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

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!

First few days at work

I'm so sorry. I've neglected you guys for a whole three days but time has been flying by in chunks! It's bizarre! In the first week, time went so slowly that it felt like a month must have passed when it was only a week. This week has gone so fast, I'm not convinced I was actually present for it! We've been out here two weeks tomorrow. That's so weird to think about!

Okay, so I started work here in Florida. My first job was as seater in the Rose and Crown. It's fairly easy. A ticket gets printed saying the name of the party, how many adults and children and their pager number. All you need to do is page them, grab the right number of menus (kids and adults) and when then arrive you greet them with "hello, welcome to the Rose and Crown. My name is Tori and I'll be showing you to your table". Then you lead them through. The hardest part is learning the tables. They aren't numbered logically. Inside are the tables beginning with 1, 2 and 3. On the verandah are tables beginning 4 and 5 and by the waters edge are the 6's and 7's. So, if a ticket reads table 306, that's inside, nearest the outside wall and you count along to six. It took a while but I'm pretty comfortable with seating now.

I was the seater for two days and I'm pretty sure I've got it. When you're not seating, you can go out onto the street and chat with guests or play with the kids. Naturally, I make a bee line for any children. I love kids, they are so much fun! I made a new game where you draw a line on the floor and get some kids. You shout "Mickey" and they jump in front of the line. "Minnie" is behind the line. "Donald" is on it and "Peter Pan" is on the line with hands on hips. Then you just call out the names as fast as you like and watch the kids try to keep up. I make sure I play this in the shade but even so, it gets really hot. Good fun though.

Yesterday I was the greeter in the restuarant. That's a little more involved. You have to check people in using the computer. Sometimes they have reservations, other times they're walk ins. Practically ALL of the time they are unhappy about their table. If they are inside they want to be outside, if they're outside they want to be inside. Everyone requests outside from 6.30pm onwards to see the fireworks and obviously, not everyone can have a table outside so the guests get annoyed. By the way, if any guest ever says "we were promised an outside table" it's a load of rubbish as we stress that outside is not guaranteed.

I've had a couple of stupid guest comments. At the end of this year, I intend to write a book on dumb guest comments and questions. Not really, but I could. Over the last three days, I've been asked "What language do they speak in England?" and "How long did it take you to learn your accent?" I've had a guest tell me my accent doesn't sound anything like an English accent (which tickled me as I am English!) and another guest who refuses to believe we have red squirrels in the UK. She said to her son, "she's lying honey, no one has red squirrels". Oooo-kay!

All in all, I'm really enjoying my job. The guests are generally nice and I get on with most of the people I work with. That's quite a bit of backstabbing and bitchiness but I expected that. I am working in a very female environment (most of the guys are gay and almost worse than the girls). Just let it roll off you and you won't have any problem.

Though I've worked alot the past few days, somehow (God knows how), I've managed to make time for play too. Last night after work, I went to Downtown Disney with Rhys, Lauren and Nils. I love Downtown! They have a huge Virgin megastore down there as well as other little shops. I'm quite into magic and there's a shop called "Magic Masters" where I go to get tricks. Rhys in particular is obsessed with my magic tricks and practically ever time I see him I have to have a new one on hand. It's fun.

Once we visited the Magic place, we had dinner at Planet Hollywood. It was bizarre to be eating dinner at 11.30pm but it was really nice food. We get a 20% cast discount too! Everyone passed out on the bus home though!

Right, so that brings everyone up to date. I'm at work at four tomorrow (afternoon) so I'll get a nice lay in. I'm only working until ten as well. Nice! I'll be able to catch up on my laundry. Trouble is, the washing machine is rather frightening. When you turn it on, it kind of "walks" across the floor. It bounces all over the place! Almost like the clothes in it want to get out. It's so noisy, you can't have it on at night. I'll have to film it at some point. It's so funny!

After tomorrow, I have two whole days off and I am SOOOOO going to enjoy them. Yay!

The Throw In

We had our "throw in", sorry, "meet and greet" last night. We had to all go round to Heather's apartment here at The Commons. When we walked in EVERYONE from the UK was there! There must have been about 60 odd people in that room! We were shut away in the bedroom while the main room was "prepared". It was extremely nerve wracking to be in there knowing something was going to happen but not what. A few of the others were majorly freaking out. I'm talking shaking and dry heaving, hat's how nervous they were. I figured they can't kill you or damage you too severely and as I'm pretty difficult to embarrass, I was quite relaxed. The door opened and Tino and Nic were selected and the door was closed again. We tried to eavesdrop but aside from catcalls and laughter, we heard nothing. I was next with Pippa. We went out and.....that's all you're gonna get. I can't tell you what happened but it wasn't anything too bad. It was a bit embarrassing for some of us but it was okay. Just go along with it, don't be afraid to get involved and relax. It's a great way to meet the people in your pavillion.

