Cast Member Charlotte (Disney's CEP 2018!) Days 23 & 24

[EvilQueen1937]

Greetings Dibbers, from over here in Orlando!

First of all I would like to thank you all for all the amazing comments and suggestions about what I can do for food. The Italian bread one sounds most appealing since I really really really miss bread and having some decent stuff will give me back sandwiches as a food option! Sweet Tomatoes also sounds good, but I'll have to look into where it is because I have very limited means of travel. I have a mostly vegetarian diet because I don't really like meat and eat it very rarely, which is probably why I've been struggling! Anyway, here's my write up of Monday and Tuesday, I feel like there's quite a bit to say!

On Monday I went to the Animal Kingdom with my friend Vicky who I had met online before coming to Orlando and we had become friends. However, for some reason, we had never crossed paths at Disney until this point, which is very strange!

Now this is a sort of important piece of info, I definitely did have breakfast that morning, although it was only fruit loops cereal. When we got to AK it wasn't long before I began to feel really weak and light headed, which is unusual for me as I'm not a fainty kind of person! I was thirsty so we looked for somewhere with a funky unique kind of drink for me to try. But as we were walking my dehydration really caught up with me and I began to feel all heavy and weak. I decided to just grab any form of liquid I could get my hands on as it was clear I needed a quick boost of water. Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse just at that moment so all the little stalls selling drinks began to shut up!

I was really struggling and we ended up walking for ages before finding the gift shop for Expedition Everest where I dived in and grabbed a Sprite to chugg. I felt awful, so I opened it before I even got to the till hoping the sugar and the liquid would work instantly. The CM at the register offered for me to sit down but Vicky and I had decided we needed to go for food. I probably felt like that because of how little I had been eating, although I had definitely had breakfast!

I felt a bit better after having some liquid but knew I needed something to eat fast or I'd literally drop! Vicky is fully veggie and I won't eat any kind of meat from the parks so we were struggling to find somewhere. We eventually stumbled across the Yak and Yeti, which seemed to have a decent menu. We went inside and found there was an hour's wait, which was no good. Vicky explained our situation and told them of our veggie struggles, but they were pretty useless and just sent us away. We went to sit down outside so I could rest, then I realised I had lost my phone! It was either in the Yak and Yeti or back at the Everest merch shop, so I slumped back inside and went to speak to them.

Again, they were useless. I hadn't left my phone there so the only other place it could be was at Everest, so I told them how weak I felt again and asked if there was something they could do. Since I'm a cast member myself, I know how easy it is to ring other parts of the park to check on things, and I wanted them to check if the Everest shop had my phone. Once again they were absolutely useless and told me I'd have to go all the way over there myself if I wanted it back. Not the Disney service I'm used to, I have to say! If I had been the one working, I would have rung up then arranged for a CM to bring it over if the guest wasn't feeling well. But oh well!

I told Vicky to stay there as I felt bad that I'd first dragged her round to find a drink, and now I'd lost my phone. I went as quickly as possible to the merch shop and sure enough, there it was! I thanked the CMs there profusely before making my way back to Vicky.

She managed to get a reservation through the app with only a 30 minute wait thank goodness, but once again we were appalled by the service at the front desk of the restaurant, as they had told us it was an hour wait even though I felt so sick. They could have suggested looking at the app, or they could have just given us the table that they knew was free and we ended up taking anyway. I have to say, I was a bit sassy with them when I went strutting back inside waving my phone at them, not thanking them for their help and showing them our reservation.

That was the end of our bad experience because once I got some grub in my belly I felt ten times better!

We decided to order a main and an appetizer between us, as neither of us have massive appetites and we didn't want to waste food. There were some very yummy and very exotic drinks to choose from, as you can see in the first photo! And we ordered battered green beans with a sweet chilli dip, and a plate of vegetable noodles. We were laughing because once we told the waiter we were veggie he proceeded to point out the only veggie option on the menu (which we were already planning on getting), then went through all the meat dishes individually to tell us we could replace it with tofu.

I hate tofu! So does Vicky! So do most veggies! 😂 It's really annoying when tofu or Quorn is the only option for veggies, as the reason I don't eat a lot of meat is because I don't like it! So why on earth would I want a substitute that is meant to look and taste the same way! 😂 And tofu is just yuck.

