Friday 29 June 2012

Happy 4th Birthday To Me!

...Disney Birthday that is! Yup, on June 22nd, I celebrated 4 years working for the Walt Disney Company (as on and off as it's been!) but seen as I've maintained the same PERNR number (personnel number) for the whole time I think it counts. Actually, this week is always a week I think of Disney because both my summer programs started in this week (June 22nd 2008 and then June 20th 2010) and it always shocks me how fast time has gone. I think back to my first program and it was so different to this one, I was a lot younger and immature. I'd only just finished my first year at University and I feel like I've grown up a lot since then - hell, since November last year I feel I've grown up too!! Haha!

Anyways, as always it's been a while since my last post so here we go with another long post inevitably...

Last Thursday I went to Universal with one of my friends from my first program, Gaby, who now works in Animal Kingdom Guest Relations. Her friend Iris came with us (who is a Brazilian SUPERGREETER! For yes, it is the time of tour groups now...!) and Sophie came as well. I picked them up bright and early and we went to iHop for some breakfast. Then we drove over to Universal and it was pretty busy so we headed to the Studios first. We did the Simpsons Ride first then went over to the Fear Factor Live Show which was entertaining but gross! Much like the TV program, they had to eat bugs and stuff.... ewww! Then we went on the Mummy which had about a 15 minute queue. Once we were done with this, we met Sam Scott who had headed over on the bus to meet us. We grabbed milkshakes whilst she ate lunch and then we were going to do Dispicable Me which is their new ride but the line was too long so we gave it a miss. Instead we went over to IoA and hit up Harry Potter World. We went single rider on Forbidden Journey which meant not only did we wait about 10 minutes instead of 60 but we ended up riding as a group of 4 anyway!! Win. Then we went to Jurassic Park where somehow we ended up being directed down the Fast Pass line and skipped that queue too... obviously I regretted going on this ride as I ALWAYS do because you get pretty wet. Humph. The park was really quite busy so we went to the big gift shop and then left the park. Walked along City Walk and eventually got back to the car. I drove Gaby, Iris and Sam back to the Commons and then Sophie and I met Tyler for some dinner at Olive Garden which was yummy.


On Friday it was back to work - I was a 1045 AM so I had to get up early to drive the car back to the rental place. I walked back to Commons and got ready for work. It was weird being an AM on a Friday - I'm usually a Mid or a PM. I was in section 508 which is usually a crazy busy one but being an AM and the fact that the park was dead as a dodo meant it was really easy. I finished work and went home and I can't really remember what I did in the evening.


On Saturday I was a 1045 again. I was in Section 510 and the weather had really turned miserable. We've been attacked by Tropical Storm Debby in the last week or so and it basically cleared out the park because there were no locals there. That's my theory anyway. So it poured with rain for most of the day and it was probably the quietest I've ever seen the restaurant. I didn't make that much money but hey, it was better than nothing. Nick was supposed to finish at about the same time but he got extended so once he was done with work, we went to Chevys for dinner which I really like but he's not such a fan of!


On Sunday I was a PM (again, weird because I'm usually an AM) so I had a bit of a lie-in and then headed to work in the rain. I looked sexy in my Disney Rain Gear (NOT!) and my crocs because I didn't want my work shoes to be squelching wet all day! I figured they could forgive me breaking Disney Look as I crossed stage for that reason - my shoes did have Mickey on them! Lucky for me, I was an inside section and Janet was assigning so I had a decent shift given how quiet the park still was. I was in 311 which is a 3-table section but I still managed to make about $140 which was good. I had some nice guests including a table of Cast Members who knew people I knew - obviously. The song isn't called It's A Small World for nothing! I waited FOREVER in the rain for the bus home and then it was a mighty torrential downpour as I got off the bus so I was soaked by the time I got home - well, apart from where the rain gear was... good times. I was very glad to go to bed!


