My Birthday

It's been a odd couple of weeks since I last blogged. First of all, everyone (and I mean everyone) has been ill recently! There's a really nasty 'flu bug floating around and everyone seems to be out with it. Plus we've got a couple of cast members out with gallstones and wisdom tooth ache so The Rose and Crown isn't very healthy at the moment.

On April 6th, I felt really ill as soon as I got up. However, I never call in unless I'm actually sick (which makes me a complete idiot as everyone else does it so why not take advantage?). I went into work but I ached all over and I felt really hot. Half way through my shift, I went to Jamie and asked to be cut because I really didn't feel well. She said it was a bit inconvienient so I struggled on with service. When Jamie tried to seat me an 8 top, I just gave up trying to keep the illness at bay. I had to sit down in the kitchen (where I threw up in the trash can - ewww!) and I literally couldn't get back up again. I felt like I was going to pass out and kept gasping in air. Of course, that did nothing good and I ended up really light headed. The long and the short of it is, Alisha called the medical team who checked me over and sent me home. I then had to call in for the next two days to try and get my feet back under me. I spent the time sleeping and resting and I never even left my apartment but I finally got over whatever it was I caught.

Work has been weird recently. It's Easter at the moment and all our guests seem to be British. I have nothing against the Brits, in fact, I am one but the worst part is they don't tip. In England, even servers are included with the minumum wage but out here, servers are expected to get tips so our basic wage reflects that. When you work your butt off for a table, you find it really hard when you cash it out to find that they haven't tipped you anything. It's really hard not to take it personally. I always tip when I'm in the States but that's because I understand it. Oh well, it's the start of the summer season now she I'll hopefully get the Yanks back. They tip. They tip well!

On Tuesday, it was my birthday. I turned (inaudible) so I lied and told everyone 22. Most of my friends know I'm really four years older than that but we all went along with it anyway. I'd arranged a day at MK and we all agreed to meet up at mine at 10am (early, according to David!) At 10am, the skies opened and threw down one of the most violent thunderstorms I've ever seen. I stood out on the balcony and watched it. That is, until the wind started pushing the rain sideways. Then I came in. Luckily, it stopped at around 10.30am and soon Vikki and I were joined by Kevin, David, Rene and Iselin. Rene and David apologised as they'd ordered something for me that hadn't arrived so David said he'd sent me the rain and Rene claimed credit for the thunder and lightening. Kevin got me a bottle of Baileys and Vikki got me a bottle of Creme de Menthe so I can mix up a Green Goblin, my favourite cocktail (Baileys, Creme de Menthe and milk, sometimes with Kahlua).

We headed into the park and started off in Adventureland where we did the Jungle Cruise in the rain. Really not fun. Then we did the Tiki Room and Pirates as both were indoors. Fortunately, the weather kept most of the crowds away though the line for Peter Pan's Flight was STILL nearly an hour (we didn't go). We spent the whole day playing on the attractions. We tried to see Peter Pan but the weather must have made it difficult t fly over from Neverland.

In the afternoon, we were joined by Laura (Mitzy) and Stephie. Mitzy pulled me into a little shop in Fantasyland and the cast member noticed my birthday badge. She got me to ring a bell and when I did, lights flashed round the room like Tinkerbell had flown in. She then appeared behind the till before flying off again. It was really sweet. Then the cast member got me to close my eyes and I was "pixie dusted" (covered in glitter). She told me not to think any happy thoughts or I'd end up flying but I did and I never flew. Oh well.

We ate at Cinderella's Royal Table, right inside the castle. It was really good. You start off having your photo taken with Cinderella and then you go upstairs into the banquet hall. The decor was amazing and the stained glass windows looked up and down mainstreet and fantasyland. We were visited by the mice from Cinderella as well as the fairy godmother. Kevin (bless him) had arranged a cake as a surprise so I got a huge chocolate cake with candles to blow out! One of the most amusing parts of the night was when we were all given fairy wands or swords, depending if we were guys or girls. I was opposite Rene and I picked up my wand, he picked up his sword and without a word we traded them. I'd much rather be a knight than a princess and Rene is a fairy anyway! Hee hee!

