First Day + Best Question Ever

“First day of school! Wake up! Come on. First day of school.”

                                                                       - Nemo

Yesterday was my first full day of work by myself!  Needless to say, I definitely felt a bit like Nemo.  I only had to work 6 hours yesterday (4:45 – 10:45), which was very nice indeed.  I took an early bus which came at 3:20 and got to the Magic Kingdom around 4:15.  This gave me plenty of time to walk to Splash Mountain and clock in.  (Heads up for future CPs:  make sure you take an early bus to work!  Most arrive late or get delayed in traffic while traveling there.  It’s no fun to have to run to work only to find out your 5 seconds late.)

I clocked in a bit early, so the coordinator had me help unload guests.  Yesterday I ended up grouping guests into the logs, worked Fastpass return and distribution, helped assist wheelchair parties, dispatched the logs, and unloaded more guests.  Work goes by very quickly because every role is so fast paced.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many guests I see in a day.  It’s also nice that we rotate quite a bit, so we never get bored. 

There seemed to be quite a few angry guests at the park yesterday; perhaps it was the heat?  People tend to get very angry when I won’t let them through the Fastpass line…  One guest tried to return for his 9:10 Fastpass at 6:30.  Sorry sir, but you’re going to have to wait.  He got mad, tried to get through again, and proceeded to say some nasty things before throwing his Fastpasses at me.  Good thing that solved all your problems sir!

No worries though, the good guests definitely make up for the bad ones.  I was talking to a little boy yesterday and this was his first time riding Splash Mountain.  He was so excited!  He kept asking me questions:  What’s your name?  How long is the ride?  Have you been on the ride before? 

Then came the best question ever:  Did you help build the ride?

Yup kid.  I was testing logs at the ripe old age of 3.

I’m working every day until July 4th, mostly closing shifts.  I actually like working later in the day because
1.  I can sleep in
2.  The sun isn’t out
3.  I can sleep in
4.  Sometimes I can catch the Main Street Electric Parade on my way out
5.  Did I mention that I get to sleep in?

Well, that’s all for now folks, have a magical day!   

Florida Mall and Grocery Bingo

I had yesterday off, so I went to the Florida Mall with two of my roommates.  Wow, this mall is huge!  I didn’t end up buying too much – just a new screen cover for my iPhone and two bottles of nail polish.  I found this super cute bag at forever 21 that was navy blue and covered with anchors (LOVE nautical themed stuff), but it was $20.  I might buy it later once I have saved up more money.  Oh, and the buses only go to the mall once a week on certain days, depending on the month. 

After the mall we decided to go to Grocery Bingo.  This is an event held at The Commons, which is the international housing complex.  It is open to all college program participants and it is FREE.  We got there 20 minutes after it has started and the entire place was packed.  All the seats inside the clubhouse were taken and there were a ton of people gathering around outside the door in a patio type area. 

Once we had made our way through the crowd, we grabbed our bingo cards and proceeded to play!  They did some classic bingo, fill the entire card, make a plus sign in the middle, etc.  I kept coming very close to winning, especially on filling the entire card.  While we were playing some of the Cast Members running the program came out and gave away water bottles and little wallets.  My roommate was lucky enough to grab one – they were so cute!

Around 30 minutes before bingo was supposed to end, we started a game where we had to make a square around the outer edge.  As we got closer and closer to someone winning people started cheering and making a lot of noise.  Eventually I only had one more spot to fill.  I heard the girl call out a number, but I couldn’t quite hear her due to all the noise, especially since someone had just called out a bingo.  I asked the girl next to me what was called and she said B12.  Well, guess what?  That was my final spot!  I made my way to the front of the clubhouse, had the CM check over my card, and proceeded to get my free groceries!  Two other people actually won with me, so we all had our picture taken together – maybe I’ll end up on one of their slideshows, haha.  

Here are my winnings!

I love Bingo!  If you are a CP make sure you check out Grocery Bingo.  It’s free and a great way to meet people and win some free food. 

