PI Group

Our training leaders invited us to an event through our Disney emails.  We have those, ya know.  They told us it wasn't required but was "highly recommended" that we all go.  Just the twelve PIs that is. 

What was this event?  They told us we'd be playing in Hollywood Studios and then having dinner at Applebee's.  Well, they didn't lie.  But we figured out pretty quick that they didn't give us the whole truth.  We spent days trying to guess.


We went to Rock'n Roller Coaster! And not only that, we got to ride with the lights on and music off.  Coolest.  Thing.  EVER!  It's actually scarier with the lights on, though.  And I still had trouble figuring out which way is up.  At the end we were held for a while while they put some limos away.  It's actually kind of scary to be trapped in those restraints at the end for an undetermined amount of time with no one else around.

They considered this a learning experience since in my job we have to know the operations.  But we just found it awesome.

We're such a great group!

I love my job!

The Circle of (My) Life

I still remember the first day I worked at Disney in 2009.  I was scared to death, because the Dianna in me was freaking out, as usual.  The first guest I ever dealt with as a cast member came to my register.  It was register 2 at the Imagination Pavilion.  My trainer was standing next to me and I froze for a second, scared to death thinking about what was going to happen next, entirely unsure of myself, with my mind speeding through every possible scenario of how I would mess this up.  Then, the guest spoke.  "Hi!  Is there any way I could get this shipped to my room, please?"  Her little girl beside her kept messing with the little bouncy balls that we keep by the counter.  It was so normal.  She had no idea I was training.  Her confidence in my abilities to do my job, and the complete calmness she held completely overwhelmed me.  And then, just like that, all that worrying went away and I just did it!  I did my job.  And I did it right.  And it was awesome!

The same thing happened at safaris just months ago.  I was nearly paralyzed with fear as I drove up to the dock to pick up what would be my first set of real guests ever!  I stopped the truck and put it in park and just sat there for a second.  I think I may have even told my trainer, "I can't do it.  I can't."  I was nearly crying.  He told me to say the word.  The code word we have to say showing that we're ready for guests to board.  "Karibuni everybody!"  I said in the most confident voice I could muster, still shaking with fear.  The gates opened and the people flooded on.  As they were chatting amongst themselves, finding their seats, I realized their confidence in me.  Their confidence in Disney, really.  Confidence that this ride would be worth the money.  Worth the wait.  And their confidence that I could present them with that.  And then, just like that, all that worrying went away and I did it.  I continued my spiel not even thinking about worrying.  There was so much stuff to think about there was no more room in my brain for the worrying.  And I did it!

Now I'm encountering those same feelings again as I train this job.  I feel like each time it gets progressively harder.  Today, as my trainer had me answer phone calls and even call a manager for an update, I felt those same feelings rush back.  I called the Future World East manager.  My hand was shaking the radio as I said, "Hi, this is Dianna at Deployment, are you ready for an update?"  My mind was racing with worries of the manager hating me, of stumbling over my words, of not knowing what to say, of saying too many things, of getting things wrong, all the way down to the computer suddenly crashing.  She responded, "Oh yes!  I'm so glad to hear form you because I was just going to call you.  I needed your help with something else, but go ahead and give me the updates and then I'll tell you what I need too.  Actually it's two things, but go ahead with your update."  No questions asked, she had confidence in me and my abilities to do my job right down to the point where she had questions for me.  A manager.  In EPCOT.  With problems... for me to solve.  Me! But I did it.  Just like that, the worrying went away, and I did it.  And I fixed the problems she had, with help from my trainer, of course!  :)

And so continues a circle in my life.  The lackage and then gainage (I know they're not words.  Deal with it.) of confidence.  I'm grateful for the lessons I learn here at Disney.  I'm glad I can trust my trainers never to give me more than I can handle.  I am learning so much not only about the company, but about myself.  I'm (hopefully) becoming a better person with every semester.  I don't think I'll ever fully be confident with myself.  But that's okay.  I like me anyways.

Also, I like Disney.  And my job.  And my friends.  A whole, stinking lot.

