That Infamous Email

Well I finally received that fateful email. Exactly a month later at 6:11AM my phone beeped and those exciting words appeared in my inbox. Unfortunately, a lot has happened during my month of waiting to hear back. I've decided that Spring 2015 is not my time to go back to the Disney College Program. It will be my last semester of college and I don't want to miss out on the memories with my friends (those of you in sororities or fraternities might understand this the most). Plus I, once again, missed auditions as I had initiation for my sorority. If I'm going to do this again, I'm going to do it right. Because I missed auditions, I was kind of excited to see what they would determine as the "role best fit for me." Wait for it.....get excited......Quick Service Food and Beverage. Not exactly my ideal role.

I think it is best for me to go back to Disney in the fall. I won't miss auditions and I think some of my old DCP friends are planning on going back during that time too!

Getting Into the Groove

I'm definitely starting to get into routine being here in Orlando now, both in living here and in working. Work has been very good, I really do love the guest interaction that comes with a merchandise role. I had my first shift floor stocking, and let me tell you, I was NOT looking forward to it...one bit. But I think I have actually found my new favorite part of merchandise...floor stocking the Expedition Everest gift shop. It's perfect for a person with OCD like me, I get to organize a whole store. I couldn't think of a more perfect job for someone like me! Plus, floor stocking shifts FLY BY!

The past couple days have been more of those days that just make me super appreciative that I get to live and work in a place like DisneyWorld. The average family saves 3-5 years just to come to DisneyWorld for a short period of time. I get to go the parks every night after work if I wanted to, it's not something I take lightly. The magic is still there for me and I still love Disney, if anything changes, I'll let you know, but I highly doubt it.

I've been making lots of friends and lots of memories and I know it's all just really beginning!

Second Day Off

My second day off of work brought unfavorable weather, but in reality that meant for favorable park conditions - no waits, low crowds - and while it was a bit chilly, Emily and I had a great day at both Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios! On our first day off, Emily and I got some "I'm Celebrating" buttons under which we wrote "My day off!" We've been wearing them on our days off ever since (right now that's only two days, but I plan on wearing them on all my days off). Everyone gets a real kick out of them!!

Em and I also heard that Johnny Depp was staying at a Walt Disney World Resort and he is sometimes known to perform in the pirate show outside Pirates of the Carribbean. Emily and I planned on going on a Johnny hunt but weren't on a super mission by any means. We happened to walk out of lunch in Frontierland just as the pirate show was beginning and suddenly Jack Sparrow walked out....................yeah, it wasn't him. FAIL.

It's safe to say things are really starting to pick up though. Shifts are getting longer and more frequent and everyone is on track to finishing training pretty soon. Guess I REALLY need to enjoy it while it lasts!

First Day Off

The day I have finally been waiting for has arrive...my day off! Don't get me wrong, I've been loving work, but everybody needs a day off, and on my day off, I went to Disney's Animal Kingdom with the gang! I know, how lame for me to go to my work on my day off, but I don't get to enjoy the park while I'm actually on the job! We were there pretty much all day and, as expected had a lot of fun!

The guy from a Disney Channel show filming a Danimals commercial in the park!

Merchandise Tier 3

Tier 3 has thus far been my favorite day of training. Today was actually my first day out in the park, putting my practice to the test! Everything went pretty well and I feel like it was pretty easy, especially having worked in retail before. I have definitely found my niche though - merchantaining!
"Merchantaining" is playing with the merchandise for the guests. For example (and this has been my favorite part thus far): one of our merchandise carts in Asia sells all plushes, including a small brown bear puppet that seriously looks like a real bear! Guests get a kick out of it when I put it to use and it's fun to see their reactions! I get to scare the crap out of our older guests, which is, of course, hilarious and then I get to brighten up the kiddos' faces! It seriously is just the best!

The day went by pretty quickly because we got to take a lot of breaks and a long lunch, which was nice! In my next training, Tier 4, I will be learning about floor stocking, which means another FABULOUS outfit, so just look forward to that!

Merchandise Tier 2: Merchantainment

Today I had my Merchantainment class at Disney University where I learned how to use the registers. They have a room full of registers and we learned how to use a bunch of functions on them. The actual practicing on the registers was the part I liked but there was a lot of us sitting and them talking to us for extended periods of time. Those were the parts I was fighting HARD to keep my eyes open. 

All of the first part was from 8:00am-12:15pm and then we broke for lunch. After lunch, guess what it was time for? MORE E-LEARNING! WOO! -.- I have decided that I really don't prefer the E-Learning modules. I understand they're necessary, but that doesn't make them any less boring! 

I got home around 2:30 and was able to clean the apartment and do laundry. I think Sydney and I are going to go to the parks right now depending on how the weather plays out! I have work at 7:00am, ouch, but then I have two days off and so does Emily and we can't WAIT to hit the parks together some more!!!