Rainy Day

It's been raining all day long.  All. Day. Long!  Rainy days in FL are great, as long as you get to stay home curled up in a nice warm blanket with a good book and some hot chocolate.

Unfortunately, I didn't get that luxury and instead made my way to the bus stop bright and early (actually it wasn't bright... I woke up before the sun did) at 7am in the drizzling rain which was there to ensure that everything near Orlando maintained sogginess all day long.  All. Day. Long!

It was also cold today.  Freezing, actually.  So cold that we had to turn on the heaters on the trucks.  And after several months of no use... well let's just say they were smart to announce in the morning that there would be burning smells coming from the trucks and that that would be normal because we would have had lots of worried call ins from people thinking their trucks were on fire.

But it was still a fun day.  The animals were really active this morning.  I actually heard a giraffe today!  I heard it make noise!  And after coming home and trying to look up the noise again online, I'm finding that actually, it's super duper insanely rare to ever hear one.  But I did!  I was driving around and I heard this kind of quiet moaning noise that sounds closest to something a sheep would say (which makes perfect sense because in The Lion King show they tell you that they sound just like sheep... it didn't sound exactly like a sheep, but that is the closest animal noise I'd relate it to).  So cool!  I heard it and did a double take, wondering where that noise came from.  I was on an empty round and I turned my head and looked at the giraffe to my left and there she was and she even made the noise again.  I have no idea why, I'm sure she wasn't upset and she wasn't really even close to my truck.  Absolutely the coolest thing ever!

I also heard the hippos today.  They're much, much louder.  I actually had guests too, and I'm always a little sad at the lack of excitement I get from people when rare things like that happen.  We even saw a hippo out on land today since it was raining all day.  I told them it's very rare to see them out on land during the day, but I think I was more excited than they were!

No sign of the cheetahs all day.  Kind of a bummer.  Although usually they're pretty far away anyway, and they're kind of hard to spot.  The lions were mostly hiding most of the day as well, however there was a short time this morning when they were both out and licking each other.

The elephants were playing with each other.  They kids kept pushing each other around with their trunks.  So cute!

I never saw the addax and only saw the oryx once.  Mandrills, though, were out and visible all day long which is really rare, actually!  Crazy!

Anyway, I won't go through all the animals out there, but it was an interesting day.  Just when I think I'm getting to know the animals, or decide they're predictable, they change things on me!

On The Truck... Day 43-ish

I often look in the mirror at my guests as I drive my truck.  Obviously, that's a good thing to do, I make sure the guests are staying seated and sometimes when I tell them there's an animal in a certain direction I like to see how many are listening (or how many actually understand English).  It's also nice to watch in my rearview mirror for the direction people are watching in case they spot an animal I don't.  When I see several of them looking and pointing in one direction I try to look too to see what they see.  It's very rare that they actually see something I don't, and sometimes it's an animal that's so ridiculously difficult to see I don't even bother mentioning it.  I refuse to mention some animals that are near impossible to see because when the majority of my truck can't see it, it's just a let down for everyone.  But I digress...

So my story for today.  I was showing everyone the Thompson's Gazelle's to the right.  And the Patterson's Eland, also to the right.  As I talked about them I glanced up in my mirror to notice a woman on the front row.  She had a really nice, big camera, and while everyone was looking to the right at the animals, she was quite obviously taking pictures left.  I looked left again, to make sure I hadn't missed an animal.  I had already scanned that area, but hadn't noticed anything.

Finally, just as I noticed a single animal over there, I heard the woman's voice confirm the animal she saw.  "Brandon, look over here!  A squirrel!"

She was taking pictures of a lonely squirrel hanging out on the grass as I pointed out the very obvious (and numerous) animals to the right.  I had to turn off my mic from fear of them hearing me laugh.  Totally awesome.

A random manager got on my truck halfway through the day.  I literally had no idea who this woman was.  I had never seen her before, she didn't say a word to me, and she left before I could talk to her.  I'm hoping it was a good thing she did my safari.  Unfortunately, while she was on my truck, we had an animal stop.  Just as I approached lions an ostrich walked right in front of my truck.  I stopped my 10 feet away, but then it walked right up to the truck so it was literally inches from the front of my truck.  And then it just stood there.  Staring at me.

Fortunately, with every animal stop I've ever had, my guests have been great sports.  Everyone was laughing and making jokes.  We were stopped long enough to make the ride go down.  Animal programs actually had to come out an move the ostrich.  I was totally honest with the guests as the truck pulled up, "So, I have no idea what's going to happen here, but I can tell you we should be on the move shortly."  I told them all the information I knew about ostriches and all I knew about lions, since both lions were up there.  It was one of the most fun animal stops, but I was really nervous with the manager person on board.  (I don't really know that she was a manager, she was just dressed like that... she could have been way more important, or not very important... I really have no clue)

Anyway, today's been a fun day.  I ended up going to work an hour early because they called me this morning asking if I could and I would never turn down extra hours.  Then I realized that despite the fact that I came in an hour early, I only got paid for fifteen extra minutes of work because the hour early turned my 6 hour shift into a 7 hour shift meaning I needed to have an unpaid 45 minute break in there.  Also, because I had to hurry in to start my shift early, I drove the car.  So basically, I made 2 extra dollars but spent 3 for driving.  Fail.

Other than that it was fun, though!  I love my job!  And the people I work with!

Picking Up Shifts

I picked up a PAC shift today!  It was awesome!  I was a little nervous this morning when I first picked it up.  I've been checking the Extra Hours line every day, numerous times a day because I've only been getting 30-32 hours each week.  And there haven't been any shifts I could pick up.  The very, very few there have been have been during the time I'm already working.  And no restaurants in the area want to hire me because they need more availability than I can offer.

But today was the day!  I was not only able to pick up six hours tonight, but I picked up eight extra hours for next week so I'll have almost 40 hours both weeks.  Ugh.  Pathetic.  Hopefully things will pick up for the Holidays.

But anyway, I worked the Halloween party tonight so I wore the old purple bat hat costume.  I saw a lot of friends from last year, which was great too.  Plus, it was an awesome night.  However, I have learned that there is an attitude among MK workers that is not present in any other location I've ever worked.  They really are more arrogant about themselves and their jobs.  I wish they'd be more helpful to "new" people than the way they are just judgmental and not helpful.  For me, I already knew exactly what I was doing and actually remembered well enough to the point that I was able to help a lot of the new people.  Some of the EHH-ers didn't even know I wasn't statused in that location.

Some of the cast members just knew I was "new" though and talked down to me a lot and it was really annoying.  However, overall it was a really fun night.  My only problem was that I kept wanting to greet everyone with the word "Jambo!" which is an African Safari word.  Not really useful in the Magic Kingdom...

I spent the day in Magic Kingdom and even got my hair cut under the castle!  I've been wanting to get my hair cut for ages, but it hasn't really been a high priority.  Finally today I had time and a ten dollar bill.  I was in and out of Kingdom Kutters in less than ten minutes and she had cut my hair exactly like I wanted it with layers and bangs and everything!  I was very impressed (and when I told her, her response was, "I should hope so, I've been doing this for thirty years!")

Great day overall!  We also got free rice krispies because apparently tonight we did a phenomenal job at everything!  A few days ago at work we got a free pancake breakfast too and calendars!  They were pushing some sort of donation thing.  Yes, I donated.  Fifty cents.  Of my paycheck.  Each week.  For however long I choose to continue.  They try to get all cast members to participate and they have a looooong list of organizations you can choose to donate to.  And you can even choose the percent of what you donate, but they encourage all Disney employees to donate to charity organizations.

I was skeptical this morning but I'm definitely glad I picked up this shift.  I could have had today off, but I had a lot more fun at the parks than I would have sitting on my butt watching TV and messing around on the computer all day.  Plus, my teacher said to do one thing that scares you each day, and picking up that shift honestly did scare me a bit...

Oh Jabali

Jabali is the baby elephant.  And he acts exactly like a little kid.  He can't just walk anywhere, he just has to run.  And he's always looking for attention from the adults.  The older elephants just laze around, slowly walking or drinking or whatever.  And then Jabali comes in and runs underneath them or rubs up against their sides or something.

Well, the awesome thing about today is that I got to hold right by Jabali and the other elephants.  Not only that, but I was running an empty round.  So there were no guests on my truck, I didn't have to spiel or entertain anybody, and there were no other trucks within sight of me where I stopped.  I just got to sit there, listening to the ducks and watching the elephants play.  Or mainly, Jabali annoy the adults.  He's also a climber, just like a little kid, seriously.  There's the watering hole, and there's a way for the elephants to just walk down to the water's edge to get a drink.

Jabali walked around and tried to get attention from the elephant that was doing that, and when he failed he left her and walked over to the only part of the bank where there's a kind of cliff that goes into the water.  And then he kind of slid down backwards on his stomach.  So.  Stinking.  Adorable.