First Day of School!

There's a stuffed Nemo toy we sell who, when you squeeze his fin, says "First day of school!  First day of school!  I really LOVE the first day of school!"

That's how I felt this morning getting ready.  Except I'm not in school.  And I'm not four years old.  And I'm not a clownfish.

That said, my job rocks!  It's all I thought it was and more, which is super awesome.  We met this morning and walked to the tunnels because they wanted to make sure we all knew how to get around.  Then they stuck us in a room and showed us Powerpoints for three hours.

Well it wasn't quite that boring.  I introduced myself like five times in three different ways including when they forced me to draw pictures of my life.  I stuck at drawing, but at least it made people laugh as I tried to explain them. Then we filled out a survey online and had to email it out to people.

They also made me fill out that thing that determines what learning style you are.  I'm not even kidding, the last three times I filled out one of those I got one each of the tactile, auditory and visual.  Today was visual.  Silly tests.  I wrote on the other survey I filled out that I tend to learn when I'm sincerely interested in what I'm learning about.  If I'm interested, I guarantee I'll learn no matter which style you use.

Then we got to shadow for a while.  Each "computer" has two monitors.  TWO!  I got stressed out at home with my mom's computer that has two monitors.  It just throws me off.  And every time I'd drag the mouse up to the top right corner to close a window it would slide to the next screen and click on something.  That'll take some getting used to. Did I mention this will take six weeks of training?  Six weeks.  Cuh-razy!  Safaris was seven days.

But I'm totally excited and love my job.  And that's the point of this post.  To let everyone know that.  I love my life!

Back In Florida

Driving back to Florida the other day I was thinking about my life.  Cuz, ya know.  Ten hours in a car... you get a lot of time to think.

And I started thinking.

"I'm going to Disney World."

Wait... "I'm going to Disney World!?"

"I'm going to DISNEY WORLD!"

And that's when I realized I haven't played in Disney for like a month.  Which seems like forever.  Which is awesome.

New Years

I never got around to a New Year's post.  Or really a post about my final days on my final College Program.  I began posts on each, but due to many random reasons I elected against it.

So to sum up, my last day of Safaris was absolutely awesome, amazing, incredible, great, spectacular all jumbled into one.  I was sad to leave, but excited to begin the next chapter of my life. I was delighted to have a little boy jump off the truck and run to my manager, who just happened to be standing there on the dock, and say in the cutest voice, "That was the best ride ever!  There was this bridge that fell over, but it's okay, we made it across because I crossed my fingers, just like this!"  He proceeded to show us all how he could cross his fingers.  "And then there was a baby elephant that we saved because we chased away those bad guys!  And we saw cheetahs too!  It was so cool!"

Oh yeah kid.  Yes, tell my manager what an awesome driver I am.  You'd think I'd paid him to do that.

New Year's was mostly uneventful.  Not in a sad or depressing way.  But still, uneventful.  I won't go into it.

Then I drove up to Virginia.  After dropping my roommate off at the airport at 5am, I drove straight from there home, stopping twice for gas and grub.  I got here around 6:30pm.  A loooooong time to spend in a car, that's for sure.  I crashed my parent's dinner date at Applebee's.  It was great getting free food again!

So here is my mini-update.  I'm sad it's not really your typical "first post of the year."  But hey, I did me best.  And you probably didn't really want to hear about all my New Year's resolutions I'm making to myself either (and I didn't want random strangers judging me when I didn't fulfill said resolutions.. yeah, that's right, I said "when").

I won't be updating for at least another week.  So I guess I'll see ya in Florida!

Merry Christmas!

This has been the best Christmas, probably in years.

It all started last night when my roommate and I baked gingerbread cookies.  And they came out perfectly.  All soft and chewy and all gingerbread-y.  So delicious!  Then we each opened a present.  My roommate bought me a little radio control Safari truck.  It's a little smaller than I'm used to driving, but will do nicely.

Excuse this picture, I literally just took it, since I decided I needed to put more pictures with my posts.

