Christmas Day Photos!

They gave us these rice crispy snowmen at the bus stop. They tasted horrible, but they look cute and hey, it showed they appreciate us lowly CPs just a little!



I woke up reeeeeaaally early before work to go to my friends apartment to open presents! This is their Charlie Brown Christmas tree with all their present under it. Our tree was bigger, but we had about one quarter of the gifts.



We went around in a circle opening our gifts one at a time. Jenna and I were the first to run out, but it was fun watching everyone get their presents!

This is Cami getting her pirate presents!



Jenna and her super cute footy pajamas. (Okay, so they didn't actually have footies, but I have no other word for these! LOVE them! lol)



Katelin and her car ride certificates... she wanted a car so a coupon for a ride when she gets back home is at least a little close.



Emily and her princess hat.



Kelly and her bling-a-licious purse!



And the only picture I have of me is after opening the book that Cami gave me. Thanks Cami! (But also thanks to Mom who also gave me some Christmas gifts! THANK YOU! And sorry I don't have photos of me opening them!)



Less than a year til NEXT Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve

Second post of the day. But I wanted a mini-update real quick. Because I wanted to note how totally EASY and SLOW the parades were tonight!

It was soooooo stinking sloooooow.

Probably cuz I was west though. The south was totally packed. And my friends who worked south said they sent everyone over to us but nobody wanted to come.

Guests have this weird idea in their head that the parade is only able to be seen from Main Street and that if you watch the parade in any other spot on the parade route, it's not as good or has different dance moves or something. They don't believe us when we repeatedly tell them it's good EVERYWHERE!

But it was a great Christmas Eve. We all jumped and cheered at midnight, and our managers kept us informed all night as to the whereabouts of Santa. He passed over Florida and was headed into Georgia around 11:45. He started in Europe this year, though and was somewhere around Italy as I started work.

Now I get to look forward to TOMORROW!!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas! Seriously. It's is by far the most wonderful time of the year. And despite the fact that I have to work a lot and don't get to see any of my family, I still am happy as ever that it's Christmas. I love Christmas in Florida too! Where else can I eat an ice cream sundae in short sleeves in December!



However, today I'm spending my time psyching myself up for this next week. And now I present to you my schedule for the rest of my program. So in case you need me:


12/24---7pm-1am (PAC West)6 hours

12/25 CHRISTMAS!!!---10:45am-4:15pm (PAC West) and then 7pm-1am (PAC South) 11.5 hours

12/26---10:45-4:15 (PAC South) and then 7pm-1am (PAC South) 11.5 hours

12/27---10:45-4:15 (PAC West) and then 7pm-1am (PAC South) 11.5 hours

12/28---7pm-1am (PAC South) 6 hours

12/29---10:45-4:15 (PAC South) and then 4:15pm-10:45pm (Greeter) 11.5 hours

12/30---10:45-4:30 (PAC South) and then 5pm-1:15am (PAC South) 14 hours

12/31---10:45am-1:15am (PAC South) 13.5 hours

1/1--- (I'm also driving my roommate to the airport at 4am this morning) 4:30pm-10:30pm (PAC West) 6 hours

The hours aren't how many hours I work, but how many I'm getting paid to work (because they take out break times). That's why some of them add up a little weird.

January 2nd will be spent doing laundry, getting my stuff together, and meeting my dad who's coming down here. The 3rd will be spent driving my roommate to the airport early in the morning and moving out and getting last minute stuff done before the 4th, which will be the day that I fly out at 7 in the morning for Idaho, arriving at 7:15pm.

School starts on the 5th. Chemistry at 11:30am.

Maybe next year's holidays will be more relaxing!

Teamwork

One major part of my job is breakdown. We breakdown our ropes as close to the back of the parade as possible to make it seem like no parade ever existed and facilitate the movement of the gigantic swarm of guests that always ensues shortly after a parade. The parade route is, in a way, cut in half when it comes to breakdown. The breakdown process in the west is entirely different than in the south.

For this post, though, I will only explain breakdown for the west. Each person gets two position, one for during the parade, and one for breakdown.