And the whole time I was just thinking how much I love my job!  I got to sit there for several minutes before we were back on the move.  Even then I pushed it a little bit longer and stayed all the way until I saw the next truck.  So great!

On another note, I signed up for Rosetta Stone today.  Apparently I have free access to Rosetta Stone.  But you have to be put on a 3-4 month waiting list and I've never worked here for long enough before to join the list.  But, since now I'm planning on staying through next year, I went ahead and signed up today!  I can't wait!  Hopefully I'll get to start sometime in January.  They also told me that when I do get access, I'll have full access to every single language Rosetta Stone puts out.  I seriously can't even WAIT!

And my final awesome story of the day... After my last safari, a 12 year old boy came to the front of the truck to talk to me.  I often get guests, typically adults that come to the front asking me extra questions (was that rhino really real?) or wanting to take my picture.  Sometimes a concerned little girl will come up who's worried about the lions eating the addax.  But today, it was this boy who excitedly told me, "That was the best safari ever!  And I would know!  I've been on three today!"

He has no idea how good that made me feel.  I mean, really.  It's hard to impress a 12 year old boy.  That comment alone totally made my day!  I seriously do appreciate compliments from guests.

Especially since just yesterday I had a kid the same age who spent the whole safari behind me saying things like, "It's not really a two week safari... it's way shorter!" and "I don't think that lion's real!  If he's really real, make him move!" or "That wasn't really scary!  I knew that was going to happen!"

But really, I always appreciate compliments.  And I'm sure my other drivers would agree with me as well.  They never get old!  And just to clarify, I like my safari, but it is in no way the best.

What a great day!

Lions and Elephants and Band-aids... Oh my!

I cut my thumb on an ECV yesterday.  It wouldn't have mattered at all except I was bleeding everywhere and needed something so the guests didn't see me with a bloody thumb handled all of their wheelchairs.  So I called someone and seconds later someone came with a band aid.  He actually brought three band aids.  And two alcohol wipes.  And some neosporin.  And then asked if I needed to be bumped from my position.  It's a finger cut!  So funny.

Yesterday was a good day.  The elephants were even playing.  The other day the baby, Jabali, and the other little one, Luna, were playing together by the water.  Jabali literally reminds me of a little kid.  He was running around, tripping, trying to climb up the water bank and falling or slipping in the mud.  So stinking adorable!

The lion was scratching his claws up against a tree the other day as we went by, too.  So cool, I've never seen a lion do that before!  Just like a cat.  Then, yesterday, I was listening on the radio and a conversation went something like this, "Reserve warden, this is safari 8, I think there's something wrong with the lion... it looks like he's choking on something."  "How long has it lasted?  Do you want us to call animal programs?"  "Umm.. it's looking like he stopped... oh no... now he's doing it again.  I really think he's choking or something..."  "Reserve warden, this is safari 12, the lion is fine.  Hairball."

I was in the middle of my safari as I heard this exchange take place and almost died holding in my laughter.  Who knew lions get hairballs too?  Makes sense, I guess. :)

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the MK opening, so they had special fireworks so my roommate and I went to watch them from the Contemporary.  For the record, the contemporary really is a great place to view the fireworks.  It's far away, but you can see and hear them, plus they play the music!  It's great!  My roommate and I saw a random shot of water in the middle of the parking lot that nervoused both of us, but when we reported it, they told us it was a fountain and it was supposed to be there.  I still don't think I believe it.  Random fountain in the middle of a parking lot?  Psh.

Well anyway, I have to get to work.  Bus leaves soon!

Food vs. Candy

I had a big group of foreigners on my truck the other day.  In the middle of the savannah, I looked in my rearview mirror to find one of them passing candies out to the others, over three rows of them.  They were all passing the sweets around taking bits here and there.  They were all in the front three rows so I stopped the truck and asked if they could please put the food away.

Their response?

"Noo, no, eet's okay.  Ees not candy."

"Yes, I need you to please put that away.  It's bad for the animals if it accidentally falls out of the truck."

"But, no.  Ees not food.  Ees candy."

Food vs. Candy?  For the record, candy is food.

As a side note, all went well.  They did kindly put it away very shortly after when I explained that candy, too, was not good for the animals and needed to be put away because of the smells.  They even applauded for me at the end of that safari.  I was very surprised at that since I figured they'd be mad at me for making them put away their food candy.

Every day brings a new surprise, a new challenge... a new story!  I love my life!

Pictures of the Safari!

I got to see a baby pelican yesterday!  I knew the birds were nesting, but I had no idea there were babies so as I pointed out the hippos and noticed a tiny little head peeking out of the nest to ask mommy for food, I kind of got really excited.  "And over there you can see a baby pelican sticking it's head out from the nest!  That is so cool!  I've never seen that before in my life!"  I don't think the guests believed me... you know, since I also told them we were in Africa and we were planning on a full two week safari.

For the record, that's a pink backed adult pelican in the photo above.  The babies are, obviously, much smaller and their beaks are tiny.  So stinking adorable. I wonder it the one I saw hatched that day...

Oh yeah, and we have hippos. :)  It's pretty cool when they open their mouths really really wide for a breath or yawn or something.  I feel bad when I'm coming around the corner and I can see one doing that, but the guests don't get to see it because as we come closer, they close their mouths and submerge.  Ah well.

Below is a sight that nervouses us safari drivers, but in the end is actually very, very good.  White rhino crossing.  This one is in the process of walking, so all is well with the world.  This just happens to be the exact same spot I was in just a few days ago where the rhino actually decided to stop, right there where this one is.  And he just stood there, looking around.  I seriously could just see my brother's attitude in him.  "Oh, am I blocking your truck?  Oh... goodness... I just don't know what I could do about it.  Maybe I'll just stand here acting totally innocent like I have no clue that I'm making the ride go 101.

 Some more white rhinos.  The one above actually did end up joining his family, so all was well.  You can also see what our trucks look like a little from this photo.  That truck coming around the corner from where we are is actually really, really good spacing on that driver's part.  Congrats to whoever that is. :)

 This is where I drove around once and found mom elephant with baby, sitting under the water right here with nothing but the tops of the backs and their two little trunks sticking above the water.  They were side by side and their trunks were intertwined with each other.  Cutest.  Thing.  Ever!

And on a totally separate note, this is my roommate Erica and I meeting our pal Chip.  Oh, and also Dale. Heehee.

Best Safari Day EVER!

For starters, I always like my 8/8:30am shifts because the time goes by quicker and I finish early.  For example today, I was done by 2:30.  But today's shift was even better because I got to do the Magical Moment on the first safari of the day.

Basically, my job this morning was to create magic.  I went up to the front of the park to pick the lucky family.  I walked around, looking specifically for a family with several kids, because those are always my favorite families on the safaris.  There weren't a whole lot, and I didn't have tons of time, so I went right up to a family with two little boys.  I talked to them for a minute, they were waiting in line to enter the park.  I brought them right up to the front of the line and got them in fifteen minutes before park open so we could walk back to the safari together.

Not only did I get to take them on the first safari of the day, but that one little family got their own truck, and I got to spiel for them.  So we separated it out where the driver was only driving, and I was only spieling.  Because it was so different, we turned off the "normal" safari radio and I just spieled on my own, letting them know little random facts we don't always reveal to guests.  I let them know little extras like why people can't see the zebras and where hidden Mickeys are.  It was so much fun and the little boys just LOVED it!

The awesome thing about that magical moment is that I can tell that family will remember that experience forever.  The whole family loved it, and it was so classic.  Mom holding the little one on her lap and helping the kids feel comfortable, Dad taking pictures everywhere, older brother showing stuff to the little brother, and everyone absolutely amazed that they, of all people, got picked!

And at the end they got a special certificate.  To add to it, at the end this family let me know they'd never been to Animal Kingdom before.  They'd visited every park except for this one, so it was awesome that I got to be their first impression!  Absolutely loved it!

After I did that, I worked the Cheers 2 dock for a while (the person who opens Cheers 2 gets to do the First Safari family of the day), and then went on my first break.  Then I got another land and got to work Fastpass for a while.  I hadn't worked Fastpass since training and it's ridiculously rare that we get two lands in a day, so that was extra awesome!

I decided I love working Fastpass.  I love being able to fix people's problems and that's basically all I do there.  I answer questions, fix machines, and get people the Fastpasses they want.  I was really proud of my ability to fix the machines because there were several different problems I was dealing with.  Machines eating cards, the paper getting jammed, random beeping noises (a simple reset fixed that... I still don't get it).

