Give Kids the World

17/10/12

So every Wednesday and Sunday we have the chance to 'VoluntEar' at the Give Kids the World Village. It's a massive 70 acre non-profit resort where children with life threatening illnesses go with their families for a week long free vacation through organizations such as Make a Wish. The village is amazingly themed with Villas for the families and a Gingerbread House restaurant, train and play areas including a life sized CandyLand game play area. There's also an Ice Cream parlor with so many flavors and kids can have ice cream for breakfast. I've wanted to volunteer for ages but always had something planned on my days off. As it was cloudy today when I went to sunbathe instead I cleaned my room and saw on the calandar that it was Give Kids the World so thought I'd phone up and register. It was full up so they put me on a waitlist and told me to check in early in case of drop outs and luckily there was space so I joined 7 others and got my 'VoluntEars' t-shirt. I went with some American girls and one was my friend whose a character attendant so it was nice to have a friendly face there!

A mini van took us to the village and it is like stepping into a storybook land. We got name tags and on a Wednesday evening it's Kids Night Out so if they want the parents can register their children and take a night off to relax. We got buddied up to a child who we were responsible for until their parents came back. I was with an adorable 3 year old whose brothers (5 and 11) were also there. For the first hour we played in the Boat House where there's lots of amusement arcade style games and a dinosaur mini golf course. It was hard at first when my kid realized his mum had gone and I had to chase after him as he went running off! I don't think he really knew what was going on at first and was just happy playing then he must have thought whose this girl with the weird accent! I took him to play mini golf and he loved throwing the balls into the hole and making the dinosaurs move.Then it was time for dinner and everyone was lined up but we were late as he wouldn't stop playing and I had to try and coax him to dinner! We had chicken nuggets and chips and pink lemonade and bless him he must have been so tired out he fell asleep at the table! His other brother did too so their parents came to get them. After dinner was Village Idol where the kids can do a talent show. It was so adorable to watch this one little boy had such good dance moves!

I really want to volunteer again. It would be nice to take a Sunday off and do it as they play the worlds largest CandyLand game. It was a really good evening and the place do such an amazing thing for these children and their families it's nice to spend time with them.

Backstage at the Haunted Mansion!

16/10/12

Today was finally the day of our Haunted Mansion tour! Ive been waiting to go on this since seeing it on Megan's blog forever ago! We had to be at MK backstage for 6.15 am so had a very early start after Lasses which meant I didn't drink and go out afterwards. We got a taxi and he was running late so we were all worried we wouldn't make it on time as they stick to a tight schedule. When we arrived we went through the utiladors and waited for our guides to come and get us. We had a man and woman who had been working there for a long time and they were great.

We started by walking the whole length of the ride and we were shown the hidden jack skellingtons and sally that have been put in! We got to walk down the endless corridor to see how the effects created and they talked through each scene with us. It was amazing to be shown all the little details that you'd normally miss. The best part was walking through the ballroom scene and seeing how they create the ghost effects. We even got to stand behind the glass and wave our hands so we appeared as ghosts in the mansion.

After we went into the stretching room and heard the gargoyles then lied on the floor to see how it worked. We then got to ride and take as many flash pictures as we wanted so I tried to get pictures of the hidden Jacks and Sally.

When we were done we headed to Main Street Bakery for breakfast and those of us that didn't have to be at work headed to the New FantasyLand as it's having soft openings before officially opening in December! We were like little kids running round we were soo excited! We went on the Little Mermaid ride which is good fun if you like the film which I love! Unfortunately Enchanted Tales with Belle was closed so will have to wait for that one. The new land looks amazing though especially Beasts castle.

I headed to sunbathe as everyone else was busy and the weather was lovely. Then I met Kerry in the evening after she finished work and we walked around the world and did some more food and wine kiosks.

Where has the last month gone!

Haven't updated in so long I have no idea where the time is going out here it's going too quickly! As it's cloudy and looks like it's going to rain outside I've spent the morning cleaning my room and doing washing and boring things. So here's what I've done in the last month!

