Big Update Part 2

Here is the rest of my big update... better late than never!

Sunday was another lazy day! I spent most of it relaxing around my apartment, but I still made a Walmart run with Kristen. On our way there, it started pouring rain. We tried to hide in the car and wait for the rain to stop, but it never really did. We had a close parking spot but by the time we got into the store we were drenched.


Monday was my last day of popcorn training... stocking. It's pretty fun, not too difficult, it's just not fun having to clean up everything at the end of the night. It wasn't bad with 3 people, but I wouldn't want to do it by myself. As soon as I got home I got ready for Canadian Girls night! It was 80's prom themed. Everyone looked absolutely amazing and we spent some time at Commons before heading to Sun on the Beach (SOB) a bar in Old Town. I had such an amazing time. Everyone is so nice and friendly, you will never feel left out with this group!



Tuesday was my first official day of work by myself! I opened the popcorn cart by myself for the first time! I wasn't quite sure what to do, but the managers and other Canadian F&Bs were really helpful, always answering my questions with a smile and never making me feel like an inconvenience or a bad employee because I didn't know everything. Overall my shift went really well. No problems, and I had a lot of fun!

Wednesday I opened popcorn cart again. It was a good thing I knew what I was doing a little more because our new Leader, Janice, shadowed me. It was kind of nervewracking (after all, it was only my 2nd day!) but she was so nice and not intimidating at all! I'm definitely looking forward to working with her! She even showed us a new way of bouring the Unibrou beers that makes them foam less! That night was the throw-in for the new Canadians! There was only 1 merch, and 1 f&b (it was a small arrival group) so the throw-in went by fast. It was really neat to be on the other side of the throw-in welcoming new people!

Thursday was Social Security day! We had to be on the bus at 6:15am! We went to the office, filled out all the forms and we should have our social security number soon. Definitely, try to get on the first bus if you have to go because then you finish sooner and can go home and sleep. I slept until 1:30pm. Then I went to Walmart to grab electric beaters, and made a cake for our Family dinner at Emily & Patricia's. It was delicious! Finally, I ended up at Bennigan's for Mark's final day, it was a lot of fun, and I got to learn A LOT about some of my UK friends!

Friday morning was Candlelight signups! The module on the hub opened at 8am, so I made sure to sign on before that. Only the first 300 people that sign up for each vocal part are accepted. I have to check back on the 8th to see if I was accepted. I'm definitely nervous and excited! Then I went into work as floater on the popcorn cart. I was working with Kristen, Amanda, and Eric from my arrival group. I love working with my arrival group, we make such a great team, and they are so much fun to be around! Since I worked until 9pm I got to watch Illuminations again. Have I said how much I love my job?!

Saturday I started work at Le Cellier! I trained in AM Seating. I found it kind of slow seating in the morning. There were so many people there wasn't always something to do, and since I haven't had training I couldn't help clear tables. I must say I do love the guest interaction, though. As a seater your job is to talk to guests, quiz them on Canadian trivia, and pin trade. How awesome is that?! After work Kristen, Janna, Jenica and I went to Hollywood studios, got some ice cream and went on Rockin' Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. I love those rides and I don't think I'll ever get tired of just zipping to a park on my day off, or after work. It's awesome. We didn't get to watch Fantasmic, though. We forgot there was only one show and by the time we realized it there was only standing room available. Next time, next time!

Sunday was Greeter Training! This means that you are the first person to greet the guests and you check them in on our Table Management System. It's a pretty good job, though it means that you don't get to just talk with the guests as much. Also, it means you have to turn away a lot of people since we rarely take walk-ins. That is my least favourite part of the job, but at least we are able to offer help in making reservations at any other Walt Disney World Restaurant!

Monday was Stocker training! Stocking is a very busy job, there's always something to do, but that's good because at least I got to feel very helpful and productive! Not much guest interaction though, which is disappointing. Still, clearing and setting tables is great practice for service! After work was Canadian Girls Initiations! It was so much fun. Can't give out too many details, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for people!

Tuesday (today) was my last day of training! I worked as a PM seater and it was SO much fun! I got into work and both Alysha (my trainer) and I were feeling like we needed some food. Then a guy walks into the break room and says "we have some chocolate mousse out here if you wants some." Did I ever! For future reference, the mousse at Le Cellier is fantastic... as is all of our food! So then we started work. Since I'd already done a seating shift there wasn't much I needed to be trained on. It was awesome because it meant I got to do a lot of work on my own. I was seating tables, talking to guests, getting them water, or giving them their kids menu's early so the children could colour while they waited. It was incredible. I can't even describe how much I love my job, and how happy it makes me. But then the night got even better. As Alysha and I were finishing up our folder work Jeff, the manager came in and handed me this card. I looked down and it was a Guest Fanatic card with my name on it! These cards are given to recognize great guest service and can be filled out by Cast Members or Guests. It says I was recognized for "Multiple Guest comments tonight about your service. Excellent Job" and was filled out by my manager! I was SO happy to hear this. It's amazing! They have a slogan "I can make a difference" and today I got confirmation that I did! I improved Guest's visits and made people happy. I don't know if I could ask for anything more!

