one week down

so I have finished my first full week with the Walt Disney Company! hooray! today we had to be in early so that we could do check outs on our first script on stage with the mics before guests got into the park. I passed! :) so now I get to move on to the next one for Monday. We didn't do anything terribly exciting today except get to see the remaining 3 KDCs that we hadn't already been to on Wednesday. These were the Dinoland, Camp Minnie Mickey, and Tree of Life KDCs. We also got rained on which I suppose I'm going to have to get used to here in Florida seeing as how it rains almost every day. The most exciting part about today was that I found out that after next week my regular days off will be Fridays and Saturdays which I'm pretty pumped about since those were my first choices! We have the next two days off so I think some of the interns, mostly the girls, are going out tonight since this will be one of the last times we will all have off together! Next week we will have 2 shadow days where we will work in small groups out in the parks and 2 days of pairs and then the week after we are on our own for good. I'm kind of nervous but pretty excited to get out there and interact with guests too! Have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday

Today was a really fun day! This morning we got to see 3 of the KDCs in action and actually open the boxes, see all the props and get a better idea of exactly what we will do there. We saw the Conservation Station one, the one in Asia and the one in Africa. Then in the afternoon we got trained for our section of the parade route and actually got to watch the parade and then we went to see the Festival of the Lion King show! sometimes it amazes me that they are paying me to do these things! :) Luckily we have a day off tomorrow so I will be running some errands and possibly playing in the parks some but mostly I will be working on memorizing my scripts that I have to know by Friday! Sorry this is short but I am in the process of getting ready to head to EPCOT to meet up with some of the other interns for dinner and some fireworks!

PS--I have had more than one comment about pin trading. We will definitely be able to participate in pin trading, I'm not really sure where it came out that we couldn't. The only times that we are not allowed to have pins on us is when we are dealing with the animals in the showboxes for the safety of those animals. (hard to balance a bug and trade pins with three eager children at the same time!) So that's what's up with that!

Tuesday

Just got home from another day of training. Although today was way more fun! It was mostly based on learning content about some of our animals that we will be teaching about and we toured Dinoland today. There are 3 positions that we could and will be working in Dinoland which are the KDC there, in front of the American Crocodile, and giving a presentation at SUE, the T-rex. And because SUE is so close to the Dinosaur ride we all got to head on over and test it out too! Just for the sake of research of course! :) because we have to remember that time travel is dark, loud, bumpy and sometimes things jump out at you so it may not be suitable for all children. We also got to see our presenter trailer where we will start and end every day which is backstage near the main gate. In the afternoon the invertabrate keeper team came in to give us lots of information and show us some of the bugs, spiders, tarantulas, and snakes that we will be working with everyday. It was very neat, although I have to say that the hissing cockroach is probably never going to be my favorite animal. Tomorrow we are scheduled to do classroom work in the morning and then we are out in the park exploring three more of our KDCs to kind of get a feel for what we will be working with there! Hope everyone is enjoying this daily update and if you have any specific questions about what all the presenter team has going on or anything here at Disney feel free to post those!

Monday!

So its the end of Monday and I've got to say I'm not quite as tired as I was yesterday. I hope that means that I'm adapting to the working girl lifestyle quickly. :) Today was our first day of on the job training. It was also the first day of costumes! That's right we we all looking awesome sporting our pleated shorts, hiking books, and safari vests all day long! but at least they were more comfortable than business attire in the 107 degree weather. We spent most of the day in the classroom learning technical stuff but we did head out into the park a little bit and got to see a bunch of the KDCs (kids discover clubs) and animal positions where we will be giving presentations and interacting with guests. We also got to see the bird show which I haven't seen in a long time and it is definitely a great place to sit down and take a breather in the shade if anyone is every at DAK looking for this kind of relief! That's basically all that happened. Tomorrow is another 8-5 day of training and I believe it will be even more classroom work than what we did today which is kind of a bummer but they promise us we will get to go out and see the parade one day this week! Maybe it will be tomorrow! here's hoping...

Day 2 and 3!

Hey all! sorry I didn't update yesterday but I'll fill you in: Yesterday morning we had Traditions which is a 4 hour training class that Disney has for all of its new employees that basically outlines all the history of the company up to date and emphasizes that the beliefs that Walt Disney himself developed however many years ago are still practiced here today and that's what makes the "Disney Difference". Then after that we had lunch and then met up with Nadine (my boss) who took us to a room with computers where we learned how to log into the Hub which is Disney's intranet system and also we learned how to put in our hours so that we get paid. Very important!! lol! so after everyone was finished with that we all headed over from Disney University where we were which is behind the Magic Kingdom over to costuming at DAK (Disney's Animal Kingdom) to get fitted for costumes! they are stunning let me tell you...not...but there are costumes that could be worse. I checked out 5 shorts and 5 shirts and my vest, belt and rain gear which we keep in a fanny pack (go ahead rebecca you can laugh at me its ok!)
Today was our DAKlimations training which started at 8 this morning with a 3 hour walking tour of the park. We saw basically everything there is to see and even got to sit in on a showing of "Its tough to be a bug". Then we had lunch in the cafeteria which was pretty good food although a little pricey so I'm planning on taking my lunch pretty often to save some bucks. After that we headed over to the safari where we interns got our own safari truck with an animal keeper who told us all about the animals we saw. Then it was off to the classroom where we had another 4 hour class which was basically about guest interaction and creating the magic! It was pretty interesting but made for a long day. Although I cant complain too much because after it was all said and done they gave us each 2 fastpasses for Expedition Everest which made for a great way to end any day at Disney.
Now that I have my ID I'm hoping to get some people together to hit the parks one night especially for some fireworks some where. We are off Thursday, Saturday and Sunday this week so maybe one of those days if I'm not too exhausted. Well that's all for now...on the job training starts tomorrow from 8-5!