 21/09/12 Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party

Has a rare early finish at work so Clare and I headed to MK and got changed into our costumes in the toilets! She was a bumble bee and I was a hula girl (cheapest costume I could find as I already had most of it) We met a bunch of UKs when we got there and it was awful weather, constant rain which isn't much fun when you're not wearing much! We got pictures with Pooh and friends and Jack Sparrow which was definitely a highlight! The Villains show wasn't on at the castle because of the weather but we still got to see some of them. For some reason the headless horseman didn't ride either but we still saw the Boo to You parade which is amazing. All the characters are in their Halloween costumes and the cowboys were hilarious because Chloe decided to start calling out to the hot one which got their attention. We also watched Hallowishes the firework show which is awesome.

25/09/12 

Had a lazy day sunbathing today waiting for my brother to arrive! He got in around 7 bringing much needed food from home! Now my cupboards are stocked with lots of stir fry sauces and Uncle Bens jars and hula hoops! Also got some much needed chocolate from my Mum- Hotel Chocolat! Think I managed to make it last about a week! We headed to Mickeys Not so Scary again and got lucky with the weather so managed to do a lot. Saw the headless horseman this time which was cool. Queued for a picture with all 7 dwarves but the line was so insanely long we gave up and got Mickey and Minnie instead.

                                                             Yummy gift from my Mum!

26/09/12 

So today I introduced my brother to backstage at Disney! We headed to Cast Connections and Property Control first where I got some awesome bargains, a hoody reduced from $60 to $12! Then we headed to Company D so he could get any Epcot 30th Anniversary merchandise and park tickets. We then headed to Hollywood Studios and went on the new Star Tours many times to try and get different ride combinations. Took a quick trip down the 192 to see some of the old places we used to stay and visit before heading back to the studios to see Fantasmic. After we headed to Downtown Disney and ate at Rainforest Cafe which I haven't been to since I got here almost 4 months ago!


27/09/12

Has a short shift today as Kerry kindly switched with me as my Dad was flying in. Had quite a nice shift including a cheeky picture with Pooh and Tiger as it was quiet! Then I headed out to meet my Dad and brother to let them in the park and we headed to Via Napoli in Italy for dinner which was really nice.

28/9/12

I spent the morning sunbathing whilst my Dad and Mark went to Fantasy of Flight in Polk City. They picked me up later to do a walmart shop and then we headed to a friend of my Dads for dinner. Was very nice having a home cooked meal for once! And they also had some adorable cats which makes me miss having a pet around.

29/9/12

I went for breakfast at my Dad and brothers hotel. Haven't had a cooked breakfast since I got here and it was amazing! I miss being on holiday and eating like that every morning. Whilst my brother went to Epcot my Dad and I did Typhoon Lagoon as the weather was really good. Got to go on most of the slides and the crush n gusher coaster. Also did the wave pool and actually swam quite far in this time. In the afternoon we hit the Florida Mall and I haven't been there since I arrived! Spent quite a bit of money on make up and clothes but I needed it. We headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at Planet Hollywood where there was a really long wait but being a cast member we got to skip the line and were seated straight away.

                                               Sally and Jack meet and great at Downtown Disney


30/09/12

Spent the day at Universal and got to do Islands of Adventure too as the place was empty! The longest we queued was 20 mins for The Mummy. We did Men in Black and The Simpsons Ride which were walk ons, then we headed for ET as I love that ride even though it's so old! Dad and I did The Mummy whilst Mark watched The Blues Brothers Show. We got some lunch then headed to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Islands of Adventure. The main ride had a ten minute queue, I was expecting it to be at least an hour. Went on the Jurassic Park ride too as I had never done it cuz I didn't want to get wet. It was really good and we figured we may as well do another water ride as we were wet so we headed for Plutos Barges. Such a mistake!! We got drenched. They are the round boats that you sit in and along the was we got sprayed with water but there are bits where you can't avoid getting wet and when we came off we were soaked. I stood in the sun for a good 10 minutes but my shorts didn't dry all day. We did Spiderman which is one of my favorites then my Dad and I headed for the Hulk coaster but as I got in the queue I realized he had disappeared, he chickened out! So I rode it by myself and it was really fun. After changing out of my still wet clothes we went to TGIs for dinner.

                                                 Check out the concentration!


