The end of September

I know, I'm really bad at updating, but I have the day off to try and catch up.

Last Saturday I had the day off, so I went to Animal Kingdom with Tracey!

As to be expected, we started off the day with Kilimanjaro's Safari... which was amazing! I got this very close up picture of a mother and baby giraffe...
An awesome shot of this elephant...
And LOTS of photo's of these rhino's. You see, when the animals cross over into the path of the trucks, they have to stop and wait for them to get out of the road. The animals know this, and so they enjoy chilling out in the middle of the road so that our tour really does take two weeks! Clearly, these rhino's were having fun making us wait.
We then headed to Everest, and since the line was so short, we waited for the front. If you ever get the chance to wait for the front it is definitely worth it. I'm not usually scared of this ride, I've been on it about a dozen times, but I was freaking out! It's SO much better at the front! For our picture, of course we did the Canadian moose ears!
Then we grabbed some lunch (beef on a bun... mmmm) and headed over to Dinosaur. Again, this is a ride that usually scares me a little but not too much. Not with Tracey... umm... let's just say this picture is not posed and we were like this for most of the ride.
So, to prove we weren't chicken (and because we had a fast pass) we went on Everest again... this time at the very back!

After Animal Kingdom we decided to go to Cast Connection and Property Control (stores with discounted items for Cast Members)... but only after spending a good half an hour wandering around the AK Parking Lot looking for my car. Because we didn't take the tram, we didn't pay attention to what section we were parked in.... I will never make that mistake again! Cast Connection (old discounted merchandise) is awesome. There's tons of stuff on sale, and all of it's perfectly good... just out of season! Property Control has damaged items or things found in the parks (like sunglasses)... you can definitely find some good deals, though. Tracey got a Pal Mickey really cheap just because the belt clasp was broken... and those things are really too heavy to clasp to your belt anyway!

Next, we met up with Rae and Alainna at Hollywood Studios. We went on Rockin' Rollercoaster, and Tower of Terror and then Rae and Alainna went to their reservations at Mamma Melrose's while Tracey and I went on Toy Story Mania. She won. I seriously need to improve my 'skillz' on that ride.

Afterwards we met up and watched Fantasmic. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the wind direction so the mist kept hitting us... with the wind and the chilly evening it was almost cold. The first time I've felt cold in Florida (so far)!

Sunday I had Food and Wine (F&W) training from 8am-2:30pm. It was a lot of presentations which gave us a basic overview of the festival. We also got the Responsible Vendor Program / "Fear of God" talk from D.J. again. Basically... Don't serve underaged guests. Be careful, if you're unsure... ID! If you don't, there's a big price to pay. Overall, F&W seems like a lot of fun. A lot of today was review, but at least Meaghan and Ashley were there with me!

After work I went to the House of Blues with Rae and Alainna. I've always been told it's a good place to go on Sunday nights, but I've never been. It wasn't too bad. It's two floors with a big dance floor and a huge stage (it's also a concert venue). It's basially a club, with dance music, so if you're in the mood for a very busy club it's awesome. Fun, but not exactly where I'd want to go every week. Later in the night I met up with Tracey and James, and we headed home together.

Monday was my day off, so I slept in, and relaxed. In the afternoon I went to MK to meet up with Rae and Alainna on their final day. We went on Thunder and Space Mountain, and then it started to pour. We shopped for a bit, and then I dropped them off at their reservation and said goodbye. Those girls are fun, and I can't wait to hang out with them when I'm back in Hamilton! I left the MK and headed to Property Control, where I picked up a couple of things... surprises for people! Then I headed to choir rehearsal, which was a sectional for just the sopranos and altos. It was really nice and very helpful to be able to work through the parts in more detail. I didn't end up going to girls... I find I'm not really in the mood for drinking/partying after singing religious and christmas songs for an hour and a half. Go figure.

Tuesday I relaxed, and then Tracey and I headed to Universal for the afternoon. We managed to do most of the rides in the "Studios" park, and then went on Dueling Dragons, Ripsaw Falls, and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barge a couple of times. Do I even need to say that we came home soaked? We did.

But I guess what most people would want an updat on is the new Simpson's Ride! It was my first time in the park since the ride opened! The ride replaces what used to be "Back to the Future"... but to be honest, I wish they'd kept it. I mean, the building is awesome the stuff amusing you in the cue line is hilarious, but I found the storyline/movie wasn't as good and the screen was blurry. It kinda made me sick. Still, it was fun, and I'd probably do it again! Here are some pictures of the ride area for you... it does look amazing!

Wednesday I had more F&W training, this time from 7:30am-4pm. An early, but long day! A lot of the stuff was repeat from what I'd learned in other classes: how to open a bottle of wine, tap a keg, and work a POS, so it wasn't too interesting. Still, we found out what was on the menu at our pavillion (Maple Glazed Salmon, Cheddar Cheese Soup, and a Maple Custard... along with Chateau de Charmes Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot, and Vidal Ice Wine), and we got a brief walking tour of the festival. After work I went to rehearsal... I was only supposed to be at the 5:30 rehearsal, but I was having so much fun, and learnign so much that I decided to stay for the 7:30 one as well. I know you don't get extra credit for it, but I love to sing. I know, I'm a nerd but it makes me really happy! After rehearsal was Tracey's throw in! I get to be her big sister... I'm SOOOOOOOO excited! I've never had a little sister before!