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

Park Time

Since I’ve had some time off, I have finally been able to spend some time in the parks!  On Friday I went to the Magic Kingdom in the afternoon.  I tried to catch a bus around 2:00 so I could watch the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade; this however didn’t quite work out.  You see, President Obama decided to come to a conference at the Contemporary and when he was ready to leave they actually closed I-4 so he could get to the airport, naturally causing a huge delay in traffic.  After waiting an hour for three buses that never showed up, I jumped on a bus to the Caribbean Beach Resort.  As we made our way over there it began to pour…  Once we arrived I took the internal shuttle to one of the bus stops and only waited about a minute for a Magic Kingdom bus to arrive.  Yay!  I finally arrived around 4:00, 2 hours late… No worries though! 

The rain had let up a little, but I still donned my poncho.  I entered the park through the Cast Member entrance (so legit) and browsed through some shops on Main Street.  Unfortunately I had missed the parade and since it was raining I figured there wouldn’t be any pirate tutorials or the flag retreat.  I headed over to Adventureland and went to the Enchanted Tiki Room; I am really glad they restored this to its original version (let’s all sing like the birdies sing – so good!).  Afterwards I went to Pirates of the Caribbean, but was deterred by the 30 minute wait.  Instead I walked back through Main Street and went to the Carousel of Progress.  Since I was in Tomorrowland, I also went on the Peoplemover – a great attraction to get out of the rain or to just take a break from the park.  Once I had gotten off I went over to Space Mountain and got a Fastpass for later.  It was almost 6:00 at this point, so I declared it time for dinner. 

Columbia Harbour House it is!  This is one of my favorite quick service restaurants because the whole place is nautical themed and you really feel like you’re inside a ship.  My favorite place to sit is on the second floor above the walkway from Fantasy to Liberty Square.  I ordered the Lobster Roll here:

It was after dinner that I finally got to go on Pirates!  The wait was listed as 25 minutes but I walked on.  I then headed back to Main Street, stopped for a shortened version of Dream Along with Mickey,

and went to Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor.  This show is full of puns, so I loved it!  Afterwards I took the back walkway to Fantasyland and rode the WDW Railroad all the way around while I waited for my Fastpass time to roll around.  After riding Space Mountain it was time for dessert.  What better place than the Plaza Ice Cream Parlour?

Once I had finished devouring this luscious sundae it was time for the Main Street Electric Parade.  I love this parade, especially since Pete and Elliot are in it!

Then it was time to head home.  I hopped on the monorail and caught a bus from the Polynesian.  I was pretty tired by the time I reached my apartment, so I went to bed immediately because I had an exciting day coming up.

Alrighty, onto Saturday!  I woke up early, along with two of my roommates.  Why would we get up early on a day off?  Because we had reservations for Kouzzina at The Boardwalk!  This was my first time dining here, so I was very excited.  This restaurant is amazing – the food is absolutely delicious!    

After a filling breakfast, we hopped on a Friendship boat to Epcot.  My roommates had never been here before, so this was very exciting for both of them. 

Our first attraction of the day:  Mission Space. 

Since we had just eaten we went on the more mild Green version.  Once we were strapped in, we all took our roles very seriously.  I’m happy to report that we made it to Mars safe and sound.  We then went to The Seas with Nemo and Friends, rode the clammobile, saw Turtle Talk with Crush (adorable), and watched the fish swimming around. 

Then it was time to go around the World – 11 countries in only a few hours.  While in Italy we met the Ziti Sisters.  Guess who got dragged into the show.  Yup, this guy!   

And yes, we may have gotten a Duffy and stopped to have it stamped at all the Kidcot stops…

No big deal, Duffy is awesome. 

Once we had reached our final country, we headed back to The Boardwalk and caught a bus home.  After a bit I went to Walmart, had some dinner (tomato soup and a sandwich!), and then went to Downtown Disney with another roommate.  We both bought some pins and then had some ice cream before coming home for the night.  Productive day wouldn’t you say?

