Holy Moly

Okay, so i got extremely lazy (as well as extremely busy), and never revisited my poor, neglected blog after August of last year. Let me sum up the remainder of my experience as best as I can:

When the Housing college program people started in August, there were a lot more events for us to go to. However, us local students would either hear about them later than the housing people, or we wouldn't know about them at all. I DID end up doing some really awesome things thanks to the college program, like riding Space Mountain with the lights on and getting a tour of Walt's Apartment (a truly magical moment in my life), but a lot of the tours would FILL UP before I got a chance to sign up for them (like the Dream Suite tour and the Haunted Mansion tour). Lame.

I took two classes starting in September: Marketing You and Corporate Analysis. Both were interesting, but I found MY to be more helpful than CA.

I worked my tail off, primarily just at California Screamin' (which I love - it made going back to Mickey's Fun Wheel soooo hard) over the holiday season. I worked literally every holiday during my program - 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and even my birthday. And how does our *amazing* scheduler repay me? By not giving me off the four insignificant days I asked for in December so I could go see my family. Be prepared for that...

January 2nd came, and with it, so did the end of the College Program. My thoughts about the CP are this: you'll make a lot of friends in the program... if you're in Housing. If you're local, it's basically going to feel like just work for you (aside from the occasional event). Most of the friends I've made have just been my fellow cast members at Screamin'. You get a lot of hours, but when the program ends, if you continue working there (like me) your seniority resets to ZERO - you don't even get to keep the months that you worked there (unless I think if you're in Foods).

So now, we are in the middle of the dead season, and I've been getting scheduled 8 - 12 hours. All of them have either been World of Color shifts (ugh) or Mickey's Fun Wheel closing shifts (double ugh). I haven't been scheduled a single Screamin' shift since the program ended. Yet, I still love this place and this company and have no plans on quitting anytime soon.

Right now my plan is this: I will be applying for 2 - 3 professional internships that would start in June... more to come on my ever-continuing Disney Odyssey ;)

Oo-de-lally Golly What A Day

Sooooo... yeah. It's starting to get reallyyyy slow at the Disneyland Resort. Apparently peak season ends the day after Labor Day, which is in about a week. And trust me, it's already a big difference now that school has started for a lot of people. During this entire summer, our lines at Mickey's Fun Wheel have ranged from 30-60 minutes. Yesterday it was a 10-20 minute wait almost all day long. Which leads me to a really funny story...

A few days ago I was opening Mickey's Fun Wheel. Usually we already have a 20-30 minute line by about 10:20 (the park opens at 10am). However, on THIS day, there was barely a soul in sight. Around 10:15, a few parties got in line, and we let them right onto the ride. During the time that they were cycling (meaning, while the wheel was going around non-stop) only ONE person got in line. So, we got him onto Gondola #2. The other parties were in Gondolas 11-14. After the gondolas with those parties came back into the station and we got them off, there was nobody in line or even anywhere NEAR our line.

Since there was nobody in line, the other two girls and I didn't see any point in cycling it. We decided to just talk and wait for people to get in line. It was ten minutes before more people finally came. We loaded them into the gondolas, and kept loading gondolas until the end of the set (we have 24 gondolas; after we load them all, they cycle non-stop one time). As the wheel starts to cycle, Gondola #2 goes past us.

That ONE GUY is sitting in the gondola. All three of us stared at the gondola, then one by one our mouths dropped open as the realization dawned on us. Somehow we ALL forgot that he was on the ride! He was up at the top for ten minutes! We all looked at each other and just started dying laughing. It was reallyyyyyy funny. But kind of sad. At least it wasn't hot yet, and at least he had a cool view? When the wheel finished cycling and we let him out, Keisha made up some kind of excuse about how we were loading a wheelchair party and they didn't speak English... but the guy didn't speak English either, so he just walked away really confused.