It was actual, proper, none greasy, none fatty food that arrived at our table! Exactly what I needed! And I got some veggies down my neck too for I think the first time since I've been here 😂 We got a Cast discount on the meal so it only cost us about $16 each, which was fab!

Sitting in the Aircon, having a lot to drink and filling my empty stomach really made a difference to me and before long I was full of energy again and raring to go! I had bought a hidden Mickey book in the entrance so was keen to start spotting them, and Vicky told me of an animal petting zoo which I had never heard of at the Animal Kingdom so I was excited to go!

We got the train and met Rafiki at the other end which was cute! We were in fits of giggles because on the train, we found an egg. Yes, an actual egg, from a chicken! 😂 It was the most random thing I'd ever found and it wasn't even cooked! I picked it up and handed it to a cast member, hoping for some hilarious reaction, but he kept straight faced and didn't say a word to us! The rest of the train was in stitches at our laughter though, and couldn't believe we'd found a flipping egg 😂

I was mid laugh for this photo too! There were pigs, goats, cows, alpacas and donkeys for us to touch and brush.

This little man had the right idea, flipping down in the shade and taking a snooze.

They had a little island in the shade where they could go to get away from all the poking children, which was good!

There was a lot of stuff about conservation but the place was clearly aimed at children. I'd never been there before as my family didn't even know it was there, even though it's been there since opening!

Back in Africa, we found an incredibly handsome cast member from Mexico who was dancing to the African music being played. I made a point of looking for a hidden Mickey nearby but couldn't find it, so Vicky encouraged me to go and ask! 😂 He was lovely and took me to go and find the Mickey, much to my delight...I kept exchanging sneaky glances with Vicky as we went! Unfortunately I don't think that Mickey is there anymore as we couldn't find it.

We went on a couple of rides which we had passes for, like the Kali river rapids and the safari. Vicky has a disability pass because shortly before coming to Disney she was hospitalised with extremely low blood sugar and stomach bleeding, so she can't stand up for too long before feeling ill. It doesn't affect her too much, but Disney don't ask questions, so we were able to book a time to go on Flights of Passage without having to queue!

Snapped this stunning pic of Everest...

And one with Epcot and Hollywood Studios in the background!

We nipped back to Dinoland because I'd seen a desert I wanted earlier on. It was absolutely divine, vanilla haagen dazs ice cream with hot fudge and cherries...Mmmmmmmmm! Gosh it was yummy, I'll be having one of those again!

I also tried one of those weird drinks in Pandora with the pomegranate thingys on the top. It was rather nice! I waited for it to go dark so we could see Pandora glow, but I was a little disappointed as I thought it would be more vivid. It was quite weak!

I went on the river boat ride in Pandora, I forget it's name, after nabbing a fast pass. Vicky has a phobia of anamatronics so didn't come with me, but it was really well done! Apart from the annoying family who kept using flash photography, talking and standing up in the boat, I really enjoyed it. Still wouldn't wait too long for it though...

It was almost park closing to Vicky went to get the bus whilst I stayed for one last ride of Everest before closing.

It was so good in the dark! A lot of it was pitch black, and the views were stunning when we got to the top of Everest! I was one of the only people on it so chose to sit at the back on my own...look at my expression 😂

I got myself cuddley #65 on the way out, as I have been wanting Steamboat Willie since I first saw him back in 2012!

That concludes my write up of Monday. I slept in until 11:30 on Tuesday! I brought some earplugs with me to Disney in case of noisy housemates and I've started using them. They work a treat, but I can't wear them when I have to set an alarm because then I can't hear the alarm 😂

I watched the first half of Stardust, one of my favourite films from when I was younger, and did some cross stitching before I left for work at 1:30pm. It was a really good shift! Nothing extraordinary happened, I was just in a really good mood and there were some really lovely guests around.

I started off as sales ambassador in zone 6 men's clothing, which was fun as I literally walked round grinning at people and pin trading. There were a lot of Brits around yesterday so I'm guessing the schools have begun breaking up? All of them were lovely and very curious about how I'd found myself working at Disney! As usual, I also got a lot of comments on my accent and how much people love it! 😂

I was on register for the rest of the day and again, had a really good time. That was all before disaster struck and the whole park went into meltdown! Although it was still fun...

