Earned My Ears

Watch out Frontierland…  I have officially earned my ears!  That’s right folks; I can now operate and perform all the roles at Splash Mountain.  Quite exciting if you ask me!  Even though the “earning my ears” badge is a bit of a safety net, I’m glad that I’m finally able to remove it and start working on my own.  Training was fun and all, but I’d like to get into a normal routine. 

Oh, and something funny I forgot to mention.  Yesterday in the middle of my assessment Splash Mountain decided to breakdown (what luck!  Haha).  Due to technical difficulties the entire attraction had to be reset, but since it was taking too long the managers actually made the final decision to evacuate the guests.  So, breakdown, ride reset, and evacuation… all during my assessment.  Made for an interesting morning let me tell you. 

Once I had passed my assessment and met with a manager I actually started my first rotation.  I ended up grouping guests into boats for 30 minutes and it went very well.  :D

Training: Check!

Yesterday was my last day of training!  I’ve gone through all the positions required for this attraction and feel very comfortable with all of them and I know the majority of show scenes, doors, and staircases in case of emergency.  I have my assessment on Monday, so hopefully I’ll be fine with a bit of extra studying. 

Life in the Disney College Program is tiring!  I have worked for the past 7 days straight (usually 8 hours per day), mostly starting before 7 am…  I go to work, come home, surf on the internet for a bit, make dinner, and go to sleep.  Wake up and repeat, multiply by 7 and you have my life for the past week.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love it here; I just don’t want anyone to come here and think they are just going to play in the parks all the time.  In fact, I’ve only been to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios once, for a few hours each.  Before I started working, I figured I would be going to the parks whenever I had a chance; but in reality it just isn’t feasible.  Thankfully I have today, tomorrow, and the next day off – Sweet!  I slept in today and plan on going to the Magic Kingdom later; even though I work here, I love this park!  Tomorrow I’m going to Kouzzina at the Boardwalk with 2 of my roommates, so I’m very excited about that:  hello cast member dining discount! 

That’s all for now folks.  Have a Splashtastic day…couldn’t resist ;)

More and More Training...

Howdy there partners!  Hope y’all are having a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah day !  (Did you see what I did there?  Definitely in character, wouldn’t you say?) 

For the past two days I’ve been having my Splash Mountain Training… gosh, that’s weird now that I think about it – it definitely feels like I’ve been there for a week at least.  Anyway, my Frontierland group was split up, so now there are only two of us in our group.  We have learned how to greet people, how to maintain the Fastpass line, how to load and unload guests, the basics of wheelchair assistance, where strollers go, proper attire for riding the attraction, and the height requirement (40 inches).  Yesterday we learned the opening procedures and today we took a walkthrough of the attraction.  We need to know all the scenes, the drops, stairwells, and exits for the safety of our guests and for ourselves, especially when powering up the attraction.  I wouldn’t want to be in the way of an incoming log, would you?  All in all there is a ton of information to learn, but I still have a few days of training left to master it all.  I’ve got a pretty good idea of the layout, so that’s good.  Tomorrow I have training at 6:30 followed by a 5:30 shift, so I definitely need some sleep.  Working at WDW is a tiring job; tiring, but satisfying.  Once I’m done training I’ll have worked for 7 straight days, but thankfully I have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off.  Then I can finally go to the parks!  Well, that’s all for now folks, have a magical evening! 

Frontierland Training - Day 2!

Well howdy there folks!  Today was another day of Frontierland training.  I am finally starting to learn my way around the Utilidors, thank goodness!  Our day started by walking around our area and traveling around the Rivers of America on one of the rafts that go to Tom Sawyer’s Island.  One neat thing about the Rivers of America:  when the Magic Kingdom first opened, guests from all over the country brought a jar of water from a river near their home – thus this literally has water from rivers all across America.  Neat, isn’t it?  We also rode Splash Mountain (we need to be able to inform guests about our attraction, of course).  I was also trained on the FASTPASS machine and how the greeter role works.  Our group then had to go through some modules on the computer (safety and whatnot), and then we actually got to go out into the park and interact with guests!  I had such a good time; I absolutely love talking with guests and helping them, even if the Fastpass machines are a bit finicky.  Just in case y’all don’t know how Fastpass works, I shall outline it for you  ;)

      1.       Find your park ticket (the one you used to enter the Magic Kingdom)
      2.       Insert ticket into the YELLOW slot
      3.       Retrieve the ticket and your Fastpass
      4.       Check the Fastpass for the return time (you must return within that window)
      5.       Return to the attraction and hop into the Fastpass lane, once your time has begun

Okay!  And no, you can’t get another Fastpass right after you’ve already gotten one and no it does not cost any money.  Phew, glad we got that out of the way.

Tomorrow our Splash Mountain training starts bright and early at 7:00.  Despite the early time, I can’t wait to learn more about my attraction.  Hope you all having a magical evening!

Once Upon a Time…

Today was my first official day of training!  “Once Upon a Time Is Now” is the Magic Kingdom park orientation.  We went to Disney University for training at 7:15.  I took the 6 am bus, so I reached DU around 6:40.  Once the training started we clocked in, split up into groups, and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. 

Oh. My. Gosh. I absolutely loved this. Honestly, what could be better than training in the Magic Kingdom? We had two wonderful Cast Members lead the class, and then we were handed off to our separate role trainers.  We also got our lanyard and found out our work location. Drum roll please! … … …

SPLASH MOUNTAIN! 

So excited.  There were quite a few Frontierland Attractions Cast Members in training, so I definitely wasn’t the only new one. Our orientation just involves walking around the Magic Kingdom (and especially Frontierland) and the Utilidors, so we can get situated in the park along with learning some fun facts.     

The next exciting part of the day:  getting our lovely costumes.  I’ll be sure to post a picture soon, so you can see how wonderful it truly is.  We then clocked out at Disney University and I was able to catch the 4:05 bus home.  I have training at 7:30 tomorrow, so I’m going to head to bed soon; just thought I'd keep you all updated first :)  Have a Magical Night!     

Traditions

I had my Traditions class yesterday at 2 pm.  We needed to be by the bus stop at 12:45, but the bus didn’t actually arrive until around 1:00.  Disney University is quite a lovely building; one that I’ve wanted to go to for a long time.  The walls are filled with Disney Legends and some of the work they have done.

Once we had waited a bit longer, we were checked in and given our Disney ID!  Hallelujah!  You are then brought to a classroom where you sit at a table with four other people and at one point I even became our Team Leader (pretty spiffy, huh?).  I can’t talk about too much that we did here, but I will tell you that part of it is informational (safety, ethics codes, company guidelines, etc.) and kind of dull, but the rest is amazing!  I know some people don’t like Traditions, but I loved it.  A few tips:  make sure you wear good walking shoes and participate in class.  Near the end, our name badges were delivered by a very special guest!!  All in all I’d say Traditions is definitely something to look forward to.   

My dream of becoming a Disney Cast Member has finally come true.  A pretty exciting first day of work if you ask me.

 
Once the class ended I caught a bus back to Chatham, which arrived around 7:00.  I ate a quick dinner of Kraft mac and cheese, then went to the Magic Kingdom with a couple of my roommates.  I also met up with another girl that I met at Traditions after Wishes.  We only had time to ride a few attractions (Barnstomer, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Big Thunder Mountain), but had a fantastic time nonetheless!  It was a great feeling to enter the Magic Kingdom as a Cast Member for the first time.  Today I’m going to go to Hollywood Studios with one of my roommates, then wake up extra early tomorrow for training, which starts at 7:15.  So pumped.

 Hope you all have a very magical day!