My Very First ER

I took my very first ER today. I think it stands for "early release." We can request one through our computerized Cast Deployment System, and depending on how busy we are or how many cast members we have, we may be granted the request (we can also request to extend our shift through a similar process). I don't think I'll be doing this very often, as I don't want to cut my paychecks short, but since this week I was scheduled only one day off, I felt it was deserved.

Clocking out at 3pm, I took the opportunity to change into street clothes, make some phone calls and enjoy some more of Epcot. It's definitely my favorite park, and there's still so much I haven't seen there! I spent some time at The Seas, watched the manatees for a while. I was told that the main aquarium there is large enough to fit all of Spaceship Earth (the big Epcot ball, seen in the photo at the top of this blog), and still have room for a Disney bus to drive around the bottom! I'm not really sure, but would be really cool if it was.

I then took an obligatory ride on Test Track, my favorite attraction in all of Walt Disney World. I ride it every chance I get, though I don't go out of my way for it. It's the fastest attraction that Disney has ever built (your vehicle usually hits 64mph), and the longest attraction at WDW.

I also made my way to the Italy Pavilion to check out the Italy Liberation Day festivities, but when I got there there really wasn't anything going on. No big deal though, walking through World Showcase is pretty awesome anyway.

I've been at home for a few hours now, watching the HUGE storm outside from the couch. It's so cool, one minute torrential downpour, the next nothing. But lots of lightning :-) Looking forward to a full day off tomorrow.

Re-Theme

Changed up the Blog heading a bit. I figured it was more appropriate, since I'm not working at the Magic Kingdom. Maybe I'll work on an Imagination Institute theme for later :-)

Making Magic

Making Magic with Figment

Busted!

Today I got busted for having my spiel notes sitting on the console in front of me at the photocells (an alternative type of turnstile) at Honey, I Shrunk The Audience. It's not that I don't know my spiels... it's just kind of a security blanket. I don't want to get caught in the middle of my spiel and get stuck, that's really embarrassing! So, the coordinator who busted me confiscated my notes and told me that if a manager had seen me with them, my certification for that attraction would have been revoked. Which would be really bad for me.

Not to worry though, I did get my notes back later. I got the full, more reasonable explanation from another coordinator: I'm allowed to keep the note cards with me, though I can only refer to them offstage. I'm not supposed to have them out in front of me while I'm spieling. I'm okay with that.

I really just didn't like the feeling of being "in trouble." I knew that many of the other CP's had kept their notes on them for a few weeks after their trainings, so I was really frustrated that I'd been scolded for it. This, on top of trying to re-learn my tasks during set shows (now that the spring break crowds are gone, we are doing shows every 30 minutes instead of 20, which requires fewer people running around doing more things). I was quite flustered.

After this little scare, I'll probably never need to look at my notes again 8-)

Not so bad after all

Okay, I know I kinda trash-talked my attractions a couple weeks ago, but now I'm over it. Let me start by saying I LOVE Epcot. Working at Epcot is awesome for a lot of reasons. I get to ride the bus to work with all of the international students who work in their respective World Showcase pavilions, and so I get several different languages buzzing in my ears every morning, and I've met some really interesting people. Also, the Flower and Garden festival is going on and the gardens all around the park are amazing:

T

The dark glass pyramids in the background are the Imagination Pavilion (where I work)

 

Both of my attractions are usually open from 9am-7pm (except for Extra Magic Hours Fridays until midnight), which is waaaay better than Magic Kingdom's hours last week, 7am-1am (EMH until 3am). Also, IllumiNations is definitely the coolest fireworks of any of the resorts.

I really love working Journey into Imagination. It's fun to work with all of the families with kids, who think the ride is pretty cool. I love pressing buttons. My favorite is walking the track at the end of the night checking for lost and found items and anything unusual. The ride system is actually pretty interesting because the trains stop and go between scenes and rotate to face the walls. One of my coworkers was telling me that there are a lot of old components from the old version of the ride still in the building behind some of the scene walls. I'm looking forward to a more in-depth tour soon!

 HISTA is still kinda fun, but I really don't like spieling. HISTA seems to be a lot more popular here than in CA, we nearly fill the theater for every show between lunch and dinner times (575 people!) I have a three-page script that with spiels for the show. I have them mostly memorized, but I still refer to my sticky notes before I pick up the position in rotations. I was soooo nervous about getting on the mic in front of all those people, but now that I've been doing it for a week, it's not really a big deal. I've stolen a lot of jokes from my coworkers. It's fun to watch people watching the show. Seeing them scream and pick up their feet every time the "mice" enter the theater never gets old. When the snake comes around we almost always have to let mothers and children out of the theater, despite having verbally warned them twice about the nature of the show (and numerous printed warnings). Park guests are an endless source of entertainment.

