From the City that Never Sleeps....to the village with no phone signal...the last few days of my journey!

So its 2am back in England, and I can't sleep because I'm on the wrong time zone still...but I have to be up really early on Friday for my first day of work so I should really start getting into a good pattern!
So much has happened since my last post, a third and fourth flight, my sixth hotel room in 12 days, and two more timezones. Keeping up with news from Disney, there was a Magical Express bus crash near Epcot the other day with one fatality which is very scary, and one of my best friends during the program got termed the other day for trying to sneak someone in which sucks!!!!

Now, to rewind back to the last few days of Vegas... I think I was up to Wednesday the 14th.. our last proper night in Vegas as we flew at 11pm on the Thursday.
I made the most of the sun by spending nearly all day in bed while the others were by the pool as I didn't want to make myself ill again! I watched Shallow Hal, played Despicable Me and wrote my blog. I met the girls at the foodcourt for another McDs, two cheeseburger meal oops! They had no BBQ sauce which is lame so I had to have Chipotle, not as good!
After eating I read my kindle and the others came back and we all napped then got ready and headed to the strip. We headed down to the other end, on the way we saw the most disturbing Hello Kitty costume ever!! It was crappy like all the others but also had a darth vader-like breathing vent, ugh!
We went to watch the Sirens of Treasure Island (a hotel) on Jules' recommendation and I have to say we all thought it was AWFUL. Jules' said she remembered it being much better and maybe we were used to Disney standards but it was really just girls dressed like complete tarts fannying about on a boat pretending to sing/dance/act but failing badly, with a few special effects thrown in.
Then we went to the Mirage to see the white tigers from when I'd stayed there with my family but it turns out that they'd been taken away years ago, probably right after I left, so that was a fail too. We watched the volcano there and that was pretty good.
We wondered through the Venetian and checked out the canal and shops then got a taxi back to the MGM as it was late and we were tired and hungry, and we decided to use our hotel credit at Hakkasan, an Asian restaurant that's also a nightclub with people like Calvin Harris and Tiesto but it was closed that night. Between us we got lemon chicken, salt n pepper squid, duck rolls and some asparagus dish and it was all really good and we still had some left and were full. We estimated we'd need to pay something like $10 each on top of our credit but when we checked out the next day it was all free!
We ended the night watching the Bellagio fountains, we watched two; All That Jazz and This Kiss, apparently there's an MJ one I'd liked to have seen but it was too late. On the way home Jen and I looked at New York New York hotel and walked past the Coyote ugly bar but it was $10 dollars to go in so we didn't.
We were up early on the Thursday to pack and check out and pay the 'resort fee' ($28) and leave our cases. Then it was off to Caeser's for a VIP pool party where we stayed most of the day. We got stamped when we went in behind a secret curtain to the special pool, and when we tried to move sun loungers we were led to our own day bed (a bed covered in towels for sun bathing) that had been bought by some young guys from NY one of whom had just sold his company, and they'd told the guy to find some girls who could use it!

It was a very chilled 'party'. The pool had its own bar and then loungers beds and cabanas around it and there was an interesting mix of people (old fat ladies, old lesbians, young guys, old rich guys with young bimbos.., us!). We bought pina coladas and sunbathed and sat in the pool and played 'volleyball' with some guys from Virginia and talked to guys from Canada and it was fun. We got told off for taking photos as it was a topless pool oops!
I got some really yummy fries there too and they were a huge portion!

We stayed til people starting leaving and the girls got Earl of Sandwich and then Jules and I walked past Excalibur and looked into the Luxor as we had time to kill then back at MGM we were thirsty so we got our old staple, chocolate milk and as Jules handed over her card to pay the lady said 'ID please' and said 'for chocolate milk???' her face was so funny!! Of course it was because she was using her card but most places don't bother asking for ID so she didn't realise. Made us laugh!

We had 30 mins or so til we needed to leave so we thought we had better gamble since we were in Vegas...we headed to the roulette table and made some random bets. We bet $20 and won $46 very exciting!! Then $27, then $36...then $18. We got very excited then went through all the highs and lows of winning then losing then making decisions of when to stop and carry on all in about 20 minutes and ended up with -$8 on what we started. Its a good job we didn't start on the first night!!!
Also the table showed statistics for what was best etc but we thought it'd be more fun to all press random numbers!



 We got a taxi to the airport, security was fine (they didn't care about liquids for any of our 4 flights in America...) and we got through quickly so had 90 minutes until the flight. I got a California Pizza Kitchen pizza which was nice but only ate a bit of. Our flight was at 11 and overnight, the girls had booked it and informed me we'd sleep during it and we'd then be fine to go around NY the next day. What actually happened is that it was 4 hours long, we slept for maybe 2 hours max, woke up numb and in hell to find we'd landed at 3 am our time, 7am NY time.
We got an airtrain and then a long subway to our hotel on Times Square, and bought $30 week subway tickets even though we only needed 4 days one journey was $2.75 so we got our moneys worth.. Our hotel was just at the top of Times Square, next to a Herschey's (yuck) world and opposite yet another M&M store (we were next to one in Vegas and the shopping mall in Fl had one!) When we arrived around 10 our room wasn't ready so we went to the Times sq McDs in agony and tiredness and sat by the window looking at the view while the girls ate their McDs breakfast (which I will not touch) and Jules argued with the server about her bagel order, I waited for the 15 mins to tick by til 11 so I could get a real meal...and got a 10 chicken nugget meal which came with huge fries and I said I wouldn't eat it but I stuffed it all in, think I needed it! The weather in NY the whole time was warm, but cloudy, no sun, and I borrowed jeans from Hannah a lot! Having not worn jeans for 3 months it was weird!

