A Dose of Reality

While my Disney experience was perfect and I would change very little about it, it is important that people understand that you have truly been brought there to work. I have had multiple jobs before, everything from babysitting bratty children, to waiting tables at awful restaurants, to working with some at risk youth, and NOTHING was as difficult as my Disney job. Now hard work was nothing new to me, and I was perfectly willing to do it. But there were many College Program kids that expected is to be “Disney-like” all around and let me assure you, that is not that case. You will be expected to do some manual labor. Now of course the type is dependent on your job, and some of the jobs are certainly harder than others. One of my roommates was a house keeper and after her horror stories I am fairly sure I would run in the opposite direction if that was the role Disney gave me. And the life of a Princess is definitely not as difficult as those doing janitor work. But each job has its particular set of hardships. For example, I worked food and beverage at Animal Kingdom. There is a place in Harambe Village called the Fruit Stand. If you work the Fruit Stand you will be moving nonstop all day long. You have to keep the fruit stocked which means carrying large boxes of oranges and apples and bananas across the park to your location. You have to keep the fruit up to date, which means spoiling and throwing away fruit every hour and replacing all the labels and adding more fruit. You have to keep everything iced down, which means pushing and shoveling pounds of ice every 30 minutes and with the Florida sun, sometimes every 15. Not to mention you are outdoors, in Orlando, and if it’s not 112 degrees your entire shift, it will at least be for a majority of your day. Let’s add to that the general difficulty of dealing with guests every five seconds. They will interrupt you with seemingly dumb questions and you will have to stop everything you are doing to smile at them and direct them to the nearest bathroom, for the millionth time that day. Not to mention the thousands of guests you will attempt to communicate with, but don’t speak the same language as you. And as a CP (College Program) you are the bottom of the barrel. In Disney, there is hierarchy. At the top, you have Full Timers. Then you have the Part Timers. Then you have Seasonal workers (people that strictly work in the holiday’s seasons for the overload) THEN you have CP’s. So every crappy and unwanted shift, WILL go to you. Expect it, deal with it. Not that I would ever want to discourage you, but you need to know what you are getting into before you move and expect to be standing around whistling “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.” Just things to keep in mind!!

The First Night in Magic Kingdom

 After finishing our “on the job” training, the room mates and I decided it was time to go out and celebrate, despite our exhaustion. So we all went to Magic Kingdom together, for the first time. We missed a couple of buses and even took the wrong one for a bit, but we were set on seeing the fireworks show together and finally using our employee passes to walk through the gates. Nothing could stop us or bring us down. There are some things to remember when visiting the park as a guest that is also a cast member. First, if you are not a cast member in that particular park, you are technically not allowed in the backstage areas. Now everyone gets the privilege of seeing the underground world or Magic Kingdom because it is the site of your initial training, but once you have been trained in your other location, you can only enter the park as regular guests would, you just use your employee ID card to get through the turn stiles instead of a guest park pass. Getting to Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot is pretty easy by bus. They drop you off by the employee entrance, but you are outside and can easily walk a few paces to the regular entrance. However, because Magic Kingdom’s backstage is underground (actually it is at ground level, the entire park is raised above ground) getting inside the park is a little trickier. If you take the employee bus you are taken right up to the underground entrance and there is no way to get the regular entrance from there because it is roped off for guests.
We found the easiest way was either to take the bus to the Contemporary Resort and walk over, or the most popular choice, take the bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center and ride the monorail over. Personally, I am quite frightened of monorail rides, so I did a lot of walking from the Contemporary. It’s a fairly short distance. We arrived in Magic Kingdom ecstatic. We saw multiple groups of College Program students doing the same thing as we were (CP’s are easy to spot because what group of college kids can afford to go to Disney alone, and we always have on lanyards) This trip to Magic Kingdom was especially exciting for my roommate Marta, because it was her first time inside Disney at all. This was her childhood dream come true. Marta and I had quickly become best friends and I knew how special this moment was for her. When we entered the park, tears immediately sprung to her eyes and I had an idea. “Marta! Cover your eyes.” I said, and I grabbed her hand. It was nighttime at Magic Kingdom, the prettiest time. I pulled her to the center of the flag pole garden and positioned her where she could see all the way up Main Street. I wanted her to be able to see it all at once, Main Street in lights and the Castle in all it’s perfection waiting to greet her at the end. “Okay, open them.” I yelled beaming and I watched her face fill with an utter joy that I remember feeling so many times at this magical place. I was so happy to be there, and I was so happy it was home.

