1/30/12: My first real day on set!

Yes, I've had a non-training work day before and yes, I've had time onset before, but today was the first day that both those aspects were combined!  Bwaha!
I followed Goofy around in Adventureland all day, and he insisted on wearing his pirate costume since he was right next to the Pirates of the Caribbean queue.  Naturally he dug meeting each family, but his final family of the day was a Make-A-Wish family, so that was particularly special.
Now I've got today off, so I'm off to Animal Kingdom!

1/29/12: My first OFFICIAL day

In Entertainment you generally clock in 15 minutes before your shift officially starts so you can check out your basics, change, and check in to the Entertainment Base.  Since my shift started at 6 AM, I wound up taking the 4:35 bus.  This got me there with enough time to do what I needed to do, grab breakfast, as well as take a solitary walk up Main Street with not another person in sight, which was thoroughly awesome.

My shift today was a "spare", so I would jump in if one of Goofy's (or any other tall character's) other Personal Biographers called in sick or something.  At 6 I went to stretch and warm up, then proceeded to the break room awaiting a call to action.  Which never came.

Yup, today I was paid to watch movies with girls that look suspiciously like Disney princesses (though are, obviously, just their Personal Biographers) for 9.5 hours.  A bit monotonous, but, all things considered, not a bad way to make a living!  Plus, getting off work at 3:30, I have plenty of time to grab a nap and make a much-needed trip to Walmart!

1/28/12: My final day of training!

After changing into basics (pretty much Disney-issued gym clothes) and stretching and warming up, my training group and I headed to The Land pavilion to discuss character dining.  The classroom we were in was right above a ride portion of Living With the Land, which is (oddly enough) one of my favorite Epcot rides, so it was rather fun and novel.  After Goofy got a practice run at it (though, let's face it: he's been doing this for YEARS) we went to where our set location was going to be, between the UK and Canada pavilions.  Goofy, Chip and Dale, the Genie, Gideon, and Rafiki met friends for a few sets before we headed back to the Entertainment Base for debriefing and cocktails.  But not really.  One way or the other, training is over!  Also... my first solo shift starts in two hours... at 6 AM... Yay!!!

1/27/12: Training Day 3 (and my first day on set!)

Yup! Today was my first day onstage! I was Br'er Bear's personal biographer for four or five sets at Epcot between the America and Italy pavilions. It was interesting, because after studying Goofy for two days, I suddenly had to adapt ALL of that and transfer it to a character who is very different in personality and physicality, but doing something fresh was definitely fun.
This was the day I've been most looking forward to for YEARS, and it was just as awesome as I had hoped!  I definitely feel that doing this program, especially in the Entertainment position.  Tomorrow is my last day of training!

1/26/12: Training Day 2

Today was FULL of hanging out with Goofy as he played with Pluto and Chip and Dale.  I also got to explore the Disney Main Gate building a bit more, discovering the original serpent's head from Fantasmic as well as other artifacts of geeky interest.  After my nine-hour shift I managed to get myself registered for an Intro to Stilts class, which is awfully exciting.

And... that's about it for the day.  Big day tomorrow, though...

1/25/12: Training Day 1

YES!  It finally arrived!  This was the day I'd been looking forward to for QUITE some time.

The day REALLY started at a pretty normal-looking building (from the exterior anyways) south of Disney's Animal Kingdom.  Once inside, though, it's really an awesome place.  It has decorations like the puppets from Epcot's Tapestry of Nations parade, green army men from Toy Story rappelling from yo-yos, and two walls in one of the rooms we were in were painted in the same art style as the game Epic Mickey.

Obviously, there are lots of trade secrets I can't really go into any detail regarding. I did get to know Goofy pretty darn well today, and hung out with him quite a bit, paying specific attention to how he moves and reacts to situations.  Believe it or not, 10 hours of that (plus probably an hour both too and from work) has left me quite exhausted, and I've got three more 9-hour days of training ahead of me, so I (who just woke from a nap), will now proceed to pass out.

1/22/12: General Entertainment training

Today was my first day of Entertainment training.  For the most part it's nothing too exciting, though I did get to see some work-related stuff I'd been waiting to see for a while.  Also, we got to go to the Magic Kingdom and watch Dream Along With Mickey while on the clock, so I certainly can't complain about that.

The day ended with us finally getting access to the Hub (the Disney employee website) and I got to see my schedule, as well as which characters I'll be "personal biographer" for for the first couple weeks!  Goofy, Tigger, Woody, Sulley, Mr. Incredible, and Frozone will all be friends of mine!

But I am tired, and more than ready to sleep.  However, I'm not sure if I'll be posting again for the next couple of days, since those are my days off so there won't be too much excitement.  'Kay see ya!

1/21/12: The day before training (including The Wizarding World of Harry Potter)

BUSY day today.  In a nutshell it involved Islands of Adventure (with Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Butterbeer), Universal Studios, Animal Kingdom, and all three castle shows at Magic Kingdom.  Better yet, at the end of the day I have five more people I'd consider my friends, which is always a good thing.  However, it's far too late for me to be up and I finally have my first day of training in seven and a half hours, so it's time for me to hit the hay.  Sorry for the short post.

