"You look like Buzz Lightyear! ....but the girl!"

My first month of work has just flown by! Despite working nights throwing me off in terms of everything (eating, sleeping, doing homework) I've made it through!Just to update you all on everything that's been going on...

UNLV //  Keeping up with my online classes as been a challenge at some points. After working until 1245 am, my internal clock has no idea when I should be awake or asleep. Some days, it feels like I manage to get out of bed in time to shower, get dressed, and eat before it's time to go back to work! Still, I am really enjoying the classes I'm taking this semester, and one of them ends this week anyway :)

Star Command // Work is pretty fantastic. It has it's lower points ("Code V" has already happened more than enough for me....take one guess what that code is for), and I come across the occasional not-so-magical-guest, but I really love being at work! Buzz is an Omni-Mover attraction, which means its constantly moving. This means I get a pretty decent amount of exercise by walking on the belt (or my treadmill, as I like to call it ;)) at the unload and load stations, and the main console station.

My favorite position by far is greeter. This where I get to stand outside and direct people to the correct lines, but also interact with guests and pin trade. I also get to see the fireworks when I'm out at the right time, see Buzz and PUSH the talking trash can, and the Trashcan Trio, a "Stomp" like musical group that travels around Tomorrowland. This position is where I get to make the most magical moments for guests. Some are really pleased simply with my calling them Space Rangers as they come in, but I make sure to pick out some through out the day to do more for when I can.

I've had a few magical moments that kids have given me, too! These are the little faces I hold on too when I'm having a down day. One little girl was so excited to see me outside she started jumping up and down and said, "You look like Buzz Lightyear! ...but the girl!" Another little boy pointed at me and whispered to his Dad that I was a real Space Ranger and worked for Buzz. I also love when they ask if the talking Buzz inside the attraction is real - of course he is, and he's been waiting all day for you to get here and help him on his mission!

One of my favorites happened yesterday, around 1130 pm. I was very tired and sore, and generally just ready for the voice to appear and tell me, "Disneyland has ended its normal operating hours" so I could close the line. I still had my pin trading lanyard on, and a little boy around 8 and his dad came to see if they wanted to trade. He very politely asked to see my pins, and when he didn't see anything he liked, told me thank you. I wished them a good evening, and the little boy turned back and said, "You're beautiful, miss!" Which meant a lot to a tired girl with no makeup and braided hair in a Space Ranger outfit. :)

College Program // There has been plenty of fun outside of work too!


I've been able to....

// Ride Space Mountain with the lights on after closing! // 

                                

And it didn't ruin the magic for me at all. I really just appreciate the attraction all the more now! The size of the place and seeing how simple, but detailed and well done projections create the experience was amazing.

          

      // Play in the Park! //

I'm planning on using my Cast Member ID for as long as I possibly can and as much as I possibly can! I've also been able to check out Company D, a store for Cast Members only that sells Disney merchandise a lot cheaper and some cast exclusive stuff too!

// Tour the Animation Building! //

The Animation Building is in Disney California Adventure, and any guest can visit it. However, we got to go in before the park opened for a private tour of the whole building! The attention to detail and story inside there is really neat. We also got to see a demonstration at the Animation Academy and learn how to draw Goofy and Jack Skellington. We finished up by seeing Turtle Talk with Crush. It was a really fun way to spend a Wednesday morning!

So all in all, it's been a great first month! It's been super busy, and I can't believe this is only the beginning. My class for Disney starts next week, and Halloween Time at the resort kicked off a few days ago, so my schedule will stay packed for awhile! 

  Talk to you all soon!

My roomies...The long and the short!

Training at Star Command!

Sunday, August 22nd was my first official day of training! It was the start of a long, full week.

Welcome to...Park Operations

 For day one of training, I had an 8 hour class called "Welcome to Park Operations". each of the various areas had these training days, and Park Operations encompassed attractions, guest relations, custodial, parking and transportation, and security. We started off with going over safety, the SERVICE model again, and the Standards of Business booklet. Nothing too exciting, except that we held this class in the main "war room" at TDA - a pretty interesting place to be in!

