Week 2

It is so hard trying to find the time to update this!!

Briefly, I had training which was good, some parts were really boring where we had to read page after page but the hands on part was more fun. I'm beginning to feel less anxious about working there now, which is good. For my first attempt at Spieling the Circle of Life a family asked to video me and kept saying how nervous I looked, I obviously messed this one up.
My spiel is.. "Hello everyone, my name is Tori and I would like to welcome you to 'The Circle of Life' an environmental fable featuring Simba, Timone and Pumba from Disney animated feature the Lion King. In just a moment these automated doors will open towards you, so for your safety please remind behind the yellow line. When they open please take small children by the hand and watch your step as you descend into the theatre. Also, please refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, flash photography and video recording whilst inside the theatre. Thank you and enjoy the show."
My second time saying the spiel I had a girl start talking over me, I paused, and looked at her, close to the 'look of death', that was definitely the teacher in me coming out. I didn't even realise I had done it, but I've begun to block it all out and talk over them.
Also whilst in training the ride decided to stop working 16 times in the space of 5 hours, I was in control a couple of the times which was a bit scary as there was so many people of higher authortiy around. But I tried to stay calm and got through it. Whilst on training I had a little walk around Hollywood Studios and ate at Longhorn Steakhouse and Hooters. I have been craving the chicken wing covered in parmesan and garlic since going there!

My assessment was on Tuesday, apart from having a woman mimick my voice nothing really happened out of the norm. My assessment went fine and I passed which meant.. I have earnt my ears, yay!! I am now a fully pledged cast member! A couple of us did the dreaded Walmart run then I went round to Amys to play Vodka Pong for my first time!

Wednesday was my first day off since being here. For our welcoming we had 'Breakfast with the characters'. We arrived at 9am to be greeted by a long queue, so we queued up for 45 minutes and got to meet Minnie and Mickey in their pyjamas. There was then another queue for breakfast, which was pancakes and french toast. In the pavillion there was a little rave going on, felt a bit weird for it being only 10am but it was good! A few of us had planned to go to Epcot so we set off and spent the day over there. We stayed to watch Illuminations which were amazing and then Charlie, Jess and I headed over to Jellyrolls. I love this place!! Jellyrolls is a bar with two guys playing the piano and you can request songs, it was such a chilled funny night, love it!

Thursday Charlie, Jess and I went over to Hollywood Studios, it was their first time so they were all excited which made me feel even more excited! We were also joined by Rach, Becca and Nikita later on in the day. Was such a good day, was my first time riding the new Star Tours and Toy Story Mania ride, they were both throughly enjoyed. Charlie and I definitely were a bit competitive on Mania! Of course we watched Beauty and the Beast, and I got a little bit teary in between singing my hart out. We ate a stunning meal at an Italian restaurant before two rides on Rock 'n Roller Coaster and to top the night off we watched Fantasmic. Even though I have seen the show before I still sat in absolute awe and loved it!!

Yesterday was my first day at work after my assesmment. Katie needed to sort out her bank account over at Disney University so I went over with her to cure my boredom. Obama was at the Contemporary giving a speech so we attempted to go see him. This failed as we were five hours early.. We popped in to Magic Kingdom to have my first official picture with Mickey and Minnie, then headed to Cast Connections. Then it was work time, as i was about to leave for work it started torrential raining, which made my day... I clocked in and my first assignment was dispatch, I was so worried the ride would go down like it did when I was last working, but alas dispatch went fine both times I operated. I then was assigned wheelchair assist, well I forgot to help a guest in a wheelchair out of the boat, so they sat there for a little bit longer, i was unable to move an ECV and the guests thuoght I had broke it so another cast member was called to help, I tried to hide around the corner sheepishly and then a girl decided to stand up and exit the boat before we had stopped the ride so i asked her to sit down and as she sa down i was repeating myself but the sit part only came out, so i sounded like i was talking to a dog, she wasn't pleased! Apart from that my first day went fine. Hopefully today I will pull circle!

Finally arrived cont.

I apoligise that this blog may be quite long as I have 5 days to cover.

