Sunday 26 February 2012

Staycation, Part 3

Tuesday, I was back to work. It was my one and only Beer Cart shift that I'd ever been scheduled during my time on Podium and it was an 11-6pm... easy peasy. So I was excited. We had breakfast and we walked over to EPCOT, I signed Mum in, got changed and went to check the lag. Front of House. Was soooooo annoyed. Basically, someone had phoned in sick who was supposed to be the closing Beer Cart person and instead of just swapping someone from FOH to cover it, the co-ordinator had made that FOH person an all-day Beer Cart and put me on FOH instead which really doesn't make sense. Anyhow, I ended up seating which was annoying to the extreme and then just covering Tom's break (aforementioned FOH person) which was better than nothing I suppose. My day did improve with the arrival of my 'Applause-O-Gram'!! It's really quite rare to get them because it means a guest has gone to Guest Relations to say how great you are and they fill it out, then it gets delivered to the location. I was super happy about that - it's taken me 3 programs to get one of them! So the day improved, and then at 6pm I got changed again and met Mum and Nick in the UK pavilion. Nick had scored us fast passes to Test Track so we went and did that (probably for the last time before it goes down for massive refurb) and then sadly Soarin' was having technical issues and their line was 3 hours long so even with Fast Pass we didn't have enough time to do it. We walked back to the UK and got a drink in the Pub before sitting down at 708 on lower deck to have dinner and watch the fireworks. Lee was our server and he was great! I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the meal actually... I had the scotch egg which was very yummy, followed by Fish and Chips (I know... really...) and then the Bakewell Tart for dessert. I also had an English Rose cocktail (very fruity) and my favourite - a Magical Star. Another glow cube for my collection!We got an awesome view of the fireworks and then Nick went back to his car whilst me and Mum went back to the Beach Club.

On Wednesday, I had to work all day. We got breakfast in the Yacht Club which was really good (I had a Mickey Waffle!) and then I walked over to the UK. It was a chippie registers shift which was fun and we had a MASSIVE thunderstorm!! My first one since I've been here and it was very exciting! The rain was just insane... I've never seen anything like it even in the summer. The drains got blocked with leaves so the main promenade going through the UK got 3 inches of water flooding it. Crazy. Anyway, the storm did a good job clearing out the guests so it was quite quiet for the rest of the night. I banked out, we cleaned chippie and then it was home time. But I had to go back to the Commons because it was the photo shoot the next day!

Me, Rob, Dan and then also Tyler ended up going to ihop before going home. Then I washed and dried my hair and by this point it was like 1.30am so I figured there was no point in going to bed for 2 hours... so I just stayed up. I revised the menu a bit and got myself ready. At just before 4am, I walked out to the front of the Commons where I ran into a load of newbies who were coming back from a night out so that was random. Stood talking to them until my lift showed up... and we drove to EPCOT. It was very strange being in the UK at that time in the morning - kinda felt like I'd never left! There were three 'scenes' to be done - Jenny was pouring a pint in the bar, Chris was serving food in the dining room and I was standing outside the chippie. We did Jenny's first, then Chris, then me as I needed daylight for mine. It was great because I had my hair all done up in french plaits and then had my make-up done - I felt spoilt! The only downside was having that stupid hat on and having to wear my costume!! It was my turn for photos at about 8am and my face hurt from smiling! Then we had group pictures done outside the Rose and Crown as well... then we were done for the day! It was very strange walking out of work at 9am and getting the C bus back to Commons on my own!

I got back, got changed and then drove back to the Beach Club. Picked up Mum and we went to the Florida Mall - I was SOOOO tired. Absolutely exhausted. Anyway, we wondered around, went to the Bath and Body Works and then she got some lunch. I was too tired to eat so I just had my 2nd Red Bull of the day. We drove back and I crashed out for a couple of hours. Felt pretty rough when I woke up - bit like being jet lagged! I went and got a sugar injection in the form of a Fudge Sundae from Beaches & Cream which was good. We got ready and then drove to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to eat at Sanaa with Nick - my first curry for 4 months!!!!! It was amazing!! After dinner, we went back and I slept like I was dead for 11 hours. Amazing. Basically in about 30 hours, I'd only had 2 hours sleep.

