Merry Christmas everybody!

Well, Christmas is now over and we're already preparing for the New Year. It's been a rather strange Christmas but I've had fun anyway. I could not have got through it without the group though (David, Rene, Kevin, Vikki and Sam). The friends you make out here end up becoming your adopted family and you rely on them alot.

For the last month of work, our managers have been warning us "it's going to be really busy, be prepared, you'll be weeded, it's uncontrollable...." I'm not sure if they were trying to scare us or if they really thought we'd be busier than we have been. Don't get me wrong, we're really busy but we're not out of control. We're handling it really well. I only hope New Year will be as good.

I had a pretty good schedule over Christmas. On Christmas Eve I was a PM and then an AM on Christmas Day. The Christmas Eve PM was fine. Everyone was really excited and all my guests were a pleasure to talk to. At 7pm, all the UK's got really excited because it was Christmas Day back home (due to the time difference). The guests were in the spirit of things and celebrated with us which made it a pretty fun night.

After work, we all went round to Kev and Rene's apartment. David brought his mattress round while I carried his toy Wall-e that he felt had to join us for Christmas. It was amusing to see David carrying his mattress as he looked like a mattress with legs! Once we all arrived, we sat in a circle and opened our Christmas tree presents. I got the DVD Scrooged which I was pleased with. We all showed each other our presents and then it was suggested we open another one. After all, it was actually Christmas Day at this point. We agreed to open one more; our secret santa presents from work. I recieved a small book called "101 things to do with a thumb tip". I use thumb tips in my magic and I was touched that someone knew me well enough to pick out the perfect present. Kevin got UK chocolate which he was over the moon about (you can tell by the photo). Poor David didn't have a secret santa gift. I guess whoever chose him hadn't got round to buying one. The boys wanted to open "just one more present" but Vikki and I were firm and sent everyone to bed (oh yeah, girls rule!)

I was up extra extra early the following morning. I'd set my alarm for 6am but it had been knocked in my bag without me realising so I actually got up at 5am. I showered and dressed before noticing the time! Annoying! Anyway, I went online to Skype my mum but she wasn't available. I waited online until 6.30am and then decided it was time to get everyone up. Hee hee! I poked Dave a few times and jumped up and down on Rene for a while. I avoided Kevin as he is NOT a morning person! Vikki and Sam had spent the night round Sam's apartment so I called them and they came over. Then we sat on the floor and Vikki handed out the presents (she was nearest the tree).

Considering none of us have our families out here, the stack of presents for the six of us was quite impressive. Soon we all had a pile in front of us and we got stuck in. The photos show how much fun we all had! Kevin loved his Tigger soft toy and me, Vikki and David had a go of David's new foosball table. I got a really cool book on dinosaurs (yes, I'm a geek!) from Sam but the sweetest present was from Rene. He painted me a huge Peter Pan! I loved it! He'd worked on it so hard and the fact he'd put so much effort into it made it really special in my eyes. He was up until 5am Christmas morning working on it so he only had one and a half hours sleep! Bless him!

Kevin, Rene and I had work after that so we headed off to catch the bus. I expected the guests to be in great moods, after all, it WAS Christmas Day. However, everyone seemed really miserable and moody. Most of them were in the complaining mood. I was lucky, my tables were really nice but one guest told managers "the servers are too happy" and another complained "Christmas is everywhere!" We started the shift on a high. Everyone gathered at podium and sang "we wish you a merry Christmas" but the guests pulled us down. By the end of the lunch shift, two servers were in tears and security had to escort one group of guests from the park for causing a scene! I was determined not to let it affect me though and on the way home, I wished every single person I passed a Merry Christmas (much to Kevin's amusement). I got a few smiles but mostly people grunted at me. Still, I tried so it didn't bother me.

When we got home, David had started cooking. Kev and I set the table and opened our presents from home. I'd asked my family NOT to send me anything because anything they send out, I have to bring back at the end of my year here. However, my mum and my best friend are disobedient and I love them for it. I got a cool fox calendar and a dolphin necklace from my mum while my best friend, Lou gave me a new diary (purple! Yes!) and a rather puzzling thing called cat soap. Apparantly, you get it wet and it grows fur. I laughed out loud when I saw it. I'll have to be careful, if I leave it in the boys bathroom, it will be hard to tell apart from all the other stuff growing fur in there!

We settled down to dinner at around eight. It was brilliant! We had turkey and cranberry sauce, stuffing (made by me, Vikki and Sam so I'm surprised it was edible!), roast potatoes and mashed potatoes, broccoli and sweetcorn.....it was great! We also had Baileys to drink and Christmas crackers to pull! I loved every second of it. After dinner, we continued to drink the Baileys which had the unfortunate side effect of me not really remembering much after that. We played Monopoly and....something about a cat....I fell over a few times....erm.....I woke up this morning in my own bed, fully clothed with a few extra bruises and no idea how I got home. I later found out Rene took me home and put me to bed. He even set my alarm clock for me. So, all in all, a very fun Christmas! I love my friends and I'm glad I had them to celebrate with!

Christmas traditions, shopping, crackers and smelly newspaper!

Well, it's nearly Christmas. We've only got a few more days. It's going to be my first Christmas away from home. I've worked abroad alot but normally the season would end well before Christmas. This time I'll be gone for Christmas and New Year (and my nieces 3rd birthday and my birthday and easter....) It's really hard to be away from family this time of year but I'm coping. Mainly because I have a terrific group of friends out here.

It feels really strange to see Christmas decorations on palm trees. I'm used to cold weather this time of year and walking around in a T-Shirt just feels strange. Still, it's interesting to see how the Americans celebrate Christmas. For one thing, they call it "the holidays" rather than Christmas. They include Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year as the whole celebration. Everywhere you go people wish you "Happy Holidays". I always answer with "Merry Christmas!"

