Short and sweet

Hiya

It hasn't been a very productive week to tell you the truth. I was deployed last week which meant that I was at a new workplace just for the week. It was interesting. All of my shifts were morning shifts so that sucked for a start - I hate the mornings haha. The first day was at a small store just outside Epcot - not much foot traffic so it was a pretty quiet couple of days. Then I was working at strollers which was better. It was just giving people strollers or wheelchairs when they entered the park.

It was a cool location though, where I was based at strollers, I was able to see Stitch and Daisy Duck - they were awesome to watch - talk about staying in character :) it was great!!!

I was able to download Skype - took me long enough. I told my parents to download it as well. We set up a time and Skyped. We ended up talking for over an hour - I email them everyday but it was great to see their faces and to see my dog and cats :)

Gonna keep this post short and sweet. Til next time....

xx

2 week update

Wow, it has been a while since I updated this. Im not going to tell you about work, coz there is not much to tell haha. On my last days off, I went to the parks with some friends. We went to Hollywood Studios first, then Epcot. At studios, we wanted to do some of the things that we didn't do last time. When we arrived, they had a block party - which was pretty much a parade through the park, it was called a block party coz there were toys and characters from Toy Story in it. It was fun though :) After that, we headed to the Indiana Jones show. That was great, it was like a stunt show and it was as if they were shooting scenes for a movie. They even picked some people from the audience to be extras. It was full of actions and explosions, very cool. After that, we headed down to the Star Wars section. There, they had Jedi training but you had to be 12yrs or younger, my friend Tim was disappointed hahaha!!! Anyway, they have a ride there called "star tours" and it is pretty much a simulator ride that takes you through wherever Star Wars is set (Im not really a star wars fan). It was fun though, I really like the simulator rides. After that, we headed back to Rock n' Roller. I didn't really want to do it again, so I sat and waited for Emily and Tim to come back. Whilst waiting for them, I was watching the Tower of Terror ride...I think next time I go to Studios, Im going to do that. Before we left Studios for the day, we had one more stop - the American Idol experience. It's like A.I, and the winner gets a 'golden ticket' which lets them go to the front of the line for the real auditions. It was pretty cool...it was like being there. The judges were similar, the woman was the nice one, the english guy was the mean one and the other one was like Randy Jackson haha!!!

We then headed to Epcot for dinner. The world showcase is at Epcot, so we had a choice of 11 countries to eat at. It was difficult though coz 1 person wanted to eat at France, 1 person wanted Morroco.....we made a decision: 2 of us went to China and the other 2 went to Japan!! At 9pm was Illuminations - the fireworks show. I had seen them as part of my training but had never seen them as a guest. They were amazing!! My friends loved them too....it was great.

Back to work for a few days then had Tuesday and Wednesday off. On Tuesday, a friend of mine left the program :( so I said good bye to him in the morning, then went out with the girls that night. We went and saw a chick flick....it was so funny.

On the Wednesday, after 7 weeks, I finally made it to Animal Kingdom. What a cool place that is!! I went with my friend Stacey, we started off with the safari and were able to see some animals up close. I saw a live elephant and a hippo for the first time ever!! Id only ever seen them on tv haha. Saw tigers, rhinos, cheetahs, ostriches, and heaps of others. After the safari, we went to get something to eat before going on a ride. We went on a dinosaur ride. It is supposed to transport you back in time to go and get some lizard/dragon thing. It is pitch black inside and dinosaurs are coming out left right and centre, it was so much fun though, I really enjoyed it. Scary, yes, but fun :) After the ride, Stacey and I headed back to see the Nemo show coz I have a friend that works there, but we got there too late and it was full so we went to see the Lion King show instead. That was amazing!! The Lion King is my fave movie anyway but the show was amazing. When that finished, we didn't have time to go back to Nemo, we went to Rafikis planet watch instead, and I pat a snake!!!! Scary!!!! I hate snakes!!!

We then came home and I had a lazy evening haha.....got out a dvd and a book then went to bed pretty much. Walking around a park all day tires you out.