Friday, we got a snack for breakfast and sat on the 'beach' for an hour or so. Then I walked to EPCOT and got changed, and went to work for my last podium shift!! It was 11 hours long, about 8 hours of that was on chippie registers. It was pretty standard to be honest but enjoyable. I was only 5 cents out on my till despite using it for some training as well so I was very happy with that. After work, I walked back from the Beach Club and went to bed... it was a non-eventful day!

Saturday was Mum's last day... we got up, packed and checked out of the Beach Club (sad times). We drove to the Commons so I could drop all my crap off and then we went to Downtown Disney to get a couple of things from World of Disney. We had a wonder around the shops and then decided to get lunch at Olive Garden. I got lost driving there and so it took 25 minutes, oops! Anyway, we had lunch which was good and then had about an hour to kill so drove to Mickey's Retreat and went and sat by the lake there. Then we drove to EPCOT to pick up Nick and then went to the airport. It was pretty easy, no traffic and didn't get lost! Mum went to departures which was a bit sad and then Nick and I went to get a drink in the food court. He wanted to pop by Mall of Millennia which I figured wasn't too far away so I agreed.... over an HOUR LATER we finally got there!! It was such bad traffic!!! We sat forever on International Drive moving at like 1 MPH it was awful. Had amusing time people watching though... "I ain't no ho!" LOL. (In-joke).

We went and got the things he wanted then it took us over 2 hours to get back from Mall of Millennia to Commons!! I felt so bad because I'd said to Ty and Steffie that we'd go to Walmart at like 5pm, my phone died and eventually I got to Commons at 8pm!! Seriously, I've never seen traffic that bad in my whole life. Every road we went to was a solid jam. I almost ran out of gas so it's good we found a gas station as well. It was because of a big basketball game today combined with the Princess Half-Marathon at Disney today as well... Horrendus. I met Ty, Steffie and her friend Emily and we had some pasta at Steffie's spiffy one-bed apartment. Then we drove to Walmart and did a big shop there. I got back around 11pm and unpacked my stuff before finally having a shower and going to bed!

Today I start food running so wish me luck!!!

Friday 24 February 2012

Staycation, Part 2

So, Cirque Du Soleil was amazing!!! I really enjoyed it. It was definitely a bit 'out-there' and Mr Martyn (my A-Level Theatre Studies teacher) would have had a field day analyzing it but being in the front row was great - we had trapeze artists above our heads! It definitely worth a trip to see it... the theatre is smaller than you think so any seat really does give a good view. I'd like to see it again but from nearer the back so that you can get the whole 'picture' rather than being as close as we were where you could only really look at one thing at a time. So, after the show was over we got a taxi back to the hotel and crashed out - so tired!

On Sunday, we headed out to Kissimmee to go and see the villa which my parents are renting in July... basically, to have a nose around. We first tried to go to iHop but it was totally packed so we ended up with a Subway breakfast (bit eww...). Then we drove down there with no incident except that the SatNav died on us and wouldn't find any GPS after that for the rest of the week. We saw the villa, got some gas and then attempted to drive to the Florida Mall. Got very lost, ended up in a traffic jam on the I-4 and eventually gave up and went back to the hotel. We got food at the hotel pool QS and then went and lay by the quiet pool (they have two - a quiet one with a hot tub and a busy one with waterslides and lots of children) where I revised the new menu and my Mum sunbathed. At about 4pm we got dressed and got the boat to Hollywood Studios. We did Tower of Terror where I saw Sjonnie, one of the guys I worked with at Star Tours, then we attempted to find food and ended up at the SciFi Drive-In Theatre Restaurant which I think is awesome. Sadly we didn't get to eat inside a 'car' but we had one of the tables at the back of the restaurant. It was really fun. After that, despite feeling stuffed, we went to Star Tours and Mum loved it surprisingly!! Then we went to queue up for Fantasmic and got good seats for that... it had been very windy that day but luckily it died down a bit - the show was amazing!! MICKEY WAS AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN!!!! This greatly excited me because he hasn't been at the top all the times I've seen the show during this program. He still didn't shoot fireworks out of his fingers though like he used to.