On The Job Training

Your first few days of on the job training can be fairly intimidating. There is so much to learn about your surroundings and protocol and it’s a lot to take in. Rest assured they will not put you on the job to work on your own until they truly believe you are ready, and they aren’t bothered if you need extra training. Many people needed two weeks instead of one and our supervisors treated them just the same. It is also a little overwhelming when you are in the parks training and guests stop you and ask you questions, thinking you have any clue of what’s going on. And at this point, you probably don’t. That’s okay. Your trainer will not be far from you and you are given a sticker to place on your name tag that says “Earning My Ears” to indicate that you are in fact in training and not expected to know everything quite yet. I spent my first day of training in the Harambe Fruit Market in Africa. It is located directly in front of the Kilimanjaro Safari ride so there was quite a bit of traffic in this location. I remember the first day being a whirlwind. You are thrown so much information and it’s your first time out in the parks as an employee so you are feeling everything from excitement to nervousness to absolute fear. In Animal Kingdom we were always taught it was very important to know your surroundings, so as we trained for our individual location we were also filled with knowledge about the closest animal exhibits and facts about the surrounding locations. It was expressed to us how vital it was to be able to answer any guest’s questions, whether it pertained to your job or not. You needed to know the closest bathroom, the parade start time, the rides wait time, the nearest baby changing station, etc. It’s a lot. But with each day it gets easier and easier and eventually telling a women that she is not actually in Epcot becomes a regular and comical part of your day.

The Wild World of Animal Kingdom

After your last official day of Traditions you receive your schedule for you onsite training, which simply means you begin training at whichever park or location you have been assigned to. This can be a little stressful since you have likely never been backstage at your location before, but there are very clear instructions of where to go on the information they give you and you can always look at the bus schedule for the bus that is going to that location and it will always take you where you are allowed/need to go. The first day you will arrive in business casual clothes and spend your day in a training office where you are taught specific park/location facts and policies. In my case, I spent the day learning about the wild world of Animal Kingdom. On this day you also receive your costume! Costuming, in my opinion, was one of the most exciting parts of your training. And it’s also one of those times that you see a glimpse of how complex and brilliant Disney truly is. For each park, there is a costume warehouse. In this warehouse are rows and rows of clothes. Each row has a manikin hanging above it fully clothed with a sign around its neck signifying its specific role. And each role has a different costume. Outdoor Food and Beverage wears something completely different from Indoor Food and Beverage. And each ride has a specific costume and each area has a specific theme. It’s incredible. So you find your row and you are allowed to “check out” five costumes at a time. Since mine was a two piece set that meant 5 pairs of pants and 5 shirts. On your training sheet it also told you what accessories you would need and you would check those out accordingly. For example, I got to rock a pretty neat fanny pack. At any point you could return your costumes and check out new ones, some people managed to never do laundry. It was so fascinating how well it all works. You can tell they have been perfecting this system for years, and it will only continue to improve as time goes on. Once you have your costume, you are ready for your on the job training! Stay tuned.

"Keys" to success!!

