A Very Bloggy Day...

14^th July 2011 6.26pm (US Time...)

Ooof today has been such a day of boring errands and what not. I initially planned to go to the Premium Outlets, then Hollywood Studios, then maybe go and see Harry Potter. However, I ended up sleeping in until about 10.30am, then doing my laundry and trying to catch this blog up. No joke I’ve been working on my page for about five hours. No harm done though really as the weather is pretty overcast and it even rained at one stage. Plus I know that most of the people I’m friends with are at work so I’d have to hang by myself which isn’t a massive deal, but I knew I had to do this.

So I’ve been here for three weeks right? And I have seen three famous people on Star Tours so far. They are as follows:

Bob Iger CEO of the Walt Disney Company

Chandra Wilson (or Miranda Bailey from Grey’s Anatomy)

Phill Lewis (or Mr Moseby from the Suite Life of Zac and Cody)

Pretty cool, huh? We've had a couple of sports people too, but I don't know who they are...

Now, I have also met a very ‘special’ guy at Star Tours and he asked me to give him a special shout out. John Holt is a guy from Manchester who actually permanently lives here and works at Star Tours and also at American Idol. He’s also training to be a fireman *insert ‘oooh’s and ‘ahhh’s here*. He is my Gerard Butler in The Ugly Truth. No, he unfortunately does not LOOK like Gerard, however, he has already let me in on a couple of the secrets which determine why guys can be such nobs at times which I quite appreciate. In return, I let him mock me and a particularly incriminating facebook photograph he has seen of me. He blatantly only does it because he wants a piece. And he loves watching me sticker small children. But whatever. J He’s a sweetie. SO THERE IT IS JOHN!!! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW???

Anyways, I’m going to go upload some of my more recent pictures on here then I may head out to the pool in a bit, all on my lonesome. Harry Potter will unfortunately have to wait until my next day off... next Wednesday night, it’s so ON, I’m going to be all over that wizard like ‘white on rice’ as the Americans say.

Take care pals.

gabriellasofia

Exhausted ALMOST to Tears... Is this REALLY the 'Happiest Place on Earth'?

5^th July 2011 4,00pm (US Time...)

Ok, so I was definitely supposed to be in work from 9.30am until 10pm tonight, but considering the rawness of my throat and the exhaustion I am experiencing from last night, I called in sick. Yeah, I went there, I did it. So sue me.

Yesterday was... mmm... horrendous. Honestly, it wasn’t that bad until I’d been at work for about 13 hours and was collecting glasses. That’s when I was so exhausted and depressed that I don’t have any interest in Star Wars and hence aren’t as excited about my job as I could have been if I’d been placed elsewhere that I genuinely got tears in my eyes. On my break I texted The Guy as we’ve been texting all day every day since the first text a few days ago and he was so sweet being all, ‘Come on, it’s just because you’re not used to such long hours, you know you can do it, you’re strong, just push blablabla...’ It was very sweet. I was also texting Vikki and she told me that she was feeling the same about her job and that she’d had a massive Cry-Fest earlier on even to the extent of checking flight prices to come home, before she decided to get over herself. Bless her.

I get where she’s coming from, but seriously the worst part for me yesterday was knowing that I have so many more hours than everyone else. Like, seriously, if I hadn’t taken today off sick I would only have had one day off this week and 60 hours worth of work. I know people keep saying, ‘Oh, but you’ll be rich’, but it’s like, if I wanted to be rich I would have just worked at Fedex in the UK all summer like I did last year. I didn’t shell out nearly £1500 to get her because I wanted to be rich, I did it so I could have an amazing experience, which I simply can’t get if I’m working virtually every waking hour of the day: particularly when most of my friends are only really working about 40 hours five days a week. You can see how self-deprecating I am right now.

On the plus side I got to watch the Hollywood Studios 4^th of July fireworks from backstage with this guy from Ivory Coast named Yanik... it was very romantic. Lol jk. Yanik’s really sweet, but it wasn’t romantic... I was all sweaty and wanting to cry from exhaustion. The fireworks were, however, amazing. No joke. The force of their explosions actually blew against my clothes and the stairs were shaking. It was epic.

Anyways, today I’ve been to the pool for a bit and just lay there. I’ve been drinking Lemsip and the like and just trying to be relaxed to be honest. Found out the other day that I passed my second year at uni which is great news, so that’s one less thing for me to worry about right now J On the other hand I still haven’t received my new DS-2019 so I’ve been calling Immigration Compliance at Disney all weekend and not getting a reply. Eek. My 30 days are nearly up and if I don’t get that document before my deadline then I’ll have to fly all the way home to little old England L Extremely stressful to say the least.

