One of these days I will be all caught up

I left off just before Christmas. I had to work Christmas Eve but was off at 5 so could still do something. Sean decided to cook a big Christmas dinner with lots of yummy veggie stuff! He even made his own ravioli (including the pasta) that was vegan for Dan. It was a great meal and I had lots of fun with everyone who was there. I was off on Christmas Day so I went to Sean’s bright and early to help him get ready. He said that he would do a big breakfast for the entire pavilion. He made pancakes, bacon, sausages...I can’t remember what else, but breakfast food. The best part of the morning was that he went to the UPS store and bought two HUGE bags of the packing peanuts. He put only one bag out at first so it looked like it had snowed. After a lot of people had played in it, so it was lots of little pieces, we convinced him to open up the second bag. After everyone was done with breakfast we cleaned up the dishes and Sean, Mel and I went back to our apartment to open presents. Then we all took turns skyping with our family while the others played with our new toys. I think the best gift (or most used) that any of us got was the Mel got an electronic version of Catch Phrase. We play it all the time! A little bit later we were all really tired so we watched some tv and napped. One of the girls in the pavilion was doing a Christmas dinner that I had full intentions of going to, but I slept right through it. So our Christmas dinner was Mac and Cheese (fancy, right?) and we relaxed watching some more tv. It was a really different Christmas then I would have had at home but lots of fun.

On boxing day a few people had planned to have go to the theatre for a movie marathon. I didn’t want to see the first movie so I met them for the second....Alvin and the Chipmunks J The next movie was It’s Complicated, but it was sold out so I went to see The Princess and the Frog. Next was Up in the Air, which was really good. My last movie was Nine which I loved! They were planning on going to see another one but I was tired so I went to catch the bus home, I think the one they were going to see was sold out so they left. I had fun going to see all the different movies, but I felt really tired after so I don’t know if I would do it again.

Not much else happened until New Years Eve. When I first got to Florida I was hoping that I would have it off so that I could go into the park and enjoy myself. So I was a little disappointed that I was scheduled from 4 until 1 am. My opinion was quickly changed though. Yes, we were crazy busy but most of the guests were in really good moods. Plus one of my favourite managers was working. I like him because he knows that we can do our jobs so he is a lot more relaxed with us. About halfway through the night I asked him if I could be down at the cart during the fireworks, I was already on floor stock so he said he would keep me on that and I could be wherever during them. Words can’t even describe how amazing the fireworks were. Before midnight they went around to the different countries to say what time they celebrated the New Year and set off fireworks behind their pavilion. Then as it reached midnight they said how Canada, Mexico and the States will be celebrating and then we did the countdown and the fireworks went off. I have a video of them (yep, I broke the rules and brought a camera out on stage, but that manager walked up as I was doing it and just laughed), it does not do them justice at all. After the fireworks were over it was just funny for us to watch people trying to get out of the park. There were tons of people so they weren’t moving very fast. When we were done and walked through cast services they had some food for us and the hats that they were giving out to guests. Sean, Mel and I didn’t even bother going to line up for a bus we walked to catch a cab as soon as it came in the parking lot. The line (an actual line, not a clump of people pushing to get on the bus!) for the bus was crazy long. They even had security there. Here are the pictures from that week. The first video is the fireworks over Italy. The second video is the rest of the fireworks, starting over Morocco.

On the first mum arrived. Luckily she came in later so I could sleep in and recover from the night before. The weather the whole time she was here was freezing cold. I know I’m from Canada and I should like the cold blah, blah, blah, but it is a different kind of cold and we do not have the clothing to keep warm. Mum and I went around to see all of the Christmas decorations and festivities before they ended. This included the parade and fireworks at Magic Kingdom and the Spectacle of Lights at Hollywood Studios. One day when we went to Epcot we did the Kim Possible thing they have. You get a little cell phone and you need to go to different parts of a pavilion in order to beat the bad guy. It was designed for kids because they sometimes get bored while walking around World Showcase, but it is definitely fun for adults (or big kids) too! On the Sunday mum was here we went to go and see some manatees with Ashley. There was tons of them!! We also did a backstage tour of Animal Kingdom. This is a tour we have wanted to do for years so we finally decided to. It was neat to see back stage, including the elephant barn, the vet clinic, and the building where they make the food for every single (captive) animal on Disney Property. Obviously most of them are at Animal Kingdom but it also includes the animals at the Seas in Epcot, the horses used in Magic Kingdom and the dogs used by security. I'd do that tour again because each tour guide knows different things . Here are the pictures, part 2.

