Wow it's been 1 month since my last post!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all!!

I'm back from the Bahamas, had an amazzzzzzzzing time...I have to say, the holiday blues aren't so bad when you are coming home to Florida.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a cruise but it was fantastic. The first night we sailed to Nassou, we got off the ship for around 11am, we got a cab straight to Atlantis (Paradise Island) - it's where all of the celebs go on hols. We had a look around the resort and then went to the beach and drank rum out of coconuts, was fab! We then headed back to Nassou where the ship was docked, Nassou in itself was a bit of a dump but still a laugh, we went to a bar called 'Senor Frogs', we had a good few cocktails before we set sail again at around 6pm. That night we sailed on to Castaway Cay, Castaway Cay is Disney's private owned Island and is absolutely gorgeous. We got off the ship for around 10/11am and headed straight to Serenity Bay, the adult only section of the Island, we set up camp and lay on sun loungers while being served Miami Vice's, the beach was amazing, gorgeous blue sea and soft sand! We had a BBQ on the beach with steak, chicken and fish, was FAB!

On the final night we went for a seven course dinner at the signature dining restaurant on the ship called Palos, the food was excellent, probably one of the best meals I've ever had. All of the food on the ship was very good, when you get to your stateroom you get a schedule of where you are dining on the ship, you take part in rotational dining so that you get the opportunity to try all of the restaurants on the ship, every night there is a 3 course meal. There is unlimited food and room service too, so we definitely did not go hungry!!

Anyway, back to reality now. I got my schedule today for Christmas and I'm working solidly now, I only have 1 day off which is next Monday. Other than that I'm working an AM shift on Christmas eve and a MID (11:30 - 22:15) on Christmas day....good times!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxx

I'M GOING TO THE BAHAMAS!!

Hi all,

Quick update, just booked a cruise to the Bahamas on the 9th - 12th December. Me, Debs and Caoimhe are going on the Disney Wonder ship, we managed to get a really nice room with a Varandah aswell. The cruise schedule is:

Day Port Ashore Onboard

Day 1 Port Canaveral, Florida 3:45 p.m.

Day 2 Nassau 9:30 a.m. 6:00 p.m.

Day 3 Castaway Cay 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m.

Day 4 Port Canaveral, Florida 7:30 a.m.

Castaway Cay is Disney's privately owned Island, VERY EXCITED!!

x x x x

Hi all,

I have posted a picture of us UK guys with the 'guy' that was put up in the UK pavilion on Guy Fawkes night.... it was really fun, Disney put on pizza and ice cream and things for the cast members as it was firework night!

I'm really enjoying service, it's so much fun. You get so much more interaction with guests it's great.

Debbie, Caiomhe and I all had Saturday off together, it was the first time in AGES!! We all went to Millenia Mall, was FANTASTIC!! I spent $600 but who cares... I was in dire need of some retail therapy!! I bought loads of stuff, treated myself to a coat from Hollister and some stuff from Abercrombie :D . We went for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, was great, I have only ever seen the Cheesecake Factory on the Big Bang Theory. The portions were MASSIVE, I only had a little bit of my entree and couldn't even fit any room in for cheesecake!

Really looking forward to Mum, Dad, Dan and Names coming out at Christmas, I can't believe it's next month, eeeeeeeek! x x x

I PASSED

Hi all!!

Just to let you all know, I AM NOW AN OFFICIAL DISNEY SERVER OF THE ROSE AND CROWN! My test went well today, I am so pleased I passed. I went into work at 9am this morning and completed another written test, this was about 1 and a half hours. I then began my AM server shift, I was sat tables up until my test table. On my test table I had one manager and 2 senior servers/trainers, along with my test table I was sat 2 other tables. They did test me, I had lots of questions and an allergy to deal with.....all was good though! I had to open a bottle of wine at the table which was interesting!

I am so tired right now I can't be bothered to write any more, seriously sleep deprived at the minute. First AM shift tomorrow on my own....WUHOOOOOOOO!

x x x

SERVICE WEEK, EEEEEEEEK!!!

WOW I have finally made it to my service week, WUHOOOO!!