Other than that, today was my first official shift at California Screamin' since I got trained there a couple weeks ago! I was really nervous about it, but it wasn't so bad :) Well, the ride DID break down and we had to evacuate guests off of it, but it was in no way my fault. However, when we go down at Screamin', in order to go back up we have to reset all the brake zones. Remember in my last blog post how I was complaining about hiking up to Zone 4 during my training? Guess which Zone I got drafted to go reset today? Yep, Zone 4.

Here's a visual, so you can understand my pain:

Zone 4 is at the very top of that hill, inside the blue tunnel. There are stairs alongside the track all the way up to that point. And there is another staircase to get up to THOSE stairs. But I don't think I'll be as sore this time - I stretched before going up, and I took it a little slower. Don't get me wrong, I still wanted to faint when I got to the top, but I don't think my recovery will take as long this time around.

Other than that, today went pretty smoothly. One weird thing is how many people manage to leave important things on the ride. You're only on there for about a minute, but people still forget to grab the things they put in the little bag. Today I had a guy come up to me and hand me an iPhone that someone had left (which was nice of him to turn in). Literally two minutes later, someone else handed me a forgotten iPhone. It's lucky for those people that I'm a good person, because I've really been wanting an iPhone...

I have five more Screamin' shifts before it goes down for refurbishment, then I'm back to FunWheel/Swings =[ My shifts on the most recent schedule are a bit shorter too, now that peak season is over. I also have a DCA Parade Guest Control shift - which basically means I walk in front of the Phineus & Ferb float and tell people to get out of the way.

Not much more to report - I can't wait to start doing some of the official College Program events! Things to look forward to: Disneyland Scavenger Hunt this Tuesday, and a tour of the Dream Suite later next month!!

News and Noteworthies

Alright, tons to update you guys on. First of all, let me start off with a picture of me in my Fun Wheel / Swings costume, because I promised this a long time ago and never delivered.

That is my beautiful, uncomfortable costume. When it gets really hot we're allowed to take our tie off and unbutton the vest, but otherwise you're stuck in there. Oh and those awkward pant things - trust me, they don't look flattering on a single soul.

Blended Learning Series class has been going well. A couple weeks ago, our homework had to do with the Windows on Main Street. All of the windows are dedicated to legendary Disney employees, but they are disguised like actual shop/business names - but the businesses had something to do with what the person did in the company. We had to make our own window with our inscription, as well as explain what our legacy would be. We were allowed to just write it out on paper, or we could get creative with it.

As with every aspect of my life, I opted for the creative option. I bought a $4 glass frame at Michael's and used sharpie to write the inscription. Instead of putting a photo in the frame, I printed out a picture of lacy curtains to make it look more window-ish. It says "Wise Weddings" because Wise is my last name and because (at this moment in time) where I really want to go in the company is their Fairytale Weddings department.

It looks a little bit cooler in person...
ANYWAYS.
Today was probably the most stressful day for me of the program. Why? Because today I started training for California Screamin' (the huge roller coaster in DCA). Honestly, if Screamin' was the first attraction I was trained at, I probably would've quit. But now that I am a little better at handling guests and shouting into crowds, I'm slightly better equipped for this attraction.

It took me three days to be trained at two attractions - Fun Wheel and Swings. The training for Screamin' is FOUR long days. I had a training buddy, but it didn't make me feel much better because he is a lead at Grizzly and has been here for three years, so he already knew most of the people and he picked things up way faster than me... For opening procedures, we had to hike allllllll the way up to Zone 4 of the track - that's the very top of the second huge hill.

My legs feel like jelly.

Learning this attraction made me realize what a piece of cake the Swings and Fun Wheel are. Yeah, Swings can be annoying at times, but at least i wasn't so overwhelmed there during my training that I wanted to cry a little... It will get better though, I hope. It's a LOT to take in, but I think with enough practice I will get it down...

Too bad it's going down next month for six weeks of refurbishment.


Oh well, at least the costume is slightly cuter. AND more breathable.