What I did on Thursday (and Friday)...

So Thursday's presentations consisted of more forms to fill out, as well as information on your visa, and Partners (the Disney bank). The picture to the right is a slide from the Visa presentation... she was describing all of the things "aliens" can do to get kicked out of the country. So cute. After the Partners presentation you're given the chance to sign up for an account and direct deposit. There aren't many fees and the account comes with a visa check card (as good as a visa, but you can only spend money you have) and they set it all up for you, so it sounds good to me! Leaving the presentations we had to meet with people on the "Disney Look". Basically, you go to talk to one of the employees and they'll tell you if there's anything you need to change to fit into the guidelines. I fit, so there's nothing I need to do.

After the presentations the Canadian girls went to Olive Garden for lunch. Then, another Walmart trip. I needed to exchange the phone I'd bought on Wednesday. I was able to do that (and set the phone up) and I love it. It's definitely nice being able to have a cordless phone, and now we have an answering machine!

Thursday night is Bennigan's night, so we started got together and went over. There are some GREAT quotes from that night. We met some very interesting people on the bus to Vista Way, and amazing people at the bar. It' was basically filled with Canadian and UK Cast Members... and they are all so nice!

I ended up crashing that night on Casey's couch, but woke up really early (which is good because today (Friday) is our day off... and my chance to get all my car stuff organized). Emily and I left bright and early to get our drivers licenses. It was about a 50 minute drive to the licensing office and then we had to wait since we didn't have an appointment. It all went well, though, and my Florida license will arrive in the mail soon! I'll make sure to take a picture of it!

Next we thought we could get our plates, but we didn't have our Florida insurance, yet. It took us so long to find the place. We ended up asking for directions at a UPS store, which sent us to another drivers license place, which gave us the directions to the correct office. We saw Alex (and Susie) there too, he's trying to get everything sorted out for his car as well.

It's all very confusing... no one's quite sure what's required to get your Florida plates. Hopefully we'll all get it sorted out Monday. I came back and got my car insurance from Progressive. It was also fairly confusing, I was getting horrible rates because I had put the wrong information in on for my previous insurance. Fortunately, the lady on the phone was very nice and was able to cut the insurance price down!

Tonight we are off to Downtown Disney to watch Wall-E. I still haven't seen it yet and I'm definitely excited, especially to be going with such an amazing group of people! I still can't believe I'm actually here in Florida, working for Disney, and living out my dream. My experience so far has surpassed all my expectations. I knew that I'd find amazing friends, but I didn't know that half my arrival group would be so close, and so amazing! They make me laugh so much. Everyone is incredibly friendly. At Bennigan's everyone just introduces themselves, and starts talking to you! There's no cliques and there's no way anyone would ever be left out! It is going to be an incredible year!

I still have to take pictures of Commons and my apartment. Hopefully, I'll have some time off soon when it's not raining so that I can walk around and take some pictures/video. The Commons is really nice, it's like living in a resort... you definitely have to see it!

Day 2!

Shortly after I finished my blog yesterday my new roommate moved in! Her name is Tina, she's from Norway and is going to be living in bedroom 1 with me! We didn't stay up too long, because we knew we'd have to be up at the clubhouse really early.

Despite the fact that I didn't go to sleep until almost 3am, I still woke up at 7. I tried to sleep until 8am again, and then got ready for our orientation sessions. They were pretty basic, filling out employment forms, then finding out about the Housing rules and the long list of stuff you can do to get terminated. We also got our Commons Housing ID, which requires a picture, so those of you arriving soon remember to have the Disney look (and a look you want photographed) on Wednesday morning!

When the sessions were done, we went outside to catch the tail end of the pool party! It was Hawaiian themed, and as you can almost tell from this picture, even Mickey and Minnie were dressed up! There was a huge line for the pictures, and I was quite content with my free food, so this is as close as I got.

After the pool party was another Walmart run to grab everything that I'd forgotten. On the way to Walmart, Emily and I saw a whole group of policemen on horses. We weren't sure why they were in the Commons... maybe the pool party was getting a little too rowdy!

