Walt Disney World ICP - Day 2 - Getting Acquainted - 4th June 2013

The idea was to go to bed and sleep like a rock until I had to be up, but of course jet lag kicked in. So, instead of getting up at 7am my body clock woke me up at 6am with barely any sleep at all. By 9am we were all up and ready to go to the clubhouse/reception to sort out the issue of our rusty bath. They said they would look into it but we weren’t convinced. We then walked around Chatham to have a better look at the accommodation including the pool area and grounds.

The pool at the accommodation

We went back into the apartments and found that the team at the accommodation had already been to “fix” the issues - they had sprayed something that smelt like bleach into the bathtub as if that were going to make any kind of difference. It didn’t. Apart from make the room smell horrible. So we decided that we were going to buy a bathmat.

Next we went to Premium Outlets and walked around - we had a huge $20 pizza for lunch including 2 drinks. We couldn’t finish the pizza or the drinks so 2 slices came home. We didn’t buy anything from any of the shops though but there are some really good deals in particular at the Levis store. I’ve found so far that food sizes in the US aren’t actually THAT big, except for the drinks but I am definitely a big eater. This afternoon was also when I decided to wear a vest instead of a t-shirt - here I can justify it in the heat.


I walked back to Chatham (Square) - my accommodation - and went straight back out to the other accommodation (The Commons) for a meeting. Here they checked all our documentation again - passports, DS2019s, etc. I’m sick and tired of showing these at every stage. We then had a housing meeting where they told us all the rules about housing, what you can and can’t do, etc. For example, we are not allowed lightsabers because they are classed as weapons, but we are allowed mace/pepper spray. Logic, huh? My American flatmate Kevin had told me that they would try to make it fun but epically fail. He was right, they had high-intensity music playing at the start with a light-show and then they made us do a mexican wave...and then talked about rules and regulations for an hour.

Housing meeting
After this I had planned to meet Silvia who I worked with in London before, it was great to see her as she had been out here for over 6 months and it was cool to hear her perspective on things - apparently in the Norway pavilion the Cast Members at the buffet location are making several hundreds dollars a day in tips. We both went to a well-known coffee chain for a chat. She also says Orlando is a horrible place to live in without a car and that in reality once you’ve done the theme parks there’s nothing to do. Good job I’m not doing the year-long program then.

I then went back to Chatham to meet up with my roommates and we all went back to Premium Outlets and Publix to get some food. Our communal shop for food and toiletries etc was over $100 - $37 each to be precise. I then spent over $100 myself, though that did include a $40 electric razor. They have people who pack your shopping for you at Publix. Weird.

We took a cab back. We then got the next bus to Vista Way to go to Applebee's with the girls. It was raining a bit when we boarded, 10 minutes later it was a full on storm. We went to their apartment and then got absolutely drenched on the way to the restaurant. Crossing American roads is dangerous, even more dangerous because of the turn on right rule and the pounding rain. We made it across safely. Applebee’s was nice - steak and mash was $10 which was great for a restaurant but the portions weren’t huge at all.

We took the bus back home and I was absolutely exhausted. I only had enough time for 5 hours sleep with a very long immigration paperwork-filled day tomorrow.

Finally, sorry for the irregular blog updates...I haven't had a moment's rest all this time.

Next post: Walt Disney World ICP - Day 3 - Welcome Party - 5th June 2013

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