Sidenote: whilst in NY and Vegas we basically lived off Starbucks and McDs, which for me meant breakfast was always Pain au Choc and hot choc from SBs and then some form of fries and meal from McDs, not healthy! And also service SUCKs in NY! Especially Times Square...although you probably cant blame them.

So we had to kill time we walked to Madison Square Gardens, of which we saw nothing as it was being renovated, then got the tube/subway whatever to Grand Central station which was cool. It was time to meet Hannah back at the hotel as she'd come in from Orlando and then we begged for our room (it was 1pm) and got it finally! Jen and Hannah went shopping but Jules and I got straight into bed and fell asleep til 5.30. Those beds were by far the comfiest out of any in America!! SO nice.
And our view was pretty damn good!

View from the room

Hannah's Eeyore and my Winnie the Pooh :)

That first evening our target for dinner was the Times Square Olive Garden. Ive only been once before in Cali and the food all sounded good but service was bad so I didn't think much of it. And the summary of the night was food was yummy but service was DIRE. The list of things the guy did wrong was so long we couldn't remember it all when we complained to the manager but he took off our tip and offered us dessert but we just wanted to leave. He sent the same waiter to collect the bill...awkward. It was very busy so we waited in the bar and ate appetizers there of nice fried things, then we ordered two pasta dishes to share between us which were nice and more than enough as you get free salad and garlic bread. On the way out we told a waitress we weren't given the little mint chocolates with our bill and she gave us loads, yum.
We got some photos in the Square where there were more awful Disney characters, and spidermans, a minion (wearing skinny jeans!!) a fat old 'cowboy' in pants and a painted girl just wearing a thong, ugh, dignity woman!!
Jules got talking to a 'gym boy' a group of exercise addicts who were trying to sell their calendar, and she said they should be lifting weights or something it ended with them forcing me (as the only one wearing jeans) to lay on top of his back as he did press ups in the middle of the Square. The girls found it hilarious as he was topless and greasy and I was embarrassed!!
We went to the Empire State where we got tickets for the top (but not very top) and spent ages up there taking photos, very cool! Turns out my American bestie Lindsey was up there the night before!! shame we didn't meet! Also we spied an exciting looking building with pink and blue lighting on the rooftop and tried to zoom in with the camera to see if it was a club or something (more on that later...)
Jen and Hannah and I walked home, long day!

Saturday 17th; our first full day in NY. So we did what any girls would do and hit Fifth Ave!
We had our SATC (sex and the city) bus tour booked for 3pm so we wondered fifth until it was time. First stop was something I'd been dying to do but the girls weren't that bothered about (until they realised SATC was filmed here...duh); NY Public Library!!! It was very cool, a beautiful marble building very ornate, and best of all downstairs in the Children's book exhibit; the original stuffed toys owned by A.A Milne!! Including Eeyore, Pooh and Tigger!

Then we wondered up Fifth and made stops at the Lindt store (lovely sample guy there trying to guess our accents let me try a coconut lindt! should have bought some!) and the Trump tower. We had to catch our bus from right by the Plaza. The tour cost nearly $50 but was fun! We got to see a lot of different areas of the city; all of Fifth, the Flatiron building, the meatpacking district, Little Italy, Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Soho... probably lots of others and they pointed out different sights where things happened and then played the clips for us, and even though it was filmed 13 years ago (some of the TV show) we saw quite a lot! We also got to get off at some stops including Bleecker Street to look at a bakery but we were given different cupcakes back on the bus, and there I found the coolest book shop ever; Bookmarc, everything was Marc Jacobs! I bought an ipad mini case...and even the sharpies said "sharpie by Marc Jacobs". We also got off at a place called Buddakan where Carrie and Big have their dinner before their wedding!

We drove by the Church where Samantha meets a religious guy, the St corner from the credits, the Paris cinema where Carrie watches a film alone, Sushi Samba, and numerous other bars and gyms featured, and of course there are lots of scenes filmed at the Plaza too!  We saw Charlotte's gallery, the street Carrie gets robbed in, and we went and had a drink in Steve's bar Scout but it was called 'Oneails' or something (there was an 'i' in it somewhere). We learned some interesting facts such as the baby that is Aidan's in the show (tate) is actually SJPs and that Steve's bar isn't really on Mulberry St they just covered the sign up but the next St over is Mulberry because we ate there on the last day! We got dropped off near the HBO shop (don't bother) and wondered down Fifth to find dinner. I enjoyed the tour, was worried it'd be a waste of money but we had fun and saw a lot of the city!

Dinner was at a random Italian next to the flatiron building where we sat outside and could see the Empire State! ( I had pasta 'alla vodka' YUM).

We went out that night and met Jules family friend Dan. He took us to a rooftop bar 230 Fifth which turned out to be what we saw from the Empire State! Was cool but very crowded, noisy and expensive and one of those snotty places with nowhere to sit unless youre rich so I hated it tbh, couldn't move or fear of spilling my $15 Bellini so I was glad to get out of there. We got a yellow cab on to a club that we had no idea where we were, turn out it was called Phebe's in Greenwich village and it was a local place with normal music. Highlight of the night was the girl that Dan was friends with answered the phone to her mum saying "yo, what's up bitch?".

In the club Dan's friends bought us Tequila shots (ugh) and we danced til 2.30 or so and had a fun girls (+ Dan) night out.

Hannah and I were so tired we opted for a cab home which cost $12 but we argued about it (like every single decision!) and so the others got the subway but it took them an hour longer so I'm very glad we got the cab.

