tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31063367382098879002023-11-16T10:23:55.756-05:00Catherine's Magical YearCatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-58231219805044433622017-04-10T11:50:00.002-04:002017-04-10T11:50:34.592-04:00Next in life!Hello whoever comes by this page!<br />
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Enjoy reading my year at Disney World... but if you finish that and wonder - but what did she do next? - then you can read my blog about my time on Disney Cruise Line at:<br />
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http://magicalcruiselife.blogspot.com<br />
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Most recently, I have started a new blog - it's to follow my travels as I spent my vacations trying to see as many new places as possible! If you want to see that one it's at: http://catherinesmagicaladventures.blogspot.com<br />
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Thank you & have a magical day!<br />
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CatherineCatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-55895080816908309402013-01-23T08:47:00.000-05:002013-05-28T17:04:12.069-04:00The End (...for now!)This is it - my final post of this blog!<br />
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I've been back in the UK for 4 days now... as I mentioned, it's been snowing a lot so I haven't ventured out in the car yet. I've managed to unpack two out of three suitcases and have filled in my US taxes, told the Student Loans Company where I'm at and already got addicted to a couple of UK tv shows.<br />
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So basically, I just wanted to make a final post to sum up this epically long blog.<br />
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The Cultural Representative Program is an amazing experience no matter whether you're in Merchandise or Food & Beverage. The program is a year long but I was lucky enough to extend an extra 10 weeks to actually be there around 14 months in total... I can only talk for F&B because that was my role but it was such a varied year and I gained experience in so many different things - starting out seating & greeting guests, pulling pints on the beer cart, working quick-service in the chippy, stocking (i.e. learning how to change kegs!), then moving into food running, dabbling in bar tending and obviously becoming a server. The unexpected things I learnt from this program was things like all the different types of alcohol I'd never tried, how steaks are cooked, how to get through a 12 hour shift with a 5 minute break, the geography of the US and the type of people from the different places (!) and how to explain what bubble and squeak was.<br />
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Obviously a great advantage to F&B is that you can potentially earn a lot of money - dependent of course on what time of year you start (if you're in service for Christmas you'll earn more... so you'd have to start around July-September time), how soon you go into service (normally 3-4 months into the program) and once you're in service - how hard you work and how much you ER! I personally think the best time to start the program (money wise) is in the summer because you get lots of hours on podium in the busy summer months (even though you have to put up with being outside in 35 degrees for three months) but then you'd go into service in the autumn and be able to benefit from Food & Wine, Christmas and then still be in service for Spring Break and Easter before finishing your program.<br />
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But the most important thing is to make the most of being there!! Some people see this as spending as much time as possible out getting drunk, some people work every hour under the sun and take home $20,000 and some people try to get as much time off as possible to travel.... well if you've read this blog you'll know which I fall into!<br />
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Over the last 14.5 months I've been to California (twice!), Nevada, Arizona, Ohio, Georgia (multiple times!), South Carolina, the Bahamas, Canada, Washington DC, I've skydived at 18,000ft and bought an iPhone 4S handset outright... so I definitely didn't bring home $20,000! However, I have brought home some amazing memories, in the region of 8000 photos and I've seen some things I've always wanted to see. I pretty much achieved most things on my Bucket List plus much more... I managed to go backstage at Expedition Everest and Spaceship Earth, I saw TWO new years in at the Rose & Crown, I saw IllumiNations probably 350 times (not even kidding), I made a lot of magic and was even half-decent at my job ;-)<br />
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On a serious note, there are some people that I want to thank (even if they'll never see this)... my arrival group of AWESOME firstly, which was Sam, Paul, Sophie, Dan, Steffie, Anastasia, Tyler and Clare (01.11.11 forever!) who I had some great experiences with - staying in the cabins and in Bay Lake Tower come to mind, being drunk at Magic Kingdom at 4am on leap year, group dinners all over WDW, Jellyrolls, Secret Santa, celebrating Thanksgiving & Christmas 2011 all together, helping each other into service and most of all - none of us getting termed or self-terming!!<br />
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Nick - thoroughly mentioned throughout this blog, I'm sure he's a figment of imagination for many people by now... he's just my best friend who I will miss awfully now I am home. I'm hoping to see him again soon but I know at some point this year we will hang out again. We will be friends for life that is without doubt. We've had our ups and downs throughout the year but the ups just rule over everything - seeing Las Vegas appear over the crest of a hill in the middle of the desert was a highlight of my LIFE, seeing my first shooting star at 4000ft up a mountain in the pitch dark (on the same night funnily enough), freezing to death on a boat in San Francisco, endless hours of driving together, spending Christmas as a part of his family in 2012, living it up and spending $400 on alcohol on a 4-day cruise (!!), getting time off just to spend lazy days napping whilst it rains outside or going to the cinema, seeing the WORST movies from Red Box, endless tickling competitions... the list goes on and on. <3<br />
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My Managers - Whitney, Cari, Kevin, Joe and Anny - I had a couple of other managers but these were the ones who were there to chat to whether it was about work or socialising, playing games in the kitchen, screaming "WHO'S ON RACKS?!" or "I NEED FOOD RUNNERS!!!!", Whitney got me the ability to stay for an extra 10 weeks in my extension and without her I would have been writing this 3 months ago. All in all, my managers were the best I've had at Disney World - overall they were supportive and it was a pleasure to work with them.<br />
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All my other friends - everyone I worked with at the Rose & Crown were like my Disney Family. When your real family are 4000 miles away these people are there to see you laugh, cry, give you support when you're sick/hungover, mess around with you, help you out and most of all - swap shifts with you!<br />
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I'm going to sign off now because I think I've pretty much covered everything. It's onwards and upwards for me... I'm hoping to stay with the Disney company and I have a few plans in the pipeline so we shall see. Thank you everyone for reading - please contact me if you have any questions! Feel free to leave comments, email me (catherinesmagicalyear2012@hotmail.co.uk) or stalk me out on Facebook!<br />
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Have a magical day everybody!<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-77014659819391781612013-01-22T16:01:00.001-05:002013-01-22T16:01:19.001-05:00Well... it's snowing...Picture this... sitting in front of a TV, watching a documentary on Robbie Williams, slightly cold hands and feet, looking outside to see giant snowflakes falling and covering everything in sight... slightly different to being in front of the castle surrounded by Brazilian tour groups at Magic Kingdom in jeans and a tshirt...which I was doing exactly 68 hours ago...<br />
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So, back to Pop Century on Saturday morning. Nick was supposed to come and help me move my stuff but he got delayed so I ended up heaving all the stuff to the car and driving to the Caribe Royal which is where I had to drop off the car. I met him there and moved my stuff into his car before I gave my car back. Then we headed to the post office and Partners where I withdrew the rest of the money out of my account. Well, I left about $10 in there... at least my account should stay active in case I get back there anyway.<br />
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Then we headed to MK and on the way, Nick suggested we get food at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian partly because it's yummy and partly because we wanted to park at the Poly and not deal with the TTC. Well that plan was promptly scrapped when we got to the Poly and there was a sign saying "guests with reservations only"... so we asked the security cast member and she said that it was very busy because of the public holiday - it turned out that it was Martin Luther King day on the Monday. So... it also transpired that 'very busy' was an understatement.<br />
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We got into MK using Nick's holiday celebration ticket (which would have gone to waste anyway) and as soon as we were in there we realised it was mayhem. 60 minute queues for It's a Small World, 55 for Pirates and Haunted Mansion, 25 for Philharmagic, 130 for Space Mountain!! So, we kind of gave up on doing rides and instead did people watching... but I was a bit sad because I really wanted a fun day at MK on my last day! We did see the Dream Along With Mickey Show which is one of my favourite things and so in the end it was a good way to round off the day I suppose... we walked down Main Street and I took one last glance at the castle... until next time.<br />
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Nick then drove me to the airport, I checked in and paid another $50 excess (total being over $200!), he got some chinese food from the food court (I'd lost my appetite) and then neither of us wanted to move.<br />
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But time was ticking and unfortunately I needed to go through security... well, saying goodbye was horrible. Really, really sucky. Needless to say we both cried and walking away was one of the hardest things ever. I cried all the way through security (although it was subtle because I had to pull myself together) and then when I was at the gate I got chatting to this old couple who'd been to Disney millions of times so it kinda stopped me being upset.<br />
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The flight was the quickest overnight flight ever - partly due to the winds making it only just over 7 hours and also because Virgin Atlantic have done up their planes and flights so I had yummy curry, salad and tiramisu as food, a free glass of wine and watched American Pie: The Reunion (actually quite good!) before popping a Sominex pill and falling asleep for 4 hours. I missed breakfast and then by the time I properly woke up out of groggy-ness, it was light and we were about to land. It was the first time I'd not felt excited about coming home... in fact, I just felt numb. I really didn't feel any emotion. I got through baggage claim pretty easily (although in future, I should remember a £1 coin for the trolley...) and met my mum and dad which was nice. Then we drove back to Bristol which seemingly took forever... and then I've spent the last two days feeling really tired and blah... seen a couple of friends briefly, been to the mall (twice) to sort out my phone, indulged in my favourite British foods... and that brings us to now.<br />
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I'll update again shortly with one final post....Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-42397993178873705122013-01-19T10:23:00.001-05:002013-01-19T10:24:49.271-05:00The final countdown...Well I got back to Orlando and Nick picked me up. We went to get the rental car which was the same car as I had when Lauren was here - a Chevrolet Cruz... I love it! This one is the spiffy sports edition too so it has heated seats, a camera for reversing and satellite radio :D I've very much enjoyed driving it around this week. So, we went to Nick's house to grab some stuff then we had lunch in Celebration before doing the 5.5 hour drive up to Hilton Head in South Carolina. It's literally two roads all the way there, very boring! I did all the driving myself though so I'm quite proud. We stayed at the Disney resort at Hilton Head... due to knowing someone that just worked there for the summer (connections!) we got upgraded from a studio room to a two bedroom suite! It was amazing! It had a jet bath, balcony with rocking chairs and a huge bed plus another bedroom and bathroom.<br />
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On our full day there, Saturday, we actually drove out of Hilton Head and went up to Charleston which was about a 2.5 hour drive. It was a cool place, very colonial feeling. We had lunch at a seafood restaurant and then we walked around the peninsula before driving back. It was nice to see but there wasn't masses of things to do really.<br />
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On Sunday, we drove 5 minutes to the beach and walked around that before sitting on the beach and planning the week ahead. It was warmer than it was supposed to be at this time of year but still a little cool first thing in the morning and it was quite foggy which looked cool! After this, we went to get lunch and then we drove to Savannah, which is just over the border in Georgia... about 35 minutes away. I really liked Savannah. We went to the Paula Deen gift shop y'all! We also did lots of walking around - it was very leafy and it had a really nice Southern atmosphere about the place. We saw an old church (when I say old, I mean in American terms... so it was 200 years old LOL) and the waterfront area where we had an ice cream. Then we left at about 5pm to do the rest of the journey to Orlando. We stopped at Pei Wei but eventually got back to Orlando and we checked into my room at Pop Century at about 10pm.<br />
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After grabbing my stuff from Nick's house, it took three journeys to get it all from the car to the room and then I just crashed out!<br />
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On Monday, I got up and headed to Walmart. Got some snacks for the week (no dining plan this time!) and a new suitcase for a bargain $38. Then spent the rest of the day repacking all my stuff... I had to put the 'do not disturb' sign on the door because there was so much crap everywhere that they wouldn't have been able to service the room anyway! By the end of the day I did have it all sorted though. It was a heatwave for the first part of this week so I spent a couple of hours by the pool in the 28 degree heat too!<br />
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Tuesday, I went to visit Natalie, one of my friends from the CRP who got married and is now living in Orlando waiting for her work visa to come through. We just chilled at her house and watched TV which was really nice. It was nice to catch up with her. Afterwards, I met Nick when he'd finished school and we got Thai food for dinner before going back to his house and hanging out with his roomate Eric.<br />
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Wednesday, I met Dan from work and we went to Universal bright and early! We headed into Studios first and did The Mummy, The Simpsons, MIB, Rip Ride Rockit, Despicable Me (finally!) before walking over to IOA. We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe on the way. Once in IOA, we headed to Harry Potter (obvs!) and did Forbidden Journey before going over to Marvel and doing Spiderman and the Hulk. By now it was about 4pm so we left as the tour groups were getting annoying and we both had stuff to do in the evening. It was awesome to hang out with Dan though and talk Disney nerdiness for the whole day lol. Once I got home, I wrote Nick's goodbye card and packed some more before going to bed.<br />
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Thursday, in the morning I headed up to the Winter Park area of Orlando to take all my spare clothing and bedding to a charity called The Mustard Seed Project. I didn't just want to throw away the stuff I didn't want so that was my good deed of the week. Then I headed back and utilised the laundry room at the pool to wash a load of clothes because I figured it was better to take clean clothes home than dirty ones. I also sunbathed for a bit although the sun went in, the wind got up and it dropped from like 76 degrees to 64 degrees in the space of an hour. After my laundry was done, I went to Panera Bread (my last one!) and then to Partners to withdraw all my monies which was exciting stuff. Then I met Nick and Eric and we went to the Celebration Tavern for drinks and food which was really fun... I ended up staying at their house seen as I had been drinking I couldn't drive!<br />
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Friday, I got back to Pop at like 7.30am as Nick had to work early so I went to the food court and had choc-chip pancakes which are my favourite before driving to DHS for opening. Used my comp ticket to get in and promptly did Toy Story, Tower of Terror, Star Tours and Rock 'n' RollerCoaster twice by 11.30am and then I left! I then drove to IKEA as I wanted to get Nick and his roomates a present for their house... Eric wanted a picture of Paris which he'd seen online which was all black and white stylish... Wellllll, it was slightly (read: a lot) bigger than I thought it was - on it's end it was almost the same height as me! So I carried it back to the car before realising that no matter how I turned it around or opened all the doors on the car, it wasn't going to fit! I admitted defeat and took it back, getting a gift card for the amount instead so that they can take a bigger car and get this picture or whatever they want. So it was a bit of an Epic Fail really.<br />
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Once I got back, I got the bus over to Magic Kingdom and this was when it started to go wrong.... it started raining!! :( The reason I was going there was to see the Dream Along With Mickey show and the parade... well the rain put an end to the Dream show. Then Nick got off work early so I ended up just leaving the damp MK and he picked me up from the Contempo. We got Ruby Tuesdays for lunch which was okay then headed back to his house for a couple hours. Then we left for MK again, by now it had mostly stopped raining but still was spitting a bit. We watched Celebrate the Magic and Wishes... I surprisingly didn't get upset. Well, I got a little bit upset afterwards I'll admit but on the whole it was ok. We stopped by Tony's to say hi to James who just recently left the R&C to work there (he's permenant) and then got the monorail round to the Grand Floridian for our reservations at Citricos. It was very yummy. I had a cheese plate, a chicken breast entree and then a mango creme brulee which I couldn't even finish because I was so full! Afterwards, Nick dropped me off at Pop Century and I had to finish the packing.<br />
