So, Monday was where I left my last post - my parents' anniversary/birthday present was a night at the Grant Floridian and dinner (paid for by moi) at the California Grill. Well it worked out wonderfully because they had a view of the castle from their room and then when they went to the Grill, they got seats by the window and confetti on their table as well as a Happy Anniversary on their desserts :) Perfect! In the mean time, Nick came over to the villa and he came with Victoria and I to have dinner at Flippers Pizzeria which was good. Then we went back home and watched The Inbetweeners Movie on DVD - LOL. Nick and I stayed up chatting for a while and then he drove home and I went to bed.
The next day I left before my parents had even got back for yet another Mid. I got there for pre-meal and got told I was training the PM. So I was a normal AM server in 510 which was really busy (for a change!) and eventually got cut for my break so I didn't get break until like 3.45pm. Because I was training in the afternoon, we needed to get downstairs as quickly as possible so I only had about a 30 minute break. I was training Katy-Sue on her final day of training so I didn't need to do much - just keep an eye on her. I was pretty exhausted by the evening and I didn't enjoy the shift very much... we also had to be KD because that's what you do on the training PM... oh, and it was EMH. Joy. So it was pretty busy and we were in 514 but eventually we got upstairs to bank out whilst other people were finishing their tables and doing sidework. When we were up there, I had someone scream at me for signing someone else off when they hadn't finished their sidework (there was confusion because I thought they had but I was mistaken) which pretty much tipped me over the edge that day because I was so tired and I got a bit upset. Cue then being pulled into the managers office to have a "chat" about my day and how I thought it went... yeahhh... that was fun. When I look back now, it was nothing, but at the time I just had a bad day. I finally clocked out 11 hours and 45 minutes after the start of my shift just before midnight. Nick was still up so we went for a midnight McDonalds and then I didn't bother driving back to the villa because I was just too tired so I crashed at his instead.
The next day (Wednesday) I was off work so I left Nick's bright and early and was back to the villa by 9am. I had a shower and got changed before heading with the family to Animal Kingdom. It was reasonably busy there but we did single rider for Everest which meant we only waited about 10 minutes and then saw the Nemo show which was cute as always. Then we went and had lunch before queuing about 35 minutes for Dinosaur. Then we'd pretty much done what we wanted to do so we headed home when it started to get really hot... spent the rest of the day by the pool. In the evening it was time for a bit of a 'Meet the Parents' situation because Nick's Mom had come into town and they wanted to meet each other! So we all went to Longhorn Steakhouse which was a good place to go as everyone liked the food and it wasn't too formal... it was a very enjoyable evening (even though I found it slightly nervewracking!). I was totally shattered by the end of the evening so after saying our goodbyes, we went home and I went to bed.
On Thursday it was my last day off during the family vacation so we decided to go to Busch Gardens. It was somewhere that my sister had always wanted to go and now I have an annual pass so at about 9.30am we set off. It only took about an hour to get there from the villa which was good. We parked and got into the park - headed straight for Sheikra as Cheetah Hunt was closed. We saw some animals on the way (I don't remember seeing this part of the park before!) and then only queued for about 30 minutes for Sheikra. Then we headed round and did the River Rapids (where we encountered some very annoying Spanish-speaking queue jumpers... grrrr!) and also got soaking wet. It was a very hot day though so it didn't matter that much! Then we on the train and went past some more animals before getting lunch which took a while because they were super slow. I had pizza. Then we went on Montu with a 5 minute wait before queuing for Cheetah Hunt which had reopened for about an hour. After that we were pretty tired so after an obligatory visit to the gift shop, we went home.
Pretty much as soon as I got back, I changed and then headed to EPCOT to meet Tyler and his friends who were visiting from Canada. We wondered around the UK and Canada pavilions and had a drink in the R&C (standard) before going to ride Soarin'. After that I dropped them back at Port Orleans and then drove home which was a nice random trip to the parks.
Friday I was a 1045 AM... but boy, was this a crazy morning. Okay, so we headed out at 9am so that I could maingate the family into Hollywood Studios. This was done by 9.45am and they headed off into the park to do the couple of rides we didn't have chance to do earlier in the week. Meanwhile, I left DHS and missed the boat to EPCOT by about 1 minute so I had to walk it - not a problem, I had factored this in as a possibility anyway. So I power walked the 1.5 miles to International Gateway and by this point I was somewhat hot and sweaty... the temperature was already hitting 90 degrees. I walked into work and it was only about 10.15am so I had a good 30 minutes to cool down and get ready for my shift... until I went to get changed and realised I'd forgotten my skirt! OOPS!! Therefore I then had 20 minutes to get to costuming and back (another mile walk across the park, backstage behind Test Track and then across a street) which also included getting changed. I managed it and clocked in with 2 minutes to spare but was now EXTREMELY hot and sweaty!! My manager took one look at me and told me to go find somewhere cold and sit there... but nevertheless, I put in for an ER and then proceeded to set up the kitchen. At about 11.10am I got the word that when I'd finished setting up the restaurant and kitchen I was granted my ER - even before pre-meal!! WAHOOO!!! This was the last full day my family had in Orlando so I really wanted to spend it with them. So, at 11.30am I clocked back out, changed again and this time, got the boat back to DHS! What a palava!