Anyway, after Fantasmic, we went to Rock 'n' RollerCoaster which was a bit of a nightmare. I figured because of the amount of people leaving the park, the queue wouldn't be too bad - wrong. We also got stuck behind a really annoying group of 15 year olds including one girl who was loud, boasting about her fake ID and how she was drunk and was also smoking in the queue. Wish I'd had my costume on at that point, she would have known about it. After about an hour queue we got on the ride and it was awesome of course. Then we got the boat back to the Beach Club and went to bed.

On Monday it was our last chance to do the other parks. I guess it was quite badly timed really because all the parks we did were over President's Day Weekend which meant the parks were pretty packed out. Anyway, we started off reasonably early and got to Animal Kingdom at about 10.30am. We walked to Everest and only queued for about 40 minutes which wasn't too bad. Then we went over to Safaris where the queue was up to 70 minutes so we got Fastpasses and went about getting some lunch. We walked back to the Yak & Yeti QS which I'd heard great things about - and I waited in line for over 30 minutes!!! Awful!! It wasn't Quick-Service at all! The main reason for this was because of the good old Disney Dining Plan. Their options were too complicated so it took the cast member time to explain it to every bloody guest and then also coupled with the fact that there was only one register for 2 lines of people. I can understand this when there are lots of registers but at this one there was only 2 or 3! Can't believe it took so long - the food was good but it was a bit of a joke.

After this, we went back to Safaris and did that - saw lots of animals. Then we walked to Camp Minnie-Mickey to catch the Festival of the Lion King. Nick was on his way to meet us... but by the time he got there, the theatre was almost full so we ended up in Standing Room Only whilst my Mum sat in a different part to see the show. That was a bit annoying and I was getting fed up with all the crowds - especially the tour groups!! So after the show, we sat and had a drink with Nick before going our separate ways. We went back to the hotel and did a bit more chilling out before getting ready for Magic Kingdom.

Obviously MK was packed as well but only took about 45 minutes to drive there, get the monorail and get into the park so that wasn't too bad. We went to Adventureland and did Jungle Cruise (rapidly turning into one of my favourite rides!) and then did Pirates as well. Then we stopped by Pecos Bills to have a snack - we both had fries, Mum's were topped with chilli and mine were topped with cheese haha! We also saw a Cast Member that remembered me from the Chippie so we had a funny conversation about that! Then we walked to the Hub and got a good spot for MM&Y/Wishes. Mum really enjoyed the projection show which I was excited about because it's so hard to explain to people. After the fireworks were over, we hung around for a bit to wait for the crowds to ease. Then we got the resort monorail back to the TTC and then drove back to the hotel - again, exhausted!

Saturday 18 February 2012

Staycation, Part 1

My mum is finally here!!!!!! :D More on that later...

So I don't have quite as many days off as I thought on the previous post. The main reason for this is because of the Disney International Programs Photo Shoot which I have been (unbelievably) chosen for, along with a couple of other UK'ers (and ironically, Tyler who is Canada-Represent!) and the shoot is taking place on Thursday. The pick up time is 4.30am. YES, 4.30 IN THE MORNING! Hense the day off on Thursday that I wasn't expecting... but I'm sure it'll be fun (and exhausting).

So the early part of this week was pretty dull - work, work and work. I was obviously willing Friday to arrive and so the rest of the week seemed to go really slowly. On Tuesday I was feeling a bit down and then I ran into some Canadians at the bus stop and ended up at TGI Fridays with them for a bit... apart from that, I've gone home every day after work. But they've almost all been closes as usual.

On Friday though, I woke up at like 6am because of everything that was on my mind about the day and so I straightened my hair (thanks to Florida humidity and rain this was later a waste of time...) and then at 9.30am I met Sam at the bus stop and we walked to the Marriott Village to pick up the car!! It was about a 20 minute walk but we picked up the car no problems and got an upgrade... win. To a massive car about the size of my parents' car with automatic headlights, digital radio and several other fancy things... Our first trip was to Walmart which was fine, a bit scary, but fine. We got a few bits and bobs before heading back to Commons to drop it off and then picking up Tyler at Patterson. We then drove to the Florida Mall and went to American Eagle, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe (where I bought some lush shoes) and grabbed some food in the food court. Then Ty and Sam wanted to be dropped off at Crossroads so that they could get a hair cut so I took them there and drove back to Commons. Sorted out a rental car permit so I can park it at the Commons and then realised that Ty had left his apartment key in the back of the car... so after rushing around to pack the last few bits (thanks to the rain, and therefore traffic, I was running behind) and shoving it all in the car, I dropped his key off at Vista Way where he'd got to on the F bus from Crossroads. Then I drove to the Beach Club to check in...