I was really excited for her to open hers.  I recruited my other roommate to go in with me and get her a nice tiara from Adventureland.  One of the really nice, legit looking ones.  I'm pretty sure she almost fell asleep with it on!  Hers was the present I was most excited to give! 

Then I had to be at work bright and early this morning.  As I opened the front door, one of my friends had left a wrapped present for me just outside on our doorstep.  A small stuffed Piglet, my favorite character!  So incredibly "thotful!"

When I got to work I got Departure 2, which is my favorite land to have.  I loaded people on the trucks all morning.  I was hilarious because it was so slow nobody was going anywhere I asked them to.  "Party of three?  Row eight please."  Pause... watch them walk... "Orrrr, you could have two of you go to row five and one in row six.  That works too..." So funny.

Then, my first truck of the day I had the best family in the front row.  There are some safaris where you just seem to click with the guests.  They all love me, and I just love them.  I love safaris like that!  They are always so much fun, and what a great way to start off Christmas day!  And the family in the front row just made the whole safari that much more fun.

We had a pot luck at my location so on my break I got to pig out on the best green bean casserole I've ever had.  Also, someone made some incredible mac and cheese, and we had lots of turkey.  My friend also made a Jewish dish called "noodle pudding."  It was good, for a change (*wink wink* Dad).  I'm glad that I tried it!

I got off at the same time as my friend, Allie.  On our way home we made plans to go to Downtown Disney (DTD).  She actually wanted to brave MK, but I talked her out of it.  We went to Earl of Sandwich and got their Thanksgiving Sandwich which is stuffing, turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, and such on a sandwich.  Best sandwich ever!  And only five bucks!

Even though DTD is less than ten minutes away, it took over thirty to get home for the traffic.  Ten minutes was spent at the same stoplight waiting for it to change three times before we could get through.  Cuh-razy!

I opened the rest of my presents and they were so awesome, plus all the Christmas cards and such from friends.

What made this Christmas better than any other I've had in recent years, is that today I'm reminded of the amazing friends that I have, and how much I am loved.  And with knowledge like that, not much else is needed in life.  I'm grateful for loving family, lots of friends who think about me, incredible co-workers, a fun job, strong beliefs, plans for my future, a safe place to live, a good education, and a working body and mind.  I love my life.  I love December.  I love Christmas.  I LOVE it!  Not much could make me happier.

Oh wait.  Christmas music.  Yep, that just made me happier!  I didn't think that was possible...

This has truly been one of the most Merry of all Merry Christmases I've had in recent years!  Thanks to all who made it great, and to all, a good night!

Gonna Miss These Guys

I see animals doing really silly things on the safari.  Believe it or not, an animal pooping is not the most interesting thing out there.  It's sad that, when I think the animals are being adorable, the guests hardly even notice.

For example, where the okapi is, there's a giant log on the ground.  The other day I drove through and the log was covered in maybe fifteen vultures lined up on it.  And then the okapi was pacing back and forth in front of the birds.  I almost died laughing.  Seriously, it looked like the okapi had recruited the vultures to help with some secret mission.  Or some creepy animal ceremony...

Okay, so maybe I have done too many safaris.

Then there's the pelicans.  They seriously look like they're doing yoga sometimes!  Like, this one stands on one foot and stretches the other out in the air.  When it does that, it opens it's wings out, I assume, to keep balance.  It looks literally like it's doing yoga.  I actually mentioned that on a safari the other day and the lady behind me laughed and agreed with me.  Yes, I appreciate that one guest who laughs at me.

The hippos talk quite a bit and it's like a bunch of grunting.  But today I got to do an empty safari (miraculously, seriously I thought I'd never get to do an empty round again cuz we've been so busy, but surprisingly today we were dead).  I came around to the hippo and she started grunting and for the first time it sounded like she was laughing!  Seriously.  She started laughing at me and then splashed in the water a bit and laughed again.  They've done this many times before, sometimes splashing with each other, but it's never sounded so much like laughter before.  Now I'm going to be looking for it...

