Guests that make you cry, chefs that don't lie and shoes to go buy!

Well, here we are in May. Time seems to be snowballing now. Everytime I notice the date, it shocks me. I've never known time to go so fast before.

I've had a couple of really amazing shifts recently. The first one was the ultimate tearjerker. I was serving my section as normal and there was a cute little girl on my table called Chloe. She was amazing. She was ultra polite and kept calling me "Miss Tori". As it was near firework time, I went to Emma who was on magic moment and did something I've never done before. I asked for one of my tables to be chosen.

I guess before I go further, I should explain Magical Moment. This happens each night in the Rose and Crown. The podium staff select a child and give them the Mickey wand and that child "starts" the fireworks by pointing the wand at the right time. Due to our familiarity with Illuminations, we can make a pretty convincing show of the child directing them. The podium staff always get to choose and if they pick your table, you're lucky. Asking for your table to be included is frowned upon as it increases your tips and money is not a good reason for doing Magical Moment. I wasn't after extra tips, I just had a seriously cute little girl who I felt deserved to be made a fuss of. Luckily, Emma was understanding, she knows I've never asked for my guests to be chosen before.

Anyway, the end of this story means Chloe started the fireworks. Emma and her trainee, Alex, took the whole family down to lower deck and apparantly the mother and grandmother were in tears watching Chloe excitedly starting the fireworks. At the end of the firework show, Chloe's father came and found me. I was cleaning my section but he stopped me and with tears in his eyes told me he'd had the most magical night of his life. He's been in Iraq for the last year and has been away from his family. Seeing Chloe so happy made his night and he was so grateful for what we'd done for her. He was crying by the end of it and so was I. It was such a small thing for me to have done but it made the night for his family. I hugged him as he thanked me and had to go away into the kitchen for a few minutes until I was under control again .

A few days later during pre-shift (the meeting before the start of the shift), our manager Alisha read out a positive guest letter. It was about me. It said I was "friendly, genuine and quite entertaining. She made the evening even more enjoyable for us". I got a copy of the letter and a special pin (badge). It's always nice to be recognised.

Things at the Rose and Crown and finally beginning to settle after the loss of Rachid and Chef Christian. Our new chef, Nick is a definate improvement. He has been asking the opinion of the staff as to what to include on the menu which is something Chef Christian (AKA The Demi-God) never did. Plus, Chef Nick will cheerfully hear us out if we say something is disgusting and he'll ask how it can be improved. Chef Christian would just yell at you.

Our new manager, Christina is not such an improvement. First of all, we barely see her but when she does come into the UK, she pisses everyone off. There is something called "Disney Look" which is a standard of cleanliness and uniformity that we have to adhere to. No tattoos, no beards (damn, and mine was so long!), girls hair tied back, even acceptable and unacceptable sideburns!!! Christina seems to be obsessed with Disney Look and I am now being told that the shoes I have been using for work for the past ten months are now unacceptable. Well, actually, they're not too sure. All I've been told so far is they "might be unacceptable". That was a week ago and we've heard nothing back yet. I do not want to buy a new pair of work shoes for the sake of two months. Especially when there's nothing wrong with the ones I have!

On my day off this week, I spent some time by the pool here at the Commons. I met a couple of UK guys who turned out to be the newbies. As they don't have their Disney ID's yet, I offered to get them into MK for the evening so I could show them around. It ended up being a really fun night. One of the guys (Dave) was a DV (Disney Virgin). Showing MK to a DV was amazing, it was like seeing it for the first time all over again. Dave seemed to like it too. We stayed to see Wishes as well and it was just a fun night.

The following day, I returned to the pool. I was in the water the whole time but a few hours after getting out, I was in severe pain. Somehow (God only knows how!), I've burnt my knees and my shoulders. It's really painful and I feel sorry for Vikki as all she's heard recently is "Ow! Ow! Ow!" everytime I've turned over in bed or stood up or, you know, breathed! Still, it'll heal soon.

Well, that's all I've got to report for now. I'll update again soon.

Days off, newbies and Christmas shopping!

I've had the last couple of days off work and it's been brilliant! Just the fact that I don't have to be anywhere or doing anything at a specified time is amazing!

On Thursday, they run a bus from The Commons to the mall. I decided to catch that one but we waited and waited and it never came. The buses here are really unreliable. As there were a group of us, we decided to get a taxi to the Florida Mall instead. Then, when we arrived, we all went our seperate ways.

