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.