Probably the most exciting news is: starting on Saturday the rest of the Fall College Program people show up! Everyone who is staying in the Disney housing will now be here with us, and our program can REALLY begin. The last three months have felt more like a prologue to the program; the Spring program people were still here, so all of our emails about CP events were directed toward their program. Now that the Fall people are here, we can start going to all the awesome things that are planned for us!

So with the rest of this blog, I just want to share some tips/advice with all of you incoming cast members! (as well as answer questions I have been asked). I'll start with the Q & A:

Are there times before or after the parks close when you can go on a ride with no line?
Hmmm, if you mean WHILE you're working, it really just depends. Other than during your Guest Interaction Training (it's one of your first days of training, and it's the best because you get to go on a ton of rides that day), if you're not in Attractions, you probably won't get to go on rides during your shift. Then, even if you ARE attractions, it really just depends on how cool your Lead is. The other night my closing lead let me go on the swings with all the guests because it was the last ride of the night before we closed it down. Today at Screamin' my trainer let us go on the ride to "show check" it before the park opened. It was really weird because it was just the three of us, there was no screaming, there were no sounds in the park because it wasn't open yet.... It was kind of awkward. But awesome. But I'm pretty sure that was like a one time thing. So far, both attractions I've worked close early for World of Color, so when we cut the line off around 8pm, that's it. The last people in that line are the last people going on the ride.

I'm interested to know if it works the same way at the attractions in Disneyland. From what I've heard about things over there, they probably get to go on their rides even less than we do...

If you close, are there any buses running that late?
I'm pretty sure the bus line runs until about 2am, but the area around the bus stop is kinda sketch, so I would recommend saying on your preferance sheet that you don't want to get out past a certain time.

Rudest/funniest guest stories :D
Oh man, I could go on and on with that one. I'm writing them all down so at the end of the program I can write one big blog post with all my favorite stories :)

Is there job advancement in the cp?
While you're in the program, you are basically locked in your department. However, there are lots of opportunities available for you to cross-utilize. For example, they just had auditions for Youth Facilitators - those are cast members who conduct educational tours/learning programs for schools that come to the park on field trips. You'd probably only have one of these shifts a week, but you'd get $13 an hour for it. Just keep your eyes open for opportunities like this - always check the hub, and even with your Lead - a lot of them will know. There are also networking opportunities available to all cast members - look out for these kind of events as well. As for advancing within your department, one of my Leads started off in the College Program a couple years ago and at the very end of it, they promoted her to Trainer status. Work hard, try not to get any points, and doors will open for you.

What are some random things most people overlook when packing for the apartments that we will need?
Hmm, well I'm not in housing so I'm not really sure. BUT some things that a lot of people might overlook are umbrellas (it's gonna get rainy this winter), an alarm clock, notebooks with paper (for your classes!), plenty of those white socks! (or black, depending on your area), medicine (lots of germs at Disneyland...), carrying case for your toiletries, bottle opener, DUCT TAPE (you never know when you might need it...)

Does Disney regulate how high your socks must be if your costume has a shorts option?
Yes! They must be at least to the ankle bone, but no higher than mid-calf.

Does Disney still provide undies?
Haha nope, maybe in the Entertainment department, but for the rest of us - we are supplying our own undergarments.

Explain the whole point system pleaseeee
In all honesty, I'm not entirely sure about it... which is why I've made sure to not get ANY points (which I'm rather proud of lol). From what I understand, if you get to 24 points within 4 months (6 months?) you get terminated. I think at certain times of the year or after a certain amount of months, your points start to drop off. As for getting those points: If you are late, it's 1.5 points. Even if you're only late by one minute. If you call out sick or personal, it's 3 points. A word of advice - if you call out, say you're sick. Calling out sick, you get three days off and only 3 points. Calling out personal, you still get 3 points but only one day off.

BUT if you want to stay on with the company, I would suggest keeping your record as clear as possible. This allows you to transfer/move-up faster.

As if this blog post wasn't already long enough, I want to end it with some tips for all of you guys coming in:

• If you are driving to work, give yourself plenty of time to find parking in the Katella cast member lot. If your shift is before noon, you should be fine. But later in the day, you might have to drive around for 15-20 minutes looking for a spot.
  
