Disney Dream to the Bahamas!

29/11/12

After being ill for the last few days our cruise day finally came round. Six of us booked to go on the Disney Dream for three nights, just $260 each, a bargain! We had a day at the Bahamas and a day at Disneys own Castaway Cay and then came back on the 2nd December. I still had my cold which sucked but I wasn't gonna miss out on the cruise! Some other Ukers were going on it too so we all shared a taxi to Port Canaveral. I've never been on a cruise before and had no idea what to expect. It was incredible. The ship is so big and there's so much to do. We checked in and found our rooms. Me, Kate and Amy had a really nice room that was on the back corner of the boat so it was bigger than I was expecting. Chloe and the two Nathans had the same room but one deck higher. Kate and Amy booked excursions whilst me, Chloe and the boys checked out the pool deck and started on the free food. The best thing about the cruise was it was all inclusive. So at lunchtime there were various quick service places and the restuarants had buffet service and you could have as much as you wanted. Room service as also free so we had endless cookies! Dinner was in a different restaurant each night and your servers were the same as they rotated restaurants with you. Before dinner was a boardway style show and the first night it was called Golden Mickeys. I had never been on a ship before but people had told me you don't really feel the boat move. They lie. After it left the port you could feel it a bit but when we were getting ready for dinner it felt like I was drunk and the room was rocking! We had dinner at Artists Pallette and it was lovely. I had butternut squash soup which was really tasty but with the boat moving I wasn't feeling too good and went to bed early!

The next day we docked at Nassau in the Bahamas. We headed for breakfasr which was amazing as there was soo much food. I wanted to take it home. Amy and Kate had booked an excursion around the Atlantis hotel so me Chloe and the Nathans explored Nassau. When you walk through the market there was soo many people trying to sell you excursions and things. We took a look at the beach and had a little paddle but it was very windy. The sea was gorgeous though and clear blue. About 3 other ships had docked so the place was quite busy. We took a look the the shops and Chloe and I were in heaven as we found Starbucks! They really are everywhere. And we both bought a Starbucks Bahamas mug. Then we found a really cute Christmas store and got a decoration each. We headed back to the ship for lunch which was a buffet and we had soo much. There was all kinds of meat, pizza and pasta and so many deserts including apple crumble and ice cream. We headed to the pool to sunbathe and there is a water slide that goes around the top deck and out over the side of the boat. The boys went on it but then it started raining so we headed to the adult only hottubs that had a see through floor. Later when the girls were back we got ready for dinner and watched the show which was Villains themed and I thought it was the best one. We ate at the Enchanted Garden and me and Chloe reaslied we should order as many appetisers and mains as we want as its free! So we each had two appetisers and she had two mains. Cruise life is the best! There was a pirate party and fireworks on the top deck and then me, Kate and Amy headed to the front of the boat where there were sofas that noone ever seemed to go on and it was nice and quite. I could barely feel the boat moving that night it was so much better. We went to one of the bars that had kareoke and then chilled in the skyline bar where the skyline on the wall changes.

On Saturday we docked at Castaway Cay and the view when we looked out the window was incredible. The weather was so much better than at Nassau and after having breakfast outside overlooking the island we headed out to sunbathe. It wasn;t that busy and we got a good spot on the beach. Food was buffet style again and there was all sorts of burgers, chicken, flatbread and cookies. The boys hired jet skis which sounded amazing and us girls sunbathed and floated in the sea with the assortment of tubes and lilos we hired. It was only about 25 degrees but not bad for the 1st of December! The boat was due to leave at 5pm so we headed back at about 4.30 and were pretty much the last people on the beach, we wanted to make the most of it. Got chatting to the life guards on the way back and they live on the island which must be incredible. We went to the top deck to watch the sun set as we left the island. That night some of us skipped the show as we didn't think it was that good. Dinner was at the Royal Palace and this time I had two starters and three desserts, including escargot! Couldn't work out if I liked them or not but I had about 4 or 5. We were absolutly stuffed after dinner and characters came out to say goodbye as it was our last night so we got some pictures with them. Then we all looked around the stores and spent the rest of the night on the top deck with blankets. By about midnight when we headed back inside I got really seasick and felt awful as it felt like the boat was moving so much. It's the weirdest feeling to describe!