After Mum left I haven't done too much. There have been some random things I've taken pictures of. Rhonda and I went to Magic Kingdom to meet some characters. We aren't sure when Toontown Fair is closing so we really wanted to meet Mickey. Then after we went to see the finals of a cheerleading competition. On another day Ashley and I walked around Epcot. A little bit later Rhonda joined us. When DeAnna was done work we all went to Disney Quest. Rhonda, Rachanne and I went to Boma's at Animal Kingdom Lodge for breakfast. We then did some shopping at a couple of parks and property control before going to see a movie. I got the flu which was gross :( Don't worry, there are no pictures of that. Just after that there was a special event for the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day promotion. Joe Jonas was here, the guy from Dinner Impossible and Ty Pennington!! I wish I had seen him. There was even a little parade. We finally got Olympic merchandise (which flew off the shelves) and a few of us watched the opening ceremonies together. I had some people come to visit me. The parents and brother of my best friend growing up were in Florida and said they would come see me. We had a nice lunch to catch up and the following day took Matthew (the brother) to Epcot. It was really good to see them, especially since they were like my second family when I was a kid. The next thing I did was go home for a little visit so I will post that soon. I need to do it really soon so that I am actually caught up!!

Time to Kill While Sitting in the Airport

So I'm going home for a little visit and figured since there is free wireless, I should be productive. (yes I started writing this ages ago but never posted it)



I left off on the cruise. DeAnna, Ashley and I had been looking at different prices for awhile and saw the perfect one so we worked on getting the time off. (Which I could only get because I have amazing managers) and then we booked it at like midnight one night. We left on November 17, first taking the E bus to Hollywood Studios where we walked over to the Swan resort, sat around in the lobby then got on the Disney Cruise Line bus!! This was really exciting because they show a video on the drive there with Mickey and the Gang getting ready to go on their own Disney Cruise. When we got to Cape Canaveral we left our luggage and went through security. Then we went up into the cruise line terminal to check in. The next stop was to get our keys and get a picture taken that is attached to the key. We had to use that key every time we got on and off the ship so that they could keep track that everyone was on board. After the picture we got onto the ship!! And went straight for our first buffet! It was so good! Then we found our room and explored the ship for a bit before the big deck party. Every night on the ship there was a show, they were all amazing! We also had amazing meals. Our wait staff was the same every night so they got to know what drink we would order and what kind of food we would like. If we were undecided about something they would offer to bring us both. I felt guilty if I didn’t order an appetizer, entree and dessert. We also sat with the same people every night. We were with a young couple who thought that we were all crazy. They also thought that we were all 18! On the first day of the cruise we met an older couple and had a good conversation with them. They were from New Jersey and the wife works at the Disney Store so we had lots to talk with them. We kept running into them so they asked our server (we had the same one) if they could just join our table for meals. On the second day of our cruise we went to Nassau, Bahamas. We wandered around a bit and did some shopping. There was a huge market there, with barely enough room to walk through. If we would stop to just look at something people we start telling us prices. It was a little intimidating, but there was lots of nice stuff to see. After walking around we decided to take a boat over to the Atlantis Resort. It was $6 I think both ways and the boats we took were the sketchiest boats I have ever been on. But walking around Atlantis was beautiful....much nicer then Nassau. After going to Atlantis we went back on the ship and lazied around. The next day we went to the Disney private island of Castaway Cay. It felt like a paradise, especially for me because there were so many little Disney things. We took the tram over to the adults only beach and of course ran into the couple from New Jersey. We talked to them for a bit, went in the ocean, ordered some daiquiris and then layed in the sun. After a little nap we wandered around the island. Ashley and DeAnna decided to go back to the ship so I wandered around a little more, had some lunch and then joined in a sand building thing. It was just me, a family and the cast member but it was still fun. Then I found a hammock and relaxed before going back on the ship to meet Ashley and DeAnna. The last day of the cruise was out at sea so we wandered around the ship a bit, watched a movie while laying on the top deck, went to the adult pool, and then went to a little class on how to build animals out of towels. That night there was a little goodbye show in the main lobby, then back to the room to pack. :( The next morning was early to have breakfast, go through customs, then get the bus back to Disney World. I had to work that afternoon which was hard because I was so tired from the cruise. But it was lots of fun. I would suggest that if anyone has a chance to go on a Disney Cruise they should go. I took a billion pictures on the cruise so have a look at those to help things make more sense. Day 1, continued. Day 2, continued. Day 3. Day 4. Day 5.