So it was bed at 3, up at 9 for more serious shopping!

Jules stayed in bed whilst we did Disney store (one last Eeyore) and Sephora then went on to Fifth where we wanted to go to the lovely bookshop in the Library but it was closed (Sunday, damn) as Jules wanted a card she'd seen. Then we went to the VS flagship and spent ages in the Pink free photobooth (fun!!) and then I spent probably an hour wondering around in there and bought some goodies. Then it was back up Fifth where we hit Urban, Barnes and Noble (basically Waterstones) and A&F as we had a 25% off voucher (there was a guy 'modelling' in the foyer, he looked like an idiot). It was the flagship store AKA worst shopping experience ever. So many people in the way, all the staff retarded useless and rude, I was in the changing room and asked for a different size as they'd labelled it wrong and the girl was like 'I'm not allowed', idiot! I could only find L in the joggers I wanted until someone miraculous dumped on pair of XS and so I grabbed them along with jeans I wanted and we all headed down, everyone a bit tired and grumpy to find out they didn't accept discount in the flagship, god were we angry!! We threw the clothes on the floor and got out! No way were we paying full price. After that the girls went back whilst Jen and I popped to look at flagship Apple in the Louvre style but cube not pyramid. Just a large store nothing special! And then FAO Schwarz opposite Plaza, a huge toystore, with a massive minion!

 That evening we split with Jules going elsewhere and Jen Hannah and I headed to the Met to take photos, they weren't interested but I thought it was stupid to go just for photos and wanted to go in but it was closed, lame. We went through Park Ave and Madison Ave (Upper East side...GG) on the way and saw some nice houses. Then we wondered in Central Park and went to meet Jules but she decided she couldn't go in like she'd told us so our tour of the park was cut short for us to basically run back to the side we came from to meet her and so we didn't see much of it and it was all a bit stressful! We did walk past the free theatre though that was buzzing, wish we could have gone! I think Debra Messing may have been there the day before...damn!

 

We got the subway to Greenwich for dinner and found a place by NYU dorms that was full of students as it was a Sunday at 10pm and they still did happy hour, so we bagged $4 cocktails; perfect for our last night together. It was Thai, called Cafetasia, and really good!!  I got a gorgeous red thai curry, a whole bowlful of sauce, rice on the side, perfect!

Halfway through the meal a HUGE plant fell over somehow in the middle of the restaurant and flooded the place with water and leaves, very funny! We got on the tube tired a bit tipsy and emotional. Hannah fell over when the tube started and we found it hilarious!! Crazy drunks on the tube...

 

In Times sq on the way to bed we saw more horrors such as THREE Mickeys all standing next to eachother, and a little girl in front of us saying 'Mummy, I can see the person in Mickey' and her mum saying close you're eyes. So sad I wanted to go and kick the people in every awful Disney costume I saw!!

We got a photo with the NYPD as per Jen's wish and they stood on a vent so she had a very funny Marilyn skirt moment in the middle of the Square in front of them!!

Then we queued up for a pic on the top of the steps but Jules went to bed which was a shame. We got our faces on the screen but Hannah missed the face hole and hers was just a photo of her chin, huge on the screen, very funny!!

 

 

 Back at the room I packed my case for an hour then hit the bed but we were up at 7, so tired! We ditched the cases and got the tube to Staten Island Ferry where we got the free ferry there and back to see the Statue of Liberty, then onto what Id been looking forward to, the 9/11 Memorial. We had to go and get free tickets (for a donation) and wait until 2pm for our allotted time so we wondered through Wall Street as it was on our list and then down to Seaport or somewhere we we'd heard of the possibility of another Abercrombie...and there it was, right next to AON! By a miracle this store was practically empty, and had a whole load of XS sizes of everything yay including what I wanted and theyd extended the voucher for an extra day so we managed to get our shopping! Then it was time for Ground Zero...

It had a lot of security but apparently when its all finished being built it'll just be open to the public. It was huge, peaceful, breath-taking how the water cascaded into a void, and crazy to picture the squares as having walls as high as those towering around it. Apparently I had been there when I was five or so, wish I could remember it!! The stone with names inscribed was ice cold to touch. Jen and I walked around one of the 'towers' reading names and we saw at least four including 'and her unborn child'. Very sad. The museum, open next year, has some of the girders in it from the outside of the building, all twisted up. The whole was very poignant, and although I remember seeing it on TV when I got home from school, its very hard to comprehend.

 

 

 We were starving by this point so we got the tube to Little Italy for our last meal and ended up walking through Chinatown where we walked past a Chinese fashion shoot! We ate at a place outdoors, right near Steve's bar, on Mulberry. I got creamy salmon pasta, it was a nice last meal. Sad though, really going to miss the girls!!!!!

The card machine didn't work and they didn't seem to care we'd get charged for cash so we left no tip and got out of there, but Jen apparently had to go back as she left her shopping haha!

So we split....Jules and I got the tube to Brooklyn Bridge and the others walked off. We popped out took a pic and got back on the tube as we were running out of time. We then got off in Greenwich and found the NYU bookstore AKA NYU merch!!!

We had a good rummage around and got a t shirt and a notebook, but they had everything you could want, a million mugs, like 8 different types of monopoly, all the stationary, clothing you could imagine including 'my first NYU top' and 'NYU Mom'. Best of all Jules found her card she'd wanted from the Lib, fate!!

 

Back at the hotel we got changed and said our final goodbyes to the girls, group hug, very sad!!

We also saw a sign for a broadway show next to our hotel with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weiz, really wishing we'd seen that before!