I am finding service really good so far, my week started with Sunday by spieling to Chef Tony, he passed me no problem which was good - he just needed to say that I needed to sound a little more natural and less nervous. I then had a classroom session with Laura who went through all of the service information that I need to know. After my classroom session, I had my first AM shift, this involves serving the lunchtime tables - according to my trainer I did really well, and today was my first MID shift, which is an all day shift AM (lunch) and PM (dinner), again my trainer was happy with me, the only thing I really need to improve on is smiling - it's not like I'm walking around the restaurant like a grump, it's just that I'm concentrating on what needs to be done next. When you are training you are given a 4 table section, so you can be sat with all 4 tables at once, this gets difficult when tables want things all at once and we deliver the high service that they expect.... I really enjoy the buzz though when it gets busy. The only thing I am finding slightly difficult and need to start getting used to doing is spieling, it's amazing what you can sell to a table by spieling, yesterday I had a table that bought everything I recommended. I just need to become more confident and make it flow a little better.

I have tomorrow off which I am really great full for, as last week was a 54 hour week. This week is only 42 or something, but today was a 12 hour shift, I clocked in at 11:15am and didn't clock out until 11:25pm, so I am quite knackered!!! I have a classroom session on Wednesday and then I have another PM shift, apparently the trainer should really take a back seat and watch me in this shift and let me do everything on my own. Thursday is an AM shift and is my test day, I am sat in a 3 table section on my test day, and you serve as normal through lunch, and at some stage during my lunch my manager and a trainer will be seated, I will have to serve them as if they are a normal table. They won't make it easy for me though, one of them will have an allergy and they tend to do sneaky little things to check that you pick up on things (e.g. order iced tea and tear up sugar packets and scatter them over the table to see if you clean them up), it's all good things to test the server to make sure that they are picking up on what their guests are doing. I then find out if I have passed or failed, if all is good and I have passed, then I will have my first AM shift on my own on Friday. Watch this space!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry I've not really updated you on anything other than work stuff recently, but all I have been doing is working, hopefully when (if...) I get into service things will calm down a little more.

x x x

AHHHHHHHHHH TOO MANY HOURSS!!

Hi all,

Right, Dad has been bugging me for never updating my blog, so I wanted to explain why....basically since I've started food running I have been working 6 day weeks, each day is a 10 hr shift....so finding time to update is hard.

Dad and I had a lovely weekend together. On Saturday we went to EPCOT for the day, it was a lot more chilled compared to what we normally do. We went to the Rose and Crown for lunch, it was nice that Dad got to see where I worked. It was Debbie's first day in service so she was our server which was nice. We then went to Teppan Edo for dinner which is a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant which was nice. The family that were eating on the same table as us managed to spill and smash a glass of wine on the grill (resulting in all of the food being taken off the grill and the chef had to start again) and melting their credit card on the hot grill...it did add some extra entertainment to the meal!! On Sunday we went to Kennedy Space Centre for the day and then on to Cocoa beach for dinner in a nice fish restaurant, obviously there was a mandatory stop at Dairy Queen for ice cream on the way back :D

Everything else is going well. I am hopefully starting my service training soon. I know that we are short on food runners, hence why I'm working mad hours food running.

xxx

A few recent photos

Happy Mondays - Italian lads and flip cup!!

Debbie's Birthday, shout out at Via Napoli (ITALY)

Drinking around the world in EPCOT

Drinking around the world in EPCOT. Jeni, Debbie me and Iain.

Food running, culinary etc...

Hi all,

I am now in food running, yayyyyyyy!! It's really hard work, I come home so tired. Basically, the idea of food running is that you run the entrées to the servers table, and sometimes the appetizers and deserts. I have only had one days food running so far, it is a tipped position (the servers give you a cut of their tips)....so Saturday is my first day in a tipped position. Yesterday I had my service class at Disney uni, which involved getting up at 5:30 am to get the bus....the morning was really interesting as it was just teaching us about service the 'Disney way' etc.....it is VERY different to service in the UK, the expectations here are so much higher. The afternoon was slightly dull as it was just a whole afternoon about wine...we didn't even get to drink any!! Today I had my culinary day which was a lot of fun. I went into work in chef whites and spent a whole day in different sections of the kitchen. I started off in pantry, then moved to grills and ovens, then fish and then chippie and then I had a plate of food made up for me....I ate soooooooo much today it's unbelievable. I finished the evenings doing salads and desserts in pantry which was fun. Tomorrow is my bar day, which should be useful to get to know all of the different drinks and wines on the bar, it will all help me when I go into service training.