Checked in, and got my room key. Ran up to the room to make sure it was all good and then met Nick in the foyer. He and I then drove to the airport  (I was driving, I think this made him a *tad* nervous!!!) without any incident, it was all good. We finally got there, after Mum's flight had landed and we spent about 15 minutes trying to find the arrivals gate she was coming into and then another 15 minutes waiting for her to arrive! I was feeling really nervous and excited with a banging headache to boot! Finally I saw her!

I was so glad Nick did come with me in the end - he knew his way around the airport better than I did and he also ended up driving the rental car back for me because my headache was hurting so much! I think I was just overwhelmed by the whole day really. We got back to the Beach Club and he got his car and went off to a birthday party he was going to... whilst I took our luggage up to the room. We're on the 4th floor, overlooking the courtyard which is the Boardwalk-side entrance to the hotel. We have a little balcony which you can stand on or even prop a chair onto I reckon... it's really nice! The beds are heavenly - especially after the Commons and the A/C is freezing, again especially after the Commons!! We went downstairs to the QS/shop and got a flatbread pizza which was actually quite yummy and a half bottle of Wine. Then we walked out onto the Yacht Club jetty and saw IllumiNations from there! It was awesome! I need to go back there with my camera and take pictures. After that we headed back to the room and chilled out, got an early night seen as she was jet lagged and I was just plain tired!!

Then today we got up and went to grab a snack for breakfast before we unpacked in the room. Then we went to Downtown Disney to get Cirque du Soleil tickets!!! So excited!! It was my treat for Mum and I got cast discount but even so it was like $120! Anyways, then we drove to the Commons so Mum could see my apartment and we got a couple of things I forgot before stopping by Walgreens for a couple of things and then Panera Bread for lunch where we ran into Tyler and Steffie! We got back to the Beach Club and I had 20 minutes before a meeting at work I had to attend so I was rushing to walk over to the UK pavilion - I discovered that it literally only takes 10 minutes door-to-door which is awesome. But in other news, the meeting was cancelled and my manager was about to call me when I walked in! So I wondered back and we sat out on the 'beach' overlooking the Boardwalk as the sun had finally come out for a bit.

Then we went to Beaches & Cream for a cheeky ice cream and then came back to the room and chilled out. We've just got ready for the evening and now I'm off in my ridiculous heels to Downtown Disney, Planet Hollywood and Cirque Du Soleil!!

Sunday 12 February 2012

Around the world in 80 minutes...

So we passed our inspection and got cookies, yay! I didn't end up going to Epcot early because I spent too long on my computer and catching up on Casualty! So I got the bus to work and spent the day training Charlotte on Chippy Tills. It was her second day of training so she was fine with it - apart from a couple of coupons we had to process it was all good! She managed to get out of staying til close so after she left at 9.30pm, I continued on until close (extra tragic hours remember!) and then banked out at 11pm... and my till was bang on! I was happy! It's difficult to get it bang on when you're sharing a till and because I was filling I couldn't watch every single transaction that Charlotte was doing. Another thing I found out that day was that Charlotte is actually my next door neighbour! After banking out, I got out at about 11.30pm... I got the bus home and went to bed.

On Saturday I went to work at 11.45am for my open til close shift... I was seating for a good part of the day and then Vicki hurt her foot on the keg trolley so I ended up taking over stocker and being the closing stocker which was quite busy and tiring. It was also cold and so I had to wear my winter coat which is a bit big and bulky for stocking really but it was better than freezing! The temperature is weird here at the moment, we've had a sudden cold snap - and going from 25 degrees to 2 degrees is quite difficult to deal with! I finally finished work at about 10pm and went home when Nick called me and we ended up chilling out at his house and making cookies!