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Which brings me to now... I have 40 minutes before I need to be out of this room. Three VERY full suitcases in front of me weighing a combination of 160lbs so I'm sure there'll be excess baggage to pay later. Oh, and it's snowing in the UK so fingers crossed my flight won't get delayed tonight. I'm going to try and post again later once I'm at the airport because they have free wifi but if not, see you in the UK... :(<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-1884790478529433422013-01-13T10:34:00.001-05:002013-01-13T10:34:02.247-05:00Washington, D.C.<br />
I love this city! It was definitely one of my favourite places I've visited so far. Again, I'm blogging from my phone... My Facebook picture is still from Christmas because I've not been on a computer since in order to change it! Actually more specifically, I'm blogging from the plane back to Orlando at the moment but I'm bored out of my mind and don't feel like reading. So once I return to the world of phone signal I will post this.<br />
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So I left Canada super early on Wednesday morning, successfully got to the airport in good timing and got on my plane to Washington. Tiny plane! Only sat about 40 passengers anyway and then add into the mix that I was one of only 12 people flying!! I was worried it wouldn't be heavy enough to take off haha. The up side of this was that I got two seats to myself (there was only two seats on each side anyway) and loads of luggage space (in fact it transpired there was only 2 bags in hold including mine anyway) plus I got a whole can of drink rather than half in a cup. The flight was only about 1 hour 20 minutes. Following on from my worries on the previous post, I went through US customs at the Canada border... Was slightly nervous! But after explaining that I was on the Q visa (officer: "oh the Disney visa" LOL) and that I went to visit friends etc he stamped my passport and I was on my way... Phew!<br />
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So I retrieved my bag and then got onto the metro which literally only took 15 minutes to get to the centre of the city, then it was only a 5 minute walk to my hotel - the St. Regis. <br />
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I chose this hotel because I got a good deal on it on hotels.com but also because I felt like treating myself! And it was lush! Highlights included the bed which was super comfy (especially after sleeping on Tyler's sofa for the previous 5 nights haha) and the TV inside the bathroom mirror! So you could get ready and watch TV at the same time. Amazing.<br />
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So I managed to check in 3 hours early and this meant I could get changed and then head out for a couple hours of sightseeing. I walked down to the White House (literally one block away) but was instantly faced by a building site as they were constructing media stands and bleachers everywhere for Obama's 2nd inauguration next week! So I navigated that and went to the back of the White House where I could get a picture of it. Then I walked a bit further to the natural history museum and went to see the gems and crystals collection. I wanted to see this so that I could see the hope diamond - the most rare and expensive in the world! And it was indeed beautiful. I had seen a lot of stuff that they had here from the natural history museum in London so it wasnt all that different. Therefore I only spent about 45 minutes there before going back out. It had turned colder and spitting with rain a little which sucked. So I was going to walk to the Lincoln monument but ended up going the wrong way and was half way to the US Capitol building before I realised... So I walked down to that (which also had a building site outside it...) and then finally got to a subway station. I wasnt intending to take any more subways that day but I was tired and it was raining. <br />
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On that note, the Washington subway is probably the nicest I've ever seen. It's so easy to navigate, all one fare zone. It looks super futuristic and there's a no eating/drinking policy which means inevitably they're cleaner. They're not too far under ground so not many stairs to climb and they seemed to be pretty frequent and reliable... Loved it. <br />
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Anyway, I got the subway to back near my hotel and made the short walk to... Nandos! It's well known within the UK pavilion that if you go to Washington, D.C. Then you have to do the pilgrimage to nandos as its one of the only places in the states to have one right now. So I got a chicken wrap and fries it was yummy. Then I headed back to the hotel via CVS to get some snacks for later.<br />
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I made full use of the amazing shower and washed my hair before crashing out at 9.30pm for a great 11 hour sleep!!<br />
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So onto day 2: I got up and had a Starbucks for breakfast (there was one right across the street!) and then got my day ticket for the subway ($14) and going to Capitol South station to see the library of congress. I thought this would be a quick in and out slightly boring thing but how wrong I was... I don't know why but I loved that place. It was beautiful and inspiring with quotes all in the murals on the walls. I ended up spending almost an hour there! <br />
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When I left I made the mile walk to the postal museum (after taking photos of the non building site side of the US Capitol building). The weather was amazing! Sunny blue sky and nice temperature for walking around (not too warm!) <br />
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So I visited the postal museum which was fun and interesting. After that I got a sandwich from union station and then got the metro back to the museum area. After eating my lunch I went to the American history museum where I saw the dresses of the First Ladies. I have to say Michelle Obama's was one of the most beautiful. I also saw the ruby slippers from the wizard of oz and a real Kermit puppet. I wondered through the "America at war" exhibit which was interesting and amusing as there was a fair bit of British bashing going on in there haha!<br />
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After this I left and walked (the correct way!) to the Lincoln memorial. It was very grand with a long water pond thing in front of it which meant I could take good pictures of the Washington monument reflecting in it. <br />
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After this I wanted to visit the pentagon memorial and realised the quickest way to get there was to walk another mile over the river to the Arlington cemetery metro. This also meant I officially stepped foot into Virginia! Haha! Another state hit :)<br />
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So I got the metro to the pentagon which was a cool place. I wanted to visit the 9/11 memorial so even though it was a little off the beaten track I made it there. Very peaceful and respectful place. The constant sound of airplanes taking off from the nearby airport (where I just took off from!) was like a constant reminder of what happened whilst you're there. Anyway it was by now about 4.15pm and starting to get cold... So I made my way back to the hotel from here after a very successful day in the city. I saw everything I wanted to see but you could easily spend 3 or 4 days here there's so much to do!<br />
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I packed my stuff, had another amazing shower and then went to bed at 9pm as I was so tired from all the walking around! <br />
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Well, it now almost time to land so that was a successful way of spending half this flight even though I have a slight iCramp in my hand now! Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-62130949278480865322013-01-08T21:04:00.003-05:002013-01-08T21:13:59.532-05:00CANADA! Part Two!Well on Monday we went off to get breakfast but we actually went to a coffee chain called Tim Hortons which is super cheap and equally as good as Starbucks. After that we went for a walk to this "castle" which was built by a super-rich businessman about 100 years ago modelled after English buildings from hundreds of years ago... we didn't go inside (too expensive wahhh) but apparently it's very lush and luxurious inside too. It was nice to have a brisk 45 minute walk of a morning... especially in a "feels like" of -8 degrees celsius! It was actually genuinely enjoyable. When we got back, Tyler headed to the gym and I watched TV for a while. When he got back we got the Subway back to downtown and got dinner at a restaurant where we could overlook the city which was really nice - I actually ended up having a veggie burger because I'd been craving a burger all day but I don't do beef and they don't do chicken... but it was super yummy. Then we shared a dessert which was mini versions of their 5 most popular which was super good! After we were done, we went to the cinema which was round the corner and saw Monsters Inc in 3D! Somehow I realised that I'd never seen that movie before! Blasphemy for a cast member I know!!<br />
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Today (Tuesday), Tyler had to work so I took myself back down to the Eaton center where I bought myself some new trainer-type shoes because I realised that all I brought with me was my fugg boots, a pair of heels and a pair of ballet pumps. None of which will be useful for all the walking I'll be doing in Washington DC over the next couple of days! My vans need throwing away anyway as they're falling apart so now I have a new pair of black Keds instead... After wondering around the shopping center and having some Thai food for lunch, I went to the cinema again and saw a movie called This Is 40 which I enjoyed. Then I headed back on the subway via the supermarket to grab a bottle of wine for when Tyler gets back from work.<br />
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Tomorrow it's going to be an early 6am start in order to get to the airport by 7.45am... plenty of time incase they extensively question me at customs. I'm really hoping they don't! I'll be scared the whole time. Obviously I have absolutely nothing to hide, I have all my proof of what I'm doing for the rest of my time in the states, I have my ESTA paid for and I even have my email inviting me to a job interview when I get home (I'll talk about that at *some* point haha) just to really prove I am actually going home. After all this worry and fuss they probably won't even care! Haha!<br />
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So, overall it's been a fun trip to Canada and great to see Tyler again. There's still things I want to do in this country, even in Toronto as well... for example I didn't go up the CN Tower (the weather meant that the views would be rubbish) and I didn't go to Niagara Falls (it's kinda far away without a car to hand!) but that's future things to tick off the list! It's been weird to experience such a change in temperature and it horribly reminded me of the UK! However, my Columbia coat that I bought at the outlets for $130 has been worth every single penny because it's the warmest (and least flattering!) coat I've ever had and I'm sure will prove useful in the UK too. I've enjoyed the British influences that Canada has (Malteasers and Smarties to say the least!) although everything seems more expensive here in comparison to the USA.<br />
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So, tomorrow I will bid a 'see ya later!' to the love child of Britain and the USA.... and enter back into the "Land of the Free" when I go to Washington, D.C. until Friday morning when I fly back to Orlando, pick up a rental car and then drive with Nick in tow to South Carolina for a couple of cheeky days at Hilton Head! Then back to Orlando for 6 days where I fully intend to do Busch Gardens, Seaworld, Universal, repack all my suitcases, eat as much Earl of Sandwich and Panera Bread as possible, finish off as much of my bucket list as I can.... and then hopefully spend my final full day in the USA at my favourite place in the world - Magic Kingdom. Fingers crossed!! I'll post as soon as I can!Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-82880238001835310712013-01-07T10:59:00.000-05:002013-01-08T21:04:35.074-05:00CANADA! Part One!On Friday it was time for a new adventure! We left at 8am and got Chick-fil-A breakfast before heading to the airport for my flight to Canada. I checked my bag and then ran into Fay in security which was funny because she was going to get her flight home to the UK. It was nice to be able to say goodbye to her one last time as she was my extension buddy. I got my first flight to Philadelphia which was fine and then only had 40 minutes to change to my second flight. Got there in perfect timing and got on the tiny plane for the flight to Toronto.<br />
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When I got off the plane it was SO COLD! I got my bag and then headed to get the bus which I'd already looked up. Got on the bus which was a bit of a squish to the subway station Kipling and then got on the tube to St George. Once I got there I found the exit and went out into the bitter cold (it was below zero!) to the coffee shop just down the street and found Tyler easily! Yay!! We got back on the subway and went to his apartment which wasn't far away. After dumping my stuff there we went to Panera Bread at this place called the Eaton Centre and then wondered through the mall there which was really nice. I'm hoping to go back there tomorrow when Tyler has to work. We stopped by the shop to get a bottle of wine then spent a nice evening watching Pitch Perfect!<br />
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On Saturday, Tyler didn't feel too good... we had a lazy day in the end. We did venture downtown and walked around near the CN tower as well as see the waterfront. I spent the evening watching Cheaper By The Dozen 2 and Tyler slept off his flu-ey thing!<br />
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Sunday, Tyler was feeling a lot better and he had to work. We got breakfast bagels and grabbed some stuff from the shop before getting changed and going to the mall he works at. He's a lead at the Disney Store so I spent a few hours "shadowing" him (mainly tidying plush and folding t-shirts haha). It reminded me instantly of working at TDS... even though I was in a different country and in a different type of DS I still felt exactly the same. After we finished, we got a pizza and spent the evening watching Honey Boo Boo on TLC and then the movie Signs.<br />
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And that brings me to today - Monday! I can't believe it's been a week since New Years Eve, it seems so much longer. We're off doing more exploring and I think Starbucks is calling now!Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-8979326606270159542013-01-07T10:42:00.003-05:002013-01-07T10:42:44.580-05:00Hello 2013!So to continue on from NYE! I left work at 1.15am and finally got home at 3am thanks to the wonderful buses. They even had metal fencing set up for the queue line which was an improvement on last year. I crashed out totally physically exhausted... and I still had a good 18 hours of work to go before I was done.<br />
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I was back in work the next day at 11.30am for a Mid - ugh! I really wanted to get an ER and go home but I had to stick with it. It was pretty busy for the whole day actually... luckily I got 311 as my section for the AM which was only a 3-table section so that was a nice calm morning. I had some nice guests including a table who had a cast member and her parents on it... turned out that this girl had done a program previously and knew someone that I knew on that program too.. the 7 steps of Disney returns! I had a brief 10 minute lunch break and then it was time for my last closing shift at the Rose & Crown! And of course, I was in 508!! One of the busiest sections in the restaurant and probably my favourite out of all of them... and it was just luck that I got there! Also, Fay (who leaves with me) was in 505 so we shared the sidework which was really nice especially because it was restock which was easy :-) One of my tables didn't leave FOREVER so I got out really late despite all my guests almost being done by 9pm (and FINALLY the fireworks were back to 9pm after a week of being at 10.30pm it was amazing!). Somehow I ended up leaving at 11.15pm which was crazy late and I didn't get home until just before midnight!<br />
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The next day I struggled to get up except for one thing - it was my final day at the Rose & Crown!! I got up, washed my hair and straightened it which meant even less sleep but I wanted to look nice for the inevitable photos that would be taken. I got to work and was a 10.45AM (only just made it in time! How ironic it would be to have got a late point on my last day when I'd successfully managed not to get one for the entire 14 months...) so I spent most of the set up kitchen time doing a photoshoot with Fay around the pavilion and then going to find us some "I'm celebrating" buttons to write 'Our Last Day' on them which ended up with me having to go all the way to guest relations for them! I chose to be in 307 for my final shift for several reasons: 1) It was a hot day and that was inside 2) it was my first ever section I trained in (me? nostalgic? never!!) 3) you don't get too much grat in that section (drinking money!) 4) it's right next to the kitchen.<br />
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So the shift ended up being really busy for an AM but pretty standard. I really didn't have any stand-out guests which was a little disappointing. I got totally scuzzed by my first table who were dining plan and moody for the entire meal. My last table was a 2-top on 308 who were Tables In Wonderland (joy) and they were pleasant enough but it really wasn't that exciting. After I was done, I tidied up and then TGR'd and banked out before getting changed and heading to the bar!<br />
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So... a cider and black, welsh dragon, mudslide, brain hemorrhage (it's a shot) and glass of banfi rosa regale later (accompanied by a cheese plate) we left the R&C. We had a lovely song sung for us by the hat lady and we threw our shoes in the lake as is traditional. Loads of people were heading out with Fay to a bar so myself with Andrew and Dan headed to Magic Kingdom. We walked past Soarin' and I ended up name-dropping Nick in order to get on the ride which was fun then we went to MK. It had been so busy earlier in the day that it had gone to Phase 3 which means resort guests and people with reservations only - ARGH! Luckily it was back to fully open when we got there. We walked up main street at 8.59pm and Wishes started whilst we were still pushing through the crowds to get a spot. I received a really nice message from Fay whilst I was watching Wishes which made me cry of course. After it was finished, the boys and I went to Thunder Mountain which is always awesome in the dark before getting a taxi home from MK for some VERY MUCH NEEDED SLEEP!!!<br />