Monday I was actually off. I swapped my days off with someone that needed Wednesday off as their parents were flying in so I had separate days off. I had kinda forgotten that I was off so it was a bit odd.... I slept in and then went to Walgreens to buy a few bits for Hayley's birthday present which I have to send soon. I got back and wrapped it all up in the box ready for posting. I did some baking - I made scones :D Basically, I spent most of the day in my apartment with awful rain outside! It was quite nice really. In the late afternoon I headed out with Craig (different one to the one that left last week!) and we went to Downtown Disney and met up with Sophie, Sophie, Robyn and Melissa to go and see Brave which is the latest Disney/Pixar film. The nearest showing was sold out so we bought tickets for the later one and then went to Wolfgang Puck's Cafe for some food. I had a yummy 4 cheese and pesto pizza which even though it took forever to arrive, was really good. Then we went to the cinema and saw the movie which was good - not as good as Tangled in my opinion but had more of a moral and obviously a ginger princess which went down well with me. It was also VERY funny. We waited 45 minutes for a bus home which was *fun* (seriously, these buses are getting worse and worse at the moment) and by then I was very tired and ready for sleep!! It was a good day off though!

Tuesday, I met Nick for some lunch at this French cafe near Dr Phillips... I had a Croque Madame which is my favourite French meal! It was really good but then we had a couple of hours before I started work so we went back to his apartment to bum around as the weather was still sucking ass. However, once I got back there I started to not feel very well - I don't know what it was. I eventually ended up calling in to work at about 2.30pm and spent the rest of the day feeling pretty crap. I just felt really sick and horrible - I don't know if it was the food in the morning or what. We watched a movie and then Nick made some quiche but I'm glad I called in because I definitely wouldn't have felt good enough to be a server or to be surrounded by food.

Luckily on Wednesday I felt a LOT better and headed to work for my PM shift. The weather was finally starting to improve and I was in section 508 again! This time Janet was assigning so from 7pm onwards I was slammed with guests. I had loads of really fussy guests as well which just made it more difficult... I'll admit I spent a good 90 minutes feeling completely weeded. I seemed to get good tips though so I obviously wasn't doing that bad a job. My phone signal went off as well because I hadn't paid for the next month on T-Mobile (seen as they screwed me over with the iPhone/EDGE/data situation) and I'm waiting for my AT&T sim card which hopefully has arrived today. Therefore, I went out of Cast Services at 11pm hoping that Nick was there as planned and he pulled up just as I walked out which was perfect. We went to Starbucks and then headed home. I watched some Inbetweeners and Gavin & Stacey clips on his iPad which entertained me and then I slept because 508 had exhausted me somewhat!

Thursday, Nick and I were doing our postponed trip to Busch Gardens from the week before. We'd intended to set out in the morning but he overslept and by the time we'd got up, gone to Cracker Barrel for breakfast/lunch and driven the hour to Tampa it was about 3pm! We went and did an awesome twisty rollercoaster that I forget the name of, then we lined up for 55 minutes for Cheetah Hunt and we were sat on the ride about to go when it went 101! So it broke, basically. With us on it. So we sat there for about 20 minutes restrained before they got a back-up power pack and undid our restraints and gave us re-entry passes for the ride. We got off and took the Skyride (scary retro thing that got banned from Disney years back) to Kraken which was AMAZING. I loved that ride... it was like Oblivion but much better. Then we got the Skyride back to Cheetah Hunt and jumped the entire line with our passes to finally ride it - definitely worth the wait. By this point it was about 6pm and we had made reservations at Sanaa for dinner at 9pm so we decided to head home having done the big rides. Nick dropped me off at the Commons where I showered and got changed before he picked me back up at about 8.30pm and we went to Animal Kingdom Lodge. I REALLY want to stay there - it looks amazing. I ran into a big group of people from work who were sitting behind us in Sanaa... amusing. I had the amazing bread service (the server was great, he brought us extra dips to try!) and then the green shrimp curry and spicy chicken curry. The server then surprised us with a comp dessert as well. He also constantly filled our water glasses and was just fantastic all round so we overtipped him $15 on top of his $14 gratuity :) It was a good feeling.

Back to work today for the last leg of shifts before my parents arrive!!! They get here a week tomorrow!!!! So excited. I am a MID today (It's Friday so standard...) and the weather is back to impeccable. Yesterday was so boiling hot without a cloud in the sky so I'm sure today will be the same!


Wednesday 20 June 2012

1 month, 3 vacations!

Okay so I'm done with the mini-vacations for now! I last wrote just before I went to Georgia so I'll pick up from there... On the Sunday evening I did a PM but I ended up getting cut due to the pouring rain (I was lower deck) and went home at 8pm in the evening. This was good because I had lots of things to do before the following day.

