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.

Seaworld, manatees and the triple threat to Florida!

Hi everyone,

How you all doing? Here's a quick update for you!

Things here are going really well at the moment. I was seating the other day at the restaurant. That's when you show guests to their table. I got chatting to this absolutely amazing family. They were great! I was chatting to them for about half an hour and they were the nicest guests I've ever had, either here or back on the cruise ships. It was two adults and three kids (Zac, Matt and Katie) and they were just brilliant. I loved talking to them! We were laughing about the dumb guest comments I get and they asked all about England (which people NEVER seem to do) and they were just so friendly. Honestly, if all my guests were like that, I wouldn't need paying to do my job! I went to management and asked if we could do something nice for them so I ended up making them the "Table of the Day" and getting them free smoothies. I won't forget that family for a long time. Just the memory is making me smile.

A bit later in the day, I did the magic moment again with a little boy called William. He was six and very excited to be chosen. I gave him the Mickey wand and he was enthusiastically waving it around "directing" the fireworks. He was a little too enthusiastic because he ended up clopping this other guest on the head! She said, "excuse me! That hit me!" and then William's mother answered, "ease up, he's only a little kid and you're ruining his day!" I suggested we move to further along the deck and the mother said loudly, "yes, lets get you away from the frosty faced bitch woman!" I wanted to die! Poor William, it did ruin his moment, he was so subdued afterwards. When the guest had gone, I went to the other table and apologised profusely for them being hit in the head. They were actually really nice about it but I was upset it had happened to either guest. I'd been having such a nice day!

My signature magic trick is being copied. I have a thumb trick where I produce a red light from nowhere, throw it around and get rid of it. It's really effective. However, Nathan turned up to work today with the same thing. I thought it would ruin it (that's MY power!) but instead, Nathan and I have been throwing this ball of light across the restaurant and all the guests love it! We got alot of guest comments and at the end of the day, I was given two guest fanatic cards from two different people for entertaining the guests. They go on your record so its great to recieve those!

I used the I-Ride trolley again today. I caught the trolley from stop 41 which is just the other side of the premium outlets to stop 33 where Seaworld is. Cast members get a discount on the I-Ride, it only costs 25 cents! Excellent! I love the I-Ride, the trolleys are green and have smiling faces on the front. Ahhh, the little things!

I paid for a year pass at Seaworld. You can set up a direct debit from your paycheck so they're taking $20 a month which really helps to spread the cost. I LOVE Seaworld! I got to touch and feed stingrays and dolphins and I saw alligators and manatees. I watched the shows and I just had the most amazing day. I could easily spend the rest of my life in Seaworld, I'm such an animal nut! The ticket I chose also includes Aquatica, Seaworld's new waterpark so I have a year pass for there too!

I'm really excited about tomorrow because.....I'm swimming with manatees! I'm being collected really early in the morning to go by coach to Crystal River to snorkel with manatees. I can't believe it! I'm bouncing in my chair, I'm so excited! I saw some manatees today at Seaworld and I don't remember them being that big. That's a little scary. Still, they call them "gentle giants" so it should be okay. I'll get photos, even if I have to go without food for the next month! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Oh, trying to describe what a manatee is to Saori and Nami (my Japanese housemates) was so funny. I said they were like big cows with tails. Vikki was even worse. She said, "just think of a dolphin that's been sat on by a giant. They're like flat dolphins!"

We got a letter through the letterbox this morning. "Hurricane Preparedness" again! Gustav luckily missed us but Hanna looks like she's barrelling right for us. She's a category one at the moment and right behind her are tropical storms Ike and Josephine. They're calling it the "Triple Threat". No one is certain where Ike and Josephine are gonna hit yet though. I guess they were right about it being an active season. Whew!

Right, well, you're all up to date again for now. I will let you know how tomorrow goes as soon as I can!