My DCP Journey: Offically a Cast Member at Disney World!

Before I begin my blog I want to give everyone a run down of abbreviations you will see in the future throughout my posts.

· MK - stands for magic kingdom which is the busiest park at Disney world

· HS - stands for Hollywood studios. This is where I will be working.

· AK - stand for animal kingdom. This is another park at Disney world.

· Epcot – is the park with pavilions represented by each country. Many of the cultural exchange students work here.

Now onto my blog for today....

Thursday was one of the best days I have had while on my Disney journey. We had our traditions class at Disney University. The class is all about how the Walt Disney company came to be. We also learned about the core values of the company and how are roles effect our guests experiences. During our traditions class we got to explore MK and apply what we had learned in class. We were also able to experience how to get to different locations through employee tunnels back stage. I had a blast stepping foot into MK for the first time. It was very over whelming but I was also excited to be in a Disney world park. This was a very special class as we were given our Mickey ears and most importantly our name tag and Disney ID (see picture). Mickey even delivered the name tags himself and I got to get a big hug from him. That totally made my day. We also are now able to enter the parks for free!

After the class was over we headed back to our apartments to change and eat so we could head out to MK for the evening. When we got to the parks we went on some rides and we went to see some shows as well. At 9:15pm we were in front of Cinderella's castle (see picture) and we were waiting for our very first Wishes show to begin. Wishes is the fireworks show put on every evening at MK. The show finally began and it was nothing less than I expected. They showed all the different characters from Disney Movies and the music suited the show so well. The fireworks shot out over top of the castle and it was beautiful. As I was standing there with my friends, it felt surreal that we had just began our journey a couple hours ago. The music made me think of what brought me to Disney and made me think into the future of how hard it is going to be to say goodbye. It really put into perspective my reasoning for coming here. It was also so special because some of my friends were also brought to tears for other reasons as well. It bonded our group of 12 that much more.

Friday was another day of adventure. Since many of us hadn't slept a ton the night before, we were all exhausted and slept in. So we got a later start and headed out to Hollywood Studios around 2pm. I was so excited to go and see where I would be working. When we got to the park, we immediately signed up for fast passes to a couple of rides and shows that were still available. We then headed to see the Frozen sing along show. The show was fantastic and all of my friends and I were singing along like little kids. It was a fun time! We then headed for some rides such as the tower of terror and the toy story ride. After that we had booked fast passes to see the fireworks show called "Fantasmic". Unfortunately because it had been raining and there were thunderstorms in the forecast, the show had to be postponed. It was well worth the wait! When the show finally began, magic Mickey was out and getting us ready for the show. There were lots of animations and floats and of course Fireworks!! It was such a great show. I really enjoyed myself and I will definitely be going many more times in the future. That was a great end to a fun day!

Getting up at 5am on a Saturday was not pleasant, but when training is scheduled the show must go on. I dragged myself to training that morning and the first half of our day was all about operations and what make up this area of the Walt Disney company. My class had about 25 students in it and there were 4 other groups also at this training session just in different classrooms. The content was quite dry and that resulted in sleepy students falling asleep in class. I didn't fall asleep but I have never ever seen so many people falling asleep in class before. The facilitators of the class had to go and tap these people on the shoulder to wake them up. It was quite pathetic that this was happening. After the morning portion of the class, we had a lunch break. It was so peaceful but as always 30 min flew by so fast! After that, we went into separate rooms based on what area we are working in. As I am in food and beverage, I went into a classroom that had computers. I then sat through a lecture about food and beverage and the basics of how this area fits into the company. It was yet again very dry information. But after sitting through a 2 hour PowerPoint, I had to complete an online learning component of basic food safety. After that I headed to get my shoes in the wardrobe bundling.

By the time I got home it was already 5:45pm! So I made something to eat and then all of my friends came over for tea. We had great time chatting and playing cards.

Today was my day off and it felt so good to sleep in. I got up at 9am, went to the gym for a bit and then came back to my apartment and did some things. Our adventure today was to go to AK. We got to the park and we got fast passes for some rides and the Lion King Show. I met Donald Duck, Tarzan, and Russell and Dug from the movie Up! After the character meetings we headed to ride the Dino ride. It was good and a bit scary for younger kids. After that we went on a daytime safari. My friends and I saw many animals, many that I also haven't seen before. It was great and I loved it! After that we went on the roller coaster ride called Mount Everest. I thought I would be more scared but it wasn't as bad. The roller coaster at Playland is worse. It was so hot yesterday and we were all dying of over heating, so we decided to head to the raging Rapids water ride. After waiting in line for an hour we got on the ride. Some of my friends got soaked but I managed to only get a bit wet. It was very refreshing.

After the ride it was time for us to head to line up for "the Lion King Show". We sat inside the tents and the cast members taught us a clapping routine that we would need to participate in the show. As the show began, the cast members called people from the audience to help out and of course one of my friends got chosen. He had to make an elephant sound. He did a great job and it was so great to see someone I knew get involved in the show. The show was fantastic. There was acrobats, dancing and singing. It almost felt like Cirque du Soleil for a minute. I was singing along to all the song and enjoying the experience like a child! After the show the group decided to go to do an evening Safari. It was a totally different experience than the afternoon one and we got to see the lions. We also heard the lion roar, which was insanely loud and also very cool. We then headed to Mount Everest to do the ride again in the dark. It went so much faster and it was funner in the dark!

I am now about to hit the hay. I have another early morning tomorrow. Training starts at 8am!

Until next time,

Xoxo

Michelle