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So that was that - my time was done at the Rose & Crown!<br />
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The next day (Thursday) was my last full day in Orlando as a cast member. I had all sorts of plans involving parks and such but the reality was that I was so tired and had so much to do that it all ended up changing. I got up eventually at 11am (I shouldn't have slept in so late but I couldn't help it!) and packed up the rest of my stuff which was joyful. I eventually got done at about 2pm and Nick came over we loaded up his car with all my stuff. I ended up with 2 full suitcases, a full duffel bag, another full bag on wheels, 3 reuseable bags of stuff for charity, my bedding, a small pink hand luggage case and two bags of alcohol! I gave the alcohol to Eric (Nick's roommate) and we took the rest to his house and stored it in his garage. We got lunch at Cheesecake Factory and then stopped by EPCOT to get Tyler something he wanted from the Norway pavilion. Then we got a couple of DVDs and vegged out for the rest of the evening.Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-68376098615223102502013-01-05T13:05:00.001-05:002013-01-05T13:05:32.485-05:00Blogging from my iPhoneOkay bare with me here, and sorry in advance for any spelling mistakes... I'll fix them next time I get on my computer. I have hit a new level in busyness in that I haven't even had the chance to log onto blogger on my laptop since Christmas Day and in that time I worked 50 hours, finished Christmas, finished my program and flew to Canada!! <br />
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Okay so back to Christmas... Dinner was good and then we did the typical lying around/napping for the rest of the evening. We ventured out in torrential rain to go and see Les Miserables at the cinema for the late night showing (it came out on Christmas Day) and it was a really good movie but very long! Afterwards we went home and all crashed out. <br />
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Boxing Day we all slept in and then went to downtown Atlanta to see the Nutcracker! I've never seen live ballet before and so I really enjoyed it. The story is a bit loopy and I didn't really follow it but it was very impressive on the dancing front. When we left the theatre it was super cold, really windy and there were snowflakes in the air!! We ran backto the car and then went for some food at a restaurant called Houston's which was yum yum. Afterwards, we went home and relaxed for the rest of the evening. <br />
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On the 27th, everything returned to normal and so Nick and I went for a trip to the mall where I bought another charm for my bracelet. We were going to go to the Atlanta botanical gardens to see the lights but it turned out that they were sold out for the evening. So instead we went to the cinema to see a movie called Guilt Trip which was funny. Eventually we got home and we waited for Alex to get back from work so I could say goodbye to him as I was leaving early the next morning. <br />
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We had to leave at like 6.30am the next day. A brief trip via chick fil a and I was at the airport to go back to Orlando. The flight was pretty uneventful and I landed at 1030am in the nice warm 70 degrees! I had several options to get back home but I opted for the Mears shuttle which cost $21 but took me right back to the Marriott hotel which was only a 15 minute walk from the commons. It meant I didn't had to battle with public transport or take out a loan for a taxi from the airport. So by the time I got there, dragged my luggage back via Panera and got to my apartment it was 12.30. I had 45 minutes to get changed and then to get the bus to work due to the crazy traffic around Disney world. I was approaching pretty tired by this point seen as I was up at 5am and then I got given 701 as my section!! Ahhh! Worst section ever. So I did a round of guests (4 tables) and then it started spitting with rain! Even Mother Nature felt sorry for me haha! So the rain got worse and I then got an ER and left at like 8pm! Woooo. I spent a few hours packing and doing laundry before going to bed at about midnight totally tired!<br />
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Saturday was the start of 5 very long days. The Saturday between Christmas and new year, also the last Saturday of candlelight meant for a busy day. Out opening hours were extended again so we were seating until 10.30pm ewww! Oh, and I was a 1045 mid! I worked for like 13 hours in the end. Went home, slept for like 6 hours and then back up and in for another mid on Sunday! After another 12 hours of work, nick picked me up so he could give me back some stuff he'd brought back from Atlanta in the car and we got a quick McDonald's. then to bed for another 6 hours sleep before I had to drag myself up at 8.30am in order to pack as this was the only time I had to do it! I took my TV round to Jessie's and did about 3 hours of packing making good progress.<br />
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I gave up at about 12 because I headed out to bahama breeze with a load of people from work... The food was soooooo good!! We obviously had to be fully prepared because that was New Year's Eve!! We got to work and the park was heaving... I got given section 307 which I was a bit disappointed about really because I wanted to be outside. Well there were 19 servers present and only 17 sections which meant two people were chosen at random to be "non tipped" and that was old man Shaun and James. Well this didn't go down well with Shaun so he started grumbling and complaining and for some reason I decided that I would swap with him. I think it was the two 12 hour mids I'd just done which exhausted me and the kitchen/park seemed so stressful that I didn't want to deal with it. So I chose to e on $8/hour and instead spent my (very long) evening bussing, tidying, doing side work, pot wash, service bar and stocking and moving kegs! It was actually an enjoyable evening! I dropped a knife on my foot handle down which bloody hurt and I cut my finger open but all good fun. I also clocked out at 1.15am instead of like 2.30 like most of the servers. I still didn't get home until 2.45am thought because of the bus queue! <br />
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We managed to all go out and watch the fireworks which weren't as emotional as I thought they'd be. At 7pm we also did our shout out for the UK new year which I got to do which was exciting! We gave a free glass of cava to every adult guest to celebrate... Cue me tipping 6 glasses over a guest because the plastic glasses were so lightweight and flimsy... Oops!! <br />
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All in all, it was a good night but I think last year was more epic for me....<br />
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To be continued.Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-4671736562061502622012-12-25T16:23:00.000-05:002012-12-25T16:25:26.644-05:00Very Merry ChristmasSo the horrible cold I had lasted about a week and was awful. Probably felt the most ill I've been since I have been here and typically it happens with 2 weeks to go! Anyway, so I got an early night when I got the ROS and then the next day I dragged myself in for the PM shift where I was on 303. I hoped to be able to get cut early but it was too busy so I ended up there until like 11pm. I didn't want to ER because I needed to earn money and there wasn't enough servers anyway. So I felt pretty rough for the whole night and I kept having coughing fits.<br />
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I did have a funny guest though.... actually funny is the wrong word... probably one of the rudest guests I've ever had. I had a 2-top table eating and then got sat a 4-top which was two adults and two kids. I went over and greeted them with my normal hello and welcome but they were too busy fussing over the kids menu to really register me. So I jumped straight to that and this was the conversation that followed:<br />
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<i>Me: "So, I see you're looking at our kids menu, it's kinda complicated but basically it's pick and choose from the top part and the part in the grey box are set menus because they're healthy balanced..."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Guest: "WHAT is this SHIT? Kids don't eat this shit! Where's the burgers and stuff?"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Me: "Ummm... our menu hasn't had burgers and pizza on the menu for quite a long time"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Guest: "Well why not? What is this... chicken? Rice? What's this here sirrr-llloooinn?" (sirloin)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Me: "That's a 3oz steak for children Sir, it's kinda like a burger"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Guest: "Well why doesn't the parents get to choose what the kids eat? Y'all don't have root beer either or soda do you?"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Me: "Actually we have coke, diet coke, sprite, fanta, lemonade or iced tea. You choose." (losing my temper at this point)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Guest: "They'll have orange soda. And I guess this kid will have chicken with fries. I suppose you can't substitute the green beans for fries under your rules?"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Me: "That's fine sir. Chicken with fries and extra fries. For the other child?"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Guest: "That piece of meat thing. With fries."</i><br />
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At this point, I just decided to give up and get the kids food whilst the parents discussed what Cottage Pie and Fish and Chips was. It's been a long time since I had a guest so rude and short with me... I think he realised how rude he'd been because he started being nicer then. He also kept yelling at his kids for being "brats" and because one of them was trying to push the cutlery and side plates onto the floor. They were just a nightmare but I thought it was pretty amusing. Especially when the woman started piling the aforementioned extra fries into a ziplock bag to take with them "as snacks for later". Ummmm... yeah cold chips. Yum.<br />
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Anyway, the rest of the shift was more boring and I just felt kind of rubbish. I went home and crashed out straight away. On Wednesday I had to be up at 6.15am for our SEGWAY TOUR! This was something on my bucket list since I started this program so despite my sickness I was excited. There was 6 of us so we got a taxi to EPCOT and finally got to guest relations at 7.30am just before the start of the tour. It was great! We watched a short presentation and introduction to the Segway before having about an hour of practice. We rode our Segways outside for the first time across Future World from Innoventions to The Land building with the park empty which was super cool and the weather was perfect. We got breakfast at Sunshine Seasons (included!) and then all refuelled, we headed out into the park and around the World Showcase. We got about an hour of riding around - the tour guide told us all sorts of interesting facts about each pavilion and about the design of the World Showcase. It was extra cool because we worked there too actually. We got a group photo in Japan and then we asked for some shots in the UK (obviously!)... by the time we got round to the UK and Canada, the park was well and truly open so we had to navigate guests which was fun. The tour ended at about 11am and so we had to speed walk back to costuming to get costume and then back to the UK for our shifts..<br />
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I was supposed to start at midday for an AM but Claire was a PM and had nothing to do until then so she said she'd take my AM and be a Mid instead, especially seen as I didn't feel too good still. So we cleared it with a manager and then I was free :-D This was my "extra" shift that I was scheduled anyway that week so I didn't go under hours which was good. I headed out into the park and went to do Figment and Captain EO as these were the two attractions I had left to do before I'd done everything in EPCOT on my CRP! Both attractions were just as meh as I'd remembered them being... rather outdated! Then my cold headache/congestion came back so I decided to make a move home and got back at about 2pm. I met up with Nick later in the afternoon and we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner (always good) before getting Pitch Perfect on DVD and watching that which was good.<br />
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On Thursday it was my last day off of my program!!! :O (Well, last day off spent in Orlando...) So I had a much needed lie in and then in the afternoon I'd finally managed to make reservations at Mama Melrose in DHS. We headed over there and I shared the antipasti for two (which was really yummy but because the server or food runner didn't explain it, I still don't know what we ate) and then I had a chicken flatbread pizza which was really yummy. I wanted dessert so bad but I was too full! We couldn't use cast discounts because it was blocked out so it was costing me a fortune as it was. Afterwards, Nick and I went to the Fantasia Mini Golf by the Swan & Dolphin to play a cheeky round! It was a lot of fun even though I lost my ball :( Then we swung by DTD so I could get a gift card for AMC for my secret santa and then Nick dropped me off at home. It was a good day!<br />
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On Friday it was back to work with a bang - two mids in a row! It was a crazy shift, kinda busy and my sections were reasonable - I was in 307 for the AM and then 510 for the PM. At the end of the night it was really cold outside! I didn't get home until 12.40AM!! Crazyness. So, went to sleep for like 7 hours and then back up and back for the second Mid. It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be for the Saturday before Christmas but it was busy enough for it to be pretty exhausting! I was in 707 for the AM and then 303 for the PM. Most of the evening was taken up dealing with a 13-top on Candlelight with two allergies... it took 40 minutes between them sitting down and their appetizers being put into the computer! After work, a few of us were too late to go to Cowboys so we went to TGIs instead and I had two yummy cocktails plus Breaded Mozzerella and Parmesan Chicken. Yum. Then I finally got home at 2am and went to bed!<br />
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Only to get up 6 hours later (a lack of sleep is a theme in this post) in order to be able to pack my stuff together for Christmas and get ready for my 11.30AM. But I had a plan.... and the plan worked! Got to work super early, camped out by the computer, put in the first ER and boom! I was out by 11.45am. YEAH. Got home at 12.30pm, washed dried and straightened my hair, painted my nails and tidied my apartment. Nick picked me up at 4pm and we set off for Atlanta in the car via food at O'Charleys... the journey was long, dark and kinda boring! 8 hours later we arrived and surprised his Mom who wasn't expecting me until the evening of Christmas Eve :-D<br />
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We were both exhausted so headed to bed by about 2am... again to get up at 8am in order to make a doctors appointment that Nick had (and he deemed I needed to accompany him in the car to). I sat in the car whilst he was there and FaceTimed my family and then afterwards we went to Target and Publix to get a few things and last minute Christmas presents. Atlanta is freaking cold and very grey - just like the UK in fact. It made me feel at home! Haha! When we got back, I went back to Publix with Alex and Mom to do the grocery shopping for Christmas which was joyful and then when we got back, we just chilled out in front of the TV before finally going to bed at 10pm for more than 6 hours sleep!!<br />
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....And then it was Christmas! It's been a build up since November 5th when Disney put up their decorations and it's finally here. So MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! We got up this morning and I skyped with my family who were about to eat lunch. Then I watched everyone open their presents - and even got a couple myself which was lovely of Nick's family :-D I got a new charm for my Pandora bracelet, a small royal coach. I love it because it's like Cinderellas and it has a little pearl on the top. Since then, Nick and I made cookies which were a great success and now we're just waiting for the Christmas dinner to finish cooking and I've just been introduced to crackers with cream cheese and red pepper jelly... uh oh...! NOM.<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-27349092197459533172012-12-17T22:21:00.000-05:002012-12-17T22:21:13.626-05:00'Twas the week before Christmas...Well the 6 day weeks have continued and thus left me with even less time to update my blog than usual... but I know that before I know it I will be finished and have endless free time so I shouldn't moan! I can barely remember what I did yesterday, let alone last week but I've worked lots of hours and earnt lots of money... it's been a blur of work, sleep, work, sleep really. On the 7th I worked another AM shift of Candlelight... it is very strange only being sat until about 2.30pm! It means that unless you're covering a Mid for a break then you clock out at about 4pm and really only work for 4 hours. Brilliant! Obviously you earn less money but then you hardly work soooo... fair deal really. I don't even remember what I did after my shift to be honest that day. Then I worked a Mid on Saturday (standard), PMs on Sunday and Monday and then a vile 1045 Mid on Tuesday which was also my Friday woooo!<br />
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My days off are the interesting ones so on Wednesday I was off and was initially going to go to the post office. However, this would have taken up like 3 precious hours so I decided against it, and instead got the bus to EPCOT in order to get some Christmas presents from the shops in the world showcase. When I was almost at Cast Services, I saw on FB that Andrew had got an ER from his shift and was going to ride the new and improved (?) Test Track which I really wanted to do so I met him there and we only lined up for about 30 minutes... you go in, in groups of about 20 to design a car on a screen which is quite cool. It holds the data on a card which you then swipe when you get in the car so its as if you're test driving your new designed car... but the theming on the ride isn't really very good. Very tron-like and "cool" but not as interesting as the last version. It's still a fun ride though. Afterwards, I said I wanted to try and watch Candlelight so we headed to the R&C to see if they had any spare tickets (perk of working there haha) and as it turned out, it was a quiet day so we got some tickets for the 5pm show! We were actually hungry so we ate lunch there as well - I had a frisee & apple salad (NOM) and a side of chips along with a Welsh Dragon to wash it down and a Queens Cake with ice cream. Realllllly good lunch actually. And we got to use my 50% off coupon... yay, holiday coupons.<br />
