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

Adventure in Orlando - Almost October

Again, much time has past since I last posted. Again, sorry about that.

The past few weeks have been lots of fun. I'm enjoying getting to know the canadians I live and work with more and more. Movie nights are evolving into a fun weekly event, and Games night is always a ton of laughs. I've been here 6 weeks now, and it is flying by pretty quickly. I only get two nights off a week, so a lot of it is spent working.

But one of my personal highlights was venturing up to Orlando to check out a vegan restaurant on my own (would have been nice to share it with somebody, but the veggies I know were all working). So I wrote out my directions and set off in search of Ethos Vegan Kitchen. A short drive west on I-4 and only a couple minutes off the interstate, I found myself in the Antique district of Orlando. It was a really nice area, cool old buildings, and a good vibe. I parked, and found my way to Ethos Vegan Kitchen.

When I entered, I instantly thought of Cafe Aquarius a few years back in Guelph. The cafe small, with tables of various sizes/shapes. A few couches in the back, and a variety different people in and about. I scanned the menu, extremely happy that I could enjoy anything I saw. Sandwiches, Pizzas, Sheep's Pie, Lasagna... so many options, it was a tough decision. After much deliberation, I went with the Dilly Philly - A Seitan Philly "Cheese" steak sandwich on ciabatta roll, with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy.

My goodness, It was delicious. I was very satisfied, and very full by the end. And I can't wait to go back and try some of the other menu items. Hopefully some of the other disney veggies will be able to join me next time.

Also, I took note that Sundays at Ethos is Vegan Brunch time! From 10-3. Unfortunately I work early this coming Sunday, but I will get out there at some point. I love me some vegan brunch. There are many other vegan and vegan friendly restaurants that I need to try, so I'll review them when I get the chance to get out there. So far Ethos is my favourite, but best out of 1 isn't hard to do.

So it's almost October, which means the start of the NHL season, and some events that I'll miss back home. My sisters birthday, and Canadian Thanksgiving. This makes me sad, as both are times I would normally spend with my family. I do miss my family quite a bit, they have always been very supportive of me, and I know they are happy for me being down here, but I'll still miss them.

-Dan

La Nouba, One Full Month

Time has flown by so far, a couple days ago I celebrated my 1 month anniversary here at Disney. (by celebrated I mean it happened, I didn't actually celebrate it, no champagne or anything). So what's happened recently?

Jeremy and I have started a movie night group, on Sunday evenings we try to get people together to watch DVDs. It's run for two weeks, we watched Best In Show (and Dr. Horrible's sing a long blog). and then Bella.

There is some tweaking we need to do in order for more people to be able to enjoy it, such as starting the movies earlier, but we're working on it. We have lot's of DVDs to get through, so hopefully we can keep it up.

I also went to se La Nouba, which is the Cirque de Soliel show here in Disney World. It was pretty damn cool, a lot of really cool acts, but the characterization and the story telling behind them was really neat. It was very impressive the whole way through. Also went to Earl of Sandwich, where i had a Veggie sandwich (roasted red peppers, cucumber, etc). It was pretty good, but I would have liked more options. I really need to hit a vegan restaurant one of these days. (though I am starting to cook more of my own meals, so that's good)

I'm done all my training at the Canada pavillion, and have worked the popcorn cart and Front of House inside the restaurant. It's now time for me to start studying the menu so that I can spiel and eventually become a server. Of course, knowing my studying habits, that could take a while. I might have to pretend that it's actually a script I have to learn by a certain off book date, I think that's the only way I'll get it done.

Also, I miss hockey. Being down south nobody seems to notice that hockey season is right around the corner, except for my fellow canadians. I've been watching pre-season games online, and I'm looking forward to the season, I only wish I could watch them on my TV!

Oh well. Things are great here, though I'm still waiting for the temperature to cool down.

Hope everyone back North is doing well too!

-Dano

Throw In, 4 Park Challenge, and other such fun

Ok, I swear I just posted on this blog, but it looks like that was almost a week ago. Where does time go?

A new arrival group appeared at Disney on Tuesday, so that means a Throw-In! That also means I'm no longer a newbie! So on Wednesday I attended my first Throw-In from the other side, it was a lot of fun, hosted by Captain Canuck - Michelle, with all the great title holders, they introduced the new arrivals to the pavillion with songs, speeches, and other sillyness. It was a fun night.

To follow that up, the next day I was invited to join a small group of Canadians in the 4-Park Challenge! What is the 4-Park Challenge you ask? (and how can I hear you ask things as I'm writing the blog you ask? - Stop asking questions, just read.)

Well, let me tell you. The 4-Park Challenge is something done mostly by cast members, it involves going to each of the 4 WDW Parks at 1 day, at each park you must do 3 major rides, and get a photo with 1 character. While using all modes of transportation between parks (Monorail, Boat, Bus)

To make it more challenging, we bumped it up to 4 rides at each park, and 2 characters.

So in the morning (early in the morning...) Craig, David, Kimberly, Jeremy and I met up and went over to Animal Kingdom Lodge for breakfast at Boma. Boma is a great African themed restaurant with a buffet. Though breakfast there is pretty standard american fare, so that was odd. I'll have to go back for dinner sometime when they have a more inventive menu.

From there we went to Animal Kingdom, our first park. It was evident pretty early on that we picked the right day to do the challenge. The parks were nearly empty. We first went on the Safari, walked right on to that one. From there we went over to Expedition Everest, which is really fun. Then to Kali River Rapids, where we got wet, and finally to Dinosaur. Along the way we stopped for pictures with Baloo and King Louie for our Characters, and in an hour and a half we had one park down.