Thursday was the soft opening and Cast preview for the Food and Wine Festival. I only worked from 4-10pm, so I spent the morning cleaning and doing other chores. When I got to work it was kind of crazy. They told us it would be "organized chaos"... well they weren't lying about the chaos. No one's matra numbers (the number that lets you sign into the computer) were working, so we couldn't relieve them on cash and they ended up working late. Eventually one of the managers just signed me in with his number. Since the kiosks all closed an hour early (8pm not 9pm) Ashley and I were done early. We wanted the full hours, though, so went around to booths looking for something to do to help. When I finally got home, I was pretty tired, and just went to sleep.

Friday was the Grand Opening of F&W! I got my matra number, so since I was one of the few people with one I was on cash all day! Really, I don't mind working cash at all, it went by SUPER fast. I worked 6 hours without even noticing it! When I got home, I immediately started getting ready to go out. I'd booked dinner at Ohana's for 12 people that night! 10 people ended up coming out (including myself): Tracey, Allie, Kyla, Erin, Jenica, Rebecca, Chelsea, Billy, and Theresa. We had so fun!

We were there pretty early, so Erin, Tracey and I just wandered around the Polynesian. I can't remember ever being there before so it was really neat! They have the most gorgeous pool.

Everyone was on-time and we were able to sit down at our table just as Hallo-Wishes was starting. They played the music in the restaurant and we got to watch the fireworks over the castle from across the lagoon. It was so beautiful.

Dinner was spectacular... I'll get into the food next, but of course, we also had to have drinks. These were absolutely delicious! Dinner consisted of... pineapple bread, salad with a honey-lime dressing, chicken wings, pork dumplings, teriyaki vegetables, spicy egg noodles, grilled steak, pork, turkey, and shrimp... oh yeah.. and dessert. It was so filling. The atmosphere was wonderful too. You could watch them cooking all the meat over the flames at the grill, just by our table!
All the meat was served on these big skewers and the server would come and give you a couple of pieces (or more if you could eat it)
Dessert was a hawaiian pudding with ice cream on top. As this picture shows, it was delicious, and didn't last very long on the table!After dinner, Tracey and I just had to get our pictures taken in our Hawaiian dresses by the tiki head. I love my little sis!
Then we were trying to walk back to the TTC (Ticket and Transportation Centre) to get a bus home, but ended up taking a more scenic route along the beach. It was so wonderful to walk in the sand by the Seven Seas Lagoon, and see the Castle in the distance. I love living in Florida!

We did end up making it home, and I had a wonderfully relaxing evening... I had to... I couldn't move I was so full!

Saturday I had my first long shift. I worked 12:30-10pm. Really, the time flew by. I was mostly on cash, but sometimes I was a "floater" (half line busting, half in the kiosk). I did get to serve some awesome people, though. Jim Mc Phee (the VP of Epcot) and his friend came through the Canada pavillion! When he came up I thought he looked familiar but couldn't place him, then his friend kept joking about who he was with "a great guy, who's done so much for me", "you know this guy's pretty far up there in Epcot"... and before he could say "you know, his name is on your paycheck's" it clicked. I just kept smiling like it was any other guest, but kind of freaking out on the inside. It was awesome. As they were leaving his friend said "Keep smiling, Jenn, you're very pretty when you smile!". It definitely made my day!

At the end of my shift I compiled all of the cash and reciepts, but no one ever came to take me to Germany. At 9:50pm a leader came over just to check that everything was done, and said that everyone had already gone with their money. He had to call for someone else to walk with me. I ended up walking to Germany with 4 POS's, printers, battaries, and all the reciepts and money in a milk crate... without a cart! It was VERY heavy and tore up my hands... and if you don't already know Germany (even in Epcot) is a LONG way from Canada, it's the other side of the world showcase. It was a very long, hard, walk, and now I have a nice bruise, from where the milk crate kept hitting my leg as I walked. It's gigantic and turning pinky-purple... ick. Doesn't hurt, but looks gross!

I clocked out in Germany at 10:14 (just before my 15 minute "float" time was up) but then had to walk to Canada to get my purse. Then I went to Cast Services, got changed, and left Epcot around 11pm for my run to Walmart. I finally got home from Walmart around midnight... an absolutely exhausting day. Still, I did manage to get a tub of chocolate chip Hagen Daaz at for $3... I'm SO excited, I definitely earned it! I would have bought more since it's on sale... but that's just dangerous! I'd probably eat them all tooo quickly.

Sunday I worked 10:30-4pm. This is a really easy shift, because you're done so early... but still, I was SO tired from the day before! I came home, watched tv and movies and relaxed... I love movies!

Monday I worked 3:45-10pm. I mainly worked cash, but I was in the kiosk a little. It's fun working in the kiosk, because there's so many enthusiastic people, but it definitely hurts your voice after awhile of so much yelling! It was a very easy night, but still, I came home and just watched movies... ha ha, I've been so lazy lately.

Tuesday (yesterday!) I worked from 4-10pm... another great shift! I love these shifts because they are so easy, and allow for a lazy morning! It was a pretty easy night, but after I walked the money to Germany I had to come back because the kiosk wasn't fully cleaned for the night. It was a good thing, though, because I've only ever really done cash, so at least now I know what to do!

Well, that's it for September. Yes, I know that means it's now October. Yes, I know what that means... I'm half ignoring it though, so I'll have to blog about that later ;).