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After lunch we wondered around the World Showcase where I finally tried a drink from Morocco (it was an almond flavoured cocktail.. pretty gross) and then we went in the Japan shop. Whilst we were in there it decided to POUR down. We've hardly had rain for like 2 months but the last few days were rather wet and we got a bit soaked... we lined up for Candelight at 4.15pm and managed to get 5 rows from the front under the shelter so we could dry off a bit!<br />
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The show started at 5pm and was narrated that day by Jodi Benson AKA the voice of Ariel, the little mermaid. It was AMAZING. It was very classic Christmas... readings from the Bible and carols to the max. I really, really enjoyed it. The choir is made up of cast members and a local high school (they alternate the school every day) and it was just so beautiful. I mainly loved the singing and the carols. Afterwards, we walked through the rest of the pavilions and got the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. From there, we got a boat to Fort Wilderness resort to go to the Hoop-de-doo Revue.<br />
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Now, I went in September with Hayley and co. and it was enjoyable but not a blow-away thing... and it was the same this time. There was 20 of us from the UK which I thought would make it a great night but the service was so-so... the food was so-so (I managed to get kids mac&cheese this time which was an improvement as I don't do ribs and chicken on the bone) and the wine is just so cheap it tastes nasty even if it is unlimited. It was just okay. Afterwards I was pretty knackered so we got the taxi back to the Commons and I went to bed.<br />
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Thursday, I got up and had to do the awful trek to Partners at Disney University. This was because I didn't realise that there was a government rule in this country that you can only pull money from your savings into your checking account 3 times per month and I'd gone over the limit so all my money was stuck in my savings account! So I got the A bus up to DU and went to sort it out. The lady was very helpful and put all my money into my checkings account... well, then I walked over to Cast Connection for a final time and got a couple of things. I was very restrained though! Then I had a couple of hours to spare so I got the bus to MK... it was very nostalgic walking through the tunnels for the last time as well. The smell of it and seeing the characters wondering around reminded me of 2008 and how far I've come since then. I walked to the Casey's Corner exit and came out just as the Trolley Show was starting!!<br />
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Talk about timing! This is literally one of my favourite things at MK. So I watched that and then headed to Casey's for a hot dog lunch. Nom. Then I watched the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It Parade which I love as well before the Dream Along With Mickey show which I also adore. The only thing that would have made this morning better would have been to have my Canadian bestie Tyler with me... :( Still, only 2 weeks until I see him!! So, after this and a quick trip to see the new Fantasyland in daylight (which I hadn't done) I decided it was time to go to work... I got the bus to the Beach Club and made it with 10 minutes to spare ;) Bit close for comfort! Then I was in 514 so I was KD so all in all it was a long day but a good one!<br />
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Friday I was just an AM so I did the shift which was pretty boring. Then I met Nick and we went to the post office so I could post some stuff home and Christmas cards etc. Then we got ice cream and went to Publix before going to his house. He wasn't feeling too good and ended up crashing out at 8pm so I went downstairs to watch TLC when all his roomates and their friends came home and I ended up staying up with them drinking homemade cocktails and watching Lampoon Christmas Vacation which was actually an awesome night in the end. Then I went to bed. The next day, Nick dropped me at work and I did a Mid (it was Saturday remember!) which was very profitable and a really good shift actually. I had lots of nice guests.<br />
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Sunday I was totally exhausted after the Mid because I didn't leave work til midnight. And on Sunday I was a 1045... ugh!! I wanted an ER but sadly there were none to have... the tiredness stuck with me all shift getting worse and worse. I got home at 5pm and ended up with nothing to do except feel meh so I ordered a Pizza Hut for the first time in months and watched TLC whilst doing my laundry. I also made some cakes and cookies. I got an early night but took some Nyquil as I'd started to feel like I had a cold :(<br />
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Today, I woke up feeling like crap... partly due to the cold and partly due to the non-alcohol hangover that NyQuil gives you. I washed my hair and finished my cookies for pre-meal - I started feeling a bit better so I headed to work. However, once I actually started my shift the cold took over and I started feeling awful again... I think the going in and out of AC as well as all the talking made my nose run and that's not a pleasant thing to see when you're eating. So I asked for an ROS (Release of Shift) and got people to pick up my section. It wasn't something I wanted to do particularly but I realised that not working and instead getting some more rest would mean I'd probably feel better tomorrow. I came home and have spent the evening tidying, watching TV and actually started the P word.... PACKING.<br />
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:O<br />
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Worryingly, I've packed a whole 55lb suitcase full of stuff already and my room barely looks any different! I've packed most of my 'memory' stuff, presents and 'summer clothes'. So... I have Thursday off this week, a Segway tour on Wednesday and then it's Christmas next week! CRAZY!!<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-22044114013602149312012-12-06T23:36:00.000-05:002012-12-06T23:37:13.059-05:00It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...Well, the Christmas party was a bit meh to be honest. There were millions of school kids around in big groups and half the decorations on Main Street had been taken down because they were filming the ABC Christmas Parade the next day (which I didn't realise). Plus there was no Christmas tree for the same reason. I met Nick and we headed over to Pei Wei before going to MK... we didn't get into the park until about 8pm because we were running late. So, we did Space Mountain and then Philharmagic before getting a spot to watch Celebrate The Magic, then Holiday Wishes, the Holiday Castle Show and then finally the Parade. After that we wondered back down Main Street and went home. It just wasn't as good as last year... I guess that's the down side to being here for two Christmases... constant comparison.<br />
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Friday, I was back to work and I'd switched it to a PM. It was good and very busy. Saturday I was a Mid and again, it was a busy day. Whoopi Goldberg was the Candlelight narrator so the shows were very busy, hence so were we. I made loads of money on Saturday which was nice and made my day feel worthwhile! I got out later than normal though... well, it was normal for Candlelight - about 11pm. The latest I clocked out was actually Friday when I clocked out at 00.05am! Ugh! That was thanks to the 10-top I got sat at 9.20pm though...<br />
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The rest of the work days were a blur of Candlelight, eating out with Nick (went to the Italian place on I-Drive which I've wanted to try by Pointe Orlando... nom nom), I saw Lincoln the movie which was good although I understood pretty much none of it (thanks to my epic politics and history skills), working closing shifts and warmer weather. Tuesday PM was slower than normal even though I was in 508... and Wednesday AM was positively dead even though the weather was lush and I was in 707. But there you go. Wednesday I actually clocked OUT at 3.50pm! I only worked for 4 hours! Crazy.<br />
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So partially thanks to the million call-ins we've been getting recently and partly thanks to people giving away shifts, I've ended up on 6 day weeks for last, this and next week. So Thursday (today) was my only day off this week. After my AM yesterday, I got changed and the bus to Chatham where I promptly changed to the H bus (I love knowing the buses so well, saves me time) and got to Walmart to get a few things. I came out of Walmart and it was actually raining for the first time in weeks... I saw a Salvation Army man wishing people a happy holidays so I gave him my last $2 and it was at this point I saw the H bus waiting to leave... but karma is a great thing so he waited for me and in the rain, I struggled with my million carrier bags (as in this country they believe in only placing 3 items per bag... undoing all the good Tesco's Bags for Life is doing...) and managed to get on the bus and back home at about 7pm. A while later, Nick picked me up and we got curry (probably for my last time in America!) and then I sat around playing on his iPad whilst he revised for his end of term exams... thrilling stuff.<br />
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Today I was off and had nothing to do. So I ended up going to Magic Kingdom with Dan (see http://danatdisney.com) because today was the New Fantasyland official opening. He went early to see Tom Staggs and Mickey do the official stuff but I rocked up at about 11.30am as I didn't want to get up that early on my one day off! The rest of the park was quiet so we saw most of the Castle Show, then did Haunted Mansion, I finally rode the riverboat (only took me 9 years) and then ate at Pecos, did Thunder Mountain, Pirates and then got the bus to Hollywood Studios. Once there, we went to see the new Pirates attraction which is a walk through experience using the same projection technology they use for MM&Y and Celebrate The Magic at MK... amazing. Then we did Star Tours, Tower of Terror, watched Indiana Jones and ate at Pizza Planet before going to take photos at the Osborne lights! Then we went home on the E bus which has a new bus stop I discovered... right outside Cast Services. Well, this was the first time I'd walked there since my last shift at DHS in 2010 so I had some weird flashbacks... mainly to the time Nick surprised me and to my last shift. Made me feel happy and sad at the same time.<br />
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Anyways, we got the bus home and then I have bummed around this evening and used some of my cupboard supplies up to make some naughty Chambord chocolate brownies for pre-meal tomorrow. They're a great end to a great day. Gonna miss this place... officially less than a month left working for the mouse.<br />
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<i>I miss Space Oprah... and my ICP 2010... simpler times.</i></div>
Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-89162046915455550032012-11-29T12:58:00.000-05:002012-11-29T12:58:00.778-05:00Exploding PotatoesWell, the rest of my week after my last post was pretty standard as I worked Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as normal. After the AM on Wednesday, Nick picked me up and we went to the Commons to pick up my stuff before going to the hair salon so I could have my second hair cut in over a year. It was a super expensive one too - ouch!<br />
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Afterwards, we went to Cheesecake Factory and I had a chicken sandwich which was yummy and then we headed back to Celebration as we had an early morning flight to catch. So, on Thursday we headed to the airport. We'd wanted to leave at 5am but didn't end up leaving til 5.35am... so we parked and arrived at the check in desk a mere 30 minutes before the flight took off! So, luckily there wasn't too much of a line at security and as we walked up to the gate they actually paged our names hahaha. I've never had that before. We were one of the last to get on the plane, 10 minutes before it took off... crazy.<br />
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So the flight to Atlanta was only 1.5 hours and when we got there it was bloody cold! We met Nick's dad and drove to his house (via McDonalds for breakfast). Then basically we spent the rest of Thanksgiving Day getting all the food ready and then eating it!<br />
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A funny incident did happen regarding the potatoes though... they were very carefully peeled by myself and then we put them in the pan to boil before mashing them. The lid on the pan fell fully onto it and got stuck because it wasn't the right lid! We coudn't get it off... I thought Nick's mom had turned off the heat but apparently not, as 20 minutes later there was a giant BANG and the lid flew off and went down the hallway, boiling water and potato flew everywhere including the ceiling, floor and all over the stove and cupboards and we all screamed!! It was hilarious and awful at the same time. Luckily, team work makes the dream work, and we had the kitchen all clean within 30 minutes whilst Nick and I went to Walmart and bought new potatoes to make sure we had some ready for 3pm. The food was awesome, we all ate loads and then vegged out for the rest of the day not doing very much.<br />
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The next couple of days in Atlanta were pretty low key. I went with Nick and his brother to the mall on Black Friday which wasn't actually that bad and they bought some clothes. On Saturday we visited his grandmother and got lunch before heading back to the airport to go home. We got back and Nick dropped me back at the Commons. Thanksgiving 2012 was done.<br />
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Sunday, I was back at work and in the meantime whilst I'd been away, Candlelight had started. This is a show which is on three times a day in the America pavilion... it's basically the story of the nativity narrated by a famous person with a giant choir made up of cast members. People can purchase a "Candlelight Package" where they get tickets for guarenteed seating as well as a three course meal in a restaurant in the World Showcase for a set price... so this is why it was insane. Actually, Sunday wasn't that bad but I'd never done it before so it took a bit of getting used to what was included and what wasn't as well as how to use the POS for it. Monday, on the other hand was INSANE. So the narrator for Monday-today is Neil Patrick Harris who does it every year and is in some famous US TV shows... therefore it's really busy at Candlelight. It was a bit of a shock to the system to have a full section from 4pm-7pm with all four tables having three courses and having to time it all to get them out in time for them to go and line up for the show. Pantry has been a small nightmare and on Tuesday night it was taking them 20 minutes to get desserts ready so I'd been having to put in desserts before the guests had even finished their entrees. Then after the last guests on the package have finished their food.... it's around 7pm and the NORMAL crazyness for the fireworks starts! I should also mention that dinner now starts at 3.30pm not 4pm and finishes at 9.30pm not 9pm so therefore it's an extra hour every day - like doing Extra Tragic every day!! Exhausting. Obviously the money is good but you have to work damn hard for it!<br />
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The only other notable thing to happen was on Tuesday I had to go and give a 5 minute presentation about the Union Jack for Anny at the EPCOT F&B Leaders meeting that they have regularly. This is every area manager in EPCOT plus Mandy who is the head of F&B (her boss is Erin Youngs who is VP of EPCOT) and all the head chefs too! It was sprung on me kinda at the last minute so I think I did a good job and I didn't get too nervous. They seemed to enjoy it and they laughed a couple of times. Then I worked my PM candlelight shift in 510 which was okay... at 8.20pm, Lauren who was in 514 next to me said she didn't want the 16-top who were coming in so I agreed to swap with her and she took over my section instead. So I ended the night with a slightly crazy 16-top and eventually got out of there at 11.30pm. Ugh.<br />
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Oh, as a side note, I have been sporadically attending the Monday night social UK Lasses... and on Monday it was a last for Kirsty, Vicki and Georgie so I went. We got taken over by 5 of the UK Lads and all hell broke loose... including the noise level. So at 12.45am, Security knocked on the door and I got my ID confiscated for the first time! AHHH! I thought I was going to get termed even though I'd done nothing wrong. Eventually they gave them back and told us all to keep it down. At this point most people left to go out anyway so I headed home as I didn't feel like it. What an experience.<br />
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Yesterday and today I've been off work as always on a Wednesday-Thursday. Yesterday, I cleaned the apartment and put up our Christmas tree before going to EPCOT and having a couple of drinks in the R&C before we were joined by all the people leaving. This is the last group to leave before it's my turn (again). We went over to the Magic Kingdom to see the fireworks and it was really nice but BLOODY FREEZING. I was only wearing a cardigan... mistake! Afterwards, we took lots of pictures and then were going to head to EPCOT for the fireworks there but we for some stupid reason decided to get a bus to the beach club because we thought it would be quicker than the monorail... errrr. No. So we didn't make it and ended up having to walk from the beach club to EPCOT cast services (and blag our way into the closed park as well of course) to finally get the C bus home. I got home 3 hours after Wishes had finished! Ah well.<br />
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Today I'm back to Magic Kingdom for the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party which I'm quite excited about as it was one of my favourite nights last year!!<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-5400968523442227552012-11-19T00:34:00.001-05:002012-11-19T00:34:50.282-05:00The return of Food Runner Catherine!!What a crazy weekend. Well, Friday evening was very enjoyable - just to sit down with a glass of (cheap) wine, endless episodes of Say Yes To The Dress and Toddlers & Tiaras on TLC and nothing else was pretty awesome.<br />