On Sunday we docked at about 7am and had to be at breakfast at 8am and ready to leave the ship. None of us wanted to leave as we had such a good time. We all had post holiday blues even though we were going home to Disney World. I really want to do another cruise but for longer. The free food was definitely one of the best bits! Me and Amy chilled at Downtown Disney as everyone that didn't have to go to work went to Mickeys Christmas Party. Then we spent the evening with Mars watching The Notebook and of course were in tears at the end of it wanting our own Noah!

Black Friday Madness and Mickeys Very Merry!

21/11/12


A load of us were scheduled for a 9am start today as we had Kit Heath come in who designs the jewelry that we sell. We had free food and drink and watched a little presentation about the jewelery so we know more about it to tell guests. Then Kit came and we all had Christmas crackers which was so much fun and hilarious as our managers had no idea what they were as they don't have crackers out here. One of my managers thought we were having the crackers that you eat! It was a fun morning and we all got to choose a ring from his collection which was nice so I have the one with the Celtic hearts.

22/11/12

So today was Thanksgiving and it was fun to see how they celebrate it. In the morning I went to Sammie and Beckys for breakfast and we hung out and watched Macys Parade on tv which was fun. Of course we said what we were thankful for an I'm definitely thankful to be out here and have this opportunity! Then we headed to Epcot as work were having free food in our managers trailer. As I don't really like Christmas Dinner and that's what Thanksgiving dinner is I ate mostly desserts. Had pumpkin pie which is soo tasty. I got my form signed to say I could leave the country and go on a cruise next week (bahamas woo!) and then a group of us headed to try and get on Test Track as they were having cast previews. Unfortunately it was down so we headed to Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney for some food before heading out for Black Friday shopping!

So the Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday as shops have major sales and open really early. The Florida Mall was opening at midnight so we decided to go there but went to Walmart first as they started some of their sales at 8pm. I've never seen anything like it! There were DVDS and video games at amazing prices and they were on stands throughout the store and shrink wrapped until someone cut them open at 8. There were also loads of kids toys and electrical items on  offer. They had maps of where things were in the store and basically you stood next to what you wanted to get and waited until they cut the plastic at 8! There was a queue for the games as that was sectioned off and Kerry and Nathan stayed there whilst me and Chloe were queuing for the DVDs. And to make it worse the crowds of people are queuing down the aisles as normal folk are trying to do their weekly shop! It was hilarious! They were advertising the new Brave on Blu-ray for $10 and loads of people wanted that. As soon as they opened the plastic it was insane everyone was just grabbing everything! I got The Hunger Games for $10 and The Lucky One for $5, there were loads of Blu Rays cheap I wanted but not much point as I can't watch them till I get home! No one found Brave and so people were annoyed that they advertised it. As we were leaving there was this huge queue and it was for a 60'' TV that was really cheap. We drove towards the Florida Mall and past a Best Buy which had a huge queue waiting for it to open. Then we saw a Super Target and the queue for that was insane!

We got to the Florida Mall and saw people were queuing outside and it was freezing so instead we found a Maccy Ds and sat in there for 2 hours waiting. When we headed back to the Mall it was soo busy. I saw that Sears were letting people in so we queued in there rather than outside in the cold. I filmed the guy as he opened up the shutters into the mall and people started running. We went straight for Abercrombie but the boys headed for Apple which was funny as after queuing for a while they found out it didn't open until 6am! Abercrombie had 25% off everything but the queues for the registers were insane. American Eagle also had good sales but the queues were just awful, we didn't even go into Hollister. Roxy had 50% off everything which was amazing so I got some shorts. I later found out that online Hollister and Abercrombie had 40% off everything which is soo much better so I got a few things. We were absolutley shattered by about 2am so headed home after bumping into some people from work who had got a taxi there. When we arrived home the outlet mall next to us was so busy that cars were parked all along the grass verges at the sides of the road.

