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!

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.

When they are good they are very, very good but when they are bad they make you want to kill yourself!

So, I've abandoned you guys for quite a while recently but I've been caught up with work and stuff. It's been pretty busy and I've been doing extra training for Assignor, plus I had my first Lasses. I've also had my worst night since I got here as well as a couple of moments when I've been deliriously happy! What this is doing to my blood pressure is anyones guess.

Assigner training has been rather difficult. My trainer, Nathan has been training me at the same time as another trainee (Gary). It really hasn't been working out so well as you have to take it in turns so instead of three days of solid training, I've had a day and a half while Gary's had the other day and a half. I was meant to finish with assignor training today but I've told management that I don't feel ready to fly solo. I'm training on it again after my day off.

I had my first Lasses yesterday. Lasses is UK Lasses and its all the girls from the UK pavillion. They get together once a week (on Monday nights) and (from what I can tell) get drunk. I had to be initiated so they mixed up something called a "Death Drink". My God, it was potent! It was basically all the alcohol they had in one drink! Plus, they make you down it (the drink is a pint). Next was a drinking game involving a huge bottle of wine. You just had to down it as fast as possible. I was in a team of five and once that game was done, I was hammered! I sensibly decided to go home but had to stop and ask directions about four times. I don't know how I escaped being hungover this morning.

A couple of days ago, I had a "magic moment" with a guest. We do a regular "Magic Moment" in the Rose and Crown where we choose a child to "start" the fireworks. We give them a magic wand which they wave at the right moment and Illuminations begins! We then have them "direct" the fireworks by pointing the wand at the right moment. The kids honestly believe they are directing the show! I chose a little girl called Lucy and took her down to the waterfront. She loved it! Her face was so lovely to see and I think I saw tears in the eyes of the adults around her. At the end of the evening, Lucy hugged me and I went home feeling like I was covered in pixie dust! It was an incredible feeling!

Yesterday was Colin's birthday and he was at work. I was seating a couple of times in between assigner training and when I seated a couple of women in his section, I let them know it was his birthday. Later, as I was walking past, the family called out to me. They wanted to do something for Colin. I went to Marcel, our manager but he was no help so I went to William, the chef. He arranged a "best wishes"slice of cake which I snuck out to the guests. Then I got together a few servers, plus Colin and we went out to the table where we sang Happy Birthday to Colin and presented the cake. He was so happy he was near tears! I nicknamed the two women "the Lovely Family" for the rest of the night.

Today seemed to be in direct contrast to the last few days though. It has been a terrible day!!!! Absolutely awful!!! The restaurant has been really busy with huge parties of people. I haven't been able to take walk ins all day. A guest came up to the podium where I was greeting and demanded to know why he wasn't being seated instantly as he "made his reservations months ago". He came back throughout the night to complain. He wanted to sit inside, then he wanted to sit outside, then the restaurant was too crowded...the list went on and on. At one point, he came up and screamed, "this is fucking ridiculous, it's a fucking joke. It's nuts." He had a proper go at me and to make it even worse, he added halfway through "I'm sorry, I know this isn't your fault but...." and continued to swear at me. All I could do was stand there apologising and to be honest I don't know what I was apologising for. If you know it's not my fault, why the hell are you yelling at me!?!? I had a completely blank face and I just kept on apologising.

Later on, another guest had a go because they had a reservation but hadn't checked in to say they'd arrived. They'd been waiting for ages, apparantly.

Marcel sent me to Chippie in the evening to restock the condiment cart. I started it but got called back to podium. Then Marcel rang to demand why I hadn't finished in Chippie! By this point, I'd had enough. I went out the back of chippie and just cried my eyes out. Nothing I did seem to be right today. Not once did anyone even notice the million things I did RIGHT, no, it was all about what was wrong. I seriously questionned what the hell I'm doing out here. To my horror, Ashley came out of chippie and caught me crying. Damn! I like to keep up a "tough guy" expression to other people, I fall apart when I'm on my own and no longer have to hold that mask in place. I quickly dried my eyes and got back to work.

