First week!

I can't believe I have left it so long to update my blog, but life is pretty hectic over here, if you aren't working you are having too much fun, the whole phrase, "work hard, play hard" is so true here. I had hoped to keep a diary too whilst I was here but so far that isn't working out too great but I hope to change that moving forward simply because I do not want to forget anything about this magical year. Can you start new years resolutions at the end of August? Well I am now anyway :P

So without further adieu...this is a brief summary of my first week based on my foggy memory of it all. Enjoy :)

Wednesday 22nd July

This was our first 'Welcome day' after moving in we had a housing meeting scheduled for 1pm at the Commons (a housing complex here). This consisted of Disney Housing letting us know the rules and regulations with regards to living in our accommodation and also pre-warning us of the dangers which we might face and they reinforced this with some scary stories. Lovely jubbly.

So after the meeting some of us decided to head to Patterson to check out their pool...only Florida of course decided to treat us to our first thunder and lightning storm. 

So due to the weather we decided to head out for another Walmart shopping trip where I came across a jar of Creamy Vodka Pasta Sauce?!?!? Seriously cheap Ben and Jerry's amongst other crazy stuff. Of course the first meal I had in my flat was a microwave one - oops!

Then after our shopping trip we decided to chill out at the pool in Vista. I've missed late night swimming sessions where the temperature outside is still lovely and warm, ah Florida how I love you!

Thursday 23rd July

Thursday was the day of more meetings, Immigration presentation scheduled for 8:45am and a paperwork session at 1pm. I seem to remember it being a really hot day and I also got to meet some lovely German people who arrived at the same time as us. The Immigration presentation covered the rules associated with our Visas and the paperwork session was quite literally that, handing in papers and signing papers.

Then in the evening it was time for our 'Throw In'. Throw Ins are if you have been to University similar to initiations, basically the new people are given tasks or things to do, it is a way for others to get to knows us and vice versa. After hearing some stories of what went on in throw ins, all of us newbies were pretty nervous about what lay ahead for us but it turned out to be not as bad as we had thought and was actually a pretty good night and I also got to meet some of the Merch lot that I will be working with which was lovely, they all seemed so welcoming and friendly which was so reassuring as it helped calm any nerves about starting work. 

Friday 24th July

Our first day off with no housing meetings - woohoo! After having a much needed lie in after the night before, I updated my blog then spent over 4 hours skyping my family which was lovely although they did order a Chinese Take-Away without me...erm not okay with me!

The afternoon our arrival group had planned a night of pizza and mini-golf. Cici's turned out to be super cheap and we got discount there too - big plus! I have never had pizza and pasta on the same plate before but over here this is deemed normal and I'm not one to complain ;). After food we headed over to the mini golf place located right next to it to find out we were too late and it had closed :( so we'll have to go back there another day.

Saturday 25th July - TRADITIONS!!!

The day I had most been looking forward too - Traditions. Those of you who don't know what Traditions is it is basically a day where you officially become a cast member, you get given a set of ears and the most important and highlight of all your name badge! This was also another early morning start for us, our bus was supposed to pick us up at 7:30am but unfortunately our bus never turned up so after a call to the transportation our bus eventually came and on we went to DISNEY UNIVERSITY!!! I mean how cool is that alone? A University dedicated to all things Disney, this is my kinda place I tell you. I won't ruin it for those who are due to arrive but the building inside and the people who work there are just magical and everything you'd ever hoped it would be (well for me anyway). We got to learn about the history of Disney, the terminology Disney use and the magic that is Disney in general. We also had a few quizzes which if selected to answer you got rewarded with a prize in the form of miniature Disney figures. I of course was delighted to receive a mini Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck. I can't quite remember what order things happened in now but at one point on our tables we were given a sample letter to read from guests who had written in to thank Disney for the wonderful time they had. Here we got to hear so many lovely stories and although all were wonderful there was one letter which also had a video attached which we got to watch in class and well I had a tear in my eye. Disney is just wonderful, it doesn't matter who you are, where you're from or what age you are, at Disney you are an equal and an invited guest to participate in creating everlasting magical memories. Can you tell that I just love Disney? Also on this special day we had a surprise visit from our boss, the Big Cheese Mickey Mouse! He walked right by my table and everything and waved at me too.