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Saturday, I was a PM as I'd swapped my shift from the AM I am normally. So I got to bum around for quite a while in the morning. I got to speak to my mum for the first time in 2 weeks as they'd been on holiday and just got back so that was good. I also tidied up and threw out a load of random stuff... my roomate of 13 months leaves this week which I'm sad about so it's a good opportunity to clean up. I have no idea if I'm going to get another roomate although apparently my French roomate is also leaving in December which means there'd only be 2 out of 4 beds used in our apartment - this means the dreaded 50% forced relocation problem! I really hope it doesn't come to that 4 weeks before the end of my program!! To have to move to a new apartment somewhere other than in Building 6 (i.e. Beverley Hills, right by the bus stop at the Commons) would seriously suck. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen.<br />
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Anyway, I worked the PM and I was on lower deck in 704 which was not amusing because that's one of my least favourite sections of the restaurant... I ended up with 3 tables of 5 and then 2 tables of 2 by the end of the evening because they were all braving the cold to sit out for the prime firework viewing from those tables. It really is getting a bit chilly in the evenings here now (it's still like 15 degrees but feels super cold to us :P) but people will still sit out. I got some nice tips and met some really nice guests though so it was mostly good times. I got out in reasonable time but got the bus home so didn't get back until about 11.20pm.<br />
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Today was a wierd day. So, I was scheduled a 10.45 AM shift which means (on a Sunday) that it's a training Day 1 shift for me. But then I picked up someone's PM shift to make me a MID... but I thought I was still training the AM part. Well, when I got to work it turned out I was just a 1045 MID instead... cool beans. Until I was almost done setting up the cutlery and my manager informed me that as a food runner had called in and I was the only one doing a MID, I had to be a food runner all day.<br />
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Absolutely not.<br />
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I am a bad food runner... I do not enjoy it. If you look back to my posts in March you'll see I wasn't a fan then either. And that was the last time I was a food runner... 8 months ago!! So, in the end I struck a deal... I would food run the AM then be a server for the PM whilst another AM server extended to do a PM food running shift. And that was what happened... I pretty much kept up, didn't drop anything (came close!) and obviously managed to burn my arm on the bread (standard). I did have a funny incident when my shoe fell off as I was kicking open the kitchen door which then caused a ketchup ramekin to fall off the plate I was holding and narrowly missed falling completely into my shoe (for a ketchup hater this is horrific) but got rather splattered. All in front of my manager... I think I lost my mind for a while! Anyway, that was enough food running for the rest of my program thank you very much... generally if they need a food runner due to call-ins then they make the least senior server in that day change over to it... well, I was the most senior in the kitchen today so therefore that's that! No more! :-D<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-60269693013309490822012-11-16T21:26:00.000-05:002012-11-16T21:26:20.852-05:00Two very different marathons!I'm struggling these days to remember what I did a few days ago! My life is just a crazy blur and I'm sure it will continue to be until I leave and go home!<br />
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Okay, so Friday I worked an AM... I got out in pretty good time but I'm struggling to remember what I did after work! Saturday was the crazy day so we'll move onto that... so normally I'm an AM on Saturday but they changed me to a PM because it was the day of the WDW Wine & Dine Half-Marathon which started at 10pm and finished after 13.1 miles in the EPCOT parking lot. The participants got a $10 gift card each and access to EPCOT after hours so they could experience Food & Wine and the rides. This, therefore meant that we were open until 4am! I volunteered to work until the early hours so I was scheduled to work a PM and then through until 2am on podium - i.e. Chippy, Beer Cart and general guest interaction!<br />
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So, the PM was also the last Saturday of Food and Wine so it was a bit crazy. I was in 307 and got sat until literally 8.55pm so I was finally done with my guests at about 10.15pm. I had to go and bank out, grab my chippy hat and then headed back downstairs. They had music pumping around the world showcase (like PROPER music, not Disney stuff!) so we were all totally hyper. I played at being Beer Cart 2 for a while before we just generally danced around and chatted for the next two hours. Then my manager Cari, myself and Aimee went for a "basics walk" around the world showcase (aka a chance to see what else was going on in EPCOT) and by the time we got back at about 2am it had gone super busy. There was a big queue at Chippy so I jumped in there for about 1.5 hours with Chef John as my other chippy filler. It was a good laugh! It was VERY STRANGE being back in Chippy after 9 months!! As I said, I was supposed to finish at 2am...well I finally clocked out at 4.40 AM! So I got home at 5.15AM and went to bed in the very wee hours!! It was an awesome 13 hour shift though and even with only a 15 minute break I enjoyed myself.<br />
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On Sunday, thankfully I was a PM shift so I had a lie-in until about midday but I was still rather tired for the whole day. I was back in 307 again and partly because of being inside and some clever dodging being sat I managed to clock out at 9.45pm! That's very good going for a PM shift... in fact, about as early as it gets. So I was back home by 10.30pm and ready for sleep!<br />
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Monday, I was a Mid although for once I wasn't training. This was actually a very random day. I got in and was told I was training Clare who failed her service test the week before which was fine by me because she already knew what she was doing... then the tables turned and I was told that they didn't have anyone to sit her test because she was actually no longer training but taking her test that day! So I threw a hoodie on and sat the test with Cari! I had the scallops for appetiser, ploughmans lunch for entree and then queens cake for dessert NOM NOM NOM. After that, I had to get changed and then work the PM! Claire did indeed, pass her test so that was good. I was in 510 for the PM and pretty tired so it was a long evening!!<br />
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Tuesday I was an AM as I'd switched my shift. I was in at 10.45am which sucked because I haven't done 10.45am shifts for AGES so it was kind of blahhh. Once we were set up, I got my section which was 401. The shift was okay.. it was nice to do an AM for a change. Since I chose to have 3 PMs and 2 AMs per week in my new schedule bid it seems like I never do them! Once I was finished, it was time to get changed for a few hours in EPCOT before our behind the scenes Spaceship Earth tour! In the end, I went to the new Mexico sit-down restaurant with Andrew, Holly, Andy and Kirsty. It was really yummy but pretty expensive! I had a yummy margarita as well. Then we wondered around the whole world showcase before meeting Whitnie and James at the UK and going over to Spaceship Earth. We got to go up in the service lift and see the maintenance bay area before riding the ride as the last guests of the night. Then they turned on the work lights and we walked the whole ride... got up close and personal with the animatronics and found out all the secrets! It was very cool. I still can't believe the whole ride is in the golf ball! Walking around the backstage area of the attraction made me miss working at Star Tours though!<br />
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Afterwards, I left EPCOT and got the guest bus to All Star Movies to meet Ryan who was back in town to visit. We had a very long chat which went on until about 3am and I finally crashed out, totally exhausted!!<br />
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Wednesday was my first day off of three this week! Aren't I lucky! We slept in until about 11am and then got a taxi to the Commons from Downtown Disney so Ryan could pick up some stuff he'd left there. In the meantime, I went back to my apartment and bummed around for a while until Nick picked me up at about 4.30pm. We went to Earl of Sandwich with one of his Soarin' friends and then headed to Magic Kingdom to see the new show which replaced the Magic, Memories and You. When we got there we were a little early so we did Space Mountain which was a walk-on and then caught the end of the night paarade before seeing this new show called Celebrate The Magic. I liked parts of it... the bits when they actually USED the castle for effect were very good (just like MM&Y) but the bits when Disney just projected random bits of film onto the castle was less impressive and sometimes just downright promotional. Ugh. Afterwards, we stayed to watch Wishes which was awesome as always, and super awesome because the castle Christmas lights were on at the end... seeing the castle in holiday mode is one of my favourite things in the whole world!! I'm very excited for the Christmas Party in a couple of weeks!!<br />
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Thursday was Twilight Day!! The second marathon in a week haha! I got back to Commons about 15 minutes before the taxi so bit of a mad rush to get ready but it was fun to wear tracksuit bottoms, a hoody and a blanket all day... I love being a slob sometimes! So we got into the cinema and got seats at about 10.45am and it was already pretty crazy busy! The first movie started at 11.30am and from then until 10pm it was a pattern of: watch movie, go bathroom, refill drink, eat snacks and repeat! It was so much fun. The final movie (and premiere) was Breaking Dawn Part 2 and it was incredibly good!!! I loved it. We finally left at about 12.30am to go home and to bed!<br />
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Today was my third day off. I slept in which was much needed and then got up and went to Panera with Nick. We then went to see Pitch Perfect (as if I haven't sat in the cinema enough recently haha) for the third time because I love that movie!! It's probably my favourite movie in the whole year! Afterwards, he dropped me off at EPCOT and I went to sort out one of my shift swaps for next week because it got denied. Then I got the bus back to Commons and picked up a couple of things I needed posting and got the H bus to the post office. Then I waited in the dark and cold for the last H bus pick up at the post office, thank God I wasn't forgotten!! I got off again at Publix and went shopping for some food because I have none. Then I was lazy and got the H bus back to Commons (despite Publix being a 10 minute walk away) but the bus driver actually dropped me off first so I was back in like 2 minutes... awesome! And now I have a date with TLC for the evening :D<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-87446262511424616242012-11-08T15:45:00.002-05:002012-11-08T15:45:15.727-05:00Expedition Everest... Meeting the Yeti!I've had an awesome couple of days off this week! So awesome, I've actually managed a second update within a day of the first one haha!<br />
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Yesterday, I met Nick and we ended up going to Mall at Millenia to eat... originally it was going to be Cheesecake Factory but we actually ate at this Italian restaurant opposite which we've always eyed up but never been. It was so yummy! Rather expensive but this is Millenia so did I expect anything else? I had a bruschetta topped with roasted peppers and goats cheese as well as a caesar salad. Nom nom nom. Afterwards, we wondered around the Mall for a bit stopping at Bath & Body Works and Pandora... yeah... I bought a new charm for my bracelet which is basically all sparkles so I love it. And a safety chain so there's no chance of losing my new favourite piece of jewellery! After the Mall, we went back to Nick's to watch the rest of a Christmas movie we started watching days ago and then after that he took me home as I had an early start today...<br />
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For Everest! I got up at the ungodly hour of 5.15am in order to get a 6am taxi. It was FREEZING. Nevertheless, all 15 of us were finally outside Animal Kingdom at 6.45am to go into the park. We went backstage (which means I've now been backstage of all four parks! Nerd alert!) and came out in Dinoland before walking to Everest where we were met by our tour guides. We went into the 'mountain' itself which is a mass of metal poles and concrete... it's massive! Then we walked along the tracks to meet 'Betty' the Yeti! She cost about $10 million and originally she had hydraulics and moved in a scary fashion but apparently the force of it moving constantly had started making the structure get damaged and so she no longer moves. It would cost a LOT of money and downtime for the ride in order to get her fixed so she's a very expensive statue for the time being haha! It was very cool walking alongside the tracks as well. Then we took the 14 stories of stairs (that's exhausting by the way...) up to the top of Everest! Officially the highest point in Disney World and the highest Mountain in the state of Florida ;-)<br />
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The views from the top were awesome. Obviously it was only about 7.45am by this point so it was very calm with not a cloud in the sky. You could see EPCOT, the hat at DHS and even the castle at MK! Then we descended to the bottom again so they could start 'waking-up' the ride for the day. We got taken around the Asia section of DAK to see the theming and various cool things. Then we went back to the ride and got taken through the queue line which was super interesting - the vast majority of the props and decorations are actually genuine. There were several hidden mickeys and secrets we found out about (mostly in-jokes!). Then we got to ride Everest.... WITH THE LIGHTS ON. AWESOMES. We could see the track move when we went to go backwards and saw the Yeti in her full glory as well! Then, we rode it again as the guest sees it which was just plain fun!<br />
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After that, the tour was over. So much fun. Another moment where I thank my lucky stars that I'm still here and wonder what I did in a past life to have the luck to have got my extension :-D<br />
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Once we left Everest, a few of us went to get breakfast at Pizzafari because we were starving. It was just after 9am at this point. Then we went and saw the Lion King, did Dinosaur and then saw Nemo before deciding we were all a bit tired. So we were server wankers and got a taxi back from DAK to Commons. Such a good 24 hours!!<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-46183223223364414902012-11-07T11:15:00.000-05:002012-11-07T11:15:00.356-05:00New Costume!It's been a busy week so far!<br />
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Picking up from last week, I did indeed go and see Pitch Perfect again and it was hilarious again :D I am definitely getting it on DVD when it comes out. Also, I actually wanted to see every movie they put in the trailers... I won't be cancelling my Stubs card just yet! (It's a loyalty card for AMC Cinemas...) Afterwards, Nick dropped me off and I went to bed.<br />
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Thursday was my second day off although I spent most of it at EPCOT. I actually went in and sat one of the practical tests! This was why I knew that Pippa would be fine on her test, because I was part of the test table. Reason being, normally it's only core trainers who get to sit the test table but I was saying to Kevin that I felt I could be a better trainer if I could remember the test. I did mine 9 months ago almost and I barely remember it except the stress! So, he invited me in to sit on the table. It was a great experience. I also got free food and wine courtesy of Disney, yay. I had the cheese plate (obviously) and then the Ploughman's Lunch. Nom. Afterwards, I got a Magners and walked to The Land where I met Nick and we rode Soarin' before we got some food at Ruby Tuesdays and then I went home and he went to bed because he was still feeling the effects of the awful stomach bug he had earlier in the week.<br />
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Friday I was back at work for an AM. I had my new shoes on which were okay... a few blisters. The shift was pretty uneventful. Once I'd finished work, I went home and then got pizza before seeing a movie called Flight which was actually really good. Bit worried about how uncomfortable it is to sit in a cinema for one movie when next Thursday I'm going (with a load of people from work) to see the Twilight Marathon and will be sitting in there for 12 hours! :O I'm going to have to take a pillow I think haha.<br />
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Saturday I was a Mid... and it was CRAZY. It was the penultimate Saturday of Food and Wine so it was about as busy as Christmas week. I was hyper on Monster for most of the evening so I just kept going and going... I was working for about 11 hours and I made the most money I've ever made in one day in my life, amazing. I wish every day could be as fun and enjoyable (and profitable) as Saturday was!! I was tired when I got home but buzzing from the stupid energy drink so didn't get to bed until about 2am!<br />
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Sunday I was a PM. I felt tired because of my poor sleep. BUT it was an exciting day because... NEW COSTUME!!!<br />
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<i>Above: New Costume, Below: Old Costume</i></div>
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So as you can see, very exciting! Obviously those photos have been through the old Instagram filters but you see my point. It's very different. First impressions and days of wearing it seem that it's hotter than the old costume but more flattering. Less practical as well. But overall I do like it!! I also got my year pin this week as well which was super exciting so all in all, a good week for Disney Look related matters haha!</div>
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Besides getting the new costume, I also went in early to work on Sunday to make us a Guy Fawkes!! We thought it would be fun to use the old boy's costume to make one... so we did. Besides this, the PM on Sunday was pretty boring. Afterwards I just went home and to bed.</div>
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Monday was November 5th! Or as we know it in the UK as Bonfire Night! :D As I said, we made a guy... here he is in his full glory:</div>
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This was after he got adorned with beads, a name tag (James, from Scotland) and a stick figure to keep him company. Oh, and a UK pin obviously. He enjoyed the party that we had backstage... lots of hot dogs, burgers and general junk food was had by all. His official name is actually James Beth Fawkes... he had a substitute name tag before James which was Beth from Winter Gardens, FL. I was training on Monday so after going in early for the big group photo we had, I then took the wine class outside for my trainees so we could enjoy the party as well. Then I was training Catherine (ironic) for the rest of the day. It was very slow so I found the day a little boring... but she did a good job. Obviously I went outside to watch the fireworks at 9pm... as did James Fawkes. Sadly, we were not allowed to set fire to James because his costume, hat and name tag is Disney property. Sad face. After work, I got dragged to lasses which was quite amusing, we played a game which involved me downing a car of beer (GROSS) but it was very amusing. I got home at about 12.30 and went to bed.</div>