The clipper begins the process by going to each of the posts (or stanchions) and unclipping the ropes from the stanchion and then clipping them to each other. The stanchion puller grabs the stanchion and puts it on the nearby cart pulled by the cart puller. The plugger comes next putting the plug in the hole left by the stanchion. At the rear of the process comes the roller who rolls up the rope on a heavy roll they wear on their chest. Both sides of the route break down at the same time, and to be sure each roller is the same distance behind the back of the parade, there are two rope holders that each have one hand on their roller and one hand on a rope and their job is to push of pull the roller to ensure both sides are breaking down at the same speed.

Ideally, this entire process remains within ten feet of the back of the parade. I'm proud to say we usually do a very good job, too, and it's very fun when we all get it right! But we really heavily, if not, entirely on teamwork to get the job done.

The two hardest jobs are clipper and roller. The ropes are very tight, so you have to be strong to get some of the clips off. I've even had guests help me with it a few times after watching me struggle. The clipper also has to be careful not to cut their hand open (something I've also done) because if you start bleeding you are no longer allowed to help in the breakdown process at all. No bleeding on ropes because we have to make new ones and that takes forever!

Roller is hard because you have to be constantly moving your arm rolling up the rope and the roll gets very, very heavy near the end. It's also hard because if the clipper or others have trouble and get behind, you have to make up for it by suddenly rolling super fast. The third reason it's the hardest is that it's very easy to lose the roll. By "lose the roll" I mean the rope sometimes gets off the roll track and instead gets stuck between where your hand is on the handle and the actual roll it's supposed to be on. When you lose the roll, like cutting your finger open, your done with the breakdown process and kicked off the route and someone else has to jump in and roll the rest by hand which is way harder than using the roll.

The reason I'm explaining this is partly for my own memory's sake, but also because I have learned a lot from this breakdown process. I've learned a lot about team work and learning how people work together to accomplish things.

I have stories, but this post is long enough for now. This post may (or may not) be a precursor to other future posts and stories about my job and things I've learned, so be sure to remember it. :)

A Simple Greeter Shift

I had a nice, relaxing Greeter shift last night. I get greeter maybe once a week, sometimes less (Greeter means I work the turnstiles instead of PAC).

My shift was 7:15pm til 1:15am. I got there and we were fairly busy, but I got to be put on the Cast Member entrance. Since it was a block out date for Magic Kingdom, all I did was notify the few cast members that came to me that they couldn't enter with their guests. They were kind of bummed, but no one yelled at me!

After my first break I was put on exits, which is sometimes terrible if I"m by myself, but fortunately there were like four of us doing exits, so that was easy as well. A zillion people were leaving the park, but everyone listened and I hardly had any people trying to walk through my stroller/wheelchair exit.

Then after my second break it was getting late so I got tasking. First I covered turnstiles with a few people, then we restocked the maps and times guides. Restocking takes forever. And we kind of took our time because we knew they were running out of things for us to do. Then I got to make the white board for the next day. (We have a white board in our break room that has all the info for that day on it, park hours, what day it is, when the parades are, etc.)

I finally ran out of things to do and so worked on exits for a little longer before clocking out. It was such a good shift, I had forgotten jobs could be that easy.

And now I'm re-energized for tonight when I'm doing PAC. I'm ready!

Yucky Day

Yesterday was my worst day of PAC ever. And hopefully, nothing else will ever be that bad again, although I'm considering canceling my Christmas day shift, just in case. I'm trying hard to just forget about it... brush it off.

It was also the first day I ever cried on the job. Most of the girls I work with have ended up crying. I promised myself I'd never let a guest get to me so bad I'd cry. But then it happened.

On the up side, I was also reminded of what an unbelievably awesome life I have. I have such incredible friends who will stand by me as I stand by them. They help encourage me to feel better and be better. One even offered to go find me cookies and hot chocolate! I didn't want any... I just felt sick.

I'm grateful for awesome friends.

Thank you world, for still having decent people. And thanks for creating the nasty ones so I know how NOT to act.

Graduation Today

The obligatory photos:

Yep, It Seriously Happens...

