Showing posts with label work. Show all posts

June 25: Little April (June) Showers

So yesterday before work I went to Magic Kingdom a few hours early for work! I got fastpasses for Jungle Cruise (which i had never been on before), Splash Mountain, and Haunted Mansion (of course).

I really do enjoy going to the parks by myself - it's so great not to worry about other people's plans, or make sure everyone is having a good time, and you can go on your own pace.

I also went to Pecos Bill for lunch because it was close to my fastpasses, and saw Festival of Fantasy from the restaurant. Then I headed to work in the South! I absolutely love working in the West (Adventure/Frontierland), and I dread going to work in the South - but it wasn't all that bad! I got to work with one of my friends from the West, and another one of my friends who works in the East! 

I also got put on Parade, so I got to watch Wishes and both Electrical Parades with a great view. I can't complain about that!

This morning we FINALLY saw Inside Out and it was so amazing! I love how the subject was actually pretty intense and mature for kids, and I think it opens up discussion about how kids' feelings are valid - and being happy all of the time is not always a good thing.

I made it back in time to get to my second Disney Heritage class where we talked about Walt and Roy and how between Walt's creativity and innovation and Roy's business sense they were the ultimate dream team - and because of that they could build up the Disney studios to what it is today! 

My plan was to head to Magic Kingdom after I made dinner and did laundry, but then the floodgates opened up and it poured....just a typical Florida evening. It's not all bad - I got to relax while still doing something productive with my evening AND i'm going to try and get to bed early. 

My shift goes until 230am tomorrow, so I'm going to need lots of sleep (and coffee) to get me through! how many more days until my next day off? #justkidding 

Here's to another week of making magic! How do I only have 6 weeks left to my program???? Time, stand still for a little while would ya?

love + pixie dust,

sarah

June 4: A Day in the Life

Here's a little spoiler: despite all of the exciting things I get to do on a daily basis, I actually spend the majority of my time here in florida actually working.

i know, i know, this comes as a shock.

"but look at all the fun things you're doing!" "look she's at magic kingdom for the second night in a row"

days off, friends.

But in reality, I work 30-40 hours a week, sleep for not enough hours, and spend 1-2 hours every day trying to convince myself to do something productive/exciting.

SO here's what my day was like yesterday - all of the gory details, in which I did NOTHING exciting

10:27 - Woke up. We were in Magic Kingdom the night before, didn't get home until 2am, so I was tired. Stayed in bed complaining about how tired I was.

11:30 - Made food.

12 - facetimed my family

1pm - started getting ready for work. whined about not wanting to go to work to Val and Anita.

2pm - went to the bus stop 2 hours before my shift because the later bus didn't get to work on time.

2:30pm - got to Vista, had to change buses "because this one is broken" (why did we just travel like 20 minutes on a broken bus????)

3:15pm - arrived at Westclock bus station, got the shuttle to magic kingdom

3:30pm - grabbed my stuff from my locker, then waited until a socially acceptable time to go to the breakroom.

3:45 - clocked in, then waited until my actual start time to get an assignment.

4pm - started work. Splash zone.

4-12:15am - literally walked around sweeping up garbage, changing trash bins, and answering "where's the exit from splash mountain" far too many times to count.

12:30am - got off work

12:46am - missed the bus that came at 12:45 by ONE MINUTE and had to wait 30 minutes for the next one

1:22am - got on the bus, promptly fell asleep.

1:46am - got off the bus, walked to patterson

2am - finally made it into bed.

So, that's a typical working day in my life. It's long, sometimes boring, like any job is. Thankfully, I keep myself entertained, meet a lot of different cast members that I wouldn't have met otherwise.

This morning I woke up at 9:30 and couldnt get back to sleep, so I made breakfast and I think I'm going to make my lunch/dinner and hit the pool for the afternoon! I don't work until 6:45, so I have a few hours to kill before I need to start getting ready.

May 29: Flyin' Solo

Yesterday was my first official day on the job! In the morning I got up early to go to Walmart because I had no groceries in the house, and got home long enought to change, grab something to eat during my supper break, and headed out the door again!

I got assigned to be around Splash Mountain, which was a slightly intimidating place to be on my first day. It went okay though! Thankfully pretty much all of the custodial cast members are super nice and helpful and went out of their way to make sure I was doing alright! The night went by pretty fast - even though it included cleaning up 2 code "V"'s - and splash closed early, so it was basically empty by 10:30. One of the things I appreciate about being in Frontier/Adventureland is that from 10pm when wishes starts until closing it pretty much clears out.

Everyone asks me if I like my job/how hard is it/is it disgusting/etc, and yeah, it is sometimes. It's not glamorous or exciting, but I do get to talk to people and have the freedom to strike up conversation without a time limit. Yesterday I had a couple of memorable moments, but there's one that has stuck with me throughout the day.

I was sweeping up and a lady in a wheelchair asked about the time of something or where the exit was or something like that. I answered her question and was about to walk away when she saw my nametag and said to her granddaughter that we had the same name! Of course, I took this as a moment to create a conversation and made a joke about all Sarah's being princesses (because 'Sarah' means princess) and noticed that she had an "I'm celebrating" button! I asked what she was celebrating and she told me the story of how she is now 7 weeks cancer free and they had come to disney to celebrate. To be honest, I teared up a little as she told me about how excited she was to be here and how good she felt now. I celebrated with her in that moment because I could. I was so excited for this woman who I had literally talked to for less than five minutes. I'm still celebrating 24hrs later.