All in all, it was a really nice day out. The weather could have been better but it didn't matter too much. At the end of the evening, I caught the end of Spectromagic and got to see my Peter Pan at last!

Anyway, gotta go. We have inspection on the 20th and there's a stupid new rule about nothing on the walls so I've got to take it all down. Boo!

Talk to you all soon.

Scary changes at The Rose and Crown

Things have been changing rather radically at The Rose and Crown due to cutbacks and the economy. About a week ago, the servers were told during the AM shift that we had to stick around for the pre-shift meeting before the PM shift. We were all really nervous. The only time the managers get us all together is to yell at us for some reason. We couldn't think of any reason why we'd be in trouble but this is Disney and I long ago came to the conclusion that Disney hate their employees and wants them dead. However, I wasn't expecting the news we got.

First, let me explain the hierarchy at work. We have our area manager, Rachid who overlooks the entire UK pavillion. Then there's Christian, the head chef. Christian is in charge of the kitchen (and the world in his opinion). Anything Christian says goes. If he yells at you keep your head down and agree with whatever he says. He can make your life hell if you upset him and he will. Next come the managers, Alicia, Jamie, Dan and Nick.

Anyway, we were told on Thursday that Dan would not be coming back to work due to the economy. It's horrible. He went on his days off and then got told he'd lost his job. He wasn't even able to come and say goodbye! I really hope he'll get a decent redundancy package as the economy is so bad, he's going to need it. Everyone's looking for work at the moment. Dan was a decent bloke and he didn't deserve to lose his job. Everyone was really shocked and it was difficult to concentrate on the shift. However, we were told that this was the only change they were doing.

The following day, I get into work and guess what? There's ANOTHER full team meeting. We all got together and learnt that Rachid (our area manager) was being reassigned to Ohana (the restaurant in the Polynesian Resort) and Chef Christian (the Demi-God) was being sent to Mama Melrose in Hollywood Studios. The UK is now merged with Canada and we have the same area manager (a woman called Christina) and the same Head Chef (Chef Nick). It was alot to deal with at once. Especially as we'd never met either of the two leaders and all we had were rather frightening rumours!

That was a week ago and we've had Chef Nick in every day. Obviously, I don't know him well but so far I'm really impressed. Firstly, he treats everyone with respect in his kitchen. He doesn't have a God complex and will actually listen to you and treat you like a human being, unlike Christian. Another thing he's done that impressed me was he asked the servers what we would like to see on the menu. He realises that we are all British and the stuff we eat at home is what he needs to see on his menu. This is a change for us all as I once told Christian that we don't eat Blood sausage in the UK and he tore me apart in front of the entire pre shift meeting. Chef Nick has got some terrific ideas and while I don't agree with them all, I'm willing to give them a go because the man knows what he's doing AND he treats us with respect. So far, Chef Nick is a huge improvement to the Rose and Crown.

Losing Rachid has been a bit of a blow though. I always found Rachid to be a little vacant (the guy once told me I wear too much make-up despite the fact I never wear any!) but it felt like he was on "our side" for alot of things. He's going to be missed. I've met his replacement, Christina, once and she seems nice but I haven't spoken to her enough times to form a proper opinion yet. I hope she's a good manager.

All these changes have set the staff on edge at work. Morale is down and the full timers are all concerned for their jobs. I feel like they resent us a little because they know we're immune to the economic breakdown. We're sponsered by the government to be here and cannot be fired just because of the economy (we can still be termed for just about everything else though). Work is full of uncertainty right now.

