The First Week!

Whew!! What an eventful week this has been.  I’m trying to think of where I should even begin.  Let’s go back to Wednesday.

Wednesday was Traditions.  Traditions is a class that all new hires of the Disney company must take.  I got assigned to the afternoon session so I didn’t have to catch the bus till 12:45 pm. It was kind of nice to sleep in and relax for a bit. All of my roommates had the early session so they had to catch the bus at 6:45 am.  Poor guys.  At Traditions, we had two facilitators give us an orientation of the Disney company.  We were taught what the standards of the company are and what we can do as individuals to make a difference during our time here.  My favorite part was when they took us into the Magic Kingdom!  It was my first time EVER in Walt Disney World.  It was beautiful.  We roamed around Fantasyland for a little bit, looking for examples of the Disney standards.  Lots of fun!

When we went back to the University, we had a little bit more to discuss.  Then, to our surprise, Mickey Mouse showed up to welcome us to the company and give us our nametags.  That was special. It feels to strange to finally have a Disney nametag.  We also received our cast member ID which allows us free admission into all of the parks here on property.

Thursday was my orientation at Epcot.  It was called Discovery Day.  There they taught us a brief history of the Epcot (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow).  We also got a quick tour around the park including a private boat ride around the World Showcase.  At the end of orientation, we got our assignments. I was super nervous.  The guy came and picked me up and handed me a paper that said “Welcome to Spaceship Earth.”  I will be working on the ride that is inside the iconic sphere in the park!!  It isn’t the most exciting ride but I was totally ok with that!  We were also given our training schedule for the next week.

After Discovery Day, I met up with some friends and we went back into Epcot to play!  The park was hardly crowded so we didn’t really have to wait for any ride.  I think my favorite was Test Track.  Super fun and super fast!  But I think my overall highlight of Epcot is the World Showcase.  Strolling through all of those country exhibits was absolutely breath taking.  I really want to eat at all the different restaurants there!!  You really do feel like you are in those countries.  we ate dinner in Morocco and later had dessert in France. Haha!  The evening ended with Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, the firework show there.  Absolutely amazing!

Friday was my first day of on the job training.  I met my trainer, Mayda, and we went to costuming.  I’ll try and post a picture of my costume soon. I basically just spent the day following Mayda around trying to remember EVERYTHING she taught me.  It is a ton to remember and I hope it all sinks in because I have my assessment on next Friday.  My favorite part of Training Day 1 was actually getting to practice a few of the positions.  I really enjoyed being the greeter.  You get to interact with so many guests AND you can pin trade!  So over the next week I have a lot on my plate trying to internalize all the procedures and information of Spaceship Earth.