[DisneyCruiser]

Let me start off by saying sorry I have not posted as much around here as I used to. I have been so busy lately! I have been reading the threads, I just have not posted much.

Anyhow, I recently just moved down to Orlando from a Detroit suburb of michigan. Those of you whom know me know I have wanted to do this for the last couple years. It has finally happend!! I have only been here 2 weeks but it has been great!!

Within my first week I got to experence my first tropical storm (barry) to my first shuttle launch! I was able to view it clearly here in orlando right from my 3rd floor balcony in my apartment! A friend of mine has treated me to a trip to epcot last saturday. To help releve some of the stress I have been going through since I moved. I am not a AP holder just yet I was thinking about getting one this weekend. I thought about going seasonal with disney for a few reasons. One all the perks of being a CM with a flexable schedule. Two being able to see what its like to work for disney. Thing is I would really like to do it full time to be honist. However due to certain costs and how much they pay I doubt that could work... Perhaps in a few years when I get things payed off.

As far as the actuall move I had planned on moving down this year already. A good friend of mine has been going back and forth to england because she was in a relatonship with a guy that lives there and she is from here. They finally got married on a disney cruise in january! (I was in the wedding party ) So the final plan was to move here. But it was not till july of this year. So anyhow my job in michigan was cutting people left and right as things migrated out of our office. I knew one of us in my department was next. I just kept hoping that I would stay on long enough till my move date. However on march 15th I was laid off by a phone call from my boss.. I worked there for the last 5 and half years and they just dropped me with no notice . I was devistated. I thought once again my plans to move to florida would be cancelled. ( this would have been the 4th attempt to get down here) So after the intial shock I filed for unemployment. (while it was less then what I used to make (by alot) I think it actually helped me get down here. I still am able to collect on that after the move. So anyway a week after I got laid off I got a call from our apartment complex saying the apartment we wanted would no longer be available. They revoked their notice to leave... So we were put on the waiting list. Thing was for me the longer I sat in michigan the worse it would be. First my income was cut so I could not put any extra in the bank and second the economy in michigan is doing really bad these days jobs are leaving the state left and right. So chances of me getting another job till my move date were slim to none.

So another couple weeks later we got a call from the apartments my friend and I wanted. She made a offer that we couldent refuse. Basically she knew we were waiting till july to move in however to make sure we got an apartment she gave us a move in date of may 31st with the month of june free and may 31st to of course. So we jumped on that right away. That left me with a month to prepair. I looked at all my options to move down here about rental equipment and the cheapest option since I was only moving less then a bedroom worth of stuff was a small uhaul trailer. My car is small and really not ment for towing but all in all it handeld fine and to top it off im guessing I had more weight in the trailer then I was suppose to.

I want to say though if your planning a move do not go with Uhaul. Their equipment is dangerous. I did not know this till after many issues I went through with them. Below is a blog entry I made in myspace before I had left

So anyhow I am less then 24 hours away from moving to orlando. The last few days have been hell. To start off I got a call to confirm my trailer pickup a 4x8 from UHaul. I never imagined I would have the problems I have been having. So anyhow I got the call and the nearest place they had one for pickup even though I reseved it in advance was way out in a city called Port Huron. I thought that kinda °O°°O°°O°°O°°O°°O° but not big deal it was only 45 min away. So I drive all the way out there and it was raning pretty good. Because of the rain I did not take much time to look over the trailer. I just looked inside and they hooked me up and off I went. About halfway home I realized I did not get the 2 items that I also paid for. (utility dolly and 1 dozen furnature pads) I called up and told them I could do without them rather then driving all the way back out there. So now I am charged 2 times for my trailer for 239 and 210. the first one had to be reversed but I wont get the credit to my account for a few days. So I get home and as I am pulling into my subdivision I hear a loud screaching sound coming from the trailer. I get into the drive way and noticed as im trying to pack it up it kept wanting to pull to the right no matter how I turned the wheel. So I finally got it into the driveway properly and I start taking a look around and notice that the tire on the passenger side of the trailer is black and i could easly move it. Upon closer inspection it appeard as though the bearings were shot. So after a few phone calls and several transfers through teh U-Haul hotline. They decided to send someone out to take a look at it. 2 hours later he shows up and (independant contracter) to see if its fixable. He looked at it and told me I am extreamly lucky. That it was about to give any moment and would not even recommend me taking it out of the driveway. So he called U-Haul and explained what he saw and he was basically angry that U-haul would rent equipment to me in this state of disrepair. So as he was trying to tell the guys I needed a new trailer that this one needed to be taken on a tow truck. They were going through all this uneeded stuff about my moving details. He got frustrated with the guy. (I can understand why I could not hardly understand him myself) He had a very heavy indian accent. I had to repeadedly ask him what he said. So as the phone call went on and on I got more and more angry. I heard something to the effect of hes going to tow my old one and just let him go after that as I could not understand half of what he was saying. After that I took a few minutes to try and calm down. I called the place that I picked it up and started yelling at the girl there about how they could give me a trailer and all she said was sorry. I said well im going to need another and she said she would contact her manager. She had mentiond as well that someone had rented that one but brought it back because they wanted a bigger trailer. (you could tell by looking at the rim that the bearings have been grinding for quite some time now) Had I even looked at the tires when I picked it up I would have noticed. So she recommend I call this other number to see about getting me a replacement trailer. So after several phone calls and once again transfers. They set up a tow truck to come get it and drop off another trailer. They had orignally wanted me to pick it up but this one was all the way down in dearborn. About an hour drive one way... I said uh no your will bring it to me. So they sent a tow truck with the new one and took the old one. It arrived about 2 hours later. By this time it was 6:30 pm. (I had picked up the first trailer at 11:00 am) Before they even got it off the flatbed I noticed that the drivers side tire was bald to the point of the wires were showing through. So in a rage I called the 24 hour hotline as U-hell was already closed for the day (5:00 pm) and they said I would have to wait till 7:30 this morning to get a call from the regonal center about a replacement tire.