This morning I got ready for work and went to work first thing as again, I was an opening shift. I was actually opening chippy and I was a bit worried because it's never gone that well! But Natalie was also there and she was a star... we were ready by 11.20am! So I was chippy till all day and it was bloody freezing so being in there was a bit of blessing. I got out at 6.15pm and didn't want to waste my early finish so I got changed at Cast Services and then went back into the World Showcase... I was hoping to walk around with someone but everyone was either working or busy so I just went around on my own. I got a Magner's from the beer cart and then walked around the French pavilion before watching 'Impressions De France' in their cinema show thing which was good - made me want to go back to France! Then I went to Morocco and had a falafel wrap which was quite good - another country to tick off my food list! I walked through the other countries, and took a walk around the massive Japanese merchandise store which is somewhere I definitely need to go back to once I have money! I got a School Bread from Norway (standard) and then ate it as I walked back to Cast Services to get the C bus. I just got back home and I'm watching TV whilst waiting to hear from Tyler to see if he wants to hang out...

Also, I discovered that I go into food running a week earlier than I thought!! This is a bit scary because it means I go in in 2 weeks - the 26th Feb! Also, that's the day after my mum leaves and the date change means that I'll be taking my service test the day after the new menu starts at the Rose & Crown - great timing NOT!!  The good news is that I got my schedule for the week my mum is here (5 days and counting!) and I'm only working for 3 days so I have Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Saturday off! YAY!!

Friday 10 February 2012

Just like in the movies...

Well Tuesday's long shift was very... long. I saw the newbies at lunchtime which was quite exciting as they were having their walkthrough. After work, Sam came over to my apartment which I soon discovered was full of most of the French Pavilion so we met Sophie and phoned for Chinese Food before going to Sophie's apartment to eat it and then I eventually went to bed at about 1am.

On Wednesday I was off! YAY! My one and only day off so obviously I spent the first part of it doing laundry... then I got the first bus to Walmart. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and I was annoyed that I only had one day off because otherwise I would have led by the pool but I needed to make the most of my day. Sooo... I went to Walmart and bought lots of healthy food! When I got back, I put away the food and then went to Steffie's new apartment - she just moved into a one bedroom in block 19 which is really nice. I am a little bit jealous! Until I realise that I got lucky with my apartment really... it's only 2 bedroom, my roomates are tidy and clean plus of course, it's in Beverley Hills!! :D (i.e. near the bus stop) Then we got the E bus to Hollywood Studios and wondered around - rode Star Tours which is always fun. We were going to get food but we couldn't get any sit down restaurants so I ended up with chicken nuggets and Steffie had an ice cream. Then we walked to the Boardwalk Resort and got the guest bus to Downtown Disney where we went to World of Disney and then to the AMC Cinema. We saw a movie called 'One for the Money' with a friend of Tyler's called Daniel (even though Tyler was at work, I've met Daniel loads of times) and it was surprisingly good! I enjoyed it! We got out of there at about 9.30pm so we got the F bus home (which took forever) and I eventually got home at about 10.30pm. I did my tax return form (exciting) and then went to bed. That was the end of my day off, sad times.

Thursday it was back to work and I was training!! Woo!! So, I actually met a couple of the newbies - Tasvir and Fiona at the bus stop and we all went to work together. I actually ended up training Tasvir on seating all day which was thrillsville (as I LOVE seating.... ha.) but she picked it up pretty quickly! It reminded me how hard it was to learn the table numbers when I was a newbie! We were really understaffed so the servers ended up seating quite a few tables and it was a bit frustrating when we could have done with being able to take our time rather than rush because we were lacking cast members. But anyways, it went quite well and we both finished at 7pm!! After a small issue with the fact Tasvir lost the piece of paper with her locker combination on it and we had to phone security because costuming was closed, she eventually got her stuff from her locker and I got changed. Nick picked me up and we went to Olive Garden for dinner which was NOM because we got this special set menu thing for $12.95 which was really good value! I had tortellini and a mini lemon mousse thing as well as the epic salad and breadsticks of course. Our server was from Hull and she'd done the CRP a couple of years ago!! (And got married and stayed there of course...)

Then we went to Downtown Disney and I was back at the AMC Cinema again! This time we went to see the Woman in Black - it was really good! Scared me!!! Lots of jumpy moments and creepy silences! It was great. After that we went home and crashed out as it was pushing 1am.

