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 (?)

Christmas and NYE working in Disney World 2012/13

Exciting news people, I am blogging from my new iPhone4!!! I have wanted to get one for a while now as my iPhone 3 was getting very slow and old and cracked- nothing to do with dropping it on NYE, well, maybe a little bit- but after going 9 days without an iPhone or laptop and having to walk to the PC room in the commons twice a day to have a quick check up, I am finally with iPhone again and very happy! There is music in my ears again on the way to work and I can type. I did start reading a book, which is very rare for me, and I aim to complete it because I got so far reading it with no phone to play with, but it felt right being glued to it until 2am again last night like normal!!

New Year's Eve was amazing, as were the MK fireworks we watched the night before. They were 360degrees around MK and looked fantastic from the Polynisian resort. But New Years Eve I worked until 6:45pm and then changed clothes to go out to the court yard and celebrate "real time" New Year's Eve back home in the UK, at 7pm. We all went nuts in the street, managers and coordinators covered the registers so cast members who were still working could celebrate with us. It was brilliant to all link arms and sing together with party hats etc. then it was off to enjoy the rest of the night at the Pub, Italian pavilion for the boppin rave that was going on there, who new Epcot could be so cool?!? We had food in Morocco and then back to the UK to watch the midnight fireworks, which were 7 mins late starting. But that was because of safety checks I believe. Fireworks came from everywhere around the world showcase, it was amazing, from what I remember, haha. Defiantly one of the best NYE I have had and will never forget. I will never celebrate NYE or Christmas in Disney World again (unless I come back and do a second program....or end up here living happily ever after in America forever) so I'm glad I got to work and enjoy all things Disney during the season.

As of january 10th, everything Christmas has gone. I was working for an hour the day before in the Crown and Crest store before I gasped and noticed the beautiful Christmas garland that goes all the way up the stairs had gone overnight.  I ran into HRC and sports store to confide in Sian, Clare and Jordanna for cuddles and "there there Chloe, it had to come to an end some time" very sad times, no more Christmas in Disney. The music disappeared on New Year's Eve and changed to the normal green sleeves uk songs we have on all day. Plus the massive tree came down in Epcot new year eve morning, and I didn't even notice! That's to make room for the thousands of guests we had that night. Other parks kept theirs up until yesterday. But I got to say goodbye and last photos of MK, Hollywood studios and animal kingdom which was nice. It is time....to look forward to my birthday!!!

In a few days I will be spending my birthday in another country which will be bizzare but something I've talked about since I got this job offer a year and a half ago, "I will be turning 26 in Disney world and it will be half way through my program" i can't believe it is already here. I plan to go to my favourite Panera bread for brunch, then off to MK with the girls for the day and the out for dinner somewhere and then to cowboys in the evening. I'm constantly checking the post to see if I have received my birthday cards and presents nice Plymouth people have sent me! Lucky girl. Plus, the weather this week has been amazing! It's been 28degrees C and blue skies and I've sunbathed three days in a row and got my tan back already! Never thought I'd be swimming and sunbathing this close to my birthday. I love Florida so much, how am I going to leave it in less than 6th months?? I am over half way now into my program, the time has flown by and I've been told it only goes quicker in the last 6 months. People I care about a lot are starting to go home in the next few months, it's going to be sad and so strange to be at work without them. But it's all part of the job and I have to remember I have made some friends for life who I can go visit after my program ends around the world, that's the best bit I think. Lots of Americans are moving into the commons now, which is new so I intend to make friends with them too, I would love to travel America and get to as many states as I can and visit people I know who can show me around!

P.s. went to cowboys last night for the first time in 6 weeks and loved it, picked up the line dancing moves quickly and felt like a happy cowgirl in my boots dancing with strangers on the dance floor in unison, looking forward to going back again on Thursday night for my 26th birthday!!!

Back on the blog!

For the first day in over a month, I was at the bus stop early enough this morning to get a seat on the bus so I can sit here and blog in peace...apart from the boppin' tunes playing through my headphones.

Since my last blog I have been on a cruise to the Bahamas on the Disney Dream, which was one of the best things I have done since I got here. Everything about it was amazing, the food, the company, the shows, the restaurants, the entertainment, shops, clubs, parties, rooms, day trips, cast away cay, Christmas decorations, room service, character meet and greets etc. I was swaying for three days afterwards mind you, I would be stood at work serving guests and would sway from side to side without realising. I defiantly want to go on another cruise and have as much fun and laughs as we did on that one. To sunbathe on December 1st and get a tan was insane, how could I not love my life??

Christmas has been and gone, sad Chloe. But I was very lucky to get so many presents sent to me from back home and from my friends here with me on the program. I skyped my family on Christmas morning as they opened my presents for them and I opened mine from them. I did it as I wore my work costume with my winter Christmas Disney mickey ears hat, standard and jingle bells on my wrist. I have sounded like an elf everywhere I go since i went to Walmart and bought the best purchase of my life, $2 hair bands with big silver jingle bells on them!! It brought a lot of joy to people as I wore them in my hair on Christmas eve, day, and boxing day. I had very long shifts those days and got quite quiet and slightly upset during lunchtime on Christmas day as I ate my lunch on my own as no one had the same breaktime as me, so that was rather sad. Thinking how my whole family were together back home including my 6 month nephew enjoying his first christmas, who I've only met twice before I came out here, and of course they took a picture of the food they were eating and sent it to me and my empty merchie belly rumbled. But it just made me look forward to next christmas.... Or August when I go home and nicely order mother to cook me a full roast dinner with all the trimmings to make up for it!!

Now I'm looking forward to new years eve tomorrow at Epcot. We are starting tonight at magic kingdom watching their fireworks which will be the same as tomorrow nights so we are going to get two new years eve celebrations because I'm sure tonight will be amazing. But tomorrow is going to be insane. I'm working until 6:45pm to finish in time for 7pm to celebrate the Uk pavilion celebrate new years eve in real time because back home then it will be midnight. Epcot will make an announcement too to let everyone know in the park the reason we are all singing and jumping up and down in our street. They have put up two big screens in UKs courtyard where the band plays, we hope thats to air BBC one live from home at 7pm, that would be amazing, it wouldnt feel the same seeing in the new year without hearing bigben chime! Then we get to go nuts at midnight USA time with the rest of the 80,000 guests estimated to be in the park. That's the most Epcot can hold. And it's the busiest day of the year. I've heard stories of how it's going to look and I'm a little scared. But there a good group of us finishing early so we shall all be together to brave the crowds in the evening and see in the new year together, I'm so excited...

...and now I'm on my way home from work to go have tea, a quick nap and then go to watch magic kingdoms fireworks tonight. Got to get up early tomorrow as I start at 9:15am and we have all had a lot of late nights lately at the cinema etc so need a quick nap before a very long day tomorrow, only to start early at work new years day too. Not used to all these early mornings and working during the holidays! But it's good, I'm looking forward to payday this week and next after all my hours working. 

Going to start saving lots of money in the new year for trips around America, instead of spending it on meals out and Disney merchandise (think I have enough now to last me a lifetime!!)