Unfortunately there is a tropical storm headed our way, so it has been raining all day long.  That ruled out the parks for me.  So I caught up on sleep, cleaned the kitchen, made a chicken broccoli braid and chocolate pie, and uploaded my pictures.  I have to work at 9 am tomorrow, so I’ll probably head to bed soon.  Have a magical night!

Chatham Apartment

I just realized that I’ve never shown you my apartment!  Silly me…  Without further ado, here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

    Mailroom

    Pool / Tennis Courts

    Sand Vollyball

    Picnic Area

    Stairway

      Kitchen

 

    Dining Room

    Living Room

    Balcony

    Office

    Half Bath

    Bedroom

Hello low water pressure. Seriously, the water pressure is terrible here. Oh, and the drain isn’t very drainy; the water tends to back up…  Same is true for the shower.

I love living in Chatham!  It is so nice to have a bus stop right nearby; especially if you're running a little late to work.  Also, the buses are not completely reliable.  Make sure you find the bus that will get you to work on time and take the one before it.  Yesterday the A bus never came, so I had to wait and take the B bus (both go to MK).  Since I was going to work early, I got there with plenty of time to spare.  

Another thing about the MK bus is that you have to take the bus to one of the resorts, then take the monorail or boat into the MK if you want to visit the park.  Since we can't use the utilidor to enter the MK unless we are working, we have to go there the roundabout way.  

Since there are 8 of us living together, there are 4 bedrooms. 2 bedrooms are connected together by sharing a bathroom (sorry, no picture). Even though there are 8 of us, I hardly ever seen everyone and the only time we are all here is late at night when everyone is asleep. The nice thing about living in a 4 bedroom is the extra refrigerator. If you can't decide between a 3 or 4 bedroom, choose the 4 - definitely worth it, even though it costs the same.   

If anyone has any questions about housing or the bus system, let me know!  Have a magical day!  :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!  

Check-In!

Hello all!  I apologize for the lack of updates, but things around here have been pretty busy!  My family and I spent last Saturday evening in Richmond, so we left there around 6 am Sunday morning.  We arrived in Florida at 6:45 that evening; it was a long journey, but we were all incredibly glad to be back in Walt Disney World.  After arriving, we checked into Pop Century (this was our first time staying here; it’s pretty nice, but definitely not my favorite resort).  We all went to bed early because the next day was check-in and we were going to have to wake up really early, aka 5 am. 

Alrighty, so Monday morning – June 11th!  The day we’ve all been waiting for.  My family and I all woke up and got ready, left Pop around 6:15, and arrived to Vista Way at 6:30.  One of my roommates was already in line, so I was able to join her; she was our lifesaver!  Apparently the first people in line arrived at 4 am – way too early for me!  So, my advice for check-in:  get there early; the earlier the better because the line will get incredibly long really quickly.  Once I was in line, my family left to go explore some resorts and ride the monorail (we didn’t buy any park tickets, so this was there entertainment, haha).  Check-in is a long process, so if your parents are coming I would suggest that they go do something else, and then you can meet up with them later.

Now we were told that check-in would start at 9 am.  Thankfully, they began to let us in the gates around 7:30.  From there, we all went to the back of Vista Way, where you could drop off your luggage (if you brought any).  As we walked through the line we were given a cute little name sticker before being checked off in their computer system.  After discussing some protocol and signing some documents, we got to choose our housing.  They send one person from your group to sign up all of you.  Five of us were in line together, but our other roommate was going to arrive a little later because her flight wouldn’t land in Orlando until 8ish.  Thankfully the cast member was able to put us all together even though one of our roommates wasn’t with us.  We were all placed in a four bedroom apartment in Chatham!  (I’ll do a separate entry about our apartment, so be on the lookout for that.)

Once we had the housing nonsense settled, we were given our keys and had to sign (you guessed it) more forms.  Then we had our picture taken for our housing ID; none of the pictures look good by the way – they take your picture and then expand it on the card, so you look like you’ve exploded haha.  From there you get to go to Casting, which is definitely the most exciting part of the day!

