New WDW CPs: Things I should have done

So... now that I'm hitting the two-month mark, I'm in the middle of some major Disney withdrawals. It seems to be hitting a lot of my fellow Fall 2011 CPs, so there must be something about this amount of time away from "home." Anyways, I decided to post on some of the things that I should have done differently, and that I plan on doing differently if I do a second program. Hopefully this will help any new Disney College Program participants!

1. Prepare for humidity. I moved to Florida at the beginning of September, and even then, the humidity was dreadful. If you're like me and from the West Coast(especially the Northwest), you do not understand humidity. Ladies, plan ahead and bring makeup that won't melt. Bring along your liquid foundation and cream eyeshadow if you want, but know that it will all slide off for at least the first few weeks. It's a rough adjustment, and it's better if you just accept that you won't look pretty during it. And bring shorts. And loose shirts.Sure, you can wear skirts, but if your inner thighs touch AT ALL when you walk, you're gonna have some problems. So just bring shorts. Or do what I did and wear jeans on your first trip to a park. And then buy several pairs of shorts at Wal-Mart the next day.

2. Prepare for rain. It rains all the time in Florida. ALL THE TIME. I've been living in a desert since I was fifteen. When I was younger and lived in a rainier place, rain was no big deal. I could just spend time inside. But  on your college program, you'll  be spending lots of time outside. You'll want an umbrella. You'll want a poncho.

3. Prepare for cold. What I said about shorts? Bring long pants, too. And layers. Get gloves and a hat. When your trainer tells you to check out a coat from costuming as early as possible, LISTEN TO HER. I would have had trouble no matter what because my area had multiple costumes and coats, but the odds are that you'll only have one costume to worry about, and one coat to check out. So check the coat out as soon as you can. If you're arriving in January, your coat selection should still be okay, because of all the Fall CPs who just returned theirs. And if the closest fit you can find is still not a great fit, check it out anyways. You can always trade it out later.

4. Honestly, just be prepared to be outside a lot. So bring clothing for all sorts of weather, bring fantastic walking shoes(not just for work), bring sunscreen, bring bug spray.

5. Bring a camera. I so wish that I had brought my camera. My phone has a pretty decent camera, so I figured I would just use that... yeah, no. You'll want something else to take pictures with.

6. Get a pass for another theme park. Yes, you have free access to everything Disney. And of course that's enough to fill your entire program with fun activities. But sometimes, it's just so NICE to go somewhere else for a day. And Universal and Sea World have some pretty cool stuff, too. You're living in Central Florida, maybe for the only time in your whole life. Take advantage of that. Also, you can get the cheapest passes possible without feeling like you're missing out, because even though there will be blockout dates, those dates usually match up with busy times for Disney, so you'll probably be working anyways.

So those are my six major things that I didn't do ahead of time... that I would do next time. Hopefully this will help someone out!

Living, Learning, and Earning

Well. I have decided that so far, I love my job. I know it's still shiny and new, so my feelings may change, but right now, I love it. I've been working in Pirates the last two days, and it's been fantastic. The Pirates Bazaar is really busy, because the Pirates of the Caribbean ride empties into the shop, so there's usually lots of guests(except for an hour today when the ride was closed).  Here's my pirate costume:

The pose is odd, because LOOK AT THOSE SOCKS! And yes, the pants are highwaters. Stylish, I know. There's a vest that goes with the costume, but it's optional right now because it's hot. I'm sure it will be required in a month or so, but for now, I refuse to check one out from costuming. Also, I'm technically not 100% in costume here, even with the optional no-vest. My nametag is off, and when I'm working registers, I have to wear a lanyard for pin trading.

So that's the "Earning" update. Now for the "Learning" update. I wasn't originally going to be taking any of the classes here, but they're piloting a seminar that just seems too good to miss. It's on environmentality and sustainability in a Disney context, and that is right up my alley! See, I love working here so much that I'm starting to wonder if it would be worth pursuing a future job with Disney. This class involves learning about animal care and the greenhouses at Walt Disney World, which is probably where I would be looking for a job in the future. So I'm excited to (maybe) be taking that seminar! I have yet to hear back from the people in charge, but hopefully I got in.

Now for the "Living" segment.

See this empty space? That's off to the side of our living room. We have NO IDEA what to do with it. Suggestions are most welcome, but please bear in mind that we are broke college students. Also, we cannot stick anything on the walls. We already have a whiteboard calendar there where we all write our schedules and important dates.

So that's the update for now! Have a magical day!

Merchantainment!

Disney likes to make up words. Utilidor, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Zippity Do Da, aaaaaand Merchantainment! Basically, it means that even the stores at Disneyworld should be entertaining! I love merchantaining. It's everything I love about guest service. When I'm merchantaining in the Pirate's Bazaar, for example, my job is to walk around the store with a hat or a sword or some other combination of props, and interact with guests. My favorite is to wait at the ride exit and swordfight with little kids. The parents love it, too. I've actually been asked to pose in pictures with little kids who have bested me in swordfights, and I've been in a lot of videos. I keep waiting to show up on Youtube.

Anyways, what I'm trying to lead up to is this:

This is my Adventureland costume! Since guests were taking pictures of me, I asked around, and it's 100% okay for me to take a picture of myself in costume as long as it isn't backstage. This picture was taken in my bedroom. This is the costume that I can wear anywhere in Adventureland. My bangs look funny because there was a TON of rain today, and I forgot my rain gear. So I got soaked. But this costume dries REALLY quickly.