On Monday I had finally managed to give away my shift (thanks to CDS being overidden by one of my managers) but I still had to attend a training shift which was actually a focus group at Odyssey (the convention area at EPCOT) and basically involved listening to a load of high up EPCOT managers blah blah blah for 2 hours. Annoyingly I had to go in costume so once it was done, I went back to cast services and got changed and then took my mini pink suitcase and got the lazy bus to International Gateway. From there I walked to the Beach Club to get the guest bus to Downtown Disney. I pretty much walked the length of DTD to find the Lynx bus stop (which it turns out is by Cirque du Soleil) so I was a sweaty mess by the time I got down there! I then finally got the 111 which took me directly to the airport for the bargain of $2. When I got there, I checked in and then got some food at Au Bon Pain which was NOM. I got to the gate and hung out there for a while before I got to be one of the first onto the plane AND I was in the exit row so I had LOADS of leg room - I didn't even end up with a person next to me, pretty sweet. Eventually got to Atlanta (the flight is only about 90 minutes) and Nick was there waiting for me so that was good... we drove to Walgreens near his house and got a few DVDs from Red Box as well as some snacks, pop and a pizza.

We got back to his house (which I love, it's so homely!) and said hi to his parents and his brother Alex, plus a couple of Alex's friends. We hung out in the kitchen and ate the pizza before watching one of the movies on DVD we had rented. Then we went to bed.

On Tuesday, we got up and got lunch with Alex at O'Charley's which was fun. Then we went back to the house and Nick's dad took us to the forest behind their house... for a GUN LESSON! Last time I was at their house I joked about wanting to shoot a gun - except that I didn't really joke... I actually wanted to. So this time, he got his pistol, shotgun, rifle and sniper rifle as well as a quad bike (all of which he has because he also works for the sheriffs office as well as his normal job) and we did some target practice! I liked the pistol the most because  it was the easiest to hold and I got pretty good at it, hitting the same point several times. I never realised the concentration it takes to shoot properly though or the arm ache! The other guns were good but they were a lot heavier and louder. After a couple of hours, I was tired and feeling pretty gross so I took a shower and got changed. Nick and I then went to the cinema and we went to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" which was really really good. Then he suggested we went and got a curry at a place nearby so we did that as well (best curry since I've been here!!). By this point we were kinda tired so we headed back and watched half of another DVD before sleep.

Wednesday, Nick had appointments to attend (doctor and dentist) so I accompanied him on that and spent most of the morning playing on my phone whilst waiting for things. In the afternoon, his Mom and her friend joined us on a trip to Stone Mountain which was a place we went when I first visited their house in September 2010. Sadly, the weather wasn't quite so good this time and there were storms in the area (we saw some good lightening later on) so we couldn't go up the mountain :( We did get a spot for the laser and firework show though and that was good. We got back pretty late and just crashed out.

Thursday was our last day in Atlanta. We had to go to another appointment and then after that, we picked up his Mom from work and we went to lunch in an "English" tearoom which was pretty entertaining from my point of view! After lunch, we took his Mom back to work and then went back to the house to grab Alex before we drove to the nearby lake for a spot of speedboat fun! It was awesome - 75 mph on a speedboat around this massive lake! Once we were done with that, we headed to the office to say goodbye to Nick's Mom and then one of her friends took us to the airport because she happened to be headed that way anyway. We went on the Plane Train to the new International Terminal which was pretty fun because it was finally time that ATL got it's own International Terminal. We discovered that  it had a Pei Wei (chinese!) and so we got that for dinner before going to our own gate. The plane had already done most of it's boarding (oops!) and so we got straight on the plane for the flight back to Orlando.

We got picked up from the airport by one of Nick's friends Benny and he dropped us off home... I literally went straight to bed exhausted!

On Friday, I got up and went straight to work for a 10.45am start.... and it was a mid as well! Ugh! It did, however, turn out to be a pretty good shift and I made good money. I was really tired though! Saturday I was an AM and I went home after the shift to do boring things like laundry. Sunday I was a 10.45AM (again!) and after the shift, I got changed and headed to the bar for a few drinks with Craig because it was his last shift. Then we went back to the Commons and had a bit of a BBQ for Chef Mark's birthday and even though I only went to bed at about 11pm I was so tired it felt later!

