How many days.......?!

..........................................78 to be exact!! Wow, I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by. I thought that my 8 month wait would be a nightmare but it hasn't been at all. It seems even more strange that some of the friends I have made over the past few months have just started their programmes in WDW this past week. I can remember talking to them about how long they had to go and suddenly they're all there!

I have been having second thoughts once again about my role. I am currently placed in merchcandise but am thinking of making the move to food & beverage. There are a couple of people who would like to do the opposite, so a swap could be quite straight forward. I have been talking to some of my Disney friends, in both roles, to get a better idea of what it is that they do and which role they fell is best to work in. I still have a few months to decide so I am not going to rush into anything.

Other than that, I am still working as a temp. I have never had so many random and odd jobs as I have had as a temp! It's quite interesting but also I seem to be far too efficient as I am getting my work done too quickly. There are officially 3 of us on my flight now; Me, Claire and Sam. It's going to be so much fun, and meeting the others at the airport the next day will be great!

As you can tell I am still very excited about moving, but I must admit my first anxieties have started to kick in now. Firstly about one person in particular who I know I will miss more than I initially thought, and also I had my first Disney-related bad dream last night which made me feel a little worried. But I blame the fact that I am ill, drugged up and was sleeping in a room full of vapour rub fumes last night! It will all be fine in the end......................

Signed, sealed, delivered...I'm yours!

That's right, I have signed on the dotted line, sealed the envelope and delivered my confirmation of acceptance to Disney. I had another slight mix up with them in that they sent my a letter describing the role of the UK Food and Beverage Hostess rather than a Merchandise Hostess. I had to contact Yummy to check that they had me listed as a merchandise hostess, which they did, so the nice people working for Disney simply sent me out the correct letter and everything is a-o-k!

I have also now booked my ONE WAY flight....meaning I won't be coming back...EVER! Haha ok ok I will be coming back as my visa won't allow me to stay for more than a year : (
I'll be flying with Claire, from Aberdeen and possibly Sam, from Brighton and Kayleigh, from London. I hope that Sam and Kayleigh do manage to get on our flight, it would be so much fun to have a small group of us!

I've been looking into prices of transport from the airport and because we're leaving a day early, we will need to get to a hotel and then the next morning, from the hotel to the housing complexes. So I am 99.9% certain that I will hire a car with Claire, that way we can drive to our hotel, go and get food, got to Walmart etc and have loads of space. It also means (hopefully) that we can move into the Disney housing complexes first thing on our official start date and bag the best rooms in our apartments! Clever? Yes...we're geniuses!!

Nothing much else has been sorted yet. I can't do anything about my visa until October/November when Yummy send me my appointment info so I suppose the next thing is to sort out some medical and travel insurance? I also need to do loads of silly little things like enquire about my contact lenses and medical prescriptions. I mean, where do I get them from?! I'm thinking stocking up here and taking loads with me is a good idea...but I'll see what I can find out.

Oh I've also started working on my leaving book. I'm making up a photo book online comprised of my favourite pics of family and friends as well as some empty spaces for people to write me messages, a bit like a wedding guestbook. I'll take the book with me so that I can look at the pics and messages whenever I feel like it.

False Alarm

Well today, this evening in fact, I almost had a Disney related heart attack! I received an email from Yummy jobs stating that the dates of my programme had to be changed because of American holidays.

At first I thought that my programme had been cut short, leaving on the 2/12/08 and returning on the 12/4/09, rather than the previously planned 27/11/09. But then after a few moments of screaming like a banshee, I realised that I had to get into the American way of thinking and invert the dates. The result....an extra TWO WEEKS added to my year long programme! Woop woop. So I am now going to be there until the middle of December 2009 instead of the end of November 2009. RESULT!!

Next up, I will be booking my flights before they get too expensive and sorting out medical insurance. Oh and another bit of exciting news....Heather and her friend are coming to visit me soon, aaaaaaaand I'm going to visit the legend that is Matt! Next month has just got a whole lot better!