Then it was a tube and airtrain back to JFK. it took us under an hour from the first tube to the airport, but 30 mins just to lug our cases from the hotel around times square to the correct tube stop then all the way through it to the actual platform!

So with time to spare we looked for the Dunkin Donuts, with the place labelled east and west things were hard to find. Without the Castle as north I was no idea!!

McDs and Dunkin both disappointed as did lack of Wifi (crappy JFK!) so we gave up and waited to board. It was lovely to find Blair was on our plane so we got to say goodbye, I want to go and visit him in Scotland! We got a nice guy to swap so we could sit together (we'd left seat choosing too late), and attempted some sleep after the average inflight meal. We got our last Baileys together too :(

I watched two modern familys (my new show!) and a bit of Wreck it Ralph before sleeping for a bit.

We landed at 10am UK time (5...) and were met by Jules' mum, who kindly waved her welcome home banner at me too since my family couldn't be bothered and had sent a taxi up! It was sad saying goodbye to my roomy and work friend since we'd spent most waking hours and all sleeping hours together for the last 3 months or so!!

 

 

So that brings me to the end of this blog...unless I use it for Everest, we'll see, and I am still super jetlagged and tired and out of it five days after I've gotten home, and I need to start preparing for Everest!

To sum it all up, all I can say is, in the style of MiSiCI.. I've had "the time of my life....", the BEST SUMMER EVER and I don't think I've ever been happier and less stressed (even when things kept going wrong) and felt better about myself. I got to work on Main Street, in front of the castle every day, saw Wishes and parades every day, gained so much confidence; who knew this shy girl could shout goodbyes to thousands of guests without blushing and dance along a parade route in front of 50,000 people???? Worked in my favourite park Studios on Sunset boulevard, as close to Tower and Coaster as a UK ICP will ever get! I got to lay in the sun, play in the parks, becomes completely and utterly Disney-fied, and make some of the best friends ever!! I also got my degree results through that I feel like I've been working towards ever since I was the only one in the class who did her homework in Middle School; and I somehow managed to pull off a First!! Despite spending the whole fourth year worrying about raising charity funds for Everest, applying for real life jobs and Disney stuff, I have finally got my Masters! I missed graduation but hopefully get my own in January, and of course I got to attend my Disney one....

 

To anyone who comes across this blog, you MUST apply, maybe your dreams will come true!!!

I for one will definitely be applying for the Cultural Representative Program in the near future...;)

See ya at Everest Base Camp!!!!!!

xxx

From Chip n Dale to Chippendales...

So I am now chilling in the room in Vegas with some trashy US TV on, (MGM grand, 18th floor Grand tower!)

My last day at WDW was Sunday, I was up early and packed and sunbathed/went on the slide at Caribbean Beach then washed and grabbed a yummy Pina Colada smoothie and got on a bus to MK then a boat to the Grand Floridian (!!) where I checked in with a lovely old guy whose first day it was. He gave me a birthday badge and some weird ones I'd never seen before and I went to my room. It was lovely with a nice little balcony. Then I headed to AK for the third time. I went to Tusker house for lunch. Its an African buffet and you meet Donald, Mickey, Daisy and Goofy! It was good! Sadly my fav bit was the kiddy section; mac n cheese and corn dog nuggets! Then I did a safari and saw a female lion and then the Maharajah Jungle Trek where I saw bats and a tiger!!!
Then I did Dinosaur twice, got my facepainted and did some pin trading. One CM I spoke to said she'd been to Disney when you still bought the A-E tickets (pins I collect) which is cool.

Then I went home to GF and ordered room service of a ham and pineapple pizza and it came with a pot of cheese, chilliflakes, baby salt and pepper and a table cloth! Ate it in front of Despicable Me, lovely. Then I napped and missed Wishes (damn) and met Hannah for one final night at MK until 1am for EMH (extra magic hours).

We saw a bit of the last ELP and did Space mountain on the front seat, went though Fantasyland for a stop at the Winnie the Pooh shop for one last cuddly toy (definitely the best in MK) and did Its A Small World for the first time! Not too bad! Then for the last ride of the summer (sad) Haunted Mansion at 1am!! It kept stopping and Hannah freaked out hehe.

We left via Frontierland (poo river!) and Adventure land, grabbed some dole whip on the way out, took a photo in front of the castle and that was that! Sad!

We got a boat home then stayed up til 2.30 am ordering our breakfast and giggling about autocorrect.
We were woken 5 hours later for our brekky; croissants, jam, blueberry muffin juice, hot choc, marshmellows, fruit, and mickey butter!
I showered, chucked my stuff in my case and ran to the Magical Express. The driver tried to be funny and told some interesting stories but the atmosphere on the bus was sad!
I checked into the airport, grabbed a mandatory Toblerone and met the girls at the gate where they caught me up with their cruise.
We got to sit together and it was a 3 hour flight with Sun Country so I slept a bit but got a bad neck and woke with a numb leg (scary).
We got one free drink, no alcohol though, and landed in Minnesota which is 1 hour behind (Central time) then went to the loo then back on a plane for another 3 hours to Vegas where I sat alone and read my kindle, finishing Miranda!
Vegas is 3 hours behind Orlando, Pacific time. It was 100 degrees!!
We got a taxi to the MGM which is huge. Our room is nice pink and flowery has a good view and nice bathroom and automated blinds!
We changed and headed to the strip. It was so hot, like a hairdryer blowing at us, even at night, silly Desert.

Inside our hotel, among other things, is a casino, a club, lots of pools and a lazy river, a McDonalds, a 24 hour cupcake shop, at least 3 Starbucks, and the CSI experience!

