A Rose Is Still A Rose

Today felt so long. I woke up about 9 and went to Animal Kingdom with Megan from work. We caught the Lion King show and went on Everest before I had to leave for Epcot. What I love about Disney is all the random people you meet. I met a girl called Alissa in the line for Everest and all her dads ancestors were from Wales so they were excited to talk to me. Americans seem quite infactuated by a British accent. I can't complain though. It's nice to be interesting to other people haha.

I met some really cool kids today at work also. A brother/sister from the UK. They were probably 7 and 8 and they reminded me of the two kids from Mary Poppins. I gave them both a certificate with 'Coolest UK Kid' on it... that was my invented magical moment of the day and they were so excited by them so it was all good.

I also dealt with my first poncho rush. It poured it down today so suddenly everyone wanted to buy ponchos from me. When one lady tried to push in I thought a fight was going to break out haha. There was a line of about 20 people so it got kind of intense.

By 5 o clock I was feeling pretty ill though and feeling sorry for myself. But I probably asked for it by not letting myself have too much sleep all week. I went to 'Buffalo Wild Wings' last night and sang for the first time stateside at karaoke. It was good fun and nice to release some tension. I also ventured back to Walmart. I'm not as overwhelmed anymore. The first trip there practically made me want to cry it was so impossible to know what I wanted to buy haha. If you haven't ever been to a Walmart... think of an Asda supercentre times by three... and you're almost there haha.

I feel kind of broken today so I'm going to go sleep on it now and look forward to a new day tomorrow.

Settled Better

It's late but I know I didn't write anything for a while and felt I needed to. Things are going good for me. I got added to 'Art of Disney' at Epcot so I now work there in addition to pins and 'Club Cool' which is awesome because it's a really interesting store to work at.

I took my own advice of 'fufilment comes with taking risks' and I decided to move out of the apartment of six I was with. They were great guys but I never felt like I was going to connect too well with any of them... and that apartment was kind of mess to the extreme I never ate there. I lucked out and now live in a wicked apartment with three americans. They are really awesome people so big shout out to them!

I did finally get a room mate in the old apartment. He was a Brazilian guy called Danilo. I bonded pretty well with him but because he was on an older UCF programme he is actually leaving in April so he wouldn't have been my roomie for long anyway!

I've had a few down moments the past few days. Not because I'm especially sad about anything... just thinking about too much... over analyzing... which I often have the tendency to do. I guess part of me is already sad to know I'll be leaving a lot of great memories and people behind when I have to move on from Disney.

I had an early shift today so spent the afternoon and evening in Magic Kingdom. It was awesome. I got to ride Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain a fair few times... we got soaked.

The Curse of the Caribbean 1 + 2

Adventure One

So on Thursday after a day at Animal Kingdom/Epcot me and Drew left Rahila and Chris to go to Downtown Disney. And so the adventure began...

We excited Epcot through the world showcase to come out at a resort so we could get a bus to Downtown. Drew was convinced Downtown was close so naturally we thought we could walk there... half hour later we were at some random Disney mini golf place and the lights Drew thought were Downtown were actually Hollywood Studios. Still... he was convinced we were close... so on we trek... first we pass two old men and one of them farts on us (rank right?!) and then we start our trek down some random highway. We get to a random swamp and I'm shitting myself because I think there is an aligator in there that is going to chase us down the highway. Then I'm hearing grasshoppers... and a frog jumps out on us. Then... the sidewalk ends and we're literally trekking through grass and I'm not liking the idea of a snake attacking me. Then... more swamps, a few random honks from drivers... and we think we're gonna get shot. After about an hour we get to Caribbean Beach Resort. Drew dubs us lost so we take the safe option of going into the resort and getting a bus to Downtown. We finally arrive at Downtown!

Adventure Two

Me and Kim miss the bus home from Downtown so we think we should get a shuttle to the Caribbean hotel to get a bus there back to Vista. We get off at the resort and discover the hotel is more like a community (huuuuuuuge!). It is the size of my village back home I swear. Some random chinese guy tells us the check in is 'far far far'. So we go over a long bridge and we wander for what feels like five hours (through 'Barbados' and 'Africa') before eventually finding the front desk. Kim who had decided to roll down the hill then discovered she had dropped her phone so after some more endless wandering we find it and go back to front desk. They tell us where the bus is and a kind bus driver drives us to cast service which ironically was near where we started walking from. It's midnight by this point and I have to get up early. Then back at Vista, naturally I don't go to bed - I go to visit Drew and Rich instead and we play guitar and sing random songs. Save Tonight! I got five hours sleep if that. Today is a long day... and I'm apparently getting a room mate today. Exciting times. Even though I'm planning on moving appartments in a week I'm still nervous about them. I've been told they are Brazilian.

Conclusion... when things go wrong... the Caribbean Beach Resort is probably close by

The End

The Work Begins...

So I'm working at Epcot in 'Future World'. I am at 'Club Cool' (the place where you get to try all the different coca cola products from around the world) and 'Pin Central'. I was a bit disappointed at first at not being put somewhere more *Disney* but I've come to realise I've got it quite good. There are a lot worse places to be... at least I get to rotate a few things. Plus when I voiced my concern I was told it was a possibility for me to be added to 'Art of Disney' aswell which is very cool.

After going to Animal Kingdom for the first time yesterday I've come to realise every park here has it's own unique atmosphere. Epcot feels quite 'triumphant' and because it has that cultural element I'm finding guests love talking to me and finding out all about where I've come from.

I went to Animal Kingdom with a UK friend (Rahila) and a new friend Chris who said he would be happy to take Rahila around Epcot/Animal Kingdom. I tagged along and we had the best day! I really enjoyed Test Track at Epcot and then Mount Everest at Animal Kingdom won't be forgotten in a hurry. I didn't know what to expect so I was slightly scared. Get off the ride and you can imagine the photograph... sat next to me is a 7 year old with his hands in the air. Then there's me with my mouth wide open looking like I'm crying. Haha.

The UCF experience has been very good so far. It looks like the food could get quite repetitive (pizza or hamburger?) but at least it's included which is good. Some of my housemates decided to bring loads of people back to the appartment at 3am last night though so I didn't get too much sleep. In my Event class I was almost falling asleep. Today though we got into groups to start planning our 'Event Project'. We will work on that on the upcoming weeks and present it to the class in the final weeks. Wine class was hilarious as always. I'm so glad I took that. The beer and wine lab they have there is the best thing you'll ever see at a university I swear!

I finished off the day by going to the premium outlet mall near Commons. It was wicked! I got some proper bargains from Tommy Hillfiger, Gap and Skechers (even though mum warned me from buying stuff... I have enough apparently haha). I also tried Taco Bell which I really enjoyed. Didn't feel like it was clogging up my insides anyway like it does when you eat McDonalds haha. And most importantly... we found a Starbucks! Me and Rahila were quite pleased about that... and it's quite close so I'm going to be hanging out there a lot I think haha.

I don't want to write too much more because this is already getting too long but I just watched new Lost... woo hoo. I attach some photos from a few park visits I did already.