 23/11/12

After a long lie in after our late night me, Kerry and Chloe headed to the Grand Floridian to see the giant gingerbread house they have up. Then we went Epcot where we rode Test Track. It's been closed for ages for a revamp and it was good fun but not everything was working as it was just a cast preview. Candlelight has started at Epcot and everyday there's 3 shows on and a celebrity narrator tells the Christmas story and there's a choir. It's really popular and we watched Geena Davies.Then we stayed to watch the fireworks as they have added the Christmas fireworks to the end of the normal ones. They were amazing but not as good as Epcots 30th!

25/11/12

On Sunday me, Kerry and Chloe had a 4.45 finish so we got some dinner and then took the monorail to Magic Kingdom for Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party. Like the Halloween party it is a seperatly ticketed event and it starts at 7pm until midnight. It was the first time we had all gone so we bought Santa hats but I forgot my lights that we bought the other week. There's free hot chocolate and cookies which we had loads of (getting what free stuff you can is the Merchie way!). We managed to do lots of Character greetings starting with Scrooge McDuck. We met Cinderella, Prince Charming and the Ugly Stepsisters, all severn Dwarves and Mickey and Minnie in their festive clothes. We met Rapunzel and Flynn Rider who was awesome, especially when Chloe asked him to do his smoulder. We also met Show White and her Prince and Aurora and Prince Philip. The parade was amazing as they had snow down Mainstreet USA and Santa was there! We were all like kids as we were so excited. The fireworks were good but nothing beats the Halloween fireworks. Before we left we realized you could meet Santa so we did that and I sat on his knee lol

26/11/12

I worked the grand sum of 4 hours today as my manager got me an early release as I was ill. I thought my cold was better but I had the worst cough and had the next two days off work sick which sucked as Neil Patrick Harris was doing Candlelight and I had been so excited about seeing him since coming out here!

Monthly Update Again!

It's 19th November which means I'm at my 5 month mark! And instead of celebrating I'm off work with a stinking cold! So may as well go for an epic blog update as I have nothing else to do!


18/10/12

Had a nice 4.45 finish today so jumped on the bus to Downtown Disney and met some friends for an Earl of Sandwich before heading for the wrestling. I don't know how I made it this long without eating here I love it! Everyone had the holiday sandwich but seeing as that has turkey and gravy etc and I hate xmas dinner I went for Hawaian BBQ and it was soo good. Got cast discount too which is always a nice treat! We drove to Universal and it took us an hour to get in the parking garage as traffic was crazy. Cars were going everywhere and we didn't even have a proper lane at one point it was mental I was so glad I wasn't driving. As it took so long we didn't get seats so stood near the front which is actually a lot better as you get to be on tv! I even got close enough to one of the wrestlers to give him a high 5 (Mr Anderson). We didn't get to see Hulk though as he had come out at the start. After Chloe and I got some frozen cocktails from Fat Tuesdays. I opted for the Hurricane as it had lots of rum, yum. Then we chilled in a bar with dueling pianos, bit like Jellyrolls. That evening was the welcome party for the newbies so we dropped in to say hi when we got back but they were all heading out and I was too tired to join them.

23/10/12

Headed to Epcot this afternoon to watch Hanson!! Of course they did Mmm Bop which we all loved and the lead singer is actually really hot now!

24/10/12

Amy and I sunbathed for a few hours this morning and it's the last time I sunbathed in almost a month :( The weather keeps changing and its in the 70s right now and when it's my day off it's never warm enough to sunbathe so my tan is fading fast! We decided to head to Pointe Orlando as its just off the iRide. I got a few t-shirts from Hollister and we stopped for a delicious Ben and Jerrys shake! As the Peabody hotel was so close we thought we'd finally go and see the Peabody ducks as we both wanted to do it for ages and noone else knows what it is so we thought we'd go together! Basically at 11am the hotels ducks come down in a lift and walk along a red carpet to their fountain where they stay all day until 5pm where they go back up in the lift. If you google it you'll find the whole story and why they do it but we finally had a day where we were nearby at the right time so we headed to the hotel and had a cup of tea whilst we waited. It was so funny to watch.

That evening me, Amy, Kate, Mars and Fiona went for dinner at Bahama Breeze as Mars and Kate had been revising for their service test the next day which they both passed.