At work we're not allowed to wish guests a "Happy Christmas" because "Disney is a non discrimatory organisation". Apparantly it might be offensive to people who don't celebrate Christmas. Rubbish! I'm British and we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and that's our tradition so I will continue to give that as my holiday greeting until I get in trouble for it. If someone wished me a "Happy Hannakah" it wouldn't bother me even though I'm not Jewish so our guests will just have to get used to it.

I've got some good plans for Christmas anyway. I'm working an AM shift but I should be done by about 4pm. I'm getting together with Kevin, Sam, Vikki, David and Rene round at Kev and Rene's apartment. We're having a Christmas Eve sleepover and we're all going to be together to open the presents in the morning. Then I'm off to work (as is Kevin and Rene) and Dave, Vikki and Sam are making Christmas dinner. Then when we get back, we're decorating a Gingerbread house and having dinner all together. Poor Rene is working late but we won't leave him out.

We all got together this morning to go and get the Christmas food. Kevin hired a car and we went down to Kissimee to The British Store. Oh my goodness! You have never seen any group of people so excited to see Heinz Baked Beans! Us Brits were rushing round the store picking up things and screaming "oh my God, look, they have Penguins!!!!" (Chocolate coated cookies for the Americans reading this!) We were in raptures over the Aunt Bessies yorkshire puddings and when we found Lilt we were near tears. All those brands I take for granted at home....I never thought I'd be so excited to see a bottle of TCP! The sales assistant must have thought we were barking! However, she got into the spirit of things and brought out some English newspapers that were out of date. She was going to throw them away but said we could have them for free. Of course, we jumped at the chance and Vikki sniffed the paper and said "it smells like home!" Of course, that meant all of us had to smell the newspaper. Picture the scene, five people in a shop in Florida sniffing an out of date newspaper while our random Norweigan friend, Rene looks on in horror, convinced we've all gone nuts! It was the funniest thing ever and we were all laughing our heads off! Most importantly, the British store sold Christmas Crackers! I never knew they were a European thing, I thought it was universal but you can't get them in America. I was so happy to find them! At the end of our visit, the sales assistant (a lovely, elderly lady) whom we had been chatting with came round the counter and said "I know you're all away from your families so I'm going to give you all a hug". We all got a huge hug from her and Vikki was near tears when she pulled away. It was so sweet.

As this will be a rather strange Christmas for all six of us, we're trying to incorparate everyone's traditions into one. You would think that would be simple as five of us are British and one is Norweigan but it seems even in Europe people celebrate things a little differently. Rene is used to opening all his presents on Christmas Eve and he never has turkey for Christmas dinner. He has Christmas ham or Christmas sausage. I always have roast potatoes but Kevin has mashed potatoes. David always has Brussel Sprouts even though he doesn't eat them and most of the others want them because they're traditional (though no one really likes them). Vikki opens all her presents in the morning but Kevin spaces his out throughout the day. It's hard to mix it all together but I think we've hit a compromise. Christmas dinner will be turkey and stuffing with roast AND mashed potatoes. We'll also have sausages and sausage rolls. I think we're doing the presents half and half (half in the morning, half in the evening). For dessert, Rene is making a traditional Norweigan dessert called Riskrem (pronounced Rice-cream). Apparantly it's delicious but it's a bit worrying when Rene told us it's "creamy, sweet, smooth, light, fluffy and a little chewy" and is made from "rice and some other stuff." Still, we'll give it a go.

So, that's my Christmas all planned and it's going to be weird but also alot of fun. I never realised how much tradition there is in Christmas, I just thought everyone celebrated the same way. However, I've learnt that it doesn't matter how you celebrate or even IF you celebrate as long as you can surround yourself with friends or family and have an open mind to other peoples customs. So, I happily wish everyone "A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!" (or God Jul for the Norweigans). Have a fantastic Christmas, whatever you're doing and wherever you are!!!!

Christmas, secrets and the art of buying jeans

Hi Guys,

How is everyone? Hope things are going well wherever you are and whatever you're up to.

Things here are going by as normal. Work is pretty busy now but I'm coping. It will be really weird come January when we get back to the normal guest counts. We'll feel like we have nothing to do! I was in the other night and we were so busy, I didn't get the chance to bus my own tables! I would take an order, go and input it and when I got back a table would have paid, left and the table would be cleared, reset and resat! It was that fast! Scary!

I had a rather frightening moment the other night when my manager, Nick told me I was getting a VIP table. It was the manager of Animal Kingdom. Nick freaked me out by telling me I had to be perfect and do everything by the book and get the drinks out within two minutes and bus tables around within six minutes.....I was so worried. Then the table was sat and I went to greet them. It was the manager and her husband plus two kids. I actually felt myself relax. I'm on my own turf when it comes to children. They don't faze me at all, I love kids. Having those two on the table really helped. I did a couple of games with them (including my niece's favourite, Mr Napkin Head) and they loved it. The parents were happy because the kids were happy and I was glad because I knew I'd get a good report back to my managers. Lucky for kids, huh?

I've been off for the last couple of days and yesterday I did something really cool. However, I have to be careful what I tell you because it's not up and running yet and we're not allowed to discuss it in too much detail. Anyway, I went along to a park (I won't say which one) to film the opening video to a new attraction which opens next year. I got to see this attraction and it's really cool. Guests will find it very impressive. My part will be seen in the opening video (y'know, the one that explains the attraction) and possibly in the attraction too. I wish I could explain more but I can't. I don't want to risk termination. So, you'll have to wait and hear about it next year when the attraction is up and running. Sorry about that!