I, personally, have dealt with every one of these...

"What time is the parade?" (as the parade is literally coming down the street at that very second) "Oh, well where's the best spot to see it from?" (at this point... just go home! you'll get a better view on youtube)

*on their way to exit, with tickets out and ready* "Where do we insert these?" (no need to insert tickets to leave the park) "Oh... well how are we supposed to get out then?" (just walk through the turnstile... it's okay, I promise) "They just turn?" (yes, I promise)

"Do you get wet on Splash Mountain?" (....... O.o ...........no)

"Where can I get a hot dog?" (Casey's Corner, right over there) "No, I'm sick of waiting in lines. Where can I get a hot dog without waiting in line?" (um, are you aware that you are in Disney World? Line capital of the world?)

"Can you tell me which direction the giant Mickey's Sorcerer's hat is in?" (umm... that's in Hollywood Studios... which is an entirely different park) "Okay, so can I go through the castle to get there?" (*facepalm*)

"How do I get to Disney World from here?" (again... *facepalm*)

"Why is it raining?" "When will it stop raining?" (sorry, I'll check with Mickey about controlling the weather more to your satisfaction)

"What's the wait time for the Jungle Cruise?" (yeah, since I'm a cast member I magically know the wait times of every ride in the whole park every minute all day long.... no wait. No I don't. Let's go with 20 minutes?)

"Is Walt's body really held inside a crypt in the castle?" "How much does it cost to see Walt's body?"

"Where is the exit?" (all the way down to your right) "But there's a rope up! How am I supposed to get over there!?" (well, let's see... you could go five feet around it... or under it... or over it... just don't try to go through it)

"Why is it called the castle stage?" (because it's a stage... and there's a giant castle behind it) "Castle? What castle? Where?" (right in front of your face)

*walking completely opposite from the exit* "This is the way to the exit, right?" (umm.. actually no... unfortunately when people ask this question they never stop to actually listen to an answer so I never get to tell them directions on how to really get to the exit... they just keep walking and I've stopped fighting it. If you walk away before letting me answer a question I'm not gonna answer it)

"Excuse me, do you work here?" (no, I just like to wear this ridiculous car freshener costume and Disney nametag to be funny... in their defense though we used to have a regular guest who somehow got hold of a fake nametag and impersonated a cast member...)

"Can I sit here?" (considering there's a taped X on the ground and no one else is there five minutes before the parade, probably not, no) "Oh, I thought X marked the place where I was supposed to be sitting..." (no, X marks the place where I get to sit. sorry to burst your bubble)

And my personal favorite that I got just last night:

"Excuse me, how do I get to Magic Kingdom from here?" (um... you're in the Magic Kingdom...)

On a more considerate note, when you're on vacation, you really do leave your brain behind. I'm sure I asked my fair share of stupid questions on our cruise. I'm sure I've looked like a total bimbo plenty in my lifetime. The people who asked these probably all could have figured out the answers themselves, but the face that they're on vacation means lack of thinking, and lack of thinking means fun stories for others. Just thought I'd point that out, I'm sure we've all had these moments. :)

Rabbit Rabbit Day!

December is my favorite time in the world. For one thing, it means my birthday and for another it means Christmas!!!

I means happy music and movies and presents and spending money and candy and Christmas trees and wrapping paper and ornaments and Nativities and lights and gingerbread and bells and parades and snow (yep, snow even in Florida... try going to Main Street U.S.A. or Celebration!) and just plain happiness.

Even at work I've noticed guests are way happier during the Christmas parties than they were for Halloween. People are more willing to do what is asked of them and more helpful. People are more cheerful, there's more smiles... I just LOVE it!

I love coming home to see my tree lit up. I love listening to pleasant Christmas music. I love the Salvation Army dudes outside with their red buckets and bells and remembering how my mom always told us it was bad luck to pass one without putting at least a little something inside.

I love how it reminds me of being a kid. It feels so magical to watch snow falling and listening to sleigh bells. I just love December and everything that comes with it. I'm ready for one of the best months of my life!

And I said Rabbit rabbit this morning so that makes it all the better.