I think I have one more week of food running and then I begin my service training, then all I need to do is pass my test and I should be good to go.

I have 2 days off this week and then another 2 Monday and Tuesday next week. I think I am going to Universal one of the days and then Dad is coming to Orlando on the Friday...yayyyyy! I know I definitely have the Saturday off with him, just need to ensure I have the Sunday off aswell when I get my new schedule on Sunday.

That's all for now...x x

Drinking around the world!!!

Hi all,

It's Debbies birthday today, so we drank around the world yesterday, was soooooo much fun!! We started in Mexico with margaritas, then we went to Italy for wine, then Germany for some weird cherry liquor punch thing, then back to Mexico for some more margaritas, then France for another weird cocktail thing. We ate at the new pizzeria in Italy, it was reallllllllllly good, Clarissa my house mate was working so it was good to see her. We also went and played on Kidcot in Norway to see Hilde :P .

I'll put some pics up soon :D

x x

Last week on Podium!!

Hi all!

I go into food running on Saturday, so I'm enjoying my last week on podium! I went into work yesterday and as soon as I arrived into cast services it started peeing it down with rain... I had my rain coat from costuming, so I volunteered to stand outside and greet guests, I quite like the rain, it makes everything more interesting!!! I've had quite a few training shifts which have been fun, it's a great way to get to meet all of the newbies.

I go into food running on Sunday, I am at Disney University on Monday for service training, I have my culinary day on Tuesday which means I go into work in chef whites and spend time in every section of the kitchen and I get to eat LOADS of food (really looking forward to my culinary day - no surprise there), Wednesday I have my bar day - so a day behind the bar pulling pints and then Thursday and Friday off and then I have 1 more week in food running - which will be tipped $$$$ . Once I have completed my food running I will go into my service training.

Otherwise everything is good, we had lasses (happy mondays) in my apartment on Monday, Hilde (my Norwegian housemates) joined UK lasses, so she was an honorary UK lass for the evening - I am trying to persuade her to drop Flicka (that's the name for the Norwegian girls happy Mondays) and come to lasses!!!

TTFN x x x

Islands of Adventure - HARRY POTTER

Hi all,

First of all, I just want to let you all know that I have been having problems with my blog, for some reason it always crashes when I try and publish a post, so I haven't been updating because I have been unable too....hopefully this will work fine!

I went to Harry Potter land at Universals Islands of Adventure on Monday, I went with some of the girlies from work. I bought my years pass also, so now I can get unlimited access ... wuhoo!! Harry Potter was excellent, it's great anyway, but as I am a massive Harry Potter fan it was even better. The ride is unbelievable, I won't say what it's like just in case I ruin it for someone, but it really is amazing, not at all what you expect! The actual Harry Potter land is based around Diagon Alley in the book, you can go into Honey Dukes sweet shop...they had chocolate frogs and everything! I also had a butter beer which was a bit of a disappointment, it comes with a butterscotch topping, which when mixed with the fizzy drink kind of looks a little like a dirty pint!! Had a really good day though, was really tiring as we park hopped and went over to Universal Studios aswell....we then came home and went to Lasses (Happy Mondays) in the evening, where we met the Mexican lads, was good fun!!

Here are some pictures from Harry Potter and Happy Mondays with the Mexican lads.

- Girlies at Happy Mondays (Fancy dress - Characters).

- Getting ready to drink against the Mexican lads.

- Entrance to Harry Potter.

- Me with Voldermorts wand....

K x x

I PASSED MY PRE SERVICE TEST!

Hi all,

I passed my service test, yayyyyy, I got 97% which I am so pleased about. I wasn't sure if I would have passed or not. You have to know the whole menu to be able to pass, and the main ingredients to all of the dishes. The salads in the appetisers and the pies in the entrées always confused me because there was so many ingredients to remember, I had to name all of the ingredients for the mixed greens and also the vegetarian Shepherds Pie, I went completely mind blank when I had to name the pie ingredients....but obviously didn't do that bad. I will hopefully get a date for food running within the next couple of days and then I food run for 1/2 weeks and then I go into begin my service training and then I serve my managers!

My shifts at work are a little rubbish this week, I have quite a few late shifts, but I think that may be because a lot of the podium / chippie staff have moved into service. There was a new arrival group last week, so I have quite a few training shifts coming up which I enjoy!