We got to take another tour of the park and backstage areas. One thing that stuck out to me in particular was Circle D, the housing and care facilities for all the animals that live in Disneyland. This includes the turkeys that are pardoned by the President every year at Thanksgiving. (they have a cute little area near Big Thunder Ranch that includes a sign that says "Happiest Turkeys on Earth" :) ) Every animal is considered a full cast member, right down to having a name tag like mine and an ID card to clock in with. We met with a manager in each area of park operations. It was really fascinating to learn how all the different areas are run, and we even got to see a demonstration of how well trained the security team's dogs are.

When we made it to attractions, we got to ride through Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters as a way to see all the details and examples of show included in it. My high score was 89,000 (which will be significant later...:)).  It was kind of fun to come in the back way and jump on!

After that, it was back to TDA to finish up. At the very end, our on boarding specialists came back to give us our training schedules, and let us know what attraction we had been assigned. 

And my sheet said...

I was pretty pleased. It's a pretty popular attraction, and it wasn't Autopia! (which, I later learned, new hires don't get assigned to anyway)

After that, I had two days off, which was kind of nice! I spent some time doing homework, and some time at the parks as a guest here and there.

Training

My first day of training was that Wednesday. The first day was Guest Interaction Training. We started off by going with our trainers to Costuming to get our (myself and another college programmer, Sarah) outfits for the day as well as our attraction costumes. Costuming is a fascinating place; it's humongous for one thing! We took a tour of where scheduling is at, got set up on "The Hub" and had lunch. After that, we got pin trading lanyards and went out into the park. Pin trading was actually really fun, especially when kids came up to trade. We met with the attractions manager again, had lunch, then got to learn about how parade crowd control is done. We also helped out with parade control for a little bit! To finish up the day, we went in the back way and got to ride Space Mountain. I officially love getting paid to do that :)

The next day was a shift I hope I never have to do again - opening. Which means clocking in at 5 am. But I made it on time! Luckily, our trainer was really fun. It was also really exciting to see the park before it opens - it's such a busy place! I wanted really badly to run through the castle, but I contained myself :) We spent the day learning how to open up Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters for the day. After shadowing the various stations, we read through the Operating Guide and took a a test. It was kind of intimidating, but we made it through!

The next day was the exact opposite - we came in at 5, and stayed until closing at 1 am. We learned the different stations and how they work for closing the ride down at the end of the day.I liked this shift much better :) We took another short test and then we were done for the day.

The next day was the big one - my proficiency assessment! I was really really nervous, but our lead was super nice! We went around to each station with her and took turns performing each job. The lead asked some hypothetical questions that we couldn't actually demonstrate right then and there (such as, what if the fire alarm goes off?) One important thing I learned about this attraction is the reason it stops and slows so often. It's not because its broken, (as people are quick to assume) its most often because a wheelchair guest is being loaded or unloaded, or a guest with a service animal is being loaded on. (the rest of the time it's usually because a guest is doing something they shouldn't do...and I won't point what that is here, so no one gets any ideas!! :))

And... I passed!  I am a certified Space Ranger!

Well maybe not "certified". But I am excited about those high-waisted pants, can't you tell??

I was officially cleared to start work through a post training schedule for the next two weeks, which meant I had to call in every morning to be assigned hours for later in the day. That wasn't always fun; working until 1 am, calling at 7 am, going back to sleep, then going into work at 4 until 1 am again is somewhat draining! Thankfully, that is all over now, and I am on a regular schedule, even if it still is night shifts ;) 

Moving in, Orientation, Traditions!

I have officially been in Anaheim for around 2 weeks now, and things have been ultra busy! I've been trying to get adjusted and organized, and I think I may finally be hitting that point :) So here's what I've been up to over the last few weeks!