We went restaurant hunting. We saw showgirls in feathers and skimpy thongs, a guy dressed as Jonny Depp, Edward Scissorhands, some awful Mickey, Minnie and Woody costumes, some bad looking transformers, and a zombie! All along the strip! This morning a fat guy dressed as a showgirl jumped in Jules face and scared her! We saw the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and the fountains.
We ate dinner in Caeser's Palace, at a place called Trevi where I had vodka ravioli YUM.
On the way back I saw the coca cola shop and we went to bed, so so tired from jet lag!!

This morning Jules and I grabbed a Starbucks and went for a wonder and then I went to the coca cola shop and bought PJS, 6 bottles and a bottle opener. I got a photo with a scary polar bear mascot too!! SUCH FUN.

So finally to talk about yesterday, We hit the pool for 3 hours during lunch, 38 Celsius, and did the lazy river and read magazines but as we got up to leave I felt super ill and then as I walked it all went black and I felt sick and had to lay in the path!! Security came over to help me, the lifeguard gave me water and the girls dragged me to the aircon where we got McDs in the food court and I felt better. Still, scary!
Then we came up and napped and then got dressed up and headed out to pick up our tickets for...THE CHIPPENDALES! Woop Woop!

The show was at 8pm for 90 minutes and we were in the third row, and I have to say it was alot better than I thought it would be! Jules got taken on stage too! "He licked me!!" There was alot of screaming ladies!! It was like Channing Tatum dancing x10 men! We could have got a group photo for $20 but we met them in the bar afterwards and got a few photos. Then we headed to Caeser's, and went to Pure nightclub. It was all white themed and we got free drinks 'til midnight then danced, and met some German guys who we hung out with, and went out on the terrace that had awesome views of the strip! My favourite part of the night was Jen saying "I want to go to the loo just so I can sit down". Hahaha.
We made it home about 3am!

Second last park day part 2

So I rode Everest, ate a mac n cheese dog (interesting), bought my Yeti and took photos, they told me to send in base camp photos! Then I came across the D pin I've been looking for! Then one last Safari where I got a full close view of the lion, yawning!! 

Then I did Studios where I watched fantasmic in the dinner package bit thanks to Abi, took pics with the gang there, did rock n rollercoaster one more time then went by the pool at the Caribbean Beach and chilled in the hot tub with a mai tai! Lush great day!!

 

12 reasons why Animal Kingdom is my new favorite park

Jambo...

1. I didn't think I particularly cared about animals but I actually love doing the safari! Especially when rhinos stop in front of us or I see the lion!
2. There is an abundance of CM's with pins, really good pins!!!
3. It has the whole Everest connection!
4. You can get awesome facepaint there!
5. It has Dinosaur my new FAV ride
6. In the evening its cooler there and has really short queues
7. Its a lot more chilled and less busy than MK
8. Meeting characters there is fun as they can give you more attention (like Tigger proposing)
9. The Cast members are super friendly
10. You can get some awesome photopasses there
11. I can wear my leopard ears
12. My yeti!

Kwahereni! (go well)

Best shift ever!

Its Saturday morning and I'm sat at the lovely 'town' of Martinique in the Caribbean Beach resort waiting for a bus to MK so Hannah can maingate me, and I'm going to attempt to catch up on the last 5 days! 

So on Tuesday I was up early with the family and we popped to the Mall at Millenia again where I got treated to my lovely new pink ipod touch, thanks Dad :) it was very handy to take to work to get all my final photos with people!
Then after that it was on to Kissimmee for something very exciting, an airboat tour of the Everglades with the family! 
It was in the middle of nowhere and was HOT as it was midday. We had a boat to ourselves, and had headsets to wear and I was in the front row. It was very hot going slowly but fun going fast even if it was windy and noisy!
It was very cool, very CSI Miami!! I don't know how Horatio makes it look so effortless bouncing along on one! Our guide was very southern! With a drawling accent, and repeating everything twice! He was really nice though! We saw lots of cool swamp life, lots of bugs flies dragonflies rare birds a vulture and a turtle. We also saw a deer which our guide got excited about which was funny as he never sees them but for us deer are really common! Whereas we never see gators! So In the end we only saw the eyes above the water of one gator, a mother protecting her nest, she looked mean!! We also ate the inside of a lotus flower! Tasted like a nut.
It was funny because just a few days before I got to see the whole of a small gator in the Frontierland river in Magic Kingdom! 

We went for lunch at Bahama breeze which was ok but not as good as the first time.

Then that evening I had my last ever PAC shift! I had swapped it to South to be with Jules and it was very special and awesome in a number of ways! Firstly in our last PAC meeting we had to stand up and say our favourite memories on Main St (I said about the engagement and general magic etc) and people got quite emotional. It so happened that the awesome Cathy our trainer was Parade 50 that night (the one who assigns roles) and she hooked Jules up with an extension firstly, and gave us both Parade Escort!!!! The best position!! For me it was my first time doing it and to get to do it alongside jules for our last shift was so cool. To give a brief explanation, the escorts basically LEAD the parade all the way along the route, we are the first ones in the parade so we are literally part of the Electrical Parade!! We help people set up before the start and then get in position with a Mickey hand each to wave/high five people and our job is to get the crowd hyped for the parade. New light-up mickey hands have been introduced thanks to LP! We wait by the gates and get to OPEN the gates onto Main street! We are the first ones out then we stay in front of the first dancers all the way round, waving, high fiving (or high-four to the smart asses), getting guests to cheer and clap and checking for ppl in street/trashcans/lights etc. Then at the end we join in to help with Pecos crossings which is fine since I've worked that position. Considering I'm a relatively shy person, the fact that I walked/danced around the parade route in front of tens of thousands of people maybe 50,000 is a pretty crazy achievement, when will that ever happen again?!  Best of all I got to do it with Jules, and in front of my family! Well, half of them anyway! 

