St Augustine

Last week i had a day off and fancied a wee trip down to the beach... so me Beth, Gemma and Kim decided to go visit the beautiful town of St Augustine. Its about 2 hours away from where we are and is the oldest town in America. I was gutted because we stayed on the beach for literally 5 minutes however we made the most of the day and visited the old town. It was incredible so much history there from when the brits and spaniards invaded and then obviously when it got its independance all of the old churches and the school were really fascinating. The weather kept good too. Ive decided that i want to retire and live there.. it really is a beautiful place.

Atlantis shuttle launch

Ok so no pictures of the rocket itself but to be honest it was just a big white light! i have it on video which is far better! So we headed to cocoa beach after work to check out the atlantis launch.. very exciting stuff as we got lost on the way and were convinced we were going to miss it. but we got there on time. It really was amazing to see! the whole beach packed out to see it then at i think it was 7.38 this big white light shoots into the sky leaving a huuuge trail of smoke. about id say a minute later the roar of the engine could be heard... literally gave me goosebumps! incredible stuff! afterwards we went for dinner at at steakhouse nearby and had the worst service ever it was soo bad i wanted to go back it was the funniest thing ever!

other people getting initiated!!

always a fun lads... this time it was the turn of Ryan, Derek, Liam and Jim. Andy and Ross put on a treat for these guys!! can't really give too much away although the pictures kinda give a lot away. It was much easier than ours for sure but definately not easy! Not too much to say on the matter as the pictures explain it all. Also made a little bid for vice chairman and lost :( Congrats to Big dave who won! Sorry im not doing this as much as i promised.. im working so much lately so please forgive me!

Magic Kingdom fun!

Random days out rule!! This week i decided a trip to the Magic Kingdom was in order because i haven't really visited there much. Lucy, Kerri, Andrea and myself decided to head down one day after work. We wanted to meet some characters too so we can get some decent Disney pics but that went down in flames when it rained :( We tried out the new Monsters inc attraction which was really fun.. its like a comedy show hosted by Mike.. i loved it! then we did a few rides and watched spectromagic and then wishes!! We had loadsa fun. just wish my camera knew how to take pictures in the night! :(

Bye Bye Doug

Last night the Rose and Crown said goodbye to one of its most loved members of staff!! Doug our assignor has been there for 12 years but has been asked to leave by immigration because he cant prove his English heritage!! He didnt want a last song so he came in for a meal in the evening and we all crowded round his table and sang 'for hes a jolly good fellow' to him. Doug will defo be missed... mmm hmm girlfriend, hard worker comin thru!!

Little more bahamas!

As part of the cruise you get all your food included, each night you eat at a different restaurant but keep the same server for each evening. We also got a wine package added on. One night we got all dressed up and headed to Tritons which is a french restaurant themed around 'The Little Mermaid' the food there was amazing. On the way we bumped into Cinderella on the lobby and she asked if she could get a picture with me so of course i did! That night the cruise had a party called the Pirate party which was so much fun we all got into it and we dancing and singing then all of a sudden all the characters came out which was fun and it all ended with a fireworks show in the middle of the ocean! The next day we went parasailing which was soo much fun and the weather was fabulous so the views were incredible! That night we had our final meal at a restaurant called animators palate. The whole place is black and white with paintings on the wall in black and white and then as the night goes on everything becomes colourful and at the end of the night the servers walk through the restaurant and you cheer for them to say thanks to them!! All in all i had an incredible time and wouldn't hesitate to do it again! I miss it already!!

Bahamas Baby!!

So this weekend I took a little break and headed to the sunny bahamas on a disney cruise! I headed down with Lyndsey, Lucy and Anneliese (random group) on Thursday first thing. The Cruise ship itself is absolutely HUUUUUUUGE! ive never seen a cruise ship before and i was just in awe! when we got on we inspected our room, it was lovely we had a verander right at the very front of the boat which was fantastic for views! Then we headed downstairs for a safety briefing on one of the decks and then...