As if to usher in this new time of change, we've had alot of thunderstorms recently. I absolutely LOVE thunderstorms! We had one at 6am the other morning and I crawled out of bed, sat on the balcony and watched it! It reminded me of home which is weird because we're not really prone to lots of thunderstorms. Rain, yes, we have lots of that but we don't tend to have anything as energetic as thunderstorms very often. Still, whatever the reason, I loved watching it. Now we seem to be having storms every couple of days. In fact, as I write this, I can hear the beginnings of another one! Brilliant! If it comes any closer, I may have to abandon you in order to watch it.

What else has happened recently? Oh yes! We had our eight month anniversary on Sunday. We've been out here for eight whole months now. Nicola got our arrival group together and we all enjoyed breakfast before work. Nic had put alot of effort into it. We had strawberries and melon and grapes and toast and cereal and bagels and jam....she'd even decorated! It was great for everyone to get together (except Pippa who overslept). Most of us haven't been in the same room outside of work since our three month anniversary! Only four months left now and that will fly by!

I'm trying to squeeze alot into my last few months so I was up early this morning to do the backstage Tower Of Terror Tour. These are backstage tours offered by the Programs office. They do two a month and each time I try to get on them but they are always fully booked. This time I went along on the off chance that someone wouldn't show up. I am really glad I did! It thundered this morning while we waited for the bus so alot of people didn't come which meant I was able to go along! Yes! Louisa had told me the times and I was so grateful to her!

The tour was really interesting! We got to go round the lobby and our guide told us things that alot of people don't know about the attraction. We got to see all the furniture and were told stories about where it came from and how it was selcted to be in the attraction. Over on one side of the lobby is an abandoned game of Mahjong. This is an actual game, stopped in the middle and the tiles glued down so anyone familiar with the game can see it's a real game. This is out of sight of most of the guests! That's how seriously Disney takes it's theming! A few of the tiles are missing though. Stolen over the years by cast members and guests.

Behind the front desk are cubbies containing keys to the different rooms of the hotel. In one is a photograph of an old man. He was a guest who loved the Tower of Terror. He used to ride it every time he came to Florida and when he passed away, his family came back one last time, ducked under the rope keeping guests out and threw the photo in one of the cubbies. It was found by cast members but they kept it there in memory. The guests never see it or even know about it so it doesn't hurt anyone. It was such a sweet story though.

Once we'd looked around the lobby, we were taken behind the scenes and shown the backstage areas. We saw the huge lifts that guests ride in and were taught how they work and move around. We saw the camera room that watches the whole attraction all the time and can stop the ride instantly if a guest does something stupid like jump out. We saw the cast areas (which look exactly like every other cast area I've seen!) and then we got to ride the attraction with the lights on! That was bizarre as we got to see everything that most guests don't see. I can't tell you much about that, I've probably said too much already but it was really cool!

I cannot wait for the next tour. I'm hoping it will be The Haunted Mansion (my favourite attraction in the Magic Kingdom). You get to go into the ballroom where the dancing ghosts are and see how it's done. I definately won't be able to put that in my blog but I'll be able to say a little bit about the whole experience.

After the tour, Louisa and I got together with Kevin, Stephie and David and we went to Best of British for some real food. Then we had a quick look round the Florida mall. Now I'm back at The Commons feeling a little disappointed because the storm never developed into anything. However, it may still come back. Talk to you next time!

Huge Update!

Arrrgggghhhhhhh! No! No! No!

I just wrote out a huge long update and then this stupid virus appeared and it's all gone! Now I'm going to have to write it all out again! Stupid virus!!!

Anyway, here we go again....

I've abandoned you guys for a whole month now but due to numerous requests (Stephen) and death threats (Peter!), I though I was due for an update. So, my last blog was from the middle of February. Work continued to be slow for the rest of the month which meant the staff had alot more time on their hands. Being a mischievious lot, it's made way for quite a few pranks and server jokes.

One favourite is when a server comes into the kitchen and tells another server, "table 307 (or whatever your table is) has asked for three waters (or more bread)." You take out what they've asked for only to learn they never ordered it in the first place. You end up looking like a complete idiot. However, the one time you ignore someone who tells you your table needs something is the one time they'll be telling the truth!

