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.