At first I actually almost just covered the machine up and called it good since we had like eight more, but then I figured I should at least try to fix it.  I was able to keep everything going well, until near the end one of them broke.  Someone tried to jam their VISA card into it (no, the machines don't take VISA) and it freaked out the system.  I tried for the last like fifteen minutes of my shift, in which time I had another cast member come try and help me too.  He told me to just cover it up, but I was entirely convinced that I'd fix it.  But then I got bumped from that position so I told the next girl to just cover it up, and I'm fairly certain she did.

After my second break I worked the truck.  I only did two rounds before it was time to go, but they were very fun rounds.  The guests were perfect and happy.  Everyone was excited, and the whole day just went well.

As I was walking to the break room, I heard a little kid yell out my name.  I figured I didn't know any little kids in the park, so it couldn't have been me he was calling for.  But then I heard my name being yelled again and out of curiosity I turned my head.  There was little Zack, one of the two little boys in that family I had taken on the safari this morning.  Absolutely one of the cutest things ever and I was amazed that he remembered my name!  Then again, it was the same day.  I'm so glad I picked that family!  And I'm especially glad they had a good time.

My friend even gave me a ride to and from work today, just to make things better.  There's a group of us who all have pretty much the same schedule so we've all been going together.  I love my job.  So. Stinking. Much!

Animal Stops and Classes

I had my first animal stop yesterday.  And by "my" first animal stop I mean I've stopped for animals numerous times, but my truck hadn't been stopped directly by an animal until yesterday.

The first one was while I was being show op'd.  So I had to show my evaluator just how I know how to call it in.  I did it all right, even the stopping ten feet away thing, which I hate. I prefer to stop more like thirty feet away.  But I called in when the rhino was in front of my truck and the warden asked me, "How far away are you?"  So I was honest, "About twenty feet..."  "Okay make sure you're just ten feet away, don't worry, he's not gonna do anything.  Then call me back when you're ten feet away."  "Oooookay."

So I pulled up closer to the rhino and as I did so my guests started freaking out.  "Is it okay to be this close?"  "What if he attacks the truck?"  "Will he attack?"

No worries though.  I was able remain calm.  Unlike the other time I came around a corner and there was a white rhino in the road and my spiel went something like this:

"And coming around this corner here, take a good look up there at those rocks.  That seems to be a kopjeohmygosh!" (coupled with me slamming the brakes... from like 4 MPH, so it wasn't really too dramatic)

Yeah... I got laughed at that time.

Anyway, we only made the entire ride shut down for less than five minutes with my animal stop.  Which is good because sometimes the animal stops have lasted upwards of fifteen minutes.  And that's not much fun when you're on a truck in an animal safe zone (no animals within sight, even) with crying children who wanted to see crocodiles.

But all has been well so far.  Every animal stop I've ever had, I've always had wonderful, happy, excited, patient guests.  I love my job!

In other news, I started my first class today.  Organizational Leadership.  And I'm super excited.  The teacher is great.  He's an old man teacher which, in my past experience, means he's either really really good, or really really bad.  This one is really really good.  But then I always think that about teachers after the first day of class... so we'll see how this goes. :)  There will only be like four assignments in the whole class, a project, two papers, and a final group presentation.

I have to say it's very, very different than any class I've ever taken before, since it's through Disney and I went to college in Mormonville.  The rules are stricter than any class I've ever been to before, too, though.  For example, you miss two classes no prob.  You miss three, you automatically fail and they notify your work location.  Every class is business attire and you have to wear a nametag.  And there's pictures of Mickey and the parks all over the walls of the classroom.  That has nothing to do with being strict... just something random.

There are also two big screen TVs on either side of the classroom that play the news before class and during breaks.  During class he uses those as his powerpoint.  So funny.

Anyway, I think it'll be fun.  I can't wait to start the Disney Heritage class.  I love my job!

Six Hours Later

I'm thinking it's going to be one of "those" days today.

After not even six hours of sleep, I'm already very tired.  And I'm going to spend the next eight hours driving around in circles.  Then Walmart.  Then a goodbye dinner for one of my friends.

Yeah, so one of my friends is leaving.  She just can't afford to stay with the hours she's getting and the minimum wage pay and another year of school to pay off.  Which is perfectly understandable because I've been getting 30-32 hours/week as well which is the least I've ever gotten since working for Disney.  And the really stinky thing about that is that I'm in a job where I can't pick up shifts.  I used to be able to pick up extra hours, but my job doesn't allow it.  I'm just hoping that during the holidays things will pick up.

Anyway, back to my being tired.  Not only did I just go to bed six hours ago, but I spent one of those sleepless nights where I woke up every hour or so freaked out that I missed work, or missed my alarm.  So I set four alarms, just to be sure.

Then my roommate came home.  She's always extremely quiet and never wakes me up, but it woke me up.  Then I felt terrible because one of the alarms I accidentally set for 3am instead of 5am (my Ipod still thinks it's in Idaho and I can't get it to believe otherwise!).  And I totally tried to sleep through it for quite a while before I realized what it was.

Now I'm eating cereal and heading down to the bus stop to begin my awesome day of looking at cute baby animals and explaining things to people who don't speak English.

No Accident By Accident

I accidentally didn't get into an accident yesterday.

I was driving my friend home from Bed, Bath and Beyond where she had to return something.  The store is kind of far away in a part of Orlando I'm not really familiar with.  As we drove home, I accidentally pulled into the left turn lane because I thought I had to turn left at that light.  As I approached it, I realized I was making the turn one light too early.

I started complaining about how I had accidentally went to turn in the wrong place, and rolled my eyes at myself, annoyed that I'd have to go slightly out of my way.  As I complained inside my head I casually looked over to my right as I heard screeching tires and watched a car slam into the back of another, forcing it to collide with the car in front of it.  This occurred not even ten feet from my car.  Only a few seconds after I had made the "mistake" of pulling into the left turn lane.

The left turn light stayed red, as Florida lights do, for another several minutes and I hated just sitting there watching the people as they got out of their cars to check out the damage.  The front lady's car was smoking, and I started envisioning it exploding right next to my car.  The back guy's car (the one who caused it) was probably messed up the most, the hood was really smashed good.

Thank goodness I make mistakes!

On The Safari: Randoms

On Strollers: Stroller parking is one of my many jobs.  It's actually called "Pram Parking."  Because "Prams" are strollers.  Anyway, it's a fun job because it's the only job where you actually get to interact and talk with other cast members as well as guests.  It's also not such a great job because parking strollers and keeping everything looking good and organized is really, really hard.  But we encounter funny things too, every once in a while.

I can officially say that I have now had a parent attempt to leave their child in the stroller while they went on the ride.  Many parents do so jokingly.  They'll jokingly ask about babysitting and such.  But then there was that one dad.  Who pushed his stroller, with four year old in it, into our area (which is what we like them to do... just we prefer them to take the child out first), and continued down the walkway leaving his four year old happily munching on his Pringles and watching the birds fly around.

It took us a second to track him down since he just continued walking and didn't speak English.  We told him he needed to take his child with him, and he got mad at us!  He actually got mad at us because he said that we told him he wasn't allowed to take the kid with him because his kid had Pringles.  Okay, the Pringles can't go on the ride, but the kid can.  Crazy!

We ask the guests to unload their child from the stroller quickly, and/or in line to make the process as smooth as possible.  It's always annoying when a parent takes five minutes to unload their stroller because they have child, other child, certain buckles, rain shades, food, candy, cameras, purses, etc. etc. to deal with.  This is very understandable.  They are tourists and there is a lot to keep up with.  I just really appreciate it, though, when we have very simple people who have nothing but a backpack and a small foldable stroller with a kid in it.  It's always a relief.

Sometimes guests don't like us to park their strollers.  This is really annoying, but again, understandable for those with trust issues. But it's hard on us because there's a fairly specific system that we use in order to keep everything looking good and organized (and keeping it easy for guests to later find their strollers - for example: park strollers in one places, "limos" in another, foldables are together, and big clunky singles in another, etc. etc.).  But then others come in and mess it up.  But, overall, it really is a nice job.  Plus we get fans.

On Fastpasses: I am thoroughly amazed at the amount of guests who don't understand the Fastpass system.  The more I learn about it, the more I can see where people could get confused, but still.  It's always been a very simple concept for me.  You go to the ride for which you want a Fastpass, you put your park ticket in, it spits out a Fastpass that says "Return between 'A time' and 'B time'" and you return between those times to skip to the head of the line.  You can't get another Fastpass until your current one expires OR two hours from the time you got it, whichever comes first.

I had a very angry man today who showed me his Key To The World card (the card that Disney Resort guests get that is basically their room key, but they can also charge money to it in the parks... kind of like a credit card, and it is their park ticket to get in as well) and insisted that he had paid "good money" for it to have Fastpasses on it and why wouldn't I let him skip the line when he paid "good money" to skip to the front of each line for the duration of his vacation.