Today I went over to the scuzz mall to buy a new pair of jeans. My old ones are now so loose I'm having to keep them up with a belt. I thought it would be really easy but apparantly not. Back home we have jeans and trousers. Over here they have boot cut, flared, low rise, medium, straight legged, skinny legged, ripped, high rise, basic cut.....Neil Armstrong went into space with less technology than that! Plus the sizes were really difficult to understand. Plus they weren't the same store to store. Some were numbered (0, 2, 4, 6 etc.) and in another store it was 24, 25, 26 etc. In yet another store it was 3, 6, 9, 11 etc. I could feel my blood pressure rising! Arrrggghhh! I also came across a very strange type of jeans that I call "shloop" jeans. They are weird. They're normal jeans from the waist to your knees and after that they sort of adhere to your legs. They are so tight they look like tights, they kind of "shloop" to your calf muscles. I looked in the mirror and burst out laughing. From the knees up I was a normal person, from the knees down I was a chicken/human hybrid! They made my legs look as skinny as a pencil and it was just funny! Surprisingly, I didn't buy the shloop jeans!

Right, well, that's all for now. It's my day off today but I don't have any plans. I might go over to Downtown Disney but I might not. I haven't decided yet.

Well, talk to you guys soon!

Tori

Big apologies!!!

Okay, okay, okay! I'm really sorry I haven't written my blog recently. Things here have been really busy and to be honest, I didn't think anyone was bothering to read it. However, that myth has been laid to rest. I've had lots of e-mails along the lines of "what's happened to the blog?" so I guess I'll carry on with it.

Okay so the last entry was over a month ago on the 21st October. Luckily I keep a diary so I should be able to do an update quite easily. Back then I was still really new to service and finding my feet. Over the following weeks most of my arrival group also entered into service. I helped to coach Lauren P on her menu learning and now all of us minus Lauren N (Newt) are servers. Newt decided she doesn't want to do service and sometimes I think she was the wisest one of us all! Service can be really stressful.

HSM3 came out at the end of October and I went along with a huge group of people to see it at one minute after midnight. Yep, I'm that sad. Sadder yet was the fact that the cinema was packed with adults desperate to see the film. It was crazy. The film itself was actually pretty good. Better than the second, anyway!

Towards the end of October the servers working the PM shift were rather amazed to spot our first celebrity diner! Noel Edmonds dined at The Rose and Crown. For people who don't know (ie. Americans), Noel Edmonds is the presenter of "Are you Smarter Than a 10 year old" and "Deal Or No Deal". He's not a major celebrity but we were all quite excited. When celebrities come to the restaurant, we're not allowed to behave any differently towards them than anyone else. I think we did a fairly good job, no one bothered him but I noticed an increase in the amount of servers that just had to use the till nearest his table or take plates to the kitchen the long way round so they passed his table. He seemed a nice enough bloke though personally I think he wanted to be recognised. If he didn't, he wouldn't have eaten at the UK pavillion. Any other pavillion wouldn't have had a clue who he was!

Halloween ended really suddenly. One night it was all orange and black everywhere and the following day it had vanished! Instead we started to prepare for Thanksgiving. For people who don't know (ie. British), Thanksgiving is an American holiday that celebrates the pilgrams sitting down with the Indians and getting through their first winter with thier help. Of course, the pilgrams then turned round and said "by the way, we're taking ALL the land" but that tends to be glossed over during the celebrations. Park attendance began to pick up in the run up to the holiday.

On November 4th, history was made here in the US when Barack Obama became the first black president. I have no idea what he's doing now or what plans he's putting forth as I've been too busy to catch the news but it's still quite cool to be here for an historic occasion.

On November 5th, it was Bonfire Night. Once again, let me explain for the Americans. Guy Fawkes was a man who entered parliament a long time ago in order to blow it up. The only man ever to enter our government with honest intentions! He didn't succeed and every year we celebrate that fact by burning a "guy" on the bonfire and setting off fireworks in the evening. To my surprise, Disney did a "Bonfire Day" celebration for the UK pavillion. We had hotdogs and burgers and alot of people wishing us "Happy Guy Fawkes Day" which felt weird as it's not that sort of holiday. Still, it was really nice that they tried.

November brought about the birth of our group. It consists of Kevin, Rene, David, Sam, Vikki and myself. Once a week we all get together and go for a meal at a different resort. At first it was just a coincidence but now we do it once a week without fail. We hang out at different times as well. I've never been a part of such a close group of friends before, it's really good. It's like being in a Friends episode. Practically every evening for the last week you could find us all hanging out playing board games or Kevin's Nintendo wii or watching a movie or something.

In the middle of November, Kevin, Rene and I drove down to Key West for the weekend. It was a seven hour drive but so worth it. Key West is really scenic. The water is an indescribable blue and they have a bridge called the Seven Mile Bridge. You drive across it and there's water both sides. It was brilliant. We had a meal on the marina and looked round Mallory Square. We stayed overnight and headed back the following day so we really didn't get to do that much. Next time we'll plan to stay longer. On the way home, we stopped at Miami and played around on the beach. The sea was warm, like bath water which was strange.

At the end of November, "our group" went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. It was a really cold night but they give you free hot chocolate and cookies. The parade was amazing but the best part was the castle. It's all lit up like it's made of glass and it's really incredible. The old castle will look really dull when the lights come off. We're hoping to go to the party again before it finishes.

Thanksgiving came and went. I was a bit crazy, wishing everyone a "Happy Thanksgiving" just because I've never been able to before. We had a special turkey dinner in the restaurant and it was really busy. In the evening, our group went out for Thanksgiving dinner. I had turkey and it was a fun night.

