Friends and More Training

It was kinda my last day of training today! I have been learning all about Spaceship Earth and how to not mess anything up for the past 5 days and tomorrow is my assessment. I'll take a written test and then go through the work rotation with a trainer other than my own and she will see if I am ready to work unsupervised. There are two more days of stuff I will need to know, but they are not related to my assessment. I had a really good day today, so I think I'm ready for tomorrow!

I have made some good friends the past couple of days. The two other trainees that I'm closest with are Chelsi and Mary Holland and they are both from the South and I have decided they're my Disney best friends. Their trainer is Jimmy  and mine is Fergy (Michael) and they are also best friends, so all 5 of us spent almost every second of each day together. I started one day before them so their last day of training is tomorrow. There are some other fun people who we work with and some are a little nutty, but everyone is nice so that's all that matters.

Mary Holland, Chelsi, & me

Full costume shot

 I haven't really had time to do much else while training, but today when we clocked out at 1:30, we changed our shirts so we weren't in costume and then went to Test Track then Soarin'. It was my first time to go on those rides and my friends made sure I had a good seat. I had only been to Epcot once before working there and that was 12 years ago. When people talk about the rides I usually have no idea what they're talking about. But that's ok! Because I know I'll be there a lot in my free time. 

I have another early day tomorrow for training and I'm crossing my fingers that it won't rain too much.

XX 

On Site Training

This is Spaceship Earth, the ride actually goes up into the ball!

Today was day two of training at Spaceship Earth. I am currently on the bus that's taking me and other cast members to Disney housing. I knew if I didn't write something tonight that I might not have a chance in the next couple of days. I worked today from 1-10 and tomorrow from 7am-4. And taking the bus is almost an hour both ways. So I won't be getting much sleep tonight, and especially won't have time to blog. I like taking this bus because a lot of international cast members work at Epcot and 1) there are lots of fun accents and 2) there are lots of cute boys with fun accents.

The black pants that are part of my costume had a hole in them yesterday. On my way out the door this morning I dropped something, bent over, and my pants ripped from the crotch to the knee. I put black leggings on under my pants and you couldn't even tell. It was also a monsoon this morning! And the material on my shirt is a smooth polyester and it was completely soaked when I got into the break room. My hair was completely wet and it is still damp, almost 12 hours later. My coworkers were really nice when I got there. Someone handed me a towel and they said they'd take care of me. Needless to say, I went to costuming and checked out a brand new set of pants, a shirt, AND rain gear.

My trainer's name is Michael and he's nice because he tells me that I did a good job even if I really didn't. For 5 or 6 days in a row, I will work 8 hour shifts every day and then I will have an assessment and then I will be a regular at Spaceship Earth! I never realized how much the attraction attendants actually have to pay attention to. I know that compared to other rides, this one doesn't take much multi tasking, but still there is a lot going on. Certain positions have to make sure the guests are in the cart and then listen for signals and press the necessary buttons while walking on the rotating floor. It's really not bad, just overwhelming on day 2. 

It's really fun to see the sets and learn the little hidden Disney facts that cast members will only know. I feel special! I am sure by the end of my program that I will have a lot of the recorded spiel memorized. The other Spaceship Earth cast members are funny. I have met a lot of College Program people and I'm excited to get to work with them. I'm also glad that other people are training at the same time as me so I'm not the only one who doesn't really know what they're doing. I think I have said "please watch your step" over 100 times today, and I get to do it again tomorrow! 

Welcome to Spaceship Earth

I found out that I have been placed at the Spaceship Earth attraction which is the Epcot icon! At training yesterday we got a tour of the park and at the end, we got our on site training schedules. I am training every day, except today, until next Wednesday. I met a lot of nice people who will also be at Epcot. I think I will get my costume tomorrow and I should look like I'm from the future. I'm so excited!

Also, I found that Epcot's parking lot is the second largest in the country. And that Spaceship Earth weighs 16 million pounds. 

First Day of Training

Today was Operations Training day. Which was training for any cast member who has a role that will ever interact with a guest. We watched training videos and had discussion in a building on Disney property and all the decorations were so pretty and themed. There were clay figures of the Seven Dwarfs in a glass case that were used when they were creating Snow White. A fun piece of Disney art and history.

