Good Day at Disney

The last few days at work have been kinda rough. Yesterday, I didn't get off to a very good start because I got on the bus to work and realized that my zipper was down. I saw it in a mirror right above the steering wheel and immediately zipped it up and then I just had to laugh at myself. I then ended the day by waiting 20 minutes for my bus to go home in the wrong spot (but to be fair, the cast parking lot has been closed and it just reopened and I forgot about the new pick up spot.) But other than me just being forgetful, yesterday wasn't too bad! I went over to my friend and coworker Chelsi's apartment and she made me and her roomies spaghetti and garlic bread. She was so sweet and said that it was to thank us for being good friends to her and taking care of her while she was waiting on a credit card to come into the mail.

Today, I clocked in at 8:45 was told that Spaceship Earth was down for technical difficulties. There were park wide electrical problems and several other attractions were down. Spaceship Earth is the first ride at the front of the park so we were the first ones to deliver the bad news that our ride was down, which was good because I'm glad that we didn't have to be the 3rd or 4th ride to give them bad news. Everything else went back to normal quickly, but we were down for almost 2 hours. There were about 6 of us standing at the entrance of the ride telling guests about every 10 seconds that the ride is down so please check back later today. Some people didn't understand what that meant… They would ask why it was down, what time it would be open again, what they do about their fast passes, if it really was "technical difficulties" (it really was), every question over and over and then again in another language. We all felt like broken records, but I did understand their concerns because I would be wondering all of the same things. Some people were just rude though. They would pout and roll their eyes and walk away. But some people who are just kind people would tell us thank you and to have a nice day even if it was their favorite ride and they knew they might not be able to ride it today. I guess I have just learned a lot about being a good guest at Disney or anywhere really. Sir, I am not an engineer! I cannot tell you what is wrong with the ride or when it will be running again because I literally have no idea!!

Once the ride was ready to run again, I was actually the one who got to power down the ride and restart it. I apparently forgot to call a few people to let them know we were back up, so I felt bad about that but nothing bad happened because of it. We rotate assignments every 45 minutes and when I was at greeter at the very beginning of our ride, everything was fine until a guest got very mad at me. She was furious because the wait time said 30 minutes, but she and her family waited in line for 30 minutes and then left the line because it was definitely NOT a 30 minute wait and that was just ridiculous. A guest in front of her at the podium was getting written a ticket for a return time because they had a disability card through Disney so they would be able to get on the ride whenever they come back. That is Disney's policy and my coworker was doing her job and not giving this family in front of this very rude lady any special treatment, but just what the protocol is. Sooooo the rude lady told me how ridiculous it was that the wait was not actually 30 minutes like the sign and then said she was just going to wait there in line for a fast pass. And then I told her in my best Disney voice, that if she wanted to make a fast pass reservation she would have to go to a kiosk and the card that the family in front of her was getting was not a fast pass, it was something else. This angered her even more and she told me that she was just going to get written one of those cards! I said that this was for a special circumstance, and then she said "Well, isn't waiting in line for more than the 30 minutes a special circumstance?!" I said "Ma'am, they have a disability card."  First of all, I hate calling people ma'am, second, I should not have said that someone has a disability in front of other people, but I didn't know how else to explain it to her and I was mad that she was comparing her situation to this other family's. Anyway, she stomped away, I think I told her to go to guest relations if she wanted to, but I know that I was just doing my job and wait times posted are only estimates. And you can't just get written a fast pass because you don't want to wait in line, that's not how fast passes work and written ones don't even exist! I didn't let this interaction ruin my day, but it bugged me how she was so rude. Also, Spaceship Earth is a slow moving ride that picks people up constantly. The line moves quickly because there is only a few seconds of wait time between cars that are picking people up. I really think the only reason this guest had to wait so long was because we were down earlier and there was a big wave of people returning to ride it.

SO after my shift, I planned on going to the World Showcase which is also in Epcot to look around and eat lunch. I changed into regular clothes and relaxed. It was so nice to go around the park at my own speed and to be able to do whatever I wanted! I walked through the whole circle of countries and stopped to get "chips" in England. I got to walk past Mary Poppins in England and Belle in France and then I met Minnie Mouse in the American Pavilion. It was nice to see the flag half staff and so many people wearing USA or red white and blue outfits in remembrance of 9/11. People were here on vacation to have fun but didn't forget to show their support. It was so hot today that I didn't stop much in the other countries on my way back around the circle. I am at Epcot almost every day and I am looking forward to bringing a change of clothes with me to work more often so I can explore as a guest! Despite the unusual problems at work, I enjoyed the rest of my day! I believe that a bad day at Disney is still a good day. I feel very lucky to be able to work for such a great company and interact with guests who are experiencing the park for the first time.

View of Spaceship Earth from the other side of the World Showcase