That brings us up to date. The Candlelight Processional has begun at EPCOT now. Guests pay for a meal and ticket to see the show which is the nativity read by a "celebrity". I use the term lightly as I've never even heard of the celebrities they have. It means the restaurant is REALLY busy. It's almost crazy! I'm finding it difficult but the thing that's keeping me going is knowing that after the end of this month, things will calm down. We're already on the 8th and Candlelight ends on the 6th of January so I only have a month to get through. Service will be a doddle after this next month though.

Okay, I'm due at work so I'd better go. I'll try to update a little more often. Bye for now!

Vikki's Birthday and the world of service

Hey guys,

This will have to be a really quick entry, just to get everyone caught up as my bus is in half an hour.

I've been serving for a couple of weeks now and I'm mostly enjoying it. Sometimes I'll have amazing guests on my tables and it's a fantastically fun job. Other times, the guests are horrible and demanding and you're running around trying to satisfy everyone and you end up weeded and in way over your head. Then it's not so fun!

On my weekend off last week, I had a really busy two days. It was Vikki's birthday so Vikki, Sam, David, Kevin and I went to MK. It was brilliant! We went on all the rides, even the tame ones I've never bothered with like the carosel and Aladdin's Magic Carpets. We got to go on Splash Mountain twice in a row because we wanted to buy a photo but you couldn't make out our faces so we got to go back up the exit and ride it again. We got really, really wet but we were laughing so hard it was worth it.

We got our photo taken with Donald Duck (my mum's favourite character) and Vikki and I tried to stalk Peter Pan but he wasn't around. I love Peter Pan. His my second favourite character after Ariel though there doesn't seem to be alot of stuff availbale with him on it. Shame!

In the evening, we went for dinner at the Wilderness Lodge's Whispering Canyon's Cafe. It was so much fun. Our server threw the straws onto the table at the beginning and when Vikki ordered a large coke, she got a three and a hlaf pint jam jar! She didn't manage it all though. When we asked for ketchup, the server yelled "we need ketchup" and everyone who had ketchup on thier table ran over and gave it to us. We ended up with about fifty bottles! Then someone else called for ketchup and Rhys and Kevin got a little overexcited and gave ALL our ketchup away so we never did get any!

The food was really excellent and I'm hoping to eat there again someday. It was too funny!

Right, I'd better go. Sorry it's a short one!

Service Training, stress and the dreaded test

I feel like I haven't had any time to myself for at least a week now. I've finally got the chance to catch up with all my laundry and get online and I'm feeling really peaceful; the calm after the storm.

Service training was a nightmare. It was so full on and stressful. I forgot how much Disney love to add stess into jobs that really shouldn't be stressful. I'm pretty sure they could make toilet cleaning into a reason for a breakdown. It's ridiculous!

Day one started off okay. We had to show our menu knowledge to our trainers and then discuss the Disney basics. After that we were each given a section to work on with our trainers. A section consists of four tables and you are responsible for them. It sounds so easy, right. Wrong! Here you go:

You're in your section and one of your tables have just been sat and handed menus. You have 60 seconds to greet them so you go over and say hi. You now need to spiel the drinks, appetizers and entrees, making sure you hit at least two of each. Then you take their order for drinks and appetizers and go to the kitchen to send it all through the till. Next you take them out bread and soft drinks (the bar hasn't processed your order for bar drinks yet). As you go out, you find out a second table has been sat so again you greet them and spiel before taking thier orders. You return to the kitchen and put it through and find the drinks ready for the first table. The second table also need bread so you take out both. Now table one asks for a smoothie so you go back and put it through to the bar. The appetizers for table one are waiting to be run so you take those out, followed by the drinks for the second table. When you go back out, table three has been sat so you greet them and spiel before returning to the kitchen to run it through. Table one now needs you to clear away their first course plates while table two are still waiting on their drinks and table three need bread. You also need to put their appetizers through the till. You take out table two's drinks and find that smoothie you ordered for table one on the bar as slush. You order a new one, take out the drinks for table two and bring cutlery for table three. That is only three tables! Add another one on top of that and you can see why it's so stressful.

Disney helps your blood pressure rise by insisting on stupid rules such as "you cannot take out cutlery with the meals. Cutlery must go out first and you come back for the meals" or "glass must go in and out on a tray". This means if you bus a table and take everything through, you must leave the one beer glass on the table while you go and get a tray.

On day two, I was in charge of my own four table section and it was awful! I was "weeded". That means when you have too much to cope with at once. It's called being "in the weeds". For example, if three of your tables are sat at once, you cannot greet them all within 60 seconds and spiel. That means you're weeded. I was dashing around here there and everywhere trying to cope with all the demands of the guests. I'm pretty sure the trainers weed you on purpose to make sure you can cope. I struggled with it but I was okay until my trainer told me off for asking another server to watch me do a transaction. I only wanted the reassurance that I wasn't messing it up but my trainer yelled at me. She said I was relying on other people too much, that I knew what I was doing because we'd been doing it for two days and she didn't understand why I was struggling. It was the wrong moment. I burst into tears and ran upstairs. My trainer followed and gave me a pep talk and I returned a few minutes later (someone looked after my tables while I was gone) to finish the night. However, by the end of it, I didn't want to be a server anymore. Still, I decided to wait a while before quitting.

Day three was alot better. I had a nice section and I was on top of three tables. Then the fourth table was sat and I freaked out a little. My trainer took over the fourth table for me and I managed to look after the three table section with no problem. One table had this adorable little girl called Mora on it. She was so sweet. As they were my first table, I spent a little time with Mora playing "Mr Napkin Head". This is a trick my niece loves, you get a napkin, hold a fork behind it and keep pushing the fork into the centre. It looks like the napkin's alive. Mora loved it and I was called "a modern day Mary Poppins" by her appreciative dad. That's all I want. A chance to really bond with my tables. The money really isn't a huge issue.