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Tuesday, I got up and was not in the mood to work at all! I have no idea why. Anyway, I went to work and got 508 as my section which proved to be busy as always and in the end it was a good shift and I enjoyed myself. My shoes hurt less than they have all week which was good and I'm getting used to the new costume. I literally just came straight home and went to bed exhausted afterwards.</div>
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Now it's my days off again YAY!! Today I'm not doing much except catching up on laundry and I might go get food with Nick later. Tomorrow though, I'm going for a 6.30am EVEREST ADVENTURE!!!</div>
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Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-71317121418581769802012-10-31T18:26:00.000-04:002012-10-31T18:26:03.809-04:00It's finally HalloweenWell Halloween has been in full swing here at Disney World for a good two months now so I think it's time to end it, don't you? Haha. I went to the Halloween party at Magic Kingdom in September and never ended up doing the Halloween Horror Nights at Universal... it just never really appealed to me - spending $40 to have people jump out at you and stand in queues all night, no thanks! My favourite part about Mickey's Not So Scary was actually the parade and fireworks anyway which (thanks to see Universal's attempt at a parade at Christmas) is definitely Disney's strong point.<br />
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Anyways, back to my life at the Rose & Crown... Friday last week was my only day off. I went out for lunch with Nick at the French cafe we've been to before on Dr Phillips and then we went to the CityWalk AMC to see Sinister. Well, on the way there he mentioned a new movie that had come out called Silent Hill and as he'd already seen Sinister we decided we'd see that instead... so we got our tickets and sat down in the theatre. I got out my phone to check the reviews and see what it was all about (in hindsight this should have been done beforehand) and realised that it was based on a GAME. Yeah.... so we went back to the box office and luckily managed to swap our tickets to see Sinister instead. This was a good plan. The film was good, made me jump a few times but I actually enjoyed the story which is unusual for a horror movie. I went home afterwards and got some much needed sleep.<br />
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Saturday, I worked an AM which was quite busy and then went to the Beach Club to get the bus to Downtown Disney to meet Sophie. Obviously, she's finished her program now and is killing time at the All-Star resorts before her brother gets here so she can go travel a bit... so I relieved her from the boredom by going to see a movie with her. We got Earl of Sandwich and wondered around the shops before seeing Pitch Perfect which was AMAZING. I loved it. Afterwards, I got the F bus home and downloaded the soundtrack :D<br />
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Sunday I worked a PM... I know I mentioned coming down with a cold last week but it hasn't shifted in that time. It's just an irritating dry cough which tends to end in coughing fits in front of guests because I have to strain my voice to speak over the noise of the bar. Well, on Sunday I was on lower deck and I managed only two coughing fits which was good... my guests pretty much all wanted to stay at their tables from 7.30pm until the fireworks so it was a very easy evening... until I picked up an 8-top who only really spoke Spanish and the kids were all over the place. Joy. I eventually got out of there and went to bed.<br />
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Monday I was a PM again and in 201... By 7.45pm I had had enough of coughing, losing my voice and generally feeling like crap so I asked to be cut. They actually did cut me... but obviously it was Monday so did anyone want to take KD off me?! Of course not. This meant I then had to stand around the R&C until 11pm feeling awful, tired, pissed off and generally fed up. I eventually got home and went to bed in a awful mood.<br />
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Tuesday - was finally my Friday after what seemed like the longest week ever (but ironically was actually only 4 days of work). I asked to train instead of serve because it required less talking... I was training Pippa who was a good trainee but a bit of a worrier so I spent more time running around than I would have liked to on a Day 3 of training. Her test is tomorrow... so fingers crossed ;-) I'll explain the smiley there on my next post....<br />
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Today was my first day off. I slept in and then spoke to Mum because my parents are setting off on a 2-week cruise this week to celebrate their anniversary. Then I did the trek to Magic Kingdom costuming (which took best part of an hour) to get new work shoes... with the new costume coming in on Sunday I want to look my best! Sadly this meant that I couldn't get a new pair of my old shoes because they don't have them anymore so I had to get different ones. We shall see how comfortable they are because if they don't live up to the job I will be buying a new pair of the old ones online and getting them shipped to my apartment LOL. Then I got the B bus back to Chatham where I thought I could wait for the Walmart bus... that was a fail because it wasn't due for another 40 minutes so instead I walked to Publix to get a few things. Then I went via Walgreens and then eventually back to my apartment where I've spent the remaining time watching Casualty (I'm two months out of date) and bumming around.<br />
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Nick got sick this week but I think he's feeling well enough to go to the movies tonight so hopefully we will and I get to see Pitch Perfect again :p<br />
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<i>I will be buying this with our holiday 40% merchandise discount... :D</i></div>
<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-64031424389807124642012-10-25T11:34:00.001-04:002012-10-25T11:34:15.760-04:00Now I'm 24...Well after my birthday and my three days off, it was back to reality with a bump because I'd picked up extra shifts and was starting a six day run and well as it being the last week for my arrival group.<br />
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Saturday - I'd swapped my shift so I was a PM. I went for cheeky cheesecake factory for lunch to finish off my birthday celebrations and then Nick dropped me at work. I was in 508 which made for an eventful and busy evening on a Saturday of F&W of course. I ended up being sat one of Nick's friends/roommates on my table so that was amusing and the whole evening went very fast, it was good. After work, Sophie and I had to rush back to Commons, getting home at 11.40pm in order to get the Cowboys taxi at 12! As it was their last I really wanted to go. We eventually made it to Cowboys at 12.50am and stayed until 2.15am when it closed. There was crying and dancing and free beer (ugh)... good times.<br />
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Sunday - I was a PM again and oh, again I was in 508. I don't remember much about this shift except it was busy and I was one of the last out. Standard. I went home and slept a deep sleep!<br />
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Monday - I was a Mid, training James. He's already had training so he knew what to do... I spent most of the AM just keeping an eye on him - we were in 514. He wasn't feeling too well and by 5pm, he felt awful so my manager and I decided it would be more beneficial for him to go home. Therefore I took over the PM section.... 508 AGAIN!! Janet then sat me a 15-top over my two big tables (including 6 kids and several tipsy adults), a 2-top, a 3-top and then I had to pick up a 6-top inside for Sam because she got hit on the head by the ice machine and got concussion! So nobody else would pick it up and I ended up with 26 guests at once! Crazy! I was running around like a crazy woman but it was all good in the end. Again, Sophie and I were rushing to get out, I got home at 11.10pm and Lasses (yes, you heard me correctly, Lasses) was at 11.15pm so I quickly changed and got over to Charlotte's apartment in time... now, I haven't attended the weekly piss-up that is Lasses for most of this year because of many reasons... one being I've had other things to do, one being I don't believe in some of their cult-ish ways and also because I didn't used to know a lot of the girls there and I found it intimidating. However, now I know pretty much everyone and it was Sam and Sophie's "last" one so I found myself there... and I'm really glad I went. We all sat around whilst they picked people out and told them their funniest, nicest or best moments in the year. I ended up crying (again!) and eventually at about 12.15am we left to go to Old Town which is near Celebration. We went to a bar to meet the "lads" (i.e. the UK boys) for some drinks... there was a lot of singing, dancing and chanting going on - it is just like being at uni all over again LOL. After we left there at 2am, we went back to Commons and stood in a big circle in the car park opposite to say our official goodbye to Sam and Sophie and Paul. It then involved a massive group hug in which I got squished and ended up at the bottom when it all collapsed onto the floor! hahaha! It was a lovely goodbye though, many tears were shed by pretty much everyone.<br />
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Ultimately, I just can't believe that this should have been me. I feel so lucky and privileged to not be saying goodbye this week as I was supposed to, and to have been given an extra 10 weeks in the Happiest Place on Earth.<br />
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Tuesday - I was a PM again. Firstly, I had to go to my costume fitting for the brand new costume that comes in on the 4th November - VERY EXCITED. Then I went to work and ended up in section 709. I figured it wouldn't be too bad... but I hadn't realized the horrible guests that were about to come my way. Lots of really rude people basically. My night ended with a table who were waiting a very long time for their kids' ice creams... now this was the kitchen's fault but I had already apologised and said sorry. I said we'd take them off the bill etc. The long and short of it was that the woman ended up yelling at me and my manager, demanding we comp the whole meal (which we didn't) and saying it was 'disgusting' how they'd sat there for "2 whole hours".... ummm that's standard for a sit-down meal... especially when they had literally one of the best seats in the house for the fireworks on lower deck. So all in all, they never got their ice creams and both myself and my manager got unnecessarily screamed at. Not a good ending to my day.<br />
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Wednesday - I had picked up an extra AM on this day so that I could work with Sam, Paul and Sophie as it should have been my last day too. It was very uneventful shift actually and I ended up in the Dart Room. It was kinda boring and I could have done with the day off so regretted it a bit... anyway, I got cut early and ended up being the first in the bar. Got myself a cheese plate and a cider & black and the day improved LOL. Once everyone had banked out, we walked to Hollywood Studios for dinner at the Hollywood & Vine which was much better than I thought it would be even though it was buffet and then Luke & I got the boat back to EPCOT whilst everyone else walked (my blisters were still hurting from last week!). We sneaked into the UK viewing area to see the fireworks and then they did the shoe-throwing tradition. We wondered around the UK for a while afterwards before James and I decided to make the move home as I was totally exhausted as was he. I got home and went to bed feeling rubbish because I think I've got a bit of a cold... :(<br />
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Today is Thursday and I'm feeling a little better. I have a PM this afternoon and then finally a day off tomorrow!<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-30396296920503433282012-10-19T11:09:00.000-04:002012-10-25T11:09:52.216-04:00Everyday at Walt Disney World is a special day... but today's extra special because...<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>...it was my birthday!!!</i></b></div>
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I have waited and waited and waited for it to be my birthday as it fell exactly a week before my program end date! I have always dreamed of being able to be at the Magic Kingdom on my birthday and so it's finally happened, yay!<br />
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So, I woke up early and promptly my mum called me. I also opened my birthday cards... Lauren has got us tickets to see the Spice Girls musical once I'm back in the UK - excitement! After that I got up and started getting ready for the day - I'd bought myself a new dress and decided to curl my hair. Half way through curling my hair, my phone rang and it was a delivery man who wasn't being allowed into Commons so I had to walk through the complex half dressed with my hair half done to get the flowers that my mum had had delivered for me - they're very pretty so it was worth it ;)<br />
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Once I was ready, I had to wait around for Nick because he was running late. He told me that he'd got something on his shirt and he'd overslept which sounded about right so I was a little bit annoyed... anyways, he eventually picked me up an hour late and we drove over to EPCOT. When we got to the car park, he told me he had a gift for me - he gave me a Pandora bracelet!! And that's the real reason he was late! So I forgave him :P He had bought three charms on it - a purple bead (obviously because that's my favourite colour), a little aeroplane and a little suitcase - all because of the travelling we have done together. I thought it was super cute!<br />
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So, we walked into EPCOT and I made it from the car to the golf ball in my new shoes before I could barely walk any more because of the blisters that were forming :( So we stopped at Guest Relations so I could get a birthday button and to put plasters all over my feet. After this we carried on to go to the Italian pavilion where we got small dishes of pasta (for Nick) and paninis (for me) as well as I got a sparkling wine flight and he got a red wine... all in our favourite place - the wine cellar. After this we walked back through the world showcase and I stopped to get a glass of Champagne from the Food & Wine kiosk plus I also gave in and bought a pair of flip flops for my poor feet.<br />
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We drove over to the Grand Floridian and parked in Self-Parking. I wore my second pair of shoes I'd bought (wedges) which ironically turned out more comfortable than the flat shoes that had given me blisters. With the flip flops safely tucked away in my bag we walked over to the Tea Room. We checked in and got our table about 10 minutes later... we both chose to have the 'Grand Tea' which was 3 "courses". Firstly we chose our tea (I, not being a fan of traditional tea, chose a herbal berry tea which was really nice. Bit like hot ribena LOL.) and then our first "course" was sandwiches... they were all cut into triangles and you got one egg, one cucumber, one salmon, one curry chicken and one pear & gorgonzola. I left the last one and gave the curry one to Nick but the other three were yummy. It also came with a little square of pate but no bread to eat it on so that was a bit weird. There was also a little onion tart which was yummy. Then the second "course" was the scone with Devonshire cream, jam and lemon curd - NOM. This was my favourite course. You also got a little jam tart as well. The final "course" was a dessert tray where you chose a couple of little pastries - I had a little cream swan and a chocolate covered strawberry. She let me have an extra one because it was my birthday so I got a mini chocolate eclair! :) This was all washed down with a glass of Cuvee from 1997. Amazing. I LOVED IT.<br />
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So after this, we jumped onto the monorail and headed to one of me and Tyler's favourite haunts - The Wave bar at the Contemporary. We got a few drinks there (glass of wine, magical star, blue glowtini.... and some chips haha) before going over to the Magic Kingdom at about 7pm. We had time to wonder around the new Fantasyland and go on the Ariel ride (it was at this point I surrendered to flip flops again) before getting a spot for the fireworks. It was very magical :)<br />
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Sadly this was the end of my birthday... we walked back down Main Street and back to the Grand Flo to get the car.... but it was amazing and I loved it. Special thanks to Nick for putting up with my birthday choices and my lovely gift. Also thanks to his Mom for paying for our afternoon tea and my Mum and Dad for paying for Italy and my flowers! One of the best birthdays EVER! :D<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-6832434555654608322012-10-18T15:28:00.003-04:002012-10-18T15:29:12.368-04:00Back to "the real world"...So Lauren left on Sunday and as I said, my PM shift was pretty boring. I'd really wanted to give it away and work another day in the week instead but nobody would swap with me... especially seen as I had a car and wanted to make the most of it but meh. So after work, I went straight to Walmart to get food as I had none and then eventually got to bed at 1.30am. I had to get up early the next day to return the car by 9am so that was fun.<br />
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After that, I came home and got ready for work as I was doing the training MID... joy. However, my trainee was Lauren and she was awesome! I even picked up a table of my own later in the evening. It was pretty tiring but actually a good day in the end. After work, I met Nick and we had TGI Fridays.<br />
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Tuesday was finally my Friday! I had to head into work early for a safety meeting (because I'm on the safety committee and a fully-fledged keeno) and then into work for the PM. I was supposed to be training again but I didn't in the end... I was in 704 though and I remembered how much I don't like that section. I think I've only been there like twice since becoming a server. I was pretty exhausted by the end but we were off to Jellyrolls. I got ready after work and walked to the Boardwalk. It was good fun. I liked that they did a Disney medley because they rarely play Disney music. It was sad when they played 'Time of your life' by GreenDay because we all started crying! Most of my arrival group were there except a gaping hole in the form of Tyler :(<br />