It doesn't work like that.  I tried to explain how it worked to him, but he was so mad he couldn't even listen.  He just walked away grumbling about how everyone changes their stories and Disney gipped him out of his "good money."  I literally couldn't even get five words out.  The funny thing is, the way Disney works, if he had just talked to me we were slow enough that I could have just given him some Fastpasses to "make up" for his anger and such.  But he wouldn't even listen to anything I had to say.  He just wanted to yell.  Lame.

It's the worst when I get people who don't speak English asking about it.  It's hard to explain in a foreign language.  But people think you have to pay extra, some think you have to have a Fastpass in order to ride the ride at all, some also get Fastpasses and then still enter through the normal line.  At the very end, right before they get on the truck, they'll pull it out... this always confuses me because I'm wondering what in the world they're thinking it's for.  Weird.  And then of course, they get mad that they paid extra and didn't get anything.

Don't worry though, I get really, really happy guests too!

On BoCo: Booking Coordinator is another really fun position, but it can get extremely boring when it's slow.  You basically stand at the front of the line scanning for food and drinks, making sure everyone is "appropriate" to ride (everyone, even children and babies has to have clothes on, including shoes, which we have to enforce sometimes because parents will strip down their kids when it's hot sometimes), and counting the guests and helping the wheelchairs and such.  I had two little kids the other day who came through and were your classic Disney kids who were unbelievably excited about everything.  "We went on Everest!  It was so much fun!"  "No, my favorite part was Dinosaur, but it was really scary."  "Yeah, she was scared, but I didn't even close my eyes even once!"  "Yes you did!  Remember, with the big dinosaur!?"  "No I didn't, it was so much fun."  "Oh oh, and we got to see Tigger!  We saw Tigger!"  "Mom, where's the autograph book, I want to show her his autograph because we really met him!"

Cutest thing EVER!

On Cute Things:  Baby elephants drinking the water together.  Rhinos rolling around in the mud.  Lions playing, pacing, and climbing.  Giraffes running (actually that looks a little more awkward than cute because their bodies are so long and gangly... it looks like it's got to be hard).  Thompson's Gazelles wagging their tails like puppies.  Baby mandrills the size of my foot running around playing with each other (okay, so my foot is an awkward thing to compare them to, but I couldn't think of anything else that's their size).  Warthogs leaning down on their elbows to eat.  Hippos freaking out at the birds that land on their backs.

I get to see this stuff.  All. The. Time. :)

On Free Stuff: Definitely one of the best parts of any poor college students life (or anyone's life, for that matter) is free food.  I love that Disney randomly has these picnic things where the managers cook for all their employees and we all pig out on the food that is served to us by our managers.  It's just great on so many different levels.  But anyway, yesterday they made hamburgers and hot dogs with Disney potato chips and every kind of dessert imaginable.  Seriously, there were so freaking many desserts.  I'm pretty sure every manger must have brought one, and some more than one. 


Anyway, along with all that free food (which in and of itself was awesome) we had a raffle with prizes.  And nearly everyone who entered won something.  I won another copy of the Toy Story 3 Commemorative Edition on BluRay and DVD.  Goody!


On Playing: I've been out playing a few times lately.  I'll try and put up pictures soon.  LOTS of pictures.  Yesterday we went to Hollywood Studios and then Beaches and Cream and then visited some resorts.  So much fun! :)

Just Living the Dream

When you work at Disney, and someone asks "Hey, what's up?"  or "Hey, how are you?"  The correct response is, "Just living the dream."

The good news is I picked up a shift so I got to work Thursday!  More hours!  But the bad news is that means I only got one day off this week.  Which means only one day to catch up on sleep.  And instead of catching up on sleep yesterday (and laundry, and groceries, and cleaning) I woke up at 7am again and went to the parks with some friends.

I know it's pathetic, but despite having worked here for the past two years, there were still some attractions I'd never been on, mainly because I had decided they were boring and lame.  So I never did them.  Yesterday, Chelsey made me do the ones in MK that were like that.  So I went to Tom Sawyer's Island, watched the Country Bears show and did the Hall of Presidents.  Surprisingly (actually, I really shouldn't have been surprised, this is Disney after all) I really enjoyed all of them.  Especially Tom Sawyer's Island.  I couldn't believe I'd never been there and now I really want to reread the books.

After MK, we went to Blizzard Beach and met up with the boys.  I did the Summit Plummit twice, which is why I'm bruised all up and down my right side today.  I think somehow I accidentally slammed my body into the right side of the slide at the bottom.  It hurts!

After that we ended up at EPCOT after a lot of confusion and meeting people and, of course, the daily thunderstorm.  We went on Soarin' and watched IllumiNations, which is basically one of the best shows ever.

Such a great day!  Unfortunately I only have pictures from the morning since I didn't have my camera in the water park and later it was pouring rain.  But take my word for it, it was fun!

So then today, I had to work at 8:15am.  But due to rotten bus schedules I got to work at 7:30am.  Meaning I left at 7am.  (I'm not complaining about getting to work early because A, I have a car and B, I work with really fun people who also get to work early and we all have fun hanging out)

I opened a truck which I haven't done since training, but I did just fine.  And I only got one ride around before being bumped for my first break.  Then, later I did a round and I came back to pick up my next group of guests and a trainer jumped into the front seat next to me.  I was in the middle of spieling and doing the ride, so I didn't really have time to ask him what was up, or why he was there.  I just kind of went with it and did my spiel.

We went through the whole ride with him and his clipboard taking notes.  I was thinking the whole time trying to figure out if I was in trouble, doing something wrong, had someone complained about me?  I had no idea!

Finally at the end I let the guests off and turned to the trainer to ask what was up.  He was doing "show control."  Apparently, it's a common thing for trainers to randomly do rides with us and listen to our spiels making sure we're still doing it right and we're not veering too far from the script and driving correctly, remembering speed limits and such.  He said I did everything just fine and complimented me.  He said the only negative thing he had was that I sounded kind of nervous, however I was still able to sound energetic and happy... just a little nervous.  Not sure how those go together.

Well of course I was nervous, I thought I was in trouble!  Although it did make me think, because while I was nervous, I thought I was doing a really good job completely hiding it, but apparently not.  Anyway, I need to work on stage fright, I guess.

Later I got to work Departure 2, which is just about my favorite position out of all of them.  It's the one where you ask how many and then assign guests a row.  It's like a never ending tetris puzzle, where the pieces are constantly not going where you want them to go, jumping out of line, or where a piece says it's a blue rectangle when in fact it's a square.

I'm not even kidding.  I would ask people, "How many in your party?"  And the first person would say three so I'd put them in a row and it would turn out there were six people.  I can understand a party of five saying they are four because one is a baby or something.  But really?  Three people being five adults and a child just doesn't make any sense to me.  And it happened a few times.

I would also tell people "Row 4" and they'd go to row 3 or something.  At one point I had assigned them to row 8 and went to the next guests to tell them where to sit, when I turned around again I found that every member of that party had happily decided they would each get their own row, taking up row 3-5... but nobody in the one where I had put them.

But it's fun.  It's like a never ending puzzle that's constantly changing and needing to be fixed.  I have to be constantly thinking and figuring stuff out and fixing things which is fun for me.  I totally love that job, as frustrating as it may be sometimes.

Anyway, I'm still living the dream!  Still loving life!  (and taking more pictures to post on here shortly!)

Reminiscent

Almost two years ago my grandpa died.  I never wrote about it on here.  Those feelings and such were kept for my private, more personal journal.  (yes, I don't actually put every single detail of my life on here)

Anyway, the day my grandpa died, I had to work.  I didn't want to call in, and while I was sad, there was no reason to miss work over it.  But I was kind of out of it and distracted all day.  I forgot my ID to log into the computer at one point, and due to my mistakes I had to call my manager to come fix my login.  After messing up so many times it locks you out and you have to have a manager come.

I felt terrible because I knew my manager was extremely busy, but he also happened to be an extremely nice manager.  So I called him and told him I locked myself out of the computer, and he very kindly dropped what he was doing to come help me.  We walked backstage into the office in the back.

As my manager got onto the computer, he was typing here and there as my mind stayed in fogland.  Then, I heard the printer start to go and he turned around with a piece of paper, "Did you see the picture of the new baby giraffes in Animal Kingdom?"  He handed me the paper of the two babies and I nearly started to cry.  Seeing the picture of the baby giraffes just made me feel more emotional.

All ended up well.  My account was fixed, I didn't make any more mistakes, and I eventually told my manager all about what happened.  But I never knew at that time that one day I'd be working in Animal Kingdom.  In fact, I'd be seeing those giraffes every single day on the Savannah.  And every time I'd see them, nearly two years later, I'd remember my grandpa and the day he died and how much I love and miss him.

Who knew a giraffe could mean so much?