Yesterday was my final day. Time for THE BIG TESTS! I spent the evening before revising and then I got up extra early and went to work so I could practise opening wine "the Disney Way". In the morning we had the written test which didn't bother me. I know I'm okay with book smarts, if I can learn it from a book, it's fine. The practical was the one that worried me. I had our manager Yvette. Each trainee was given a two table section, one table was managment, the other was a regular family. It was horrible because management know exactly what is expected while regular guests aren't timing you to see if you greet them within 60 seconds.

I served Yvette first (the second table hadn't been sat yet) and she informed me she had an allergy to shellfish. I asked if she wanted to speak to a chef but she said no. She went ahead and ordered and I checked every meal she had with the head chef to see if it contained shell fish. I also marked it on the ticket. Everything went okay though I forgot to bring out the dessert spoon. I also had to open wine at the table but fortunately for me, the practice had really helped.

The second table were sat halfway through but I was fine with the two.

At the end of the evening, I was told I'd passed! I immeadiatly asked for a little extra help. I don't feel up to doing a four table section alone yet. They started me on a two table section and I'll have that for the next two days. Then I'll move up to a three table and get comfortable with that. Then I'll go for the four. It's all about confidence. Still, I started in my little two table section last night and I loved it. I got to chat to the guests and laugh and have fun while still staying on top of everything. At the end of the night, I cashed out and was amazed to discover I had tips. It was quite alot too. I figured I'd added it all up wrong but I checked and I hadn't. Considering I was only in a two table section, I took home only $20 less than another server in a four table section! As I said, the money isn't important to me, I want the guest interaction but it still made me happy.

I'm serving again today and I'm really looking forward to it. If I 'm okay with two, I might ask to go to three but I don't want to overdo things too soon.

Well, wish me luck!

Food running, bar and dirty politics

Hey Guys,

How you all doing?

Things here are...woah! Beyond busy. I've barely had a chance to do anything other than work and sleep. Even though I go to bed really late, I don't seem to have extra hours to use. I started food running on Tuesday. It wasn't too bad. All I had to do was run the food from the kitchen to the guests. Well, I also had to keep an eye on the bread to see if we needed any more, and the butter and the condiments. I also had to fold napkins when I wasn't doing any of the rest of it. Still, it was actually fairly good. The hardest part was carrying three steak plates. Those things are really heavy! Luckily it doesn't happen very often. I can take most of the other stuff without any major problem now though. When you do the worst stuff (like the steak plates), the other stuff doesn't seem so bad.

I worked a ten hour day and it flew by without me even noticing. However, my feet were well aware of the time! I limped home with my right foot on fire! I had seventeen blisters on the toes of one foot and by the time I got to the bus, I had tears running down my face from the pain. I was convinced I wouldn't be able to work the following day but luckily my blisters healed quite well overnight. Still, I decided not to risk it. I cut up some socks to pad my toes and threw my shoes into the corner. I wore my other shoes the following day even though they're not "Disney Look". Fortunately, no one noticed. I managed to get through the next couple of days using my non Disney shoes.

I also did a day in the bar. I was quite worried as I don't know alot about alcohol except that one drink knocks me for six. I had to mix cocktails and make smoothies. My trainer, Hayley, was great but she kept getting me to try the drinks. She made me drink all the beers on the Imperial Sampler (a sample of six beers) and I thought I'd throw up. Honestly, how can anyone drink that stuff for fun? YUCK! I was surprised that the bar survived my day. I broke one glass, that was all. I expected to do alot more damage!

I got some pretty decent tips from the last few days. It feels nice to have money though I went out today and spent most of them. Oops.

I start my service training tomorrow. I'm really nervous as it's so much to remember. Apparently, everyone freaks out during their training and everyone cries at least once. All I can do is try my best.

The whole of America seems to be a bit obsessed with politics at the moment. The big election is coming up soon and everyone's discussing who they're voting for. As an outsider, it's interesting how American politics differ from back home. One thing I found really bad was when candidates go on TV and basically slag off their opponents! They don't mention their own policies or what they will do if they get in power, it's more how bad the other people are. It's dirty politics and it really bugs me.

Anyway, I'm up early tomorrow so I'm off to bed. G'night.

The Rose and Crown, study and Cowboys (yee hah!)

Well, I'm now done with Chippie and podium. I start food running tomorrow and it is disturbing how much I'm looking forward to it. It's not just the fact I'll be getting closer to becoming a server, it's not all about the money, I'm really excited to be doing something different. On Tuesday I'm bar training which is worrying because I can't pull a pint to save my life! Still, guess I'll learn.

Last night was the last night at Pleasure Island so a group of people went to PI. The other half of us went to Cowboys. I was in the latter group. Cowboys is a nightclub that plays jazzed up country music. All the regulars seem to know the dances so we all line danced to various songs. The dances were really tricky, they involved alot of turns and if you didn't move fast enough, you got trampled underfoot. The only one of us with any kind of skill line dancing seemed to be Colin who is apparently born with rubber legs! The guy is really good. Still, everyone tried which I thought was amazing. I gave it a good go but due to the fact I'm rhythm retarded, I didn't do too well. On the way home, we stopped off at McDonalds but the line was really long so we went to Wendys instead. It was weird to be eating a burger at 3.30am. The hours I keep out here are crazy!

