Almost done!

So today is one of my last days of training! I cannot believe I'm still "earning my ears" but I start Cash Register training and will be done with my support days on Saturday. All my friends are done, so I'm excited to be as well. Last night I got another 4 keys achievement card! I've really been enjoying work lately and am very happy. One of my managers who I really like though, got in a bad car accident, so please keep him in your prayers. Our work is not telling us anymore information but he was in surgery this week and I hope he's okay! Here's a picture of the achievement card and it explains what I got it for. Have a great week and drive safe!

Sunday Funday!

Today has already been so eventful and it's only 3:30! My roommate Hayley and I started off going to Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney's water parks! It was so cool and I have been wanting to go so I was so excited. We went on a couple slides and then went to the wave pool! It was so tiring and such a workout haha who knew I was so out of shape? After that we went to "sharks reef" which was a little snorkeling section that I got to snorkel with fish, sting rays and SHARKS! We just played there in the morning and then continued our adventure

Next, we went to Caribbean Beach Resort because Hayley is trying to figure out where her family is going to stay. We checked out the hotel and walked around a bit and then decided to go check out ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, because we both had never been there. The Braves have spring training here and it was just huge sports area...kind of boring.

We then continued our journey to a mall and did a little shopping as well as got some lunch. Now we're just driving back to our apartment and I have so much homework to do! Probably just going to take it easy and relax for the rest of the day. Happy Sunday!

Relaxing on my day off at Caribbean Beach

Typhoon Lagoon Wave Pool

Hayley and I

Snorkeling with sharks!

I'm on a Boat

Last night I went on a Boat Party! We took charter buses to Cape Canaveral, which is where all the cruise ships depart from, including the Disney Cruise Line! Once there we all received Boarding Passes and got on a 4 story cruise ship. It was so much fun! The 4th story was a night club so we were all dancing the night away. I met a lot of other CPs and ICPs as well! We were on the boat for about 6 hours and then drove back to the apartments. 

People I work with!

Waiting to board the boat!

This is my friend Morgan!

Dancing the night away!

Round Table

Work was really great today! I can honestly say I love my job....now that I have friends and know what I'm doing. I started at 2:30 and worked pizza pasta until about 4:30. For the next 2 hours I went to a meeting with about 15 other people called "Round table". We sat with one of our managers and just talked about our experiences so far, got explained some basic procedures, watched a motivational movie and then got to ask questions. When I went back to get my assignment I was scheduled for break! Haha it was awesome. Now it's only 11:00 and I'm off work plus I don't work tomorrow!

Days off!

Sorry it's been awhile..I've had a few days off so I've been out trying to do things! I had another "Marketing You" class yesterday and it was so great, once again. Part of our homework was to write a 30 second commercial, which is basically what you would say to introduce yourself to a future employer. Mine was something like, "Hello my name is Kelly Madden and it's a pleasure to meet you. I have been with the Walt Disney World company since January 2013 and am currently attending school at Northern Arizona University, working to get my degree in Hotel Restaurant Management. In the passed I have planned a few major events including Prom and Senior Ball which is why I'm standing here in front of you today. I was wondering if I could get 15-30 minutes of your time to sit down and discuss with you what you do and how you go to be where you are today. Again, my name is Kelly Madden, thank you for your time and here's my business card." So my teacher divided up the class room and for the first 10 minutes we were the "networkers" and the second 10 minutes we were the "leaders". It was a really good experience and although it was just in front of my class mattes, it was good practice. 

After class last night I went to Magic Kingdom to see the firework show for the first time! OH MY GOSH it was seriously incredible. 30 minutes before they do a reflection show on the castle and then the fireworks start. I was jaw dropped like the whole time. I went to the part with a few of my work friends and their roomattes. Mine met up with us for the show so it was neat because we were with a big group of people. I have been hanging with this girl Kristen a lot and I love her. We met at work and she's from California as well, so we get along really well. 

I found out more about the character auditions. Apparently less than 40 girls got picked out of the 800, so I feel really good that I was in that! Out of those, only 8 got "fitted" which means they try on the costumes and take pictures of them. From what I've heard everyone was between 5'2 and 5'4...and I was one of the tallest out of the 40 girls but the cool thing is, they were looking at me for Cinderella! So oh well! I'm going to go again in March and if I don't get it then no worries, it's not meant to be! 