On Monday morning I had to be on a B bus to Magic Kingdom at 8.30am, ugh! This was because Craig wanted to stage an epic Splash Mountain picture of us in formal attire... we had great weather and Ani brought along these mini tea cups she found in her house which was pretty funny! It worked out SO WELL! (As it stands right now, this picture has like 140 likes on Facebook!) We bought the photo afterwards and then everyone got changed. Some of us had to work so we headed off - I opted for the monorail option as I had plenty of time which was just as well seen as it broke down half way to EPCOT and then reversed back to the TTC! I met two English CMs on the monorail who were June 5th ICPs! It was nice to chat to them but really weird to feel I was one of them 2 years ago (actually exactly 2 years today since I started my second program...!) so we got the bus to EPCOT together. I then left to go to the world showcase - bought some perfume and lunch at the French pavilion before going to the UK for work. It then transpired that I was training Melissa as she'd failed her service test and needed a couple more days training so we got given 508 as our section.

Now, 508 is one of the most difficult sections as a fully trained, seasoned server! Let alone as a training section! I was totally stressed for the whole evening because I didn't think I was doing a good job even though Melissa says I did help... we made good money but it's hard not to in that section. I hope I did an OK job but at least I know what to expect if I have to train in that section again any time. I was completely tired by the end of it, went home and to bed.

Tuesday morning I also had to be up early to collect my rental car at 9am! So I walked up to the Marriott which was a good exercise in the sunshine to get the car. Whizzed to Walmart (standard) and then to the Florida Mall for a couple of things before getting a cheeky Earl of Sandwich for lunch. Then I went home, got changed, and off to work. I had a feedback/discussion group thing which was attended by merch and F&B as well as a few different International Programs managers and Jill, my interviewer! That was a random thing to see her in front of me, at EPCOT, rather than in the Disney Offices 4000 miles away in London! That was a good session, then it was off to the PM shift which was in 709. Janet was assigning and, dear me, she was on FIRE. I literally worked my ass off for the next 7 hours relentlessly. It was Extra Tragic as well so I got sat my last guests at like 9.45pm. Therefore I clocked out at midnight! Luckily I had the car so I drove home but still didn't get back til 12.30am and to bed at 1am. SO TIRED.

And that finally brings us to today... Wednesday and my day off. Nick and I were going to venture to the Tampa area and possibly go to Busch Gardens but the sky was a horrible black colour by the time I'd picked him up this morning so we got Pei Wei and then went to Animal Kingdom instead. It was packed out, humid and rainy so we abandoned that pretty quickly before going to DTD and catching a movie instead which was nice. It poured with rain for the rest of the day so we went back to his apartment where I sorted my photos out and then we got some food at Macaroni Grill before just chilling this evening. I will be getting some much needed sleep soon and then tomorrow I'm going to Universal, yay!




Sunday 10 June 2012

4 Day Royal Caribbean Bahama Cruise!

Okay so I promised that the next post would be about the cruise so here we go...

On Monday, I got up and straightened my hair. Eventually Nick got up and he packed his stuff then we were ready to go on vacation! We did a quick run to Publix for a couple of things and got lunch at Quiznos before driving to Port Canaveral. We decided to park at Park'n'Cruise rather than the actual official parking lot which meant it only cost me $30 for 4 days instead of $75 (win!)... it's one junction earlier than the cruise terminals off the main road, we just drove in there, took the bags out and parked the car. Paid and then got on the shuttle bus with our bags and about 10 minutes later we were ready to check in. When we got off the shuttle, the cruise staff took our bags with the relevant tags on and they arrived at our cabin an hour or two later on. We went into 'customs' and our hand luggage went through an x-ray machine... really they were just checking for alcohol they could confiscate. We headed upstairs where apparently we were "gold members" (they thought we'd cruised before when actually it was just because I'd used a coupon code which had dropped into our postbox from a previous housemate of my apartment as they had cruised before...LOL) and meant we skipped the entire queue waiting to check in. We were on the Monarch of the Seas in a matter of minutes, and our stateroom was ready as well so we just went straight there to check it out!

It really wasn't as small as I expected it to be and our window was bigger than I thought it would be too! I'm glad we went for the window option... it was nice to be able to see outside all the time and I think an inside cabin would have been too claustrophobic! The bathroom was really tiny though! Once we'd checked out the cabin, we headed up to the pool deck and walked around there exploring... before finding the bar at the top of the ship on Deck 13 and getting our first cocktails there! At 3.45pm we had our Muster Drill which just meant we had to walk to our emergency station (where our lifeboat was) and be counted, stand in lines for a few minutes and then eventually get dismissed at about 4.00pm. We wondered around again and at about 4.40pm we set sail!!