 

Beginning from where I left off; after my lovely early wake ups we made our way to the airpot and met up with failiar faces from the facebook group, checked in and headed through security. Panic hit me as the queue was so so long as one of the restaurants had set off the fire alarm so the Airport had to be evacuated which also delayed our fliht by 40 minutes. The flight was fine, I watched TheVow and Footloose and sitting with all the other 'Cast members' definitely helped to pass the time. Obviously the long awaited cocktail was yummy!! It was then time for the dreaded immigration, luckily this went very smoothly and actualy quite quickly so we were all able to make our way to Vista Way. We checked in and found out where we would be living, I'm at Vista Way. Luckily my housemate is one of the girls from my flight and one I have spoken to quite a bit. We are living with 3 Americans and a Spanish girl. Our first bit of drama couldn't wait too long afer we arrived though, Bec realised that she had the wrong suitcase so after spending an hour on the phone with no help we trapesed back to the Airport to absolutely sprint around to find her suitcase, locked away in a room where we could see it. There was no one around so we went back the next day and were eventually able to collect it!! The Walmart shop after this fiasco was no fun, which then led to me having no food except for Poptarts for the first 4 days, woops.

 

Orientation days started which consisted of 2 days of filling out a lot of paperwork and watching videos, mainly about how you can be terminated.

 

I had my first trip to Dunkin' Doughnuts and it did not dissapoint!! I went with Bec and agreeed that she would be my honary sister as she had borrowed my top as she had no luggage and as I've only been with my family, so it was cute!

 

Tuesday was a silly day for me! A few of us had a lovely afternoon by the pool, but I forgot to put suncream on my legs which has resulted in them still being burnt and heat coming from them 3 days later, lesson learnt!! For dinner we took a trip to CiCis, I've really lost my appetite since being in the heat!

 

Traditions class was on Wednesday, we found out about the history of Disney, had a backstage and onstage walk through the Magic Kingdom and the chance to win some character criters, I won two, for sharing my Disney memory, being team leader and answering a question where Mickey honoured me with the treat. I obviously got all teary watching all the videos and sat through it thinking is this actually real?! Traditions also meant that we were given our I.D cards which means we have free entrance into the 4 parks for three months, yes FREEE!!!!!

 

A group of us decided to take full advantage of our ID cards and headed straight off to the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately the afternoon was short lived for me as I think I had a bit of sunstroke and that mixed with the heat didn't work for me, so I had to leave the queue for Thunder Mountain and my Splash Mountain Fastpass behind and head home. The girls didn't really want to stay any longer either, so we all headed back and me and Becca went to Applebees for a relaxed dinner.

 

Thursday was a fun day! We had 'Discovery Day' at Epcot, (Experimental prototype community of tomorrow - need to learn this in case I am asked!) we found out about the history of Epcot and had a tour around the park. I also rode my first ride in Disney, Spaceship Earth, woo! I also found out that I will be working in The Land. When I found out I was working in Epcot I was gutted, it is my least faviourite park and there isn't any big rides there and also I wouldn't get to see much of the little Princesses, but I came round to it and was settling with the idea. Then I found out I was working in the Land, which includes Living with the Land and The Circe of Life, probably the most rubbish and least visted attractions out of the four parks. This took gutted to another exteme, I have paid around £1000 to be here and I'm working there, really not happy!!! But as everyone is saying - it's what you make of it. To cheer me up we headed over to Animal Kingdom, spent a lovely afternoon riding a few attractions and getting caught in a thunderstorm, which drenched us. Didn't help that I was wearing my white linens to cover up my sunburn, thesewere now seethrough! We ate in the Rainforest Cafe, it was nice, but I think after I've experienced it once I won't be rushing back again.

 

So in general, I am loving life in Florida so far and have made some lovely friends already and cannot wait for the memories to continue!!!