So Cathy not only did that for us but also presented us each with a Fanatic card in the meeting :D it was my first one so I was very happy!

Jules and I went onto town square and played ring toss with the kids until it was time to go, and the light up mickey gloves were nowhere to be seen. I bumped in Nicole and she hooked us up again with a no-strings form so we could go and get brand new ones from the shop!!

In our break she also surprised me with my second fanatic card for "keeping walt's dream alive" which is so so awesome :D

So then 9pm came and we opened the gates and went out. I was very nervous but it was amazing! I arrived in frontierland redder and sweatier than I'd ever been in my life though!  Also in the hub tinkerbells float got stuck for what felt like an age so we had to vamp a bit to keep people excited!
Then we went to adventureland bridge for wishes which was a bit of an adventure! Only us 2 there for half of it and I had a family there saying 'guests just aren't listening to her' and 'god I'd never work here!' 
On break we got photos with people, then it was back out for 11pm ELP! When I clocked out I noticed my name was on the birthday list for august in MO2, sad times.
Then I found the family (dad n lau) and dad treated me to a final Caseys!! I got the usual :D then I got a photo in front of the castle with them and we drove home. Amazing night.

I got up early Wednesday to go to HS for opening show and I half made it as I heard the loudspeaker saying  "enjoy the show" as I got there. I wondered around and looked at pins (RnR has a pin drum!) And sat in Writers Stop eating a smores square :)  I chilled with mum and packed and then it was off to work for last ever MK shift; PG :( 

I am now writing this in the queue for the rapids at AK by myself, it is boiling!

This shift was a 445 to 1215 but I was extended til 115, which sucks and it was pretty non eventful and boring tbh! I got maps during which I bumped in Cherie and signed this photo she bought which was cool. I also had to say goodbye to jacob and dan which was sad, and Nicole!! She said I'd reminded her what working here should be about, the magic... And it was sweet then as she walked off, 'you got a friend in me..' Came on, aw!! I was on monorail exits at one point and a family came through where th 2 kids were crying loads and he said 'can you tell its our last night' and I said its mine too! Then another guest right after said 'see you tomorrow', no you won't :( 
Shift dragged and I found myself scoffing my first snickers bar in ages (PAC shifts are a lot better for my diet) and by the end I wasn't sad just wanted to get out of there!
I got Vs mostly and exits. 
The best part of the shift was being on exits at end, my last time I was going to say 'good night, bye guys, have a magical night' to thousands of people!! I got a blue mickey hand out which was fun because guests get more excited. Jules got a girl with a stitch toy to make it high five me, blue to blue! Guests cannot resist a high five (or cinqo!)
Another fun thing was a girl with the unicorn bag from Despic went past with her fam so I shouted I love your bag and she smiled then I shouted "its so fluffy" and the whole big group loved it they clapped and cheered haha! Bit of magic :)
All of us 4 ladies closing were all finishing, jules me nicole and angie. I hate closing!! On the way out though I got a free mickey bar ice cream from MO4 yay! Then I got a VIP ride back to boardwalk on the bus :)

Thursday, up early once again, so tired!  We finished packing and went to Kouzzina for breakfast as it still had 40percent off! Then showed ID at CB beach just in case and dropped off my case I'm keeping to the housing, went to the outlets and got a Ben and Jerrys ice cream milkshake and then went to the pool. We ate lunch at Big River on boardwalk (crap) and said goodbye to the family :(

Then I went back to the lush pool then went to MK to hand in fanatic cards, saw loads of ppl I know! Then I showed my I D at GF so hopefully that will be ok, and then it was off to HS for my LAST EVER CAST MEMBER SHIFT!!

I was given a wheelchair walked position so asked to change it and was given scar wheelchair which was basically guarding the disability section of Scar. It was quite an uneventful shift. I got to watch both shows (mickey has 5 diff outfits!) I had a few final magic moments, one for me when a teenage girl pin traded with me and I said I liked one of hers and she gave it to me and then said 
I was pretty!! (I was not, hair was awful, and I had no makeup and a red face aha)
Then the other I made by getting out the $2 princess pin guests go mad for from cast connections and when a little princess came up to me and got excited about it I said, mickey told me I could find a special princess to give this to (rather than trade) and she was really happy! And I gave her sis some stickers.
The first show was also very packed, as another whole section was reserved for dinner package and there were about 1200 of them!!! Crazy. Apparently it was because mondays show was cancelled due to weather.
I love it when people address me by saying Hi Emma, Bye Emma, thankyou Emma etc, gonne miss my nametag! And when people stop and ask you about yourself like I got a family from Cambridge (but massechusetts instead) I also love it when princesses look super happy after you've said 'hi princess'. The guys I was standing with were bored and were saying things to guests like 'oh excuse me, you dropped your smile' which is quite funny when they turn around! So it was time to clock out for the last time, and I got a photo with my French Fantasmic! friend Benny who is cool. As we were leaving I passed Mark from entrance GR, testing magic bands on ToT and RnR after hours, so jel!! He got to ride it w/lights on!! I dumped my costume on the way out and chucked my shoes and socks in the bin (woo!!)