Today was my day off and Lauren P asked me to help her with her menu learning. I let her borrow my study cards and we went to The Rose and Crown for lunch. It was so much easier to actually see the items we have to spiel to the guests. We ordered stuff we were having difficulty with and then we dissected it. It was hysterical, we were poking around going "right, well, this has this green stuff and then the pork is topped with this...." It was a brilliant way to learn though and I'm now pretty confident that I can picture any menu item and describe it. Lauren P is also ready to spiel to managers. We spoke to Jamie but to my surprise, Lauren (one of the most confident girls I know), just seemed to lose all confidence when faced with a manager. It was annoying because she KNOWS it, we've been working on it all day and she can spiel any item to me with no problem but she seems to get tied up trying to describe everything to other people. It's almost like she's convinced herself she's not going to do well and therefore she doesn't. It was almost painful to watch because I know she knows it and if she relaxes a bit, she'll do really well. I'll head over there in a minute and cheer her up.

Right, well, it's getting late (again!) and I'm at work tomorrow as a food runner (yeah!!). Talk to you soon!

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

Once again, it's been a while but things are really busy out here. The International Food and Wine Festival begins today at EPCOT so the chances are you'll hear even less from me as we're going to be even busier. For the people who don't know, Food and Wine is a festival where Disney set up stalls from all over the world that sell the food types from that country. It means they can include foods from countries not featured in world showcase such as Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal etc. They also have a Scottish one where you can get haggis, yuck!

Over in the American pavillion during Food and Wine, they have stars put on concerts. At the start of November, David Cassidy is playing. I was quite excited but everyone else I've spoken to (beside my mum) have no idea who he is! If I get the chance, I may pop over on my day off and see him live in concert. Shame it's not Donny Osmond though.

Even though I've been doing alot of working recently, I've had a little time to play around. The other night, I was in my apartment reading when the phone rang. It was Kevin inviting me up to the pool. When I got up there I found a huge group of us, Pippa, Lauren N, Nic, David, Danielle, Andy, Emma, Josh, Chloe, Kevin....We all went swimming. It was around midnight! I found it really weird to be swimming under the stars at gone midnight but it was brilliant. Only here in Florida could you do that! A few days later, I went up there again, this time with Sam, Vikki, Pippa, Lauren N and David. Looks like midnight swims may be a regularly scheduled event!

On Tuesday night, I went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. We've all been talking about this for about a week and Rhys rang me in a panic to say he didn't have a costume. I told him to get an old white shirt and some black trousers and come round. He came round later with a brand new shirt and trousers but he didn't mind too much when we jumped on them and cut them to ribbons. Unfortunately, I only have nail scissors out here so we had to use those to carefully cut off the arms and the legs. Then he took his shirt out onto the balcony while I rummaged around in my cupboard for my art supplies. Armed with a kids tub of red paint, we fell to work on this shirt. I poured paint into my hands and rubbed them together, then Rhys held his shirt while I did two bloody handprints across it. I got rather into it and made sound effects which freaked out Rhys. It was great fun. Rhys rubbed some dirt into the shirt and in the end, it looked pretty good.

My costume was alot easier. A while ago I brought a children's Pocahontas costume from Downtown Disney. It's for a 10-12 year old but I have no problem getting into it. They must have really huge 10-12 year olds out here! Unfortunately, I didn't have any shoes to go with it but luckily I'd asked my mum to send out my boots from home. They arrived that morning (my mum is amazing!!!). Vikki went as Alice in Wonderland and looked brilliant! People actually mistook her for the actual Alice more than once! Vikki's boyfriend, Dan pulled his costume together at short notice but made a really decent Indiana Jones. Our roommate Nami was a cowgirl while Nic and Lauren were just Halloweeny like with wands and pumpkin necklaces.

We met up with alot more people at the park. Tom looked really scary as a red devil and Lynda, Alex, Corinne and Nia were the "Not So Scary Fairies". Everyone wanted to do different things so we branched off into smaller groups. I went with Vikki and Dan and we did the rides. As Not So Scary is a ticketed event, the lines for the rides were pretty much non existant. We rode Thunder Mountain and as it was empty, we went in a seat each. I was in the middle behind Vikki and in front of Dan. Halfway through the ride, I got distracted from the actual rollercoaster because Vikki was sliding from one side of the seat to the other with every turn. Her Alice costume slid really well so for the whole ride she was sliding across her seat, pulling herself up and then sliding the other way. I was in stitches, it looked so funny and I could hear Dan laughing behind me. Even Vikki laughed as she struggled to stay upright. It was brilliant!

As part of Not So Scary, the park sets up "Trick or Treat candy spots" where you go over and they give you a handful of sweets. They had loads of these scattered throughout the park so we ended up with bulging bags of sweets by the end. That should keep me going for the rest of the year!

The Magic Kingdom was all decorated for Halloween in orange and black. As it got darker, the place was shrouded in orange and green lights with mist snaking its way out of the castle. All the characters were in halloween costume and it was so spooky and atmospheric. The fireworks, "Hallowishes" were amazing. They had ghost outlines shooting up the castle walls. The Boo To You Parade was great too. It started off with the headless horseman racing down mainstreet. Then came all the floats with the villains on. They had people giving out sweets at the end so we all stuck our bags out.

All in all, it was a fantastic night. We had so much fun but boy were we exhausted by the end of it! We got a taxi home and fell asleep around 2am. Scarily enough, that's an early night for us out here.

There's a throw in tonight for the new hires. We have two groups to throw in as they came within weeks of each other so it should be good. They've altered the throw in slightly and it's now themed as "cowboys and indians". I'm lucky I don't need a costume as I can use Pocahontas again. Vikki's going as a cowgirl. It should be another good night.

Bye for now!

Return 2 Zero, Pleasure Island and Downtown Disney!

Again, it's been a few days since I last blogged. Time really is flying at the moment. I'm still counting down to my service days! Only 11 days to go! My friend, Gareth, has already started as a food runner and he made $148 in a day! It's not just the money that interests me for service. I'm really looking forward to getting to know my guests and making them happy, especially the children. As you guys know, I'm into my magic and I am really looking forward to showing some of my tricks to families.