As I was coming off my second break, there was an announcement in the utilidors that the park had gone into 101, which is CM speak for everything was closed due to dangerous weather. There must have only been lightning in the distance at this point because when I went back onstage the weather was fine. However, we soon got word that the fireworks were cancelled when we had a lot of irritated guests coming to ask if they would be on later.

How long is a piece of string? How am I supposed to know if they would be on! It's it like I can consult a crystal ball and tell them when the weather would clear! As much as I wanted to answer with my usual sharp, sarcastic, British sense of humour, I kept smiling and told them there was no way of knowing. Although once the fireworks are loaded, they absolutely have to be set off at some point. Whether that would be whilst guests are still around or after the park had shut, I had no idea. Everyone was pretty decent about it, there were just a few disappointed faces.

All of a sudden, the Emporium filled with people and we pretty much hit capacity. It was impossible to move around, and I was luckily safely behind a register. I looked outside and it was pouring with rain like I had never seen it before. I could see flashing, and there was thunder every couple of minutes. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it!

Everyone came to me for ponchos and we almost ran out throughout the store it was that busy. I was due to clock out at 10:45 with the park closing at 10pm so didn't have long, but it was chaos.

All the systems in the Emporium went down, and I later found out it was all over the park. We were still able to do transactions but it was more difficult. I had to call a coordinator when I was dealing with a Spanish woman who wanted to exchange a poncho for a keyring. I didn't even know if that was possible as a poncho isn't the kind of thing you can return, and the lady didn't speak any English. Combined with the fact that the register was playing up, I was really struggling! The coordinator spoke Spanish though and sorted it for me. It wasn't anything I did wrong, it was literally because the systems were down so he needed to override everything. I was 20 minutes late for my bump out but didn't really mind as I was loving all the drama!

For the journey home from MK, I have to get the Westclock shuttle bus from the utilidors under Fantasyland to Disney University, before getting one of the normal buses to Chatham. Usually I can walk straight on one, but there was a queue a mile long, snaking right through the tunnels. I managed to get sort of near the front, but by the time a bus came I couldn't see the back of the queue as it went round the corner. There must have been a couple of hundred cast members all queuing for this bus. Behind me in the queue, some custodial CMs were talking about how some of the stock rooms in Fantasyland had flooded from the awful weather.

I got on a bus eventually and the driver packed us all in, before doing a radio announcement. He thanked us all for coping with everything during the meltdown, as the weather had caused absolute havok for the Magic Kingdom and all the systems were down, guests were angry and areas were flooding. He thanked us for everything that we do for the company and for the guests, and wished the poor sods who were stuck closing the park all the luck in the world, because they'd definitely need it! He then went on to warn drivers that the roads were horrendous, with flooding in places and a couple of accidents scattered about. When he finished, the whole bus cheered for him and someone yelled "send him a grape soda", which is the name for one of the four keys rewards that I got the other day. The atmosphere was brilliant, there was a real feeling of all of us being in it together. On that bus were cast members from all over the world, and all over the park. There were merch CMs like me, security guards, quick service, attractions CMs, custodians, you name it. And all of us had had a hectic evening dealing with all the drama caused by the awful weather. There was a real sense of community and all of us being in it together, and we applauded the jolly bus driver and there were lots of whoops and cheers as we celebrated surviving the evening!

The bus to Chatham was also jam packed, and I couldn't get a seat. I wasn't too tired though thank goodness, so I survived. I got home just before 12 and went straight to bed after texting my parents. They are off to Cuba today so will finally be in the same time zone as myself, although they will have limited internet access due to Cuba's infrastructure.

So yeah, that was my busy two days! It's been a good two days though, I'm enjoying myself! Taylor, bless her little heart, said we could go to the Rose and Crown for lunch today to try and give me a taste of home. As far as I know it's just us two going at the moment, although I'm hoping Ashley can come. I'll stay in Epcot for a little bit as I haven't really done Future world yet, but then I'm planning on going to the Magic Kingdom, my home park, because there's extra magic hours until 1am and I don't want to waste my day off! 😂😂😂

Have a great day everyone, and I'll post another update in a couple of days!