Day 100: I Got 2 Super Cool Things Today!

So, today is the 100th day of my College Program. Where has time gone?

Today I was on registers in Fantasia. We had a lot of people in there, maybe 4 total when we normally have 2-3. I was straightening the plush wall because there was nothing really to do with that many people. One of the stockers had just started her shift and was looking around to see what needed to be done. There was a lot, because the other stocker had not been stocking, rather she was ringing up guests on the register. The stores did not look good enough for her to be doing this though.

The stocker who had just arrived was getting annoyed, and our manager happened to be walking by. The stocker expressed her frustration to the manager, and walked away angry. I offered to help her out at least getting started, so I jumped on it. I ran downstairs and powered through so much stock. She loaded up the carts and I put them on the floor. Meanwhile the other stocker is nowhere to be found. I pushed maybe 8 carts worth of stock back on to the floor by the time the other stocker wised up and started stocking.

I kept at it until the floor was looking good again and felt like I could leave them. I still helped throughout the rest of the night because I knew tensions were a bit high, but while I was stocking our main shop, one of the girls from Fantasia came over and handed me a Four Keys Card for working hard to keep the store stocked. That was so awesome! Later that night, I was finishing up the last cart, and the stocker who I worked with gave me a second Four Keys Card for helping her out. That was so cool, getting two recognition cards in a row. It really, truly feels awesome getting recognized for working hard.

'Til next time!

Day 99: Second Half of Concert Weekend- Great Success!

Today was probably even better than yesterday. I drove out to St. Petersberg to see The Griswolds open for one of my all-time favorite bands, Walk the Moon. At Walk the Moon concerts, it's not uncommon to see funky face paint, or 'flower child' dresses. Basically you can go all out, and it's a lot of fun. I wore the most ridiculous shirt I own which has a bunch of funky colors and patterns, and did some really cool facepaint. They played all of my favorite songs, except my all-time favorite, Quesadilla. Hopefully when I see them next, whenever that is, they'll play it then. I met one of my coworkers and her roommate at the concert, so it was super fun getting to go with people I know!

EDIT: I bought tickets to see them again in October in Birmingham! They sold out within a day, and the concert is the day after my college roommate's wedding, so I'll be going with Becca since she'll be in the area that day!

'Til next time!

Day 98: First Half of Concert Weekend!

Today was an awesome day! I traded for a morning shift, so I worked 8:00am-3:30pm at the jewelry counter. It was a pretty regular shift, but slower than working nights. It was consistently full of people, but no one was really buying anything. I went to Cato after work to shop for clothes, and I found an awesome shirt for my next concert tomorrow.

The first half of concert weekend was awesome! I got to see one of my favorite bands, the Mowglis play live in downtown Orlando! It was in a super small venue, basically just a bar with a tiny stage. It was awesome. I really like the small places, makes you feel close to the band- especially when there are so many people in the band. I also really liked their first opener, Hippo Campu, and not just because their name is awesome.

I love going to concerts and just realizing how much you like a band's music because you hear it live. That's what happened with Hippo Campus. I already knew the Mowglis, so I was really happy to get to see them again, since they just released an album two weeks ago! Tomorrow I have the day off, and I'm going to see Walk the Moon!

'Til next time!

Day 93: Why Am I Here This Early

Today I worked a new shift: Packages. I started at 7:30 and worked until 4:00. I don't want to gripe that much, but I think it's time. This shift absolutely sucked! Basically, I had not been trained for this shift, but was still assigned it. One of the cast members works this shift every week, 5 days a week. This week, I was assigned to take one of the shifts she doesn't work.

The shift is pretty simple- cleaning the candy counter, cutting more fudge if it's needed, getting the packages that guests had shipped and logging them into the system, getting food deliveries for the market and candy counters. When I started my shift, I told my coordinator that I had never done this shift and did not know what to do. He gave me a checklist to go off of.

Everything was going great until one of the other cast members told me I needed to get the packages, because it was 11 and they had probably already been on the dock for about an hour. When I went to get them, I had no idea how many packages would be there, so I grabbed a cart from the stockroom, instead of one meant for bigger deliveries. A cast member came downstairs and, very angrily, told me that people upstairs were yelling and upset that they had not yet received their packages and that I should have just asked for help if I didn't know what I was doing. So anyways.