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Since Jellyrolls I've not been up to much as I am in the midst of my three (!) days off this week. Yesterday I went to Pei Wei with Nick for lunch and then he went to work. I tidied my whole apartment and did laundry before meeting up with him to make some pasta for dinner then he did homework and I read my kindle. Today I've just chilled out and finished everything off that I've been meaning to do for a while... also, changed my flights!! My definite date of home coming is the 20th January 2013. So I leave three months tomorrow...<br />
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Talking of tomorrow - I'll be 24! It's my birthday tomorrow!!!!Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-33770402341885414252012-10-17T21:55:00.002-04:002012-10-18T15:21:30.809-04:00Lauren's VisitWell, my trip to EPCOT was fun with Tyler... we ended up having a few drinks around the world and then eating at the Rose & Crown, standard. I had a cheese plate and a scotch egg. I also had a Welsh Dragon cocktail which I like a lot more now than when I first started at the R&C! It promptly started pouring down with rain and so we didn't stay for IllumiNations :( Actually it was quite a poignant moment walking out of EPCOT in the pouring rain through the guest exit with Tyler and his last visit to the park. It was a little bit sad. I got dropped off at the Commons by Ginger Dan (Ty's friend) and then about 10 minutes later Nick picked me up and as soon as he asked me if I was okay the waterworks started! We got a Starbucks and chatted.<br />
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Moving forward to the purpose of this post - Lauren came to visit! I worked the Friday and Saturday as usual then I did an AM on Sunday 7th which was the day she arrived. I had picked up the rental car first thing in the morning and it was AWESOME - a Chevrolet Cruze which was very similar to the Malibu I had when Mum was here in February. It was an upgrade and I was very sad to give it back 8 days later! Anyway, I persuaded Janet into cutting me early so I got out of there by 4.30pm and was on my way to Sanford to pick her up.<br />
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I got her and we headed to Panera Bread because we were both starving. Then we went to Pop Century to check in and we got a pretty good room near the main building (unlike when Hayley was here and we were in the arse end of the resort). We headed out to Walmart to get a few drinks and stuff before getting an early night because we were both tired!<br />
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Monday 8th - we were up bright and early to go to Magic Kingdom! YAY! It was a day when the park would be closing at 7pm for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party so I knew it would be busy first thing... but the monorail breaking down didn't help! So Lauren's first ever impression of MK was standing in a line for 30 minutes to get the ferry to the park. Woo. Anyways, once we finally got there I was very excited and we caught the beginning of the MiSiCi Parade before getting ear hats! I hadn't got one for the whole year so I chose a purple headband style with a little princess crown on the top :D We headed to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain was only a 15 minute wait so we walked onto that - very entertaining as it scared the living daylights out of Lauren. LOL. So then we went on the Carousel of Progress which ALSO promptly broke down whilst we were on it! Haha! After that we walked to Adventureland and had lunch at Peco's Bills with our quick service dining plan (QSR). We then got fastpasses for Splash Mountain and in the meantime we did Thunder Mountain. We did Splash and then Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean. We got a spot by the castle and watched the 3pm parade before leaving the Magic Kingdom and heading straight over to Animal Kingdom! Once we got there, we went to see the Lion King show and did Dinosaur and Everest... so much fun. There wasn't much else that Lauren wanted to do so we drove over to Downtown Disney and had an Earl of Sandwich for dinner, my favourite! A very fun but exhausting first day!!<br />
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Tuesday 9th - We headed out in an attempt to get to Universal shortly after opening which was a bit of a fail due to my poor navigational skills and the giant queue to buy tickets at Islands of Adventure. Nevertheless, we finally got to Harry Potter world at about 11.30am and waited for about 30 minutes to go on Forbidden Journey. Lauren loved it. Then we got butterbeer and shared a fish & chips at the Three Broomsticks. We waited for the Hippogriff's Journey which is the kids rollercoaster that I'd never done - was actually quite entertaining! Then we looked around the shops before heading to Marvel where we wanted to do Hulk. We couldn't because it was closed down for the day. Meh. So we went to Spiderman. It was also broken. Seriously!!!! So we went to Jurassic Park instead which was great, especially because I barely got wet! We tried Spiderman again as it was back up but it broke again whilst we were in line so we gave up. Sadly, this was all we did at the park but nevertheless it was fun. We left Universal and went back to Pop Century to freshen up. Then we went over to EPCOT in order to use up most of our 'snacks' on the QSR by going around the Food & Wine Festival! We had champagne to start with (nom) and then met Nick before doing Soarin', Mission Space and Spaceship Earth. Then we headed to the World Showcase and had some yummy stuff - we got a cheeseplate and wine at the Italian pavilion wine cellar. At F&W, I remember having shrimp from Austrailia, baklava from Morocco, an amazing chocolate lava cake and mini-Guinness (ewww) from Ireland (obvs), cheese from the Cheese stand amongst other things! Nick left us early to go home to do homework and stuff whilst we sneaked into the viewing area at the R&C to watch IllumiNations! Then we headed home on the guest bus as I'd had too much to drink in order to drive haha.<br />
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Wednesday 10th - We went to Hollywood Studios to start the day. Even though we were in the line for Toy Story at 9.30am it still posted a 45 minute wait although really it was about 20. Then we headed over to get fastpasses for Aerosmith and did ToT in the meantime. We got lunch and then did Aerosmith. We saw the Beauty & The Beast show and did Star Tours before heading back to Pop Century as I had my Disney Graduation!<br />
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So I drove to Commons and got ready to promptly find out the location had changed to Vista Way from Chatham Square... I thought it was odd I hadn't had an email about this. Well... turns out that I wasn't supposed to be graduating that day and they almost refused to let me be there!! Because my end date has changed to January, they told me that I had to come back in December. Well, I refused because all my friends were there so they let me stay seen as they'd printed my certificate already and had me on the list. So, cue taking a MILLION pictures, meeting graduation Minnie, Mickey, Pluto and Goofy. I also met Donald and Daisy who were doing some hilarious dancing. It was the nicest Disney graduation in terms of the weather because it wasn't too hot!! But kinda weird it was at Vista Way... ironic in a way seen as that's where my Disney programs all started 4.5 years ago! After I got back to Pop Century, I just chilled out with Lauren.<br />
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Thursday 11th - my last full day off with Lauren so we headed to Clearwater Beach. The drive was fine, the weather was very hot and sunny, I got sunburnt, we had a McDonalds, we got a prime parking space and paid for a beach umbrella and we had a picnic. That's about it. Haha. After we got back to WDW, we headed back to DHS to see Fantasmic. We also ended up doing the animation class and Great Movie Ride which was fun. After Fantasmic we headed home to much needed sleep!<br />
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Friday 12th - back to work for me. I was an AM and it was actually quite good fun. Afterwards, I got back and changed before we headed to Mall of Millenia for retail therapy! I actually didn't spend too much money but Lauren did haha! Then we met Nick and had Cheesecake Factory before heading home.<br />
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Saturday 13th - another AM shift... which actually started with a full 20 minutes of me being on the service bar because it was instantly crazy in the bar! Then I somehow managed to balance three tables and helping the service bar, it was good fun. Made me want to go on the bar I have to admit. The shift was good and it passed quickly. Afterwards, I got back to Pop and we headed out for Magic Kingdom!! When we got there we did Monsters Inc and the TTA. Then we went to Fantasyland and did It's a Small World (ugh but it had to be done) and then Haunted Mansion and Philarmagic before getting a spot for Wishes. After the fireworks we stuck around and I saw the Main St Electrical Parade for the first time in entirety in over two years. Rumour has it that Spectromagic is coming back - I really hope so. Then we went to New Fantasyland to do Dumbo and the Barnstormer... where we stumbled across the "dress rehersal" for the expansion!! So we got to see inside the dining room of Be Our Guest (AMAZING) and we rode the Ariel ride! I'm going back next week for a Cast Preview but it looks great. So we did those rides and then did the tea cups as well and the speedway before calling it a night at about 11.30pm!<br />
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Sunday 14th - we checked out of Pop Century and went to DTD for another Earl of Sandwich :D Then I drove Lauren back to the airport after a very fun but tiring week of being a tourist! After that I drove to EPCOT for my PM shift which dragged and wasn't too much fun!<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-62488800896736563152012-10-04T13:42:00.001-04:002012-10-04T13:42:55.788-04:00(Second) California Adventure!Wednesday 26th:<br />
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We got the flight from Orlando to Atlanta and literally had enough time to go to the bathroom and walk to the other end of the terminal to get our connecting flight so that was exciting. Got on the second plane and were pretty exhausted so I napped most of the flight. We were on the type of plane where there was only two seats each side and three in the middle so we had our own two seat "row" to ourselves which was nice. We landed in San Francisco at about 10.30am PST (Pacific Standard Time - 3 hours behind Florida and therefore 8 hours behind the UK) and got our bag before getting the slightly ghetto BART train into the city. Getting the ticket proved a little tricky because we had to use a machine and it was a bit complicated... felt like when we were in Paris doing the same thing but at least without the language problem! Once we emerged into the city I realised it was pretty cold so had to rummage around for my jacket which I pretty much didn't take off for the next 48 hours! Going from 95 degrees in Florida to 60 in SF was a bit of a shock haha!<br />
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We set off to find our hotel with a 49-pound suitcase and laptop bag in tow... and didn't quite realise how many hills we'd have to climb to get to the hotel. So it took us about 45 minutes of walking and a short stint in a streetcar to get there but we made it eventually! It was too early to check in so we left our bags there and then set off to explore!! We decided to go to the Coit Tower which is the highest point in SF so we could get a view of the city... a few hills later we got there and had to line up to go to the top of the tower which was good. Amazing views. It was sunny and quite warm when you were sheltered but the wind was cold! Afterwards, we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf to see what was there and ended up making a spur of the moment decision to go on a Bay Cruise under the Golden Gate bridge. Oh my... I've never been so COLD IN MY LIFE!!!! It was super windy! However, got some good albeit foggy views of the bridge and the bay, it was fun. Afterwards we got soup (much needed) before heading to the hotel to check in. We were so exhausted by only having 3 hours napping/sleep in about 36 hours that we both crashed out at about 8pm!<br />
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Thursday 27th:<br />
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We had a good solid 13 hours sleep before getting up for our full day in SF. We left the hotel and walked down to the Bay (about 15 minutes walk) for our trip to Alcatraz! This is what I was most excited about seeing in SF... and probably the whole trip actually. We got the boat over there and had a 5 minute introductory talk before watching a 15 minute film about the history of the place. Then we walked up the massive hill to the prison where we got given a headset... then you did a tour of the prison which was about 45 minutes and lead by the audio track. It was a really good way of doing it because it kept everyone moving around and gave you loads of useful information... you could always pause it to stop and see something in more detail or to have a break. We spent about 2 hours on Alcatraz Island in all. You could go inside the cells and stuff which was super CREEPY! I loved it. Definitely do it if you go to SF... but book in advance because it was sold out when we got there had we not bought our tickets online!<br />
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Upon returning to dry land we got lunch in 'Little Italy'... I had delicious pasta. Afterwards, we got the bus to the other side of SF, the Presido Park (sp?) to see the Walt Disney Family Museum. This took a little bit of persuading with Nick because he wasn't too keen but I think he enjoyed it in the end! I loved it - SO INTERESTING. It isn't owned by the company, it's owned by the family of the man himself so you get a different angle. The best part for me was seeing one of the very first original drawings of Mickey Mouse which was soooo cool as well as the Christian Louboutin 'Cinderella' shoes in real life...<br />
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There's only like 10 pairs in existence or something so that was cool and I wish I could have some!! The whole place was just really interesting for a Disney Keeno like me. Afterwards, we headed back to the city for some ice cream at the original Ghirardelli's - yum. Then we were pretty tired and cold so we headed back to the hotel to chill out and sleep again.<br />
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Friday 28th: We had to be up bright and early at 6am again. We had the hotel breakfast (meh) and then set off with the suitcase up another hill to the bus stop to get the bus to the BART stop again back to the airport. This time we did a direct route with little problem so a pity we hadn't figured that one out on Wednesday! Haha! Anyways, we got to the airport and headed to the car rental facility to pick up our car. After a small set back involving having to pay an additional $191 (ugh) we finally got the car which was a nice Toyota Corolla. We drove out of SF and got to a toll bridge which we didn't realise... asked them if we could pay it later (like you can in Florida via the post) because I didn't think I had enough cash and they didn't accept cards. Well, he handed us this piece of paper and we drove on... until I looked at it - it was a Toll Violation!!! Cheeky! So now I've landed myself with a $25-50 fine for crossing a bridge which should have been about $5. Annoying much. I also have to wait for it to come in the post via Hertz as it was a rental car so that's just irritating.<br />
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Anyway, we drove on and were headed to Lake Tahoe. We got a McDonald's breakfast on the way and eventually arrived. It was pretty there. Nick wanted to get a gondola ride up to a high point but we couldn't find it and it was expensive... so we gave up and took photos of the lake instead. Then we got back in the car and drove to Yosemite which was another 2.5 hours drive because Nick wanted to see this famous rock called the Half Dome. We managed to get there just in time for sunset so we got some awesome pictures and saw the prettiness of the national park. Would love to go back there one day.<br />
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Then it was time to drive on and back to just south of SF for our hotel that night. After an endless drive in which I fell asleep several times we got to our Hilton hotel (bargain at $110 by the way!) and checked in and went straight to bed!<br />
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Saturday 29th: This was the day of the drive down Pacific Highway 1... Nick was particularly excited by this. We stopped in Monteray Bay first... it was VERY foggy. So much so that we couldn't really see the coast which was sad. So we drove on to Carmel-By-The-Sea which was beautiful! Still a bit foggy but we got an amazing lunch at an Italian place... it was SO good. The pizza took a while to come out of the kitchen (about 25 minutes) but the waitress gave us a free glass of wine on top of the one we'd already had so that was pretty awesome :D I stopped at a sweet shop that advertised selling 'English candy' so I purchased a mint Aero and a Boost bar! Yay! After lunch we got back into the car and drove on as we had a lot of miles to cover and it was already about 3pm by this point! We stopped to see a lovely waterfall and cove... and lots of viewpoints. It varied between really foggy and really sunny it was weird.<br />
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Eventually we reached the Malibu area of LA and this was where we checked into our next hotel. Nick had some homework he had to finish and I washed my hair, thrilling stuff then I went to bed.<br />
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Sunday 30th: We had breakfast at the hotel (was good...) and then drove into downtown LA (bit scary!!). Found this great big multistorey car park at Hollywood & Highland which was only $2 to park at if you got your ticket validated by one of the restaurants or shops in the shopping center attached. Seen as we had lunch there that worked! We saw the Hollywood sign again, some of the walk of fame stars and the outside of the Chinese Theatre. It was cool but a complete tourist trap. We escaped after a couple of hours and went to Disneyland where we had reservations at California Adventure. We did Soarin' and saw the Aladdin show (REALLY GOOD!) before having our dinner. We had a World of Color package so we got a set 3-course menu for $40 and fastpasses for the show in the VIP viewing area... soooo good! The show itself was incredible, I've never seen anything like it! Then Disneyland Park was open til midnight so we headed over there and queued for the Halloween-ified Space Mountain which was genuinely scary!! We finally left and went to our last hotel of the trip which was just down the road from the park thank goodness.<br />
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Monday 1st: Happy 30th Birthday EPCOT!! I was sad to miss the celebrations at my current park but I can watch the fireworks on YouTube right? ;)<br />
