A new post! it's a miracle!

Wow, it's almost April, and my last post was Feb 12th.

So February and March happened. It's all a blur, but I'll try to get caught up.

Today is March 27th, so I've been serving now for over 2 months?!? wow, hard to believe. That went really fast. I'm still enjoying serving, some days are better than others. I find it really depends on the people I'm working with whether or not I'm going to have a good night. There are people there that are a lot of fun, and I like joking around with, and there are others that I try to avoid for the entire day/night.

I do try to stay positive, and make sure that the guests at my table get my best service even if I'm not having a great day or night. Guests usually seem genuinely happy at the end of the meal, so I feel pretty good about that. I had a great table from Kitchener Ontario the other night, who not only drank lots of wine, but had fun chatting with me about Guelph, and Canada, and working down here in Florida.

I've also had great american tables who like to joke that I always say "Eh" and such, I usually try to play along, and kid around with them, but after you hear it for the 20th time that day, it's a bit less entertaining.

As I put in my last blog post, this last little while there have been a lot of great people who have had to leave, it hasn't been easy being left behind here. Lot's of new arrivals too, and I'm sure they are good people, but they can't replace those I've had to say goodbye too. I hope they are all doing well back in Canada.

3 of my favourite people to work with all left on this past friday. It was really really hard to say goodbye to Lyndsay, Ali, and Heather. There have been others that have been tough to say goodbye to, but these three were the ones I spent the most time with over the last 3-4 months. Watching them drive away I knew that nothing was going to be the same here. Everyday so far it feels like something is missing, and I don't know if that will go away. I'm trying to work as much as possible over the next while to keep myself distracted, and save up some money so that when they come back to visit (they promised!) I can spoil them.

I'll try to post more often, I know at least 1 person reads this now.

-Dan

Loving Serving

Ok, I've been serving for a full two weeks now.

And I'm loving it!

Each day is something new. I've had so many fun groups at my tables, and really just tried to have fun with everybody, and chat, and stay positive. There have been a few times where I feel like I'm running around like crazy, but they all seem to be happy with my service.

It's such a unique place to be serving, people coming from all over. Some at the beginning of their vacations, some at the end. Some having a really good time, some having a long day. But all of them are happy to be at Le Cellier.

I'm really glad with the trainers I had, I feel like I come to the table with a very positive attitude because of everything they taught me. I really can't thank them enough, and I'm going to be very sad when they've left me here.

People leaving is the hardest part of this place, this past month we've lost some people that I was close with. They've gone back to Canada, and I'm still here in Orlando. I guess things will go on, but it's just weird having people constantly leaving, and new people constantly coming, trying to keep up with all the new people is tough. And losing people you've grown close to is even tougher.

I'm not looking forward to the next month or so for that reason. It's going to be a sad time. I'm glad I'm enjoying serving, or else it'd be tough to keep me here.

Dans a Server!

It's true, I am now a server at Le Cellier in Epcot. It's pretty exciting really, I just passed my assessment today, and I'm really looking forward to my first few shifts.

That's the big news for me at the moment, but I wouldn't have made it without the amazing trainers I had (having never been a server before, I needed some help). Training at Le Cellier consists of 4 days with 4 different servers. This allows you to learn different styles in hopes that you can take good things from all of them.

Day 1 - Lyndsay was my trainer, she is awesome. Got there very very early in the morning (early for me anyway), and went through the Disney standards for service. She was very positive and told me stories about her first days of service. I was nervous as is to be expected, so I thought I'd just follow her around and watch her do her thing. The first table sat down and we went over to greet them, she introduced herself and I, and during her spiel, with a big smile on her face, she turned to me and asked "Dan, what would you recommend?" AH! So I told the guests about the Filet, stumbling slightly, but I got through it. This continued for the shift as she would often tell tables "If you have any really hard questions, ask Dan." But it was a lot of fun, and she taught me a lot about connecting to tables, and listening, paying attention.

At the end of the shift, our last table (2 adults, 2 kids), she said that it was all mine. So I went over and greeted the table, did my spiel - mentioning that I was in my first day of training, and served drinks. When I got back, the young boy wanted to ask me a question, but was kind of shy about it, so his father told me "He wanted to know if we are your first table." and I said that yes, they were the first I was serving mostly on my own. When I brought back the bread both kids had written their autographs for me on pieces of paper! It was awesome. It was also the fathers birthday, so we went and found him a birthday button, made a birthday card, and got the kids some special Magical Moment cards, thanking them for being Dans first table. It was a lot of fun to have a special table like that on my first day of training. Lyndsay was very supportive the whole day.