The rest of November and into December I did some fun things. There was a Thanksgiving event at Patterson. We put up our Christmas tree!! Candlelight Processional started. Candlelight is an event every year at Epcot. They have guest narrators come in to read the story of Christmas. Throughout the story there is a choir that sings Christmas songs. The choir is made up of both cast members and guest choirs from across the country. I saw John O’Hurley, Abigail Breslin and Whoopi Goldberg. I also saw Chita Rivera, but just as I walked by. Also in December there was a winter formal at the Contemporary Resort. They had different characters there so it was my goal to see them all. I also spent a few days going around to see the different Christmas decorations around. I went to Epcot with DeAnna, Ashley, Cassandra and later Manda one day. DeAnna, Ashley and I went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I spent two of my days off to see the decorations at the resorts. I finished off my second day by seeing the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights. This is an actual family from Arkansas. The father starting putting lights up for his daughter and eventually put more and more up until neighbours complained. After a couple lawsuits Disney asked if he would like to move his lights to Florida. They are now on the streets of New York in Hollywood Studios. Every 10 minutes the lights “dance” to different Christmas carols. It is hard to imagine but I have a youtube account now so go look there at the different videos. I spend an hour there taking different pictures. It was freezing cold and my hands were numb but the only reason I left was because my camera battery died.

Welcome 2010!!!

Happy New Year! (Yes I know that January is almost over) Sorry that it has been so long, I don't have a good excuse.

I have been up to so much since the last time I posted. I stopped just before my mum and her two friends, Joanne and Carol, came down to visit. They were here from October 14 until October 22 and we stayed at the Boardwalk Resort on the concierge level. Concierge guests get some fun extra stuff. There is always coffee, tea and hot chocolate out. There is also food out throughout the day. The breakfast was really good with fresh croissants and fruit. My other favourite part was at night when they put out desserts. I had a few days off when they were there so we went to the parks and did a bunch of other fun stuff. On October 17 we went to the special Wishes dessert party at Magic Kingdom. There were tons of different kinds of desserts and of course cold milk!!! We then had a special viewing of Wishes, the fireworks, that I thought was ok but not amazing. We were off to the side of the castle so the fireworks weren't directly behind it like when you watch it from Main Street. I got some neat pictures of the reflection of the fireworks. It was kind of neat to do, but not something that I would do again. Something else we did when they were here was go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. This is separate ticketed event that I had to buy, but there is fun Halloween music, a special parade, special fireworks and all the free candy you can get!! (Too bad the candy wasn't very good) Also there are lots of characters out in special outfits. I brought down a Little Bo Peep (from Toy Story) with me to wear and mum thought it would be funny if her, Joanne and Carol were dressed as sheep. The costumes came out great, there were tons of people looking at us and taking pictures. Of course they fully got into the whole sheep character, they were baa-ing all night. When we went on Pirates of the Caribbean they baa-ed as we went down the hill. One of the guests who was in the boat with us said that he thought it was hilarious. The day after the party we got up early to meet out from of Epcot. We were doing the Backstage Magic Tour. We started by getting on a coach bus and driving around to backstage Epcot. We got off behind the American Adventure and split into two groups. Our group when onstage and looked over the lagoon at all of World Showcase. Our tour guide gave us some info about Epcot and Walt's vision of it. We then went backstage and under the American Adventure stage to see how their show works. It was cool to see how they have made it work, and how they snuck in little details like the speakers. We then got back on the bus and drove over to Hollywood Studios. We entered backstage by Tower of Terror and our tour guides gave us some info about how it works. After a quick break we got back on the bus to the horticultural building and saw where they make topiaries. There were some that were still growing, some that were ready and some that were dead. The website for the tour said that we couldn't take pictures so I left mine behind. I was pretty upset when we got here because our tour guides said we could take pictures!! When we left we went to the Wilderness Lodge and ate at the Whispering Canyon Restaurant. It was set up family style but the chef came and talked to me and make me a really good meal! I was SO full after that meal. Then back on the bus to go behind the Magic Kingdom. The group split in two again, our half went into a huge building that has different shops in it. That is where they building and refurbish most of the things for WDW. Since Space Mountain was still closed all of the vehicles were there to get painted. We then walked over for the laundry facilities. The costumes from all over Walt Disney World are washed there. The best way that I can describe this building is that is like the doors in Monsters Inc. The costumes are separated my a cast member and then everything is automatic. After they are washed and dried they are put on hangers and attatched to another hanger thing that has a little computer chip in it. The costume goes through a different rooms for quality check (haha, right!), steaming and some other stuff. It is then automatically goes onto a rack for a certain park or location. It is really cool to see even if the description doesn't make sense now. Mum, Joanne and Carol left the day after that so here are all of the pictures from when they were here.