  
• When you go to the costuming department to get your costume, it can be a little overwhelming. Don't be afraid to ask the cast members working there for help! Trust me, the sizes are weird (my Fun Wheel shirt is a size 10, but my Screamin' shirt is a size 4??), you might not know all the pieces you need (bow ties, belts, etc.) - they can help you! Most of them are friendly and willing to assist you in finding your correct size. :)
  
  
• Seniority counts for a LOT at Disney. Don't let it intimidate you when someone has been here a lot longer than you. Just because they've been here for years and years doesn't mean everything they do is correct. If anything, the people that I've seen who have worked in the same department for a super long time - most of them have lost their spark/magic... =/
  
  
• If you plan on staying after the program, apply for EVERYTHING you can. Once the program is over, your seniority is gone, and possibly your hours too. The more things you've applied for while you have that seniority, the more things you have to fall back on when the program ends.
  
  
• Don't jeopardize your entire career with Disney by getting kicked out for underage drinking in your apartment... Just don't take that risk.
  
  
• During the program, take advantage of all the great opportunities they provide us with! This is a once in a lifetime chance to have an amazing experience - make the most of it!
  
  
• Don't Disney yourself out! I'm sure the first couple weeks you're going to want to go play in the parks on your days off... But after you start pulling 8 hour shifts, 6 days a week, you're not going to want to go there on your only day off. There's lots of other cool things to do down here (feel free to ask me anytime!), or you may just want to give your poor feet a break at home.
  
  
• Finally, and this is a big one: Don't be disappointed if you don't get the attraction/land/park you wanted. Because I promise you, there will be benefits to your role that you may not realize at first. I was super bummed out when I saw "Paradise Pier" on my paper. I wanted to be in Disneyland. But now I'm really glad to be in DCA - better hours, more relaxed people/leads, etc. And this way I still actually WANT to go to Disneyland on my free days. If I was working over there, it might lose some of that magical feeling.
  
  I'm SO excited to meet you all, and I really truly hope this is an amazing experience for every last one of you! See ya real soon ;)

I'm still alive!

I promise I haven't completely disappeared off the face of the planet - I know that's what it seems like. So, prepare for a long blog post! Going into this internship, I didn't realize how absolutely exhausted I would be all the time. I work full eight hour days, five days a week, which isn't as bad as some people I've heard are working over 50 hours a week. BUT it gets really stinkin' hot at my attractions. When you work Swings, you are basically cooking up there, with no umbrella or semblance of shade. Lately, we've been getting to Heat Index 1, which means we are allowed to take off our ties and unbutton our vest... This doesn't do much for me. Sometimes I wish I worked at Disneyland where a lot of the rides are indoors, but then I think about the fact that their park opens up to three hours earlier than ours (meaning my opening shifts would start at 6:30, instead of 9:30) and their park closes at least two hours later than ours (meaning my late shifts would go until 1am, instead of 10:45pm).

Though there is ONE thing I'm bummed about with DCA, and particularly Mickey's Fun Wheel... we don't get any cool celebrity sightings!! Within the last month, The Rock, Matthew Mcconaughey, and Leonardo di Caprio (my favorite!!!) were all at Disneyland. But did we see any of them over at Paradise Pier? Nope. We did have ONE celebrity sighting, but I didn't even know who they were... I was working the Wheel when a Guest Relations cast member (they're the ones that get to escort celebs) came down through the exit with a group of kids. I loaded them into a gondola and didn't think anything of it. The family that was next in line was like, "I wonder who they are?" and then their adorable daughter who was probably four years old said, "I know who they are! They're from Ant Farm!"


Ant Farm is apparently Disney Channel's newest show. The two girls in the middle were definitely there, and I'm pretty sure the boy in the middle was there too. The African American girl is also from Tyler Perry's House of Payne or whatever. They were cute, but I wasn't exactly starstruck.

