Tuesday 05th December 2006: Leaving For Disney
I got up at 0515 and got ready, checked my luggage (about 5 times) and left the house at about 0600. Dad and I were in his car and mum, matt, Nanny and Grandad in her car. We arrived at the airport early but its better then being late. So I checked in my bags and found out a guy called Rob had already checked in his bags. After the hassle of self checking, due to my paperwork not being excepted by the computer, we all went for breakfast at a restaurant in the arrivals lounge. There I meet up with Kirsty, Chris and their families. After breakfast Kirsty, Chris and I went through to departures. This was very sad as I had to say goodbye to everyone there and then and I couldn't help but cry.
We met up with Rob in the departure lounge and met Johnny at the departure gate (appartently he had gone to the wrong gate so was a little later than the rest of us). We flew with United Airlines to Washington D.C and whilst on board I watched a couple of films including one about American Football and one about Nascar racing but I can't remember what either of them are called.
When we arrived in Washington we had to go through immigration. The
Officer asked me questions about how long I was staying where I was working and what I would be doing and if I had any family in America and he made me feel very nervous even though I know I had nothing to worry about. Then we had to collect our luggage and take it through customs and check it back in, in the transfer lounge. After this we headed to the main terminal and found a pub were we sat down and had a drink, then we looked around some of the shops and soon enough we had to board our next flight.
Officer asked me questions about how long I was staying where I was working and what I would be doing and if I had any family in America and he made me feel very nervous even though I know I had nothing to worry about. Then we had to collect our luggage and take it through customs and check it back in, in the transfer lounge. After this we headed to the main terminal and found a pub were we sat down and had a drink, then we looked around some of the shops and soon enough we had to board our next flight. This time we flew with Ted Airlines from Washington D.C to Orlando. The plane was really small a bit like a BMI Baby plane. However the flight wasn’t very busy and there were a lot of empty seats. So after take off I asked the flight attendant if I could move. She said yes so I moved a few rows back and laid down and slept the whole flight and I was only awoken as we were about to land (it was really nice to get some sleep as I knew it was going to be a long day).
When we arrived at Orlando International Airport we were met my some people from Disney who gave us a information pack about what was happening over the next week and also our apartment keys. Kirsty and I were given apartments in The Commons but the Boys have been placed in Chatham for a while because they haven't got any spare beds in The Commons at the moment but they should be moving over shortly.
Once the coach arrived we were met by a big group of people including Nat, James and Jo. James then helped me with my luggage to my apartment, which luckily for me was right where the coach was parked and I was also on the ground floor as there are no lifts. I went into my apartment and it looked very nice, clean and quite. James said to me that it looks like I have a good apartment. I found out that there are three bedrooms and I put all my luggage into my room and saw that it had on en suite bathroom and walk in cupboard (very nice).
James didn’t even give me a chance to unpack anything when he took me to an apartment up the road. I walked in the door and there was lots of people in the apartment (I mean you couldn’t move) and then I saw Johnny, Chris, Kirsty and Rob in the Kitchen and then I met Lyndsay and Zoe who also arrived today. Then we had to introduce ourselves to everybody saying our name, where were from, whether we were gay or straight, our age and where we were working. Once we introduced ourselves we were given parents and I was given Beth and Aaron (her boyfriend). There job is to look after me when we go out and also for me to ask them any questions or advice about the job etc. Then Beth took me around the room and introduced me to everyone again and they told me there names (there's so many to remember, help!) . James and I only stayed a short while as I was very tried, so James showed me back to my apartment because I didn’t have a clue where I was and then I went to bed.
Today was a really long and emotional day but I’m glad that I’m hear and about to start working for Disney. I think it also helped that I had Kirsty and Chris with me for the whole day and that James and the others met us from the coach because it felt like it were coming home from a long journey and being reunited with some old friends.
Picture 1 - Johnny, Kirsty and Chris; Picture 2 - Rob, Me, Johnny and Kirsty (both photos were taken on the flight to Washington D.C)