Another fun one was one I played on my roommate (sorry Vikki). I told her guests that it was her birthday and they had to be nice to her. You should have seen her face when her tables sung her Happy Birthday!!!! She looked so confused! I was laughing so hard I could barely stand!

Another thing servers seem to enjoy doing is hiding little green army men all round the restaurant. They're only four centimetres tall (about one and a hlaf inches, mum) so they blend in really well. Management really don't like it but we all enjoy sitting in the pre-shift meetings silently pointing them out to each other. When one is found by the managers, it's removed, we get told off and there's a new one hidden in the restaurant by the end of the day!

Another good thing about the restaurent being slow has been the free time we've all enjoyed. A group of us went out for Nia's birthday a couple of weeks ago and Stephie, David, Kev and I went along to the Sleuths Mystery Dinner Show last month. It was so much fun. It's a murder mystery and you have to solve the murder. I really got into it, writing notes all over the napkins. We came up with a brilliant theorey. Unfortunately, we were brilliantly wrong but our table decided we liked our theorey better than the real one anyway.

On my day off last week, I was able to fufil an ambition of mine and I went hang gliding. I've always wanted to do that but something has always stopped me. Either the instructor was ill or the wind was too strong or it was raining.... This time, however, nothing went wrong and the glider was towed up to mile high with no problem. The instructor cut the cord and we were flying! It was like being Peter Pan! We cloud surfed (bumpy) and did a couple of corkscrew turns and steep dives but the best part was when we were just gliding. We went through the clouds and I saw the shadow of the glider on the cloud, surrounded by a rainbow circle. It was brilliant as not many people get to see that. I even got to pilot the glider on the way back down. I loved it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

We've had a few throw outs recently. I've explained throw outs before but just in case you weren't paying attention, I'll explain again. Throw outs happen at the end of people's year program. All the crap they've accumulated over the year, posters, ornaments, soft toys, CD players, TV's, foot spas, Christmas trees....they get everyone together and give it all away. Everyone gets in the one apartment, the item is held up and whoever yells "shotgun" first gets it. A few items are reserved for personal friends and it's always sweet to see those being given out. It's always something like "I'm throwing out this wine glass to Hayley because she was there that day we got so hammered we left our underwear in the bushes..." or "this teddy is for Sophie because she let me cry on her shoulder when I was homesick". Getting a personal throwout makes you feel really good. I got three from Amy's throwout, all soft toy cats because "Tori's missing her cat so much, she's trying to kidnap the strays".

Talking of the strays, there's a really cute little cat here I call Tails and it's true, I have been trying to kidnap him. For a stray, he's very tame and I've taken to leaving food out for him. If housing found out I'd be so beyond terminated! I nearly got busted the other day when we had inspection. They saw a tin of catfood out on the counter and asked about it. Thinking really quickly, I told them it was from a throwout as everyone knows I love cats. They did it as a fun thing and I said if they wanted to check, they'd see it was years out of date. Luckily they didn't call my bluff so I got away with it this time. Ooooppps!

Colin and Sam's throwout was actually quite sad. There was a personal throwout to me ("this huge crate of books is for Tori because everyone knows she's the bookworm") but the worst part was knowing Sam and Colin are leaving. Before, it was just people I worked with but never really got the chance to know very well. Now it's actual friends that are going. People I will miss. Plus, it's a big reminder that my time out here is going fast. There's always a speech at the end of a throwout and they always say "your year will go really fast". I've always thought they were lying but it's so true. Time is passing by so fast, I want to stop the world, just for a minute and really appreciate where I am and what I'm doing. It's been nearly 8 months! I go back to England in another 4! That's crazy!

In a way it's good as I do miss things about home. I miss my mum and my brother and my little niece, Isobel and my sister (who luckily isn't very computer savvy so will never find out that I said that). I miss rain. Stupid, I know but when I'm feeling low, I love watching the rain fall. It rarely falls out here.