That's the part of my job I love. I don't love cleaning up bodily fluids, I'm not a huge fan of cleaning toilets and changing garbages, but I love getting to meet people from literally all walks of life. I've met people that come to disney once a week, families that have been saving for years to make this once in a lifetime trip. I've seen friends, couples, honeymooners, retirees, and families all experiencing the magic of disney. The magic that lets them - even just for a little while - forget all of their troubles and worries and leave reality behind.

I've heard a lot about Walt Disney since I've been here, and I continue to learn more about his business models and how he created an empire so successful, and that was a core of his beliefs. To make a place where the whole family can come and escape for a while.

All of that rambling aside, I survived my first real shift. only approximately 60-80 more to go! :)

May 28: FInished Training + Hollywood Horror Faces

These past few days have been ridiculous and fun and tiring. I had to double check to see if i had posted about animal kingdom because it feels like at least a week ago!

So....that was.....monday???? What day is it even?

Okay. So tuesday I worked from 2pm until 11pm, which meant that I spent the morning complaining and being lazy around the apartment, had a day of training, and then went to bed. Exciting, hey?

Yesterday I had my second day of on the job training, which was potentially the longest day of my life, and I was exhausted on the way home until Anita messaged me and said that they were going to hollywood studios to watch fantasmic! we ended up running and missing the first little bit but it was so wonderful as per usual! It is definitely tied with wishes for my favorite disney show!

After Fantasmic! we saw that the wait time for hollywood tower of terror was super short so we went on that! It's also Anita's favorite ride and I had never been on it!

I'm not a huge fan of rides surprisingly, and I really am not a fan of rides that drop....so this was probably a bad idea, hence this ridiculous face i'm making:


We got home around 11 and pretty much went straight to bed! This morning we had to be at the Commons to get a bus at 6am to go apply for our american social security numbers because technically we shouldn't be working until we have one apparently! Right after our appointment I headed off to work for our final day of training! It was so great - our trainer was wonderful and made the day so fun and it went by so fast. 

I am surprisingly not tired, but I'm going to stay in tonight and relax anyway. Tomorrow morning I need to get up and go to walmart to get groceries and then I work in the evening until after midnight. I have Saturday off (even though i was supposed to work until 4am!) so I'll be heading to Hollywood Studios for at least part of the day since I've never really been there to experience the whole park!! :) 

love + pixie dust,

sarah

May 23: First Day on the Job!

Today was a tiring, but fun, day - my first "real" shift of work!

The day started off not too great - we got to our meeting place and no one was there to tell us what to do! We finally got everything sorted and Emilie (another girl from Canada) and I were set up with our coordinator in Magic Kingdom West - Frontier and Adventureland! It was a little nerve-wracking considering we were basically brand new, still didn't know what we were supposed to be doing, and didn't really know our area too well, but we survived! We just had a sweeper shift so we basically floated around the area cleaning up and answering questions - and boy were there a lot of questions. I officially know where every bathroom from liberty square to the end of adventureland and every nook and cranny in between. We also got to know a few people who work custodial in the area and they were all so nice and welcoming, and they helped us figure out how to do things like clocking in/out, cleaning up our pans and brooms at the end of our shift, etc. They really went out of their way to make us feel welcomed and not alone! :) 

the best part of my day was definitely interacting with guests because (for the most part) everyone is having a great time. My favorite moment happened near the end of my shift. A little boy hurt himself and was crying over by a fence in adventureland - i didn't see what happened, but i could clealy see that he was distressed and probably got a shock, so he wasn't really hurt by it. The mom was trying to calm him down, but it wasn't really working so i hauled out my handy dandy stickers and attempted to help. over the years i've learned that A) kids usually just need a distraction to stop them from crying, and B) everyone loves surprise presents. I told him that I had something very special for him (i've never seen a kid stop crying so quickly) -  Mickey Mouse gave me these stickers especially for times like this to make kids feel better if they're hurt or scared and that i really wanted him to have one if he'd like. He took it, and I asked him if it would be okay if we gave some to his siblings and if he would help me give them out. He was so excited to be giving his big brothers something that was offered only to him he completely forgot about being upset or being hurt. The mom thanked me and they went on to wherever they were headed like nothing had happened. I'm not sure if this was considered a "magical" moment - but it felt pretty magical to turn an upset kid into a happy kid. 

today was very long - and very hot - but I survived. It's going to take some getting used to this job, the people, etc. but it is pretty easy to smile all day when you see couples who just got engaged, families who saved up for years in order to have a vacation, and kids seeing their favorite stories come to life. Sure there were some moments I wish I was working in an air conditioned office, but this is where I'm meant to be - this time, this place, this moment - and I'm making the effort to see the potential in every conversation. Who knows what will come of this summer? I'm pretty excited to find out!

love + pixie dust,

sarah

May 22: First Day of Training.....???

So i feel like every day is my first day of training and I will never actually have a "real" day of on the job training...but today was my first day in "costume" (disney talk for uniform). 

Basically today was the last day of any orientation and classroom work for us (YAY! Finally!) and we had (another) walking tour of magic kingdom. Our facilitator was named Vince and he was so helpful and nice - and even let us make a little magic :) We were given stickers to hand out, got to experience some pin trading, and just had the opportunity to meet a lot of guests and create some smiles! It was so much fun :)

Since it is the 24 hour day at MK, after work I just came home and we went to the pool at our complex, then most of us just hung out at the apartment - and anita and I ordered Dominos, because we haven't eaten it in what feels like forever, and we both conveniently love pizza!

Tomorrow I work from 11am-8pm on my first shift as a trainee! I think it's a sweeper shift so it'll be an easy one (hopefully) to ease me into it! It's been great being in vacation mode for the past week or so, but i'm excited to start making magic to be honest! Having a little taste of it today has reminded me why I love working with kids! I'm hoping my kidmin training is going to help me with this :)

love + pixie dust,

sarah
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