Trainee no more!

I hope everyone back home and at school are enjoying the snow! It's nice and sunny here :) The past few days have been crazy busy but I am really enjoying what I'm doing. I have finally "earned my ears" and can officially work on my own now! It's scary but fun. There are a lot of people who are willing to help me if I need it (there are also some people who are not willing - maybe they shouldn't be working at Disney?).

Thursday and Friday were my last two days of training. As I said in my last post, I absolutely loved my trainer Matthew as well as the other three people I was training with. I'm so upset that we won't get to be together every day like we were in training. Hopefully, I'll be able to see them while working though! Our training was a combination of reading, working on the turnstiles, taking the monorail, etc. We were all over the entrance to Magic Kingdom. It felt like we spent a lot of time just hanging out and having fun, but at the end of the day I realized that I had learned so much! On Thursday, the first day we actually worked on the turnstiles, we learned first hand about media relations when Honey Boo Boo came through our turnstiles! (Honey Boo Boo is a little girl who used to be on Toddlers and Tiaras and then got her own spin-off show... not sure why exactly, but she's famous!). We are not to acknowledge celebrities, so we just treated them like any other family. It was pretty cool though! Magic Kingdom is in the process of changing over all of their Legacy turnstiles (the silver ones with the rotating bars) to new touchpoint ones. They are much simpler to use but unfortunately, not all tickets are configured to work on them yet. It makes it a little difficult because some guests don't realize that they don't have the right tickets for the touchpoints, but luckily we have Guest Relations cast members behind us so we can direct them there for assistance. It's much different than the Legacy turnstiles but I think it's cool to say that I was part of the transition from old to new. The new ones are very high-tech.

Once I finished training on Friday, it was time for an assessment. The assessment was on Saturday and lasted about four hours. I had to show that I could work the turnstiles and I also had to answer some transportation questions and take a written test. The cast member who assessed us, Reggie, was very nice and helpful. He asked some questions that we didn't know the answer to, but it wound up being a good thing because we were able to learn something new! After four hours, I learned that I had passed my assessment! Then, I had to go work on my own for two hours. It wasn't too bad, I think I did alright. It is nerve-wracking being thrown out there by yourself after spending so many days grouped with others. For the next two weeks I will be working a lot of closing shifts, which hopefully will be a nice change from the early mornings I've had thus far! I just can not wait to have my car with me - these buses are driving me nuts!

Nicky, Stacey, Kacey, Me, Annie!

Despite how exhausting work has been, my roommates and I have been trying our hardest to do other things as well! On Thursday, a few of us went out to Buffalo Wild Wings with some other people we had met. Everyone was very nice and I was glad that we went because we were able to meet some new people. Friday night, we weren't as adventurous. Instead, we did some grocery shopping and then came back and watched a movie! It was a nice way to relax and spend some time with each other. Our schedules have all been crazy so we don't always get to see one another. We had cake for Nicky's birthday that Annie had made and surprisingly it was delicious! We were a
little nervous because Annie is known for being a  bad cook... Last night, five of the roommates plus another friend, Lewis, ventured to Magic Kingdom for fireworks and the parade! I felt crazy going there as a guest after being there all day as a cast member. It is very hard not to act like a cast member when you're not working - I am so tempted to start greeting all of the guests! The firework show is called Wishes and it was amazing, as usual. I still can't understand how Disney does it. Everything is just so perfect.

Lewis, Nicky and I enjoying cake and a movie!

Wishes!

A lot of people have warned us about 'losing the magic'. I really hope that that does not happen to me. I am having so much fun here so far, and while I understand that there will be days that I want to just go lay in bed all day, I hope that I can continue to love what I'm doing throughout my four months here. Soon, I will be getting trained in other jobs like PAC and Time Square Theater. I'm not sure what I'll be doing, but those are just some more Main Street operations! I hope everyone back home is staying warm - you all need some Disney magic to help clear that snow!

After Wishes!