Kerry Quotes

Kerry Elstob. Over the year, this girl has been there for me, made me laugh, wound me up, made me want to hit her, hardly ever let me hug her (she doesn't do hugs) first half of the year she was a good girl and a keeno then dropped a bomb on me telling me she doesn't really like Disney that much, would never wear a Disney tee shirt  in public and was a really naughty kid at school! And from then on, she was a complete menace at work, never at her register, always winding us and the coordinators up, poking us in the arm constantly and laughing her nervous laugh whenever there was an awkward silence or she for once said something serious.  Many times I have said to her "why am I friends with you?!?!" after all this came out, but besides all this, she is famous amongst us for her random one liners. When I remembered too I wrote them down, and now is the time to share them all with you!

While looking at my birthday cards in my apartment, she says with her puzzled face:

"Don't those cards collect dust at all?"

When I discussed with her how much I've changed and grown out here and will never forget these memories we've made over the year, it's such a great opportunity we have working for Disney, she responds with

" Yea, I defiantly don't watch as much tv here as I did at home"

"Today, I figured it out, I'm actually really clumsy"

"Don't you think mushrooms are like aliens?"

When we were sat one day on the C bus to work, she starts looking around it before sitting down and says:

"This is like a normal bus back at home isn't it?"

At Animal Kingdom Lodge looking at the wildlife:

"Why don't they let us just walk with zebra like I did when I lived in Africa?"

"I don't regret buying it"

With Anna one day at work, yes she didn't have her glasses on but:

Kerry "is that a squirrel or a rabbit?"

Anna "that's two ducks Kerry"

"I think all fat kids grow into tall skinny things"

"I wish wands were real"

"That mint has really opened up my nose"

"It's quite hard to make a sand castle"

"So, is a orange scone really orangey?"

Asking her what is in her sandwiches at work one day:

Kerry "Ham and chocolate spread"

Me "why?!"

Kerry "because I ran out of butter"

"American adventure = death"

"This is why Chinese people are so short, because the trees a small"

"Why are bras so difficult?"

"Do you have to train your mouth to like new foods?"

Asking after her cactus, she named Bertie, we got for free from Epcot, didn't need anything but sunlight:

"Bertie is defiantly dead. Actually withered"

"If I was fat I'd defiantly have a big bum"

"It's so boring, brushing your teeth"

One Sunday night Kerry got VERY drunk and we had to take her home on the F bus from DTD. We had to asked a Norwegian guy for his plastic bag he was using to carry his shopping in, so she could throw up into it. The bag unfortunately had holes in it. So after throwing up into it, putting it on the ground and then the contents flowing down the bus and next to her shoes she screams "eeewww what's that?!?!" That's your sick Kerry!! This all happening while strangers are taking photos of her and putting it on their Facebook  and instagrams!! Haha!

And there are many many more! I wish I could continue seeing her everyday to add to this collection, but that's what the reunion in Cyprus is for!! See y'all real soon Elstob!

1 car, 5 Merchie Girls, 7 states, 5 days. 2000 miles! Road trip Joy, June 2013

We talked about it all year. Something me Kerry and Anna have always wanted to do, and the time finally came at the end of their programs to hire a car and just drive around America. See how far we get. Anna, the walking map, did all the planning and worked out we could hit 7 states in 5 days, 2000 miles! So this is where our adventure took us.... 

Friday 14th June 2013

Anna & Kerry moved all their stuff to my apartment at 9am after packing up their lives all night.  I carried their suitcases up the stairs in exchange for their wifi boxes as mine is dying.  Handed back their keys and ID to the clubhouse at The Commons, checked their mail boxes one last time and said goodbye to living experience of their program that was in The Commons.

We then met Claire and krysia and went to get the car, it was a massive silver SUV! Drove to panera bread for food and ran into the gorgeous Jereme on his way to his road trip to Miami, Bon voyage and goodbye beautiful French merchie! He arrived and finished his program on the same dates as Kerry and Anna. 

Drove to Walmart for bananas, crackers and nail varnish, the essentials for any good road trip!

100 miles down the road we have past several cows, horses and bill boards aimed at Anna, "pregnant and alone? Call us for your options".

Haha! only joking! The tomtom just told us we need to just drive straight for 300miles, on our way to Alabama!!

We reached the Georgia state line, a very exciting time and the furthest north I have ever been in America! There was a rest stop straight away so we went for a look and it was adorable with an information desk and picnic tables and leaflets for a Gone with the Wind museum! My favourite film of all time! It was 15 miles from Atlanta so we were too far away to get there in time before it closed.  We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner which was yummy. Then we just kept driving and ended up crossing into Alabama, again stopped at the rest area for photos and a drink and then drove to find a Quality Inn to stay the night. We tried several other places first in Irondale near Birmingham, Alabama but the Quality Inn was the right price, free wifi and free hot breakfast!