From there we drove over to the TTC (Transportation and Ticket Center) and took the Monorail to Epcot. Another park that was really empty. We hit Spaceship Earth, Soarin, Mission Space (Test Track was temporarily out of order) and Maelstrom (The ride at Norway). Walked around the world showcase to get pictures with Mulan and Snow White, and we quickly had 2 parks down and we're looking good.

We jumped on the boat to take us to Hollywood Studios, and though it took a long time, it got us there. Lineups at Hollywood Studios were a bit longer, we went on Tower of Terror (my first time ever, I was holding on too tight to do the moose ears with the rest of the group), Rockin' Roller Coaster, Toy Story Midway Mania (thanks to Jeremy who helped us sneak into the fast pass line by telling the cast member we were on the 4 Park challenge and needed this ride!) and Star Tours. Finding Characters was a bit more difficult. We ended up catching Quincy from Little Einsteins, and Handy Manny (from Handy Manny), and had 3 parks finished before 5pm. Looking good!

The Bus back to the TTC and another Monorail ride later and we were at Magic Kingdom to finish up. Here we went for the Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Carribean. And to finish off the Challenge with a bang, our characters were Mickey and Minnie Mouse! The Big Cheese(s)!

All in All it was a lot of fun, I had a great time, it was exhausting but totally worth it. And though Craig was strict at times ("You have 2 minutes for a bathroom break, go go go!") it was all good. I went on Tower of Terror for the first time, and enjoyed it. Though it still kinda freaks me out.

Today I went back to Animal Kingdom with Rachel, there were supposed to be more joining us, but they ended up missing the bus, and decided not to come. So we made the most of our day, went on a great safari (it wasn't too too hot, so there were plenty of animals out), Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, and caught the Nemo Musical before going to Sanaa for lunch. It was a lot of fun, but I was still pretty tired from the night before, so we headed back home after that, and I had a nice long nap.

Living in FLA ain't half bad so far. I'm enjoying getting to know all the canadians, and some people from other countries too. I do miss everybody back home too! But it's a bit easier now that I've got some people to hang out with here.

I still want to get some golfing in...

Ciao for now!

-Dano

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Pictures added!

So September 4th rolled around, and you know what that means... Halloween!

Ok, so that might seem a little crazy in most places. But here in Disney, it's a great time of year, so why would we only celebrate it on one day? So September 4th was the first night for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, I joined a group of canadians in getting dressed up and heading over to the Magic Kingdom for the evening.

For the Not So Scary party, the Magic Kingdom is decorated like crazy for halloween, there is a special villian show, a halloween parade, halloween fireworks and Candy Spots!!! for trick or treating. It was definitely a fantastic night.

I was a ghostbuster (who you gonna call?), so the Magic Kingdom was the place to be, I had people all night telling me to go to the Haunted Mansion, as they had a ghost problem there. Lots of people loved my costume, though I found that most of them were 20 or over, a lot of kids had no idea who I was.

It was a great night, and I plan to hit up the halloween party again a few times before halloween comes and goes, hopefully we'll get some more canadians costumed up.

I don't have any pictures, but some of the other canadians did, so If I get some, I'll post them here for sure!

Pretty soon I start on the popcorn cart, so I hope to get some pictures of me there too. Should be fun to learn!

Hope all is well back home.

-Dano

Earned my ears!

Haven't posted in a little while, as work has me getting home exhausted at 11:30 or so, and most nights I can't be bothered to post on the blog at that point. But I figured I'd try to squeeze one in now.

So I have earned my ears, or at least my first set of ears. At the Canada pavilion food and beverage there is the Popcorn cart and Podium. I started out at podium, so I had 4 days of training to learn all the different podium jobs. Now that I completed my trading I was able to take off the "earning my ears" flag from my nametag. So now it just says "Dan, Guelph, Canada" I want it to say "Dan, Guelph, Ontario" but apparently I'd have to pay for a new nametag, and I'm kind of broke right now.

I'm having a lot of fun, the canadians here have been great to work with, and everybody has been really supportive. Met some movie buffs, and people who aren't all about drinking, so hopefully I'll have somebody to see some movies with. Also I'm talking to some avid golfers, so I'm hoping to get out and hit the golf courses around with my cast discount!

I do miss home, but getting to know everybody here is making things a bit easier. I'm glad to have started working, as it is fun interacting with the guests, and enjoying the company of my fellow Canucks.

So now I'm just waiting for all of you to come down and visit!

-Dano

Actually working

Today I had my first full day of actually working as a cast member, in costume (sorry, no photo's yet, but hopefully soon!). I start inside the restaurant as a seater. Lots of things to learn, but I tried to keep up, and by the end of the day I was seating guests by myself in various areas of the restaurant.

Met lots of canadians today, they were all very very nice to me, as it took me a little while to get going on everything. But I had a good time, chatting with guests about their stay, and getting them ready to eat in the restaurant.

It's one of the busiest restaurants in all of Disney, and was fully booked all day. Things got a bit crazy at some points, but the cast was very good at keeping things going and helping each other out.

I even got to trade pins for a bit today, which was fun. Although for some reason I kept getting princess pins in return...

I'm really enjoying things so far, it's nice to finally get into work and start meeting people, seems like a really great group. I've got plenty more training to go through before I start working shifts on my own.

I also spent my day off at Epcot, riding Test Track and Soarin, and visiting the many different countries represented. I do hope to get to see more of the parks, but I don't get another day off until next Thursday.

Hope all is well back in Ontario!

-Dano