Day 69: Working in Animal Kingdom

Today was definitely one of the most frustrating days I've had in a while, and I did it to myself mainly. Buckle up kids, we're in for a bumpy ride.

Today, I worked at Animal Kingdom. If you're keeping track, that means that I have successfully worked in all 4 parks! Yay, cross that off my bucket list. Given my great depth of experience working in other parks, I thought I would know what to expect working at Animal Kingdom but I was very, very wrong.

I drove up to the guest turnstiles and asked the parking cast member where to go for cast parking. She told me I was in the wrong place, and I was supposed to head towards Animal Kingdom Lodge and there was a service entrance. Fair enough, that's my fault. I need to mention here that I had already forgotten my nametag at home and had doubled back to get it, so I was cutting it a little short for time than I would have liked. So I find cast parking and I'm looking for the costuming building. I ask a cast member, who told me that it's located about a mile away. She tells me how to get there, and asks what time I start. I tell her in about 45 minutes. She responds, "You might make it."

Had enough time to take a selfie, though

So I kick my butt in gear. I know that the latest I can call out is 30 minutes before my shift, and I'm starting to get a little frustrated with how ill prepared I was for this shift, and thought it might be better if I just go home. But I really wanted to work in all 4 parks! And would I try to come back to Animal Kingdom? Probably not. So I pushed through. I got in and out of costuming in about 7 minutes, and I was back at cast parking. I ask a custodial cast member how to get backstage to head to Discovery Island, and he walks me in the direction of the 'cheese grater' entrance. You need your blue ID to get in. Do you see where I'm going here? Somewhere in the chaos, I lost my blue ID. I call security and they let me in.

Eventually, I make it to Island Outfitters with a few minutes to spare, and I am all set to go. I spend most of my night bouncing from register to register, and standing out on the pin patio. I am one of the closers, so I restock the cash wraps with bags, receipt paper, etc. and start organizing a section of the store. One of the managers pulls everyone in and shows us how she likes the racks of clothes to look- she straightens all the hangers and spaces them out evenly so it looks really nice. I definitely appreciated that- she told us how she wanted it to look, so we could do it exactly the same way. I think it looks a lot better too! I do it all the time now.

I get back to my car at the end of the night and I start looking for my blue ID. I search the area around my car, inside my car, everywhere. I head back to costuming, because I had it there to check out my costume. I can't find it there either. I get back to my apartment and I look one more time. Amazingly, I find it in the cracks between the passenger seat and the cup holder. Thank the Lord I don't have to purchase a new one!

So, moral of the story, children: Always check where parking, costuming, anything important, is. Don't assume all the parks do things similarly, because they don't. The End.

'Til next time!