Update July 3rd!

OK so this may be a long blog since I have not updated in over a week.

Last Saturday I had my second day of lifeguard training which basically involved more in water training, CPR and first aid. We were put into groups of four and told that we would be working together the next day for our in water assessment. As part of our assessment we had to perform CPR on adult, junior and baby mannequins and also had a 60 question multiply choice quiz. Most of the girls at my training were meeting at night to revise and practice together......I decided that a visit to Hollywood studio instead :) I went with Joanne, Melissa, Suzie, Kirsten and Kirsty and went straight to Tower of Terror ( the best ride EVER!!!)


We went on three times,

then went on the rock n roller coaster. I got in at about midnight and revised for about 30 mins.....then went to sleep!

On Sunday morning I went back to Mickeys retreat for the last day of the lifeguard course and exam day. After a quick practice of CPR, everyone headed to the pool in their groups for the water exam. Firstly I was in the water as part of another groups scenario, where the instructor set up a scenario which the group had to react to. For my scenario my group had to react to a "child" who was unconscious in the pool. We had to work together to get them out of the pool on a back board then perform rescue breaths using an oxygen task and then had to use an aed (which gives electric shocks to re start the heart). Our child survived and we passed that part of the test. When the last group were testing one of my group members was lying on the floor as she had fainted (for real!!!!!!) All the instructors ran and helped her so we got an early lunch (yay). After Lunch I sat my CPR exam......and passed all three test first time :) Then I scored 59/60 in the paper exam......so gutted haha!  I am now a fully fledged Disney lifeguard :D To celebrate I went to applebee's for dinner then went back to Hollywood studios with Suzie and Kirsty to ride the new star tours ride, great movie ride, tower of terror, rock n roller coaster twice and saw the last showing of fantasmic.......great end to a great day :)

On Monday morning I started my first day of training at typhoon lagoon at 8am. I met up with Emma (a new lifeguard too) at the bus stop at 7.10 and arrived at 7.45. My groups trainer for the day was Rhianna. She firstly drove the 6 new cast members to the pop century resort to get our uniforms. When we arrived back at Typhoon she showed us round the park, teaching us the one million different names of the lifeguard stands, lazy river entrances, slide names, where all the back boards and trauma bags were and loads of other important stuff we needed to know. We also read some documents online about the different slides we would be life guarding at the bottom of. Lots to learn. I finished at 6pm then went round to Kirstens and Kirstys for a movie night. This involved sitting speaking all night and watching of no movies :).

Tuesday morning I was back at typhoon for 8am for a day of shallow water training. This involved being with my trainer Rhianna and going round some of the shallow stands like I would if I was on a shallow rotation. I was on the lazy river and the bottom of the raft slides. I like the family raft (gang plank falls) as you get to help people out the massive tubes and you can cool off lying in the water which is amazing!!! I enjoyed the day and felt more relaxed about life guarding alone on the shallow rotation. After work I met up with Suzie and Kirsten and went to Epcot. It started raining as we were on the bus so made a quick dash for a Disney poncho. Then I decided I wanted dinner at the UK pavilion in world showcase and the others headed to Morocco for dinner. The moroccan man here gave us all a free coke :D yay!! This is me in Norway.

We then headed to the finding nemo ride and crush talk which is sooooo cute.

 Then went on test track before heading home.

On Wednesday morning I had work again at 8am. Today was an official tour of the park so I was required to wear smart clothes. We walked round the park again this time looking at the merchandise stores, food and beverage locations, and restrooms etc. After this we then had a great presentation about manual handling........NOT!!!! We finished early and got home at 12.30. In the afternoon I met with Kirsten and went to the Magic Kingdom. We bought cookies and ice cream :D then went on loads of rides and met these characters.


Here is me and Kirsten on the buzz light year ride....




Thursday morning 8am back to typhoon for deep water training. Again like shallow training I was with Rhianna on rotation at the shallow stands. Deep rotation is so much fun. I get to be in a shark reef swimming about with flippers on helping people with their masks and snorkels. I also got to help people who basically couldn't swim.....at one point I had 2 kids holding on to my tube while I swam them to the end of the reef. I also got to lifeguard the wave pool :o It is surprisingly easy to lifeguard (maybe it was just quiet ). 30 minutes from the end of my shift there was a massive storm, meaning the pool was shut down. I had to stand under a wooden hut with some guests until I was finished. My clothes were soaking right through and I was freezing.....What happened to the sunshine state???????

Friday was my 1st day off since I arrived :) I went to the pool in the morning with the girls then got some Wendy's chicken nuggets. Later in the afternoon I went to downtown Disney with Suzie and had my 1st earl of sandwich since arriving (bacon sandwich) sooooooo good. Then headed to magic kingdom for the night.

