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!

Silly People

For the record, if you're trying to list all seven dwarfs, two of them are NOT, I repeat NOT, named Duck and Angry.

That would be Doc and Grumpy. And yes, some guests today called them Duck and Angry during the parade and I would have corrected them but I think I already made them mad by telling them they couldn't stand in my crosswalk.

While I was on turnstile exits today these two older women approached me with their park tickets out and ready to go. They walked up to the turnstile and then looked around, confused as to where they needed to put their ticket in. I walked over to them and let them know they didn't need their cards to exit the park.

They looked confused. "Well then how are we supposed to exit?"

"You just walk right through the turnstile here."

"Through here? I just walk?" The one woman asked me, doubtingly.

"Yep. Just walk right through."

She walked up to it and put her hand on the turnstile and pushed a little. As it gave she slowly moved forward looking back at her friend.

"I just keep going, right?"

"Yes ma'am."

I was trying so hard not to laugh.

In other news I saw some awesome ads recently talking about plans for the new Downtown Disney area Hyperion Wharf. I can't believe all the incredible, nonstop expansions Disney comes up with! But what I'm most excited for is a new park! When is that gonna happen? My friends and I decided we need a Marvel theme park now that we bought them out last year. However, I doubt that will happen. But I do think we're gonna go further with the whole "superhero" theme. I'm so excited!!!

I can't wait to figure out my schedule! I have half a mind to just stay up all night until our new schedules come out! I want to know if I'm working December 3rd and 4th. Because something stinking exciting is happening and I will do just about ANYTHING to work those parade days!! I hope I work and I hope even more that I'm NOT working turnstile shifts! But we'll see.

Our managers warned us today that while we were busy tonight, this was nothing compared to what's coming. It worries me a little. But it'll be fine cuz I have tons of friends and less than a month and a half left. While I've enjoyed PAC, I'm definitely glad it's not something I'll be doing my whole life.

And I'm going to leave this here because I really do need to sleep. I know it's a weird abrupt end to a post but I've never been good at conclusions so this'll just have to do. The end.

I Love Kids...

I'm a professional hopscotch maker, ring tosser, juggler, hula hoop hander, bean bag thrower, and Duck Duck Donalder! I love my job!

Tonight was another Halloween party night and was really fun. We had one serious problem, but everything worked out, as usual, in the end, thank goodness. I won't talk about the serious problem, but here's a different story.

During the first parade tonight, I got a crier. I don't think I've ever had a kid who was actually scared of any part of the parade, but as the villains came closer, a little girl near me in a stroller burst into tears, scared out of her mind. I heard her mom trying to console her and finally decided maybe I could help.

So I turned to her and began talking to her so her mom could enjoy the parade with the other kids. I explained that I was friends with the villains and they were actually really nice. They just pretended to be mean in parades, but I assured her Mickey Mouse would never hire anyone who was actually mean. Then I talked to her about how I like to go backstage and dance with them and laughed at them, telling her they were just being silly. Because really, watching Frollo and Cruella dance their weird rendition of the Boo To You song is really silly. And the guys dressed in black and orange playing the guitars? How is that supposed to be scary!? Geez, they're not very good at being bad guys...

I got the girl to stop crying nearly immediately, but she still wasn't taking her eyes off of the hyenas, still pretty scared. So then I started to talk to her about candy. I told her to look for Pluto because Pluto meant the beginning of the candy! Yes, during the Mickey's Halloween parade they hand out candy at the end! So I told her to get her bag ready and she grinned when she finally saw Pluto. It was the cutest thing ever and the mom thanked me at the end. I even got her to laugh with me at how silly the villains looked when they were pretending to be mean.

It's funny because the part of the parade that still freaks me out to this day is the gravediggers. They scare the living snot out of me with their shovels. One came really close to my head during a previous parade as I was watching a guest... they just were literally right there by my face and I still haven't gotten over it. I also am a little freaked by the hyenas because, again, I was distracted by a guest and I turned to go back to my position and the hyena's head was literally right there. I wonder how poor Simba felt!

Anyway, I love my job! I love that every day gets to begin and end with characters, shows, fireworks, parades, or all of the above! I complain sometimes and get pretty bummed but the fact is, over all, I love it!

Face Paint

Today was such a good day! I didn't have a single angry guest. All. Day. Long. And I worked three parades! Two of which were for the Halloween party. It went well. In fact, I had a bunch of particularly pleasant guests! So wonderful!

Maybe it's because I got my face painted! I must have been too cute to yell at tonight.

They come and do face painting for my area every other Halloween party, and since I've worked all but two of them, it's a wonder I haven't gotten my face painted yet. But I did tonight. I told them to do whatever, just not too extravagant. I think she actually did a pretty good job!



Minus my terrible hair, but keep in mind this picture was taken after the very long night.

My nametag also came in, finally today. I got to be Dianna again! And then everyone at work kept calling me Chris as a joke and asking if I was sure Dianna was my real name. My old nametag I left pinned to my vest when I turned it back in.

I feel like I've been running a hundred miles an hour for the past week nonstop. I've been averaging about 5 or 6 hours of sleep every night. Which is why I really should be in bed right now. But I'm not.

I have tons to do tomorrow... like a never ending to do list. Which is weird because I was hoping that when I'm not in school I wouldn't have any worries or stresses outside of work. Unfortunately, I have managers to deal with, a car that needs work, friends to plan things for, departure dates to figure out, and a whole religion to deal with.

But it's okay because I love my life! Maybe I'll get back to telling cool stories later.

First Day in the MK

I'm still working on finishing documenting the cruise. More for myself than anything... but yeah. I thought I'd let that be known.

Today I woke up at 5am. Boarded the bus around 6am. Got to work a little before 7am. Clocked in a little after 7am. And then walked around the Magic Kingdom ALL FREAKIN' DAY!

Literally. We walked around until around 2:30. At this time I took a "break" by going and getting my costumes at costuming, running home to drop off my costumes and change into more comfy clothes, and then going straight back to the MK to play for the rest of the day.

Although I have to say the first part of the day was a lot like playing too... except that I was wearing formal business attire and wasn't allowed to answer my phone when I was on stage.

I can't really say much about what we did... but it was certainly fun and I learned a LOT. And I saw a bunch of things that made me want to just stare because it's not the sort of stuff you get to see and experience every day! Except that I will.

Also, I love my job. A lot. I have the coolest job ever!

The Return Of Walt Disney World

I got my acceptance letter today. It came in the from of an email this year. I guess Disney is seriously working on that "eco-friendly" image. I must say it's way less exciting to get an email. And it's way less exciting the second time around.

But I still squealed and called/talked to pretty much everyone I know who would care. I've already contacted all my friends from Disney and told my roommate and called the parents.

But I'm not in Merchandise this time around. I'm going to be in Main Entrance Operations. I don't totally know what this means exactly...

Oh well. I'm excited as ever! Time to celebrate! Pizza/movie/brownie party! Tomorrow night (cuz tonight's FHE). YAY!!!