Party time wooo!! Disney organised a 'set sail party' for the boat leaving. It was a gorgeous day and we were all on the top decks the music pumping, sun shining it was such a good feeling! Then halfway through the show loads of characters came out and danced on the stage. As we set sail we looked down the the dock where we boarded and some of the staff waved us off!! very fun! One of the best parts of the cruise was the entertainment. The nightly shows were fantastic and we got speaking to some of the performers (i spent half a day at the pool with the performers while the others were at the beach) and they love what they do.


Nobody can go to the bahamas without watching the sun set and without visiting those gorgeous beaches. Disney actually owns its own bahamian island called Castaway Cay. The island can only be visited by cruise guests and it only docks twice a week so the island is immaculate. When we arrived it looked like the island form lost. Disney only open i'd say about a third of the entire island to the public. I wanted to explore but it was all blocked off. One of the main features of Castaway Cay is the flying dutchman ship from the Pirates of the Carribean movies. Its the actual one that they use.. its incredible! here are some pics of the Bahamas below!

So as they had the ship from Pirates of the Carribean i thougt who better to get a photo with than Jack Sparrow himself.. Im in love! I met his 'friend' by the pool.. so hot!! We also met Minnie and Pluto on the island.. i cant stress enough how much the island is like paradise.. its gorgeous!! the sea was clear as anything the sand was white and it was just so clean!! i loved it so much especially the adult beach.. it was so quiet. Obviously now that ive learned to swim i decided to put my new skills into practice and swam as far out as i could which was miles, i felt like i was in the middle of the ocean! I got caught by the tide briefly though which wasnt fun!!

Familiar faces!!

Finally i have some visitors!! On Tuesday Chris, Jo and Jenny who i worked with when i was back home in sunny Liverpool arrived to come visit me!! yay!! So last night i took them to the Rose and Crown for dinner which was ncie, they loved the fireworks and then i felt i had to take them to Jellyrolls!! So we met up with Charis and Andrew and then later on we were joined by Lou and Chris too which was awesome! Its really nice having them over and taking them around the parks, and showqing them the places where i hang out. We have a trip to Cowboys planned for the weekend so watch this space!! the best thing is that gets me away from the commons for a little while so when i get back theres plenty of gossip!!!! I am however screwed today as i had to let them go to Magic Kingdom alone because ive lost my voice and am working tommorrow and need to get it back so i decided to be sensible! but yeah its awesome having folk here!

EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival

Just random pretty flowers and stuf around EPCOT. The flower and garden festival lasts about 2 months here. its quite cool they make huge characters out of flowers and bushes and stuff. Some of it is absolutely amazing, they also have loads of little stalls and seminars about how to look after a garden and really random stuff. so here are some pics!!

Lou and Stevies last song!

Its that time again!! time for people to leave us this time it was Lou and Stevie. I have my friends from Liverpool over but i left them and headed down to the pub to say goodbye to Lou. Lou was a good friend who i didnt spend as much time as i would have liked to with despite that though she was always there for me and when we did do stuff we had a ball!! Its sad that she has to go but its really not long until im heading home now so i'll be seeing her really soon!!

Group picture

This is the ugly bunch i work with.. we had a big group photo ouside the pb because one of our managers is levaing in 2 weeks so we got together for a photo as a memento for her.. we are all going to sign it so she'll never forget us!! muhaha! so yeah this is the Rose and Crown cast as of last Thursday. id run you through who's who but you wouldnt care!

The Throw in is back!!

A tradition out here in Florida which died about six months ago was a throw in for the new arrivals. Each pavillion would have a party in the honour of their new friends and they would get stuff thrown over them as a welcome. I never got one when i arrived and recently the newbie meet and greets aren't much fun so we thought we would risk upsetting security and arrange a good ol' fashioned throw in! The team was Me and Ceri were hosting, Aaron made welcome packs for the newbies and also made sure everyone knew what they should be doing and Kerri and Vicky had the job of making the newbies do shots and then throwin custard pies on the newbies!We all enjoyed doing it and the newbies were very up for it! and it hopefully made the 
UK realise that they can have parties!!It was such a fun night and id defo do one again. Bring back the fun UK!!