Here's some pictures from the passed few days!

Pre Audition!

Downtown Disney's Candy Store!

Downtown Disney!

Kristen and Roomies!

Kristen and I on Thunder Mountain

Character Auditions

So I decided to go to character look a like auditions this morning and I made it passed first round! There were 50 girls in my group and they picked 4 girls. So far out of 400 girls they've picked 19! I'll keep you posted! I'm so anxious and excited.

So the next step was a dance routine.....hahaha lets just say I am not a dancer. They picked 4 girls and the rest of us got cut. There's about 800 people total so I was just happy to get picked for the next round. It was a fun experience and glad I went!

I MADE IT!

I'm laying in my bed, which has never felt so nice. I MADE IT THROUGH MY 12 hour day which including transportation was actually 14. It was crazy last tonight...we were so busy and of course, pizza/pasta is the busiest shop.

So for the first 2 hours of my shift I was at a Town Hall meeting, and guess who I met?! The manager of Art of Animations and Pop Century! He was at the meeting and it was so cool because he was the person who was in a lot of my training videos and there he was, standing infront of me. The Vice President of Resorts as well as the Manager off all Food and Beverage, and Guest Relations were there as well. Disney is introducing a new product called My Magic Plus and it was an informational meeting for us to learn more. Basically they have created these wristbands that are going to used for everything; your room key, fast passes, photo passes, merchandise transactions and much more. I think the coolest part about them is you can book your fast passes 60 days before you arrival day so you can kind of plan out your day, and its all stored on the wristband. There's so much more to these but if you have any questions or want to know more, just let me know. They are supposedly being released in the nest few months, they're currently in testing. 

So after my meeting I went back to work. I was in the pizza/pasta shop and was working as a "catcher'. Basically what this means is I am the one who is taking the pizzas, garlic bread, meatball sandwiches, and cheesy pesto bread out of the oven, cutting them, plating them and then putting them in our window. It was really difficult because at times I would have 15 personal pizzas coming out, as well as garlic bread and then like 5 family pizzas. The machine is a moving belt so if I didn't get them all out in time, it would all be ruined. From 9:00-10:00 we got a big rush. One of my coordinators went and check our transaction history and we had 523 transactions within the hour.....371 of which were from PIZZA PASTA!! So you do the math...thats a lot f pizzas in the oven! Haha it was very stressful and honestly I didn't really like the position but once it calmed down it was much better. After that one of my coordinators came and I got another certificate! I was so excited and it made it all worth it. On the card it says " great job on catcher keeping a level head and staying safe during super crazy times tonight. Way to go!" Its so nice how Disney acknowledges their employees for hard work. 

This morning I just got back from the pool and now I'm about to get some lunch with my roommates before I have to go back to work from 3:30-12. Did I tell you I feel like I live there more than my apartment yet? Haha 

This was me on my break! Can you find me?

Long day ahead....

Yesterday I had my second Marketing You Class. I left there so inspired because my teacher is seriously fantastic. The whole class was about how to network and we talked about the key essentials to present yourself, how to find a job and how to create a business portfolio and business cards, which is required so my class. I stayed a couple minutes after and talked to her about what I want to do...I told her I was interested in becoming a Wedding/Event Planner but will the people even meet with me now if I'm just a Freshmen? She told me to sign up for a little class they're having, which I already had done, and to schedule office hours with her so she can get me fully prepared with what to do and what to say. She's so personal and truly wants what's best for us so it was really nice. 

Later in the night we made a last minute decision to go to Magic Kingdom for some ice cream. We took the bus over and got there just in time for the Electric Parade! I had never seen it before and it was really neat. Did you know its the same exact parade as it was in 1970? Fun fact haha! After that we rode 2 rides then went home. We waited at the bus stop though for 2 hours because all the buses we needed, kept being full.

Cinderella's Castle has hearts on it for Valentine's Day 

Now I'm laying here in bed trying to relax for 20 more minutes because I have work from 1pm-1am today! There's a town hall meeting from 1-3 I believe but then after that, it's pizza/pasta. I'm nervous because that's a really long day...my bus leaves here at 12 and I won't get home till about 2. The good thing is, I'll get paid over time which is $11.70/hour!