Emily suggested that we should make t-shirts for our throw-in so we got everything we needed for that at Walmart, as well as a couple of other things. After Walmart I started to set up my room more. I'll make sure to take pictures (or a video) of it soon (once everything is organized) as well as pictures of Commons and my roommates. It's been pretty busy/tiring and the weather hasn't been the greatest so I haven't been able to take many pictures.

Around 8pm Emily, Janna, Kristen, Patricia, and I got together to make the t-shirts. As you can see from our photo, they looked AMAZING. We put our names on the back with our home town underneath and on the front they had a Canadian flag and "It's Hotter in July". So true.

Our throw in was at 10pm. I can't give any details away, but it was amazing and is definitely something to be excited (not scared) for. NO PRESSURE whatsoever as all of the Canadians are just one big family and everyone is incredibly nice!

Today I'm off to more orientation sessions at 12:30pm. I think these are more work-oriented, but we also have the Disney Bank presentation so you can set up direct deposit, etc... I'll post more later!

Day One at the Commons!

This morning I got up at 7, but dozed in and out of sleep until 8. I didn't want to wake up too early, because I knew I wasn't supposed to be at Vista Way until noon. I got ready very slowly, and tried to watch TV to keep myself occupied. Fortunately, there was a Fraser marathon to watch! At around 11am my dad and I packed what we'd moved into the room into my car and then sat around for awhile. Finally, I got to leave for Vista Way around 11:30am. It was definitely sad leaving my dad but I was so happy to be moving in, I was actually crying in the car.

I got to Vistay way easily but had troubles finding the welcome centre... Iwent to the clubhouse instead! I eventually found my way and met a girl named Angela and her husband. They met in the CRP program in 2005 and since have worked at Disneyland in Hong Kong. Now they are doing the program again! We've been chatting online, and so when I met her in person she gave me a picture frame from Hong Kong Disney's It's a Small World. It is such a cute picture frame!

So, for all of you who have yet to arrive: when you first arrive you go to the welcome centre and there are incredibly nice Cast Members there to greet you. You watch a really short video and are given a package with your schedule, room key, and all the forms/information you need along with a bag full of food and goodies to get you through the first little while. Then you are given a ride to your housing complex. For me, I followed the van in my own car. After that, you're on your own to move into your room.

I tried to find my apartment (2328), but parked on the wrong side of building 23 to begin with. Eventually I found it, and then had a fun struggle with the door, spending about 5 minutes trying to open it. It's not easy! Then Casey came and we moved everything in and chatted while I unpacked.

We went for lunch with Emily to the Ale House, which was absolutely delicious, and then came back and Emily and I went to get our temporary parking passes. Afterwards, Casey and I went back to my place for wine and rockband, but there were no plugs for rockband in the TV in my apartment. I guess I might have to buy a TV! Then Janna (from Calgary) came over to chat!

Next was our Walmart adventure! We went to Emily's and were all ready in the car when we saw two people walking with suitcases (in the rain). I waved and said "hi" and the guy yelled "Jenn?"... aparently he recognized me from the Facebook group! So Casey and I helped the guy move in (we never really met the girl, but she was from Italy... maybe I'll meet her tomorrow). "The guy" was Gary from the UK! I drove him around to find some of his friends (who were going to cab it to Walmart) and then ended up driving Gary and another UK guy Nathan to Walmart.

Walmart was HUGE, and took quite some time to go through. I mainly bought snacks and some stuff to make a cake. I also took a lot of hilarious photos which will be uploaded to facebook. If you don't have me on facebook, you should add me! I'm definitely going to have to go back, because I forgot some of the things I'll need (like toilet paper). At Walmart we met up with Meaghan (from Nova Scotia). She'd taken a taxi there so I offered to drive her home. We'd all bought a lot of stuff, but fortunately everything fit in my car!

When I came back in two of my roommates were just cooking dinner so I got to chat with Paola from Italy and Yvonne from Hong Kong. Ambar from Indonesia came in later, but I didn't really get to chat with her.

After a little relaxing the Canadian gals headed to Casey's for some excellent Rockband and even better Sing Star (breaking some unbelievable records)! Afterwards, I came back to my apartment, chatted with Casey and then got to have a nice heart to heart with Yvonne! My roommates seem really nice (and the air conditioning is set to a good level) so I'm really happy!

Tomorrow is the Housing orientation (rules, getting your ID, etc) at 9:30am but I should be done by 1pm! Not sure what I'm going to do after.... but I'm sure it will be fun! Keep you updated... ttys!