I met them outside, by this time they'd done what they wanted to do, and we went back to the car and back to the villa. I spent the day sunbathing and going in the pool before reading all about my upcoming trip to the West Coast (More on that later!!!)... I'd made reservations for Via Napoli in the Italian Pavilion of EPCOT so we got ready and went over to the park. Victoria and I went ahead and wondered around the world showcase before my parents joined us after going to MouseGear. I got a cheeky glass of Banfi Rosa Regale and then we got seated. I had calamari for appetiser which was okay, then I had a Lasagne Verde which was really yummy! Reminded me of my spinach and ricotta cannelloni which I used to eat 2-3 times a week at home! We were all pretty full after this so only my Dad had a dessert, a Tiramisu, and then we paid and left to go to Norway and ride Maelstrom! The fireworks started just as we left so we watched them as we walked out of the park and went home.
The next day was the day my parents were leaving :( So we packed up our stuff and I put everything in my car to take back to the commons. I went ahead of them and signed them into security at the Commons. I picked up a new key for my apartment because one of my French roomates has self-termed (I knew for ages that she would though) and then they got there so I showed them my apartment. We then drove over to IHop which was awfully busy so tried to go to Cracker Barrel instead. I think most of Orlando had the same idea though so that was a fail too. We ended up getting a doughnut at Dunkin Donuts (and I bought a couple of boxes for work) before going back to Commons where it was time to say goodbye :(
The next morning I had to be up early to return the rental car. It was very hot walking back from the Marriott Village but once I got back and had a shower I felt better. Then I got ready for work again because I was an 11.30AM. This shift was a lot better but I was training again - this time with the infamous Rob Porter! He did a great job for a first day but it was quite quiet. We had a couple of big tops but we were in dart room so that was good having A/C. Once we finished and banked out, I got the bus back home. Later on I met Nick and we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner which was yummy.
On Monday, I worked a PM but when I got in, it had been raining and I was given 704 lower deck. I spent 30 minutes drying the tables before we sat a 7-top at one of them... before I'd even had a chance to get their drinks we had to move them to upper deck because it was about to pour down... so I served that table, got another ER and went back home by 7pm! It rained for the rest of the evening actually so lower deck was closed all day. Nick and I went to an Indian restaurant and had curry (nomnomnom) and it was actually almost the same as at home!
On Tuesday I also worked a PM... but of course, it was EMH. I will be very happy when it returns back to a Friday. In the morning, I met Rob (from my first program in 2008) and we went to Wilderness Lodge to rent speedboats! That was a LOT of fun even though I got totally sunburnt. Then we went over to MK to see the MiSiCi parade (again, sunburning occurred) and then I left to get the monorail over to EPCOT. I arrived at work super early so hung around for a while after wondering through Mouse Gear to get replacement earrings for my Mum (as she's lost one she bought already, they'd only been home 24 hours!). For the evening I was in section 505 which was a busy one... I had about 12 tables and earnt some pretty good dollar dollar. I was only Restock as my sidework so I managed to clock out at like 10.45pm woo. That's good for EMH.
Yesterday was my day off... I went to the Living Well Center in the morning which is basically the local doctors surgery for us. It was an interesting experience - it seemed more organised than seeing the doctor back at home. First off, they gave you a buzzer just like we use in the restaurant to let you know when the nurse was ready to see you! Haha! The reason for being there was because I wanted to get my iron levels checked (they were low when I was at home) but because I hadn't been there before, I had to get a check up first. So they did my height, weight and general overview thing including my blood pressure and stuff. Then I had to wait in the room for the doctor to come in and we talked about which blood tests to get. Then he sent me round the corner to the blood work room where they took my blood there and then! After that it was back to the front desk to pay the $15 copay (welcome to America) and then make my appointment for next week to find out the results. So that was fun. After this, I got lunch with Nick at Chilis and then we chilled out for the rest of the day playing computer games like complete nerds :-D
Today I accompanied him to his college campus as he had to take a short exam. That was... fun :P I sat around for an hour and then we got French food for lunch. Now we are just chilling out again - this is how I like to spend my days off, I'm all parked out!!
Ah yes, now I said I'd mention my West Coast trip... well, Nick and I are going to do a whirlwind trip in August in 3 days touching 5 states... to be revealed!
lol i had no idea you kept a blog all this time until I saw your post in the forums! Ahem I like the fact that im "Infamous" hopefully we get to work together again soon :D
ReplyDeleteR