Saturday 15th June 2013

The free breakfast was amazing and of course as merchies we took apples, muffins and Philadelphia for the road! After getting gas we were on our way to Graceland! I drove us just past the Mississipi state line to the rest area, and now Anna is driving us to Graceland as we listen to Elivs songs in the car to get us ready for the King himself! 

Graceland was awesome! We went for a tour around Elvis' home, planes, car collection, gift shops galore!

Drove to Nashville to find somewhere to stay for the night. It ended up being a super 8, not so super! The room was dirty, broken, scary, the five of us didn't enjoy the the experience at all. When we asked for more pillows and towels. They arrived at 1am with a loud bang on the door from the scary man on reception. We stopped telling scary ghost stories after that because Kerry said she couldn't sleep if we continued! 

Sunday 16th June 2013

Happy to get up and out of the Demon hotel, we drove  into Nashville city centre and explored the country/cowboy land. It was brilliant. Everyone had cowboy boots on. The zebra crossing played country music when you walked across the road.  We went to a "cowboy tequila" bar for lunch which had live music and singers inside who were hilarious. One even got me up on stage because I was from England and took the mick out of his accent but only because he had done it to me two minutes earlier. And he liked me for it! After meeting a dog called Chloe in the store next door, It was time to move on and drive to South Carolina via North Carolina and thankfully we found a Quality Inn for the night. Phew!

Monday 17th June 2013

We drove to Charleston in the morning to go explore, shop and hunt down "The Notebook" film sets! We found the cinema and the corner where they lay down on the street and watch the traffic lights turn from green to red in the film. I love the South Carolina accent. Southern accents are my favourite since moving to America and I try and do then to those southern folk who will listen to it, normally with an impressed response, thank goodness! We saw lots of shops, had lunch and a snack before getting back on the road to head back for Florida. We aimed to get to Jacksonville and stay there for the night before driving back to Orlando in the morning so me and Claire could go to work for 1pm. And another quality inn was found to have a magical nights sleep in!

The whole roadtrip was amazing. I love Orlando. But it felt so good to get out and away for a few days. It was a lovely long weekend/mini vacation that we all needed. I loved driving in America. We had so many laughs together. Each night was like a sleep over. Loads of photos from all the places we saw and it's sad to think that that was the countdown for me to the end of my program. Now that my best friends Anna and Kerry have finished, that meant only two weeks until my last day at work, very sad times! But a fantastic way to spend time with each other and I recommend anyone on a Disney program out here to do a Road trip and explore America!  

Starlit Splash, Typhoon Lagoon, May 2013

Hello there!! remember that time i used to update my blog regularly?? Well i apologise for the lack of updates in my last few months. I have just come across this update I wrote on my phone two months ago in May! So I thought to start with, this update would be useful for people wanting to join the program or just anyone who's interested about a great night we had back in May...

 I would like to tell you all about last night which was the Starlit Splash event held in Typhoon Lagoon for cast members on college programs and CRP like me. It was AMAZING! Basically typhoon lagoon was open to just us from 7pm-12am last night and they had free stuff, food, drink, music, dancing, DJ, pirates everywhere, Jack Sparrow, fireworks, we could go on the slides, in the wave pool and it was just so much fun. There were so many of the UK pavilion out it was good, and we met the newest newbies. People kept arriving after they finished work but there was a big group of us who were there for the full five hours. We were in the big wave pool for so long. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard or had so much fun. Being in a water park was so good at nighttime and something ill never be able to do again. I remember reading blogs about it last year and didn't know if they'd do it again. So if they do it next year too I recommend to everyone staying in Disney housing to go! It was raining for most of the night, but that didn't stop us! And by the end if the night it had stopped. It was a night I'll never forget and I can't wait to see the photos soon from it!!

A more up to date blog entry to follow shortly...

Happy Eggsmas!

Happy Easter everyone! I have one cadburys creme egg to get me through the day! And in the UK pavilion today there are Easter egg hunts and egg and spoon races for children to take part in, which are very funny with the running commentary that comes with it, you can also meet mr and mrs Easter bunny here too!! I did on Friday on my day off. They are so cute and fluffy! 

I checked my mail box this morning but still no Easter parcel from home, so at least I've got something to look forward too. I'd laugh if it comes after mum and Alice come in 16 days! But hopefully they are filling the empty suitcase they are bringing me, with a few chocolate treats for my tummy! I have just about run out of the stash Becky and George brought a month ago. 