This Job Is Messing With My Life

-When I close any door or gate I have to double and triple check that it is, indeed, entirely secure

-I freak out if people get into my car, or out of it, before I had the chance to put it in park and turn on the parking brake

-I keep spotting random animals by the side of the road and feel the need to get excited and talk about them.

-Speaking of the car, my car seems entirely too tiny, and I can't get over how cute and little the steering wheel of my Accord is.  It feels like I'm sitting on the ground using a donut to steer.

-I keep using words like "Jambo" "Karibuni" and "Kwaharini" when saying hello or goodbye.

-Being covered in sweat just feels natural.  And rain?  That doesn't even phase me anymore.

-I keep talking in my totally weird tour guide voice.

-I have to drink lots and lots and lots of water.  All the time.  I come home and I'm still thirsty.  I drink three cups of water before (and again during) any meal.

-I feel the need to honk twice at intersections before I begin motion.

-New words have been added to my vocabulary, or have gained new meaning for me, for example: prams, reserve warden, Kilimanjaro 12, FLIK cards, Pride Rock, 103, Jabali, BoCo, Departure 3, Cheers, Safi River, and more.

I freaking love every second of it!  Every. Single. Second.  I love my job.

Tidbits Of My Life!

The reason for lack of pictures is lack of desire to take pictures of myself after work... because I look like this:

But, since you asked, there ya go!  Me in my hot costume.  Literally.. it's hot.  It's covered in sweat, just like my entire body in this picture and my hair is a frizzy mess due to constant sweat and sticking sticky headphones on my head all day.  Blech!

Speaking of my costume, take a look at my patch on my right arm.  The one that says where I work.  That's not really a patch.  We call it our "target."  Because when you do stupid things you get punched there.  My first trainer told me about it, and warned me about an older woman who's a trainer who likes to punch her trainees in their targets when they make mistakes.  I was fortunate enough not to have her as my trainer.

However, I was unfortunate enough to sit beside her in the break room one day.  She started telling a story to the people across the table about a trainee she had who went up on the curb.  "And so I punched him!  Right in his target!" She said.  And she punched me!  Me! I was the innocent bystander listening to her story!  So funny.

Below is a picture of how FLIK cards should not be dealt with.  (no worries, this picture was taken well before park open)  Those cards were a stinking crazy mess.  And instead of helping, I thought I'd take pictures!

I don't really have any more pictures.  Legal pictures that is.  Since technically all backstage pictures are off limits, and that's the only time I have to take pictures of the trucks.  But suffice it to say, they are coming!

So, more random tidbits of my life:

I was driving the truck around empty the other day (reason explained later).  The animals tend to do more interesting things when there are no guests in the truck, I've noticed.  Except that one time the hippos let out these huge loud noises and yawned really big.  That was awesome and the guests went crazy.  Totally got an applause at the end of that one!  But I digress.  So the other day the mommy elephant and her baby (we have a lot of those, but a particular pair...) were hanging out under the water super close to the truck with nothing but their little trunks sticking up out of the water, and they were intertwined together.  So stinking cute!

Then the lion actually stood up as I came around and started walking towards me.  It actually kind of frightens me when the really big animals walk right towards my truck.  Particularly the white rhino since they actually can come right up to the truck.  But anyway, it was the first time in my life, I think, when I actually thought that a lion looked slightly scary instead of relating him to a soft, gentle Mufasa or Aslan.  This lion looked almost ravenous!

While I'm on about lions, the male and female were cuddling today under the tree.  Well, cuddling as much as lions can cuddle.  Super cute.  Again, they only did that when I was driving alone.  When I had guests most of the day I didn't see them at all, and the few times I did see the male he was just laying there.  Then at one point, the male sat up and moved his head and my whole truck freaked out.  It was soooo funny!

There's a part of the safari when music comes on.  Every once in a while I'll say something like, "Oh!  This is one of my favorites!  Sing along, if you know it!"  No one knows the song, it's just some random Swahili song.  And no one ever sings along, and really I don't expect them to.  I just say it to say it.  However, one time I said that and three little kids in the back started "singing."  Cutest sound EVER!  They were trying so hard and I had to turn off my mic I was laughing so much.

I had a little girl who was very concerned today that we keep the lions so close to the addax, and don't lions eat them!?  How do we prevent the lions and cheetahs from eating all the rest of the animals?  She was so concerned, but I assured her that the addax were safe.  I left out the part that in real life, that's just how it works.  Sad, really.

My favorite guests are the parents with little kids.  My least favorite, I recently decided are teenage boys and Brazilian tour groups.

Teenage boys because they spend the whole ride screaming about how "I just saw the elephant peeing! Hahaha, did you see that!?  He was peeing! Hey, hey talk about how it was peeing!"  and "Is that real?  I don't think that's real.  In fact I'm pretty sure it's fake.  Why do you pretend that's real?  You shouldn't lie.  Are you sure that thing's real?  It looks manmade!"

And the Brazilian tour groups because they spend the whole ride singing "La Cucuracha" over the sound of my voice.  I'm not even kidding you! That literally happened today!  30 of them.  Got the truck to themselves, and not a single one spoke a lick of English.  I just gave up spieling because they were too busy singing their songs (they really did break into a chorus of 'La Cucuracha' for quite a while through Ituri Forest) and yelling about the "olifants!"  The only English word they did know was "Stop!"  But they kept yelling at me to stop in places where I couldn't stop.  So annoying.  But for some reason, this group applauded at the end too.

Lots of groups applause at the end!  I love it when that happens!  It feels great!

To explain what I said earlier, we have some shifts where we drive empty trucks around at the end of the day.  That's because the park is closed, so the ride is closed.  But the animals need to stay out longer and the animals are trained that when the trucks stop, it's time to go in.  However, the animals can tell the time of day anyway, and often I'll find them standing by their gates anyway.  The lion paces a lot at that time of day.

This is really long, so I'm going to finish it here.  But there are just a lot of random things about my job I'll have to document at some point.  For the record, I love it!  I love my job!  And I'm scared to be so incredibly happy and satisfied with my life at this point because I'm scared that means something bad is going to happen soon.

But that's just a part of my personality. :)

Kilimanjaro Safari Driver!

You are officially reading the blog of the latest and greatest Kilimanjaro Safari Game Driver! (minus the other CPs that assessed and passed today as well, of course!)

Yep. I passed! Thank freaking goodness! I did the driving and spieling this morning, and the rest of the day was lands. I worked every single possible position today, the driving literally only took up about an hour and a half of the 8 hour day. I had so much fun!

The paper test was the worst part, mainly because so many of the questions are poorly worded or trick questions. Or the answer is just plain wrong (it's a sort of universal test for numerous attractions, and our attraction is different than others on some things). But I had a nice assessor and we went over everything and I was able to prove that I knew it.

Surprisingly, the hardest part wasn't learning the facts, even though I was mostly afraid of that. And to be honest, I've got driving down pretty well now too. I'm thinking, now after I've worked every position, the one that's going to get me the most is Departures. That's the one where we ask how many in the party and assign them to a row. I get so flustered and stressed there. So many people don't listen, don't understand which truck they go on, make up their own rules, don't speak English, refuse to obey, walk around in circles, or whatever other variation they have. It's frustrating for me. Fortunately, it's something that always tends to work itself out with minimal annoyance from guests, so it's not too bad. So even that goes well for the most part.

I'm so stinking excited to officially work here! I love my life!!

Last Day of Training... Hopefully

I was a little nervous for work this morning after my two day weekend of not going over the script at all. That is, during my conscious hours. It turned out fine, though. The very first thing we did this morning was take a truck out. There was a celebrity in the park today who I didn't drive around, but I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have recognized her even had I driven.

As I drove, I suddenly felt something on my arm. I continued talking as I reached over and flicked it off, realizing it was a giant stingy sort of bug. It scared the crap out of me, and I was really proud of myself that I continued my spiel as I silently swiped it off. But then Jeff had to get involved. He started teasing me about tourrettes as I spieled. Then I was working to not giggle as I spoke about the wildebeest. And that's when I accidentally said that "1.5 wildebeest make up the largest migration in the world" instead of "1.5 million wildebeest." Then I was teased for that. Even harder to not laugh. Thankfully, the guests didn't notice and as I listened to them speak amongst themselves, I didn't hear a word of confusion. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if none of them spoke English.

I also worked grouping today. You know, the person who stands at the front of the line and asks "how many?" Easy. Or so it seems. Except that people don't like to listen. Or they don't speak English. Or, worst, when they pretend to speak English and don't and then try to put themselves on the truck or go places they're not supposed to go. My favorite is when the following occurs:

"How many?"

*blank stare*

"How many people do you have?"

"blank stare* "....yes!"

"How many in your group?" *I hold up my fingers to show counting*

"Yes, group! We have group!"