We watched Port Canaveral disappear into the distance before going back up to the top pool deck to get another round of cocktails in :D (see a theme appearing here?) We explored the ship a little more after this before heading back to the room to see if our luggage had arrived which it had. We unpacked and had showers to get ready for dinner for which our seating was at 8.30pm. We headed down there at about 8pm and joined the line of people waiting to go into the dining room (it was actually the only line for dinner we stood in for the whole cruise in the end). We went in and we'd been sat on a table which actually would have sat 10 people but it was never full - in fact, I don't think the ship was at capacity either because it definitely didn't seem busy enough. On the first night there was 3 other couples at the table besides Nick and I... a couple to the right of me who were quite hilarious in the end but we didn't see on the last night... a couple on Nick's left who were at the table every night (we chatted to them quite a bit in the end) and a couple opposite us who were quite odd... there was definitely an age gap of at least 15 years involved and they ordered Long Island Ice Teas (to the tune of $20 per round FYI), ate appetisers and entrees before abruptly leaving the table (and their almost full drinks) and we never saw them again...! Bit odd!

I am struggling to remember what I had to eat on the first night (might be something to do with the bottle of Cava we drank...!) but I know it was really yummy! After dinner, we went up to the front of the ship and sat out feeling the wind (!!) before Nick got some pizza. Seriously - all we did was EAT for 4 days!! I wanted a whippy ice cream on the way back to the cabin and this is where we encountered Ice Cream Man. This man tried to tell Nick how to operate the whippy machine (this did NOT go down well!) and he was rather annoying so we joked about him on the way back to the cabin... (more on him later!)

The second day (Tuesday) was our day at CocoCay - Royal Caribbean's private island. They docked at 8am and we wanted to be off the ship pretty early to avoid the crowds so we ordered breakfast room service and were on the tender ship by 8.30am (impressive for us). It was very overcast - with a very weak sun behind the clouds so we just found a quiet bit of beach and laid around napping really. At about 11.15am I wanted to go and find the hammocks because the weather still hadn't improved (it actually spitted with rain a couple of times!) so we played around in the hammocks for a bit before going to see when lunch was going to be. We sat around on the main beach for a while because the sun was trying to come out and as there was no wind, it got really hot around that side of the island. I noticed people eating so we got up to get food - they did a nice BBQ with hot dogs, burgers, salad, pasta and a few desserts including rum cake. We also got a couple of Coco Loco's! These are cocktails with unknown ingredients but it definitely involved pineapple and coconut as well as a generous helping of RUM! They were only $8.75 so not bad. We decided to walk back to the quiet windy beach to go in the sea... well in true Florida/Caribbean style, there were a few drops of rain on the way back to the beach and then suddenly it was a downpour! We ran into the sea (cocktail in one hand, waterproof camera in the other!) and it was very strange being in the sea in the rain! Once we got out about 5 minutes later, it was thundering as well so we were soaked, covered in sand and trying to carry everything without dropping anything on the beach we tried to find shelter (failed) and eventually decided to go back to the ship to shower and get changed. So obviously everyone was trying to get back as it was raining and storming but it didn't take too long. On the tender boat, we were sitting two rows behind... Ice Cream Man!! And he literally didn't shut up the entire journey about himself! He was talking to the man sitting in front of me and this poor guy couldn't get a word in edgeways... the best part was that when we all got up to get off the boat, EVERYONE was laughing at how annoying this man was - so Nick's judgement was totally right!

We got back to the ship and had a good shower before getting dressed and heading up to the deck to sit out and relax. That night was formal night so I wanted to get ready with lots of time, I washed and dried my hair and then straightened it (literally one of the banes of my life) and then I got ready. We looked pretty dapper by the time we went to the dining room I think! We got a bottle of white with dinner (I had a curry, it was amazing! I also had scallops, a caesar salad and then I think I got key lime pie for dinner... all the food merges into one!) Another amusing moment happened when they had these random violinists going around the dining room playing dittys like Happy Birthday... well, they came to the table next to us and played My Heart Will Go On from Titanic - LOLLLL. Not the most appropriate music for a cruise ship! After dinner, we went to the Schooner Bar (our favourite after dinner hang out) and had another bottle of wine (yeah...) and a really good chat, I enjoyed it. We went up to deck for a bit (standard) and then crashed out as the next day was Nassau....



