So I know it has been a super long time since I updated but I have been so busy since then I will attempt to update as much as I can tonight while I actually have time. First of all I only have 3 and a half weeks left of my programme and then I am finished. Aaaaaahhhhh. It is so crazy that almost a whole year has gone since I came to America and Walt Disney World. At the moment we are gearing up for the busiest time of the year. Our park estimates for christmas are at 47,000+ which is basically at capacity for Hollywood Studios. So far I have never worked when it has been higher than 40,000.
At Jedi Training Academy we are going to have two teired shows (which means we have two stages for each show and can accommodate twice the kids for each show) usually the kids get to fight either Darth Vader or Darth Maul when we have two tiers up. We had this during the week of Thanksgiving which was also busy but no where near as busy as Christmas is expected to be. During Thanksgiving we had 5 shows of 1 tier and 8 shows of two tiers and that is what we will have next week leading up to Christmas. However, the week of Christmas Day to New Years we are going to have all thirteen shows at two tier so we will be signing up 400 kids a day for Jedi Training that week.
Indiana Jones (Epic) is the consistently busiest show in Walt Disney World so they are having up to 9 shows a day instead of our usual 5. So at Epic we will be having super long shifts too. I am working a mix of Epic and Jedi next week cause I swapped my epic shifts for jedi ones as I really like Jedi. I like Epic too, but I am at the point where I am ready to come home so sometimes dealing with annoying and angry guests is the last thing I want to do.
Allrighty - enough about my work rambles let's talk about NYC. OMG I loved going to New York. First of all it was super cold, even though the temperatures were only like mid teens, that is super freezing when you have been used to 35+ degree heat and humidity. We were actually very lucky to have gone when we did as the next weekend it snowed and we would have died from frostbite I am sure - even in New Zealand it doesn't get that cold in the winter. I went with two Kiwi's Hannah and Brittany and we flew out super early on the wednesday, I didn't even get to sleep at all the night before. We arrived at JFK and were lucky enough to be able to check straight into our hotel. Lol we stayed in a nice enough hotel it was kind of like a backpakers as in we got free breakfast in the wee breakie nook which was very cute but the rooms were like a hotel. The hotel was actually in Queens so we weren't sure what to expect once we were there. We didn't know if we were in a safe neighbourhood or not, but nothing even remotely bad happened so it was all good. We had a pretty good location - close to the Subway and to fast food which we utilised when we came home from the city extremely late.
The first day we took the subway to Times Square and had fun even though it was cold and raining. It took us a little bit to get our bearings but we sorted ourselves. We had fun taking in all the sights and then dropped Brittany off with a few of her rellies from NZ who were visiting at the same time. Hannah and I then went to lunch at TGI Fridays in Times Square which was okay but not the best ever our local applebees in Orlando is 10x better. Then we managed to get ourselves to Rockeffeller centre using the best map ever that I left at TGI Fridays and we were never able to find a good enough map to replace it (It really was very sad). Anyway we found Rockefeller Centre and we saw the Ice Skating rink that is in all the movies and we walked around for a bit inside where it was warm. It was very crowded with New Yorkers. We eventually got a hot chocolate from starbucks and were lucky enough to find a seat by the ice skating rink. It was very beautiful. After that we tried to find Grand Central station but without a map we got a bit lost as we couldn't remember what street it was on. It is very difficult to get lost in NYC though as all the streets go north and all the avenues go west and they are mostly in number order) so we eventually found our way back to Times Square via 5th Avenue - and saw Sacs 5th avenue and Michael Kors - it was very exciting. Once we got to Times Square we got a new crappy map from the visitors centre and after talking to Brittany decided to head to her in SoHo via Grand Central - this time though we took the Subway. Grand Central Station is absolutely beautiful - the ceiling has star consellations painted on it and the architecture makes you feel as if you are in a palace. We found the whispering wall as well - I can't remember where I first heard about it but it really works I swear. If you and a friend stand in opposite corners of this particular intersection you can actually hear the other person whisper into the wall. It is amazing - it sounds as if the other person is directly behind you and they are really across the room. Once we met up with Brittany we checked out some of the shops in SoHo and then decided to head back to the Hotel as we were all very tired from lack of sleep and it was about an hour back to Queens. That was the night we stopped at Maccas and then we watched tv from bed until we fell asleep.
Well, it is getting late now so I promise I will finish this soon,
Merry Christmas
xoxo
E
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