Sunday 26th July

Welcome to Operations Day. Again another early start as we had to be at Disney University this time for 7:30am - ouch! But hey I got to go to Disney University again so can't moan! The day consisted of learning about the different working areas that Disney has and the roles required for the successful running of the park. Also focus was placed on safety and we learnt how to lift items in the correct way which would prevent any injury to ourselves. The trainers we had for this day were superb, they were super energetic and enthusiastic about everything which made for an enjoyable class. 

In the evening we went to our first Disney park - Hollywood Studios!!!

Thanks to some Disney magic we were fortunate to get some fastpasses for both Tower of Terror and Aerosmith Rock 'n' Roller coaster. Now I last went on these rides over 7 years ago but I do not remember being so scared. I think it will take some time and going on a few more rides to get used to roller coasters again. So I learnt that night that I will never ever go on Tower of Terror EVER again. I was so scared that I went numb, I couldn't even move my fingers and I had to grab my friends arm throughout the whole ride otherwise I wouldn't have coped. So thanks Hollie even though you had no choice about it :P.

We then checked out the party going on by the mainstage with a DJ playing some decent tunes I must admit and had a good time dancing away waiting for the Frozen fireworks.  The fireworks were amazing and of course as I love Frozen the music was ace too, I was singing away but one guy in front of me turned round and told me that I couldn't sing...nice man - not! But I moved away and carried on singing because no one is going to tell me that I can't sing a long and have fun, I mean we are at Walt Disney World after all so...

After fireworks it was time for Fantasmic. My only memory of this was when I was 6 and I don't remember being that impressed by it but then I also remember being overly tired and falling asleep on my Dad's shoulder so to be fair I gave it a second shot. Despite it having to be stopped twice during the performance I loved it and couldn't wait to see it again all the way though another time. It's times like this that reminds me how grateful I am to be here for a year so if something like that does happen it's okay because I can go another night. I love this program.

Hollywood Studios

Monday 27th July

Time for on-the-job training known here as Tier 1. This training day consisted of getting our costumes and being shown around the UK pavilion in order to get familiar with our soon to be working environment. Our trainers for the day were Charlotte and Chris both who are super lovely and they were very welcoming and friendly. I had such blurry memories of the pavilion so it was so nice to see it again and surreal to think that this time I will be working here - madness but exciting all the same! Towards the end of the day we also got to help create some magical memories and hand out some Mickey Mouse stickers! 

My costume for the year :)

Tuesday 28th July

Discovery day- a chance to get to know your 'home park'. We had an introductory talk from two people one of them actually ran my traditions class - Christian (I love this guy he is so much fun) and the other was a cast member at EPCOT and has been EPCOT's biggest fan since its opening. 

We then got to have a guided tour around the park including a trip on the friendship boat and all I will say is that it is one magical and special day that you will always remember. I believe it is thanks to Christian though that made it as fun as it was, he truly lives and breathes Disney and adopts their philosophy of creating happiness and making magical memories so well. You go Christian, you go (Mean Girls reference was needed here).

Wednesday 29th July

Merchantainment Class (Disney's way of placing the entertaining in merchandise). This training was role specific so for us in Merchandise we learnt how Disney Merchantains and learnt how to operate the registers and a lesson on loss prevention.

In the evening I finally got to see the film Inside Out I think only myself and one other person managed to stay awake throughout the entire film not because the film was bad but these training days are long days and consist of early mornings and lots of information to absorb, so placing us in a dark room it was only inevitable that some of us would fall fast asleep haha :P. But I loved the film.

Hotel days and Moving into Housing

Hotel Days

Once we had checked into our hotel, we headed in search of our rooms. When we came out of the lift we were greeted with a welcome team of people from our arrival group who had already arrived which was lovely. After dropping our bags off in our room, we headed on out for food and where did we go for our first meal in America? McDonald's, yes you are quite right!

The following day we decided to do some shopping, as our hotel offered a free shuttle to the Orlando Premium Outlets...who could say no hey? When we arrived we were randomly greeted with a red carpet to step onto, as we made our way into Tommy Hillfiger (the sponsor of the free shuttle). We grabbed some food at the food hall then split up to go shopping. 