There are quite a few things discussed in training that can’t be repeated to those not employed by the company, but what I can tell you is how much Disney stresses something referred to as the Four Keys. If you ever work for Disney you will hear this term so many times it will probably make you ill. The Four Keys are basically just an illustration Disney has invented to describe their top priorities as a company. The Four Keys are as follows: Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency. Not only were these values stressed to us day in and day out, we were told it was important to remember that they are reason these “keys” are in that order. They are lined up in order of importance. You see, Safety is the top priority at Disney World. Safety for the guests and safety for the employees. One day we spent a good hour watching training videos just on how to lift heavy objects without straining our backs. Now Efficiency is also important to the company, but you should never endanger yourself or others around you by discarding Safety to achieve Efficiency, and so on and so forth. Personally, my favorite “key” was Show. We were taught that everything at Disney is a performance. That is why the areas the guests can’t see is called “backstage” and the park is called “onstage.” You don’t have a “job” you receive a “role.” You don’t wear a “uniform” you wear a “costume.” The people are not “customers” they are “guests.” All of these terms were taught to us and they really stressed the importance of using them and truly adopting the idea that your time spent with Disney is more or less, a production. On your last day of training at Disney University your trainer takes you to Magic Kingdom for your first official tour of the park and of course, the first time you are ever allowed backstage as you are now an employee. Complete side note for those that may be doing the College Program- You will be expected to wear business casual clothing throughout all of your training. Let me stress to you, on the day of your tour, WEAR DRESS PANTS AND BROKEN IN FLATS. The park is huge, and it’s usually hot, and you are standing and walking the entire time. You do not sit once during your tour. (This is probably dependent on your trainer, but we certainly did not.) If you wear a dress you run the risk of your inner thighs being raw by the end of the day. If you wear heels, you will absolutely want to die. I’m so serious. One of the girls in my group wore heels and another girl wore flats that she had just gotten. But the end of our tour her blisters were bleeding so badly it was dripping down her shoes, and the girl in heels had actual bruises on the bottom of her feet. Keep it in mind.
Next week we will get into our onsite training so stay tuned! Let me know if there are any specific questions you would like answered!!

"Ohana means family."

Our family is no stranger to Disney World. Growing up it was always our first choice for vacations and we made frequent trips throughout my lifetime. It has gotten to the point that is almost expected every three years or so. As of this past summer it had been quite a while since we had taken a true, all out, Robinson family trip to Walt Disney World. So this past May, on the eve of my 21^st birthday, my parents surprised us all with news that we were headed to Disney in just a few short days! We were elated and it turned out to be one of our greatest trips yet. To commemorate this perfect family adventure, here are a few of my favorite shots that fill my heart with such Disney love. Enjoy!

 

 

"We're following the leader, wherever he may go."

Before we continue discussing training, a lot of people have talked to me about the stress of the first couple of days on your program. Even describing it now reminds me of how exhausting and fast paced Check Ins and moving in and the beginning of training was. BUT let me assure you that Disney has this down to a science. They don’t do anything that’s not basically perfect. So while there is a ton to do and you feel like you are being thrown so much information, they do a wonderful job of walking you through every step. They know you’ve never done this before. And most people are multiple hours away from home. For some people, this was their first time away. And no matter how many jobs you have had before or how many times you might have lived away from home, there is nothing like working for Disney. They get that. So as long as you are there and willing to strap in for the ride, you’ll be fine. Just be prepared for your first few days to be incriminated into almost seconds. But they will tell you where to be and when to be there and what to wear. Just follow the leader. On your day of Check In you will given something called a Program Guide. This little book is packed full of useful information you might need while you are on your program. It has every number you could possibly want, addresses for everything from parks to grocery stores, maintenance information for you apartment, and so much more. Read it, live by it, it’s a life saver.

Also, I mentioned my mother helping me move in. Let’s talk about the apartment complex rules specifically. You CANNOT at ANY POINT allow people to stay with you within you College Program apartments. Ever. Under any circumstances. So before you invite your best friend and grandma to come visit you, understand that they will have to stay in a hotel. Now, you are given sizable discounts on said hotel stays (which we will discuss later) but know that no overnight guests are allowed in the apartments. When friends come to see you in your apartment you must sign them in at the gate. You have to come meet them there to let them in, show your own personal apartment ID, they must show their ID, and then you have to sign them in. When it is time for them to leave, you also must go and sign them out. You are given an ID for your specific apartment complex the day of Check Ins. This is separate from your cast member ID. This ID is required for your entry into the apartment complex and your ability to ride the bus, so DON’T LOSE IT OR FORGET IT. Most people buy lanyards in which they kept both. I learned that was the easiest way to ensure I had both on me at all times.
Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions about the Check In process or apartments or the first few crazy days of Disney!! We will pick up next week with Traditions training.
See ya real soon!!