I didn't do much on my days off this week as I was revising for my pre-service...I go to Miami in a couple of weeks though, we are only going for 1 night, the 30th Sept - 1st Oct.

TTFN x x

Hi all,

First of all, I am so sorry I haven't updated in a while, sooooo much has been going on and I just haven't had the time. Last week I worked loads and loads of hours and it was a little strange as Gemma went home :( ...

It was my birthday last Monday, we went out to House of Blues on the Sunday night. Hilde, Morgan and I went to Animal Kingdom on the Monday and then Morgan, Becky and I went on to Magic Kingdom for Wishes. I got my first magical moment on Splash Mountain (my fave ride...in case I haven't mentioned that before), I came off the ride and all the cast members were at the bottom singing Happy Birthday and they gave me the free ride pic.

I am being made an official Disney trainer :D ... we had a meeting about it last week, we have to have an interview with our boss and another training boss and then we can organise the training class. I have already had a few training shifts, I trained 2 new starters on chippie tills yesterday and we were only 1 cent out when we banked out at the end of the day ... wup!

I have 2 days off at the end of this week...really looking forward to chilling by the pool. I think we may be going to see Fantasmic on Thursday night. I haven't been to the pool in 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!

I promise I'll update again really really soon!

xxxxxx

A bit of Disney Magic …

Just wanted to drop a quick blog post to say that yesterday I had a really good day and realised why I love this job!!!!!!!

I was in the chippie and met a family from Bristol, we were chatting away for a bit and then they went and carried on with their day. Later on in the evening I was seating guests in the Rose and Crown and I sat the same family that I was speaking to in the chippie earlier from Bristol, we got chatting a bit more about my year and things and then I left them to eat their meal. I ended up having my shift extended yesterday so instead of finishing at 8:30pm, I finished at 9pm. At around 8:45pm I went back to the podium after clearing some tables and the little girl from the family from Bristol was sat behind the podium as good as gold, apparently she was cold inside and came out to warm up. I sat down with her and had a chat, she was so sweet, she was telling me about her trip to the bibbidi bobbidi boutique (you get transformed into a princess), we were chatting for about 15 minutes, she was even asking me about what I wanted to do when I got home from Disney, she was only about 9 years old…really nice young girl! After a while her family came out and thanked me and wished me all the best for my year. It just shows that the really little things can really make your day and realise that what you’re doing is really worthwhile…cheese on toast I know, but that little girl really made my day :D

Gobble Gobble Gobble!!

Just had my 2 days off, as usual, they have flown by!!! On Thursday we went to Florida Mall, I did some serious retail therapy, I bought an ipod touch :D . Thursday evening we went to a late showing of "The Switch" at the cinema which was good.

Yesterday Gemma, Caoimhe, Vicky and I all went to Hollywood Studios. There was this rumour floating around that if you go up to the turkey leg stand in Hollywood Studios and you dance around like a turkey and go "gobble, gobble, gobble" then you get a free turkey leg. Vicky and I decided to give it a go and its true, I have put the picture up of me tucking into my free turkey leg!!

Yesterday evening we went out for a meal for my birthday (we managed to get a group picture), we went to the Olive Garden which is an Italian restaurant at the cross roads. The portion sizes are so big that they let you share main courses, they are also so cheap, that there is no point in sharing... As it was my birthday they got me a cake :D . There was a new arrival group the other week, so we went to their throw in / meet and greet and then stayed for a few drinks after which was fun. I then came home and rang Mum super early in the morning UK time to wish her "HAPPY BIRTHDAY", I also managed to say Happy Birthday in Italian as Clarissa was still up to translate for me.

Off to work today and tomorrow, I'm starting to learn the info for my pre-service test, so probs going to get stuck into that this week so that I can take my test a week on Monday and then start my spiel...I want to get into service asap!!!

Off to work at 2:30pm, so really should start getting ready as I'm still in my pj's.

x x x

Finally, some home cooking :D

Hi all,

Nearly time for 2 days off, yay!! I'm really tired at the minute actually, even though I had 2 days off not long ago, that was spent with Chloe and Ros, and we had loads of really early starts to get the most out of the parks, so I'm hanging. Thursday and Friday off though which is really good, we think we are going to Florida Mall tomorrow and then a water park on Friday.