Shopping & Food time!

My lovely new work shoes!

I went on the hunt for some shoes which were suitable for work and met the required guidelines for the 'Disney Look'. I experienced some amazing customer service at the shop called Aerosoles, and got my pair of work shoes there, the woman serving me knew exactly which shoes Disney would accept and provided me with options to try on. There was one pair I loved style wise, but after some thought I had to go with the not so attractive but comfortable and practical shoes. Tough life.


The taxi that took us back to our hotel after shopping had a place for you to charge your phone...how cool! England needs to catch up with America on this. We then spent the afternoon at our hotel pool, chilling, relaxing and making the most of our freedom and the Floridian sun. Bliss.

Pool Time

In the evening we headed to Downtown Disney, or Downton as some of us would accidentally say #BritishProblems. We ate at Planet Hollywood, and my goodness was it pricey, but hey the food was good, the company was good and it was a cool place to spend our first night so no complaining from me. I also had my first alcoholic drink in America woop woop for being over 21! I had to go for the cocktail called 'Princess Cocktail' of course ;). It was really cool wondering around Downtown Disney, it has changed so so much since my last visits but there is so much to see and do there, I'm so grateful I am here for the year to hopefully go and explore as much as I can of it.

Moving In Day - Plain Sailing or Plain Failing?

Ah at last it was time to MOVE INTO HOUSING!!!! Alot of us were full of mixed emotions but all eager to find out, where we will be living and with who.

The taxi we had ordered from the hotel to housing didn't turn up on time, and when it did, it couldn't fit all 7 of us and our suitcases (even though we had given ample warning of how much space we required) but alas the solution was found and two taxis later we were dropped off just outside of Vista. 

Checking into housing was pretty straight forward, we went to a desk where they informed you of your apartment complex, how many people you would be living with and how many bedrooms* e.t.c. then we got our photo taken which would be used for our housing ID, the card printed within a few seconds then voila you went back outside to collect your bags and if you weren't living in Vista you got the luxury of a coach to take you to your housing. Ace.

*For those interested I got given Chatham Square, 3 bed 6 Person (although we only have 5 living here at the mo 2 Mexicans 2 British and 1 Norwegian). I was overjoyed as 1) No bunk beds and 2) this was second on my preference list...yippee! I struck Gold!

Checking into housing!

Well, we arrived at Chatham, had our bags taken off the coach, then that was it. Time to go hunt down my building. I had no clue how to find my building, I wondered round and round the complex, in the heat, dragging my 23KG big case and my hand luggage case which at this point was around 7KG and my handbag on my shoulder, I was not a pretty sight. When I had almost admitted defeat I bumped into a groundsman who whilst wasn't sure where my apartment was exactly had informed me I would be on the 3rd floor and pointed me to the rough area of my building. But to cut a long story short, I found my building knocked on my front door and was greeted by my Mexican and Norwegian flatmates. 

My new home <3!

After resting and taking pictures of the apartment whilst it was empty, it was coming up to the time I had arranged to meet up with my arrival group to go to our first Walmart shop (A Disney program Rite of Passage). BUT drama unfolded, I had decided it would be a good idea to take my big case with me to Walmart so I could just wheel my case with all my shopping inside...genius! Except, when I went to open my suitcase the combination padlock decided to not work. Fantastic. Panic ensued, but after a phone call to the front desk of our complex a maintenance man came quickly to my rescue and cut open the padlock. I quite literally dumped everything out of my case onto the floor and ran to my bus stop with my now empty case. I should put this into context, at this point we had no internet, no means to communicate with one another and we had set a time for us to meet, so I had no way to inform my group that I might be late.  How did people survive before mobile phones? But it turned out I actually ended up being early and arrived at Walmart roughly an hour before my arrival group. I made sure to make the most of the free wifi Walmart had to offer to message friends and family back home which helped pass the time whilst I waited. 

Once everyone arrived we made our way through the giant Walmart store collecting the bare essentials such as bedding, towels and some food to start with.