I'll post pics of my Pirate costume as soon as I remember to bring that costume home. It's currently in my work locker. I'll try to remember it tomorrow.

Anyhoo, that's all for now! I just wanted to get this picture up because people have been asking about my costume. Have a magical day!

Yo ho, yo ho!

I've been REALLY busy since I last posted. Holy cow have I been busy. But it's a good kind of busy! Here's a quick review of what's happened since I last posted:

On Friday I went to my Disney Traditions class. Traditions is a class that every single employee takes. It covers a little bit of Disney's history, and they cover the Disney Basics. The Traditions class at Walt Disney World also includes a short walk in the Magic Kingdom. You also get to go through the utilidors, which are the tunnel system that is under the Magic Kingdom. Fun fact: The park is actually the second story. The utilidors were all built on the ground floor, because you can't dig in Central Florida. If you do, apparently you just get water.

A word on water: All of the tap water here is gross. Seriously. It tastes like gross new plastic times eleven. It even tastes gross from the fountains at the Magic Kingdom, which totally kills the fantasy. Crystal Lite and bottled water are my new best friends. I ran out of Crystal Lite the other day, and I was chugging milk and grape juice just to stay hydrated. The water here seriously makes me gag. Even ice tastes gross.

Saturday, I began my training. I learned how the register works. It was strange, because I was the only College Program(CP) in my class, and everyone else had already had a couple of other training days besides Traditions.

On Sunday, I had some location-specific training. The first thing I did that morning was get my costume! I was already excited about it, because people had been telling me that they were like pajamas. They weren't lying! The general Adventureland Merch costume really does look and feel like pajamas. The pants even have a mesh panel up the side, which is great for the hot and humid weather here. I can wear that costume in any of the shops in Adventureland, but I also have a pirate costume that I can wear when I'm working in the Pirates of the Caribbean shop. There's a third costume that I'll wear when I'm working the Glow Carts, but I won't have that training until the end of September, so I'm not even going to worry about it.

Costuming was a huge pain. Those of you who read Alyssa's post already know- costuming is no place for vanity. The important thing to remember is that the sizes for the costumes are meaningless. They act as a general guide- for example a Large Long pair of pants should be longer than a Large Regular pair of pants. But I had to try on every single pair of Large Long pajama pants before I found two pairs that were long enough. So for future interns: Don't get too worked up over costuming! And make sure to try on a whole bunch of everything! Something will fit you.

After we did costuming, we did some e-training and then walked around Adventureland for a while. Our facilitator showed us a few things and had us interact with the guests pretty frequently. We had lanyards for pin trading, which was so much fun! I love pin trading with the little kids, especially. The grown-ups are sometimes kind of rude about pin trading, but apparently it's pretty competitive, so that sort of makes sense. I'm going to try to stay out of it on a personal level, since it looks like an expensive hobby.

When I got home from work, I got changed for church. They have a late sacrament meeting for the LDS kids who have to work at the parks during the morning session, but it was canceled for a CES fireside. We went anyways- it's good to go to some church. After that, we headed BACK to the magic kingdom for... the cast preview of Mickey's Boo to You Halloween Parade! We waited at the cast bus stop forEVER, until they finally let us into the park. We went through the utilidors and came up in Liberty Square, where they had all of us stay in a big quick-service restaurant while they got all of the guests out of the park. After they let us out of the restaurant(at midnightish), we were herded into... the Haunted Mansion! I was totally geeking out at this point, because it was my first time in the Magic Kingdom outside of work, and going on the Haunted Mansion ride at midnight just felt so epic! As we got off the ride, we were directed to the parade route, and at 1, the Headless Horseman rode! IT WAS SO AWESOME. The rest of the parade was fun, too. I've still got the song stuck in my head, but I don't mind, because THAT is how good it is.

I had Monday off. Woohoo sleeping in! I went to the Magic Kingdom and played in Adventureland and Frontierland and Liberty Square for a few hours, and then headed back home because I was out of milk and had to go to the store. Woohoo grocery shopping!

On Tuesday I had my Magic Kingdom Orientation. Yeah... most people have the BEFORE they actually start working in the Magic Kingdom. Woopsies. :) The orientation was FANTASTIC. Yes, I said fantastic. The Magic Kingdom is all about fantasy. Our facilitators for the orientation were super, and I could really tell how much they loved working at the Magic Kingdom.

Today, I had my first day of register training. I got to work in every single shop in Adventureland and interacted a lot with the guests. I didn't mess up too much, and my facilitator was nice/seemed to like me. I'm getting more familiar with the utilidors and all the backrooms. I'm still a little confused when it comes to figuring out where the shops are in relation to the utilidors, but hopefully I'll have it down tomorrow.

WDW does a really good job of training employees. I have gotten such fantastic training. I'm getting one-on-one training for sixteen hours, and that is so incredibly helpful. The correct onstage behavior is constantly modeled for me, and the facilitator is able to answer any questions I have right there on the spot. It's a very effective way to train new employees, and it seems to be working well. I've only heard of one person who wasn't fully prepared for work on their first official day alone.

Aaaaand that's it! Life is going good. I'm definitely getting more used to the humidity. I haven't been seeing as many little lizards around... it must be getting cooler? The bus system has become my friend. The bus drivers, not so much. I've got the whole laundry thing figured out, too. No quarters necessary, thank goodness. We use little moneycard things. It works pretty well. The washers lock while they're doing a load, so you had better be certain about the wash settings before you start the load! But the locking is great, because you don't have to stay in the laundry room while your clothes are getting washed.

Adios!