Friday, January 21, 2011

Tickets tickets and more tickets!

The last 4 days have had some fun times, some less than fun times, and some incredibly educational hours.

We'll start with 4 days ago - Tuesday. I spent the day at the Animal Kingdom with fellow GR interns Michael and Liz. We were able to watch the Festival of the Lion King and It's Tough to be a Bug, ride Dinosaur, and eat some delicious food at the Yak and Yeti. Mostly I just wanted to wander around the park and really get a good feel for it (should I happen to pick up a shift there). We also stopped by costuming and I was able to pick up the right shirts.

Wednesday was spent at the Magic Kingdom. I haven't been there in about 12 years (or something) so it was quite a crazy day! Especially considering the fact that it's Disneyland - but not quite. We were lucky and the park was pretty empty that day so we got through almost every attraction in the park. I thoroughly enjoyed the interactive queue for Winnie the Pooh. I think that if things like that had been around when I was younger I would be all over it- now my germaphobe side gets the better of me. I absolutely loved Mickey's Phillharmagic and really enjoyed the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. Haunted Mansion had some really cool changes that I'm definitely going to want to check out again, and I got to ride the PeopleMover for the first time since riding it at Disneyland waaaaaaaay back in the day. I'd say overall it was a magical wonderful day that ended with the fantastic new castle show for the "Let the Memories Begin" promotion and "Wishes", the Magic Kingdom's beautiful fireworks show.

The last 2 days have been dedicated to ATS training. I have now learned how to do just about anything I want with a Walt Disney World resort ticket. I actually had a lot of fun in those classes because it was a wonderful mixture of a challenge that stimulated my brain, but also simple tasks that I could be proud to accomplish. I'm feeling really positive about getting started at Downtown Disney, especially because we keep getting told that ticketing will be a major component of our duties down there.

Aside from class and "research" as I like to call it, I've been meeting some wonderful people and finally starting to get settled out here in Orlando. My fellow GR interns are a fabulous, diverse, fascinating crew that I love getting to know more. I really hope to pick up some shifts in other parks so I can work with these people and learn more about them. I've also been making friends with other professional interns in different departments and they all have lots of great stories to tell and advice to give. Finally, last night I checked out a group that was started for CPs, but includes people from all walks of life. They stem from the First Baptist Church of Orlando but they're basically just a community of believers looking for support, inspiration, and lots of fun in the people around them. I went to a "breakfast for dinner" event with them last night and had the time of my life. I haven't felt that comfortable with a group of people since moving to Orlando. Sometimes it's hard to remember that God always provides - so when He does, it knocks the wind out of you a bit. Either way, I'm thanking Him for the google search that led me to this uplifting community.

Tomorrow is my property orientation for Downtown Disney (it's only 3 hours, but I'm sure it's gonna be jam packed and full of really useful information). Sunday is church and an outing with these new friends, then Monday another trip to WWOHP, and finally on Tuesday I get to start my OJT (on the job training). I cannot wait to get my hands dirty and start helping these guests! I want to make some magic here!

-Just realized I forgot the "less than fun times". Just goes to show how meaningless they are. But anyway, brilliant Jillian managed to lose her Disney ID within the 2nd week here. I know I know, I'm scatterbrained. But yes, getting it back was a bit of a process because I haven't actually started training yet, but the wonderful cast member at Security was able to call around and help me out, and even though he teased me a bit for losing it so quickly, I was able to get my ID back without any major repercussions. :)

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