*facepalm*

Today I also saw the big tour group coming down the line. The one where there's about 30 matching bright blue shirts with tons of noisy kids with the chaperone flags. And then the guests I'm loading start to say things like "Looks like we got here at a good time!"

My trainer wished me good luck and then disappeared. The average age in the group was about 10 years old, but the worst part was that when the first kid got to me, and I asked him how many, he responded "Twenty-four." And then I learned that "Twenty-four" was the only word in English this kid, or any member of the group for that matter, knew.

After telling me the number, the kids flooded the loading dock. Entirely out of my control. I finally decided that they'd get their own truck, and explained to one of the chaperones how I wanted the kids loaded. The chaperone, thankfully, spoke English and translated to the group. All I got across to him was "Put four people per row. Four per row!" Then we had an extra couple of rows on the truck I could load so the line kept moving smoothly. Thank goodness!

That job, and the disability area, were the final areas for me to train. We covered both today.

And so alas, I find myself finished with training. Hopefully. I say hopefully because tomorrow is my assessment day. And if I fail assessment then I have to do more training. But hopefully I'll pass. I've never met the guy who's going to assess me, so I'm just hoping he's nice. But I'm also pretty confident that I know everything I need to know as well.

So tomorrow is the big assessment. Hope I pass!

Sleeptalking and Blizzard Beach

Apparently I've been studying for work waaaay too much. Apparently, last night I was sleep talking to my roommate. I was going on and on about some nonsense. And then I "forgot" the word I was looking for.

"I'm awake. Because I can't go to sleep because the first one can't go until the second one has the sleep."

"Dianna, are you asleep?"

"No! I just can't think of the word... it's like.... something you have to say before the next one can't go to sleep.... but... like when I say 'move all the way to the left, place your bags in the net bag by your feet, and please stay seated for the whole ride.'"

"You mean your safety spiel?"

"Yeah! You can't sleep before the second one does the spiel... thing... sleep."

So, I don't really know exactly what I said, but according to my roommate Erica, that's kind of how it went. I was so stinking tired.

Anyway, today I slept in as late as I wanted. 7:45am.

Then we went to Blizzard Beach and spent the day hanging out in the water, and I didn't even get a sunburn! We had to leave a little earlier than we would have liked because there were thunder and lightening warnings and they made us get out of the water "until further notice." But we had already done everything we really wanted to do. Then Erica and I went to Celebration and had lunch and walked around the town a bit. After that we were entirely exhausted.

I've actually been exhausted ever since, but I don't want to sleep just yet because then I'll never fall asleep tonight. Then again, maybe I'll be just awake enough to sleep talk some more.

I swear, this job is going to make it into every single aspect of my life. For the rest of my life.

Driving With Guests! Finally!

I got to drive the truck today with guests on it! First time ever! And it was so much easier than I thought it would be. I was seriously so nervous before today as to whether or not I was actually going to be able to pull this attraction off. I felt so behind, and like such a pathetic actor. After driving the first day, I realized that the driving part wasn't so bad. And memorizing the animals wasn't even that hard. But pulling everything together was a beast!

But I did it! I actually did it! I drove the truck, with guests, and didn't even mess up! Except for that one time... when I temporarily forgot what the bontebok was called. But I remembered... eventually! My trainer kept telling me that I was going to call it a bedonkedonk.

I thought it would be harder with guests, but it was actually easier. For one thing, having the back full of people makes the truck way easier to drive around. It's less bumpy too, which is nice. Also, the guests were all so happy and excited to be there it helped me get excited about the animals. I loved telling them random facts and having them be impressed at my random figures. "Yes, the white rhino can weigh up to 5,000 pounds!" "Ohhhh, ahhh!"

I even pulled up to each dock correctly, and my trainer didn't even say a single word to help me. Everyone agrees that docking is the hardest part. Which I think is why my trainer made me dock at Cheers 2 every time we came through. It's the hardest one to dock at, and it's not uncommon to have to back trucks out of there for pulling in wrong. Backing the trucks is a pain. My trainer is really hard on me, but as frustrating as it is, it's probably a good thing.

He did have to regulate my speed and stopping during the safari, though. I kept going too fast, or forgetting the stopping points. There are very specific points during the safari that you're allowed to stop, and you can only stop at them in specific conditions, so it's hard to keep track of that while watching the guests, listening to the radio, watching for animals, talking about the animals, keeping on the ride path, and keeping up with the script.

But I did it! And I feel so stinkin' accomplished! I think I'm gonna go buy myself a sundae. Just because! Ahh, what a good day. :)

I Blame Lackage of Sleep

My schedule had me starting at 10 something. But because my trainer had a class, and I like my trainer and didn't want a different one for one random day, we both switched our schedules earlier so we started at 7:30. So I had to wake up at 5:45 to catch the bus at 6:30. Meaning I hardly got much sleep last night. Or the past few nights. But it was worth it. Minus the stupid things I've done today. So let's start the list of Dianna Dum-Dums today.

It all started with me taking the bus going in the wrong direction. Now, I got to DAK okay. But once there, I thought I'd take the backstage bus to my location. It's really within walking distance, but I was tired, so I decided to take the bus. But I got on going in the wrong direction. Then, I realized this. I got off the bus at the stop that's right before where the bus turns around and starts heading in the right direction, the direction I wanted to go. As I walked from the other end of the park (really it was just the Rainforest Cafe) to my location, the same bus passed me twice more. Fail.

Later, I was going through all of the signals and codes I had memorized with my trainer. I finished with Signal 8. Another trainer from across the room threw me a random pop question. "So what's the difference between Signal 70 and Signal 8?"

I had no clue what Signal 70 was. I knew I should have known, but I didn't remember it being on my list. So I answered the best I could.

"........62?"

My trainer would have accepted that. She wasn't impressed.

And then, later, we were going around the ride path. I was driving around, spieling, and purposely talking about every animal in the Savannah except for this one that I didn't know. Of course, my trainer noticed, pointed it out to me, and asked me what it was.

"Ummm, Sable Antelope?" "Nope." "Ummm... it's definitely not a Patterson's Eland..." "Nope." "Ummm... oh! Yeah! I remember his name! But we can't say his name. Umm.. a waterbucket?"

It was a Waterbuck. But my trainer kept making fun of me about waterbuckets the rest of the day. I'm pretty sure that torment will never end. On the upside, I know exactly what a Waterbuck is now.

In my defense, the animals really do look very different in real life than they do in their pictures.

The other problem I had today was I forgot my water bottle. That's a mistake I'll never make again. I was so thirsty by the end of the day that I bought a Powerade out of one of the vending machines (I never, ever buy vending machine stuff) and drank the whole thing in one minute. And was still thirsty.

Then I was on the bus going home. Someone asked if any of my roommates worked in the MK. I told her no, realizing about five minutes later that actually, every single one of my roommates works in the MK. Fail!

Anyway, it's been a crazy day! Totally crazy! Hopefully tomorrow will go better and I'll remember things better. Not likely though, since I'm going to play tonight. :)

Days Two and Three of Training

The past two days I've been training with my "real" trainer, Jeff. Yesterday was kind of boring. We didn't even get to go on the trucks at all except a tiny bit in the morning because we were opening them. Most of yesterday was spent inside with me memorizing random facts. Jeff would give me a stack of flashcards and have me memorize them. Then, when I did that, he'd give me another stack to memorize. This went on for a loooong time. I also had to read about 60 pages worth of "protocol" stuff from the training book. It's required that all new trainees read that stuff. I was falling asleep during it. Not really out of boredom, but out of sheer exhaustion. Working for Disney is tiring!

Anyway, I also went over the spiel several times yesterday and generally did a lot of memorization and such. Today was much more fun! This morning we went out and I actually got to do a lot of the land jobs. The "Land" jobs are the ones like standing at the front of the line answering questions, working the Fastpass machine, working the Fastpass line, working the disability area, seating, etc. etc. I learned all about the Fastpass machines, which was my favorite part of the Land. Plus, today was extremely slow and the guests were all very happy.

I nearly busted out laughing at the guests though at one point. When I was working the Fastpass line I literally had like five guests in a row come and ask me where the bathroom was. And by "in a row" I mean the first one wasn't even out of hearing range before the next one was asking. I seriously wondered if they were doing it on purpose to mess with me. Because I've done that with a group of my friends to certain cast members before. So funny!

After doing lands in the morning and memorizing a few more animal flash cards (there are seriously, so many of them!) I had a P&P meeting with the manager. They basically sat us down and said, "Okay newbies, if you do this, this or this, you'll get fired. Be happy. Have fun."

Then we had lunch and the rest of the day was driving! I spent three hours in the driver's seat today, but it literally felt like fifteen minutes. The first time I drove around the forest I nearly had a heart attack. I don't think I noticed a single animal the first time around. I was way too busy watching my turns and making sure to make "wide turns." They really beat the "wide turns" idea into our heads.

