Gustav, Hanna and ER Baby!

I've been seating for the last couple of days at the restaurant. I really enjoy seating, you get to talk to the guests and it's not exactly a difficult job. I've been working six hour shifts but today I got ER'd at 4pm! ER stands for Early Release and when there's too many staff on, the managers go round and ask if you want to go home. I only had a couple of hours left but I jumped at the chance anyway. It was great! I like being ER'ed. As I left I kept saying, "ER, Baby!"

The big news at the moment is Gustav and Hanna. Hurricane Gustav is an extremely dangerous hurricane. He is currently a category three storm but looks like he may become a five. Five is the worst you can get. I feel really fortunate in a guilty kind of way because it looks like it will miss us and come barrelling up through New Orleans who are only just getting back on their feet from Katrina who hit three years ago. Katrina was a category three storm so a five is really getting attention. Everyone is watching Gustav like a hawk, just in case he swings to the east but it's unlikely. I feel so sorry for New Orleans. They are very badly situated to deal with hurricanes of any strength, let alone one with winds up to 155mph! They are strongly suggesting the evacuation of New Orleans and that will become mandatory tomorrow morning at 8am. These photos above show Gustav at the moment. It hasn't even hit yet. I really feel for Louisiana and I hope everyone gets through it unscathed up there.

The second storm is TS (Tropical Storm) Hanna. She's quite a way off at the moment and all that's happened is she's made a rather dangerous undercurrent rip off the coast. At the moment, it looks like she will hit the Bahamas and run out of energy before she reaches Florida but once again, we're keeping a weather eye on her, no pun intended. It really looks like this year will be a very active season. It's only August, the middle of hurricane season isn't until September and already we've had eight storms (Arthur, Bertha, Cristobel, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav and Hanna). The next one will be Ike, followed by Josephine and Kyle. If it's just tropical storms, it won't be too bad but surely one of them will be a hurricane? Still, I'm not too worried. Obviously, I'm slightly nervous but I honestly believe that Disney is one of the safest places to be when a hurricane hits. The people of Florida are so used to hurricanes, they know what to expect and when. They take all of them very seriously, even "diva storms" like Fay (that come, make alot of noise, promise alot worse and then fizzle out). One thing that made me smile is the name for the 20th storm of this year. That will be Hurricane Vicky. My roommate is called Vikki and back home, my mum and little niece both call me Vicky. I can imagine the headlines! "Vicky threatens Florida!", "Bush declares state of emergency from Vicky", "Florida is unprepared for Vicky".....

I'm assigning again tomorrow. I'm hoping I'm only training as I have asked for extra training but it looks like I may be flying solo. I don't like that idea but I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Oh, one last thing before I go, we've finally got a TV here at 1615! Yay! I got a DVD player at one of the throwouts so I'll set that up in a minute. I cannot believe how long we've gone without TV. When no one's home, the apartment feels so quiet. I turned it on today but I forgot how dire Amercan TV really is. They make an episode of Friends (22 minutes), last an hour due to adverts. I think I'll be using the DVD player most.

Culinary Day

I had a day off yesterday so I made sure to get the heck out of the themeparks. I was just sick of guests and Disney in general so I caught the I-Ride trolley to the opposite end of International Drive and I spent the day getting on and off it at whatever looked interesting. International Drive is quite an interesting place. Obviously, it's all built up around the themeparks but there is more than enough to keep you from getting bored. I had lunch at the Ponderosa and looked at a few of the gift shops. I went out to the mall and I passed Sea World and Wonderworks. It was great to just relax and I went back to work today in a much better mood.

Today was my Culinary Day. That's a day everyone gets in which they work in the kitchen all day. It's a really great way to understand what goes on with preparing the food and how the kitchen really works. It also helps you to learn the menu because you get to prepare and taste the food you;ll be actively upselling to the guests. I started off in the pantry putting together the appetizers and desserts. It was hard to remember what sauce went with what or how much of one item you serve but I got it in the end. I also had the opportunity to try some of the items, such as the creme anglaise and the onion jam (both really nice). I worked all morning on various positions and then I was allowed to go upstairs to the chefs office to try some of the items. I really liked the pork in tamarind sauce and the cottage pie. I wasn't keen on the bangers and mash because the sausages didn't taste like English sausages. Still, I didn't HATE anything, I just preferred certain dishes. In the afternoon, I was preparing the main entrees and it was really hot. I was standing with my back to the ovens and I could feel the sweat rolling down my back. I have nothing but respect for the chefs that manage to work in that heat day in, day out! In the end, I couldn't stand the heat any longer so I volunteered to go into pot wash. I helped out there for twenty minutes and then the day was over.

The weird thing about Culinary Day is you either love it or hate it. I loved it. I enjoyed the break from the normal routine and I really felt I learnt alot. My roommate, Vikki was the other end of the spectrum. She hated it and was glad it was over.

I'm back on regular duty tomorrow. I think I'm seating but it's a six hour shift which is nothing! In fact, I have an easy week of it. I seem to be doing six hour shifts for a while. The only day I'm doing more is when I'm assigning.

I've started proper studying today. I really want to get into service so I've started looking at the menu and learning what I can. It's a little annoying as I know the menu is changing next month but I really want to start.

Anyway, it's getting late! It's already 1.45am and I want to study a bit before bed.

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!