Now it is monday morning.. I got the call on time and finally got someone that didnt frustrate me to talk to. She did not ask me stupid questions and was very pleasent to talk to. She got the information about the tire and aplogized even though it was not her that put me through this. She got my trailer info needed to try and locate a replacement tire and called me back right away. She said I could either drive down or it would be about 2 hours and someone would come out and replace it. I opted for having someone come out so I could get more done while I wait.

I am currently waiting at 10:13 am for the guy to show up and I am mostly packed other then my computer and tv everything is sitting in the garage waiting to be loaded into the trailer. As soon as everything is in order I am going to call U-haul's regonal office and demand some sort of compensation for all the trouble I have been though. All I can say is I am glad I reserved this trailer early. If I had not I would have been scrwed. I guess this is quite commen place for U-hell. I did some reasearch online and found that there were 100's of complaints about issues with their equipment. You would think with something like this that could very well be extreamly dangerous to peoples lifes they would take the time to make sure everything is road safe at the very least. It is very apparent that it is not. On top of news articles I found where some local news stations would rent equipment for the day and take them to be inspected where some found that out of 9 trucks they rented 7 were deemed NOT road safe....

The best advice I can give is if you have to move find another company besides U-Haul. The problem I have is U-haul is the only company that I found that I could rent a trailer for one way service.

Hopefully after this tire is replaced the rest will be smooth. I never imagined moving would be this tough.

So anyhow I am still fighting with u-haul about some sort of compensation for all of that. The guy who gave me the first bad trailer all he had to say was well you made it down there didnt you? I said yes and he was like well whats the problem then?

It amazes me how much they disregard peoples lifes. I have a small car.. What would have happend had that wheel come off... accident wise someone including myself could have been killed. I only drive a little Scion TC...

So after all that drama I manged to make it from the detroit area to just south of atlanta and stayed the night there. I finished the trip and made it to orlando the next afternoon. driving through the smoke from the bugaboo fire was interesting... I never expected it to be that thick but it wasent to bad to where you couldent see just stinky... It was like a thick day time fog...

My friend who has been going back and forth to england is seasonal with disney so she was able to get me a good rate at Riverside. I stayed there till first thing in the morning to head over to sign papers for my lease.

All I have to say is thank god I have friends!! I would have killed myself trying to get all my stuff up to the 3rd floor by myself... I had some heavy items like a tv and some new furnature I had bought from IKEA. Most of my furnture ive had since I was a baby.. It was falling apart so I made a trip to IKEA in michigan and bought some new things. Even though boxed still qutie heavy.

So things are finally setteling down. I have even had a couple interviews the first one I dont think went so great but I was going for a position that I did not have any experence. (but it was something I would like to do). The second interview I had this week and I think it went extreamly well so Im still waiting to hear either today or monday on that one! So well see in the mean time I still have checks coming from michigan's unemployment. So im not to bad off.

So long story short anythings possible I still made it down here. I had so many bumps in the road I thought it would never happen but here I am. and as of monday its offical I have my Florida drivers licence I am finally a floridian!!


Here is a link to a video I took of my apartment if your interested in taking a peek.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhXYMwro0E8

__________________

Lanyards are hidden hidden. Turn them on in your options

Dreaming of living in the sunshine state

[10 min to wdw]

Welcome to FL Curt, Its been a long time coming. Good to see you back around here at TD again as well.

[Mickey Crazy]

Hello Curt. We missed you, welcome back and best of luck on your new home.

[MouseMan]

Whew! Curt...I remember the days when you struggled to leave a one or two sentance post! (JK!)