Pizza Pasta Shop!

Tonight I trained in the pizza/pasta shop. I started working and about an hour in I had noticed my managers watching me, I thought maybe they were just observing to see how I was doing. Right before my break, my trainer had handed me one of those certificates acknowledging my hard work! I got another one :) she proceeded to tell me how good of a job I was doing and how it was very rare to get one as a trainee. The manager, Rob, who had signed it, I thanked later. He told me that all the managers were watching and were very impressed with how quickly I was catching on and how good I was doing with the guest. It made me feel really good. Again, that's something that goes on my Disney record so it was an excellent start to my day. I didn't like pizza/pasta as much because there's not tons of guest interaction and it's a lot more work than the other shops. I made lots of meatball sandwiches, pesto cheesy bread, cut a lot of pizzas and also sent 2 guests away forgetting to cut their pizza....oops :) I'm exhausted though and thankfully I have a day off tomorrow although I have class from 1:30-5:30. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

My girls!

So yesterday this mom had just checked in, and was all frazzled in the cafeteria. She wanted soup and salad but her 2 little girls wanted burgers so I had offered to take the girls to get their food while the mom got hers. I had talked with them about their favorite princesses, how excited they were and all about their lives for about 10 mins. The mom came back and had said "you have been so helpful can I write a comment card for you?" I kinda laughed and said no it's okay I'm new, it's my pleasure. So later in the night I saw them again and decided to surprise the girls with Mickey Mouse cupcakes. I went up to them and said "Mickey just called and told me to give these cupcakes to you! It's a gift from him and he wants you to have a great trip, he can't wait to meet you tomorrow!" They were so excited, I wish I could've gotten a picture of their face. It was too cute! So today I was working salad and they came running up to me "Miss Kelly Miss Kelly! Guess who we met today?" It was Mickey Mouse! They proceeded to tell me all about their day and were so excited because they went on Rockin Rollar Coaster and Hollywood Tower of Terror. It honestly made my night and made me feel so good...I can't wait to see them again tomorrow. It was such perfect timing because right before that we got the biggest crowd I have dealt with yet. It was crazy! Our hotel is at 100% capacity so we were crazy crowded all night long.

Another fun thing that happened today was when about 20 cast members including myself went and sang Happy Birthday to a mom, Art of Animation style. You know the song "in the jungle" from Lion King? We took that and changed the words to "It's your Birthday, a Disney birthday we're here to celebrate..." She was older and was with about 15 cheer moms because there's a big cheer competition this weekend, and so they all caught on and it was great. I'm super tired though and am working tomorrow from 4:30-1:00!

Celebration Cupcake!

Work today has been alright! I've been in dining room all day, which is good and bad. When it's slow it's so boring but when it picks up, it's more fun because there's actually people to talk to. Today it was this little boy Sam's birthday. He was so nice and so I decided to bring him a cupcake. He loved it! His face was priceless and the family was so happy. The people I meet here on a daily basis are just so great and thankful, it really makes me feel good. Hopefully after break I won't still be in dining but we'll see. A mom had asked me to watch her kid while she ran to the bathroom. It makes me laugh seeing all the different family dynamics around because doing the simplest things like taking their plates can make the parents night when they have screaming children. 

I wrote this post yesterday on my break. The rest of my shift was really tough though. My job is hard work and I keep thinking It's going to get better...it's going to get easier but I'm just not there yet. It's really frustrating but I'm hoping time will help. I'm getting ready to go to work right now and because yesterday was a tough day, it's hard for me to stay positive and be excited for work. Hopefully I get put in an area I enjoy working so the time goes by fast. I'm off at midnight though! My roommate has the stomach flu now as well, I have a midterm due for my online class tomorrow and homework to do for my Disney class Monday. It's very stressful trying to balance everything plus trying to fit sleep in there. I'll let you know how tonight goes later, happy friday everyone! 

