Expedition Everest Photos

So I have a few photos from the other night and the Everest race that Tanille and I did. I checked our official time and we came in 23rd out of 420 women's teams! We're pretty proud of ourselves! These are just the ones that someone else from the DAK lodge took, there are more coming later from my camera and Tanille's camera, so stay tuned!

This is Natalie and myself, posing with our fabulous medals after the race!

This is (from left to right): Megan, Bren ('riding' an ostrich), Natalie, Myself, Tanille

Bren dressed up as a guy riding an ostrich in support of all of us!

We had such a fun time! And I now have a dangerous love of Disney races....I may have to come back for a few in the fall!! At least I know I have places to stay while I'm here!!

Polynesian

So I had a delightful time working at the Polynesian! I loved it over there!! So much fun!! I got along really well with everyone and it sounds like they want me to come back soon which is great! Here is a photo of their lovely costume!! It's pretty comfy and breezy, I enjoyed it!!

Some unfortunate news, I won't be able to take the Hilton Head position because I can't get a visa extension. Soooo looks like I'll be coming home after all. Which is good to, Derrek and I are planning a very fun trip home, so that should be exciting, and I do miss home!

Tanille and her mom are visiting right now which is fabulous! We're staying right at the DAK lodge, so it's the best commute to work EVER for me! Tanille and I ran in the Expedition Everest Challenge to night. It was amazing, a 5km run through the Animal Kingdom park, with an obstacle course and a scavenger hunt component. And there was even an after party with a dj and characters! Disney sure knows how to throw a party! The race was so well organized and perfectly executed. I was blown away.  AND the finisher medals are spectacular!! They are actual compasses that work and everything!! I loved every minute of today. It's so nice to race with Tanille again, we haven't raced together since our last triathlon, so it was a really great that she could be here for this! Photos of the race coming soon! 

I don't think I put bowling photos up on here from our cast Bowl-a-thon, did I?? Silly me, I should do that right now!

That's myself with some of our super fun cast members from the lodge! We had so much fun!

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!

SO EXCITED!! I was on my merry way into work this afternoon after finishing our very last corporate analysis class, all happy and full of a delicious iced coffee beverage. My day was already lovely. And then the phone rang. On the other end of that phone call was a lovely lady from Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort, extending me an official offer for a Professional Internship in Recreation with them. I almost jumped out of my seat on the bus. SO EXCITING!! There's quite a few details that we need to work out. They want me to start quite a bit before my program here is over so I need to figure out if I can leave my program early. Even before that I need to figure out if they'll even give me a visa! So I'm off to casting on thursday to try and get myself a shiny new visa. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for me!!! EEEEK!!! SO EXCITED!!!!! The Hilton Head property has some really neat recreation things there so I'd be changing up duties all the time, campfire singalongs, bike rentals, lifeguarding, taking groups to movies, water sports. EEEEK!!!! I need to calm down until thursday when I can find out if I can even stay. I think that maybe if I come in with some line graphs that show how guest satisfaction goes up in direct correlation to my being with the company that will ensure me a visa for SURE! More later....stay tuned...

Warm Fuzzies

So I was off to make some magic tonight, headed to a guest room with their dining reservations for tomorrow in my hot little hands. I was excited because this particular family hadn't thought they would be able to get any reservations and I was able to find them all the places that they wanted. So off I went, delivered the reservation information, made them happy, felt all magical and began to make my merry way back to the desk. And then I was stopped by a guest, who was so happy with the room that I had gotten for them several days ago. So he wanted to tell me how much he appreciated it. And then I encountered another guest who has been here for several days and who is always wearing a funnny tshirt, so he stopped me to show me his funny tshirt that I hadn't seen yet. I got back to the desk really remembering how much we are a part of our guests lives. They really get attached to us while they're here, It's nice to know that the hard work we put in every day pays off. And I got the sweetest thank you card from a guest, I'll have to take a picture and put it up!! Oh, speaking of pictures, I know you are all just dying to see what the yacht club costume looked like from last week!! Here it is!