On October 24 I went and saw Hanson at House of Blues. Ashley had gotten a tickey but then couldn't go so I rushed over there to meet DeAnna and Darren to see them. The only songs of theirs that I knew was Mm Bop and a Beatles song they did. But it was still fun. Then afterwards I met up with some people and saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I loved that book as a kid so I was excited to see the movie. It was really good, but I won't buy it.

On October 25 DeAnna, Rob, Dan and I went a played mini golf. We got a special holiday package of stuff and one of them was a free game a mini golf! We went to the Winter Sumerland near Blizzard Beach. Here are the pictures.

On October 28 I went to Animal Kingdom with a bunch of the new girls (who aren't new anymore). It was lots of fun because I hadn't been to a park in awhile. After Animal Kingdom we went to Hollywood Studios to do some rides. We then went to Epcot to meet DeAnna to see Boyz II Men. Here are the pictures from that day.

On November 1 I met up with DeAnna and Ashley to see Taylor Hicks. After the show we ate in the Japanese Pavilion. It was really good, I had me some sushi!!! Then we went over to the Beach Club Resort for their campfire. I had some extra marshmallows from when I'd gone before so we made some s'mores using Caramilk bars!!! Then we were going to watch The Hannah Montana Movie on the beach but they couldn't get the projector to work so they played it inside. I only took a few pictures that day.

On November 3 a bunch of us got up early to go downtown Orlando to participate in a heart walk. We all of Volunt-ear shirts and flags which was awesome. A bunch of our managers were there which was fun because I like them all. I didn't have my camera but I love facebook so I took someone elses who was there. Here are those pictures.

On November 5 Craig, David, Rob, Jen and I went along International Drive. We started at the world's largest McDonald's which has pizza! We then went down to WonderWorks which is a really tacky looking tourist stop but was actualy tons of fun!! We spent ages in there before leaving to go to Dairy Queen and the tacky tourist stores. Then dinner at Panera Bread. Here are the pictures from the day.

The last day of the Food & Wine Festival was on November 8 so I walked around after work and took pictures of my food.

Something really exciting in Epcot happened from November 9 and 10th! I closed (worked til 9:30) On the 9th and opened (worked at 10:15) on the 10th. When I left work everything was normal but when I came in the next day all of the Christmas decorations were up and the Christmas music was on!!! I was so excited and had a huge smile on my face all day.

One of our managers arranged a special backstage tour of the Haunted Mansion for November 11. Even though I had already done the tour I wanted to do it again so I had to get up grossly early. It is awesome because we walk through the ride with the lights on, go down into the ballroom, then ride the ride. Since we were the only ones on the ride we were allowed to take pictures!! After the tour Rob, Manda, Alana and I went for some breakfast at the bakery then met Donald in his lumberjack outfit!! Manda and Alana left to go to work and Rob and I wanted to go to Property Control. Since the best way to get there is to go from backstage we asked a cast member in Tomorrowland how to get to the tunnels. She showed us the entrance and we went down the stairs. The stairs led into a boiler room that had a bunch of doors that said not to enter. There were no doors labeled to go into the tunnels so we just started trying them all and thankfully got the one that opened. After that it was easy to find our way to the exit and the bus back to the parking lot. I had a lot of success at Property Control. I found a shirt for my cruise and two ornaments that were barely damaged and that I had wanted to buy anyway. After shopping we caught the bus home. Later that night I went to Medieval Times with Mel, Sean, Heather and James. The vegetarian meal that they have there is really good! We were in the green night section. He is the bad night so we got to cheer for him! We had tons of fun, I'm glad I went. Here are the pictures from my busy, busy day.

A couple days later was the best day of my entire contract! I was off on the 12th so I slept in and then layed in bed reading for awhile. The phone in our apartment rang but I didn't feel like getting it because it is never for me. A minute later my cell phone rang. It was someone from the front desk saying that Mel and I were getting a 1 bedroom apartment!!! I don't know if I've said but I was in a 4 bedroom apartment before. It was ok living there but hard having 8 girls using the kitchen, 2 fridges, the tv, and only 2 showers! Mel and I wanted our own space. We had been on the list for about a month and thought we would be on the list until early December so it was amazing that we got the call. They said we could get our keys and move on Saturday. I had to work at 3:30 that day so we got up early to get the keys and start moving. I managed to get all of my junk in the new (beautiful!) apartment before work that day. It was in a horrible pile, but I haven't been in the old apartment since then. Before we moved I took some pictures.

The next day I went on a cruise so I will post about that later.... you happy mum???

PS. I also started a youtube account not too long ago so all of my videos are on there. I think you should be able to get to it from here, but otherwise my name on it is Rachel24601.