Finally arrived

After 6 and a half months of waiting, June 10th finally arrived. If flew over to Manchester the day before my flight and checked in to Travelodge overnight. Becca decided she would travel down early and come and stay with me which was lovely, at least I wouldn't be alone. I had a little nap whillst waiting or her to arrive as I'd been so busy whilst I'd been home so I definitely needed to cacth up on some sleep. At around 5 Becca arrived, we had a little catch up and realised we had confused ourselves with our conversation about checking in. Back in January we had reserved our seats, we were all sat together which was fine, but then a couple of nights before anothr girl mentioned that we may not be sitting next to each other,so we checked online and as long as we checked in online up to 13 hoursbefore our flight we would be fine, although Becca thought I meant after 13 hours. This meant us rushing over to the hotel next door and racing against the credit clock to check in and print the documents in time, we made it! 
We had a lovely meal at the restaurant, when it arrived, and also recieved a free drink and breakfast in the morning as our server was very rude! Slipping in to bed filled with excitement we drank our wine and tried to get agood nights sleep. That didn't happen, at 1am I woke up full of energy, saying morning to Becca and that I was going to jump in the shower, only to find it was only 1am

Application process

I remember receiving the email that said I had been accepted on to the programme, that has to be one of the happiest moments of my life so far. I remember running and jumping around the lounge screaming with excitement whilst calling my mum and the girls to tell them the news. They must have been so relieved to hear i got through as i put them through hell during this process...
Phone interview;
My phone interview was to take place when I was at home in Jersey, a couple of days before my birthday. I'm glad I was home for it as I didn't want to be in the house and have the chance of an of the girls hearing as if I was to not be accepted I would feel embarrassed that I hadn't got in. The morning of my interview, everyone was either at college or work so I set up in the lounge with all my notes. I had watched videos and read blogs that told me what to expect for my interview, which I found helped me to relax and I felt as prepared as i could be. The morning seemed to drag, I watched more videos ( it felt like a last minute revision session) and when I couldn't take any more the Disneyland Paris album started to play. 'Dancin' a catchy rhythm' was on repeat and i danced around the room crazily until it get far too close to my interview for my liking and I also had to catch my breath back so I sat and waited. And waited, and waited, by this point I thought my phone may have broken as they were late calling. But at long last my phone rang. I spoke to Becky who was so lovely and calmed my nerves, all the preparation I had done seemed to go out the window as I wasn't asked any of the questions, but then I am glad that I had them just incase. Nearing the end of the phone call I was feeling confident but after the call and seeing that my interview had only lasted 6 minutes, my mood started to deflate. I was worried I had said the wrong things and that Becky couldn't wait to get me off the phone. I remember my mum and gran both saying that she has probably heard what she wanted ,to hear and didn't need to ask any of the other questions, but I seriously doubted this. I tried to put the interview to the back of my mind...
Face to face interview;
Another long wait later, I received an email saying I had got through to the next stage and would have to go to Chester for my face to face interviews, pretty sure I let out a little yelp in the library. I organised my train and hotel for the night and was off to Chester. I arrived with plenty of time to Chester uni and I felt so sick and nervous, we had a little presentation and question time where i won a little prize for answering what the four parks were called then we all were told what time our interviews were at. Luckily I didn't have to wait too long for mine but whilst I waited I sat and talked to one of the other girls. When my interview arrived I went in with another girl and was interviewed by a man that works in Downtown Disney. I wasn't too keen on the interview, I felt like it was a battle between me and the girl, even though we had been told that they can take on how many people they want. I left the interview feeling like I hadn't answered the questions very well, and kicked myself every time I thought of it or something popped into my head that I should have said. I decided to get the train back to Leeds earlier, instead of hanging around as I felt so bad about how it had gone. I spent the next couple of weeks going over and over the interview wishing it had been different. I was definitely being a silly moo, when on 29th November my Congratulations email came through. Yes!!! I'd done it. Worrying and stressing over...nope! Disney had asked for us to reply with if we were going to accept the position, I rushed my reply saying of course I would take it, thinking to myself why would anyone turn an opportunity like this down. But then my thoughts started to kick in, do I really want to work in Disney and spoil the magic that I have grown up with for the past 21 years. Mum kicked my mind back in to place and not me not to be so stupid, this is something I had wanted to do for so many years so I picked myself up and got on with planning my Summer. Right now I am so glad that I had the support of my friends and family that have helped me along this process. I was an emotional wreck, always doubting myself and constantly thinking i hadn't done well enough, but it goes to show how wrong I was. To a Summer of a lifetime xxx