I think it's quite darling! It's definitely one of my favorites so far!!  oh also, I know you're thinking "Hey Erica, what new resort are you working at this week?" and the answer is the POLYNESIAN!!! Yesssss so much fun!! That's tomorrow, I'll keep you posted.  Oh and you also haven't seen a photo of my new DAKL costume. Our concierge costumes are different than the front desk ones, so here's my pretty burgundy costume!!

Oh so flattering I know!

Epic Win

I’ve come to realize that the best tool I have at my disposal is my freakishly cheerful attitude. For instance, with the guest that dumped garbage on my desk. She was determined to be in a really horrible mood. I may have neglected to mention that the reason they didn’t want to stay in the new room was that she could see a tree outside her window. Oh really ma’am? Well I am so very sorry that there is a tree in the savanna of the African themed resort that you are staying at. Is what I realllllly wanted to say. However I smiled, and apologized, and fixed the situation, and continued to smile until she smiled too. This is what I do, please, bring me your anger, bring me your attitude, because I can guarantee that it is no match for my cheerfulness. You can be as angry at me as you want, and I will be cheerful right back at you, while I fix whatever is making you angry, until you are so tired from being angry that you just have to smile. And by that point, the problem is solved and somehow you’re not angry. And I win. End of story.

One of those days!

So I just had an older couple come down and they apparently had been checked into a dirty room, which happens once in a while. I apologized profusely and got them a new room that was clean. soooo 10 minutes later the couple came back and the woman shook out a bag of garbage all over the front desk. I didn't really know what to say. She said 'this is the garbage from our first room, this second room is NOT our room, we will not take it, i will clean the first room myself, I just came to let you know.' Guests do the strangest things sometimes. I smiled and told her that if she really wanted to stay in the first room then we would go ahead and have it cleaned for her. At first they didn't even want to leave the room so we could have it cleaned, but I managed to get them to go to the pool. The reason that she didn't want to be in the second room is that she could see a tree from her window. Oddly enough, the savanna had a tree in it.

The last few days!

So I recieved a call from the director of HR over at the Hilton Head Island Resort, much to my surprise. The last time I spoke with them I declined to continue the interview process because of the length of my program and not being able to extend my visa. I did tell them that if anything came up with a later start date that I'd love to be interviewed again. Soooo I called her back and she put me in touch with the director of recreation whom I interviewed with yesterday. This position would be a professional internship within the recreation department. So ther would be some lifeguarding, some working at the bike rental stand, some guiding campfire sing a longs, and things of that nature. It is definintely different than what I'd like to do ideally, but I also want to stay within the company, and that resort would be such a fabulous opportunity to do so. At this point I'm also getting excited for my trip home so I'm kind of on a fence here. Also, I don't even know what's happening with my visa. So I'm going to casting after work today to see what steps I need to take to have Disney sponsor my visa. So I'll know more tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Well the royal wedding happened the other morning and I would be remiss if I didn't mention it. Not because I watched it, or am particularily interested, but because the whole event highlights a very interesting cultural difference. Here, the wedding is all over the tabloids, people are talking about it non-stop, there's been a made for tv movie done about it, all kinds of shenanigans. I work with two lovely British girls and they are shocked at the amount of attention the wedding is getting. Neither of them planned to watch the wedding and both said that in England, it's not at all publicized like it is here. It's not on the tabloids, it's not gossip over there because it's their government. One of the girls simply said, 'The queen would just not allow the royal wedding to be in gossip magazines, it just wouldn't happen.' I thought that was really interesting. It's also very interesting to see the reactions of guests when they see that we have British cast members, most of them ask if they're planning on watching.........they aren't. Among the more interesting and less intelligent questions I've heard is, 'Did you get invited?'. One of the girls thought that was hysterical, her response being 'Did you get invited to Barrak Obama's wedding?' All in all it's been a very entertaining few days.