For such a time-sensitive position, I feel like I wasn't given enough heads-up. It ended up being ok, no one was angry or upset at all. It was just frustrating that I felt unprepared for this shift. When I went to go cut fudge, the fudge cutter was dirty! Someone had left a dirty utensil in the bin, so I had to go get it cleaned and then use it, and then clean it again. That was also a tad frustrating.

But my day got a little better after I got out of work because when I got back into my car, I checked my record card and found out where I'm working for my extension! I will be doing attractions in my favorite park, Magic Kingdom! I'll be working in Frontierland so I'm super happy! That means I could get Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, or Country Bear Jamboree/Tom Sawyer Island. Let's just say that I would much prefer either of the first two.

'Til next time!

Day 92: The Beast Will See You Now

Today was a day I had requested off since the beginning of the program. All 6 of the roommates had reservations for Be Our Guest at dinner. Though our reservation wasn't until 9:30pm. So since we had a lot of time before we needed to be at Magic Kingdom, Kerry and I decided to go to Universal Studios! Alayna and Jen wanted to go too, but they wanted to do Harry Potter stuff while Kerry and I wanted to just stick to our favorites because they had almost no waits, ever.

We got to do the make-up show (we saw a girl acting in it! If you've ever seen the horror make-up show at Universal, you might remember it being a bunch of dudes. This time it was a girl, and she was, by far, the absolute funniest person I have ever seen in that show), Simpsons, Men in Black (I hit 500,000 woot woot) and Mummy. We met up with Jen and Alayna to do Men in Black before heading out because of the bad weather coming up.

Kerry and I headed to Property Control and walked around for a bit. We headed to the apartment to change into some nice*er* clothes, then went to Magic Kingdom for Be Our Guest! I'm a really picky eater, so I just enjoyed the atmosphere and dessert, but we ate in the West Wing! We sat right under the portrait of the Beast and got to see the rose! After that, we met the Beast himself in the study. It was super cool! Definitely one of my favorite dining experiences so far.

'Til next time!

Day 91: JENGA!

Tonight, I had a register shift in Fantasia from 3:30pm-midnight. Whenever I work in Fantasia lately, I've been playing with the broken Jenga set. I'll set it up and most of the time, a kid will see me stacking the blocks and want to play for a little bit. Sometimes, I'll find someone who plays a whole game with me, which is always fun.

But tonight, one of the light duty workers would play a block every time he walked past, which made it more fun than normal. Basically, we were both so good, we made it 'Extreme Jenga' and started twisting the tower to make it harder to play. It was definitely entertaining, and we got a lot of kids involved.

After we closed the shop, we all shut down the registers and straightened our areas until midnight when it was time to leave. I think I'm getting really good at making the clothes look good before leaving, but it just stinks that in the morning when the stockers come in, they'll have to move my perfectly spaced out shirts to fit new ones in.

'Til next time!

Day 89: I Got Something Really Cool Today!

Today I worked floorstock from 3:30pm-11:00pm. It was absolute madness on the floor! We had, I believe, 4 call-ins for the night shift. Which is crazy considering we staff maybe 16, 17 people total on any given night. The call-outs included the other stocker, so I was the lone stocker for the entire night.

The morning stockers did a really good job making the floor look good, so my job turned into helping out our coordinator whenever she needed something, which was mainly helping break people out because there weren't enough cast members to handle people just leaving for their breaks. I jumped on registers almost the entire night and stocked whenever I could. The coordinator was kind of new, so it was crazy for the both of us but we rode through it together!

At the end of the night, once we closed and they didn't need me anymore, I was heading out the door when my coordinator gave me my first Four Keys Card for working through the crazy night! It was so nice to be recognized for my hard work. I'm excited to see it appear on my record card!

'Til next time!

Day 88: Fun at Magic Kingdom with the Fab 4!

I had today off, so naturally I went to Magic Kingdom! Today I went with Becca and Kerry, and met with Kriss later on in the night. We got some pretty good fastpasses, including Seven Dwarves Mine Train! We tried to time our fastpass with Wishes. Unfortunately, the fireworks were running late because of the weather, so we ended up only being able to see the fireworks for the last minute of the ride, but still cool! Not as fun as the first time we saw Wishes from the Mine Train, but definitely a good experience! Only 2 more weeks until I go home for a few days!

'Til next time!

