I'm doing another college program!! Fall Advantage. Character Attendant!

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Great Movie Ride Tour

In my area the manager set up tours each program. I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Great Movie Ride. The tour happened back in March so forgive me for lack of detail. It was so much fun and gave me a new appreciation for the ride. It is really great to be able to go in the ride and know so much about it.

We all met outside the ride at about 7 after the park was closed. We walked the entire track. I got to stand on the yellow brick road, hangout with John Wayne and even see backstage (but I won't talk about that). When I do my next program I would love to be a tour guide for the ride. That would be a dream. Here's some pictures!

A bunch of people were freaking out in the Indiana Jones room but I wanted to touch all the snakes. They wouldn't let me touch the ones that moved. 

I had noticed one of our tour guides disappeared and then we got here and as I suspected he jumped out as a bandit. The reaction was hilarious. 

They have programs named after people on the computers in the Alien room. 

Me with my munchkin friend. She isn't creepy at all. ;]

Follow the yellow brick road. =]

It sure has been awhile

I apologize for not keeping this blog updated while I was at Disney. There were times during the summer I was working 50 hours a week. I barely had time for myself. I wish I would have updated more. Not only for my followers but also for myself. I had an amazing time doing this program. I meet so many amazing people and they are truly some of my best friends. If you have any hesitations about the program just do it. You're in for the experience of a lifetime. Nothing will replace my Disney memories or the wonderful friends I made.

I'm going to give a bit of an update about what my life is now and then I'm going to put individual posts about different things I did during my program. Here we go.

The biggest thing about Disney that has affected me is not getting seasonal. For merchandise you have to have no more than 5 attendance entries (that means being late is the same as calling in) in a six month period. While I was never late, I called in six times. I went through a period in May where I didn't want to go seasonal and there were rumors going around that the managers could override the policy and that it was actually 6 entries and not 5. I really regret that last call in. Not only was I just one over, my first point would have been past the six month period a mere week after my program ended and the next point would have gone the day after. Now not only can I not work there but I can't get into the park which is really torturous when you're only a few hours away and have to drive through Orlando to get home from college.   Lesson learned. There will be times you don't want to go to work. Don't call in unless you actually can't go to work.

Now I'm back in school. I go to UNF and I absolutely love it. It definitely isn't as easy to make friends here though. I do find myself missing Disney a lot. Almost all my pictures in my dorm are of Disney or people from Disney. I'm studying Electronic Media and I enjoy every minute of it. I plan to graduate spring 2013. Puts me a year behind but considering I took last year off I'm right on time.

At this point in time I plan on applying to the summer alumni program. I have friends coming back in the summer and I would love to spend the summer at Disney. Hopefully from that I will be able to go seasonal. My top 3 role choices would be Character Attendent, Photopass and attractions. I emailed recruiting and they told me applications come out in January. I plan to apply as soon as they're out. I will update more on that when they come out.

This is enough for now. Look forward to up coming posts about different things I did at Disney. Great Movie Ride tour, moving to Patterson, my 21st birthday, 4th of July, Grad Nite (RIP), and graduating.

It isn't the same

It isn't the same without the people who left in May. My favorite ICPs leave very soon and it is going to be very sad working without them. I have decided not to extend. I am going back to school. I am going to UNF and I will hopefully have an amazing time there. It is a really great school.

It's been two months....

I am loving it here. Yes it's a lot of work and yes I don't have that much time to myself but it is awesome. Mostly I work the glow carts throughout magic kingdom. It's hard work but it's pretty fun. The people I work with are great. They make everything so much fun. I am really going to miss the ones who leave in just a few short weeks. I know I have been neglecting my blog but people are right, it is really easy to just forget about it. I've been thinking about what to do after my program. I am seriously considering extending my program. I would like to extend in attractions though. I would love to work the great movie ride. It would be amazing to do that. My manager set up a tour of the great movie ride for all the CPs in my area and since then I've had a new appreciation for the ride. I loved movies before that but working in that setting seems so much fun. If I can't extend then I'll probably just go back to school and finish my bachelors. I don't really want to go back to school right now though. The only thing I don't like about the program is the housing. Chatham is nice but I hate the visitation policy. I understand why outside people can't come in after 1am but I don't understand why people from vista or Patterson can't come in. Most nights I don't get off until 1:45 and it would be great if we could go to someone's house and hangout but we can't so most nights we end up spending money at ihop. Well I'm tired. I do have more to
Write about though. Maybe tomorrow

Been really busy here.