This morning Nick had an early start at Soarin' (as usual) so I'm here bumming around my apartment now before I go to work later. I'm thinking of going early and having a wonder round the world showcase before work so I can buy the Wine 101 book we used at service class (you can buy it in 'France') as I have nothing else to do. We also have an inspection today so I'm sure we'll pass as our apartment is nice and tidy :)

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Karma!

Ok, so in contrast to my super easy day on Thursday - Friday was a bit of a nightmare!! I was closing stocker which is fine usually but for some reason it was just crazy in the evening and I was running around like a crazy person for 4 hours... kegs kept going, chippie was packed out so their cupboard kept running low and condiments needed doing constantly, the beer cart was busy so the fridge needed restocking then just to add to it all... I had a man come up to me and was like "okay, I need your help" and it transpired that he wanted to propose to his girlfriend at dinner in the Rose & Crown!! So, he got me to write "Will you marry me?" on a dessert menu which I gave to his server and when they had the dessert menus handed out, she got it, looked totally shellshocked, then he got down on one knee and proposed!! She said yes! We managed to get some comp'd champagne for the couple and I got 'happily ever after' buttons for them as well... it was awesome! But yeah, I was crazy busy and it's only thanks to Mr B (one of the coordinators) who helped me out and David giving me a hand closing beer cart that I got out at a reasonable time of 9.50pm. The main thing was that it was Extra Magic Hours and it was SOOO busy! Luckily the stocker doesn't have to stay late on EMH but I was sooo exhausted. Nick picked me up again and we went to Chevys at Crossroads for mexican food before going home and watching the rest of the movie we'd started the night before.

On Saturday, I had work from 1145-1930 which was nice. I was chippy fill and greeter, it went a bit crazy at the end but it was a pretty standard shift. I got changed at cast services after work and got the bus back to Commons. Nick and I were going to go to the cinema but the movie times didn't work out so we ended up going to Sweet Tomatoes which is lush! It's like $15 for all you can eat but it's salad, soup, pasta and drinks (and dessert) which is pretty healthy and a good change from the normal fried crap! We were just going to get food and then he was going to drop me home but in the end we ended up going back to Nick's and I chilled reading my kindle whilst he did his mountain of math homework for university. Exciting times.

On Sunday, I went to work and I was chippy registers! Yay! So, chippy was pretty dead for the whole day - it was Superbowl Sunday and so nobody was in the park - and then it kept raining in the evening so it was very slow!! My till had half what it usually does in it by the end of the shift - I only saw one $100 bill in the whole day!! I banked out at 8pm and was spot on (wooo) before closing down one side of chippy and then helping to close/clean the rest of it. We got out at about 9.45pm and there was lots of talk of going to HOB (House of Blues) but it was so wet outside and lots of people were tired because they'd gone to watch the Superbowl and got caught in the rain! So, in the end I just stayed home and got a good night's sleep!

Yesterday was a long day... I started work at 1230 and was a seater for the first half of the day before changing to greeter after my break. I briefly met the newbies whilst I was on break which was exciting and then the best part of my day came with the magical moment! I met this super cute little 4 year old boy who was mature beyond his years (you could have a coherant adult conversation with him! It was hilarious!) and so I made sure I did the magical moment with him :D He loved it and totally believed it which was amazing. His dad tried to tip me $10 but obviously we can't accept tips so I told him to pass it onto his server who is in a tipped position... but really, it was the fact he loved it and his parents loved it which meant I didn't mind not being able to take the tip! It's just awkward because you feel rude refusing it!! After closing chippy, I ran into Tyler and Naveen who were waiting for a taxi to TGI Fridays, so I joined them and went for a drink and some food. We had a good conversation about Disney Look and general other venting LOL. We got the F bus home and I went to bed at about 12.40am.

Today I'm off for another long day from 1230-chippy close... then I'm off tomorrow! YAY! My one day off for this week and also my last day off before my mum arrives!!!! I'm so excited!!!! She arrives next Friday - just 10 days!

Friday 3 February 2012

"Smells like a dead rat!"

It's been a bit of a crazy week so it's taken me a whole week to get round to updating! Whenever I don't write on my blog, it's not because I've forgotten, it's normally just because I've been so busy! I'm actually writing this post on Nick's laptop at his apartment because I just never seem to be at home using mine! (Having said that I'd never have come here without a laptop, it's just so useful)

Okay, so extra magic hours last week ended up being a closing shift because now that it's not Christmas, it means that chippy closes at 1030pm so that was the end time for my shift therefore it turned into a closing chippy shift. I think I was on greeter for the entire day actually, then after closing greeter I went to help close chippy... it wasn't a particularly exciting day, I got out at just gone 11pm so I headed home and to bed.