Vikki took today off too and Joe already had it off so maybe we’ll do something mellow tonight. Not sure... we’ll have to see.

gabriellasofia

"As Long as I get to Spiel, I'm Happy" :)

28^th June 2010 1.00am US Time...

Ok, so maybe Star Tours isn’t the worst thing EVER :D

I really enjoyed doing my spiel today. This is how it goes...

‘Hey guys, welcome to Star Tours! Could everyone in rows two through five please watch your arms and legs? I’m about to close the doors to the right hand side...’ Then I push the ‘Close-The-Doors’ button. ‘I’ll be right back!’ At this stage I have to go outside and close some doors with another button and press a button which photographs the whole cabin. ‘Right guys, we’ve just got a couple more cabin checks to run through before we’re ready to launch. So if everyone could give a quick tug on those yellow straps attached to your seatbelts for me, it would be great. We want to make sure everything is safe and secure as we are going into space after all!’ Then I check the seatbelt panel to make sure they are all locked. ‘It’s good.’ Then I have to walk up to the person on the left hand side (his/her left hand side) of the cabin whilst checking that there is nothing behind the doors on that side, before telling him/her that I’m about the close the doors to the left. ‘Right guys, it looks like we’re good to go. At this time could everyone please put on your flight glasses, may the Force be with you, and have a good flight!’ Then I launch the Starspeeder!

Love it. Today I got to go and stand behind the Calamari (these red monster things) and pretend to be looking at their computers. It’s not particularly a requirement of the job at all, but Katya thought it might be fun and all the guests were looking up at us which I thought was pretty cool.

I think I’ll be able to settle into Star Tours just fine. Fingers crossed!

gabriellasofia

Too Much Information... Brain Overload!

27^th June 2011 1:00am US Time...

Just a quickie for today guys as I’m absolutely exhausted! I worked from 2.30pm until 11pm tonight and my brain hurts from all the things I’ve learnt so far.

Spent the morning by the pool with Louise who had to vomit because of a particularly heavy night at House of Blues (bless her.)

I took the bus that got me to work about 30 minutes early and I was wearing my white T-shirt with my black sixth form skirt, my brogues and my brown woven belt. I wasn’t sure whether I had to dress all smart or not, but I figured that you don’t get a second chance at making a first impression, so I went the whole hog and topped it all off with a Big Beautiful Eye from benefit. This is how I looked:

When I arrived at costuming I met Katya, my trainer. I think I’m really going to like her. She’s from Puerto Rico and she is also a trainer at The Great Movie Ride! She’s only in her early twenties yet has already been made a relief co-ordinator which shows that she loves her job and that she works hard... definitely my kind of person.

She took me to get my costume which is rather ‘fetch’ if I say so myself. Ugly black 'sneakers', a pair of grey pants made of wool (!) with stripes down the side, plus a thick silky type shirt (probably polyester... the horror) in a bright blue with red and orange detailing. I actually quite like it, although the pants aren’t quite as tight over my ass as I would like. Then again, I guess they are fitted in order to keep within the Disney Look, so I’ll take it!

Seriously I can’t go over everything I learnt today as it was just TOO intense. Bits that I can still remember are learning how to operate the simulators (pushing a lot of buttons), reading about Safe D (and how it Begins with Me), I got a little practise at Welcome Agent which was pretty cool as I liked measuring kids and letting them know that they are tall enough to ride, I memorised about all six fire exits (Exit 1? We’ve just begun. Exit 2? It’s in the queue. Exit 3? Ewok Trees. Exit 4? Break-room door. Exit 5? Perimeter Drive. Exit 6? Muppet bricks.) AND I got to see the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun Parade, the Jedi Training Academy AND the sexy ass Storm Troopers without their heads on. Nomnomnom. Definitely on my to-do list: Make out with a Storm Trooper.

In all it was a good day considering I was worried I might hate it. Not sure what tomorrow will bring... I’m working the same hours again and Katya says that she wants me to actually launch a flight by myself, including all the little spiel bits I have to say... Kind of nervous but really looking forward to it!

Keep reading and I’ll blog as often as possible.

gabriellasofia

So All Our Wishes WON'T Come True???

24^th June 11.30pm US Time...

Mmm. So. Today.

Well, I’d better go ahead and spit it out. I didn’t get GMR. FML. I got Star Tours, the stupid Star Wars themed, boy ride. L

I’d better start at the beginning. I caught the bus at the crack of dawn this morning with Kylie in my smart business attire all hopeful. I had on one of my old Sixth Form skirts so it was black with a sheer, grey, silk blouse tucked in with my brown belt holding it at the waist like a paper-bag skirt, my brown brogues and a white t-shirt under the blouse to maintain some kind of dignity.