In the evening I met up with the lovely Holly and Jennifer who started their program in March. I met Holly during the application stage at Pre-Screen and Face-to-Face Interviews so it was nice arriving here in Orlando having a familiar friendly face to greet me and I also got to meet Jen for the first time who is also super super lovely :) They both made me feel so welcome and helped calm my moving in day jitters! 

Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to Disney we go!

So the night before I left to start my magical Disney year was spent packing and unpacking, desperately trying to ensure all luggage was within the required weight limits to avoid having to pay any excess weight charges. I was one stressed out chick, I can tell you that! We had an Indian takeaway for my last meal because I had heard a good quality Indian meal is hard to find in America apparently? But we shall see. 

When leaving your family for a year it is so hard to know what to do about leaving gifts/cards. I decided in the end to personalise a plate with a message that read 'See ya real soon' a quote Mickey Mouse often says. I felt this was appropriate as it wasn't a goodbye but rather a positive note about being able to see them again in January when they come to visit me :).

I'm super proud of how this plate turned out!

Then came the morning to leave, it was really weird sitting in the car thinking I'm not going to see any of my family for 6 months! Crazy. I was dreading the goodbye bit at the Airport, but once I had seen people in my arrival group already there, all looking pretty chilled my nerves chilled out and I suddenly decided right that's it, time for goodbyes and because it was all so quick I ended up having no time to really think about it so definitely helped and I wasn't left a blubbing mess. I just tried not to look too much in my family's eyes or I probably would have been a mess.

Ready to start my magical Disney year :D

My flight was scheduled for 11:30am but we were delayed several hours and didn't end up leaving until around 2:16pm. We spent the time though at the Wetherspoons in Stansted chilling out, some people grabbed breakfast but due to the anxiety I felt I couldn't eat a thing so stuck to the good old British staple, a mug of tea!   

Ready to board the plane!

Finally time to depart, I got a window seat - yay for photography but I was sat next to two strangers and separated from the group. BUT I was in luck there was a spare seat available near my arrival group so once we were in the air I was quick to change seats. 

Let's do this!

I was also happy to change seats as my screen in front of me was broken. Now that would be okay if it was a 4 hour flight, but 9 hours...hell no! Also I really want to know why was there a penguin on my screen?

Random penguin...why?!?!

 The flight was pretty bad, I won't go into all the boring details but let's just say at one point a 15 rated film was put on that was not suitable for kids. And the screens didn't fully work, but what did was the music selection so hello Britney Spears and Annie Lennox!

The plus for the flight was the food though. I haven't had the joy of plane food for ages, so this was a nice treat.

  

Yum!

Then we arrived at last, hello Orlando, Florida!!! 

 

 And at last we arrived at our hotel!

We arrived!

 Then of course the first American meal we had was a McDonald's...no judging please :P

Watch this space for my next post about the hotel and our first full day in the US of A and a post about moving in will be coming shortly.

Housing/DORMS Registration Completed

So on Tuesday evening the July 21st Arrival team received emails from Disney Housing to say housing registration is now open and we have 3 days in which to register our preferences to guarantee us a smooth moving in day. Now rather unfortunately this was a day when the internet at my house had cut out. Yikes! But thankfully it was back up and running and I could complete my registration on the Thursday.

It was a really tough decision as to what to place where. However, I knew exactly what my bottom choices would be which included, any apartment which only had 2 people in and bunk bed options. Other than that I'll make it work. They all have the good and bad bits, so all you can really hope for are wonderful flatmates and a lovely room mate. Because let's face it, we will still be living our dream so we can't be too picky as to where we get placed to live. To help me keep track of where I was placing my options I rather sadly printed them off, cut them up and put them in order. I felt like I was back at Primary School or something but it really helped me to visualise it better.

Once I have arrived there I hope to write a more detailed post about housing, as whilst I have read many blogs about housing I am by no means an expert. So keep your eyes peeled for that one.

and so the goodbyes have begun :(

I've known since November 25th that I will be going and obviously knew that when the time came to leave, goodbyes would be said. But no one can prepare you for this. Even with all the time I have had when it has come to saying bye to the people I love, most of whom I won't see again for a whole year, it's been tough. 