Saturday, I was bumming around my apartment chilling out when deployment called me and asked me in early... so I started about an hour early and I actually did end up on Chippy Registers which was quite a nice change seen as I'd only done it once since New Year! It was a very sunny day and we enjoyed standing outside for most of the shift. My till was only about 50c out so that was good. After banking out I went back down and helped close chippy before we clocked out. Seen as I ended up clocking out late pretty much every day plus coming in early on a couple of days as well plus it being a 6 day week meant that I managed to get about 10 hours overtime last week and did about 47 hours! Yay to a good paycheck this month! After work, we went to Steffies and had pizza which was pretty standard.

Sunday, I was a seater and then became closing stocker after my break because Paul was going home. I prefer to take over stocker earlier rather than later if I'm closing because it means less running around after the last stocker if they missed stuff. Being stocker is a job which you put in what you get out - if you're a lazy stocker then you end up having to do more work in the last 30 minutes of your shift to get everything to a reasonable standard before closing. If you're a good stocker for the whole shift then it's plain sailing and you won't get blamed the next day for missing stuff out!! So anyways, I took over stocker and it was pretty easy - the parks have been very quiet the last few days - until the end of the shift. Chippy were quite busy so I had to restock their cupboard and get things for them... then they were short on seaters so I ended up doing rope and not sticking to my normal stocking schedule which pushed me back further. Then just as I was doing the last checks of beer cart I realized that both kegs were almost empty so at like 9.45pm I then had to get two kegs over to beer cart, change them and take the empty ones over the road and then wait for Mr B to check me. Eventually I got everything done - all the chippy people had gone home and even some of the servers had banked out and gone home! I clocked out 45 minutes late at 10.15pm eventually but at least I did a good job. I was exhausted so I just went home and went to bed especially as we had an early start the next day....

For Service Class!! The downside was that it started at 8am at Disney University. Nobody had organized a taxi so we ended up getting the A bus from Chatham at 6.45am which meant getting up at like 6am which was a bit gross. It was in costume not in professional attire so that was easy... once we got going it was fine - one of our arrival group, Tom, hadn't been to bed because he went to House of Blues the night before so he provided our entertainment for most of the day! The service class was great - we went through all the Disney Standards for serving food and drinks in Disney restaurants, how to carry plates, how to serve drinks. Then we had lunch break and in the afternoon we had wine class! I loved it, thought it was really interesting... we talked about how wine was made, we tried grapes and discussed the different vineyards in the world as well as the varietals of grape and types of wine. Sadly we did not get to actually try any wine haha! I think that was because of the under-21 contingent. We were done at 5pm so we got changed at DU and then got the cast bus to the tunnels... it's so weird going through there now because it reminds me of my first program so much! Just the smell of it, the music and the way it looks! We came up in Main Street and put our stuff in a locker... it was just me, Dan, Sam, Sophie and Steffie. Then the MiSiCi parade started so we watched the whole thing (me and Dan did a LOT of silly dancing and clapping) which was soooo much fun! We went over to LibSq to go on Haunted Mansion but it went 101 just as we were approaching it, gutted! Instead we got some food at Pinnochios and then Steffie left us to head home. The rest of us went on It's a Small World (ugh) and then Sophie and I watched the Dream Along With Mickey show. The others joined us for The Magic, The Memories and You (TMTMAY) which I love and then Wishes which of course, is my favorite thing. Then we got the A bus home and after a very long day, I finally went to bed.

Tuesday was an equally exciting day because we were off to the Cabins!! At the Fort Wilderness Resort (near the Magic Kingdom) they have a campground (with some massive RVs that guests have driven in!) and they have these log cabins with all the luxury of a Disney hotel room. It's awesome!! First thing, I met Tyler and we went to the Premium Outlets, grabbed a Subway and then went back to Commons. I put a bag of stuff together and then we got the E bus to Vista Way, the A bus to the TTC, the monorail to MK then the boat to Fort Wilderness, then another bus to the check in!! It was a fun journey and only really took us about an hour. Tyler hired a golf cart (best investment ever) and we whizzed around the resort on it for the whole time. We got into the cabin which is basically a living room with fold down double bed, sofa, table and chairs, TV with cable and DVD player, kitchen, bathroom and then a bedroom with another double bed and a bunk bed which is slightly bigger than a single bed width-wise. We met Dan, Ani, Sam and Clare who were already relaxing by the pool! We got some snacks and wine at the campground shop and then all relaxed in the cabin for a bit where we were joined by Anastasia.