I went to flat for the final time and it was the first night I'd spend alone for 2months!! Weird!! Sad without Jules :( then I was up early to do some laundry, grab some last free choc chip cookies (I had four) return my raincoat and move out, leaving behind the key and housing I D. No more crappy buses!!
I checked into Caribbean beach and explored. My room is nice and finding nemo themed! I wish Matt were here!! The resort is gorgeous, with small beaches everywhere with hammocks and loungers, a pool with slides and a lake u can rent boats on! I napped on the beach and didn't do much cos I was so tired then that evening I went to Downtown AMC with Hannah for a final US movie, I love the cinema!! We went to RIPD which I thought was quite good, quite like MIB, but hannah fell asleep bless her! I got a huge box of junior mints and a vanilla coke! Then we sat on a bench by the lake and chatted for ages, so much goss to catch up on! Then I got to go to my lovely room and I watched some Friends and read my kindle before falling asleep about 2 only to be awoken at 4-am by some stupid annoying family!! God knows why there were outside my door as that time as nothing in the whole state is open past 2am! Grr!

Up early on bus to MK for hannah to maingate me! She went to work, so I played a bit of sorcerers (only need 2 cards now!), then I did Hall of presidents finally! Interesting. I had a Funnel cake for brekky feel bit sick! Then I finally saw the Trolley show, it was quite quaint and fun. I watched bit of Jack Sparrow's pirate tutorial, then did the Pirates ride. 
I got the bus to AK and waited in line for the Rapids! I only got nicely wet! I got a FP for Ex Everest and mickey bar! Pin traded for soda pop bottle yay! Then I did Primeval whirl, got a dinosaur FP with my cast I D so I had two at same time :p then I saw some of the parade, traded more cool pins, went to look at the gorillas, went on Dinosaur, can't get enough of the 80s style preshow video!! Then I found another pop bottle pin and met tigger and pooh, tigger proposed, I said yes!! Aha. 