I've had the last couple of days off (yay!) I spent yesterday running errands. I did all my laundry, visited Publix, the post office and the bank and just really sorted things out. In the evening, I got together with Kevin, Vikki and Sam and we went to Pleasure Island again. It closes really soon so we decided to go for one last time. Hmmm, I can see why it's closing. The place was completely empty! We started off in the Adventurer's Club. Ummm...how to describe it? It was the most random club I've ever been in! It has loads of themed rooms and a show takes place in them. We went in the main room and a maid tap danced while calling for audience participation. We slid down in our seats and avoided eye contact. It was like watching someone elses drug induced dreams. VERY odd. We quickly moved on to 8Trax which is a 70's club. I loved it! It was my kind of music and I danced along to a jazzed up version of the Copacabana! However, the others got bored so we moved on to Mannequins. The rotating dance floor kept me occupied for a while but we soon moved back to 8Trax before heading home.

Today was amazing! I went to Hollywood Studios and went straight on Tower of Terror and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. Then I made a bee line for the Beauty and the Beast show. Even though this show is amazing and well worth seeing, it's not the reason I go. I love the preshow group "Four for a Dollar" (also called "Return 2 Zero"). They're an accapella group (which means they sing with no instruments) and I think they are amazing! The first time I saw them, I was really impressed. I listened to them and I thought I could hear drums. Then I looked at Doug and realised HE was producing the sound! I was amazed and I've been a fan ever since. Today I really wanted their new CD but everywhere I tried was sold out. I found out the boys finish at Hollywood Studios on Saturday. I was quite upset as I love those guys! Still, it explained why I couldn't find their CD. I asked Mike, one of the cast members and he told me that they were sold out all over the park. I was really disappointed. I told him I was a huge fan and he asked me to meet him at the theatre at 5.30pm. I came back at that time and found out that Mike had arranged for me to meet the guys! Honestly, I was so excited, you'd think I was meeting Take That or Boyzone or any other boyband. Personally, I think these guys are better as they have talent rather than pretty boy looks. I got a hug from all four (Doug, Marshall, Andrew and Sammy). They were really great and I loved meeting them. Even better, backstage we got chatting about music taste and I mentionned I was a Carpenter's fan. They asked if I knew "Only Yesterday" which I did and then I got to sing it with them doing back up! It was only backstage but it was amazing. Doug complimented my singing voice! Those guys will be VERY sadly missed. Mike was amazing arranging that for me and I made sure I called by Guest Services on the way out to commend him.

This evening I went to Downtown Disney for ice cream with David. We sat overlooking the water when we saw a guy swing his leg over the railing, climb down and squat under the bridge. We watched him because we were curious. He just sat there with his mobile phone so we went to the nearest Cast Member and let them know. The reaction seemed to be a little out of proportion because they came running over calling for security! When David and I got on the bus, it looked like they were stopping people going into Pleasure Island. Hmmm....

It's been an amazing day but I'm off to bed now! G'night!

Spiels, Pleasure Island and packages from home

Hey Guys,

It's been a really busy few days and I'm really sorry I haven't updated in a while. I only have fifteen minutes to do this as my bus is due soon so here goes.

I spent my last two days off learning the menu until I felt comfortable spieling any item. Then when I got into work, I went into the kitchen to find a chef to spiel to. I found all three head chefs and asked who was available and they got me to do all three at once right there and then in the kitchen with everyone staring! It was pretty nerve racking. Bill and Brandon smiled encouragingly at me whenever I caught their eye but Amber was just expressionless. I couldn't read her reactions at all and her stone faced expression really scared me. I'm not sure she knows how intimidating she can be. Still, I got to the end and answered the questions set to me and they told me I'd passed. YES! I then spieled to Yvette one of the managers and she passed me too. I now have a date for service (28th!) Brilliant! I feel like the fun starts now. I'm really looking forward to getting to know our guests and entertaining the kids with my magic tricks (because, after all, kids is what I'm qualified in!) It's gonna be great!

I worked in Chippie last night from 4pm to 12.30am! It was a long shift but I had a great closing team (Rhys and Lynda) and we all had fun and time passed really quickly. Sometimes Chippie isn't completely soul crushing. Sometimes....

I went out to Pleasure Island after work one evening. They're closing all the nightclubs there soon so we wanted to go and check them out before they vanish forever. It was a really good night. we were at PI until 2am when they kicked us out so they could close, then we carried on to IHOP (International House of Pancakes). Only in America can you sit eating pancakes in a crowded restaurant at 4am! We walked back from there and I finally got to bed around 5.30am! It was excellent!

I just got a phonecall from the main desk here at the Commons. I have a package (Yay!) so I'm off to pick that up.

Bye for now.

Gore and catgut available at the Rose and Crown!

I haven't blogged for a while but it's only because I've been pretty busy. I've been working and when I'm not working I've been trying to learn the menu. I've already taken the pre-service test (and passed) so now I have to spiel menu items to three managers and a chef. It means I need to know every one of the items we serve and what goes with it and descriptions. I like studying (which is fortunate) but I'm really struggling because I'm working to a timescale. I've told management I'm ready to spiel on Thursday which gives me two days off to learn everything. I can now do all the appetizers and most of the entrees. My way of remembering things isn't exactly PC but it really helps. For example, our herb roasted lamb is marinated with garlic, olive oil and rosemary which I remember by thinking GOOR (gore). Also, I think of CATGUT when I'm describing the chicken because it helps me remember Canola and olive oil with whole Garlic cloves and Rosemary and Thyme. It was originally COGRAT (Canola, olive oil, garlic, rosemary and thyme) but catgut makes me laugh and I remember it better. If Disney knew I'm describing their menus with words like gore and catgut, goodness only knows what they would think! Still, if it works, I don't see any problem with it!