I have worked everyday since Traditions. Tomorrow is my first day off and it's been a long time coming. I really do enjoy the job though. Finally finished training and had my first day by myself yesterday. It was a little stressful. Everything I was told I probably wouldn't have to do that often, I had to do. Returns, exchanges, dump skus, voiding an entire transaction. The only thing I didn't have to do was a package pick-up. I handled it all pretty well though. They even had me close a store on my first night. The manager was really nice though so I didn't feel too stressed about it. She told me what to do and helped me out. Today I get to work pirates which I'm really excited about. I heard it was busy which I like because it makes time go by so much faster. As long as nothing too stressful happens then I'll be good.  One problem I have is counting the disney way. I understand the concept and I understand why it's a good idea to do it that way but when you're so used to doing something one way it's hard to get in the habit of doing it another. It takes me a few seconds to count back to the guest and it makes me look slow. I can tell the guest just thinks I'm stupid and can't count which makes me feel really awful because I'm really good at that kind of math and normally I can figure out a guest change in a few seconds without counting and without looking at the register. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually but right now it's making me flustered and I hate looking stupid. Another reason I'm excited about pirates is that I know I won't be alone. In Adventureland you kind of just get thrown in by yourself and guests expect you to know everything. I know almost everything about magic kingdom so I'm happy to tell them where splash mountain is or the fastest way to fantasyland. I know NOTHING about the merchandise we sell so when a guest asks me if something comes in a different color or where they can get a Tigger sweatshirt I don't know what to tell them. I don't want to give a guest the wrong information but I also don't want to call a manager for something that small. During training a manager, coordinator or someone from the stock room was always walking by but yesterday I was lucky to have one person walk by every time I changed posts. I did okay though and luckily the guests were all really nice. I got on the bus during wishes and that just made my day a lot better.

I really have nothing else to share. I have no roommate drama and I haven't even really been out to the parks yet because I've been working so much. Tomorrow we're going to toontown before it closes on friday. Kind of sad that it's going but I hardly ever go in there so it isn't much of a loss. I think the fantasyland expansion will be better anyways.

I have arrived!

I got to Orlando on Sunday and went to visit my friend at UCF. My GPS took me to Valencia Community instead which is about 20 miles out of the way. I eventually found UCF and she gave me a nice little tour. It would be a great place to go if I get accepted there. 

Check-in on Monday went by pretty fast. My roommate and I got there around 7 and there were about 20 people in front of us. They let us in around 8 and since we didn't have any luggage to put away we ended up being closer towards the front of the line. Once we go to the housing part they told us they had nothing left in Patterson which was a huge bummer because we really wanted to live there. We ended up in a 2 bedroom at Chatham and it really isn't that bad. I enjoy the apartment. It's spacious and our room is big. We have really nice roommates and everyone I've met so far is really nice. The one complaint I have right now is we need wireless. I'm currently hooked up at the tiny desk and it's not all that fun. 

After check-in we went to casting. It is an amazing building just like everyone says. When you first walk in you get the most important information, where you'll be working. I will be working at Adventureland merchandise. I heard the costumes were pretty bad but I hope they aren't awful. Today is traditions and I'm in the second group. I heard we won't be done until around 7 but I hope we have a little bit of time to go to Epcot or something. I have training all morning tomorrow and again all day Friday. I can't wait to get my actual schedule.