So, Wednesday the ship docked at Nassau at 8am but we slept in. That was the day they decided to do all the crew emergency drills in the morning so we were woken up by announcements into the cabin which was a bit annoying! We had a late breakfast at about 11am and then got off the ship to go into Nassau. I was a little wary about it because people had told me it was rough and people bugged you all the time, offered you drugs etc. However, I didn't see any of this and had quite a pleasant experience really. We wondered around all the designer shops and the straw market where I bought a bracelet and Nick bought a wooden clock (it was very nautical). We got a Starbucks and mid-afternoon decided to go back to the ship for a snack. We ended up staying on the ship because we just wanted to laze around (this was definitely a relaxing holiday not an action-packed one!) but we actually resisted alcohol this time! We went into the casino and wasted a few $$ on the slot machines and wondered around the shops onboard. We got ready for dinner and this time we had a bottle of red :D Yes, I actually voluntarily drank red wine! I had a calzone thing for my entree, scallops again for starter I think and then I don't remember the dessert. We went to the Schooner Bar afterwards again and got a bottle of Rose but we only drank half of it so we took the rest back to the cabin (I had it before dinner the next day!). We then headed up to the deck to watch the ship pull out of Nassau and into the dark dark night!

Thursday was our day at sea! Our plan was to get up, have breakfast, find sunloungers and TAN. However, this plan was slightly scuppered when we got to breakfast, looked out of the window and saw RAIN. We had breakfast and then still went to get sunloungers, via the towel stand - we got enough towels to put over our heads as well! It actually began properly raining! We stuck it out though and after the rain had cleared it actually got SUNNY!! For all of about 3 hours so we sunbathed, watched the Belly Flop Competition (big LOL) and chilled out. I was well aware at this point how expensive my bar tab was becoming so we didn't drink...! Well, that was until the wine class we'd signed up for at 3pm! We got to try four wines from an area of Bordeaux in France (I was definitely in the minority having actually visited it!) and we got a bit full on wine and cheese, fabulous. We had an afternoon snack before going back to the cabin to chill out, pack and I washed my hair again before preceeding to curl it (again, a long process - it was weird having the time on my hands to make this effort!) and get ready for our final dinner in the dining room. We went to the Schooners Bar for a cocktail before dinner and then went in... I had pasta for my entree this time and an amazing chocolate pudding which was soooo good. We didn't have wine with dinner this time - I stuck to my peach schnapps and sprite :P After dinner we went to the deck for the final time and watched a lightening storm from a distance. It was so peaceful up there, I loved it. Eventually we had to retire to the cabin as we had a super early morning the next day :(

On Friday it was the day to leave the ship - really didn't want to! We got up at 6.30am and we'd already docked at Port Canaveral. Our bar bill arrived to the tune of almost $400! Oopss!!!! We got breakfast in the dining room and were on a table of four with two ladies (one of whom had spent a few years working at Disney so we chatted about that) and then we went back to the cabin to get our final few things before going to our designated waiting area. That was kinda boring because we just sat around for an hour and then got into a line. On the up-side we got our phone signal back so I played on my phone. Nick had some bad news from home earlier in the week so he had to deal with that too... it was a bump back to reality sadly. Eventually at about 9am we got off the ship and picked up our luggage... went through "customs" (nothing like an airport) and then got the shuttle back to the car. It was very painless, I was impressed. We drove back to Orlando and Nick dropped me off at Commons - I was home by 10.30am. Sad face.

It was a wonderful break away from Disney and life in general really. Something about having no phone signal and getting to spend four days with my best friend here really cheered me up!

I was very efficient, unpacking straight away, did all my laundry and cleaned/tidied my apartment before getting ready for work. Once I got there I found out I was on lower deck at 707... this would have been fine if it wasn't forecast to pour with rain all evening! I needed money to pay back the cruise!! I had the grand total of two tables, four guests and made $23. I got cut at 8pm when it was really pouring and ended up back at home by 9pm. To be fair, I was pretty tired as it had been a long day but unfortunate on the money side!

Yesterday, I got up and called my Mum for an hour. Then I went to Panera Bread with Tyler as we had to catch up on the week. We got the bus to work where I saw these massive blue/black clouds rolling in... got section 303 which was good because it was inside and I had no risk of getting cut! I had some good guests, some demanding guests and there were many computer issues all day... we were on manual for most of the shift with the assigning and seating so that was fun (not). The heavens opened at about 5pm and we had a massive thunderstorm with some of the most impressive rain I've ever seen! I had POS's as my sidework on my own as my sidework partner was lower deck and got cut early on... this is the hardest sidework to do on your own so that was great... my guests had all left by 9.30pm and I got home at 11.40pm - YAWN. I also found a live cockroach in my section which was vile and I nearly vommed because I touched it!! One of my transactions got stuck in the computer even though I'd finalised it (like I said, computer issues) so basically I was really glad when I finally got home. I did earn quite good money though so that's nice.