I miss cheese and pickle sandwiches, my workmates, Canterbury, people actually knowing what a banger is (no, it isn't a firework you dumbarse guest, it's a sausage!), my cat....so in a way, it's good that my time is going by. However, I know when I get back, that's it for me. No more travelling. Just working to pay the rent. I expect most of my money will go on bills so life will not be fun when I get back to the UK. Therefore, the idea that time is flying by so quickly scares me.

Okay, you are now up to date with life over here. It's weird. A few paragraphs sums up my activities for the past month. However, I don't end up telling you the little things like trips to Walmart or ending up staying up really late talking or evenings spent at Downtown Disney. You only ever get to hear the big stuff.

Just a couple of the "small things" that happened that I'll tell you about before I abandon you. I had a table the other night consisting of a middle age couple (early 50's). I was chatting to them for ages and I was really enjoying myself. They're Florida residents so they've promised to come back and eat but by the end of their meal, they were telling me all about their son, Greg and how he'd love me. They told me "he loves brown hair and brown eyes" and then asked how tall I was! They finished by saying "Greg will make an excellent husband and father" so I guess I'm getting married soon! I didn't pay much mind to it as servers are seen as fair game out here. I've been given a couple of phone numbers (including one from a woman!) and I've got a business card from a minister if I want to get married out here.

Another one is my roommate, Vikki went to California for a few days and she posted a postcard as soon as she arrived to see if it would beat her home. It didn't quite manage that but we just went down to our postbox and it's there, all the way from California!

See, sometimes the little things are worth a mention!

Catch up

Hi Guys,

Well, they weren't kidding when they said that February would be a quiet month. Work has been really dead. Still, it's given the staff a well needed rest and we've all been using the time to go out to places we've been meaning to see since we got out here. I have a list of things I want to do that I haven't got round to yet.

One of the major ones was Medieval Times. I've been once before wtih my family but that was quite a few years ago. So, a couple of days ago, I got together with David and Stephie and we all went to Medieval Times. It was brilliant! It's a dinner and show and you eat the food (with your hands) while cheering on your knight. We were supporting the red and yellow knight which I was disappointed with because I like green. However, neither our knight or green won so it didn't matter. The blue knight was cute though! It was great to sit there cheering on your knight while you were served by "serving wenches" and watched over by the King. I was in my element. Everytime the server came over, I had to smile because I can remember my little brother, Peter at Medieval Times clicking his fingers are yelling "wench! Wench!" with great delight (he wasn't being rude, they ask you to do that!)

David, Stephie and I paid a little extra to upgrade to the "Royal Package". It gave us front row seats, a program, a DVD, a banner to wave and a free photo. The photos were hysterical! They take your picture and put it on the body of either a lady of the realm or a knight. All the guys were knights, all the women were ladies which upset me as I wanted to be a knight. Knights had so much more fun.

In the gift shop outside, they had all sorts of knight memorabilia. They had swords and shields and statues and all sorts. We found some knight tunics so somewhere there's a picture of me, Stephie, David, Kevin and Danny (who joined us later) wearing the knight tabbards in the shop. I really wanted one! There's something romantic about knights. Imagine going round the country fighting for justice and honour and truth and courage. Sounds good to me. Only thing was, they were expected to fight for God. Hmmm, an athiest knight? Weeelllll....

I managed to get a week off work recently as I had a friend visit from England. We spent the time visiting the parks but nothing special. I've done the parks so many times now that I'm a little bored with them. That's why I'm trying to get the money to go to Cancun next month. I really want to see Mexico.

A few days ago, it was Rene's birthday so we snuck into his apartment one morning and surprised him with a cake. We also threw him into the pool fully clothed! That was fun. We also went to Japan for his birthday meal. The food was cooked right in front of us by the chefs which was cool!

Well, that's all for now. I'll write again soon!