I've been ER'ed the last two days I've been in. That means "Early Release" and it happens when we have too many people at work and not enough to do. I probably shouldn't have taken todays as we don't get paid for ER's but it is so tempting. Imagine working in a 90 degree heat where you're standing on your feet the whole time and there's very few guests so alot of the time you're just standing there. Now imagine someone says, "hey, do you want to go home?" Trust me, even though the little voice in the back of your head is saying, "you need the money", the rest of you is picturing a cool blue swimming pool and the chance to jump in it! I think today will be one of my last ER's though as I had something I actually wanted to do (menu study). I need to start realising money has to come from somewhere so if I don't have any plans, I need to work. Still, we won't get ER'ed once we're in service so I may as well enjoy it while I can.

I'm heading to the bank in a little while to arrange online banking. I'll be taking my "cheat sheets" with me so I can study the menu on the bus. I've made some cards with the menu items on so I can carry them around and learn "on the go". I should definately be ready for Thursday at this rate.

The only other bit of news is Hurricane Ike. He is a massive catergory 4 hurricane and right now he's just to the south of us battering the hell out of Cuba. He's been a bit erratic and last night, people feared he was going to come barrelling through Florida. They called for a mandatory evacuation of the Florida Keys and Bush declared a state of emergency for Florida but it looks like we may be lucky this time. As my little map shows, he's going to bypass us and head off into the gulf but nothing is certain with storms as dangerous as these. Everyone is keeping a very close watch on Ike, as well as all the other storms that will form behind him (at the moment, Josephine and Kyle). I know alot of people are excited to witness a hurricane and I've actually had people wishing for Ike to come our way but they have no concept of the raw power in these storms and the damage they can cause. I'm hoping they won't have to find out but it's a very active season this year. We're not even at the height of Hurricane season yet (that's next week) but we're already up to the letter L (that's 12 named storms this year). Well, all we can do is wait and see and deal with things as they happen. I personally think Ike will miss us (though I pity Cuba) but they'll be others. Don't worry though, I'll keep you up to date.

Possibly the best day off ever?!?!

Wow! I have so much to tell you about swimming with the manatees. It was amazing! Still, let me do this in order.

I was up early (5.00am!) and I had to meet the bus at the crossroads which is about a ten minute walk away. I paced it out the day before but I was horrified to learn that while I could get most of the way there, there's a huge massive interstate (the I4) in the way and there is no way to cross it without risking becoming road kill. America really doesn't cater well to pedestrians. I had to get a taxi instead and all because of that road I couldn't cross! Bizarre!

I met up with the coach and my driver, Graci (pronounced Grassy, he was great!) and he took us out to Crystal River. It's quite a distance from Orlando but they had provided a "breakfast bag" to keep us going and Graci had decent music taste so I was listening to The Eagles and Abba on the way up. We were taken to a PADI shop where we were given our fins and masks. We also hired wetsuits which was an extra $10 but apparantly it was recommended. We carried on down to the river and boarded the boat which took us out into the canals. All around were houses and they were incredible but apparantly cost over a million each! Not surprising. Our boat captain kept an eye out and looked for the manatees. We found one and the guide got in to see if she wanted attention. However, the manatee wasn't interested in playing so we let her go off and carried on. We found another a little later and she wanted a tummy rub so everyone got in and swam out.

Manatees are huge! I had no idea they could grow to 12 feet in length. They are also really difficult to describe. They're kind of like fat hippos crossed with walruses without teeth. They eat sea grass that grows on the bottom of the canal and they are extremely gentle.

We all swam over and straight away I saw the manatee underneath me. She was just stationary munching on sea grass. I swam over the top of her as she swam along and then jumped out of my skin when it felt like the canal floor rose up to get me. What happened was she surfaced to breathe and she did it right in front of me. Both my hands ran along her back as she surfaced in front of me and then she kicked me in the face with her tail when she went back down. It didn't hurt, I found it amusing more than anything. Besides, it was her revenge because I hit her in the face earlier with my fins. Accidentally and I think I missed but obviously, she didn't forget! Swimming alongside the manatee was amazing. She ignored us most of the time but at one point she came up to us and let us touch her. Manatees feel....I want to say beautiful or amazing but in truth, manatees feel absolutely disgusting! They are slimy! Moss grows on thier backs and it's like stroking a rock that is covered in seaweed. Still, I touched a manatee!!!

After half an hour or so, the first manatee was joined by another one. This one was a male but our girl wasn't interested and chased him off. After that our guide said, "okay guys, let's leave her to it" and we all climbed out. I loved the fact that the guide was so respectful of the manatees. He made sure she wanted us there and we never chased after her if she swam away. There's also a region of the river that people aren't allowd just so the manatees have freedom from us if they want it. That's how it should be.

We went to lunch next at a restaurant. This was included in the price of the tour and I had chicken burger and chips. Then we continued to the Homosassa Springs State Park where they had resident animals from Florida. We saw alligators, crocodiles, bobcats, cougars, black bears, various birds, deer, manatees and foxes. I loved seeing all the native wildlife and their enclosures are huge which made me happy. Alot of these animals are rescued from various situations and are being rehabilitated.

Once we were done at Homosassa, we boarded the bus back to Orlando. When we got back, I went to the Magic Kingdom. It's already decorated for Halloween which I find strange as that's still nearly two months away! The park was practically empty for some reason and the longest I had to wait to ride anything was five minutes! I walked straight onto the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, It's a Small World... I've never seen the park so quiet! Still, it was great for me!

When I got home around 9.30pm, I was exhausted and I fell asleep on the sofa. I eventually woke up and went to bed around midnight. Still, it was a fantastic day and I think I deserved the huge lie in I had this morning.