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 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 ;)
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