Yesterday Wayne turned 21. Which means he can now legally drink in the USA!! So, to celebrate this occasion we went drinking around the world. This is basically Going around Epcot's world showcase and getting a drink form each country.. sounds easy? Its not. For example: in Japan you get Sake and then in the next 2 pavillions you get wine and then beer and then cocktails... all in all you get pretty drunk. But its very fun! So above are pictures of the world showcase where i work and below are pictures from drinking around the world!I hadnt eaten all day so i was pretty wasted! Really fun day defo want to do it again soon!

6 months in!

Can't believe ive lasted six months! All of our arrival group have managed to last 6 months and to celebrate our 6 month anniversary we decided to go for dinner and get together. Kerri organised it and did a fine job!! Last time we were all together was about 5 and a half months ago at Universal so it was nice to see everyone together again! Especially with people i don't really see anymore like Di and Jenna. I still see Nat but nowhere near as much as she'd like bless her! We were missing a few people but all in all everybody was there. We went to Wolfgang Pucks in Downtown Disney. It was very nice if not a bit filling! It was a really fun night spoiled only by the taxi being late and everyone being late to lads and lasses! Here are a few pics for you and here is to another 6 months.

dewgong dewgong they're the cows of the sea

Also known as the manatee!! Yesterday we went to Homosassa wildlife park which is about 3 hours drive away! Very cool place altho the weather didnt hold up for us :( i went in shorts and a tshirt and when we got there it was cold and it rained! Homosassa is very close on the coastline to the Gulf of Mexico so there is a lot of fresh water in the area. Manatees are the main drawing point for going to the park which is why we went. The park itself housed a lot of wildlife including amongst others a Hippo called Lu.. Lu was the best part of the day.. if you've never seen a hippo poo then you are in for a treat! Hippo poo is like a wet fart so in the park they have a splash zone in case u get covered in poo!! Lu did a big poo and then laughed afterwards the funniest thing ever i know!! quality! We also saw plenty of Manatees.. sadly i didnt take my camera however i did buy a souvenier.. this is actually getting sent home to Zoe who i know is a big Manatee lover its a manatee in a nurses outfit!! I saw it and thought of you Zoe! Her name is manee!!! For more information on manatees and ways in which you can help in the rescue of manatees visit www.savethemanatee.org peace out!

Another sad last song!!

Jeez these things get harder the further on you get!! This time it was Amy and Graham. These 2 have looked out for me since day one!! we just bonded together so well!! Im truly gutted they are leaving as the place wont be the same, they were very very popular here so it's going to be noticed when they go! Then Gary goes too which is sad because hes a really good lad.. a pain in the ass but he means well. Kirsty is going too she is awesome such a nice girl and so random. My ex chairman and my initiator leave which totally sucks coz lads stick together! All in all its sad to see this lot go because some of the biggest personalities here go and im gonna miss all of em in a different way but rest assured guys... im headed to Glasgow when i get home!!

Gettin my lads shirt!

Tonight was not only Neil, Graham and Ians last lads for good!! It was also the night i got my Lads name and my Lads shirt! My Lads name is Floater because during initiations ( without giving much away) we had to jump in the pool. It was quite possibly the coldest night since iver been here. It must have been close to zero degrees and i cant swim.. this went unnoticed for ages but at a throw out somebody threw me out a life jacket because i cant swim. During initiations i floated for a while and then decided it would be best to walk the length of the pool.. so theres the story. Initiations was one of the hardest things ever but im so glad i did it.. Now im finally a UK Lad!!

Random day out!!

Today was my day off during my week of hell at work so i took the time to do some stuff that makes me really smiley!! Firstly we went to the Polynesian resort for lunch. We had this cool hawaiian cuisine it was very very good and surprisingly cheap too!! 3 courses for 25 bucks!! Then my fave thing in the entire world SPEEDBOATING!! yay! we did speedboating for about an hour.. it was such a gorgeous day the weather has been really bad lately but today was hot and sunny! We got told off for dangerous driving in our speedboats by some stupid man! after that we went to the beach at the resort and chilled for a bit and also hit the pool!! Very fun! Then we went to the Grand Floridian and randomly bumped into none other than the fairy godmother.. lovely woman.. heart of gold! had such fun really cheered me up! hopefully have a fun day like this tomorrow too if its sunny!!