After work, we had a "meeting". Read that as "bollicking". They called the podium team into the office and basically told us we're crap and we had complaints and its all our fault. I was ready to grab a steak knife and slit my wrists. I was so quiet in that meeting. At the end they asked for suggestions and I felt the depression lift to be replaced by a spark of anger. I told them I was fed up with no one noticing the 100 good things we do everyday. I said I was fed up with it always being negative, with no one even saying thank you. I think I got my point across.

At the end of the meeting, a server told me a guest wanted to see me in the bar. I sighed heavily, prepared myself for a complaint and went down. To my delight, it was little Lucy, back again for another photo and a hug. Smiling, laughing and talking with her helped alot but once she'd gone, I quietly got my bag, closed my locker and left.

It's our one month anniversary today for my arrival group and I'd planned a party. The "bollicking" went on for an hour so I was late home and everyone was ready to leave. I came through the door, grabbed a pillow and screamed into it. Let me tell you, it does nothing to muffle the sound. I came out of the bedroom with my "mask" on, like nothing was wrong and while everyone had heard the scream, I was so convincing, they thought it had been someone outside. I'd made a video for my group and we all watched it together. We were laughing out loud at some of it and it really helped my mood. I guess everyone has off days. It's just so strange to think little Lucy and the Lovely Family have anything in common with "Swearing Arsehole" and "Mindreader Man". They are all guests but I know which ones I prefer!

I've got tomorrow off so I plan to forget about work for a while. It was a "Jonah Day" in the words of Anne of Green Gables but as she said, "tomorrow is another day with no mistakes in it".

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....

Training, flattery and hurricane season

I've gotta be quick, I'm out the door in a few minutes and I'm not even in costume yet!

Anyway, I've completed all my podium training now and I've sat the test at the end. It wasn't difficult as your trainer is right next to you with the answers if you're unsure. I had my two days off and I went to MK (Magic Kingdom) and EPCOT. I swear, I was even more tired after my days off than I am when I'm working! It was fun though.

I now have six days of training in the Chippie. That's the fish and chipshop here at EPCOT. You have to wear the "dead jellyfish" hat which I hate with a passion but the time really flies by. I'll be learning the till today which would be great if I could talk. Unfortunately, I seem to have picked up a sore throat and blocked nose from somewhere. Still, it will pass.

A bit of advice for any Brits coming over. Don't think that because it LOOK'S like Lemsip, it does the same thing. I took something similar to Lemsip and it made me really drowsy. Luckily I was off to bed anyway but I could have taken it before work accidentally!

I had a scary moment yesterday. Marcel, one of the managers, asked to see me. I was so afriad I'd done something wrong. You can get terminated ("termed") for stuff so easily over here. I actually thought, "what if I didn't smile at a guest or something? Or what if I didn't close the ice bucket all the way?" Luckily, it wasn't for any of those reasons. Marcel has asked if I want to train as assignor which is basically the supervisor of the restuarant. I was flattered but I can't help wondering why he's chosen me. I've only been here for a couple of weeks. Marcel went on the ask if I was also interested in being a GT (General Teller). That is the person in charge of all the money taken by the UK pavillion in a day. It's a huge responsibility and I'm once again wondering why he chose me. Still, I said I'd give it a go and he's going to arrange training for me. He really shifted himself because I checked my shifts this morning and BANG! I have three days of assignor training coming up!

One last thing to tell you. Hurricane Fay is on her way out here! At the moment it's just a Tropical Storm and everyone's keeping an eye on it. It should hit land on Tuesday or Wednesday but it's no biggie. Disney is one of the safest places to be during a hurricane. In fact, the local people head for shelter at the themeparks. It looks like the Florida keys will get the brunt of it. We might possibly get some bad weather but nothing more unusual than the storms we get practically every afternoon. I'll keep you updated on it though.

Right, I've gotta run. I need to catch the bus. Till next time then!

PS. Please keep the comments coming! I like knowing people are reading this!