Till next time.....x

Princess lunch and Pin

Ok so I think at the end of the last post I said that I was heading to lunch with the princesses for my friends birthday. It was so much fun. It was at the Norway pavillion at Epcot. We arrived about 15 minutes early so were able to ride the Maelstrom ride inside the pavillion. One of only a few rides in the entire world showcase. After that, we went back to our reservation. There were about 10 of us all together. We were greeted by Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She was doing the greetings at the front door because she couldnt manoevre through the tables coz of the size of her dress.

We sat down at the table and ordered drinks then got some salad and stuff from the buffet. When our meals arrived, the princesses started coming out one by one. First was Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), then Cinderella, then Snow White and finally Ariel. It was cool. They each came up to the table and birthday boy (Danual) had a photo with each f them. They were really cool - they stayed in character - Ariel was amazed that we swam so far to get here ;) I told her we ran into a few sharks on the way but it was no big deal. LoL.

After the lunch was over, we went for a walk around the show case - past all the countries - then headed to the Seas to see finding Nemo. It was a ride perfect for children that went through the Australian current and followed Marlin in his search for Nemo. Then we headed to Turtle Talk with Crush - which was entertaining.

Then we headed home and about 30mins later went to the outlet mall. The outlet mall was amazing - they have everything there - Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klien, Nike, Adidas, Hilfeger etc. All I spent was $15 on a t-shirt - I was quite proud of myself really.

After a long day with the princesses and shopping, we then headed home and I went to bed coz I had to get up for work at 5.30 the next morning.

I was working at a pin convention for 2 days. At Disney, there are little pins that guests can collect. As a cast member, I get a lanyard with 12 pins on it and guests can trade with me. At the convention, it was completely different. I wasnt allowed to wear my lanyard coz the pins that I had people were not interested in. These people are hard core collectors. I met one lady who had about 11,000 pins. People came with suitcases full of them. I was working at the pin board. The guest gets one minute to look at the board and trade 2 pins. The lines were about 40 people long the entire day. I saw the same guests in my line about 4-5 times. It was crazy but it was fun. It made the day go really quickly.

Well, thats all for now. Heading to Epcot tomorrow so I will keep you updated on that. Maybe going to Animal Kingdom sometime this week too. VEry exciting.

x

Epcot as a guest

Ok, so last week I told you that I was heading to Epcot as a guest and I did. It was fun. It went with my room mate Fran, and friends Kevin and Danual :) We got there about 10am and straight away got a fast pass for test track (one ride Ive been wanting to do for ages). We had to come back for that between 1-2pm. Se then we went and queued for Mission Space. That was awesome. It is a simulator that actually feels like you are being launched and flying through space. There were 4 of us and we each had a different task. I was navigator, Fran was commander, Kevin was engineer and Danual was the pilot. Like I said, we each had a different task to do, all that involved was pushing a button when we were told to haha. The journey only lasted a few minutes. Then we arrived on Mars....mission accomplished.

After Mission Space we headed to a place called Innoventions. In my opinion, it was more for kids...the activities that they had were kind of educational, but it was fun. We learnt how to ride a segway. It was quite hard at first...I got on and started rolling backwards which isnt what you are supposed to do....it's all about the balance.

We then met up with Kevin and Frans work mate Kelly, she joined us just in time for test track.

We then went back to Test Track coz we had our fast pass. So you walk through a testing lab pretty much. What it is, they are creating a new car and we are the testers. So we go through a series of test before actually driving it. Brake tests, bumps in the road, handling and finally a crash test. Then hit the track. I was a bit disappointed at the end, I was kind of expecting it to go faster, I think the top speed was about 65 miles which I think is just over 100km.

Test Track was all over then we headed to Norway to eat. Getting fruit and a soda....not really very norweigien!! Then Kevin drove me home coz we both had work later on.....so my day involved going to Epcot, going home to get ready, then going to Epcot.

Till next time x

Last week

Wow, havent been on this in a while, Im sorry.