Saturday (another day off) met with Joanne at 10am and headed to the animal kingdom for the day. We headed straight for the dinosaur ride which is sooooo good/scary lol. We went straight back on. Then we headed for expedition Everest ride where we saw Suzie working :) We got some lunch and waited until Suzie finished then she joined us for the rest of the day. We watched the finding nemo musical, went on the safari, rode dinosaur again, went on Everest another 5 times then watched the Lion King show. At about 7.30 we got the bus back to Vista.

Today (Sunday) I woke up at 11am and chilled in my apartment until i got the bus at 1.45 for my first proper day at work. The traffic was so bad today and the 25 minute journey took 50, making the 11 lifeguards on the bus 10 minutes late for work. Fortunately the managers will remove the late clock in from our record cards. I was on a shallow rotation today, starting on the lazy river for 3 stands, then on the bottom of the crush and gusher water roller coaster slide. Nothing of interest happened except one conversation with a guest........

Guest- hey where are you from
me- Scotland
guest- oh do they still have Scotland yard there
me- yes
guest- so is there a lot of crime
me- well I guess its just like everywhere isn't it (I'm sorry I don't know crime rates)
guest- do they have churches
me- yes
guest- oh what kind
me- ehh different kinds christian, catholic........
guest-oh so you have learnt about Jesus and our almighty lord blah blah blah.....
me- just nodding
guest- so do they have Muslims
me- yes

At this point i am going to stop typing the convo as this guest should have just shut up with his opinions....I walked away........I am here to lifeguard not to be told what to believe in and who to like and hate!!!! What a twat!!

Just been in at Suzies and Kirstens tonight  chatting and typing this really long blog. Think its time for bed now.....sorry for the long and probably boring blog. xxxxxxxxxx

Im in Disney !!!!!!!!!

Hey Everyone, so I have now been in Orlando for five full days now and loving it!!! This blog may be long but lots of exciting stuff has been happening so enjoy.......

So on Sunday the 19th of June at 3am, after about one hours sleep, I woke up and got ready for the 2 and a half hour drive to the airport......I had my two suitcases packed and was ready to go!

At Edinburgh airport after dropping my bags of I sat with my Mum and Dad for a while, until Karyn (another Disney ICPer) arrived. We then went through security and straight onto the plane to Gatwick. The flight was rather uneventful, except for me and Karyn chatting away the whole time. Once we arrived at Gatwick within minutes I heard my name being shouted by some other ICPers who recognised me from facebook (and probably from my Disney hoodie). I went to have breakfast with all the girls at wetherspoons where I had some pancakes and bacon which tasted like rubber (mmmm nice).

After breakfast we made our way to the gate to board the flight, we met up with some more Disney people at the gate. In total I think there was about 12 of us, and most of us managed to get seats in a big group on the plane. After take off I tried to watch some films but was either too excited or tired to concentrate, so had a wee nap instead. Later on in the flight Gabriella made one of her wonderful vlogs which was rather amusing seeing and featuring in :D woooo I'm famous now lol! Once we landed the air hostess wished all the new Disney cast members good luck on the microphone for whole plane to hear :D We all cheered! haha Too cool.

After landing and going through immigration all the Disney people from our flight, 20ish people from the virgin flight and loads more were taking into this room to be "investigated". We had all our documents and passports removed and were told to wait. After about two hours I was finally free to leave. I made my way to get the bus to Vista Way ( one of the cast members accommodation). On arrival we were given introduction packs and the keys to our apartments. To most of our surprise, instead of being put in with people who had all arrived the same day most of us, we ended up being the only new ones in an apartment full of people who had been here for months. I am in Vista Way in a 6 bed apartment.  I still have not quite figured out who is all living here, one girl I think moved out, one is moving out in a few weeks time, one moves out in august and the girl in my bedroom I thought moved out in august but I think has gone on holiday as I have not seen her to 3 days!

Made a quick trip to Walmart  (the busiest shop in the WHOLE WORLD I think lol) with my flight buddy Danni to get a phone, pillow, hairdryer, some crap hair straighteners that DO NOT WORK, some food and juice etc. Was so tired at this point and walking round like a zombie my food shop consisted of a bag of crisps, frosted corn flakes and some margarine...NICE!!! Got a taxi back to Vista with 2 Canadians who were very nice and ended up paying :D. Went to bed (not sleep due to my housemates ridiculously loud TV and screaming in spanish). Eventually went to sleep!

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In the morning I had a housing registration meeting, where I showed a bunch of forms, got my housing I.D card and was told how much my apartment would cost $80 a week ( the cheapest out the lot) Bargain!!! Later that afternoon I had a housing meeting all about the rules and stuff.....to be honest I don't remember what it was about but all I do know is "YOU MUST BE 21 TO DRINK ALCOHOL". If this was mentioned once it was mentioned 100 times. I think I understand now! I also found out I would be life guarding at the All Stars Resort!