Finally!

Ive finally been initiated into lads... im not allowed to let people know what goes on at initiations so im not going to post any pictures or anything. Lets just say during it one guy quit another guy had to stop because he had some sort of hyperthermia attack thing (by the way he was awesome he is a legend) and i must ahve thrown up a good 10 times easily. After it was all over though i felt so proud to say im now a UK lad and i get my shirt and lads name very soon!! If you would have seen what we had to do you would be so proud!!

last song in the rose and crown

Another tradition in the UK is a last song for all the restaurant staff in the pub. Leon our performer always does it.. he plays leaving on a jetplane but changes the words so it personal.. very sad stuff!! its sooo weird because ive seen 3 or 4 and never been that bothered but now its my best mates it was horrible i was fine just singin along takin pics and then i saw Amy cry.. shes like a steel bitch nothing gets her so seeing that set me off and then i set someone else off... fun!! it was very emotional but they are happy to be going. Ive made 2 amazing friends this year and i will definatly not be losng touch with either of them its just poo that i couldnt go with them!! heres to anohter 7 months.. ill miss you guys!! Pics : All our lot gathered in the pub to say goodbye, the leavers and us in a circle, Sally and the certificate Rob (our manager) made for her, Gaynor trying to hide her tears with a cheesy smile, Lou not doing very well hiding the tears, Sally bar queen taking in her last time behind the bar at the Rose and Crown, Weezie and her certificate from Rob, Gaynor and Sal with their certificates and finally Weezie and Leon having one last little sing song!

Gaynor, Sal and Jennas last jellyrolls :(

Rather emotional night!! We started early at 9 which is early for jellyrolls we usually get there after 11. So We all headed down and decided that we needed to be the most drunk people there... by god we were!!!!! we had so much fun i was absolutely hammered by 11.30. Its a tradition in the UK to have a last song which is time of your life by Greenday. So we had that and it was a really bad effort by the pianist which really sucked! But then they played the uk lads song.. Tiny Dancer by Elton John and it just set us all off!! i was a blubbering wreck for about 10 minutes... Amy looked after me though which made it a little better!! Pics: Jenna and myself decided we take good pics together and i needed one for my scrapbook, Myself, Andy and Charis messing about, Amy giving me a lovely smile (shes been a legend this week!) and Dallas doing a sexy wee pose!! Im gonna miss her loads!!

Duche bags

My lesson today was what a douche bag actually is. It translates a shower bag which is half true because its for ladies to shower their special places gross!! so heres a photo and be safe in the knowledge that they are really really cheap and come in different scents one of which is the vinegar and water flavour.. fresh!! Enjoy!

Skydiveage!!

Put skydiving on your list of things to do before you die!! The most incredible feeling ever is plummeting 18,000 feet (the highest you can do in this country!) to the ground at 120Mph! There are no words to describe the freefall at all. I freefalled for 70 seconds it was nuts all the photos were taken during the freefall. They release a small parachute which keeps you balanced in the air and saves you spinning etc. We dived over cape canaveral so when my parachute was released i had a gorgeous view of the space center and the ocean. The parachute ride back was gorgeous the view was absolutely breathtaking. Brent taught me how to steer with the parachute and a couple of little tricks he was an awesome guy. All of our instructors were suited to us. Gaynor got a hot brazilian guy, Sally got this laid back guy who was just really chilled, Craig got the most sensible and proffessional guy and i got Brent the total nutjob.. i loved him. When we were up in the plane he just started shouting 'were all gonna die!!' He was awesome!! The best thing ive ever done in my life and i would do it again in a heartbeat.

