appreciate being at home for Christmas more now. However, having said that, I did have a lovely Christmas here. The morning was spent eating croissants and unwrapping lovely presents from Vikki and Riyad and Dan. :) Mum, Dad and Ryan have given me some money for Christmas which I am very much looking forward to finding something to spend it on. Work was fun on Christmas day, as almost everyone was in and there were almost all of us tasking and seating, so we spent a lot of the playing hopskotch and giving out stickers in the sun. Good times! After I finished work, we all headed to Stuart's for Christmas dinner, cooked by Stuart and Dan. It was truly very very yummy and I really enjoyed the nice atmosphere with friends as well. It was Boxing Day by the time we were done, and me and Vikki had to head back to Patterson at 1 to be off Commons property in time. We headed straight to bed for another day at work on Boxing Day.
I wasn't feeling too great yesterday, so I was very thankful it was cold and work was fairly dead. Although I missed out on the overtime pay, I was grateful for my ER yesterday as I was feeling very unwell and going home early has definitely helped my health. :)
As for today, I've been posting a bit in the facebook CRP group. I am a bit concerned that people are given this impression that there's a huge split in the Merchandise/F&B camps. I just feel it's really unfair that people are given this impression before they get here. There are some people who only socialise within their groups, but for the most part we are all a group of friends. Fingers crossed that point has come across.
Still, I'd best go get ready for work as I start in a couple of hrs or so.
xxx
Sunday 19 December 2010
Catching up
Ok, so it's been nearly a month since I last posted and quite a bit has happened. I will try to keep this relatively brief, but cover most of the details.
The weather here has been a little bit shocking - we've definitely hit 0 here once or twice so far this month, which is pratically unheard of for Florida. Hardly what I've moved here for, to be honest. I hardly feel that I can complain though, as the UK is experiencing some pretty intense weather systems itself, with snow that has covered the entire country and looks set to cause the first white Christmas in such a long time. I'm told there's a severe absense of the song with the name aforementioned.
Thank goodness I have started in the pavillion though. I've been working there for about 3 weeks or so now - it feels longer - and it's easy work. The people I've met on the whole have been wonderful and I'm happy to say things are looking much much brighter than they did during my first couple of weeks. I work in Food & Beverage which means I work in the Rose and Crown pub and the Yorkshire County fish hut. The work is easy and fun, for the most part. I have discovered that seating is my least favourite task and greeting or chippie filler are easily tieing for first position. However, I have to say a good deal of condiment refilling occurs when chippie filling and I swear guests are throwing away more tartar sauce than they are actually eating, but c'est la vie.
My costume (uniform) is fairly basic, and modelled on tudor wear or another similar period (I personally think they've mixed and matched quite a bit throughout history), but I quite like it. I have a swishy skirt and I LOVE swishy skirts! Winner.
Vikki's moving in with me as of tomorrow and Tuesday, which means that I will have a lovely roommate again. It'll be fun to have her here for good girly gossips and dinner parties. Lots of lovely people live here in Patterson and slowly the whole UK is moving this way, so it's great for socialising. With Christmas coming up it'll be good to have her here, so that security won't be kicking us out when we're having festive-type celebrations.
Speaking of festive celebrations, I took a trip to Walmart today in search of many items, of which one was crackers. I haven't seen any crackers in America. Are these something that only exists in the UK? How depressing. However, our little Christmas tree is beyond gorgeous - very unique and stylish in it's own little haphazardly decorated way. I love it! Dan's parcel of my Christmas pressies also arrived this morning, so I'm feeling super good today. I've been waiting almost three weeks for them to arrive. I'm hoping beyond hope that Dan's get to him on time, as the post has been so slow with the snow in the UK that I'm not overly inspired that they will get there on time. They have left Miami, and providing the plane that they were on wasn't diverted too much off course the other day, they are in the UK and hopefully winging their way to Dan this very minute.
I'm working Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve/Day this year, so there will be a fair amount of money in the kitty these next couple of weeks. Great news as I'm needing to save up for the end of January when Dan's here.
As for now, it's half 2 in the morning and I've just remembered the cleaning team can be in any time after 9am, so I'd best get myself some sleep.