At night I met with some of the girls and got the bus to downtown Disney to have dinner. 

We ate at the Rainforest Cafe which was brilliant, although it was so late by the time the food came we were all half asleep and not hungry anymore.

I had a doggy bag for most of my dinner and microwaved it the next day for lunch! Straight home and into bed. (No noise tonight :D)

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On Tuesday morning I had a quick meeting at Vista about my role as a lifeguard, explaining about my swim test and also when I would have traditions training. This took about 10 minutes. Afterwards I went to the pool with Joanne, Danni, Melissa, Kirsten and Kirsty, and spoke to loads of other people there.  Was so nice, sun shining, just chilling, Amazing!!! At 5.30 I had to leave to go to Mickeys retreat (a cast member retreat with pools, and recreation activities for my swim test. I met some other girls who were all going to be working at the water parks and didn't understand how they were allowed to lifeguard deep water pools in the water parks and how I had shallow water at a resor when I was the one with lifeguard experience. I decided to ask some recreation cast member lady......here is how the convo went...

me- excuse me. I was just wondering if you could explain how you allocate the locations for lifeguards?
her- its just where we need people and also recruiters recommendations
me-oh right its just that I don't understand why I am life guarding shallow water and have loads of experience and the girls over there are at the deep water parks and have none.
her- eh oh well em well you see em well they might not be deep
me- there sheet says they are, is there no chance I can change or even pick up shifts there
her- no sorry you can't change and i don't now if you are allowed to go from resort to water parks
me- mmmm well i think the allocation methods are a bit backwards if you ask me. thanks!

Haha sounds so cheeky now, but I have such a big gob couldn't keep my mouth shut lol.

Anyway I went into the pool for my 200 yard swim, 2 minute hand free tread and picking up a brick from the deepest part of the pool. I was trying so hard and did better that I thought I could and PASSED :D

I then went back to vista and hung out with the girls.

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On Wednesday I got up at 8am and went to the gym with Kirsten and Joanne, before having a few hours at the pool. In the afternoon I had traditions at the Disney university.

Traditions is a class where you learn a little about the history of Walt Disney, the parks, cast member information and loads of amazing things. Mickey mouse came in with a present for us all.....


Our name tags

We also went on a cast members only tour of the magic kingdom.......its all top secret stuff but was pretty cool :D

One other really exciting part of the day was receiving this piece of paper.....

This was my work schedule.....and it said I was now working at TYPHOON LAGOON!!!!!!!
This proves it pays to be a brat and moan and ask to get moved :D

We also got our staff cards which not only lets you clock in but lets you into the parks for free......So at night me and the girls went to the magic kingdom! We managed to goon splash mountain where Joanne and I got very wet, the haunted mansion and space mountain! Pretty amazing.....




Great day!!!!

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On Thursday I was back at the University for a welcome to recreation meeting 8.30-17.00......the longest and most boring day ever. I won't bore you with the details 1-because its soooooooooo boring and 2- cause it was so boring I don't remember what I actually did! I do know they tried to get me to have some kind of injection which i refused and that the trainer Lady was actually crazy leaping about the room.....annoying!!

At night went to applebees for tea with Danni, Kirsten, Melissa and Suzie. Had fish and chips but the fish was poop......can't do it like the British can they! Then went back to Joanne's apartment where her flatmate organised some ann summers style party. After politely excusing ourselves we all went and chilled outside till some American kid Tyler joined us.....we then all again politely excused ourself and went to our apartments. Had some chats with my flatmate (I don't actually know what her name is lol, but shes funny), asked me if I knew what bananas were haha......hard to believe you get them in Scotland haha!
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Today I had my first of three days of lifeguard training at Mickey's retreat. Most of the things were learnt were so different to life guarding in the UK......the Americans like the approach just jump in all the time.....so we did some water training in the morning. Then afternoon did some cpr training, got our hip packs with personal whistles and pocket masks for mouth to mouth if we ever need them, and did some other stuff. Came back to Vista to find that my friend Danni is having to go home tomorrow to England :( We decided to go to hooter for her last night. Was good food and really fun.....got myself a few t shirts as you do :) Also tonight had a MASSIVE rain storm the place was flooding, pretty mental but any excuse to whip out the Disney ponchos

After tea we got a taxi back to Vista and I said bye to Danni as I will miss seeing her leave tomorrow because of training. So gutted she has to go but have had such a good time with her this week and hopefully we can stay in touch!

Anyway better get to sleep as have to be up early for work in the morning and have been typing this up for like a hour.........if you managed to read this far through well done and thanks. I will hopefully manage to update at some point next week.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

29 days to go......

