Today I woke up before the sun did (approx. 4am). I got ready, ate breakfast, drove to DAKL, and the sun STILL wasn't up. I clocked in for my second day of work & training. My trainer and I headed over to Kidani Village, and found we were the only two cashiers their at 5:45am with no management yet. So we went about the normal schedule, and actually checked a few people in. The 6:45 cashier didn't show up until 7:30, and by this time more guests were up getting coffee, asking questions, or checking out. Thank goodness for caffeine.
Going back to yesterday; I worked 11am-7:30pm at Jambo House. The first 4 hours my trainer gave me a tour of the resort and back office, showed me more things than I can remember, and introduced me to a lot of the Cast (who are all so great and fun!). I watched my trainer at the desk for the first half of the day. After lunch she gave me a shot at a check-in. It was a little rocky but most of the guests were too happy to be at Disney World to really care :) And I think they had a little more patience once they saw my "Earning my Ears" ribbon on my name tag (indicating I'm being trained). I practiced more until I had to go home that evening, along with some paperwork and going over rules, etc. I got home and had enough energy left to have a cup of jello, then passed out at 9pm to wake up this morning at 4am.
I am really loving my job! I feel so lucky to be completely immersed into the field I am so passionate about. I have learned more than I probably realize, and met some pretty great people who will be able to teach me even more. I am gaining great experience, making awesome contacts, and making magic for people everyday. Today I gave a little girl a Simba sticker while her parents checked-in and she got the biggest smile on her face! Stuff like that makes my day better and go by much faster. I'm excited to come home everyday to my roommates and hear about their jobs and figure out what we're going to do next :) We have now completed 2 puzzles, and have plans to do something Wednesday because 5 of us have the day off! Woo! All for now :)
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Faith. Trust. & Pixie Dust.
Here I am, one week in. It seriously feels like I've been here a month. I wish I could remember every second, and I wish more that our internet worked better so I could update this blog more (haha). The 3 days I've been at Disney University from 8:30am to 5pm doing my "Destination" training. They have fun names for everything here. And I mean EVERYTHING. To split our class up for an activity, they never use numbers. They use Disney characters, restaurants, songs, foods, etc. Everything is themed and everyone loves it. It is such an incredible thing to be surrounded by so many people with that huge common denominator of a passion for this company. I've learned more than I ever thought my brain could handle, and am actually desiring to learn more. I've been able to apply things I learned at school, but really see them at work. It has been an incredible experience to see how certain aspects are implemented into this company and more specifically into the resorts. Tomorrow is my last day of training, and on Tuesday I will start at Animal Kingdom (YAY!..finally!). I will go through a park and resort orientation, as well as costuming. Yes, I will wear a "costume". And I am a "Cast Member", not an employee. I must say "assist" instead of "help", "my pleasure", instead of "you're welcome"... Nothing is normal here. And I think that is a wonderful, beautiful thing.
God is at work all over this crazy place. I mean, it's the happiest place on Earth, how could He NOT have a hand somewhere in this? :) My roommates are fantastic. Fantastic is an understatement. The way I've clicked with them and the time we've been able to spend together has been so so great. We have completely different jobs, schedules, backgrounds, and hometowns, but in a way, we're all each other has for a while. It's been cool to depend on God in this way, and trust Him that the people He has placed me with are good, and that I will be ok here. Mike and I are reading "Crazy Love" together while I'm away, which has also proved to be an incredible blessing. I was never much for reading in school, I actually really really disliked it. But books somehow keep ending up in my lap, and I always end up reading them, and I always end up loving them and hearing God more clearly that way. It's only been one chapter of this one, but I'm really excited to grow more in my walk with the Lord, and also closer to Mike through it. Serious thanks to his Mom for getting us the books :) What a blessing.
Trish, Mo & I ventured down International Dr. last night in search of Cici's because we get a Cast Member discount everyday (we are really spoiled with those discounts everywhere), and found SO many things to add to our apartment's bucket list! So excited for everyone to get settled and be able to explore and experience some of them. We found a Titanic-themed restaurant, an Ice Bar, WonderWorks, Ripley's Museum.....I could go on but I'll just blog later after we actually go some of these places! Anyway, that's all the update I can handle for now; I promise I'll get myself together to really write a less scattered blog soon.....ish.
God is at work all over this crazy place. I mean, it's the happiest place on Earth, how could He NOT have a hand somewhere in this? :) My roommates are fantastic. Fantastic is an understatement. The way I've clicked with them and the time we've been able to spend together has been so so great. We have completely different jobs, schedules, backgrounds, and hometowns, but in a way, we're all each other has for a while. It's been cool to depend on God in this way, and trust Him that the people He has placed me with are good, and that I will be ok here. Mike and I are reading "Crazy Love" together while I'm away, which has also proved to be an incredible blessing. I was never much for reading in school, I actually really really disliked it. But books somehow keep ending up in my lap, and I always end up reading them, and I always end up loving them and hearing God more clearly that way. It's only been one chapter of this one, but I'm really excited to grow more in my walk with the Lord, and also closer to Mike through it. Serious thanks to his Mom for getting us the books :) What a blessing.