Day 2 was with Patrick, another great server, and great trainer, and we continued where I left off. Thinking again that I'd have time to settle in, Patrick took the first table, before saying that the next table was all me. And the next one, so I had two tables going at a time but he was always there if I needed him. So I handled much more guests, and got into the flow of having multiple tables on the go at the same time. Patrick has a lot of fun joking with guests, so he taught me more about that, having a lot of fun while serving. It was great! He was very encouraging saying I was doing great, and letting me handle things. We had some guests that were enjoying us, and others that seemed more interested in getting in and getting out. He also taught me more about the wines and beers we serve, how to sell them, how to know who is going to want what. Pretty cool stuff, had another great day.

Day 3 was Ali, another fantastic server who always has a smile on her face. By this time I had heard that Day 3 was where they really start to test you out. You are handling all 3 tables in a section at least part of the shift, and they intentionally do things like sit 2 tables at the same time to see how you handle it. So I sort of knew what I was in for when the shift started. Started out ok, we had three tables of 4, 4 and 6. Things were going fine, but it was a bit slow, and after having a few parties of 4, our assignor came over with a big smile on her face. I was about to be double sat. So down comes a party of 4 and right behind them a party of 7... It was time to start moving! I greeted the party of 4, since they got there first, did a shorter spiel and took their drink orders, then greeted the party of 7, and got there drink orders. Brought out all the drinks at once (with Ali's help following me with waters), got them all done and I was off to the races. Ali kept saying I was handling it really really well, everything was under control. The tables seemed really happy, and I wasn't stressing out. After finishing with those two tables, I got double sat again! AH! apparently it wasn't intentional the second time but geez! So I did it all over again, and by the time I finished with that the shift was almost over. I was exhausted! But really it was a lot of fun too. Most of the guests were really really fun, and liked to joke with me about me being in training.

Day 4 is assessment day. That means that for the day you get a 3 table section, and your last table is one of our managers along with your Trainer. I trained with Johnny, and he was pretty good. By this point I knew most of my stuff, so he was mostly giving me tips on how to handle the assessment, and what to expect. Which was really really helpful, because when you greet your table and your boss is sitting there it makes you kind of nervous. But I got through it, and passed, and was really happy with it, I got a very nice review. There were definitely some things I needed to work on, but many of them were related to nerves that will pass with time.

So thank you very very much to all my trainers, and all the other servers, food runners, podium and kitchen cast members who were all very supportive and encouraging, I couldn't have asked for more. During my assessment every time I entered the kitchen, everybody was asking if they could help me in any way, it was awesome.

So tomorrow is my first shift all on my own. I'm pretty excited about it, though it starts at 10:15, which is earlier than I'd like. But I can't complain really.

Also, in between those training shifts I went and saw a hockey game with some great ladies, which was a lot of fun. I love hockey, I love great ladies, what could be better?

alright, bedtime now, thanks for listening!

Happy Holidays!

Hey everybody,

I'm not feeling 100% today, but I'm gonna get everybody caught up on what's happening.

So where did we leave off?

I'm not sure, but let's see if I remember December.

Working as a food runner all month, the money is much nicer. But socially it makes things more difficult. Most nights I get home too tired to do much but sleep, and then it's back to work the next day. So I haven't got out as much as I would like to.

But I did play golf a few days before christmas, which was awesome mostly because it was late in december and I was playing golf. The problem was I sent my clubs back to Canada with my car (I miss my car), so I had to rent clubs, that were very different from mine. So I played like crap, really really bad. But since if I was back in Canada I wouldn't be playing golf at all, I can't complain too much.

The next day I went to Universal with David, I was planning to buy a 2010 seasons pass while I was there, but I somehow ended up buying a 2009 seasons pass. I was tricked. Anyway, we also bought the fastpass option, so we could skip the lines. It was really cool, I hadn't been to Universal in many years, so a lot had changed, including the addition of the whole islands of adventure thing (rides like the Hulk, Spiderman, dueling dragons). I'm looking forward to Harry Potter place opening up in 2010. The rides are a lot more intense than the ones you find at disney, so hopefully I'll get a 2010 seasons pass soon and get to go back a few more times.

