WDWCP: Once Upon A Time Is Now for Traditions

Welcome back! So we have learned about the audition process, er, I mean interview, to become a Walt Disney world cast member. We heard about the Disney Look and flying across the country. Then we met the new roommates and saw inside Vista Way. So now let's take a little look at the start of the job. This won't specifically take us to my new work location, but rather the fun training all Cast Members experience when they join this awesome team!

My new home away from home - Pecos!

As I said in the first post of this series, I was so eager to get a spot in this internship program that I voluntarily put Quick Service Restaurant Hostess as my first choice. Did I REALLY want to do fast food? Of course not. But I really did want to get my foot in the door at my dream company. So for the next 4 months I would be working in Frontierland as a perky Quick Service hostess!

Marcy, my roommate from OSU, also had the same assignment, although we never actually worked together. (We will get there later.) Sarah worked in Tomorrowland merchandise. The three of us were the only roommates in Magic Kingdom. Danielle had a swankier job. She worked at the California Grill located at the top of the Contemporary Resort. Brenda did Quick Service at Dixie Landings, which is now known as Port Orleans Resort. What the heck did Zaira do?? I feel like she was maybe at a resort front desk. Anybody remember?? I'll ask around. Be right back! Brenda and I think she worked Front Desk at the Contemporary Resort!

Before any of us would even see our work locations we had to go through multiple stages of training. Cash handling, food prep, various things depending on where you worked and what you did. My favorite training was something every single cast member does before anything else, and you may have even heard of it on Disney trivia things. TRADITIONS!

I loved it. I feel lucky to have done this twice (1997 and 2001). This is why I wanted to work for Disney. We learned the history of the company. Why Walt built Disneyland. What we stand for. How we behave. The Magic. The 7 Guidelines for Guest Service. I feel like there was so much I can't even put it into words. It was a dream come true for this girl! 

This wasn't just a couple hours of sitting in a meeting room around tables. Oh no. This was BIG! At one point we ended up in smaller groups that were sent out on scavenger hunts. My group ended up at Magic Kingdom! Oh my gosh, I was going to see it! I had only seen it on television, but now I was going to see, smell, hear, touch it!! Cinderella's castle looked so majestic and now I would see it with my own eyes.... and what did I see?

This.

WHAT??? I get to spend four months looking at THAT?? Are you kidding me?? It looks like Pepto Bismol. Yeah. Did anybody REALLY like that? Sure, it was the 25th anniversary of Walt Disney World and so we were in celebration mode, but ....yeah. 

Our scavenger hunt had us mostly located in Frontierland and Adventureland, which was perfect for me. I was the only one in my small group that would be a Cast Member in that area, so I was soaking up all the information I learned during our hunt. I even met someone that I would end up kicking hot dog cart ass with later in the year! 

We were learning tiny details to help us with the back story of the areas. Disney is very into story lines and we got to find out more of those small things that might go unnoticed. Plus we learned about "Come on in and sit a spell". That's what was being played as the Country Bear Jamboree emptied out into the Mile Long Bar, a place I would soon work at!

David & I - still friends!

Should it really be all work and no play? This IS Disney after all. Our group unanimously agreed that we would get this scavenger hunt done as quick as we can ... so we could go ride Splash Mountain, a mountain I would be next to every day of my internship! That particular ride was so fun. All of us strangers, and now new friends, singing along and getting wet. What did we do down the big drop for our photo? THE DISNEY POINT!! 

At Disney you do not use one finger to point. We use two or even your whole hand. I still do the Disney point when I give directions. It's a habit I don't intended on changing! 

This is getting long. I'll hurry it up. 

Another more specialized training I had and loved was Once Upon A Time Is Now. This was only for Magic Kingdom Cast Members and focused on our park. At the conclusion we "graduated" and got to meet Mickey Mouse. 

Believe it or not, I pretty much get terrified around characters! I was petrified to meet Mickey and asked someone to take a photo for me to show I really did meet him. I was shaking and so red, but I did it!! And then everybody had to get their own photos. I started a trend! 

There was more training for my job but it wasn't anything worth writing about. It was the specialized things. Basically when you are visiting a Disney theme park you can guarantee the Cast Members you encounter weren't just hired one day and on stage the next. You are filled with knowledge, history and inspiration before ever putting on your costume stepping foot in the parks!

If you made it this far, thanks! I hope you're enjoying this because I am loving my own little trip down memory lane!

Next up...my first day of work at Pecos Bill Cafe. The good, the bad, the ugly. Trust me... it was NOT the way I wanted to start my internship!!

See ya real soon! °o°