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Instead, we had a lie-in (much needed) and didn't check out of the hotel until midday. We got lunch at the Downtown Disney area which was okay (hoping for an Earl of Sandwich but it wasn't open! Sad times!) and then hit the road for a little adventure into the Anza-Borrego desert. We had two entertaining events happen... firstly we were driving along through an endless sea of the colour brown when we saw a bright blue lake! It was massive! Upon looking at the map, it actually was the Salton Sea which was formed by earthquakes and lay directly on the San Andreas Fault Line (I got a Geography GCSE-related thrill from this!) so we thought we'd take a detour to explore this. We drove down a random road past some orange groves until we got to the edge of the lake... it looked pretty! We got out of the car to be hit by the most awful stink of sewage and flies!!! EWWWWW!!!! We jumped back in the car and drove off with all the windows down trying to swat the flies out of the car and spray body spray in an attempt to get rid of the smell! Not quite what I'd pictures but hilarious.<br />
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Secondly, we got to the viewpoint which Nick wanted to see - Font's Point. It was a sand road but it looked pretty packed in sand and to begin with it was fine to drive on... for about 10 minutes until it turned to soft sand and we very nearly got stuck in the middle of the 100 degree desert with no mobile phone signal! I'll remind you we were in a 2-wheel drive Toyota Corolla... the desert won that one. We managed to reverse and swerve (A LOT) but get out of there in one piece. Poor car. We drove on and out of the desert until we eventually hit back to the LA area and managed to get some fast food as we were pretty hungry. We then returned the rental car and went to the airport to check in for the awful red-eye overnight flight back to Orlando.<br />
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Tuesday 2nd: I actually managed to sleep most of the flight amazingly. Still felt rough as hell when I got back though! Nick dropped me back at the Commons at about 8am and I went to bed until 1pm when I had to get up for work. I was training the PM with Luke and we were KD which was joyful haha. He was actually an amazing trainee to the point where I had 2 of my own tables and didn't need to worry about him at all! His test is today but I'm sure he'll pass with flying colours.<br />
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Wednesday 3rd: We've finally caught up! Yesterday I had picked up an AM shift because I had too many days off recently and no money after this trip! It was okay. I was in dart room until I was cut at 2.15pm as I had to go to a F&B 'Safety Meeting' with my manager. I was the token gesture from the UK lol. It was okay but boring. Afterwards, I got changed and clocked out before meeting all the rest of my arrival group (minus Steffie who was on a cruise) and we went to Raglan Road for dinner! It was great! SO MUCH FUN to hang out with them all again... albeit for a sad occasion as it was Tyler's last day of work and he flies home tomorrow. We managed to make it to Magic Kingdom with 5 minutes to spare before the fireworks and legged it up Main Street to stand in front of the castle. Tears were shed and mass group hugs occurred. It was a bit sad... and I'm gonna be so upset to say goodbye to these guys in 3 weeks time. It will be weird to be here without them. We went and did Thunder Mountain (at the back - so awesome!) and then Jungle Cruise which was hilarious before we headed back to housing.<br />
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Today I'm about to get ready to go to the Outlets and EPCOT with Tyler as it's his last day in Orlando ;( I'll be so upset to say goodbye to him. Although I called immigration this morning and verified I can go to Canada at the end of my program and come back to Orlando on an ESTA before I go home... so I'll be seeing him in a couple of months I guess. He's been one of my best friends here for the last year and I'll miss him. It's also the first goodbye of my arrival group which is sad. Okay, gonna stop typing before I start crying now!!<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-88066348504153088812012-10-04T12:31:00.000-04:002012-10-04T12:31:59.413-04:00It's been a while!Ugh where to start! So much has gone on that I haven't had a chance to update and now I'm over two weeks out of date...<br />
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Well, work was pretty standard for the days after my last blog post. I really don't remember much unusual stuff happening to be honest. I had some really good shifts where I earnt lots of money and then some shifts which weren't so busy.<br />
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The day I met Tyler, we went to EPCOT and had a few drinks around the world. Met his friend from DCL and HIS friend so we went to the Italian pavilion and had some food in the wine cellar before going to China for QS food as well. Then Tyler and I left to go to Magic Kingdom and see Wishes which was nice as well. I switched my days off that week so I was working the next day and then was off on the Friday. I mostly spent that day going to the Post Office to post my sister some new UGG boots (substantially cheaper here than in the UK!) and then packing my stuff for my latest trip with Nick!<br />
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Saturday I worked a MID which was thrilling. Then Sunday I was an AM but ended up being at work until about 6pm which is a late finish for an AM shift. It paid off money-wise but was a bit annoying! I went to Nick's new apartment for the first time (it's only taken 2 months LOL) and that's really nice... in Celebration so a lot further away than he used to live which was a 10 minute walk from here!<br />
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Monday I was a PM. The Tuesday I switched my shift and was a 10.45AM... on the up side I persuaded Janet to cut me at 2.30pm and so I got out of there at 4pm! It was the start of another vacation and I had barely prepared for it!<br />
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So I got out of work, went back to Commons to change. Nick picked me up and we went and got a curry (at the only decent curry place in Orlando... almost tastes like home but not quite haha) and then back to Commons to pack my stuff. Took it to his apartment and he was as ill-prepared as me in that because our flight was at 6am the next day we had to leave at 3.45am for the airport... this meant we ended up washing his clothes, watching a Disney Channel movie and generally not doing anything sensible because we just stayed up and went to Waffle House at 3am. LOL. Therefore after no sleep, we went to the airport to get our flight to... San Francisco!!<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106336738209887900.post-15429750906727101162012-09-19T11:57:00.000-04:002012-09-19T11:57:24.685-04:00Staycation Numero Dos! (Part 2)It's been a while! So much to catch up on, this is going to be a long one I tell you now!<br />
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So... Friday 7th was EPCOT day. We headed over there just before lunch taking the guest bus. We got lunch at the Coral Reef restaurant which I'd never been to before... it's got aquariums all along one wall which is really cool. Bit weird to eat fish whilst watching fish though! Anyway, I actually had a caesar salad with shrimp and the others had a mixture of food from fish to pork. The food was yummy but the service was a bit shoddy to be honest. After we were all filled up we walked around the aquarium section of 'The Seas' which I never knew existed and then did the Nemo ride. After that we went on Mission:Space (Orange, obviously) and then went around Mousegear for a bit. Then we headed to the World Showcase - it was very odd being in the UK Pavilion with Hayley as that's what brought us together as friends!! We spent quite a while there - had a cider & black in the R&C and she went around the shops looking at everything that had changed. Then we walked around the rest of the countries... I tried Saki for the first time in Japan which was actually quite yummy and we looked in all the shops. We headed back to the R&C around 7.30pm and checked in for our reservation which didn't exist... Fern was assigning and she did a great job of getting us sat within about 20 minutes. We were on 514 which wasn't ideal but the whole of lower deck was closed because it had been raining so we just walked down to lower deck to see the fireworks. I had fish and chips (standard), Laura had the veggie pie which she said she liked and then the others had the surf & turf which went down well I'm glad to say! I had the jaffa tarts for dessert because I'd not had them as dessert before... but I think I preferred mandy's mess! We had Ani as our server and she was great. We wrote her a GSF. So, after this it was actually EMH! We left the R&C and went back to Future World to go to the Character Spot where I met Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Pluto :) We did Soarin', then we went back into Mouse Gear for a bit and then headed home after 12 hours in EPCOT.<br />
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Saturday: It was back to work day! I was in for a Mid... so we had breakfast at Pop Century and then the others all headed off for Busch Gardens whilst I got the guest bus to work. Got there just in time because the bus took forever to turn up but it was all fine. Work was good. Nothing else to really report there. After work I went home to the Commons and had all of about 6 hours sleep before getting up to be back at work for a 10.45AM on Sunday. The others went to Universal Studios that day. After work, I met Nick and we did Soarin', before heading to DHS and doing RnR and ToT. Then we drove to Mall of Millennia to meet the others who had finished at Universal by this point and we all went to Cheesecake Factory - NOM! After this, we headed home in separate cars and Hayley & I finished off our cheesecake in the room!<br />
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Monday: I'd managed to switch my shift to an AM and the others went off to Kennedy Space Center. So they dropped me at Commons at 9am and I got ready for work there and got the bus. The shift was pretty non-exciting as it's been so quiet recently that AMs seem a bit pointless. After work, I managed to get the guest bus back to Pop, get changed and get back to DHS to meet them at about 7pm for our reservation at the Brown Derby. This is a signature dining location (the only one of our trip) so it was 2 credits on the DDP (Disney Dining Plan). I paid extra to have potato & leek soup for starter which was really good... then my entree was a chicken dish with a celery root puree and some nice sauce on it. To be honest, it wasn't good enough for my liking considering it's signature and the cost of the food (had I been paying for it) because the entree just wasn't hot enough. It tasted nice, but not lukewarm. Nevertheless, the dessert made up for it because I had a chocolate trio thing which was goooood and then a champagne flight which was great! So, afterwards Dan went back to the hotel whilst Hayley, Laura and I made the most of EMH! It was so much fun!! We did the animation class twice (drew Grumpy and Piglet), saw the Little Mermaid show (random), did RnR (twice!) and ToT, danced with the characters at the Disney Junior Dance Party and saw Fantasmic again! It really was the most Fantasmic evening!! We went home exhausted but happy at 1am!<br />
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Tuesday: I was a PM which I couldn't change unfortunately. They were off to Typhoon Lagoon so we had breakfast together and then I spent the morning relaxing and reading my book before getting ready for work and getting the guest bus there. Work was fine... pretty standard. I thought I was training but it turned out I wasn't. I missed going to Boma for dinner because that's where the others went but that's okay. They picked me up at Cast Services and we went home... I ended up walking/running around Pop Century when I realised I was still in costume in the most un-fitting location ever! Haha! Ooops.<br />
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Wednesday: Hayley took me to the Marriott hotel at 9.15am for me to pick up a rental car. The others then all went off to Clearwater whilst I drove to Port Orleans to pick up Rob (a friend from my first program) and check him into the hotel as a favour. Then I went back to Commons to change and pick up Paul, Sam, Sophie and Vicki as we were off to Natalie's wedding!! We had a nice little road trip over to Daytona Beach which I'd never been to before and we found the hotel... it was raining in Orlando but bright blue skies in Daytona which was awesome. Met a super excited Natalie and helped her get ready! It was a very simple ceremony on the beach with her parents, his family and then about 8 of us from her Disney Family as well as the officiant lady. We only spent about 45 minutes on the beach but it was so simple and perfect, it brought a tear to all of our eyes! We took a billion pictures, then drove over to the pier area to have the post-ceremony dinner which was at Joe's Crab Shack! It was like 5pm by the time we got there and we were all starving! I had yummy coconut shrimp but everyone in the party of 15 were enjoying themselves. Kindly, Natalie's Dad paid for the whole meal which was super nice of him. Afterwards, we wondered along the beach and took MORE pictures before heading our seperate ways. Natalie, Senal and families were off on a Disney Cruise - Vicki and Sam had also managed to book it too - then the rest of us back to Orlando. We left at about 8.15pm and so by 9.30pm I was at the Polynesian for the reservation at O'Hanas with Nick, his mom and brother! Crazy socialising day overall! I've never been to this restaurant before but heard a lot about it and if I hadn't been so full of shrimp then I would have appreciated the food a lot more! I used my table service DDP entitlement which I'd missed using when the others went to Boma so that all worked out well. Afterwards I drove home to Pop totally exhausted again!<br />
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Thursday: Up early to drop off the car as I only had it for 24 hours. The others came to pick me up and we drove to Animal Kingdom. I maingated Nick's mom and brother before we went off to do the Lion King show and wonder around a part of DAK I've never even seen before - the Rafiki's Nature Reserve! Saw lots of animals and fun stuff. We had lunch at Tusker House which is character dining so I met Mickey (again), Goofy, Daisy, Donald and Minnie! Also, saw Kista, one of our co-ordinators who transferred over there a couple of months ago which was nice. The food was awesome - a kind of Indian/African buffet type food... nom. Afterwards, we went back to EPCOT as we had dinner reservations. We walked around the rest of the world showcase that we didn't see before and I spent a ridiculous amount on a handbag (Dooney & Bourke.... need I say more....). Dinner was at Teppan Edo which I'd been very excited about eating at because I'd heard such good things - and it lived up to expectations. They cook everything in front of you which is really cool. We got sat on a table with another 4-top who were from Norfolk so we talked about all things British with them which was really nice.<br />
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Friday: The last full day of the Staycation and I had to work an AM. Ugh. But first, we went for a character breakfast at the Beach Club which was okay... the food is nice but I enjoyed our other character dining experiences more. Then I walked to work... the shift was rather boring and I couldn't wait to get out of there because after work I got changed and met Hayley to go over to MK for the Halloween Party!! Mickey's Not-So-Scary which was highly anticipated... basically, we got LOADS of candy (I'll be eating it through 2013 I think), met Merida, Snow White, Rapunzel & Flynn, Cinderella & Prince Charming, Gaston... rode Haunted Mansion, saw the parade complete with headless horseman on a real horse, saw the fireworks and had a pretty good time :-D It was nice to go to MK on their last night too. We left at about midnight and headed home.<br />
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Saturday: We just literally got up, packed, had breakfast and then I was dropped back at the Commons and I had to say goodbye :-( It was an amazing 2 weeks though and thoroughly fun being a proper tourist. I did lots of things I'd never done at Disney before and we hardly encountered any queues at all! I was completely and utterly exhausted though! I got ready for work and I was a Mid... I got lucky as I was 307 for the AM and 508 for the PM so money-wise I had one of the best shifts ever. Afterwards, I still had 2 QS DDP entitlements to use before midnight so I busted a gut to be out of there by 10.15... Nick picked me up and we got Earl of Sandwich! Then we decided to go see the midnight showing of Finding Nemo 3D which has just come out so basically didn't get to bed until 2am which is my own fault! It was really good though!<br />
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Sunday: I was a PM. Thankfully I got a mini-lie in before going to Panera to meet Nick so we could run over our itinerary for our upcoming trip next week! (Yes, going on holiday again!!) We decided our driving routes and got to work finding hotels. Then he dropped me off at work and I was in 307 again which was okay but pretty non-eventful.<br />
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Monday: I was a Mid and training as well. Woke up with a sore throat which was due to complete tiredness and lack of sleep. Aimee was my trainee and she was pretty good... we were in 510 for the AM and 303 for the PM which was okay. It got pretty busy towards the end and she coped okay so that was good... but I was just waiting for the day to be over. After work, Nick picked me up and we shared some food at Chevys because despite being super-tired I was also super-hungry!<br />
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Tuesday: I worked a PM which originally was training but ended up not being. I was in 303 again and it was pretty boring. I ended up picking up 3 tables on lower deck at 8pm... the last of those not sitting until 9pm so I got out pretty late at about 10.45. Basically I started as section 303 and ended up as section 704. Joy. Luckily I was feeling a bit better than the day before and it was my Friday which was good. The after-work treat of the day was McFlurries from McDonalds and a good conversation & catch-up with Nick after a pretty eventful week for both of us!<br />
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FINALLY it's my day off today! I've already spent the morning on the phone to my medical insurance company about the fact they've tried to bill me (again) for $477 worth of blood tests which should have been covered...exciting. Now off to the outlets to return something to American Eagle before coming back and having a good tidy up! Then I'm going to meet Tyler later as he just broke it to me last night that he's leaving the program early..... :'(<br />
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<br />Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11111546233747964861noreply@blogger.com0