In my Operations group, I sat with Will who is from Alabama. He was in my Traditions and went to Magic Kingdom with the group the night before. I was so exhausted from only 3 hours of sleep and I was loading up on caffeine. The facilitators were both really nice and tried to make it fun. We learned how to pick up a box without hurting our joints and how to pick up trash.... Not the most exciting info, but I understand why it is part of training. After lunch we broke into groups that were more specific to our roles. I went with the group of "park operations" so that included anyone attractions like me, custodial, transportation, etc. We talked more about how to interact with guests and  how each of us can really make an impact on someone's trip to Disney. I have so much respect for this company and love how everything they do has the cast members and guests in mind. Even though I was really tired, I had fun. How could I not when there is a Seven Dwarfs sculpture in the hallway? I am so excited and feel so lucky to be a part of a great team!

A Day of Firsts

Yesterday, a lot of things happened for the first time! I had Traditions (which is like Disney orientation and I got my name tag!) this morning at 8 and randomly sat at a table with 4 other people. One girl named Maggie was so hilarious and made us all laugh and I think she is the reason all of us hit it off so fast. The two facilitators were asking Disney trivia and those who got the answer right earned a Traditions pin. (I didn't know much about pin trading until today, but people collect Disney pins and wear them on a lanyard and trade with each other.) For special events, like Traditions, there are special pins. And everyone at my table had won one, except me. But then it was their goal to help me answer a question and get that pin. When the trivia was over, they started handing out little character figures and I got one of those, and then the rest of my table did too! We were on fire. It was probably Maggie who named us the Dream Team. But the moral of the story is that I finally got a pin at the end, but only after I asked if they were going to give out any more.

Kelsey, Emily, Kevin, me, Maggie (someone jumped in the picture and Maggie got mad because they weren't at our table, so she scribbled them out hahah whoopsies!)

All of our Traditions pins! 

Any way, the 5 of us all had fun and some of the other tables weren't even talking to each other. So I lucked out! Towards the end, Kevin was telling us about his fraternity and Kelsey asked if anyone else was in Greek Life. I told her that I was a Kappa Delta and she looked so surprised and then said "AOT sister!" I wish I could have got her reaction on camera because it was so sweet! We talked about KD stuff and it was like someone was speaking my language!! I just think that it was so cool that we just happened to sit by each other and were kinda friends first before we knew we were sisters. Kelsey is in attractions too and she will be at the Kilimanjaro safari in Animal Kingdom.

Disney decor EVERYWHERE, I love it!

After Traditions, I went home and changed out of my business wear and then went to Kelsey's apartment. She also lives at Vista. Her roommates came home, and some of her other friends in the program and Kevin from the Dream Team, met at her apartment and then we went to Magic Kingdom. I think it will take me a while to get used to being able to just casually go to the parks 6 pm and have fun with friends! Usually it's a whole day event that takes so much planning. The humidity was killing me, but it was worth it because I was at Disney World. We went on a lot of rides that I had never been on. The group of us had a lot of Disney nuts in it who practically grew up at the parks. It was nice though because unlike other obsessed people that I have met, they don't make me feel bad for not knowing every little detail about Disney. They excited for me to ride Haunted Mansion for the first time and I loved it! We also went to the Country Bears Jamboree and it was so funny. I'm surprised that it is still a ride because it was a little outdated. But I loved it! We were one of the only groups laughing so hard in show.

We sat down on the ground behind the castle for the fireworks show "Wishes" which happens every night, and it is so magical. They play classic Disney songs and Tinkerbell flies over the crowd! From where we were sitting, we could see the back of Cinderella's castle which is still beautiful from the back, and the Beast's castle in the distance. I absolutely love Wishes. Then we literally ran to Space Mountain after the fireworks and only waited in line for about 5 minutes. While we were in line, some of the group started singing Bohemian Rhapsody and it sounded pretty good! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an older lady in line who was loving their performance. She saw me smile at her and then told them how much she loved their voices and Queen. She even asked if they were voice majors in college. Haha! She sang a little bit too and ended up sitting behind me during the ride. She walked out of the park with us and we found out that she had come alone and it was her first time at Walt Disney World! She was so sweet. She took a picture of us in front of the castle, told us all about her week in Florida for a conference, and gave us all hugs. I feel so lucky to be able to meet people like her every day and help make their vacation magical!

New friends at Magic Kingdom!