Did you know that the Imagination Institute staff cleans not only the HISTA glasses, but all of the 3D glasses for all four theme parks? This includes MuppetVision 3D, Mickey's Philharmagic, Toy Story Midway Mania, It's Tough to be a Bug, Innoventions, and more! That's one of my positions in rotation is operating the glasses cleaning machine. It sounds like a drag, but it can be a nice respite from crazy co-workers and park guests.

At home, we've got two new roommates, bringing our total count to 8. They're cool, I'm really glad that despite having that many guys in the apartment we all get along really well. One of the downside of having that many people is that all 8 of us will never have free time together, e.g. one roommate works 5am-1pm, I work ~11am-7:30pm, and the new guys work 5pm-2am.

I've got lots more to talk about, but I'll have to save it for another night! :-D

Wow what a week...

Hey Guys!

Computer is broken so I haven't really been able to get online much, other than from my cell phone. I'll try to fill you in with my recent adventures!

Housing

My apartment here is pretty cool. It's a four bedroom/three bath with eight beds, though currently we have only six (would love for it to stay that way). Our building is in the back of the complex, but we have a great view of the lake...

...and I'm told that security doesn't hassle us back there too much. There are four complexes here that house over 7,000 College Program students and International Programmers! And there are over 60,000 cast members at Walt Disney World in peak season between the four theme parks, two water parks, the Downtown Disney District, and 17 hotel resorts!

To get around the resort and our apartments, we have an elaborate bus system that runs 24/7 to get us where we need to go. It may take me 45 minutes just to get to my theme park, but you meet a lot of interesting people on the bus. There is also a bus that takes us to Publix (grocery store), Wal Mart, and the local outlet mall.

Work
Starting work here has been a very long and convoluted process, but I'll explain what I can to you. We had a couple days of just paperwork, background checks, etc before we could start any training. My first training session was yesterday (Friday), a class called Traditions where we're taught all about the history and legacy of the Walt Disney World Resort. This was a four-hour class that started at 8am, so we had to board the bus at 6:45am to get to the Disney University on time, dressed professionally in our best "Disney Look." A few parts were kinda boring, but the highlight of training was walking through the Utilidor (intricate network of tunnels beneath the Magic Kingdom) and popping up in the middle of Main Street. From there we walked to Fantasyland and made observations about how Disney Cast Members maintain Safety, Courtesy, Efficiency and Show.

At the conclusion of Traditions we were given our WDW ID's and name tags...

...giving us free access to the theme parks. So, naturally we hit as much as we could that afternoon. One of my roommates will be working Attractions on Sunset Boulevard at Disney's Hollywood Studios, so we stopped there first to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster...

...and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We then water taxi'd over to Epcot to sample some of Future World and Illuminations (nighttime fireworks over the lagoon).

This morning (Saturday) was my Discovery Day at Epcot, a four-hour class about the history of Epcot, its diverse lineup of offerings and its Cast, and a quick tour of the park. Again, we spent a lot of time observing what Epcot cast members do to keep our guests as happy and safe as possible.

At noon today I got my official work location assignment, the Imagination Pavilion, which houses Journey Into Imagination and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience *sigh*. I am really disappointed that out of all of the possible attractions I could have been assigned to, it was HISTA, but such is life. One perk is that my hours are excellent there, the attractions both open at 9am and close at 7pm almost every night. I will make the best of it :-)

On-the-job training commences on Monday, and lucky me, it's Spring Break for many students and these two weeks are in the top ten busiest weeks of the year for WDW. I have a sane training schedule for this coming week, but it's possible that I'll be working 50+ hours the following week. Yay!

Arrival in Orlando

Arrived in Orlando today safe and sound, but WOW what a long day of traveling. The flight from Orlando to Chicago was especially pretty, the red sunset was reflecting off the clouds below us, through which city lights were twinkling. I tried to get a good picture but just couldn't do the scene justice.

I swear half the people on my flight were either headed for a vacation at Walt Disney World or they already worked there. The guy seated next to me on the plane worked in Entertainment. He's an actor at the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor and at the American Idol Experience. The girl seated ahead of us overheard us and turned around to talk about her recent experience in the College Program (she's a seaonal cast member now). She also said she worked in Entertainment, but was really vague about her position. I'd guess that maybe she's one of the princesses in the parks and didn't want kids on the plane to overhear? She definitely had the princess mannerisms down.

The time change is a little weird, but I'm tired enough that I don't think it will matter too much tomorrow. Tomorrow morning is program check-in, where I'll get my housing assignment and learn my work location. I don't think I'll know specifically which attraction(s) I'm assigned to until my Traditions class, which could be anywhere between Wednesday and Friday. Since this is week one of the the three-week spring break crowds, I'm really hoping they just throw us into our roles as quickly as possible. Can't wait!

P.S.
The 10 o'clock news announced that Universal Orlando will officially announce the opening day of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter this Thursday at noon. And when announcements are made about anouncements of announcements, you know this is gonna be good
=-D