The bus journey was totally uneventful, but when we arrived at Hollywood Studios I found Jasper, Robert, Kathryn and Marianne so I knew we’d have a good time! A really sweet lady named Mary Virginia introduced herself to us and told us that she’d be our guide. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any photographs at all, even in the park as the park was not ‘show ready’ but the tour was amazing. It was just a case of looking at the hidden secrets behind the details to the park. I learnt loads of back-stories to why things are the way they are... For example, Sid Cahuenga’s One-of-a-Kind store is a shop selling various film and television memorabilia but it didn’t start out that way. Sid and his wife retired to Hollywood just before it became the Hollywood we know today. Once film makers began setting up their scenes and using shots of the landscape etc, they asked the old couple to move house as they really wanted the space. Sid and his wife refused but during all this, Sid had an idea. In the USA once you throw something out in the trash, it’s officially no longer yours. So when the film directors threw out their old props or costumes, he went to collect them in his car. Eventually, he figured he could make some money by selling the things he found from his Hollywood bungalow, and not the store stands in his honour. Of course, if you’re in on all things Disney, then you know that the entire story I just wrote out was complete and utter bull, invented by the Disney Imagineers in order to maintain the theme of the park and hence the show!

Anyways, we went around the entire park learning stories like this for a whole two hours. It was pretty hot out too so it was nice to roam the area without any guests there (yes, we started our tour at about 8am before the guests had arrived. Bare early.) When we finally made our way to the Great Movie Ride, I went out of my way to nose at the things the girl outside was doing. You know, for just-in-case. It turns out Mary Virginia works on GMR so I immediately wanted to pick her brain over it... whilst of course maintaining professionalism at all times.

We stopped at Take 5, the Cast canteen, for a fifteen minute snack. I had some ‘Garden Salsa’ flavoured potato chips. Seriously missing Walkers Prawn Cocktail crisps right now. Take 5 is pretty cool really. They have a great salad bar, hot food area, Subway sandwich stall and just basically loads of choices of things to eat.

We went back to a classroom and watched a couple of Disney Traditions-Style videos, all about Making Magic and what not before Mary Virginia left us with this other guy. He told us we’d be doing some E-learning and that we’d find out our actual locations at the end of the session, before out of nowhere he just gave us some pieces of paper with our location training schedules on. Idiot.

That’s when I thought, ‘This doesn’t say Great Movie Ride on it.’ No, chick. No, it doesn’t. It says Star Tours.

I was fine. I just worked through all the E-learning without thinking then very calmly took the guy to one side and asked him if my request had been received. He explained that he wasn’t sure, but that he knew Star Tours have recently had a bunch of staff leave for elsewhere in the company, and since it has been completely renovated, management expect they’ll need tons of staff and so I might have initially been held for GMR, Star Tours may have pulled me due to ‘company needs’. Still I was just like, ‘Oh, ok no problem, thank you.’

See how happy I look? NOT.

It wasn’t until after I’d finished the E-learning that it kind of hit me. I know NOTHING about Star Wars. I have no interest in it. How am I supposed to make ‘magical moments’ when I don’t even understand the concept myself? Also I was being really childish, but I just thought, ‘It’s a freaking boy ride. I’m never going to see any little girls.’ My eyes kind of stung with tears for a little bit as we were walking back to the bus stop, especially as we walked past Star Tours. Luckily, Kathryn and Marianne were gutted with being placed at Honey I Shrunk the Kids play ground, and you know what they say about misery loving company? We just whined to each other all the way back to Chatham.

When I got in I left a message for the Icon area manager, Scott, just quickly outlining my desire to be cross-trained for GMR if possible and jumped into bed for a nap. Everything is better after a nap.

So how do I feel about it all now? Well, I’ve realized I need to grow up, firstly. We don’t always get what we want right? Not to mention, I’ve been placed on a brand new attraction with a rather snazzy space-related uniform. It really won’t be that bad, I’m sure. Just because it’s not what I hoped for doesn’t mean it can’t be just as good. So, being the optimist I am, I’m going to grin and bear it.

Also, I’m so full of food. We went to Cici’s for dinner. It’s a pizza buffet over near Vista but we had to get a taxi from Vista even though we could have walked because the rain was absolutely pelting it down. I was so glad when Craig had a towel with him at the bus stop as I was actually a drowned rat in a denim playsuit. Kind of cute I reckon.

So I particularly liked the macaroni cheese flavoured pizza. It was all-you-can-eat PLUS a drink is only $4 with our Cast Member discount. That’s like £2.75 or something. Unreal. So naturally I ate until I felt sick and am now paying for it. Bleaughhhh.

Anyway, I have the weekend off before starting at my Star Tours training on Monday so by then I should be feeling much more positive about it. Just thought I would keep this blog as honest as possible. It is a bit like a diary after all!

Keep reading to see what happens next...

gabriellasofia