The goodbyes began about a month before I was due to get on the plane. It was a dual celebration for myself leaving for America and for my Auntie who has now retired. It was a lovely day, we went to this quaint little pub in the middle of nowhere, had wonderful food and my Dad had even gone out of his way to surprise both my Auntie and I with cakes for our celebrations! Also the waiter serving us told us that back in his youth he used to be a taxi person in the Tampa area of Florida and would drop people off at places such as Universal Studios and Walt Disney World. Small world hey! All in all we had a lovely time but surreal to think that will be the last time in a whole year where I'll be sat with the whole family...emosh!

My Family Leaving do :)
(I have blurred out my family's faces because I haven't asked their permission to be featured on my public blog).

Then it was time for the mini Canterbury/Trampolining reunion on the last weekend of June!! I say mini, because not everyone could make it unfortunately :(. So for those of you who don't know me, I went to the University of Kent, of course the best University there is ;) and whilst I was there I was part of the trampolining club. Go UKC Trampoline Team! We became quite a close knit group of friends at Trampolining and due to this we all make sure to keep in touch with one another on a fairly regular basis. We got to stay on campus as the students have all moved home for the summer, and we stayed at the brand new accommodation which was quite special. 

We had a fab time having cocktails and eating chocolate, a lotta lot of chocolate. If anyone has yet to visit Canterbury, be sure to check out the Chocolate Cafe! It's a firm favourite of ours!

Soooo good!

Also the lovely Tara and Sam bought me the best leaving present, six books of the Happily-ever after Stories of the Disney Princesses, haha I loved it! Also Tara has recently got back from a year studying in the U.S.A., so in my card she provided some useful hints and tips for my travels. Thank you Tara :D

Thank you Tara and Sam for this amazing gift!

Then came my last day at work. I have had the delight of meeting some lovely people whilst working there and most importantly I met the wonderful Jade. Jade has literally been my rock whilst I've been there. I don't care how cheesy that sounds because it is true. Whenever there was a tough day at work or a stressful situation arose, Jade would come to the rescue and always know the right things to say. Not only is she also the loveliest and hardworking person you could ever meet she is a fantastic friend and I am going to miss her a crazy amount. She's been with me throughout this whole application process for Disney and her confidence and belief in me that I could do this has certainly been a major help and support to me. 

   So because she is so lovely, she made sure I had a lovely last day at work. She organised for my pod/the admin team to provide some treats for us to munch on and I was not expecting there to be so much food, not that I was complaining ;P. Also thanks to all my lovely colleagues for contributing towards my leaving gifts and writing such lovely things in my card, it means alot, so thank you everyone, you know who you are ;)! We finished the day with a few drinks at the local and Jade and I had dinner there too.

Last but not least my best University friend Laura surprised me with what will be one of my most treasured memories ever, Afternoon Tea at The Ritz. There are no words to explain how grateful I am to have Laura as my friend and for her providing me with the best send off anybody could ever ask for. Laura has been there since I first applied for this once in a lifetime opportunity back in 2013 and I got rejected for it. She has now seen me go through the whole process this time and get accepted and she has been one of my biggest supporters for me doing this program. So big shout out to my friend Laura! We had a marvellous day and I welled up so much when the piano player who suddenly played a different tune and out came the waiter who presented me with a cake which said 'Good Luck in America' and he then proceeded to ask me whereabouts I was off to in the US. It quite literally was the icing on the cake on what had already been an amazing (and very British) experience to take away with me on my travels.

But really the goodbye I am most dreading is the Airport one with my parents and sister. I know that what will get me through that goodbye is knowing in 6 months time they'll be coming out to see me.

There is no better Disney quote that sums this up than from Winnie The Pooh:

My camera has arrived :D!!!!

Omg did I have problems with this being delievered or what? But I shall not bore you with all the details I promise. I am just over the moon that it is now here :D!

This also means if and I emphasise the if because, if I am feeling brave I may try to vlog my time out there. Obviously it won't be every day/week but I will try to do one a month, but going from previous people's experience this might just not be possible due to how busy I will be out there. Also I've never vlogged before so I'm currently somewhat camera shy and hate the sound of my own voice so we'll see how it goes. As they say, watch this space ;)

Two weeks to go!!