Trish, Mo & I ventured down International Dr. last night in search of Cici's because we get a Cast Member discount everyday (we are really spoiled with those discounts everywhere), and found SO many things to add to our apartment's bucket list! So excited for everyone to get settled and be able to explore and experience some of them. We found a Titanic-themed restaurant, an Ice Bar, WonderWorks, Ripley's Museum.....I could go on but I'll just blog later after we actually go some of these places! Anyway, that's all the update I can handle for now; I promise I'll get myself together to really write a less scattered blog soon.....ish.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Bittersweet Chaos
The last few days have been an absolute whirlwind. Sitting here on my first "day off", I can finally take a few second to reflect. I drove down on Thursday with my mom and Mike (which was a last minute decision that I am SO thankful for!). We spent the weekend with my grandparents in Lake Wales, Florida going to restaurants, exploring, relaxing, and a trip to Vero Beach. Mike and I made it up to Downtown Disney twice which was so fantastic! I got extremely (understatement) excited when we got close and I saw the first Exit sign for one of the Disney parks. Monday morning (Jan 10) I got up at 4am to take Mike to the airport. We had to rush there but he made it in time! It was really difficult saying goodbye to him, and really hasn't settled in that I won't see him again this weekend like normal. After I dropped him off I had a couple hours until I could come to registration, so I drove around Orlando, got some breakfast, and tried to get used to living in this city. When I finally got to Vista Way apartments where we checked in, I noticed people already lined up...what the heck?! People got there at 7am and it wasn't scheduled to start until 9am. Apparently everyone was just as excited as I was :) I had to park at the Walgreens next to the complex and found my first roommate Jessica in the parking lot with her family! We ventured over to the line and just happened to arrive there at the same time as our other roommate, Trish. We were herded around like cattle through the complex (and really, for the rest of the day) until finally arriving at the building where we would go through check-in process. They had music playing, and everyone working was so excited and happy!! We went through and filled out paperwork, got to know people from everywhere, got our housing assignment and got our picture taken for our housing ID. We got our first choice (Chatham) and a 3 bedroom. My roommates are all amazing!
From there we went on to Casting at 9:30, which was at the Casting building near Downtown Disney. They put groups of us at a time (because 500 people checked in yesterday), on buses to get us there. As soon as we got there we got a sticker for the back of our program guide with our name and role. I got Front Desk at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge! It is a Deluxe Resort so there will be high expectation but I feel so blessed to be in such a place!! I will have giraffes and zebras and lions in my workplace! After we got our job we moved on from station to station filling out paperwork, learning, getting fingerprints, etc. I honestly don't remember all of it because we were essentially in a giant line for 2 straight hours moving through the entire building. Everyone was exhausted after! The put us back on the bus to go back to Vista Way where I got my car and went straight to McDonald's for lunch haha (which is much more expensive here-so not too much eating out for me!). I then went to my apartment at Chatham, and started moving in my stuff! I got mostly organized by the time we had to go to our housing meeting at 2:45 at the Commons, which is pretty close to us (just on the other side of "Mickey's Retreat", which is right next to us-an area with outdoor activities, etc. for cast members and their families & friends...AWESOME!). The housing meeting lasted 2 hours, then we came back to the apartment and finished unpacking/organizing. After a bit we realized we were hungry, so Jess, Ashley and I decided to venture to Wal Mart. We made it! And somehow managed to cram all of our stuff into my car! We got back and had dinner, and about that time I was ready to crash. I'm sure I left out things, which I'll add later, but this has been the most exciting/draining/overwhelming/crazy couple days of my life! But I am LOVING every bit of it. Can't wait to see what else God has in store :)
From there we went on to Casting at 9:30, which was at the Casting building near Downtown Disney. They put groups of us at a time (because 500 people checked in yesterday), on buses to get us there. As soon as we got there we got a sticker for the back of our program guide with our name and role. I got Front Desk at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge! It is a Deluxe Resort so there will be high expectation but I feel so blessed to be in such a place!! I will have giraffes and zebras and lions in my workplace! After we got our job we moved on from station to station filling out paperwork, learning, getting fingerprints, etc. I honestly don't remember all of it because we were essentially in a giant line for 2 straight hours moving through the entire building. Everyone was exhausted after! The put us back on the bus to go back to Vista Way where I got my car and went straight to McDonald's for lunch haha (which is much more expensive here-so not too much eating out for me!). I then went to my apartment at Chatham, and started moving in my stuff! I got mostly organized by the time we had to go to our housing meeting at 2:45 at the Commons, which is pretty close to us (just on the other side of "Mickey's Retreat", which is right next to us-an area with outdoor activities, etc. for cast members and their families & friends...AWESOME!). The housing meeting lasted 2 hours, then we came back to the apartment and finished unpacking/organizing. After a bit we realized we were hungry, so Jess, Ashley and I decided to venture to Wal Mart. We made it! And somehow managed to cram all of our stuff into my car! We got back and had dinner, and about that time I was ready to crash. I'm sure I left out things, which I'll add later, but this has been the most exciting/draining/overwhelming/crazy couple days of my life! But I am LOVING every bit of it. Can't wait to see what else God has in store :)
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