Highs and Lows

This past week has been a roller coaster. I only had one day off this week because I picked up a shift for a friend, and on that day that is usually my regular day off, guests were being so rude. At the beginning of my shift, a guy who was standing 2 feet away from me, was complaining to his family about how the line was so long because I was doing my job wrong. Hearing that bugged me only because I knew I wasn't doing my job wrong. Most of what we say at Spaceship Earth goes in one ear and out the other, but that day it seemed like more people than usual weren't paying any attention. About an hour before the park closed, there was a large family with one man in an electric scooter waiting under the big ball. Two grown men in the group started honking the horn and sarcastically yelling that they needed help. Everything echoes under the ball and they were being obnoxious. I went over there to ask if they needed help (because they were yelling "SOS" and we have a wheelchair entrance that I thought they might need help finding) and then the man in the scooter drove away. The wife in the group told me that they were just being crazy and she looked annoyed as well. I went back over to my station outside of the entrance of the ride and then the other grown man in the group started yelling at me. He sarcastically applauded me and said thank you for embarrassing his friend in the scooter and it was my fault that he didn't want to get on the ride. The man in the scooter had a prosthetic leg, but I did nothing other than ask them if they needed help, and his friend blamed me for making him not want to ride. I had already had a stressful day and was embarrassed that someone yelled at me in front of so many other people and I started to cry. Thank god it was dark outside so other guests couldn't tell unless they were looking right at me. I felt bad that I might have offended someone with a disability, but in retrospect, I know I didn't do anything wrong. One of my coworkers came over to me and told me not to worry about it and that the guy was out of line and he handed me a tissue. So sweet. After work that night, me and Mary Holland went to eat chicken wings. The next day went really well. I think somehow people knew that I needed to have a good day at work.

I was scheduled for a 13 hour shift on Thursday, and after I cried in front of guests, I knew that I needed to take a personal day and I could have my two days off that week. And I had a great day! I took an Uber to get Panera for lunch and then I got a foot massage. I laid out by the pool for the rest of the day.

The next day at work was really overwhelming. It was one of the last days of the Food and Wine Festival, so huge groups of super drunk people were coming to ride Spaceship Earth. They yell and don't know where to sit, or they've lost one person in their group, or they ask the same irrelevant questions over and over. It gets even more hectic than usual. I was in the position of the person who powers up the ride and has a lot of control when we had an automatic stop. It wasn't an emergency, there was a backpack strap out of one of the cars so the ride thought someone was trying to jump out of their seat. Anyway, I was in charge of calling maintenance and sending people to find out what was wrong with the ride. I had 3 people talking to me all at once and this was the first time I have done something like this so I had no idea what to do. Thank god it wasn't an emergency!!! I got really flustered because there was so much going on and people were telling all to do different things. It took a few minutes, but everything got back to normal with the help of Sarah, my coordinator for that day. I want something to happen when I'm in that position again because I want to have a do over so I can redeem myself and people won't be telling me what to do.

I know that it's Disney World, but some days are just really stressful. People feel entitled because they spent so much money to get there, and I want to make their vacation fun, but sometimes it's the guests that make me want to never come back. I think that working here has been a good lesson for me because I am learning to not care as much about if people are mean. Yes, I did just cry last week because someone was mean, but smaller problems are starting not to affect me as much anymore, and I am really grateful for that! I have always been really sensitive, especially when it comes to people being mad at me, but I am slowly caring less and less, and I like it! I think that this is an odd way to learn a really important life lesson. Working at Disney is helping me not care if people are mean. That makes me laugh!

I ended my week on a positive note, which I believe is important. On Monday, a group of Spaceship Earth girls went to Epcot to enjoy the last day of the Food and Wine Festival! We wanted to try a few more food items before it was over, but also we were celebrating that that was the last day of huge groups of really drunk guests. I stopped at France and got the creme brûlée and I hate to say that I didn't really like it. We had heard about a memorial backstage for the crisis in Paris. We went back there and it was touching. There were so many bouquets of flowers, candles, and big French flag. I am glad that we were able to see it. We then went on to the Brazil booth and I got crispy pork and it was delicious!! that was one of my favorite things that I had at Food and Wine. We then went to Belgium and got waffles, they were yummy and really cute, but nothing special. It was so hot that day, we decided that we needed to find air conditioning. One of my friends had a Disney visa card that got us into some special lounge for free soda! We were taking advantage of the free ice water and Diet Coke when I saw a couple that I recognized from my Instagram news feed. Their account is Oh Yeah Disney and it's obviously all about Disney! The account is really popular and they also sell Mickey ears on Etsy. I was so excited to see them and went over to say hi! They were so nice and asked to follow my Insta account. My day was made at that point and it was only noon.