Marketing You

This morning I made up my missed class from Monday, called Marketing You. I LOVED it! My teacher was so great, energetic and helpful so I'm very excited about taking this course. My teacher's name is Penny, she has worked for the company for 32 years, so she's going to be a great resource for me to know. The class is based on building your career and helping you figure out how to get to your dream job. In this class I am required to create my resume, cover letter, portfolio and many other key components. I found out today that I got into the most wanted class with the best teacher :) I think this course is only going to help me further, and its nice because the required work is all going to be needed to be done eventually so now I'm just getting credit for it. 

Now I'm just laying down for about 20 mins before I go to work. I'm working from 3:30-12:00 tonight so I have a busy busy day! Something I forgot to share about in my last post was the Mator Shuffle. If you have seen the movie cars you'll understand that Mator is one of the characters. If you haven't then I definitely recommend seeing that movie. Anyways, in the middle of my shift yesterday a co-worker asked me to grab a kid and meet him in the middle of our cafeteria. So I did and there were probably about 20 of us total. We proceeded to sing and dance to the hokey-pokey but changed it to "cars" terms, because thats a main theme to our hotel. For example, we "put our headlights in" or our "right fender in" compared to our head or right arm. It was really fun and it was a "magical moment" for our guests because it was so unexpected. I hope I get to participate in more because I had so much fun.

Mornings?!?!

Well I'm sitting here on my break at work terribly confused. As you all know, I've been working night shifts. Well, this morning I had class from 6-9 and now I'm at work until 3. Working mornings and nights are much much different! I got thrown into breakfast and I don't even know the menu! Today was supposed to be my support day for burgers but I won't start that until lunch time.

My class required me to get up at 4 this morning in order to get to work on time. I feel like I've been up for forever and it's only 10:15. Today is going to be a long day but it will be nice because I'm done at 3! I would so much rather work this shift but my body is finally getting adjusted to the other one...so it's a tough adjustment, plus I don't really have a preference choice.

This morning I learned all about the 4 key basics to Disney; safety, courtesy, show and efficiency. Basically these were created as an overall company language so everyone has the same goals for how to treat the guest and how to act. Walt Disney again "talked to us" about how we are apart of creating the magic here for everyone. Although the class was really hard to stay awake for, because it was so early,there were some interesting and informational facts I learned. I think my favorite part was hearing all the stories that my instructor told us about guest interactions and how doing the simplest things for us, can makes a guests vacation. I'll share a quick one for you!

A family walked up to the cash register to pay for their meal and the cashier over heard the mom and daughter talking about how this girl was going to lose her front tooth soon. Her brother had said. "Well that sucks for you, the tooth fairy isn't going to know we're here so I guess that means she's not visiting you!" This obviously saddened the little girl, so the cast member had said well (brother) you are right but did you know that the fairies are all friends? We actually have a fairy here that works pretty closely with the tooth fairy, you might have heard of her, her names Tinker Bell! The girls eyes instantly lit up. The cast member said, "If you lose your tooth here you'll just have to wait and see, she will come." So then she proceeded to check the family out and stopped the mom as they were leaving and said here take this and handed her a Tinker Bell pin, she said, "if she loses her tooth leave this under her pillow." So the next day, the cast member was re stocking the shelf when who came up to her? The little girl. The family had come back because the little girl wanted to show her the pin!

It's stories like this that make me so happy. A pin costs nothing for this company, but it's an experience that family will remember forever. I'm feeling a little better today but still not great, I can't wait to take a nap after work! Hope everyone has a great day!

It's been awhile!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, I got the stomach flu unfortunately so I've been down and out...but I'm back. It wasn't how I was expecting to have my first day off at all but today was much better. On Sunday I got trained in Burgers and that was a lot of fun. It was soo much guest interaction which was nice because time went by really fast. On Monday, I literally just slept and laid in bed all day because I was getting sick. Such a bummer...

Today I woke up feeling much better though and actually went to Magic Kingdom. Lyssa, was friends with Dale today so my friend Kevin and I went to see her. We did a few rides like Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain but really just went to hang out, look in the shops and kind of relax. It was really nice. It's such a fun feeling not having to be rushed and just go to the parks for fun. On our way in we actually stopped at the Grand Floridian Resort, which is the nicest resort on Disney property. It was beautiful! Kevin kept telling me I had to wash my hands there so we stopped in to just do that haha. They had a shop with bath salts and body lotion but overall the resort was beautiful! Its right on the water and you can see the castle from the hotel!