first day!

So my first day is over and done with! It really wasn't too bad or overwhelming. I started with paperwork at 11:30 and was done by about noon. Then I went back to the apartment and met up with Dessa and her mom and we turned around and left again to meet with our managers at 1:00 after we dropped off Dessa's mom across the street at Downtown Disney. Our meeting was with the 3 animal programs managers and all the animal programs interns, which includes the vet people, the seas people, animal nutrition, and us presenters. Probably around 40 people total. We did a quick icebreaker basically to get everyone to say their names, schools and hometowns. Turns out one of my managers is from Columbia, SC and went to USC and there is another intern who either goes to or just graduated from Coastal but I cant remember what her internship was. After that we went over our schedule for the upcoming week starting with Traditions tomorrow morning at 7:30!! Which is why I have to go to bed now but I will put in more updates as the week goes on! Goodnight all and I hope you have magical dreams! :)

Tomorrow!!!

Just a quick update...I'm here in Florida and tomorrow is the big day! Check in and the start of my Disney experience! Here's hoping we get an itinerary tomorrow so that we can get an idea of when and where we are supposed to be! I'll keep you all updated!

Moving Weekend!

Well the weekend went better than I had ever hoped! Mama and I went to pick up the big truck on Thursday and got it home and loaded without any major issues, so we were pretty close to ready to roll by the time Papa got home. I dropped Layla off at Lauren's because Hunter agreed to watch her this weekend (and next week while we are at Salkehatchie), so all that was left to do was get our La Bamba fix and hit the road. Went went all the way to Brunswick, GA on Thursday night so that our drive on Friday wouldn't be so bad and so that we would have time Friday afternoon to start unpacking. When we got there the lease was all drawn up and ready to sign...all 20 pages of it!! but we got the keys, the gate card, and learned how to use the alarm system and then we were ready to go. However, by this point it was raining so we hit up chic-fil-a for some late lunch and then headed back. We started by getting everything out of the truck that we brought down except the mattresses. Then it was time for Ikea!! haha however the first trip was a stressful one since we got there with only like 2 hours to get all the stuff we needed. But we did get it all, including the couch and my new bed! We put the couch together first because it was the biggest piece with the most steps and it took all 4 of us but we got it done. everything else went very smoothly! My family was such a great help and we are now all very handy with an Allen wrench! :) We were done with everything but the decorating by Saturday afternoon which of course meant another Ikea trip and a Target trip. In between there we had an interesting adventure to return the Penske truck where we got to see a side of Orlando that I will probably never visit again! When we got back we all got to take a shower and put on clean clothes and we went to dinner at the carrabas thats really close to my place. The only thing left to do on Sunday morning was hang the curtain in the living room which proved to be slightly frustrating but Mama and Papa got it done! Then it was time to hop in the Hybrid and head home. Now everything will be in place for when I get there in two weeks and I am so grateful for that! I have a wonderful family!!

And now for some pictures:

Pictures!

Kitchen

Dinning Room

Living Room -- including Mama's awesome pillow and curtain sewing and her abstract art!

Patio

My batrhoom

My Room

getting closer!

So its almost time to head down to Florida and move all my stuff! We have finally confirmed color schemes for both the common areas and for my bedroom. The living/dinning area is going to be a combo of kelly green and bright orange. Mama is working hard to sew the curtains and pillows and I greatly appreciate it! My room is going to be black and white with bright green accents! Its all coming together and I think we are all really excited to get my stuff moved.

I also have been searching the internet for some more info on exactly what I will be doing from day to day. Disney is notorious for not giving out much detail until you are actually down there so I hadn't found much until today. I found a girl on facebook who I will be working with and whose current roommate currently has the same internship that we will be starting in June. She gave me all the inside scoop, including the fact that we will work 8:15 am-5:15 pm every day and we get the same two days off in a row every week. I'm supposed to be thinking about which days I want off because we will put in our request our first week of training.

I think I've almost got everything purchased that I will need including my cool hiking boots and some squishy insoles to go in them. Also, I completed my professional attire with 2 pairs of trousers that I got today so I can attend any company meetings, seminars and/or classes in appropriate attire!

I guess that's all the updates I have for now but be looking for pictures of the newly decorated apartment after we return this weekend!