The coolest thing though was when we went over to Universal they were looking for volunteers to walk a balloon in the macy's parade, so David and I signed up, and were taken backstage for a little bit of training. I was on the Candy Cane balloon, and David was on the Artie the Pirate balloon. It was fun, and neither of our balloons popped, so that's good.

Another cool thing was that on Monday before christmas, at Games I was named as one of the new presidents! My co-president is Rachanne, who is awesome. So on monday nights me and her will be hosting and choosing games and keeping it going.

Then Christmas happened, on Christmas Eve, one of the servers (Sean), held a get-together with some canadians and a huge home cooked feast, including some vegan ravioli for me, which was fantastic. The dude can cook. I got to chat with my family on christmas morning, which was good, but tough. The holidays are always a big family event for me, so it was hard not being there with them.

Next comes New Years, I'm working on New Years Eve until 10, so I'll probably just hang out until midnight and celebrate at Epcot. That's the plan anyway.

So that's December in a nutshell, we'll see what January holds. I'm hoping it will include moving into Service, but we'll have to wait and see on that one.

-Dan

It's been too long!

December 5th.

So November happened, I can't believe I haven't updated the blog in that long a span. Sorry about that, I'm going to try and remember November.

Food and Wine at Epcot came to an end, and there was much rejoicing. It was a cool event, but for a Vegan like me, it wasn't as much fun as for the omnivores, if they had more vegan options I probably would have gone and tried more things. Oh well.

The Halloween party at Magic Kingdom ended, so that means a week later the Christmas party at Magic Kingdom started. I went with some canadians on one of the first days, it was a lot of fun. A Christmas Parade, Christmas Fireworks, Christmas Shows, Hot Chocolate and Cookies, and Space Mountain was open!! We rode it 3 times, I love that ride.

Probably the 2nd most significant thing that happened to me in November was that I started Food Running at Le Cellier. This is a very good thing, Food Runners get tipped by the servers, so I'm going to actually have some money (most of it which I'll need to send home to pay bills, but that's not important right now). It's also a much faster pace, which is nice, the Podium stuff was fun for a while, but it's good to be doing something different now. After food running for a while, I'll eventually get trained as a server, which is what I'm really really looking forward too.

The shifts are very long though, so I'm pretty tired these days, and don't get to have fun with the other canadians as much. But at least it's a step in the right direction.

The Most significant November event? I became an Uncle again! My older brother welcomed a new addition to their family, Keagan, and I got to see him briefly over skype. December is going to be tough, I always miss my family and friends, but over the holidays it's magnified that much more. Hopefully I'll get to talk and see them, even if it's over the phone or computer.

-Dan

November Already?

Did anybody see where October went? I swear I didn't see it at all.

Well, anyway, it's November now, and that meant I had some family come and visit! Yay! My sister and my mom came down for almost a week recently, and we had a lot of fun. It was nice to be able to take them to parks with my magical blue pass, it allowed us to do what we wanted to do at the parks and not feel like we had to "Get our money's worth", etc. My sister arrived first, and Jeremy and I picked her up from the airport, got her checked into her hotel (Port Orleans: French Quarter, nice place), and let her get some rest.

I had the next day off, so we went and got some lunch, our first destination wasn't open on Sunday (Cafe 118 in Winter Park), so we visited Whole Foods, and then went to Dandelion Communitea Cafe. Which was really cool (reminded me of the old Cafe Aquarius), and the food was really good (I had a BLT with tempeh bacon, and we split some nachos).

Then we went and picked up mom from the airport, got her checked into the hotel. At which point we surprised her with tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

She was really excited, since she'd been asking about it since she planned this trip. Luckily I was able to convince her that it was sold out.

Lisa made us a joint costume to wear, of the Soarin' ride from Epcot. She sewed and glued and spent a lot of time putting it together and it looked great. We got a lot of compliments at the party, enjoyed the parade and the fireworks. The highlights was getting the Evil Stepmother and Evil Stepsisters commenting on our costume, and going to the Laugh Floor, where my Mom and Sister got to be part of the act. Great times!

We got lots of candy (which none of us could eat, but I'll keep trying to give it to the other canadians), but were worn out by 10:30, so we got back in the car and headed back to the hotel.