On the way out of the park, we saw that the line for the monorail was going to take forever, so we were going to walk to a near by resort and take a bus back to housing. Welp, we walked down a path that was a dead end, and then had to walk in the absolute opposite direction to find a bus stop. The first bus got filled up so we had to wait 25 minutes for another one. We were all exhausted and even though it was midnight, I was covered in sweat. We finally got on a bus in some air conditioning and I got into bed at 2 and set my alarm for 5:45 am for another day of training! Even after an exhausting and really sweaty day, I can really only be happy because I am at Disney World.

So to wrap it up, I got my official WDW name tag, made lots of new friends, met a Kappa Delta sister, took a ride through the Haunted Mansion, ate dinner at Pinocchio's Village, sweated about 20 gallons, found a new path that leads to no where, and became a Disney Cast Member!

Disney: Day Two

Today I was scheduled to go to casting to fill out some paperwork and get a background check so they know that I am who I say I am. A drug test yesterday, a background check today, it seems like they think I'm a criminal lol. But I am glad that they are so thorough! The "tour guide" on the bus to casting was really funny. Her presentation started out with this song and then she walked us through what we would be doing once we got there. She asked some trivia questions and I found out that Buzz Lightyear was originally named Lunar Larry. Fun fact. I also met someone who will be "friends with Goofy" and everyone who he told, including me, was really excited for him. The door knobs on the casting building were from Alice in Wonderland.

This building was filled with offices where they do serious stuff like background checks, but was covered with little Disney details everywhere! Everyone there was so nice and very helpful. I met someone who was an original Jungle Cruise Skipper and he has been a part of Disney since the day that Magic Kingdom opened in 1971.
I met some people on the bus that were just huge Disney fans, and not only knew everything about the parks, but also about the College Program. I felt kind of unprepared because I am just going with the flow. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney, but I really don't know how they know every little detail of what to expect, like they had already done it before. I don't know. I shouldn't compare myself to other people, and just because I don't know the in's and out's of the program yet, doesn't mean that I won't have a great experience! I'm excited to learn as I go.
Tonight, my roommates and I went to Downtown Disney just to walk around and check it out. There were tons of people there even late at night. We saw the Lego store and outside there were big Disney scenes, like from Snow White, made out of Legos and it was just so cute! We also stopped at the Ghiradelli store and I got this delicious milk shake with warm hot fudge.

Jalie, me, Amanda, Marcie, & Melanie (who I share my actual room with). We were just missing Leanne tonight!

It was even more delicious than it looks!

Tomorrow is my housing meeting and then I have Traditions on Friday! That is the most exciting orientation day where I will get my name tag and really start to be a Disney Cast Member.

Check-In Day

 I can't believe I'm at Disney! But holy bejesus, a lot happened today. My assigned check in time was 7:45-8:45, so Aunt Debi and I left her house this morning at 7 which gave us plenty of time in case we got stuck in traffic. I woke up at 4 am though. I think I'm messed up from the red eye flight I took over here plus jet lagged. Check in was at Vista Way, which is also where I will be living, and I waited in a long line with a bunch of other people in the program. It was fun to hear where people are from and what role they were placed in. At that point, no one really had any idea where they'd be living, who their roommates were, or where they'd be working, so we were all in the same boat. The girl standing in front of me in line had a Little Mermaid backpack on. As the line moved, we went through an assembly line filling out forms and getting our room assignments and our role placements. I will be in Epcot in Future World! I have only been to Epcot once when I was little, and I loved it. I can't believe that I will be there several times a week!! I am so thankful that Debi lives so close because not only did she drop me off this morning and took me to lunch, but she came back later after her boys were out of school and took me grocery shopping. We found out that there are no minors allowed past the gates after 7, so the boys had to wait by security while we drove in and dropped of my bags. I'm not sure why that is a rule, but I'm sure I'll find out at my housing meeting on Wednesday.
Because my role is in attractions, I was required to take a drug test today, and I met several other people who are also in attractions. Some of the girls that I met were telling me how their apartment has some water damage. Vista has 40 buildings and I found out that some of them were recently re-done, and I am living in one of the nicer ones! Those two girls I met were not so lucky. I have totally lucked out today with my roommates, apartment, and role placement. I am slowly getting used to the humidity and random monsoons in Florida, but if that was the worst part of my day, then I'm doing pretty good! It was a great start to the program and I can't wait to find out more about Future World!