Outside of Magic Kingdom over looking the water!

Chip n Dale in Frontier Land

Dancing with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb

I just got back to my apartment and Lyssa and I are going to go check out the outlet malls. They're about a 10 minute walk from my apartment but we're going to drive because we have to run errands after and we're lazy. I just received a letter from my mom and it was so sweet. My Uncle Keith also sent me 6 Chicago style pizzas!!! So I know what I'm having for dinner tonight :) 

Got new pins!

My dad sent me a package yesterday!! His new place is by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and right now they have the Walt Disney Exhibit. He sent me 3 different pins and also the original name tag. They're all really neat because that's the only place you could buy those pins! I have 1/500 Donald Duck pins, and the yellow rectangular one is a replica of the first Disneyland ticket sold! All very neat and those are definitely not pins I'm trading away! The other ones like the castle, Tinker Bell and Minnie Mouse are all ones I purchased. 

18 months

Tonight has been pretty good so far. I'm sitting here at my lunch break right now and I'm just really tired. All day I've been at the condiment bars, refilling, cleaning and answering questions for the guests. It's been fun because there's lots of guest interaction and I enjoy that. You get to do fun things like call little girls "princesses" and today I helped carry food back to a family's room. It was cool talking to the mom because she was telling me she has been saving up for 18 months every pay check to be able to take her kids here. It's experiences and stories like this that are so motivating to hear and make you so want to go that extra step for every guest.

I will probably be bussing, doing trash runs and dish runs for the rest of the night. My feet hurt so bad, these shoes are not the most comfortable. Anyways I'm very very excited to sleep tonight! 1 more day and then I have 2 days off! Can't wait :)

Otter!

Hayley and I were just tanning at Mickey's Retreat before work today and we saw an otter in the lake! It was so cute and so close to shore. You can't swim in the lakes here which is different than California but it's a beautiful day out and now I'm about to go to work!

Feeling good!

Tonight was sooo much better! Thanks to everyone who encouraged me after reading my last post, Grandma I really appreciated your email. Although I was training today in everyone's least favorite spot to work I had a great time. To start the day off, one of my coordinators, Begoinia, gave me a certificate acknowledging me for my hard work done yesterday. I then had to have a manager sign it, and then put 1 of the copies in a box which then gets used for prize drawings! So that was a wonderful start to the day :)

I got a new trainer today named Travis who was training my friend Kema and I in "Dining room" which includes; trash, dishes, and the condiment bar areas. For obvious reasons this is people least favorite place to work but because I was with my friend and the fact that we had a cool trainer it made it less miserable. Time actually flew by today and I enjoyed being out on the floor because there was lots of guest interaction. I had been bussing one family's table for awhile and at the end the little girl ran up and gave me a tip! Disney employees are not allowed to accept tips, but the family refused to take it back so I went to my manager and they told me I could keep it.

It's a funny feeling having such opposite schedules as my roommates because I haven't seen Lyssa in 3 days now! I saw Allie and Lexie this morning but other than that we've all had such different schedules. I'm almost home now, just pulling up to my apartment but the bus is my favorite time to blog and I find it to be very relaxing. Tomorrow I'm on my own for everything that I got trained in today, so lets hope tomorrow's as good if not better than today!

What time is it now?

10 hours of sleep later...I'm alive! Yesterday was a brutal day of work, just very long and exhausting. My body is so thrown off by my working schedule and I am just so tired. My first job yesterday was to stock the main fridge.....3 hours in a 33 degrees FREEZER! It was cold to say the least. We then got taken to costuming which was a nice break because for Florida it was chilly yesterday, so they got us jackets (after the freezer). Haha I then got to take my lunch break which was delicious! I tried the barbecue beef sandwich and Mickey ganache for the first time, both really good. Next, I proceeded to ask someone where the manager was, who was my manager so that was a good first impression, not. After that I got assigned tasks like mopping and sweeping...once I could finally start clean up, closing the bakery took me 2 and a half hours because its normally a 2 person job but we were short staffed. So as you can see I had a very frustrating/long day and am not wanting to go back today because I'm exhausted. I finally got home at 3am and now it's almost time to go back, here's to another day of training!