Friday, February 18, 2011

"I'm still alive, but really badly burned"

Well on the first day off with 80 degree weather and not a cloud in the sky, I got my first bright red sunburn of the season. I'm super blotchy and look like a Mosaic. oopsieee

Thursday and Friday of this week I had off and a couple friends and I spent the day at animal Kingdom and hollywood studios as guests. We rode expedition everest for the first time which was fabulous to say the least, and tower of terror and rockin roller coaster twice. We haven't waited in line for more than 10 minutes for anything which has been verrrry surprising.

Tonight there was a special after hours party for all cast members that work in Animal Kingdom, and since entertainment gets to work all the parks we were allowed to go. We rode dinosaur twice with the lights on which was verrrrry awesome and way less scary (mind you we all lost our voices from uncontrollable screaming the entire ride without the lights on).

Below are some photos from Magic Kingdom, a sunset on the castle and a choreographed fireworks show, wishes.




This week I got the opportunity to work with my trainers and roommate out with the guests which was a ton of fun. My roommate Jackie and I got to be partners in crime teasing each other on set. Tomorrow I'll be hanging out at the tomorrowland dance party in Magic Kingdom with her as well. My character performing roommates and I are still anxiously awaiting rehearsals for parades and shows to show up on our schedules which come out tomorrow! As unbelievably rewarding and fulfilling it's been so far, I can't wait to be able to dance for disney. That's all for now, I'll check back after the dance party :-)

Thursday, February 10, 2011

and so it begins...

Hey guys!

Sorry it's been a couple days, it's been hectic around here with the first couple of days of real work! Unfortunately I can't give away any of the secrets that are all part of the magic, but if I've spoken to you personally you might have a better idea of what I'm actually doing.

Anyway, actual guest interaction is so incredibly fulfilling. It's such an surreal, fantastic feeling making people smile and giggle with memories that they'll always remember of Disney World.

After four days of training we graduated to be real Cast Members in Entertainment character performing. After countless Disney videos about making and becoming the magic for the guests, our training ended with some touching stories that I cannot wait to experience for myself.

I got my first day off and got to spend it going to the park for a full day. It was actually freezing (sorry wisconsin I now get cold at 50 degrees) A couple of my friends and I went to epcot to visit one of our friends from training. Pictured below is my roommate Jess and I, and some very close friends of mine...


I also got to meet my idol: Snow White. Although I'm 20 years old, being next in line to meet her made me so giddy like I was actually meeting a celebrity hahah I told her I wrote my admissions essay on her and she said it must have worked considering im in the College Program! Spitting Image if I do say so myself

My first day arrived to work at the Magic Kingdom and I was very nervous to say the least. I didn't want to get lost, and definitely wanted to be on top of my game as I worked side by side with my trainer (which was a blessing and a curse). It was a fabulous first day and I couldn't have ended my day feeling any happier. Bringing smiles to peoples faces reinforces why people never leave this place. This job is truly a living dream.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Welcome to the family

Hello All!

Unfortunately my posts will become less detailed because I'm getting more and more familiar with the disney secrets that of course cannot be revealed :-) But here's a quick update!

We had a class called Traditions on Wednesday at Disney University (yes this actually exists) which familiarized us with the company and its success. After learning all about the disney heritage and the disney way, and a surprise quick visit to the magic kingdom to explore we received our pins and are official disney cast members!

Thursday we finally got a chance to meet the others in entertainment in our "Welcome to Entertainment" class. Here we learned about all the aspects of Disney entertainment and what makes this company's performances stand out beyond the rest. After meeting all 14 people in the class it occurred to me that there are only 4 girls, (me being one of them) that are character performers in shows/parades out of the 250 that checked in on our arrival date! Of course at this point I'm so excited from all the entertainment lessons learned, and I just want to get out there and perform. We took another surprise trip to the magic kingdom to watch the "Dreams come true with Mickey" show right on Cinderella's castle stage! Of course this gave me the chills realizing I have the opportunity to be one of those dancers in the blue dress on stage once our training is over. The anticipation is killlllling me ahh. I STILL DONT KNOWWW

Today we had our first official training for 8 people in my field of work (can't really give the details... sry everyoneee) We have 3 more days of intense, very long and tiring days of training before we go out on our own into the parks! I have my first real day of work starting next Wednesday.

We haven't had a moment to go to the parks for fun yet, so we took advantage that we were out of our business clothes and had the opportunity to go to Epcot tonight. What's better than to go to the parks at 7pm on an empty night in 65 degree weather for freeeee?!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Day 1: Check In and Casting

Here I am!

After the LONG anticipation day one finally arrived. Being back on Disney Property was the most incredible feeling. While driving under the walt disney world sign - where dreams come true with a welcome from Mickey and Minnie, I could hardly stay put in the car as I was actually bouncing off the walls (sorry family).

We had dinner in Downtown Disney at a cuban restaurant called Bongos. Gloria Estefan owns the chain so of course it was equipped with get on your feet-type music. After dinner we explored Downtown Disney, shopped a bit and ran into a cast member in the college program selling merchandise on the street who just extended her trip until May from August because she loved it so much. Eeeeee at this point I cannot wait for the night to end so the first day of my dream can begin.

I woke up at 6:55am monday morning to wait in line to check into our apartment complexes. Knowing Disney, the process was very impressively systematic, with lines and stations. We got our apartment in Vista Way which is the most centrally located with 2500 people. Our apartment has 3 bedrooms, and 6 girls.



At this point I'm DYING of anticipation to learn what role we'll be playing because everything's been left a surprise until day 1. So we take a bus to Casting which again was perfectly organized and systematic. As soon as we walk in, we're standing in a rotunda and the cast members come up to us individually and give us a sticker with our work location and official role. Every role besides entertainment gets their work location and specific duties. Mine said ENTERTAINMENT MK Characters Show/Parades -M. No one could tell me what M stood for, as some of my friends had F. (minor freak out that they thought I was a male at first) Anyway, thrilled that I'm now working in Magic Kingdom in the shows and parades (exactly what I'd loveee to do), we carry on through the rest of the casting process. We take care of all of the employment forms, take photo IDs and find out our schedule for the next couple days.

Today, tuesday we have completely off. More target runs and apartment organizing! Wednesday is Traditions which is an orientation of the Disney company, and after experiencing Traditions we are official cast members (with all benefits boo yeaaaa)

Thursday hopefully I'll have more info on what I am actually going to be doing as we have our 8-5:30pm entertainment training in fur. That's all I know for now in addition to the fact that this is going to be the best 7 months of my lifee!