Day 82: Fantasyland Round 2!

Tonight, I worked in Fantasyland Courtyard again. I got to wear the pretty purple dress again! This time, my shift didn't start until 8:15pm! I worked until 2:30am. Costuming closed at 6, and I didn't go to Costuming before my shift to grab the costume, so I had to head over pretty early to get my costume and I ended up sitting in the Mouseketeria for about 2 hours until my shift started.

 My shift started while they closed the Courtyard before the fireworks, due to fallout. I was in Castle Couture, which is closed off completely before and during the fireworks. So we straightened everything to make it look good for when we re-opened. I got to pixie-dust people again! It was really fun, and it's definitely my favorite place I've worked. You can just really feel the Disney magic, especially in Fantasyland. It's hard not to! For closing, I was in Sir Mickey's, so I straightened the dresses, and made everything look show ready for the morning!

'Til next time!

Day 81: Take Your Roommate to Work Day!

This morning, we had inspections, round 2. Kerry, Kriss and I were home. We tidied up quickly, and we passed. Seriously, the people who say it's tough to pass must not be trying at all, not to be mean. But frankly, we had clutter on the tables, trash in the bin. So it may depend on who does your inspection, but it really wasn't bad at all! They just wanted us to put a work order in for our ice maker because it was making a weird noise.

 Like the title says, today was "Take Your Roommate To Work Day" because I got to work with Kerry on Sunset Boulevard from 4:30pm-1:00am. Because the crowds were supposed to be pretty big at Hollywood Studios, they moved the cast parking to EPCOT and we were shuttled over to DHS from there. I went to costuming when Kerry started her shift, because she started about 45 minutes before me. While I'm checking out my costume, I get a text from her, saying that she got moved. What?! Someone called in, so she got moved to Sweet Spells, the bakery portion of the Villains in Vogue shop. I was scheduled to work Villains and Legends so I could be in the same shop as her, but I wouldn't get to work with her.

We got to be strawberries together!

I was pretty bummed, but it was still cool to work in the park. I don't think I'm enjoying it as much as i used to though. I need to go home for a while, and take a break. It's a good thing I'll be heading back to Chi-town in 3 weeks! I get to see my family, my dogs, and my Cubbies! It also doesn't hurt that I'll be switching to attractions soon. It'll be refreshing to have that change of pace.

'Til next time!

Day 79: I'm Working On My Roar... In the Big Blue World!

Today was my day off! So naturally, I went to a park. Today, I went to Animal Kingdom with my coworker Sydnee! It was really hot outside, with some rain in the forecast, so we didn't plan on staying long. We got friendship bracelets in Harambe Village (check that off the bucket list!). Our main goal was to stay inside: so we decided to see some shows!

We saw Festival of the Lion King, and barely made it in the theatre before the show started but it was so good! We were in the elephant section! (Roll Tide, Big Al!) Then we headed to Finding Nemo the Musical. As we were leaving the theater, it started raining. Like the Floridians we have become, we decided to brave the rain and run to Rainforest Cafe. Unfortunately, the rain did not stop. We ran into the restaurant pretty much soaked, but by the time we finished our appetizers and drinks, we were dry and it wasn't raining outside. Mission accomplished! We came home, and I watched a movie with the roommates and drank some more.

'Til next time!

Day 78: No Training For You!

Tonight I worked 6pm-midnight, so a pretty short shift. I worked at the jewelry counter. I was supposed to have update training, but someone called out so that didn't happen. Basically, the coordinator couldn't come in to work, so the person who was supposed to be doing the training stepped in as coordinator, meaning she couldn't do the training. Why was there not a backup plan, you might ask? Beats me, but it must be tough to find labor. The only big issue for me is that at the moment, I can't pick up EHH shifts(extra hours hotline, which can be overtime) because my training isn't updated, so that kind of makes it tough.

We also had a "customer". At Disney, everyone is a "guest". Until they do something that means we don't want them on property anymore. Then they become a "customer". A guest approached us and told us that she saw someone take items off the shelf and put them into her bag. Since we didn't see it happen, we couldn't do anything but watch her closely and alert security and our leaders. I did money drop at end of night. It went really slowly, because both machines were down but we went down with one more person than normal, so we ended up getting done on time. After that, some of the CPs went to ale house for drinks.

'Til next time!