MOVE IN 

Carnegie Plaza!

August 18th was the big day! My mom and I had driven down the night before and were staying at a hotel right across from Disneyland. We had dinner at a restaurant in Downtown Disney that night, and were able to get a view of the fireworks from our table, so it was a great kickoff!

The next morning we headed over bright and early to the apartment complex! I met my first room mate, Jillian in the check-in line. We got our first of many Mickey name tags, and headed up to the complex's courtyard for check-in.

We got a new folder with the castle and clouds to replace our "purple folders", our apartment keys, our parking assignments, our bus passes, and filled out a bit more paperwork. I got to see a green sheet attached to my employment file, and saw "Tomorrowland" written there. I was slightly bummed, since it wasn't Adventureland, but it wasn't ToonTown! :)

Our next few hours were spent meeting our other room mates, Kathy (who unfortunately had to leave the program early due to a conflict with school), Ellen, and Lauren; and dragging box after box up to my fifth floor apartment.

We also had a little housing meeting, and were given a more detailed schedule for the week. After that, it was time for my Mom and I to go play in Disneyland for awhile, then off to bed, as I had Orientation the next morning.

My new home!

ORIENTATION

Orientation took place at Team Disney Anaheim, which I was super excited to get to see the inside of. We took our pictures for our ID cards, then headed in. The Lion King was playing inside the auditorium while we waited to start. We talked about the classes that were being offered to us, and I chose to take "The Leadership Speaker Series" which will feature different VPs as the speaker each week. It seems like it's going to be a fantastic networking opportunity and starts on September 24th.

We also talked about scheduling, and.  requested our preferred days off and hours. I put Monday and Thursday as my preferred days off (which, surprise! I haven't gotten so far). I also put down that I'd be willing to work a 6th day when available (which next week I work 7 days in a row, so I may be changing that) but didn't put down overtime. I figured I could add that when I needed it.

We were also given a pamphlet with info on our Traditions session and training, and I noticed "TL Attractions" written there as well, so it was pretty set as my new home. We finished up by playing Disney Trivia for prizes. I won a cute Disney College Program laundry bag by giving Goofy's original name (Dippy Dawg).

Then it was another night of Disneyland! Mom and I had dinner and a show tickets for World of Color, the new show at California Adventure. We ate the Golden Vine Winery, which was really good, especially the dessert. We had a special section for the show, and it was wonderful! Its shows like that that you can really see and feel Walt's ideas and creativity even today. I know I will be back again and again to see it.

TRADITIONS

Traditions was on Friday. Traditions is sort of Disney's official orientation for new cast members. We had to fully meet the "Disney Look", which meant dressing up in my new "business casual" clothes. We went over a ton of information at Traditions - Disney history, the "four keys", the SERVICE model, and a tour around some of the backstage areas and parts of Disneyland itself.  We got to see some hidden Mickeys and hidden details throughout the park, and also some interesting business secrets (for instance, I now know why every time I'm on Main Street I'm literally dying for a corn dog and ice cream, and desperately want to go inside every store).

After the tour and lunch, we went back in the auditorium and got to see some of the expansion projects currently going on in Disneyland and Disney World. Some of them are pretty amazing, and I hope we will get to see some of the stuff going on in Disneyland first hand soon!

We also met briefly with our on boarding specialists for our various areas. The attractions on boarding specialist was super nice, and filled us in on more of what to expect at training. (black polish-able shoes and socks!)

My favorite part of the day, for sure, was when we finally got our nametags and ID cards. A very special guest made an appearance to present them to us, and I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling!

YAY!

The housing office put on a fun little welcome party for us that night, and we ended up taking a ton of photo booth pictures!

I had the next day off, so I went to Huntington Beach with some friends. On Sunday, my room mates and I went to California Adventure after some cake to see World of Color and ride Tower of Terror for my room mate Ellen's birthday.

And then...it was time to see what attraction I would be working - training!!!