1/20/12: Traditions

Today was Traditions which is the big training day every new Disney employee has to attend.  Traditions is, I'll admit, mostly dry information, but it was still a fairly entertaining day.  The day takes place in the Disney University building, which was a new experience.  Great Disney parks and animation pictures line the hallways, and ceiling tiles are pulled aside every several yards with a Disney character falling through each.  Also there is a gift shop just for employees where you can get some exceptionally cheap stuff.  After our initial info session, we loaded up the bus to the Magic Kingdom.

En route we passed behind the Fantasyland expansion which was a LOT of fun to see, and I finally got to experience the Utilidors (the employee tunnels beneath the Magic Kingdom).  We popped back up on Main Street and walked to Fantasyland before returning below and heading back for the second half of class.

At the end of the day I walked out with a wealth of information, a Donald Duck figurine, and (most importantly) my Disney ID and name tag, delivered by Mickey himself!  Now I need to sleep off a headache OR go get essentials at Walmart OR catch IllumiNations, my favorite nighttime show, at Epcot (which I can do for free now. :D).  Decisions, decisions...

1/19/12: The day before Traditions

Following yesterdays post I went out that night and meandered Downtown Disney with some folks I've met.  It's kinda' tough walking around, knowing that any money you spend could be lessened once you get your employee discount after Traditions.  Still, it was a good time followed by a mass Walmart run where I bought $60 worth of necessities, and still, naturally, need to make another trip to get things that I missed or were out of stock.

Today was a calm day.  I went to the Marriott I stayed at before to pick up some stuff I had left behind, and, on the way back, picked up the Epcot bus.  Epcot, I'm assuming you know, is partially made up of the World Showcase, which is employed by the international students that generally stay at The Commons.  The bus I was on stopped at said Commons to pick up a slew of World Showcase employees, and it honestly looked like "it's a small world" come to life with all the multi-cultural employees in their country-specific costumes.  I have to admit I was amused.

I made it back in time to walk to the one meeting I had today, which was pretty simple, just a lot of information about housing.  After that I got cleaned up and went to the Welcoming Party at Vista Way, where I won a polo, ate free food, and had my picture taken with Mickey and Minnie and Lilo and Stitch.  Honestly, I think that was the first time I've had my picture taken with characters in more than 15 years.

After that was wrapped up I got back to the apartment and had some folks over for dinner and Loaded Questions (naturally).  Like I said, it was a pretty chill day, though I am looking forward to Traditions tomorrow. :)

Also, an addendum to yesterday: I won a bumper sticker!  On the way to the Casting building one of the Internship Program coordinators was asking trivia questions.  I correctly responded that Goofy's original name was Dippy Dawg and won a free Disney souvenir, which is a rare thing indeed.

1/18/12: Check-in

So I woke up at 5:30 this morning, a full hour before my alarm.  I was tired, but I couldn't get back to sleep.  To my sister, I likened it to being a kid who woke up too early on Christmas morning and just couldn't get back to sleep.  I lay in bed for an hour before getting up and ready and grabbing the cheap cab ride to the entrance of the Vista Way apartment complex for check-in where I met with my roommates.  After some paperwork we grabbed the bus to the Chatham Square apartments and our new home.  We live towards the back corner of the complex on the top floor, resulting in a bit of a walk, but Lord knows I could use the exercise anyways.

After barely starting the unpacking process, we had to get back to the entrance and hop a bus to the Casting building.  Here most of the other folks learned exactly where they'll be working (Entertainment works in all four parks and the character breakfasts, so there was no big revelation for me here).  Naturally this was followed by more paperwork, as well as getting our schedules for the next few days, which I'll cover as they occur.

When all that was finished I hopped another bus back to the apartment (luckily the bus schedule is easier to figure out than I had anticipated).  Now I've got the wireless hooked up and will be heading out in a bit to do some essentials shopping and maybe swing by Downtown Disney, as it seems everyone is celebrating their new low-income job by giving it back to their employer in exchange for food.  Seems rational.

1/17/12: The day before check-in.

Well, I guess I’ll start with the facts.  Bear with me if you know all this, but I figured I’d put it all down.  Some number of months ago I applied to participate in the Disney College program.  This consisted of first an online questionnaire-type interview, followed by a phone interview.  Weeks later I was finally informed that I was accepted in a Custodial position for the Spring Advantage session (January 18th through August 3rd).

I’m pretty sure Custodial is the LEAST popular position, but it was actually the one I had been hoping for.  In most other positions, such as Merchandise, Attractions, or Food and Beverage, you’re just getting people through the line as quickly (and as friendly) as possible.  Custodial, on the other hand, actually gets to interact with guests, which was really the whole point of me working down here.

Shortly thereafter, I made the trip up to Minneapolis to audition for my REAL goal, which was a performing position in the Entertainment department.  Lo and behold, I was accepted!  One important thing about this position is that I will not be any of the characters in the parks, as they are themselves.  I will simply be that character’s “official biographer” for the day.  No, by the way, I don’t know who yet.

So, yesterday I finally found myself on the plane Florida, listening to, as I promised myself I would years ago, the opening from Jason Robert Brown’s “Songs For a New World”.  Upon landing, my uncle was good enough to drive very far out of his way to pick me up from the airport and drop my off at a hotel where, my ridiculously lucky circumstance, my sister is currently residing for work.  This hotel is less than a mile away from where I have to be at 7:30 tomorrow morning to finally check in.

True to character, I’ve obsessed over this whole thing for awhile now, so I know, in theory at least, what’s coming up in the next few days, but I’ll blog that bridge when I get to it.