Bistro De Paris

Eating out in Florida so far has been an amazing experience most of the time. Tonight topped it all. We ate in Bistro de Paris which although situated in Epcot is not a disney restaurant. It is a french themed restaurant which has the highest possible standards. So i turned up in a thundercats Tshirt and a pair of camoflauge shorts! whoops! Disneys going through a queit spell at the moment so it was easy to get in however you do need to book months in advance usually. Our waiter was the lovely Stefan he was yummy! Not as yummy as the food though. We started with a dish compliments of the restaurant which is designed to clear the palate. Ours was salmon (if you know me you know i hate salmon) topped with a lemon cream. It was fantastic. Then we ordered a bottle of Sancerre which is a very very expensive white wine. For my appetizer i ate frogs legs and snails, delicious frogs legs are awesome! For my main i had Veal served with baby sweet potatoes and mushroom truffle. It was like a party in my mouth it was all soo yummy. Then we proceeded with a cheese plate which was amazing i actually enjoyed goats cheese (whats going on there?!) For dessert we had a dessert platter which had some amazing desserts.. i truly loved it. The company was amzing Jo was a true lady all evening, we really bonded and enjoyed ourselves i had a great evening. Excelent food and excellent service... food really does sooth the soul!!

Fab Fun Friday!

The day after i got my sexy little tattoo i decided that i needed to get up and do something other than work so i headed out with James, Luke, Kim and Kyle. In the afternoon we headed to Disney MGM studios and had ball.. did the usual stuff, tower of terror etc. In the evening we headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge which is Disneys premier hotel. It has 2 restaurants which are both gorgeous. We ate in Boma which is a buffet style restaurant but the food is delicious. All themed on Africa so its all traditional african cuisine. It was delicious. We had a look around the resort itself .. my word its beautiful. if you get the chance stay there because its seriously fantastic. Ive left a few pictures for you to enjoy!

look see!!

i got a tattoo!! its on my waistline and its 3 stars!! i love it!!

Graham and Ceris birfdee!!

Yesterday was Grahams 24th and Ceri's 19th Birthdays so we needed to celebrate as they are both awesome!! It was an early start, 11.00am which is quite early here!! So as soon as we all got together we headed to Bahama Breeze which is a restaurant about 5 mins away the food is really good although the portions are immense i could never finish a meal there!! I digress... so we treated them both to some fab lunch and here are a few pics..

After Lunch Me, Ceri, Lucy, Gemma and Vicky headed down to Florida mall.... I nearly bought a psp but then backed out because the salesman didnt have me convinced!! We went there looking for a nice fitted black shirt for me and posh dresses for the girls and ended up in this random old person shop like a debenhams kinda place and we found these prom dresses, so of course i encouraged the girls to try them on... class!! We also found a comic book shop which amused me.. (for the record boswells just like worlds apart only cleaner). Here are a few pics from our little trip..

Then we went to Cowboys.. yeeehaaa!! I love this place so much and im actually getting quite good at line dancing which worries me slightly! there were millions of us last nie all of the Uk pavillion and loads from Canada (boo) too! Wefff found this old couple who were the cutest thing ever they had matching outfits and had their own dances and danced in each others arms all nite.. way cute! here are the pics from the nite including one of said old couple!! Enjoy!

Layin the smackdown!

My word i have just had the best night ever (again!) Graham, Lee, Neil, Alex, Johnnie and of course Aaron and I went to WWE Smackdown!! It was sooo good apologies for the pics the battery went on my camera after the 2nd match but u will find more on bebo as soon as i can get hold of some. So we headed down to lakeland which is about 45 mins away and waited in the longest line ive ever seen but it was all worth it! We saw Kane, Booker T, Batista, JBL, Tazz, Test Rob Van Damme and possibly the biggest dream come true ever.. The Undertaker.. i will get some pics of him soon! The undertaker did the tombstone and chokeslammed a midget i nearly wet myself! Kane fought twice and won both times... just an amazing night.. we stole seats coz we had pretty poo ones to begin with so we moved our way forwards and no lie we were 10ft away from the ring when the Undertaker, Batista and Kane were a tag team it was sooooo good.. i will never forget tonight!!