Matt and the family! Longggg post

Sunday night..Matt arrived!! We got checked into a Dalmations room at All Star Movies, which being low budget was nice enough, great for 2 people, not so good if u were a whole family in there. We went to Downtown Disney, Planet Hollywood yay! I had the fried lasagne and oreo milkshake again, lush!
Day 1, Monday, we did AK, we managed to get a lot done in a few hours including the Safari twice, during which the second time we got stuck behind rhinos in the road for 10 mins! I finally got my french toast sticks (not the best though) And a mickey bar ice cream-like a chocice (good).  We did Everest twice and Dinosaur twice and the Lion King show. Then we did the rapids woo! I also got my face painted :D and we got some photopass pics taken too. We wondered by the animals and saw gorillas, and ate at Yak and yeti where I had red seafood curry yum!
We went home about 6 and chilled all night, watching tele, such a novelty! I wondered down to the hotel food court and got chilli cheese fries n watched CSI Miami, heaven. Then the next day was my GRADUATION!! Mickey style! It was super sunny! I got a taxi over about 11.30 and grabbed some cookies to cheer up and got my Virgo pin (thanks Dan and Lesley!) Then I headed over to Chatham field with Jules, Jen and Bet! We signed in, got our Ears, Certificate and a gift- a memory box! Then we got photos with Minnie, Mickey and Goofy with their graduation outfits, and had the bbq; burgers (and hotdogs and chicken) and pulled pork! Then corn-on-the-cob, mac & cheese and some nice lemonade. There was a disco but it was too hot to dance :( so we went in the photo booth instead then we got some freebies as we left; a mickey graduation aerial topper and a pen and a licence plate thing. We changed in the room and headed to the Poly to celebrate! We did the slide, drank lemonade and swam, explored the beach and sunbathed, was so good!!
The family came to pick me up was good to see them! They said I was brown haha :) We checked in at the boardwalk, so nice! There were fancy truffles on the bed! And the balcony view is right over the boardwalk! I stole Hollys nice white dress and wore my grad ears and we went to drink wine and eat cheese and nibbles in club level, I had wine and apples in caramel and duck samosas! We walked over to HS and met matt and I managed to get my ears embroidered (it was a magic moment as they were full and he'd turned everyone else away!) Then we did Star tours, which was a new one, with bounty hunters. Dinner was at Sci Fi dine in, lovely. There were girls out front doing Disney trivia til we went in too and we won stickers! Then we did Great movie ride and watched the Monsters party, and then went to Fantasmic YAY!
Wednesday: We got the bus home then woke up early, grabbed pain au chocolat from the food court at All Stars and headed to Universal! We had a very lucky day and fitted a lot in, only rubbish thing was Matt didn't feel too well and had to miss out some stuff :(.. We did Rip ride (all evanescence) and Mummy with short queues, headed over to the islands- Rapids (bit wet), then Ripsaw Falls (on the front, got absolutely soaked!!) Then Harry potter single rider where some lovely guy who might have been on IT show or something gave us 2 express passes for IoA, then we did dueling dragons fire then ice (front). Then lunch! Mythos, salmon and wasabi mash. Matt's was really nice; beef truffle butter and spicy fried onions. Coconut creme dessert again!  Then hulk twice (front w/ holly) and Dr Doom, Holly was shaking haha bless her. Then back to universal, MIB then all the family went on Transformers inc mum!! We met the minions, then went home.
Thursday: Today Matt and I headed to Blizzard beach!! I'd never been before so I've finally done all 6 parks. And I finally got to use the new touchpoints!!! (For a 55 dollar fee of course...silly blockout dates) I tried a Pretzel hotdog (ew) and a ball of fried ice cream (yum) and we went on the lazy river, some rapids, a Tobbagan race and a family raft which we got to get a ski style chair lift up to! Then Matt went off to summit plummet while I sunbathed and read my Miranda book, ate the ice cream and napped! And I saw Goofy in his swim gear.
That night was Ohanas!! Full!!! I ate the same stuff as last time and we had a Sunset cocktail! Was really nice.
Friday: in the morning we had our Crystal Palace breakfast :) matt and mum both bailed though! Then they all got me sorcerers cards and should have had 6 packs but she gave us 10!! So exciting haha I only need 3 now.  We did Thunder, Space and I finally got to see Push the talking trash can! Then we had the good idea to use some QS meal plans at Be our Guest for lunch. It wasn't as good as dinner but better than other QS. We sat in the Mysterious ballroom! I never noticed how the portrait changes before! We got a Splash FP and got splashed by splash (it was so hot) then Pirates, Space again where Holly found a  stitch pin on her seat, then Monsters Inc and I got a limited time magic Mike Wazowski ice cream sundae! We did Splash then Matt and I got the boat to HS and drew buzz then ate at Pizza planet!! Played Hummer racing (I lost) and the light game :) We did the Muppets show then ToT then went thru all the shops Pin trading! Glad he's a loser like me :D
Saturday: we were up earlyish where we discovered that Matt had to leave at 845 am tomorrow and his flight was at 12 not 6, gutted!! We headed to HS, got breakfast at starring rolls (queue grr!) And did Backlot tour, RnR front row!! Then another drawing class (they're addictive, Disney is magical, here I'm an artist!) We learned voice of Eeyore is also the voice of Optimus Prime ha. Then I wasn't listening as they announced who we were drawing; Eeyore!!! I was so excited I nearly fell off the swivel stool (which I always scoff at them for warning us about) then I ordered my own personalised drawing from a real Disney artist :) we then got churros and choc sauce from Blair (love u dude!) And watched Lights Motors Action. We got some Photopass pics and Matt bought me a balloon yay! Then we headed back to change, and got a bus and boat to boardwalk! Beaches n cream!! We got fries (lush! The best around here in my opinion) Then onion rings and a huge hot fudge mud slide!! We explored both hotels and pintraded, then met family and got wine and nibbles in clublevel then read by pool! It began to rain so we read by the boardwalk, changed and went to HS for our long awaited use of the Toy story FPs. I was best in car, 126,00! We picked up Eeyore pic then headed to the fancy Jiko!! Apaz Johnny Depp eats here! Its at AK lodge Villas. We got refreshing handtowels scented with rosewater ha and the serviettes done for us! There was... Tandoori butter and bread, Wild boar tenderloin in trufflebutter (and chakalaka) and peri peri chicken flatbread starters. A Cocktail that was too strong, oops! Then Duck with potato spinach masala, braised short ribs (yum) pistachio chocs (free, not nice) and a green tea and choc thing and mango coconut white choc cheesesake! Our server kept saying 'Please enjoy!!' Haha. It only cost 2 DDP's each and another 50 dollars...We explored the pool and watched giraffes and zebras a few meters away in the dark! So cool!!  Matt left early and we woke at 7, it was really sad!!
Then Dad picked me up for Brekky on club level then we headed out to get a suitcase at the other outlets (so now I've been to both of Florida's malls and both outlet malls!) And I got a lovely grey kipling one, matches my Eeyore! We went for lunch at Bubba Gump at citywalk, I had nice coconut shrimp but the service was bad. Then we ran to flat to grab stuff and chuck it all in the case and then to the hotel where I had to change and go!
It was good to be back at work but I was nervous. Before I started work I went to get ice cream cookie sandwich with DDP snack and bumped into Dan and Cherie. Then we clocked in and had the meeting, Jules and Cherie got escort, jel! I got Confectionary 1, done before, ok, and Jules helped me set up. My number 2 was an EHH guy whose normal position is All star movies housekeeping, where I just checked out of!!
Jules and I played ringtoss with the kids which was nice, it was really good to see her! I got my first questions about the silly royal baby and she pointed at my badge (says cambridge) and said congrats on the new addition and I thought what is she on about?! Then I realised and gushed some rubbish about how excited we all are (not!)
I also helped a family with some park questions and turned to see the mother taking a photo of my chatting with the lil girl upon which I turned bright red and stayed red the whole night haha! A guest also said he thought I was Brazilian...interesting, I'm not that tanned!
The fireworks I was up in Hub and was stressful as the path got blocked at one point and I had to walk guests all the way through clearing it and shouting!! 1st parade went ok but then round 2 wasn't great, I was by myself which I didn't complain about but was worrying about how to do 4 ropes and 4 stanchions by myself but got on and did it (bright red and sweaty!) And noone came to help me atall, even though a family of guests asked if they could help me bless them!!! However when I saw that not only did noone help but they'd taken the cart in too and all gone off to do the cheese, I got upset :(
I was glad to be done and got the bus home to yacht and beach and walked around an empty boardwalk home, love it here.
Monday; my day off with the family!! Today laura and holly and I headed to the pool and went on the slide! I stopped at club level after for refreshments, they had ice tea lemonade, crisps cookies fish-shaped sweets and choc raisins! Then we headed to Epcot for lunch at Coral Reef where we discovered I no longer get cast discount damn. The starter n dessert were good, creamy lobster soup spicy shrimp and jack daniels and baileys choc mousse! We did captain EO then laura and I went to try the weird cokes and walked around the world. We stopped by Beaches n Cream for a coke float then chilled in the room because there was lightning. It has been storming since then all evening. So we went to Mall at Millenia where I went to Pink and to Apple where I want to buy everything!! Its too rainy for EMH tonight so we got pizza from boardwalk and are having an early night.