U.N.I.V.E.R.S.A.L

We finally made it out of the Disney bubble.

Admittedly we did just visit another theme park... but baby steps friends.

Thursday was Struan's birthday and to celebrate Claire, Struan and myself went a visited Universal Studios, where we had one of the best days of my life!

The very first thing we did? The Wizarding World of Harry Potter of course!! Where else?

Childhood dream come true. Right here. I may or may not have cried like a baby as soon as I got inside the castle. And then proceeded to go on the ride three times. It was the best thing EVER!

My lovely friends decided to document my minor geek out... Pure happiness...

I loved Universal, the rides are amazing and so much fun, a lot more intense than the ones we have here at Disney. But apart from Harry Potter, where I'm pretty sure I left a piece of my soul, Disney has my heart! We pull off atmosphere and experience a lot better than Universal does. We just need some bigger rides to even that playing field!

I purchased my Annual Pass, so I can visit Harry Potter and geek out whenever my heart desires!

Now for photos... All of the photos!

Welcome to Islands of Adventure!

Be still my heart!

The wise old sorting hat. It talks to you as you pass

The Triwizard Cup!

Secret staircase to Dumbledore's office!

Hogwarts here we come!!

Lunch at the Three Broomsticks. And my first ever Butterbeer!!

For me this took up my mind for most of the day. I enjoyed the other rides, especially The Hulk, The Mummy, the Spiderman ride, and the Transformers one. But my one true love was the Wizarding World.
I did moentarily geek out over the car from The Walking Dead however! There is a lot more exploring to do at Universal, and I have a whole year to do it! Bring it on!

Eight Days a Week...

Work.

I said I would come back to the topic of work in my last post, and it has taken me a while to get around to it.

My main excuse?

Exhaustion.

There is so much to do and see here, and I am working all the time, so it barely leaves me any time for sleeping. Somehow I have been surviving off 4 or 5 hours sleep a night, with the occasional 6 hour sleep thrown in there. It hasn't been great sleeping that little, but I know that I would rather be out there having fun, and feeling tired, than not experiencing everything this program has to offer me.

Now work itself has been...interesting. 

I'm going to be honest and say I hated it at first. I'm whats known at Disney as a Vacation Planner, essentially we sell the tickets to the parks, and do about 500 other things along the same lines. It is stressful!! There is so much to remember, and guests are constantly coming up with different requests, or weird circumstances, and most of the time I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing.

But it has got better. Somewhat.

The main thing that is frustrating me, is I am only getting one day off a week. I am working 6 days every week, while my friends and roommates are getting 2 or sometimes even 3 days off. We are meant to be guaranteed at least 2 days off on our program, but apparently Vacation Planners do things differently. It is exhausting! I have been having these awesome days off, doing super fun things, and spending the entire day out adventuring, but obviously not catching up on sleep for the rest of the week. Its a vicious cycle my friends.  

This week it has taken its toll, and I am sick. Full blown coughing fit sick. But I'm still going to work. Its not fun.

But rant over. Work is work and it's going ok now. I'm still hoping for those illusive second days off, but I may just have to give away some shifts every now and again. Take a health day haha. 

More life posts to come... And trust me, a lot is happening, tiredness aside...

I Don't Care

I LOVE IT!

Struan's birthday drinks at our favourite Irish pub!

Finally met my boss! It all started with a mouse...