1/10/12

Today was Epcot's 30th anniversary and also my room mate Mars birthday so as I couldn't celebrate with her I put up loads of banners and balloons in our apartment.  I had some cast exclusive talks in the morning whilst Mark queued for 3 hours for the limited edition Epcot 30th merchandise and my Dad explored Epcot. The talks were amazing, the first was with Marty Sklar, the international ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering. He is a Disney Legend and was involved in the planning of Epcot, He had some amazing stories and it was really interesting listening to him talking about working with Walt. The next talk was with Tony Baxter who created Journey Into Imagination and he talked about the original ride which I remember as a kid and using concept art and home video footage we got to see a ride through of the original ride which was awesome. Was interesting to his his stories and how Figment got his name.
After the talks my Dad and I jumped on the monorail to Magic Kingdom so he could go on Pirates of the Caribbean and see the changes. Then we went straight back to Epcot to see the ceremony to celebrate Epcots 30th. It was with our Vice President and cast members were on stage to represent each pavillion. We even had a guest letter read out about how amazing one of the cast members in the UK was (my friend Chloe!) and there was lots of cheers from us! Mark then headed off for similar talks to mine for guests and Dad and I had a late lunch in Japan and then walked to Hollywood Studios and went on Star Tours and saw the Beauty and the Beast Show. We headed back to Epcot for some quick service food in Mexico and then saw the 30th Anniversary fireworks. They were the most incredible I have ever seen, way better than the 4th July ones! Right at the end they had what they call the Armageddon Barges which they use at New Years. The noise was so deafening it was setting off car alarms and could be heard back at the Commons!

3/10/12

Didn't start work until 6.30pm today so Becky and I headed in and saw our new costume so had a cheeky try on! Not sure how I feel about it yet! Then we hit the food and wine kiosks before work. Had a pork slider from Hawaii and a trio of desserts and frozen strawberry nesquik from the desert kiosk.

5/10/12

Me, Kerry, Chloe, Amy, Nathan and Mark headed to Universals Halloween Horror nights. I've always wanted to go but knew I'd be scared as I hate anything with live actors. It was really stormy when we set off so we stopped for food first and waited for it to clear a bit. It took a while to get in as everyone had to go through metal detectors! Then I managed to get us a cheeky pass to cut the queues which we so needed to do all the houses! As soon as you enter the park there's actors jumping out at you, there's no safe place! The first house was themed to Silent Hill and when we came out I thought I was gonna have a heart attack I have never been so scared and had my pulse race sooo much!! I didn't think I could get through the night! The next house was a Gothic theme and actors came down from above us which made us jump. I just clung on to Chloe the whole time! You could tell where they would jump out as you could see the gaps but we would let them jump out at those infront of us then run though really quickly. There were 7 houses in total and the last one scared me so much as it was pitch black at the end then suddenly the lights flashed and actors were right infront of your face. As you go around the park there's groups of actors scaring you and I got cornered with two of them I actually cried! They freaked me out soo much! We also got to watch Bill and Teds Halloween show which Ive wanted to see for so long. It was hilarious, basically taking the piss out of pop culture and unless you've seen a lot of US tv shows/movies and the news lately it might not be that funny. It was an amazing night and part of me would love to go again but I don't know if I could do it!

10/10/12

With the Food and Wine Festival they also have concerts every night with different acts. Boys II Men were on my day off so I had to see them! A group of us ate at Bahama Breeze which has become my new favourite place to eat, then we headed to Epcot. Boys II Men were so good! I only know their 3 main songs which they did and at the end they had their kids on stage it was so cute. After some of us headed to the Dine In cinema to see Pitch Perfect which I loved.

12/10/12 

Today a few of us had an ADO (authorised day off) so we decided to make the most of it and rent a car. We headed to Boggy Creek in the morning to go on an air boat and see alligators. It was really fun and we saw a baby gator and also got to hold one after. Then we drove to Clearwater beach in Tampa. It's gorgeous there but not as nice as St Petes as it's very touristy. We went to a Bahama Breeze for dinner that we spotted on the road in and then we stopped at the original Hooters for a drink and me and Chloe got Hooters tops!