At the end, we were assigned "parents", people who look out for us while we're here. I got the amazing Dave as my dad and someone called Katherine for my mum. Afterwards Dave came and introduced himself but I never saw Katherine. I imagine we'll catch up soon though.

I had today off and I went to the Buena Vista outlet centre for my Disney Look shoes. I found some comfy ones and they weren't extortionate. I also got some tights (pantyhose) and trainer socks.

In the evening, I went to Downtown Disney with Lauren (Tigger). We had a good look around and I spent more than I intended too but luckily I was paid yesterday so it shouldn't matter. When we got back, we went to see Rhys and was surprised at how we found him! Apparantly, that's how he cooks!

I start tomorrow as AM Seater. I'm actually quite excited. I'm a little nervous but that's to be expected, right? So, tomorrow I start work at the UK Pavillion at EPCOT. If I get a chance, I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Disney Day Off!

Here's the video of my apartment here at The Commons. I know I sound a little bit overexcited and hysterical but I had been up for 23 hours straight and hey, it's Florida!!!!

Right, where did I get up to? Oh yes, Thursday morning.

On Thursday, we didn't have to be anywhere until 12.30pm so everyone woke up in their own time and we all ended up drifting round to Tino's and Andy's. For some reason, that seems to be our meeting place! It was Nicola's 22nd birthday and Tino (bless him) had cooked her a cheesecake from scratch. Rhys brought over candles which they put on the cake before sticking it in the fridge. Weirdly enough, the candles wouldn't light! Still, we pretended they were lit and sang "Happy Birthday" and we'd all got her cards and presents.

We headed up to the clubhouse at 12.25pm where we had to sit through more meetings about paperwork. We also had an immigration talk but that had a cute presentation featuring pictures from Toy Story so that was interesting. My God, I'm such a child! We had the opportunity to sign up for Partners which is an american bank. I signed up so my paycheck will automatically go into the bank account and I'll be able to access it by card. It's alot easier than having to take the paycheck to Walmart every week and paying $2 to have it cashed. At the end of all the sessions, we had to pass the "Disney Look" table where a couple of CM's (cast members) checked to make sure you were "Disney Look". I passed with no problem but a couple of the girls were told they were wearing too much makeup.

Once we'd finished all the sessions, we all met up and went out to Downtown Disney to celebrate Nicola's birthday properly. We took the bus that they provide here and headed straight for the Rainforest Cafe. We were given a time to return (8.30pm) so we spent the time checking out the Disney Marketplace. I have seen so much stuff that I want to get with my discount but we don't get our discount cards until Traditions (Saturday). Still, the time flew and we were seated in the Rainforest Cafe. For those of you who have never been to one, it's a themed restuarant. It's like you're sitting in a rainforest and every now and then they're a storm and all the animatronic animals go nuts. The food was quite nice and as it was Nicola's birthday, Lauren told the waitress. She said Nicola could have a free sundae or a volcano (that's a dessert mountain of brownie, ice cream and cream). We went for the volcano becasue it sounded like it was free. Unfortunately, we were charged for it and when we questionned it, the waitress got really snotty. At the end of the meal, we noticed that she'd added $40 to the bill as a tip! That's about £22! Well, being British, we decided not to pay for rubbish service so we took the tip off, left enough to cover the food and scarpered! We didn't get back to The Common's until gone midnight! Still ,it was still a great night out.

It was our day off today but as we haven't got a Disney pass yet, we couldn't go to the parks. Instead, some of us went to Typhoon Lagoon and some went to Wal-Mart and some others went back to Downtown. I love the way we can all do our own thing when we want to but we still get together in the end. I spent the day at Downtown checking out the shops. There's a HUGE Virgin store here and we will eventually get a 15 - 25% discount there! There's also a magic shop and various Disney stuff, it's awesome.

It's Traditions tomorrow and we're all up for 7.30am so I'll sign off here. Thanks for the comments everyone! If you have any questions about what to expect when you get out here, let me know!

Nic's just rang. She's at Tino's with Rhys and they're ordering pizza so I'm signing off here to go and get some pizza with Vikki!

Bye for now!