The second time I felt a little better and by the third time I was mostly comfortable. But I was scared to get too comfortable because that's when problems happen. However, by the third time I actually was able to look around for animals. By the fourth and fifth, and all other times (I lost count of how many times I went around, but it was probably about six or seven) I was trying to drive and look for animals. And, let me tell you, it is way harder than it sounds. Not only do you have to memorize the "speed limits" of the different zones (which they are ridiculously specific about... you can't go too slow or too fast, keep a solid 4mph in some places. it's really hard to maintain an exact and steady speed) but you have to watch for animals, do the spiel, make sure nothing's in front of you, keep the turns perfect, and watch for certain safety lights that may flash at you. And I didn't even have guests to worry about today!

I didn't "almost hit" anything because we were going so slow it simply wasn't possible. However, I drove insanely close to several animals including a giraffe, two ostriches, and a white rhino. The rhino scared the snot out of me because there's a place on the reserve where the white rhinos are basically always hanging out. At least, I've always seen them in the same place. When we went to that place, and the addax was there instead, I just figured the white rhinos had gone in or something. Then, later, at a place where I didn't even know the white rhino could get to, I went around a corner and there was a white rhino literally two feet from my truck, walking around. His nose probably came within inches.

Now, I know from training that white rhinos have very poor vision. I was watching him in my rear mirror and could have sworn he was about to walk right into my truck. Fortunately he didn't, and I was left with only a minor panic attack. Actually, I'm pretty sure my whole day was a minor panic attack.

Anyway, I love my job. A lot. In case you can't tell. I'm really, really enjoying where I work. I love all the people, I love the work, I love the animals, and I love Disney! I'm so stinking happy that I get this opportunity. This location may even, possibly beat EPCOT. Unless I get termed for getting into an accident in the truck. But I'm working really hard to make sure that doesn't happen. :) Ahhh, I'm so happy!

First Day of OJT

OJT. On the Job Training.

I started at 8:15 this morning. This meant I would have caught the 7am bus. Except that when I woke up at 6am and got dressed, I realized that not only was my belt waaay too big, but they gave me the wrong belt buckle. Unfortunately, DAK is built in a terrible way (which is ironic because you'd think the later the park was built, the smarter they'd build it) because the costuming building isn't within walking distance of the park. I didn't have enough time to take the bus there, and then ride back to DAK before my shift started. So I had to drive.

Once at work, I found my trainer. He spent about five minutes training me, and then we realized that there were issues with the training schedules. Twenty minutes, a bunch of phone calls, and a lot of confusion later, we set it up so I was training with someone else. Which kind of stunk because I was then stuck with another trainee instead of getting individual attention. However, it was still a lot of fun, and I liked the girl I was training with.

We saw down at a table and my trainer started pulling out papers. "Here's the list of codes." "Here's another list of different codes." "Here's a map of the park." "Here's a map of Africa." "Memorize this." "Here's the trail map." "Here's the spiel." "Memorize that." Here's a list of safety rules." "Here's another list of codes." "Here's a bag of goodies. Yep, there's sun block and chap stick in there." "Memorize this." "This paper goes over The Basics again." "Have another list of codes." "make sure you memorize this."

After about three minutes I had a stack of papers in front of me. Just a little overwhelming. Then he pulled out another binder of papers. "Here. Read and learn pages 51-73." We ended up going through page 91. Yikes!

There were a lot of fun things we did too, though. We checked out the trucks, walked around Africa, learned about the trail, and rode the trail several times. I felt bad for some of the guests because there's a lot of trainees right now and we have to drive through the loading zone. So we drive up to the loading zone as if we're going to load, and then just leave. Empty trucked.

And then, at the end of the day, we actually got to drive the trucks! Those things are ENORMOUS! When I told people I was nervous they kept telling me "Don't worry. It's easy. They train you well." I think they talked it down so much that it freaked me out even more.

I pulled out of the spot. There's a yellow Mickey head on the ground you have to drive over to make sure the audio works. You have to drive over it just right, though, or nothing happens. I got it on my second try! It was so exciting when I heard the music start! So funny. We drove in circles backstage for a while, and then went on the track. Because of time, I didn't get to drive on much of the track. But it's kind of a good thing because I have yet to have been on the safari when there was an animal in the rode, but in the (ridiculously short) amount of trail I drove there were THREE animals blocking me. My trainer was joking that I must attract them or something. Fortunately none of them stayed long enough for me to report it, but still. Crazy!

The other good thing is I didn't go up on the curb once! However, I'm fairly certain I'm going to go up on the curb at some point because I've even hit the curb before in my car so it's bound to happen on the truck.

What amazed me most about the trucks, though, is their level of safety. I can't go into detail, but our safety standards are SIGNIFICANTLY higher than those set at the Rescue Squad I used to work at. That's a big deal. It literally did blow my mind as to the amount of safety measures we take. Unbelievable. And even more unbelievable that things still go wrong. But fortunately, there's also huge safety measures taken for things if they do go wrong, so there's like no chance of anyone with half a brain to get hurt on this ride. And those trucks are in tip top maintenance shape.

With that said, however, the ride actually did go down today! While we were at lunch we saw the trucks heading back into the parking lot. I probably shouldn't post why, but it wasn't a huge deal, and we were back up and running shortly after. The trainers we were with said the ride very rarely goes down like that. Like, maybe five times a year. If that much. But we saw it today! Maybe that means it'll be a long time before there's another problem. Then again, what are the chances that would happen my first day!?

Anyway, this got extremely long, but it was such a totally amazing day! I nearly cried out of happiness for my job and my life in general. So stinking much fun! I can't believe I'm going to be doing this daily!!! I can't even wait!

First Day - DAKlimation

First of all, DAK stands for Disney's Animal Kingdom in Disney speak. Just for all those who may not know.

Anyway, today I took the beginning class for DAK called DAKlimation. Now I've officially taken the intro class for each park except Hollywood. That'll have to come later. :)

So I woke up at 6 so I could catch the bus at 7 to get there by 8 to start training at 8:30. The bus dropped us off and I followed the crowd to the cast entrance gate. Normally, the cast entrance gates are manned by security guards and we go through security each morning. At DAK, it was like one of those giant turnstile thingy's that are more like a revolving door. I scanned my card like those in front of me, pushed on the door and.... nothing. It wouldn't budge. So I swiped my card again. Pushed. Nothing. Again. Shook the door. Nothing. Laaame. At this point the people behind me asked if they could go ahead of me. The next thing I knew, everyone I was following had gone ahead and I was stuck at the gate.

I wasn't really freaking out. I had plenty of time, and I knew very, very well that my ID was good and I was fine. But I did need to figure out how to get past the gate. Finally, I found the phone and called security. I explained what was happening. The guy on the other side looked my name up in the system, asked me some random questions, and then told me to walk back over to the machine, and simply tap my card on it. "Just tap my card?" I clarified. "Yep. It'll work." Then he hung up.

I didn't believe him. I wiped my card again. Nothing. Finally, out of desperation, and feeling foolish, I started tapping my card around the machine. Suddenly, the light turned green, I heard a noise, and pushed, and it worked!

Should have known that Disney would have more than one way of reading our ID. My card apparently has a microchip in it as well as the bar code as well as the magnetic strip. It's great!

Anyway, one of the girls in the group that went ahead of me stopped and waited for me to catch up. She noticed that we both went to the same school. I made tons of other friends too, who all work in DAK. We also got to ride the Safari, and now I'm even MORE excited, if that's even possible. Now I finally get to unpack, sit back, and relax until Tuesday when I start my first real day of training! Can't wait!

Quick Little Update!

Sooooo excited to start my job. I'm having some issues because apparently my background check hasn't gone through yet, and I'm not allowed to work until it does. Also, my bank account that I set up said that with new account, checks are no good for 9 days. So basically I have no money for the next nine days. Except the chunk of cash in my wallet. But it's okay, because I have a full cupboard!

I'm super excited to take the classes I signed up for. I went to the education office today and got my login info for the classes. It's gonna be SO MUCH FUN!!! Especially the Disney Heritage class.

I went on the Safari ride today as a kind of precursor to where I'm going to work. And I found my old coordinator standing outside the ride! So awesome! I sat and talked to him for a bit, and he's excited for me. He was explaining some details about training and the ride and basically making me even MORE excited to work there. But still, I'm pretty intimidated by all the stuff I have to learn. He basically said that the majority of my days will be driving the trucks. Also, the trucks? Hold up to 40 people. Not 20. Daaang.

I'm meeting Heather again tonight and we're going to play in Hollywood Studios. After that I'll have been to all four parks in the past two days.

This next paragraph was supposed to be about how I was worried about the background check thing, but then they just called me and said it went through and I can indeed go to work tomorrow. Why they freak me out like that, I don't know. But I'm glad it's all good. :)

And that is all for now! I'm still running around like crazy until further notice!