I am getting more and more excited now about going and cannot wait to leave this place behind for a year. Although I will of course be sad to leave certain people behind, but they will all be visiting me anyway.

Tonight I have been sitting in my garden full of candles, watching stars. The best part of my night? Thinking about the fact that I will soon be laying on a beach with some great friends watching the stars in the tropical Florida climate. It just doesn't get much better than that!

Birthday Shinanigans

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Well, I am now officially an adult, but that doesn't mean I'm planning on growing up any time soon! To celebrate the occassion I decided to make cakes which were appropriate for the next year of my life. So I made Disney cakes!

Here are some pics for you all...enjoy!

Creating chaos in the kitchen!

The finished product...Mickey and Donald

All About James

All About James
Apparently, people don't want to read about me and what I've been getting up to so this post will not be about the fact that I have received my uni results (a 2:1 woooohoooo), got a new job or had an awesome 21st Birthday outing last night...nope, instead this post will be dedicated to the legend that is James Hare.


"Some say that his blood group is Nitrous Oxide, others say he fought off the dinosaurs with Fred Flinstone's car...all we know is he's called James Hare."


James is a young man who lives in Teeside where he eats cookies, grows bonsai trees and spends all his spare time talking to awesome ginger haired girls on msn. Currently he is involved in a little project we like to call the CRP, the Cultural Representative Programme. That's right, one day, some time soon, James will be moving to Florida to work in Epcot. Special? I think so!


If you see this lad out and about, be sure to stop and say hi. There really isn't a nicer guy who you could talk to randomly. (To get into his good books though, make sure you are armed with a plate of cookies, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, a Disney dvd or a warm smile and a big hug!)

*James - you are priviledged!*

5 MONTHS TODAY!

5 MONTHS TODAY!!

I thought I'd mark this momentous occassion by posting some sparkly fireworks pics...

.

Yes that's right people, in 5 months time I will be moving into my new apartment in Florida, wooooooooooooo hooooooooooooo! I am officially VERY excited now and can't wait until the time finally comes to move across the pond. The hardest thing is chatting to all my new Disney friends and talking about the plans that we all have for our time over there. It just makes me want to up and leave right now. Also I know of several people going out there in July and September who I will miss talking to whilst they are away and playing in the parks. But I'm sure we'll all catch up when I finally make it to WDW in December.

However, before moving away I still have lots to do. Such as turning 21 (next week, yay!), booking a flight, sorting medical insurance, working and saving my pennies, selling my car, graduating from uni (hopefully) and all sorts of other mundane things. At least I already have my suitcases bought and know that I can pack A LOT into them!

Anyways, I think that's it for now, I just wanted to share my excitement with you all at having passed the 6 month mark and finally got to a more sensible date!

Best Holiday Ever

The Epcot Fireworks: Illuminations (if you haven't seen them....DO IT!)

Me and Sam, a really nice girl working in Merch who is unfortunately leaving soon : (

This is the outift I will be wearing to work!

These are some of the shops in the UK Pavillion

The Rose and Crown Pub / Restaurant

Me and the Sports Shop - a miniature Hampton Court Palace!

Epcot - this park I'll be working in

Well, I've just returned from a two week holiday in Florida which was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I was fortunate enough to meet loads of UK Cast Members, although most of them finish their contracts before I get there which is a bit of a bummer. But I did meet a really nice guy called Luke, who promised my parents he would look after me! I also have to mention Colin who was lovely and will be there when I start working, but he's in food and I'm in merchandise...at the moment.

We had a fantastic meal at the UK's restaurant, The Rose and Crown, and were seated right on the waterfront so we had a great view of the Illuminations fireworks. The best view I have ever had! I was really impressed with the meal, it was much better than I was imagining and the servers were great at their jobs. Our server Lynsey was really friendly and after the meal we were the last people to leave because a load of the servers were just chatting with us for ages! If any of you are reading this, thanks, I really appreciated all your advice!


I could go on and on with all the details of my holiday but that would be boring so I've added some pictures of the UK Pavillion, my home for 12 months from December. Enjoy!