One more PM today and then I'm off to Georgia tomorrow night! Jet set life style, eh?


Friday 8 June 2012

Happy Jubilee!

Wow my days off last week seem like forever ago! I'll try to remember what I got up to...

Wednesday was a lot of people's last day of their program. It's the first time I've had to say goodbye to people I actually knew and chatted with a lot so it was kinda sad. I was off on Wednesday so Tyler and I headed to Magic Kingdom (standard) because we wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain as it's reopened after a 5-month revamp. We stopped at the Polynesian for lunch and a cocktail which was really yummy. Well, MK was extremely busy (which I can only put down to the fact that after days of rain, it got sunny again) so we only did Pirates (that was a 20 minute wait!) and watched Dream Along With Mickey (without interruption this time) before heading to EPCOT. Tyler went off to meet some Canadians who were leaving and I went to the Rose & Crown (via getting changed) for a few drinks with most of the people who weren't actually working. Even some of the managers popped their heads in as well which was nice. Sophie and I decided to go and get a cake from France at about 7pm and then we lost the others so we headed home. I went to Katy's apartment and we ate some of their Chinese Food that they'd ordered and watched a movie with them which was fun.

On Thursday, I got up and went to Walgreens for a few things. I also had loads of laundry to do so I actually ended up spending almost the whole day in my apartment. I met up with Katy, Fiona and Amelia for some dinner at Outback Steakhouse which was nice too. Then I headed home and went to bed... exciting!

Friday, I was a PM and I walked over with Sophie from the bus as she was server training. We were commenting about how few server trainers there were now that a few more people had left... and wouldn't it be funny if I was her trainer? (Despite not being a server trainer) Got to work, looked at the LAGG (sheet describing what shifts everyone's doing that day) and what do you know? I was training Sophie! We got 514 as KD... Sophie had had so much training that I didn't need to actually "train", I just had to watch over her really. It was interesting being a server trainer - as hard as I expected! There's a lot of responsibility and it's very hard to not get involved! After work, Nick picked me up and we got McDonalds. Then we ended up at Starbucks around midnight... we had a very LONG conversation which went on until about 1.30am and he finally dropped me back at Commons!

Saturday was an eventful day. Firstly, it was the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee so we went in early for our massive group picture - almost everyone from the UK was there which was great. It was bloody boiling hot and sunny so we then escaped backstage to all the food everyone had brought in... they also got us a big cake and drinks which was nice. We had a bit of a party before having pre-meal outside (with manager Joe attempting to do pre-meal with the backdrop of a reversing rubbish truck, very amusing) and then heading over the road for work. I was very hyped up on sugar and the fun we'd had before work so I was being SUPER-DISNEY! This definitely worked out in my favour because my first guests of the day left me a $100 tip AFTER the auto-gratuity! How kind of them!! This pretty much made my program! There was only 4 of them and they were loving the Jubilee too :) I was on a high for the rest of the day, considering I was a Mid this was an achievement. At the end of the day, I went home and literally collapsed into bed - it felt so good being off my feet, crazy day!

Sunday, I was a Mid again... I'd picked up Craig's AM so he could do my PM on Tuesday for the cruise. I went in at 10.45am still feeling really tired... the AM was in 401 so it was typically hot and sticky. Sunday was also EPCOT's part of the Gay Days celebration so the bar was packed... and on the PM I came back from my break to discover I was in Dart Room. The WORST place to be when the bar is busy (it's right next to it with no wall inbetween) because it's literally so noisy you can't hear your guests and they can't hear each other. Nobody wanted to sit in there so I ended up spending my time bussing the bar, helping them with the dishwasher in the bar and even pulling pints for service bar. Eventually I got cut at about 6pm when the manager realised that it was a waste of time being there... I helped the bar for another hour finalising checks for them and then banked out and went home. Lucky I finished early because I had so much to do for the cruise... I got back, washed my hair and packed up my final bits before Nick picked me up at about 9pm and we went for a TGI Fridays which was good. Afterwards, we went back  to his apartment so he could finish his Uni work and his laundry for the cruise...

I shall write about the cruise next time!