Emily, me, Laura, Cayley, Kelci, and Chlesi with Spaceship Earth in the background!

All of my friends went to work at 3, but I was off so I took the monorail to Magic Kingdom! I made sure I left with enough time to get a good view of the Festival of Fantasy parade, my favorite! I love going to the parks by myself because I can do whatever I want! I try to do something new every time I go to the park, just so I can do everything at least once. I saw the Philharmagic for the first time and loved it. I also did a little roller coaster called Barnstormer, it was cute but it lasted only a few seconds. When I got off that ride, a guy about my age that was standing in front of me in line stopped me to tell me that I looked "absolutely beautiful" and he hoped that I had a good night. I was so caught off guard but I know I said thank you. I was confused at first and didn't know what was happening, but it made my day! I got dinner and then found a spot to watch the fireworks. The show is called Wishes and I love the music because it's so magical. I left as soon as it was over in hopes of beating the rush to the monorail. I only waited for about 15 minutes, but as I was standing on the ramp, an older lady in front of me collapsed and her family lowered her to the ground. A cast member called 911 and her family was asking if there was a doctor around. A man and woman made their way to her and he started to take her pulse. The lady was asking if she was diabetic, and she was. I was worried, but there was nothing I could do, and after hearing that she was diabetic I knew that her blood sugar was probably low. It made me a little teary eyed just because it made me miss my parents because they both have the knowledge to help in a situation like that. Right before I got on the monorail, I saw the lady sitting up on the ground, so I knew she'd be alright.

Grilled Cheese and Lots of Family

I started my week off by going to Animal Kingdom with my friend Will. I'm embarrassed to say that it was my first time there. I have been here in Florida for so long, but just never made it over to Animal Kingdom. Whenever I have time for a park day, I just love going to Hollywood Studios or Magic Kingdom so much to try something else. But we had fun at AK! The park was practically empty so we got to do almost everything. We walked on a nature path and saw animals like zebras and gorillas. Then we went on the Kilimanjaro safari ride and saw even more wild animals. Hippos, giraffes, warthogs, and elephants. I didn't take many pictures because I want to enjoy the ride like a regular human. The animals were out in a "natural environment" and the safari car drove right next to them! It was surreal. We then saw the It's Tough To Be a Bug show that is inside the big Tree of Life, which is AK's icon. We ate lunch at an African market and had Dole Whip with coconut rum and it was soo good. The park is huge and it was so hot that day, but I still had a lot of fun! We saw the Nemo show, which was amazing, and the Lion King show. We rode Expedition Everest, a roller coaster that has a great view of Orlando and goes backwards for most of the ride. We sat in front row and then rode again and sat in the very back row before the park closed. I could see Spaceship Earth when we sat in the front!  I felt like a child experiencing parts of Disney for the first time again, and I loved it.

Gorilla butt

I opened Spaceship Earth on Thursday at 6:30 am and when I got off, my Grandpa Vicchy and Grandma Sandy came to my apartment and took me to see my Aunt Debi for lunch. A lot of my mom's side of the family has moved to Florida, so it's nice when I am able to see them, especially since I am so far from home. We ordered Mexican food and we updated each other on our lives.

Chelsi, Mary Holland, and me

On Saturday, there was a half marathon (that got shortened because of the bad weather) and I had to work from 10pm- 4 am. Yes, 4am. Most of the college programers worked that shift too, so we made it fun. But we were all shocked when we saw that on our schedule. Mary Holland is a genius organized a panini party so we all brought ingredients for grilled cheese. A few people called in "sick" so there were barely enough people there to fill every position. It was tough getting our breaks or having someone free to run errands if we needed something. We had to entertain ourselves so sometimes we would do accents and pretend like we were British or robots from the future. Guests loved it and it helped the time go by. Some of the guests were dressed up in Disney gear and the best costume I saw was of Zenon, a girl from an old Disney Channel movie. A lot of them thanked me for being up so late so they were able to enjoy the park. My co workers and I would congratulate most of the people who participated in the race and some people really appreciated it, but some were bitter that the race was cut in half. But I told them that I couldn't have done it and it was still a huge accomplishment! At the end of the night, I was going delusional even though I had had lots of caffeine and two delicious grilled cheese sandwiches. When I got home at 5 am, I realized that I had left my key in my apartment, so I had to go to security so they could let me in. I have never done that before and it was such a great day to lock myself out! I got to bed around 5:30 am, but that night was definitely an adventure.