Hmm.. what else is new.. Oh yeah! We started our class - the Blended Learning Series. We've had two meetings so far - both of which have taken place in a meeting room at the Paradise Pier Hotel. We even had our first homework assignment - a leadership interview, where we had to interview a Disney leader. I interviewed my favorite Lead for my attraction (Michelle) who is extremely helpful and great because she cares about her fellow cast members and wants to help them achieve their goals with the company. To be honest though, I'm still not entirely sure what this class is about. Here's what our schedule on the syllabus looks like:

Class Date	Class Title	Location
Jun 21	Introduction & Course Overview	Paradise Pier - Crystal Cove
Jun 28	Networking & Leadership Excellence	Paradise Pier - Crystal Cove
Jul 5	Leadership Interviews	OUT OF CLASS
Jul 12	Disney Heritage, Part 1	Paradise Pier - San Diego Room
Jul 19	Windows on Main Street	IN PARK ACTIVITY
Jul 26	Disney Heritage, Part 2	Paradise Pier - Redondo Room
Aug 2	Orange County Food Bank	12640 Knott St. Garden Grove, CA
Aug 9	Corporate Citizenship	Paradise Pier - San Diego Room
Aug 16	Guest Speaker & Course Wrap-Up	Paradise Pier - San Diego Room

Overall, I'm really excited about a lot of this. Besides the fact that the classes are at 8:30 am (seriously not a morning person), they are really easy to sit through and it doesn't feel like you're there for three hours (which you are).

One of the many things I love about Disney is that they care about every employee and want to make sure you're doing well in your area. As a result, you have a "check-in" with your home-team manager every few weeks (especially during your first couple months with the company). This allows you to discuss any concerns, let them know any of your goals and aspirations, etc. During my last check-in, I got the great news that I'm going to be cross-trained soon!! It's going to be for either California Screamin' or Grizzly River Rapid Run since those are the locations that need more people right now. I'm so excited for a change of pace - working 40 hours a week in one location gets kind of old after awhile. It'll be fun to try something new, plus I get paid like 15 cents more for those attractions because the are more dangerous, apparently...

So that about sums up my last few weeks. I promise I will try to post way more often! And of course, I still owe you guys a picture of me in costume. If anyone wants to come to the park and take an "action shot" of me, I'll use that on here! ;) Sometime in the future I'm going to post a blog of all the funny things guests ask me or things I overhear them say - and trust me, there's plenty of material to work with.

I'd like to end with a joke that an awesome shuttle driver told us backstage:

Q: Why does Ariel always wear seashells?

A: Because B-shells are too small and D-shells are too big!

hahahaha. brilliant.

Have a magical day! If you have any questions for me, post them and I'll answer them in the next blog! :)

It's been awhile!

Let's see, what have I been up to lately. Well, a couple of days ago I was scheduled for Grad Night Screening, which was interesting... So I had to show up wearing the Parade Guest Control costume, which is just royal blue pants, a white polo, and a black peacoat. For the first hour or so they talked to us about how to do pat-downs and what kinds of things to look out for. Then we did some stretches, and then we went out to the front of the park, where one of the shuttle lanes was completely blocked off for us to do our screening...

At first it was quiet. A couple buses arrived and the recent high school graduates trickled down the lane until they got to one of the MANY pat-down entrances. We weren't just looking for marijuana and alcohol - if they had logos on their shirts, we had to have a "runner" escort them to the bathroom and make them turn it inside out. If they had medicine, a runner would take them to the nurse table to get it inspected. If they had dangly earrings, they had to take them off, ETC.

Then things got CRAZY. Swarms of them came. I'm not a fan of mobs in general, but mobs of teenagers are the WORST. I tried to be a runner for as long as I could, but eventually I got roped into doing pat-downs. Let me tell you, some of those girls were sooo sassy, I just wanted to smack them and tell them to get over themselves. But I didn't, because I work at Disney :) During the pat-downs we have to squat to check their pants and shoes... If grad night was on Thursday, and today is Monday, then it took four days for my thighs to no longer ache intesnely. :(

And since I'm sure you're all wondering, I didn't find any illegal contraband on the kids I checked, but I know that a few other people did. And you know what happened to those kids? They got turned over to our on-site Anaheim Police Officers. Sucks for them.