How I Came To Find Out....

It occurred to me I never really wrote the story of how I was told I was working at DAK a few weeks ago. Lack of internet really ruins this whole blogging business. Anyway, here's a personal story to keep you entertained and my records of my life up to date. :)

It happened on July 23. Saturday. The day after I graduated from college. I was in the car making the three hour drive to our cabin in Dubois with my mom. As we went over a mountain, in and out of cell phone coverage, my phone rang. It was from an "Unavailable" number which in my past experience has always been calls from Disney. However, I didn't see why they would be calling me. I answered, and a cheerful, perky, Disney voice answered me back.

"Hello! This is 'Anne' from Disney University calling about your location of work beginning in August. Is this Dianna?"

"Um... yes..."

"Great! Yes, well I'm just calling on behalf of Disney's Animal Kingdom to inform you of your job beginning August 14th at the Animal Kingdom Kilimanjaro Safari ride........... *click*"

"Animal Kingdom! Awesome!!! But... my contract doesn't start until the 17th! I shouldn't be working there until later! Do I have to come early now? What if I get fired!? But the Safari was my #1 choice in Attractions of where I'd want to work! That's with LIVE ANIMALS! But... why are you calling and telling me? I thought I wasn't supposed to know until later!? I'm so confused!"

".........................."

"Crap..."

The next ten minutes involved me freaking out about all the ridiculous possibilities my brain could come up with in such a short period... I have a talent for worrying. What if they fire me for hanging up on them? What if I'm starting the 14th? Will I have to show up early? How will that mess up my friends I'm supposed to drive? Will I have time to make it to the east coast? What if she's lying? What if she's just looking for info? I'm so confused!!!

We got to the cabin where we still didn't get cell reception, but we got a landline. Since I have a genius of a mom, she figured out how to use the landline to call and listen to any voicemail I had on my phone. Fortunately "Anne" (I'm not using her real name here) had left a message just after I lost reception giving me a number to call her back.

I called back immediately. When I did, before I could even finish apologizing or explaining, and even before I could tell her that my contract did not start until the 17th, she started talking about the job again. "It's fine. I'm just letting you know that your job begins the 14th... I mean... oh I see. No. You start work the week beginning the 14th. Your real first day of work will be that Saturday, the 20th."

Ahhhh, much, much better! I finished up a very pleasant conversation with "Anne" and we hung up. And then the excitement really set in! I'm working on a Safari!!!

College

So happy this part of my life is over... :)

Back In Virginia!

It's been a loooong time since I updated. In case you hadn't noticed. :)

In the past two weeks (and two days) I have felt very accomplished while not really accomplishing much at all.

First, I graduated. Graduating doesn't really take much of anything... it's really the work leading up to graduating that is accomplished.

Then I spent about a week with my brothers, sister-in-law (almost), and parents in Dubois, WY. There, we rode horses and ATVs, went to a rodeo, visited Yellowstone, and played games.

Then we spent another few days in Boulder, CO with my oldest brother setting up his apartments and going to the Denver zoo, which, by the way, is incredible!

Then my mom and I drove home from Boulder over Wednesday and Thursday. 22 hours in a car, 1500 miles, in 2 days! Yikes!

I've been at home the past few days figuring out my life and sorting through everything I own trying to figure out what I want to keep, and when I'll want to be keeping it. At the same time, I've been working out being my mom's slave to her extra house she rents out, sorting through stuff, figuring out computers (well, my own so far) and such. Really, it's not all that much, I just like to act like I'm working hard for her. :)

But now I'm in Virginia and I had totally forgotten how totally beautiful it is here! I love the variety of trees, the wildflowers, the wildlife, the people, the sunsets, the green, etc. etc. etc. We saw more wildlife within an hour of entering VA than we saw in Dubois/Yellowstone in an entire week! Plus, our mountains may be smaller, but they are so totally prettier. I love it here!

However, while I freely admit the Valley is prettier than Florida, I still prefer Florida and will hopefully end up there. I start my program on the 17th, and will start work on the 20th. And I can't even wait!

Also, I don't know why but I got a phone call over our trip telling me my location of work this next semester. I don't know why they did that since A) they've never done it before, B) they haven't done it yet for any of my friends who are doing the program this semester, and C) I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to do it because they can change your location up to the day you arrive.

We'll see what happens. And in case anyone's curious as to where I'm working, it's going to be in the jungles of Africa in the Animal Kingdom working the African Safaris ride! I am so stinkin' excited!!! (assuming this really does happen).

Online Classes

Being my final semester, I decided to take a bunch of easy online classes so I could finish easily. This plan has worked well, and I'm finding myself not in the least bit stressed right before finals week. All I have left for the semester is one exam and one presentation. I'm finished with four of my six classes, with an A in every single one. Thank goodness for online learning!

However, as I look back over my education, I think I've officially decided that online learning is inferior to classroom learning. I just plain don't learn as much, and I don't enjoy it as much. Sure, we have tons and TONS of discussion boards so we can "interact" with other students. But a lot of the discussion boards just feel forced. "You must post at least two new threads and comment on other posts." "You must comment on at least five other posts and each of your posts must be at least 250 or 500 words."

In class, this "interaction" is not "required" in any way. It just happens. In classes, it's fun to discuss ideas with the other students. I had so much fun in my little study groups and going to the library and searching through books with my group creating Powerpoint presentations and such. I liked that I knew at any time in any class if I ever had any sort of question all I had to do was raise my hand and BOOM, I'd get an answer or at least a "I don't know but here's something to think about as you search for the answer." Sitting on my bed trying to come up with some way to fake interest in some halfway attempt at a comment written by another student who couldn't care less about what they're doing either is just lame.

I've been studying for my Medical Terminology final today. It's also an online class. The lame thing about this is, there are questions I have that I just want to talk to someone who knows more. The problem with an online class is you're given the material you need for the test and that's all. But I'm reading about neurons and synapses and why injuries to the CNS are irreparable which totally fascinates me, and I'm coming up with all these questions that are too complicated to "just Google." And I feel too weird randomly emailing the teacher asking him to explain this random thing or answer a random question because it's the kind of thing I want to discuss in person with someone who actually knows answers and can explain things... and the teacher's not even in this state. I feel like my learning is slightly stunted.

Not that I think it's "bad" per se. I am still learning. A lot. I still LOVE reading my text books and many of our required discussion boards are good and fun. And I'm definitely learning the idea of "you get out of it what you put into it." It's definitely way easier to slack off and not try to learn in an online class than it is in a classroom class. But still. I've definitely decided, today, once and for all, that no learning can replace classroom learning. Online classes just aren't the same.

(Also, if anyone knows a lot about neuroglia, particularly oligodendrocytes and their functions and such, I would love to talk)

*steps off soapbox*

I'm Gonna Graduate!!!

Grad Fest

Grad Fest was today! It was like a little party thrown for graduates! I got some free stuff... mainly junk, but still. And I got to pick up my gown and TASSEL!!!

I've never had a real tassel before! That's kind of the only part I was excited for. That and the free grad cupcake that was packed with almond flavoring. My dad would have loved it.

Now I'm sitting in my room staring at the gown wondering if it's illegal to try on before graduation.

I kind of don't care. I'll probably do it anyway. :)

Next Friday I will GRADUATE!!!!!!!

Maybe I should have made announcements...

Another Video From Last Semester

My old roommate Ashley made this video of our apartment last semester. I LOVE it!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15k8wseYrsw

And I'm actually kind of in this one!

Sugar City

Yesterday Stanzie and I went to Sugar City to ride bikes with my friend Kelly. She's lived there her whole life, so she knows this place like the back of her hand. Sugar City is just a tiny bit bigger than my town in Virginia.

Kelly borrowed two bikes from neighbors so Stanzie and I could ride. We rode out to the cemetary where Kelly had some friends/relatives buried. It was kind of sad for me to walk around, especially as we saw so many children/baby graves. Stanzie wasn't sad... she said it was just "melancholy."

Yeah, ask her for the difference.

On the way back we took pictures by this lady's house who just had tons of flowers out front. She actually left while we were taking pictures, and as she drove out of her driveway she had this giant smile on her face. Either she was glad we were enjoying her flowers, or she was leaving for the cops. Since she was super old, and we didn't see any cops, I'm guessing it was the first. :) We really did enjoy her flowers.

Sugar City started out as a town that made sugar and had sugar factories. Apparently, now this one is used to house potatoes, but it's not even used much for that anymore.

As for the above picture? You're welcome. (I have no idea what I was doing...)

Our final stop was to get milkshakes. They were great! I took a picture before this one and started making fun of how white Stanzie looked next to Kelly's dark tan. So Stanzie put on her sunglasses to try to counter it. I LOVE this picture! I just love it!

I have the greatest friends EVER!