31/10/12

I finished at 7.15 and put in for an ER as it was Halloween we were all going out and I needed to run to the outlets to buy some last minute things! Me, Kerry and Amy went as dead cheerleaders and I loved our costumes! We went to Wall Street and it was the first time I'd been. You paid $5 and then could go into any of the bars down the street. It was such a good night

1/11/12

As we have had a shift bid my days off are now Thurs and Fri so me and Clare headed to Seaworld. First time I've been since we got here! We didn't do any rides just the shows and they were putting up their xmas decorations so I can't wait to go back when it's all done. We did the new Turtle Trek which is a 3D adventure through the eyes of a newborn turtle and it was amazing. We headed to Downtown Disney for some shopping that evening as our holiday discount has started so I got my Eeyore Pillow Pet! That evening was the newbie party and the international party after which was Halloween themed so I made use of the cheerleader costume again.

2/11/12

Today me, Clare, Kerry, Nathan, Sara, Kate and Laura headed to Magic Kingdom where they had cast previews of the New Fantasyland. Chloe phoned us on the way to say she had booked us a table at Be Our Guest Restaurant that night which was so exciting as it's booked up until Valentines Day and people spent hours on the phone trying to get reservations. We headed to Gastons Tavern and got a souvenir stirn with the tastiest drink. Then we had pictures with Gaston and he is hilarious. One of the best characters I've met. We took a picture with Clare, Nathan and Sara and when the others joined us we went to have another pic and he saw me and said 'I see you've brought more friends with you this time. Everyone wants some of Gaston'. He then did push ups against another kid to see who was better. I could have watched him for ages! We went on Ariels ride which I loved as it's one of my favorite Disney movies so I  was just singing the whole time. We met Ariel after and me and Sara were so excited as she's our favorite. We queued for ages for Enchanted Tales with Belle and I think it is amazing to do if you have young kids as they can be part of the show. I asked for a part as I knew you got a picture taken with Belle if you did! As our meal wasn't until 7pm we headed to Tomorrowland and went on the people mover and the racing cars as I haven't done them yet. We headed on to Space Mountain and then went back to New Fantasyland.

Be Our Guest Restaurant is sooo amazing! The themeing is incredible we went round taking loads of pictures. Our server was excellent and the food was really good and not that expensive. We ate in the grand ballroom which is just like the movie, and it was snowing outside! If it's a special occasion be sure to ask for the grey stuff, it's delicious! As we headed for the bus home we stopped by the Contemporary Resort to watch the last Halloween fireworks.

4/11/12

Today we got to wear our new costumes in the pavilion! It's actually nice to wear something new that hasn't been worn for 30 years!

5/11/12

As today is Guy Fawkes day we had a celebration backstage. We had to be at work at 10.30am for a cast picture of us all in the new costume. Then throughout the day we had free food and ice cream out the back. Was so much fun.

7/11/12

I got the bus to Downtown Disney after work and met Alex for dinner at Earl of Sandwich, then we headed to the cinema to meet everyone going to the midnight premier of Skyfall. Apart from dozing off during some of it because I was soo tired and I had a cocktail I thought it was amazing. Loved seeing London on screen it made me miss home!

8/11/12

As we didn't get in until 3.30am the night before I had a nice lie in and then Mars and I went to grocery bingo with Clare, Sammie, Alex and the two Nathans. After playing for ages I finally won I was so happy! Got one bag with loo roll, toothpaste, laundry detergent and bin bags and then two bags of bread, crisps, biscuits, some soup, pop tarts and then some crappy stuff like apple sauce, peanut butter and tuna crap. Nathan won an ipod shuffle for having the worst board in the room we couldn't believe it!
After popping to Publix for some more grocerys me, Clare and the two Nathans headed to Universal for the wrestling again. We got there much earlier this time and got some dinner. Then Clare and I went to Fat Tuesdays and thought it would be a good idea to buy the souvenir cup as we had an hour to spend queuing. However when we got to the wrestling we found that the boys had got us VIP entry to the front of the pit and we had to go and join them but couldn't take in alcohol. So we had to down 22oz frozen cocktails before we could go in, was pretty funny but worth it when we got in and got the front row. We could be seen on TV throughout the whole thing, my mum and brother watched it at home and could see us. The camera even panned across us and we were screaming into it lol It was a really good night we got to see Hulk Hogan and our favorite Magnus! Then my new favourite Jeff Hardy came out at the end but he wasn't wrestling.