By this point it was only a little after 9:00.  We were all put on the 10:00 bus to go to Casting, so we had about an hour to chill.  Everything ran like clockwork; they definitely have this process down to a science. 

Okay, so onto Casting!  Once arriving at the building you get in yet another line.  It is here that you learn where you’ll be working.  So… I bet you all are anxious to finally learn my location… wait for it, wait for it…

FRONTIERLAND in the MAGIC KINGDOM

What?!  How awesome is that??  I’m so excited to work in the Magic Kingdom, since it is my favorite park. Plus, Frontierland is home to some of my favorite attractions, namely Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain.  Needless to say, I was (and still am) incredibly pumped to work here!! 

Also, the Casting building is incredibly beautiful.  Take time to savor where you are standing and take in your surroundings.  If you’ve ever seen the building from the outside, you’ll notice its diamond pattern.  You’ll never guess where it came from – Walt Disney’s socks!  Pretty cool, huh?

Back to the check-in process!  From there you are sent into another room where a cast member will talk to you about the Disney look.  Then you sign some more paperwork and get fingerprinted.  And then you are all done!  I had my housing meeting the next day, so I was completely free for the rest of the afternoon.  I took a bus back to Vista Way, where my parents picked me up so we could go check out my new apartment.    Since there were four of us we made fairly quick work of unpacking the car and decided to go have lunch at Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney.  I think it was around 1:30 by that point, so the entire check-in process doesn’t last too long. 

Soon after lunch, I got a call from Casting (begin slight panic mode).  Thankfully I only had to go in to fix my address on my I-9 Form.  My family recently moved, so it got switched on all the other forms except that one.  Then we headed back to my apartment to unpack and have my brother fix our router and internet nonsense (thanks again!). 

I spent the remainder of the day and next morning hanging out with my family since they were only going to be here until Wednesday.  On Tuesday morning we got up fairly early again and went shopping for groceries and cleaning supplies.  Dang, it takes a lot of stuff to get situated.  My family then dropped me off, along with all my stuff, at the apartment.  I unpacked and got situated, then went to the housing meeting at 3:00 in The Commons, which is the housing for international students.  It was about a 10-15 minute walk over there, so be sure to leave early.  This meeting was pretty boring for the most part, although they did their best to make it fun and enjoyable (aka strobe lights, music, games, skits).  All in all it was just more information about our apartments, security, how to check visitors in, safety, roommate disagreements, and where to go for certain resources.  That finished a little bit before 5:00, so after walking back to our apartment my family came to pick me up again.  Or at least that was their plan until a huge thunderstorm began.  Luckily it didn’t last too long, so they arrived a little after 6.  We had our last dinner together for a while, bopped around Downtown Disney, and had some ice cream.  Since my family was leaving really early the next morning I was going to spend my first night at the apartment.  At around 10:00 my family dropped me off and we said our goodbyes :(  Thanks for everything – you guys are the best!  Hopefully they are going to come visit me this fall (yay for cast member discounts!).  Two of my roommates were home, so we sat outside and chatted for a while and they had our first experience killing a very nasty, large bug.  It was quite the sight!

So, that brings us to today, Wednesday June 13th.  I have Traditions at 2:00, but the bus comes at 12:45.  I even ironed my clothes and everything (mother would be so proud!).  Today is the day that I officially become a Cast Member!!!  I’m going to wrap up this post for now, but will keep you updated.  Have a Magical day!    

Let the Memories Begin!

Well readers, I am about to finally embark on this magical journey.  I think this quote from Tangled sums it up nicely:  

Rapunzel:  What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?

Flynn:  It will be.

Rapunzel:  And what if it is?  What do I do then?

Flynn:  Well, that’s the good part I guess.  You get to go find a new dream.

And so my Disney College Program experience is about to begin.  I hope you all will climb back aboard this vessel as I weigh anchor and set sail for the most magical place on earth.  Now, bring me that horizon…  Drink up me hearties.  Yo ho!