The next day, Jeremy didn't start until 3:30, so we planned to go check out Cafe 118 since it would then be open. I'm so glad we did, because the food was fantastic. Cafe 118 is a raw restaurant in Winter Park, each of us got a different dish, so we could share. I also had a raw "Milk"shake (chocolate banana and awesomeness). Between us we tried the raw lasagna, pad thai, Salad rolls and Nori rolls. Everything was soo good.

We dropped Jeremy off at work and headed over to Hollywood Studios, where we convinced Mom to go on Rockin Rollercoaster for the first time ever. She didn't like it one bit, but she went on, and I'm proud she did. I think she'll like it more next time. After that we went and did Toy Story Mania, which is fun, but the lines are too long still. And then off to Ohana' at the Polynesian Resort. There we had a fantastic 5 course vegan meal prepared for us by Chef TJ. There was fresh salad, vegan rolls, chips and 2 kinds of hummus, salad rolls (with pineapple), and a great veggie tempura. For desert he gave us these little spoons of deliciousness because we were so full we could only fit a tiny bite.

The next day I had to work, but Jeremy was off, so the three of them went to Epcot for the day, the came by and saw me a few times, but mostly were off trying wines from around the world. They seemed to have fun, we went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner, and then made a trip to the bookstore, Whole Foods, and the kitchen appliance store for plenty of great things, books, food and kitchen supplies. (Thanks Mom!)

Wednesday was a great day. I didn't work until Noon, so we picked them up from the hotel and went to Animal Kingdom. I had time for one ride, so we quickly went over to ride Expedition Everest, which my sister and mom had never been on. And my mom loved it! I was worried she wouldn't like it, but she had a huge smile on her face in the photo.

I went to work and then afterward met up with the family at Sanaa (I think I've eaten there 10 times by now, but I love it). And then headed to downtown disney to see the La Nouba (the Cirque show at Disney). Mom and sis really liked it, I'd seen it before, but it was neat to see it again from a different angle.

The next day it was time to say some goodbyes, my sister caught a plane ride home, Jeremy and I had to work, but we went and visited my mom at the hotel later on. The next day we went to downtown disney to do some shopping, had sweet tomatoes for lunch, and then she started her drive home in my car. (Which I really appreciate, the Volkswagen people made me send it home).

So they are both back home now, but we had a great time having them here. Hopefully we'll have more visitors soon! Miss you all!

Oh yeah, in all the excitement of having the family around, I passed both of my menu spiels, so I'm on my way into service (still probably a month away or so), I'm really looking forward to it. Jeremy also passed his first, so we should be both going into service around the same time!

Ok, that's all for now, I don't have any pictures (my camera is broken still), but if I get some from the family, I'll try to update them here.

I'll also try to keep this place updated more often.

-Dano

Early October

So it's already October, wow time is flying.

A cool day today, I had my culinary day at Le Cellier. I got to dress up like a cook, and go from station to station and learn about how all the food is made, and taste some dishes. I am vegan though, so there wasn't much I was able to tasted. I tried the tomato stack and the potato gnocchi, both of which I highly recommend. Had to answer a lot of questions about being Vegan, which is ok, it'll be odd working in a steakhouse where there aren't a lot of vegan options.

A couple days before my culinary day, Jeremy, Melanie and I went off to Animal Kingdom on one of our days off. Since we are still pretty new Jeremy and I's days offs keep changing from week to week, and it's one of the few times that we got a day off on the same day. And when we found out that Mel had the day off too, we planned to head out to AK after sleeping in a bit. And of course, we brought along some of our little friends too. They were excited to visit a park for the day.

We went on a Safari that was great, a lot of animals that aren't always around (black and white rhinos, and three baby elephants!), they were all pretty active. One of the better safari's I've been on. We also went over and rode Everest, Dinosaur, and did lots of searching for Hidden Mickeys along the way. Did a nature walk, saw some great characters, and caught the Lion King show.





Eventually we started to get tired, so we decided to head over to Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kindani Village. I know I've been there a lot, but they have a Vegan menu with some great options, so I keep going back, and bringing new people. Mel seemed to really like it, and Jeremy and I always enjoy a little indian food.

I think Tink, Mickey and the Clone Trooper ate quite a bit too, they seemed very satisfied at the end.

This weekend is Canadian thanksgiving, so I'm sad I won't be home with the family for our usual celebration. But the canadians here are going to get together for a little celebration (after a full day of work). I'm planning to cook some good vegan cuisine for many to enjoy, so we'll see how everybody likes it. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

-Dan