Day 77: I Get to be an Honorary Easter Bunny!

So today I worked on Easter morning. My shift was from 6am-2:30pm. To start, from 6am to about 10am, I helped out the Easter Bunny by delivering some baskets. We were given baskets to deliver to other parts of the resort, whether it be the Garden View Suite, the Contemporary Tower, or Bay Lake. The tricky part was that once we put the basket outside their door, we had to knock the door and Run! If they didn't answer the door, I had to run back and re-knock. There was one room where I was heading back to see if anyone answered the door, and as I was walking towards the room, I saw a hand reach out and grab the package. I just kept on walking past the room so as not to draw suspicion to myself!

If they were already in the parks, we could leave the basket in the room for them. Those were easier to work with for sure. After we were done helping the Easter Bunny, we all headed to floorstock for the rest of the morning. We were basically extra bodies because they had their normal amount of floorstockers plus the 'bunnies'. So we helped straighten the store and greet guests for the last half of our shift!

After our shift, I went to Applebees with my coworkers. It was a much deserved treat after running so much! Tonight was Opening Day of baseball season, and I was actually home in time to watch it! My team, the Chicago Cubs were taking on the St. Louis Cardinals, their bitter rivals. It was awesome to see the rivalry game even though I was in Orlando, but it stunk that the Cubs lost. This is our year though! Back to the Future Part II said so, so it must be true right? Anyways, tomorrow I am back to regular shifts. I really enjoyed doing the baskets! It was a nice change of pace, for sure.

'Til next time!

Day 76: That Easter Basket Life Keeps Me Busy

Tonight was the night before Easter. This was my third basket shift of the week, and I worked from 11am-7:30pm. It was really busy tonight, which I loved! We had 5 people making baskets, 2 on stage, and 3 backstage. There were so many baskets to be delivered by the Easter Bunny that we had to keep them in the conference room to keep track of all of them.

Even though we had 5 people, it seemed like there were always 5 more baskets to make. Since I left at 7:30, I got out before it got really bad, but the girls who closed had to stay pretty late to make sure the baskets were all done and ready to be delivered! Tomorrow, I get to help the Easter Bunny with his deliveries from 6am-2:30pm!

'Til next time!

Day 75: Be Out Guest, Be Our Guest, Put Our Service To The Test...

Today, I went to breakfast at Be Our Guest, really early, like 7:30 am early. The park was pretty empty but it was open because there was Extra Magic Hours, so that was cool, and Be Our Guest  is amazing as always. They recently started opening for breakfast maybe two weeks ago, so that was cool that we were able to experience it!

I worked at Fantasia 16:00-23:00. It was pretty slow tonight. I ended up staying late to help with baskets because they had more than they expected. I went out with my coworkers who were on baskets to BDubs after work.

'Til next time!

Day 74: Easing into the Baskets Life

Today I had another baskets shift from 9:00-17:30. We set up a table outside the shop to make them on stage, instead of making them back in the stockroom where the guests couldn't see us. We were never that busy which was a nice way to ease into the busy period coming up.

We had a guest come in with his kids and he was super nice. My coworker Britney wanted to give them Mickey's autograph because there wasn't too much in the baskets he wanted to make and we all wanted to make it awesome. She got Mickey's autograph and some coloring pages from Chef Mickey's for each of the kids, so that was super awesome.

Near the end of my shift, a woman came up to the table and I offered to help her find some stuff to make 8 baskets, 1 for each of her grandkids. Instead of walking around with me, she basically gave me a $60 limit for each kid, and wanted me to shop for her. She gave me all her grandkids' favorite characters, so I could try to narrow down what to put in her baskets. I ended up staying an hour and a half late because it was kind of confusing to pass the information on to someone else, so I did it myself! I wonder if this is what the rest of my baskets shifts will be like?

'Til next time!

Day 73: Another Day Off

Today was the worst day ever. I almost got termed because of something I didn't even do. April Fools! Today was actually awesome. I didn't work today either. So I went to studios with Tess and one of her coworkers. She's from Alabama, and was pretty cool.

The lines were busy but we did Rock n, Tower, and a few smaller rides. We walked around a little bit, and saw Kerry at her work. Tess and I went to Sonic afterwards because we were craving it. I chilled at my apartment for the rest of the night because I work the next couple days in a row.

'Til next time!