I spent loads of time at the magic stall. It's alot cheaper than Magic Masters at Downtown Disney but the products are the same. I've stocked up on a few magic tricks so I can keep entertaining the guests. I also spent rather more than I meant to in the Body Shop and Waldenbooks. Plus there are so many clothes shops.....it's a pretty decent mall and I had a great time. They have this one shop which sells weird gadgets and I found something really cool which I bought for my little brother for Christmas. I'm not sure if he has my blog address so I can't say what it is but I know he'll love it. It was on sale so I had to get it there and then. I cannot believe I'm Christmas shopping in August! However, I've really got to start watching the money now! Oooppps!

On the way home from the mall, I called in at the Premium Outlets behind the Commons. They have these weird cakes that are just giant chocolate chip cookies. I bought one and got it iced with "Congratulations Nicola, from all of your friends". Nicola got her university results yesterday and she got a first! We threw her an impromptu party in the evening. Lauren N and Pippa sorted out some food and we all went round to congratulate her. I think she had a good night.

Later on, we all decided to go on to Bennigans as most of the UK were there. It was late and the next bus wasn't for ages (plus, it probably wouldn't have shown anyway) so we walked! It was quite a distance but luckily the rain had stopped and it was a peaceful evening. As TS Fay has dumped so much rain, there are loads of deep ditches next to the road and we were all really nervous about alligators maybe being in them. We gave them a wide berth.

Bennigans was great! Loads of people were there and they were all in a good mood. It was like a regualr bar but you know everyone in there. It was alot of peoples last nights so we gathered around for a "last song". What happens is you make a circle round the people leaving and then sing the Greenday song, "Good Riddance". It was actually really moving and all the people in the middle were in tears. Most of them told me to really enjoy this year as it will fly by so fast. It was a fantastic night and I didn't get to bed until about 3.30pm.

This morning, I called round to the newbies apartment. We have two new girls for UK Food and Bev and unfortunately they are both called Lauren! That brings our running total to four Laurens! They are gonna need some nicknames! Still, they seem really cool (though I only met one of them). I'm not a newbie anymore! Blimey!

The hurricane that never was

Hi everyone,

Well, yesterday was a pretty eventful day. We've been on tropical storm watch here in Florida with the advancement of Tropical Storm Fay. All day yesterday, people have been saying, "she'll be here by 8am" then it was "she'll be here by 10am" and so it continued at 12 noon, 2pm and 4pm but all we got was alot of rain. Alot of people were almost excited to experience a tropical storm and I suppose we should all be grateful that she never really put in an appearance but it had been built up so much we were at least expecting something. We were told to pull our beds out from the windows in case the wind shattered them in the night and everyone had to pick stuff up off the floor in case of flooding. However, aside from light drizzle, we had nothing from Fay. One newspaper called her "a damp squib" which I agree with. Still, a few papers are signing off with the cheerful "we'll consider Fay a practise for the next one". That's nice to hear, huh?

Yesterday was the throw out for a few people in our pavillion. Throw outs are great fun for everyone involved (unlike Throw In's that seem to be fun for everyone except the people being thrown in). It's when people get to the end of their year here and call everyone together to get rid of any stuff that they can't take home with them. The people going home hold each item up so people can see it and the first person to yell "shotgun" gets the item. There was all sorts of stuff being thrown out last night; fancy dress costumes, pillows, bedding, ornaments, hats, TV's, DVD players, CD players, books, posters...basically all the crap you accumulate in a year. I managed to get a DVD player for our apartment as well as a small plastic set of drawers, some books, a Tinkerbell ornament and an Ariel costume. The good thing is that at the end of my year, I'll throw all this stuff back out to people coming in! It's almost like recycling, in a way. It's a great idea.

I've been out here for three whole weeks now and I'm no longer considered a "newbie" because yesterday we had a whole bunch of "newbies" arrive. No one has met them yet and we don't expect to see them for the first few days because they'll be training. I'm looking forward to meeting them though. I feel a bit sorry for them as the weather is awful. I'm looking out of the window right now and it's drizzling. If it wasn't for the fact I can see palm trees, I'd think I was home in England. When they get time off to go to the parks this week, it'll be in the rain. Still, they'll be out here a year so they'll get their share of sun.

I've got one more day left in the Chippie and then I have two whole days off! I'm planning on visiting the Florida Mall tomorrow as that's indoors under cover. As to Friday, I haven't yet decided. If the weathers okay, I might head for Seaworld but I'm not sure yet.

Anyway, until next time....