We were soooo tired

My Aunt Lyndy and Uncle Bill, from my dad's side, came to Florida to stay at the beach and spent a day in Orlando to visit me! It just so happened that they were here on the same day as the marathon, so after I got to bed at 5:30, I woke up at 10 so we could spend the day at Epcot as guests. We rode Spaceship Earth and then Soarin' and they loved both rides! We walked around the World Showcase and ate lunch at Germany. We split some brats and potato salad, and I told them that the first time I came to Epcot was when I was 11, and my dad made an executive decision that we were going to eat at the dinner buffet in Germany and that is one of my few memories of my first visit to Epcot. At that time I was not happy about it, but at 23, it was delicious! And this time, I also got a grapefruit beer that tasted like soda. We then went to the huge merchandise store and they bought some souvenirs for their grandkids and I got to use my cast member discount. It was so fun showing them around my park and getting to catch up after not seeing each other in over 4 years. I started a shift at 3pm that afternoon and I almost fell asleep standing up before my shift was over! I was exhausted, but I got to sleep later. I had a great week and it was definitely worth it. With the holidays coming up soon, I will take any chance I can get to see some of my family, no matter how little sleep I'll get.

xx

"There Really is Still Magic"

I have been really busy with work this past week and haven't had much time for anything else. I had a 12 hour shift, which I thought would be torture, but a lot of my friends were also working that day so it went by pretty fast. I have had some memorable interactions with guests this past week and they also help the long days go by.

A British family of 4 came up to me an hour or two before the park closed because they couldn't find their stroller. The entrance of Spaceship Earth is surrounded by large flower planters where people can leave their drillers while they get on the ride. The only stroller disturbance that I've seen since I've been here was when a squirrel get into the bottom storage part and took off with a small bag of snacks. But this family could not find their stroller even after I suggested they double check both sections just in case someone moved it. I called my coordinator after there was still no sign of the stroller and we chit chatted about their day while we waited for my coordinator to come help. They were the cutest little family, two young girls with curly hair and their parents who told me that they had bought the stroller that morning. They had just flown in from England and this was their first day at Disney. When the dad was describing the stroller to me so we could keep an eye out even after they left, the oldest girl started crying when he mentioned that their souvenir cups were in there and she said that this was the worst holiday ever! He laughed a little when he realized everything he was describing that was in the stroller was pink. They were all so tired and we're getting ready to just leave without it just as my coordinator got there. When he walked up to us and asked what the problem was, the younger girl said "Someone stole my buggie!" in the cutest little British accent and big puppy dog eyes. I felt so bad for them that their stroller was stollen or misplaced because they were soo nice and patient. My coordinator made sure they got some popcorn and soda for the next day at another park and that was all that we could really do. They were so nice even though the first day of their vacation didn't end well. They thanked us over but we never found their pink stroller. I love saying "Someone stole my buggie!" in a British accent and am thankful for guests like them who make my job more fun even when they're not having a good time.

The next guest that made my day/life, I met at a FastPass kiosk while I was helping him make FastPasses for that day. He saw my name tag and said that his daughter was named Paige and that he always knew that if he had a daughter, he would name her Paige. So of course I liked him. We started chatting about his day and how it was his birthday and he was there with some friends to show them Epcot for the first time. I told him that he needed a birthday button to wear for the day. He said that he was a Disney engineer so he has got many buttons from over the years. He wanted his friends to ride Soarin' but the wait is always so long and we were completely out of FastPasses. I had a special paper ticket in my pocket for a group of 5 people to get into a ride of their choice at Epcot and new that this was the perfect group to share it with. I told him that it was for his birthday and for his friends to have a good time. He was so shocked and asked to give me a hug and thanked me over and over! He then told me that it was on his birthday, however many years ago, that it was announced that Disney World would be named after Walt Disney. He said that he was disappointed that he couldn't get into Magic Kingdom that day (because it was so busy with Halloween party guests that they won't let cast members get in when it is super busy) to celebrate his birthday but I made his birthday special. He gave me a hug and then said "There really is still magic." I got chills when I told my friends about it in the break room and this is my very favorite guest interaction I have had so far. Little things like that make working long hours so much more fun!