Last night the girls and I all went to Down Town Disney for food. We went to a restaurant called Raglan Road, it's an Irish restaurant where there are Irish dancers and singers while you eat, it's such a good atmosphere. I had Colcannon soup to start and then 'bangers and booze', which was guinness sausages and mash with beef stew on top, was so good to have something other than burgers and fries.

Work is going well, I was on a 10 hour chippie till shift on Monday and was only 2 cents up at the end of the day which is good. I did have a staggered till shift though, so I wasn't on tills for the whole of the day which is good, I was only on from about 2pm until 9pm. I'm going to start revising for my service test on my days off, fun times!!!!!!

x x x

Chloe and Ros's visit

Hi all,

Had a really nice couple of days with Chloe and Ros. I managed to get out of work early on Thursday, I met up with the girls and we went to the Ale House on I.Drive for a couple of drinks which was nice. Friday morning was a really early start, we went to Magic Kingdom first thing, we were there from 9am - 10pm, we got everything done including 2 parades and we also saw 'Wishes', the firework display at MK...I lovvvve wishes! Yesterday was another early start, we went to Hollywood Studios to do the big main rides and then we went on to Epcot. Epcot was nice and chilled, we did a few rides in future world and then went on to the world showcase, where we got some food (funnily enough we ended up getting fish and chips), we also went and got a funnel cake. I had never had one, and they came highly recommended by my friend Gemma, it was fantastic, it's basically pancake batter drizzles in oil with chocolate sauce and sugar on MMMMMMMMM! We had one each, but could have quite happily shared one between all 3 of us. We then stayed in Epcot to see 'Illuminations', which is the firework display in Epcot, really enjoyed seeing that whilst I wasn't working, it had been raining ALL day, so a lot of people had given up and gone home, so it wasn't as busy and didn't have to battle for a space to watch the fireworks. I then walked the girls out of the gate and made my way home, it was a really quick 2 days off, but I really enjoyed myself :D .

They have gone to Islands of Adventure today in Universal to see Harry Potter land. They are then off to Portland tomorrow to go on a tour of where Twighlight was filmed.

I'm working now until Thursday and then 2 days off :D . I think I need to chill those 2 days, I'm realllly tired, as these 2 days have been non - stop!

TTFN x

Another day of Disney magic!

Today was busy at work, I was on chippie close which is always a shift that goes quickly, the only problem is that you never get out on time, today I was supposed to finish at 9:30pm and I actually got out at 10:15pm. A guest actually asked me yesterday how I managed to work in the chippie and look so good (aka not sweating loads), I told him that it was Disney magic :D .... which it is, in the form of air conditioning!!

I'm working extra magic hours tomorrow, finishing at 10pm. Extra magic hours is when the park stays open until midnight and hotel and resort guests can go on the rides and stuff, it's good because it's quieter and cooler. I am hoping possibly to get an ER (early release) to get over and see Chloe and Ros as they arrive tomorrow, but it all depends on whether there is enough cover to close.

I went to Wal Mart tonight with Morgan (also works in the UK), it seemed like I bought the whole shop, was a struggle carrying it all back. This is when it is a problem living in block 28, it is the end of the earth and take 15 mins walking back from the bus.

I can't believe how quickly the last month has gone, I am really surprised how soon it is until my birthday. I am hoping to swap the day so that I can have the actual day of my birthday off. Hilde also has Mondays off so we can do something together, we haven't had a day off together in ages......with the new schedule bid my regular days off are Thursday and Friday, whereas Hilde's are Monday and Tues. It is pretty easy to switch shifts around though when you want to do things together some weeks. My schedule is also getting better with earlier finishes as there are several new arrival groups coming, so they are now getting all of the late shifts. I like earlier shifts, you can actually do something with your evenings!!!!

Right I am off to bed as it's 2:30am. Night world!! x x x

Debbie and I in our gorgy bonnets!!

Here is a pic that Hilde took when she came to the chippie one night on her day off....as you can see both me and Debbie look lovely in our bonnets!!

Hilde's Blog

Hi all,

Here is a link to my roomie Hilde's blog, check it out!!! It is in Norwegian, but I know if you use Google Chrome you can translate the page pretty easily.

http://disneyhilde.wordpress.com/

x x