So, what has happened over the last week or two?? Heaps to be honest. I have met a few people who have been here for 6 months already. They have told me all about their adventures and experiences since January - interesting :)

Just been working quite a bit to tell you the truth. I work in merchandise at a store called Mouse Gear in Disneys Epcot. I worked there for 2 weeks before being deployed. Being deployed means that you move jobs for a short time. You are still working in merch but at a different store. It could be at the same park or anywhere across Disney property. Luckily, I was deployed to a store still at Epcot. That meant a new costume for a week - goody :) I went to get the costume which consists of a bright red shirt with all the countries of the world on it with white pants. I had to make a trip to wal mart to buy some shoes for the week $12 what a bargain. The new store was called towers and it was at the entrance to the world showcase at Epcot. It was right on the water and come 9pm everynight - a perfect view of the fireworks. I like working there for the week. Part of this store, were kiosks outside. They were under cover and had fans but were still outside. I workd in the kiosk for a few hours for 2 days. One of those days, we had to close. There was a storm coming with thunder and lightning. It was funny coz I had guests coming up to me and coz the kiosk was closing, they all assumed the park was too. The storm passed and we were able to open the kiosk again, fun times. Overall, I enjoyed my deployment. But, as they say, all good things come to an end. Back to Mousegear I go.

Yesterday I headed back to mouse gear and was on stock for the night. That was interesting. I had never done it before. I was just checking the stock on the floor and then going down to the stock room and topping it up. Back at Mouse gear tonight.

Im at Epcot everyday but havent actually been there as a guest yet, so heading to Epcot as a guest on Wednesday before work so I will keep you updated on that.

x

the past week

Oh my goodness!! I have been so slack with this thing over the last few days.....sorry!!!! The truth is,  I am having too much fun =)

So, after our training session last week, we kinda all went our separate ways and got familiarised with our work places. For my position (in merchandise) I had 4 days of training including 1 day of on the job training - fun. Then at the end of that I had an assessment to make me a fully qualified sales person LoL. My store is huge as. The stock room alone os 3 floors (so not what I am used to). Got a tour of that - it is prob going to take me 6 months to get used to the stock haha. Then had register training then was left on my own for a bit which was great. I think that the currency is going to take a while to get used to. 

Thrusday (29th) was a day that was all me :) my first shift alone. Training done. It was pretty scary but the people that I was working with were all very cool. There are about 200 people that work in that store alone!! It's huge!!! 

Phoned home today too. It's dads birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! Spoke to mum and dad a bit. They said it was cold back home!! Times like those, Im glad Im here :) 

Friday (today) was fun. I had the day off - yay - so I went to Walmart. I bought a phone last week and it is playing up!! I can receive phone calls but not text messages :( so I took it back and they said that they would replace it but I didn't want one exactly the same so I got another one. Taking a while to set up though. Heading off to the movies now. Talk later xx

21 July

We had what they call "traditions" today. We got up at about 6am (too early for me) To go the Disney university. Some of the sights along the way were amazing!! When we got the university, we were separated into 2 groups (yellow and pink). When we got upstairs we got the all important access pass which allows us to get into the parks (for free) and get into work! After about an hour we went on a small tour of the Magic Kingdom - for those of you who dont know, that was one of the original parks and is the home of Cinderellas castle :D

After a very small tour we went back to our class. There was a knock at the door - I thought a person had been locked out of the room - but when she opened it, it was MICKEY MOUSE!!! He had come to deliver our nametags. It was so cool :) So after finishing our Traditions class and about 4 blisters later (new shoes) we came back to the apartment and got changed. For traditions we had to wear "formal attire". 

Later in the afternoon, we went back to the Magic Kingdom to have a proper look and wow - what a place!!!!!!!!! It is amazing. So big - it is really easy to get lost haha. My room mates decided they would go on "Splash Mountain" I just stayed and watched. Standing still in this heat is not a good idea by the way! Anyway, when the others got off the ride, we went down to the Pirates of the Caribean ride - that was fun :) the lines for some of the rides are so long - like 30-60min wait). After walking round for a bit, we were all starting to get really hot and tired so we checked out "tomorrowland" and saw an extremely funny Monsters Inc show - we all laughed our heads off!!!!!!! Once again, the lines for the roller coasters and stuff were like 45 minute waits so we decided to make our way thru thousands of people back to the monorail to get back to the bus terminal. It is quite cool - the bus dropped us off at the terminal and we could either catch the ferry or the monorail over to the park - awesome!! After getting back to the bus terminal we caught the bus which seemed to take a very long time - I think the driver took the LOOOONG way home. 

I think we are all going to have early nights tonight - I have training at 8 tomorrow so that means getting up at 6ish :(

till next time xx