Night all xxx
The weather here has been a little bit shocking - we've definitely hit 0 here once or twice so far this month, which is pratically unheard of for Florida. Hardly what I've moved here for, to be honest. I hardly feel that I can complain though, as the UK is experiencing some pretty intense weather systems itself, with snow that has covered the entire country and looks set to cause the first white Christmas in such a long time. I'm told there's a severe absense of the song with the name aforementioned.
Thank goodness I have started in the pavillion though. I've been working there for about 3 weeks or so now - it feels longer - and it's easy work. The people I've met on the whole have been wonderful and I'm happy to say things are looking much much brighter than they did during my first couple of weeks. I work in Food & Beverage which means I work in the Rose and Crown pub and the Yorkshire County fish hut. The work is easy and fun, for the most part. I have discovered that seating is my least favourite task and greeting or chippie filler are easily tieing for first position. However, I have to say a good deal of condiment refilling occurs when chippie filling and I swear guests are throwing away more tartar sauce than they are actually eating, but c'est la vie.
My costume (uniform) is fairly basic, and modelled on tudor wear or another similar period (I personally think they've mixed and matched quite a bit throughout history), but I quite like it. I have a swishy skirt and I LOVE swishy skirts! Winner.
Vikki's moving in with me as of tomorrow and Tuesday, which means that I will have a lovely roommate again. It'll be fun to have her here for good girly gossips and dinner parties. Lots of lovely people live here in Patterson and slowly the whole UK is moving this way, so it's great for socialising. With Christmas coming up it'll be good to have her here, so that security won't be kicking us out when we're having festive-type celebrations.
Speaking of festive celebrations, I took a trip to Walmart today in search of many items, of which one was crackers. I haven't seen any crackers in America. Are these something that only exists in the UK? How depressing. However, our little Christmas tree is beyond gorgeous - very unique and stylish in it's own little haphazardly decorated way. I love it! Dan's parcel of my Christmas pressies also arrived this morning, so I'm feeling super good today. I've been waiting almost three weeks for them to arrive. I'm hoping beyond hope that Dan's get to him on time, as the post has been so slow with the snow in the UK that I'm not overly inspired that they will get there on time. They have left Miami, and providing the plane that they were on wasn't diverted too much off course the other day, they are in the UK and hopefully winging their way to Dan this very minute.
I'm working Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve/Day this year, so there will be a fair amount of money in the kitty these next couple of weeks. Great news as I'm needing to save up for the end of January when Dan's here.
As for now, it's half 2 in the morning and I've just remembered the cleaning team can be in any time after 9am, so I'd best get myself some sleep.
Night all xxx
Tuesday 23 November 2010
Time to catch up on sleep, I think...
Well, today I finished my classroom based training for this role, which is great. I now have a couple of days off, in which I hope to catch up on some sleep before I start work again. What they don’t tell you is that you will be spending a lot of your first week getting up at, literally, the crack of dawn to get to your classes. I’ve seen a lot of 5 and 6 am this past week, and it hasn’t been the nicest start to the programme to be honest, but getting up early is also hardly the end of the world.
Settling in is proving slightly more challenging for me than for most people on account of the fact that I am the only UK Cultural Rep in my arrival group. To be honest, I might as well have been the only person in my arrival group in total, because after the first two days of paperwork, I’ve not seen a living soul in my training that has been consistent! It’s making it pretty difficult to make friends when your relationship-building time is mere hours. Still, as of Friday morning, I will be on my on the job training, which means I’ll be meeting and working with a lot more people and more consistent faces. Fingers crossed, I’ll be making friends in no time! I’ve hardly had the most conventional programme as it is so far, so I’m hoping it’ll normal out very soon now!
I’ve visited the Magi c Kingdom now, which was truly awesome – I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it! I really want to see Hollywood Studios again, so I intend to head there on one of my days off over the next couple of days. Probably Thursday as I have some bits and pieces to be doing on one of the days, like laundry and food shopping, so Thursday seems like a better day to be hitting the parks. I’ll have to go early though, as it will be Thanksgiving here so things will be PACKED!