                                      You can see me in the front row in black next to Clare in pink!


9/11/12

At the moment selected restaurants are 40% off lunch so me, Kerry, Chloe and Clare headed to Wilderness Lodge to eat at Whispering Canyon. The hotel is so gorgeous I really want to stay there. Clare got the wrong bus and ended up getting the monorail, ferry and boat to get to us but made it on time! Our waitress was hilarious she sounded like Ros from Monsters Inc. We had the all you can eat option that included loads of different meats, beans, mashed potato and corn bread. The mashed potato was sooo tasty and as I don't usually like mashed potato it must have been good! It's a really fun restaurant if you want ketchup you have to stand up and yell for it and whichever table has it has to bring it to you. After eating we headed to Cast Connection and Property Control for some bargains. I got some awesome TinkerBell wings for a couple of dollars. Never know when I might need them! Then we headed to Magic Kingdom as they had taken down Halloween and put all the xmas decorations up. Main Street USA looked incredible and I can't wait to come back and see it all for Mickeys Xmas Party. Chloe had one of the xmas glow necklaces that looked like Christmas tree lights so Clare and Kerry got one too and after saying they looked naff I gave in and got one and was loving it by the end of the night! At 6pm we watched them turn the lights on on Cinderellas castle and it looks stunning. We then headed to Hollywood Studios and met Sammie to check out the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights. The park was heaving and we were being hearded right to the back of the park to enter the streets of America. We kept seeing glimpses of the lights as we were walking and we were all so excited. When we actually entered the street and it started snowing it was incredible. Ive never seen anything like it, every 10 minutes the lights went off and danced to different music. We stayed for 2 hours and through several renditions of Feliz Navidad where everyone does one of the cowboys line dancing routines. It really made me excited for xmas and my family coming out, I can't wait to go and see the lights again.

14/11/12

 After work this evening we headed to Chatham as there was a housing event for Thanksgiving. We got free food and pictures with the characters plus did a bit of line dancing to Cupid Shuffle!

15/11/12

Today was Twilight Saga Marathon day! Me, Chloe, Kerry and Clare got the bus as we are poor merchies and everyone else got a taxi so we met them at the cinema. Was so nice going in sweats and taking a pillow pet! We got a lanyard with the movie times on and a free poster. The day went something like this, Movie, pee, fill up free drink refill, eat snacks and repeat. Went out and got an Earl of Sandwich for lunch and people kept bringing in takeout  pizza from Wolfgang Puck Express so we got pizza there before the last movie and I don't know why Ive never eaten there before it's so good. Watching all 5 movies was amazing. Everyone cheered when the movies started and us Edward fans were cheering for him although every time Jacob took his clothes off we all went crazy! I was sat amongst Team Jacob fans (boo) but as the movie progressed we were like woo Team Charlie and Team Emmett and just Team anything! The first movie had everyone in stitches at the crappy acting it was hilarious. I've never had so much fun at the cinema and in between the movies were little exclusives interviews with the actors who played Rosalie, Jasper and Esme.

16/11/12

Me, Kerry, Nathan and Tom headed to Panera for lunch when we got up. Then we thought we'd head to Mall at Millenia as there's buses you can get. An hour and a half after leaving the commons we still weren't there! We were at the outlets at the end of I Drive waiting for a bus that never came so instead we jumped in a taxi and had to pay $10 to travel 5 minutes. It was worth it though as I got some good stuff at the mall. We decided to have dinner at Cheesecake Factory as they said it was only a 15 minute wait. After our pager went off though we waited another half an hour and they said they called our name but they blatently hadn't as we'd been there the whole time. So they gave us the next available table which turened out to be outside in the cold! And of course our patio heater didn't work! Evenbtually though we moved tables to one that did work and the food was really good. Had the Oreo Dream Cheesecake for desert and it was amazing!