Otherwise, work has been smooth. I've decided to start tallying how many guests tell me I look like Snow White or that I should be Snow White. So far i'm at 5, and 3 of those were today - I guess I must have looked extra white or something. At one point I turned to let a family out of the ferris wheel and the little girl pointed at me and said "Snow White! Snow White!" :) Made me smile.


Other than being pale with black hair, there's not a lot of resemblance...

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming

Wow! I've been busy lately. Not only am I at finals time at school, I have been working five days a week. All of my shifts have been at the Fun Wheel and Swings. I haven't had any WoC shifts since that last one, which is cool because most people get scheduled a lot of them and only a few attractions shifts. But being College Program, we get all the good shifts ;) Some people will kind of resent you for it, but for the most part people are cool.

Anyways, I've really gotten the hang of my job! And I really enjoy it :) I'm glad that I got trained on TWO rides instead of just one, because it gives me even more positions to rotate through, so I get a good variety and work stays interesting. I've had a few hiccups operating the rides, but nothing that couldn't be fixed quickly! The BEST part of my job is interacting with the guests. Yeah, you get a couple boogers every now and then, but for the most part the people are really nice! I've gotten so many random compliments, it's the sweetest thing.

Apparently older Asian women think I'm really pretty... I had one tell me I was "very beautiful" and I had another take a picture of me.. It was kind of awkward, but nice. Oh, and I also have a fan club of 12 year old boys. They went on the Swings three days ago, and today they were at the Fun Wheel. They kept calling my name loudly which was kind of uncomfortable because there were a LOT of people there, and they asked me if it hurt when I fell from heaven...

Other than that, not a lot to report! I'm having a great time, even if my feet hurt :) I'm really looking forward to my first class (The Blended Learning Series) starting soon! And next week I'm working one of the Grad Night shifts, from 8pm - 1:30 am. I'm going to be screening all the high school graduates for drugs and alcohol.... fun stuff...

The last three days...

Time to play catch up! I'll start with Friday:

I had my FIRST post-training shift, and it was actually really easy. Probably because it was only four hours long and they only put me at the "Greeter" position for most of my shift. We shut the fun wheel and swings down for World of Color, so I got to just watch WoC from up high by the swings. It was an interesting view! I had my first disgruntled guest encounter - he was REALLY angry that the ferris wheel shut down early... my bad?

Saturday was another four hour shift, but I went through a full rotation of every position on both the swings and fun wheel, and for the most part I was incident free! ;) I no longer feel really nervous going into work!

Today... well, today was blah. I worked an 8.5 hour World of Color fastpass distribution shift. Picture this: it's 9:25 am at DCA, the park is going to be opened in 5 minutes for a crowd of guests eager to get their World of Color fastpasses. The main walkway into the park is completely empty, except for ME - a new hire about to start my third day without a trainer - stationed there to tell people not to run and to answer questions.

9:30 am, the gates are opened and a FLOOD of people enter the park all at once, all of them running. I'm YELLING at the top of my lungs, making EYE-CONTACT with people running, telling them to PLEASE WALK, NO RUNNING!!! And still they run. It was terrifying, I've never felt so small in my life.

After the initial wave of intense families, the rest of the guests sauntered in, and many of them came to ME, the only visible employee, with tons of questions. Where is a good place to get breakfast? Where is the character dining at? How tall do you have to be to ride this? What's World of Color? How do you get to Midway Mania?

And I answered them ALL. Seriously, I should be in Guest Relations or something.

The rest of the day was incredibly boring and stressful to my vocal chords. I literally stood next to the WoC fastpass machine all day, taking people's tickets and exchanging them for passes, then giving the same spiel of information over and over... Luckily, tomorrow I'm back at Swings/Fun Wheel!