...it's now Monday, and last night after a 9 hour shift, 7 little merchies went to magic kingdom until 1am! It was awesome! We went on all three mountains, several boat rides and helped buzz light year save the galaxy!! All in three hours. It was brilliant. After working all day we still had the energy to play because you do when you work for Disney! I am still loving every minute of my 12 month program, can not believe I only have 3 months left to go before I travel a little bit and then end up going back home. I think it will be like I never left! Can't wait to see all my family and friends for the biggest of catch ups and I will do my best to bring the sunshine back with me!

It's moments like these I remember why I love working for Disney!

A guest came to make an exchange this evening, it was just before the fireworks were about to start at 9pm and it was extra magic hours. So the store was open until 11pm, I had been in since 1pm. The mum and daughter were exchanging a top they had brought a few weeks ago for a different size, but the mum couldn't find the receipt. She said "oh we will come back another time with it, we only live two hours away" I told them I could make the exchange without the receipt if they were ok with waiting shortly for a manager to come and approve it. Which was fine with them. So we got talking, they were really funny, I was talking to her daughter about One Direction and they asked me how I got the job etc. I served other guests while they waited patiently, but continued our conversation, including other guests into out conversation as I carried out their transactions. When Tom, my manager finally came to help out with the exchange, the mum immediately started to tell him what a great cast member I had been.  She told him she is in the hospitality business, she did a disney internship years ago and knows what disney cast members are expected to be like, but i was a truly magical fairy tinkerbell like cast member full of pixie dust and exceeded their expectations. She said i had been so lovely and helpful not just to them but to all the guest she had seen me engage with that night. She mentioned she would hire me in a second if she could so I could stay in America because I had told her in our conversation how much I would love to stay. She is an annual pass holder for the last three years and believes it is money well spent, she loves the parks, rides, merchandise, but they don't make the trip worth while, it's cast members like me that keep her coming back time and time again. She called me amazing and that i was the true essence of Disney. The fact that I was still smiling and making them laugh at 9pm was amazing she thought, if there was a survey person outside they would happily tell them how great I had just been that evening for them. As they left the daughter gave me a hug and then the mum did also. It meant so much, that without even trying or thinking how can i be extra magical? i was just myself talking away to them, I had made an impact and given them great customer service when all I thought I was doing was having a chat with these two guests. I hope I see them again and get their names, and I photo. Wish I had asked my manager to take one now. He did then say "if that doesn't make it into the recap tonight u don't know what will" very proud cast member this evening. I am working in the right place!

Twinings Tea Tours & becoming a Disney Trainer

Hello Disney joy fans!! It's been a while! I am, as always sat on the C bus on the way to work. It is my Monday (Sunday but its my first day back to work after my weekend so it's Monday in my head) and I had a lovely two days off sunbathing an doing around epcot's flower and garden festival and Hollywood studios for a couple of animation classes and fantasmic!! Standard weekend in Orlando!

Time is moving on very quickly, I only have 3.5 months left of my program. Where has the time gone?? The last month has new busy as I have been training for the flower and gardens Twinings Tea Tours. During the festival, 10 UK merchandise cast members give a tour around the tea gardens at work and I was lucky enough to be chosen after putting my name forward to do it. We got training and a script to learn for a month and now once or twice a week I give up to 20 guests a personal tour around the pretty gardens behind the Tea Caddy store in the UK pavilion. I was very nervous on my audition and first tour but last Thursday I did two in one afternoon and think I have got the hang if it now. Guests are very kind telling me they enjoyed it and I was very funny and informative, one guest told my manager "she's just so adorable and previous, I just want to have a cup if tea with her and let her talk" so that's always nice to hear. 

I also put my name forward to become a trainer at work too and had an interview and training and an assessment and now I am a trainer too! So when we get a new cast member in, I get to train them in the merchandise role and tell them all about Disney joy! Hope I don't scare them...I'm sure everyone is like me when they first turn up, right??

I had Bekkie and George visit me a few weeks ago from home which was magical, felt like I'd seen them the day before even though its been 8 months since we last saw each other. They defiantly found the Disney joy...and drank their way around the world in epcot, I'd expect nothing less from those two! I also have my little sister and mum coming out to visit me in about three weeks, very exciting, I can't wait, for them to bring me cadburys Easter eggs!! Haha, and to see them of course. Dad isn't coming out, he's staying at home with the dog, but Alice is very excited to see Disney again as she hasn't been back since she finished her college program nearly two years ago and of course the new fantasy land wasn't there back then so it will be great to show them around.