When we checked in, the front desk said we had "a special present from Chip & Dale" which was some long sticks, marshmallows, hersheys chocolate and graham crackers so at 6pm we went to the Camp Fire and made s'mores!!!! Was soooo much fun. I stank of fire after that but it was worth it - and we met Dale as well! Then we had reservations at the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the sister resort of Wilderness Lodge so we got the boat over to the resort... and accidentally timed it perfectly to see Wishes across the Seven Seas Lagoon!!! It was magical!!!! Literally one of my favorite memories of this program already!

Once we got there, we had dinner (I had pasta and a Magical Star cocktail - my favorite!) and then we were all pretty tired so we got the boat back to the cabin and chilled out there. We had more wine and watched TV until we all went to bed around 1am. By this point there was me, Steffie, Tyler, Dan, Sam, Sophie, Paul, Anastasia, Alison, Ani and Clare - 11 of us! In a cabin designed for 6! But actually we all were pretty comfy, we had two on every bed, two on the sofa, one on a bench (sophie's choice!) and it was fine! The next day, we eventually got up and some people had to leave to go to work so we did some runs to the bus stop using the golf cart then we had to drop the cart off as well at 11am so ultimately it was me, Sam, Clare and Steffie left. We went to the pool for a couple of hours (hello, sunburn!) and then got the guest Hollywood Studios bus then the E bus to get home which was a lot quicker than the way we got there! I ended up going to Downtown Disney to see if I could find a couple of items I've been looking for but failed... instead I bought a watch which is lush! It was supposed to be $75 but I got 40% off so it was only $50 in the end! After I got back, I intended to do all my laundry and tidy up etc but then Nick called me and I ended up meeting up with him.

We got movies from Red Box and watched the Hangover 2 and 50/50 which was good then crashed out. Yesterday was Thursday and I was finally back at work... it was a joke day!! I had to be at EPCOT at 8.30am so Nick kindly dropped me off as I had my train the trainer class from 9-12 which was good. I got my trainer pin so I'm officially a Disney Trainer which is very exciting. Then I had an hour gap until my shift started so I got a subway then walked over. Then when my shift started, one of the coordinators got me to do the 'birthday board' for February which involved just cutting and stapling clip art basically for an hour and a half :P I also wrote up a closing stocker checklist which is something I've been meaning to do for a while. Then I went to actually get an assignment and do some work but instead Karen sent me on my 75 minute break! Yes, 75 minutes!! Because in CDS's eyes I had a work day from 9am to 8pm it meant I got a long break. So did nothing for 75 minutes, then put in for an ER which got approved for 6.30pm. So at 4pm after my break I went to greeter and stayed there for 2.5 hours and that was the extent to the work I did - brilliant!!

Nick picked me up and we went to O'Charleys which was sooooo good! The last time we went there was in Georgia so I really enjoyed it. I had a chicken tenders salad and we shared a brownie, nomnomnom!! Then we came back to his apartment and half watched Twister (a joint favorite movie) whilst he did homework and I revised the new menu for work because I'd barely looked at it. Then he decided he needed to clean his apartment so I helped by doing laundry for him as it was annoying me that every time I walked into his apartment I saw dirty clothes all over the floor (such a boy!!). Seen as he's driven me around so much and stuff I do feel I owe him so that was my contribution... 5 loads of laundry in the end! I don't think he had any clean clothes full stop! Eventually I fell asleep and then Nick left early to take someone to the airport and go to work for 7am so I've just bummed around his apartment watching TLC and the Weather Channel for the morning. Now that I've finished this blog post (it's a bit of a beast, sorry about that! Oh, and sorry for the American spellings, it automatically changes it!) I'm going to walk back to the Commons and then go to work for 2.30pm....woo!