So its 29 days until I leave for Florida !!!!!! :) :) :)

On the 5th of May I had my embassy appointment in London. I went down on the 3rd, with my mum and dad, to have a few days in London. We did some shopping, saw some of the tourist sights and saw two shows, Mamma Mia and the Lion King (to get into the Disney spirit), which were both amazing :) !



On the morning of the embassy appointment I left my phone at a pharmacy, as you are not allowed electronics in the embassy. I then went and stood outside in the line of people waiting to get in. I had to show my appointment letter then go through security, just like at the airport. When inside I was given a number and had to wait until my number was called before i would be seen. I had heard that people could wait for up to five hours, so after 20 minutes was delighted when my number was called. I went to the window and gave the lady all my paper work before having my finger prints taken. I was then told to sit back down and wait for my number to be called again. Half an hour later my number was called for my interview. This was about two minutes long and nothing to worry about. The man was very nice and just asked what I was going to be doing in America and what I would be doing when I came home. He then told me my Visa had been APPROVED :)



I then paid about fourteen pounds for the courier to deliver my passport and Visa back to me. Exactly one week later I received them !!!!!! I can now officially go to Florida !

Since then I have just been mad with Uni work. I can't wait until next week when I have finished my last exam and can start getting really excited for leaving!

xxxxx

update- 57 days to go....

OK so since the last update I have received my Disney pack!!! :)

The pack contained all the important info about applying for a visa, info about working and living in Disney. One of the things about working was a "Disney Look" book which basically tells you how to present yourself at work.


....this page gave me a laugh - acceptable moustaches LOL!



I have booked my visa appointment for the 5th of May in London. At the appointment I will have to present a number of forms with my details, what I intend to do when in Orlando etc. I have finally completed the massive online form and paid the approriate fees. So all I have to do now is attend the embassy where I will hopefully (pretty please) get my visa.

I have also been extremely busy SHOPPING.... :) :) :) I decided to put everything I have so far in a case to see what else I need (Not much). So far I have packed 13 bikinis :o, about 25 pairs of shorts, loads of tops, somes flip flips, sandles etc, sun glasses and a few more bits and bobs..... Defo going to need another suitcase !

Next update I will hopefully have a visa

x

4 months to go........

Hey! so its just over 4 months until I am off to Disney!!!!!!!

Not too much happening regarding planning and things, but I did make an event on the Disney facebook page for my flight and so far there are 10 Disney people! I feel sorry for everyone else on the flight cause there is gonna be 10 very excited people having a mid flight party :)

Also on the facebook group someone designed a logo for everyone to get put on to hoodies to wear at the airport so all the disney people know each other. I ordered mine in the middle of January and finally got it today :) Here are the pictures........

Looks pretty cool :)

Anyways thats all I have to say just now . xxx





Flights .....

Well today I finally booked my flights :)

I am flying British Airways from Edinburgh going via Gatwick on the 19th of June. My flight arrives in Orlando before 4pm so it gives me plenty of time to get some shopping in and get in the pool!!!

I will be staying until the 15th of September as my mum, dad and sister are coming for a holiday. We will be staying at Old Key West Resort, Bay Lake Towers and Royal Pacific Resort (Universal hotel).
                                                                     OLD KEY WEST

BAY LAKE TOWERS

                                                          ROYAL PACIFIC HOTEL

                                                                             

AHHHHHHHHH CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!! XX

The countdown begins.....

OK so it has been two weeks since I found out I am going to Disney and I have literally not stopped talking about it to anyone who will listen, regardless if they want to or not :) So Since I found out I have had to complete a Criminal check form to make sure I am well behaved, which obviously I am. 55 quid it costs ....My Christmas present to myself yay!

Also been looking at flights which again will be my birthday and Xmas present to myself for 20 years, totally worth it though. Planning going B.A from Edinburgh via Gatwick and think I may have found, as Woody would say, "A moving buddy". :) Just going to wait until B.A hopefully have a sale on Xmas day to see if I can get a bargain.

On Tuesday I had a online meeting with someone from the Yummy Jobs office in Canada. About 20 ICP people logged on, some with microphones, a bit like Skype so I am told. We were basically told all the important things we had to do before we go, things to bring with us and what would happen when we arrive in Orlando. We were also told to read the documents that had been uploaded on our Yummy Job accounts, which included a step by step guide of everything we had to do before arriving and about applying for a Visa. I am going to be busy, that's all I'm saying!!!!


In between writing my uni essays I have been on the ICP facebook group chatting to all the other ICP people, just getting to know who everyone is, what role they will be doing and when they are heading to Disney. It has been really good to chat to people who are just as excited as me......makes me more excited.

Anyway that's all for now folks ;)  xxxx