A few very close friends have left recently, they have come to the end of their program and completed their 12 month contract respectfully, it gets harder and harder to say goodbye everything someone goes home because I am closer to them as I have known them longer. I have started a leaving book, even though these people leave before me, I asked them to write in my book so I have a good collection of nice words to read when I go home in the summer and cry my eyes out because I am not in Disney anymore. But it will be great to see all my friends and family back home again, I do get flashes of homesickness more than often now. I miss my house and being home. But I know that and everyone will be waiting for me when I get home for a big reunion! 

This week we also have eggciting news for the UK pavilion in Epcot, we have an Easter egg hunt, relay race for kids and mr and mrs Easter bunny are coming for a visit everyday for a week! It's part if this years limited magic experiences. Every week and new and limited time only event happens within Disney world. Last week it was and Easter egg hunt around the world showcase which was big fun, this week it's our visitors and entertainment Easter joy in the UK, as well as an Easter parade in magic kingdom. So we are all taking spare clothes to work to change into at lunchtime and go have our photo taken with the Easter bunnies! My mum has sent me an Easter package from home, I hope it arrives soon, I need cadburys chocolate, my stash is running low at home!! I have no idea when Easter is because I have no sense of time in this Disney bubble, I still think it's last summer when I first got here. The weather is so gorgeous at the moment (apart from the little tornado warning we got yesterday afternoon but we were all ok) 70mph winds and rain come and go, but the blue sky and sunshine joy last and is very frequent in my beloved Orlando!

February in Disney World

So, I have found my new love, it is to practice line dancing at home before going to cowboys on a Saturday night! I love it, I'm now listening to Country radio in my spare time, moving my feet on the bus to work to the songs playing in my ears. I've got "fake ID" down to a tee, just want to go to cowboys more now and practice with the professionals!

At work I've had a few short hour weeks which means I've spent a lot more time in the Disney parks when I finish which is nice, me and Kerry even did four animation classes in one day the other day. I enjoy the walk from Epcot to Hollywood via boardwalk. Had a very upsetting experience of buying a slice if pizza, eating a few bites and a seagull flew down, and stole it out of my hand!! I nearly cried, was in shock and alone and scared because I hate birds anyway, but for one to steal the piece if pizza I had just spent good money on, out if my hand, I was not best pleased. Others find it amusing...I do not. I had this two years ago when a seagull stole my ice cream out if my hand on clear water beach in Florida. What is it with Florida seagulls?? Anyway, worst things have happened! I'm not one to hold a grudge....but seagulls get nothing but evils from me now!

But now this week and next I have lots of hours at work so more money to be earned to save for trips :) plus I've got a few visitors from Plymouth coming in march and April including my mum and sister finally! It feels like everyone's family have come to visit apart from mine. Dads not coming, he's "done Disney and will stay and look after the dog" fiiiiiiine!! More time for me, mum and Alice to enjoy Disney world for freeeee!! 10 weeks to go, plus they are here when I have my week off paid vacation which is a bonus!

I got my tax rebate yesterday, thank you very much America! So going shopping after work I think and buying things I've wanted for a while, while my holiday discount lasts, it runs out on Wednesday so going to be purchasing a whole lot if Disney! Which is never a bad thing! Off to work at the moment on my Friday, I did an open-close yesterday (10:45am-9:15pm) which I haven't done in a while and I'm shattered. But probably because we went to the cinema after work and saw Warm Bodies and didn't get back until gone 1am but the film was really good. We all want a zombie boyfriend now! Haha. Only have an 8 hour shift today, then two days off, yaay. Think we will go around animal kingdom tomorrow to get some character photos and autographs because I haven't got one autograph yet! But of course I have several photos already. I'm thinking if buying a nice big SLR camera and getting back into my photography because if I'm going to be going to travel and see America, I want a nice camera to take with me. Thanks to the tax return and think that could happen now! Off to work, hope everyone has a good day, think if Disney joy!! 

And hello to my friend Rebecca in Australia, glad you got home safety and you had a good time in "the other park that shall not be named" after I met you at work! You're a star!

I keep writing this and forgetting to post it! It's now my Monday (Sunday) and I'm going back to work after a good weekend of sunbathing, magic kingdom and shopping! I treated myself to a Dooney & Bourke handbag!! And a new dress, pair of shorts, iPhone case, all things I 'needed' but now I'm stopping. It's back to work which means I try not to spend any money on the five days I work because I bring in a packed lunch and eat dinner at home. So lets see how that works this week. Today is my shortest shift of the week finishing at 5:45 and then tomorrow and Tuesday I'm working the dreaded open-close but at least it brings me more money to spend on pretty things- I mean save...yes, save (?)