I’ve also decided that I need to buy a wireless router – not be able to access the internet here whenever I want is driving me mental! They’re pretty cheap in Walmart so I’m hoping with Black Friday that I might well be in luck for a cheap one! Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the US when all the shops sell things at tremendous bargain prices – some places go as low as 90% off. It’s like the January sales but much much bigger. Apparently, there were people camping and queuing already yesterday.
I’ve unpacked everything into the apartment now, and it’s just about enough. I need to build up my shoe collection – this has become very clear, but I’m sure that really won’t take me very long. We have the Orlando Premium Outlets within walking distance, and free buses to the Florida Mall, for M&Ms amongst other goodies, so I’m certain that I will be spoilt for choice once the money starts rolling in!
Still, tonight is Glee night, and I think I’m going to head to bed early to make the most of tomorrow – who knows, I might pop by a park in the afternoon! Still, looking forward to a lie-in!
Chat soon,
Terri xxx
Thursday 18 November 2010
The Magic Begins...
Well, I've made it to the land of dreams.
It's really warm and sunny here, and I have a lovely apartment. It's in the newest block out here, called Patterson Court and there's all sorts of people living here from all different cultures and walks of life. I arrived and am doing Orientation with approximately 150 Peruvians, who are all on much shorter visas and a different programme. On the whole they seem to be really nice, but they've all come from the same University so they all know eachother and talk in Spanish all the time, which makes it a little diffcult to make friends. From what I can gather, I've certainly not had a usual Disney orientation, but it's still fun and I've made a couple of good friends, which is really lovely! There's a lovely Italian who I've started to hang out with too, on my programme, so I'm looking forward to Traditions knowing it's not just me now! :)
So far it's just been a lot of paperwork, but the real fun starts on Saturday and that's when we get our Disney IDs, so that'll be a lovely trip to the parks from then on.
I'll update soon! Keep dry over there in England and I miss you all very much!
Love & cuddles xxxx
It's really warm and sunny here, and I have a lovely apartment. It's in the newest block out here, called Patterson Court and there's all sorts of people living here from all different cultures and walks of life. I arrived and am doing Orientation with approximately 150 Peruvians, who are all on much shorter visas and a different programme. On the whole they seem to be really nice, but they've all come from the same University so they all know eachother and talk in Spanish all the time, which makes it a little diffcult to make friends. From what I can gather, I've certainly not had a usual Disney orientation, but it's still fun and I've made a couple of good friends, which is really lovely! There's a lovely Italian who I've started to hang out with too, on my programme, so I'm looking forward to Traditions knowing it's not just me now! :)
So far it's just been a lot of paperwork, but the real fun starts on Saturday and that's when we get our Disney IDs, so that'll be a lovely trip to the parks from then on.
I'll update soon! Keep dry over there in England and I miss you all very much!
Love & cuddles xxxx
Monday 25 October 2010
When You Wish Upon A Star...
So, the excitement has begun. It's crazy to think that I applied for this job in June, interviewed in August and earlier this month, and now, in 3 weeks' time, will be flying out to Florida for the most amazing experience I'll ever have.
Walt Disney World is only 22 days away, and today I booked my flight and sent off my CRB check. I cannot believe I only found out about this 4 days ago! My whole world has been rocked, but I am so excited! I don't want to leave Dan behind, but I know we'll stick with it and manage to get through it, and hopefully he'll be able to come over to Disney to visit me some time next year.
I keep looking around our little flat and thinking that I have to pack it all back up, sell a load of things I should really get rid of, and it feels like I've only just unpacked it. I'm only planning on taking the one suitcase out to Never Neverland with me, though, so I have to get rid of some of it! :)
Best get cracking then...
Walt Disney World is only 22 days away, and today I booked my flight and sent off my CRB check. I cannot believe I only found out about this 4 days ago! My whole world has been rocked, but I am so excited! I don't want to leave Dan behind, but I know we'll stick with it and manage to get through it, and hopefully he'll be able to come over to Disney to visit me some time next year.
I keep looking around our little flat and thinking that I have to pack it all back up, sell a load of things I should really get rid of, and it feels like I've only just unpacked it. I'm only planning on taking the one suitcase out to Never Neverland with me, though, so I have to get rid of some of it! :)
Best get cracking then...
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