I'm glad that you have made the move finally and can't wait to hear of your adventures which I know will be great! Keep your chin up and hopefully see you one day soon!

[SleepinCatz]

Welcome back curt sorry you had such a time with moving...Things will get rolling for you before you know it Enjoy that fantastic Florida weather

[MonorailGuy]

Hello, Curt! Welcome to Florida.

I've had similar problems with U-Haul, back when I was working with a magic show. I won't use them again, either.

Glad you finally made it down here.

As far as how to work here and get the benefits, I would go part time and then have another job that you do full time.

Working at Disney is like nothing else on earth. if you can possibly afford to work here over anywhere else, I highly recommend it.

[TTFN]

Hi Curt and welcome to the Sunshine State! We too had some issues with U-Haul when we moved down here in May. At least our truck was new and in great shape, but we had to go to Cheyenne, Wyoming (we lived in Colorado) to pick it up. It was about an hour and a half each way. Anyway, we are here safe and sound and happy that you finally got to have your dream of moving down here realized. We had to laugh at your video, because we still don't have furniture in the living room. Camp chairs work pretty good in the meantime. I love working for Disney and it is very cool to be a CM which was one of my dreams. If you are needing more than you can make at Disney than part time would most likely be your best bet. You can always switch to full time later. I look forward to meeting you. Keep us posted on your progress. It seems as if the year of a million dreams has hit quite a few of us here on Talk Disney.

[DisneyCruiser]

I just wanted to take a quick moment and thank everyone for their responce's! I love it here I wish I had done it sooner. There are still many things im adjusting to but its coming in time. The most confusing thing for me so far is the toll road system. They seem to be everywhere... I would like to avoid them due to cost but unfortunatly if I end up getting the job I interviewd for its right off the beachline by the airport so I will have to get used to it. I know there are ways around it but well see... Some of the driving rules down here are a bit differnt as well along with the way the roads are layed out. Im still learning where everything is... All I have to say is thank god I have GPS navigation in my car... My sense of direction in a place im not familar with is horrible at best. The problem im running into is there has been some new construction down here and some roads are not in the data base since 2004.

Ironically I live really close to universal... I wish I liked it... however im not much of a fan...

I found out from a coworker on friday that the job I interviewd for called my boss for refrences on friday so im hoping the wait is just for the background check. And i know if thats all it is I will have the job as there is nothing wrong in my background lol. So I have my for now I may call on tuesday for a follow up. But for now I just simply cant afford to work for disney.. So I may in a few months go the seasonal route. For some extra money and also to be a CM. I just dont want to lose my unemployment benfitis that would pay more at this point I would rather land a better paying job first before I start working there.

So since the disney job thing is on hold I went ahead and bought a premium annual pass to the parks and ended up spending saturday and sunday there with a friend it was his b-day. so we stayed the night at riverside! That was a lot of fun.

So anyways still in transition so to speak im getting there slowly... and thanks for your support!

Curt

[tungpo1]

Welcome!!!

[Gawrsh]

I hear you, Curt. Driving in Florida has been my greatest frustration. And no one uses a turn signal - a huge pet peeve of mine. There are many ways to get around the toll roads, but of course they are designed to be the quickest way so they might be your best bet. I don't know if you have gotten any information on the SunPass, but it does make it cheaper.

Welcome to Florida! Yeah, like I've really been here long enough to welcome anybody.

[Dismom]

I know moves can be traumatic, so I just wanted to tell you Good Luck on your plans for the future. I am sure things will work out for you now that you are actually in Florida.

It has crossed my mind that being in our 50's retirement is not so far away, perhaps I can talk my hubby into working at WDW after retirement. Hmmm, possibilities abound.

[friendofigment]

welcome to all of our sunshine...congrats on the move. yes driving in orlando is a comparable to my 3 years in atlanta, lucky for me i never drive past exit 67 on I-4.
good luck w/ the job and keep us posted on your progress. i will be praying for your success.

[DisneyCruiser]

Thanks again! I have some good news to share I am officially hired for a job doing what I used to do back in michigan. The pay is good but not as high as I used to make.. But much better then minimum wage!!! My start date is for july 9th!

I can tell you the lightning down here scares me!!! I was driving on my way home from the bank and it had struck the car next to me. My right ear was ringing for an hour. I think the person was ok I just have never seen so much lightning in my life! Dont get me wrong we get thunderstorms up in michigan but wow... Then by the time I got back home it was striking all around me I was terrified. LOL my roomate lenore was like eh thats normal...

Im planning on going with some friends to disney on july 4th not sure what park. I need to find out what goes on for the 4th down there. I may head over a few times between now and then.

Just wanted to say thanks and im now employed. Lightning aside I really do love living in orlando!

Curt

[Mickey Crazy]

Congrats on getting the new job Curt!

[10 min to wdw]

Glad to hear it Curt, I knew you getting a job wouldn't be a problem.