Single digits

Only 9 days 'till I jet off to America. I've neglected this blog since coming home to Jersey. I've been so busy with finishing off my placement, working, gyming it and catching up with friends and family. In between all that I've been trying to sort out things for Florida. I'm organised paperworkwise but clotheswise, no chance! I have far too many clothes and it isn't helped by me going out and buying more and not having the motivation to try it on and return the clothes that I don't want. I have a busy week ahead with long shifts and cramming the gym in at any possible chance. I'm also seeing the kids for practically the first and last time this Summer, which is crazy as last year I was nannying for them everyday. Miss seeing them grow up, always such a shock when I come back after a few weeks and they've changed so much, and now the next time I see them will be in 4 months. I'm having a leaving BBQ, hopefully it will be down the beach, weather permitting.

The girls and I on the flight have arranged to meet before we check in so at least we won't be on our own in the airport. I can't wait to be with them all again. So for now all I have to do is find my Birth Certificate and pack. OHHH and I need to sort out my iPad that I bought nearly two weeks ago and it's still unopened, but I'm going to let my brother help with the setting up when he gets back from London today as I have no clue what to do!

Week in photos #1

Treat night with Becca and Cat * Finishing the dreaded essay * US Embassy for my Visa appointment
Dirty Dancing * My amazing Gran * Having a cheeky siesta
Shopping spree for Florida * Never able to pack light * Cup of tea and last slice of Grans cake

I've had quite a productive week (except for uni work). I went down to London to get my Visa and it was accepted, woo! Whilst I was down South, I went to visit my grandparents, had a lovely time with them, catching up, shopping and going to see dirty dancing. Back to reality now, with only one week until I am home!!

Faith, trust and pixie dust

These pictures have been taken from http://simpledisneythings.com/
This post is a selection of random pictures linked to my trip to Florida.

The beginning of this journey

Taking the monorail through the airport, having the excitement rising.

I didn't realise you could do this, so I looked in to it tonight. It's a bit pricey but would be amazing! The same company also do wave runners so will hopefully be able to try out these. I've added them to my bucket list so fingers crossed they will be crossed off.

On one of my days off I will attempt this, I definitely want to be there for opening with my family one day to see the morning train with all the characters. Surely it won't be hard to spend the whole day in the most amazing place in the world?!

 

I still get as excited as I did when I was a little girl.

Great memories of doing this with the family last year. Can't wait to recreate them with friends.

Disneyland California; hoping to fly over there when I complete the program.

A Bit over due

It's 44 days until I leave for Florida and thought I'd finally get started with my blog, after my other posts being deleted.

On Wednesday I visited the US Embassy to gain my Visa. I traveled down from Leeds and arrived in London to be greeted by the downpour of rain. After queuing up for half an hour in the pouring rain I entered the embassy and only had to wait 20 minutes to be seen at the first desk. The man really made me panic, explaining that I had to read this book that I would be questioned on. This panic was really unnecessary as when I was seen for my interview the man just asked if I had read the book. Next to me a woman was being interviewed and I heard the dreaded words "I'm sorry I will not be granting you a Visa today", my heart stopped for her, but also I became even more worried those words would be repeated to me, but luckily the man looked at me with a lovely smile and said I had been granted a Visa and to have an amazing time but to make sure I would say Hi to Mickey for him, surely that is the least I could do as he is the reason I am allowed into the country! Amazing man!!

I'm returning to Jersey in under two weeks, so I need to make sure I have most of my shopping. I began buying a few bits last week, then this week bought some pieces in London and Southampton. Next week I'm going to the Trafford Centre and meeting with Rach in Liverpool. My clothes will definitely be from all over the country.

Trying to find luggage to take to Florida which is proving quite difficult. Never realised how expensive a suitcase was!

I promise when I get to Florida my posts will be a lot more regular!