The flamingos just crack me up too.  The thing about the flamingos is that they (and the crocs) are pretty much the only animals we can pretty much guarantee will be on every single safari.  So I always have that part of the ride exactly memorized and it's just boring.  But then lately I've noticed how silly the flamingos are.  I mean, they've always been super noisy.  But they "fight" too.  And they chase each other which is stinking adorable.  This one always is showing off it's wings, and sometimes it'll open it's wings and just run around in circles.  I've seen it do that like three times now and it always cracks me up.

Jabali is always funny, too.  The baby elephant.  Seriously, just exactly like a little kid.  He just has to be the center of attention.  Although the older he gets, the less he runs around which is kind of sad.  He plays with Luna all the time, though.  The two of them are always rolling around on the ground and pushing each other.  It's so funny to see Jabali try to push Luna with his trunk because he's like half her size.  Adorable!  The other day Luna tried to climb over a big log and got stuck, so Jabali came up behind her and was trying to push her the rest of the way over.  So stinking adorable.

One time I came around to cheetahs and saw one standing on the rock so I pointed her out.  "Hey look!  There's a cheetah!  And it looks like it's about to jump somewhere!  Let's watch her jump!"  Nope.  She wasn't about to jump.  She just needed to relieve herself... definitely the funniest time I've ever seen an animal take a poo because my entire truck laughed at me.

I did a safari a while ago and a few trucks up ahead got stopped for an ostrich.  So as we waited I told my guests we were stopped for an ostrich and talked a bit about ostriches to fill in the silence during our wait.  Then, we went back on the move and shortly thereafter found the ostrich.  The guy sitting in the first row had his little two year old sitting on his lap and as we came around the ostrich he proceeded to say to his child, "Wow.  That is one ugly animal!  Can you say ugly?  Yes, see, this thing is what we call ugly. Yuck!  That thing made us stop.  Look how ugly it's face is."  I had to turn off my mic and wipe the tears from my eyes trying not to laugh.

I'm gonna miss these animals.  A lot.  The people make me laugh too.  Like the other day a woman asked me how to tell if the giraffe was male or female.  My response?  "Umm, the same way as a human?"  The whole truck cracked up.  I since have been told that male giraffes are darker in color... meh.  Whatever!

I'm gonna miss this job!  I'm going to miss trying not to laugh so many times a day, and failing at not laughing just as many times throughout the day.  Seriously, sometimes just what I hear on the radio makes me laugh.  I love it!

Ohhhh, my life is so awesome!

Holiday Madness

Gotta love the Holidays at Disney World.  Cuh-razy!

It blows my mind sometimes when I re-realize just how many people are in this world.  Literally, I just stand there and watch as they drop the rope and this sea of people just comes straight towards us.  It's kind of overwhelming to see that many people walking towards you at once.  Okay, so that's why we don't actually "drop the rope."  Two people walk with the rope to the front of the line.  Because my friend was telling me that a few years ago he watched as the sea of people (I'm seriously not exaggerating, literally just imagine thousands of people all power walking together) came towards him and one person tripped and it was just a domino effect.  He said by the end about twenty people were on the ground all piled up.  Of course, no one was seriously hurt, but kind of crazy to imagine.  And a little funny. Heehee.

Anyway, today I worked Pram which normally sucks, but they pulled me out of parking and put me in the line.  I was basically just separating strollers from the actual line.  It's all about efficiency!  As I was standing there this random lady came up to me and threw her arms around me in a hug, "Ohhh!  You're from BYU-Idaho!!!  I love that school.  We're from Provo!"  Obviously, she read my nametag. Full body hug. Not awkward at all.

I decided as I was waiting to find strollers I'd entertain the line and it felt like my PAC days of yelling random junk to groups of total strangers again.  It's kind of fun to be the center of attention and seeing tons of faces looking at me with big smiles on their faces just wondering what I'll come up with next.  I really don't think I'm that interesting, but to super bored people I guess anything is interesting.  I was yelling about how there wasn't much line left and "just a few more miles down and you'll be there."  This foreign lady walked past as I mentioned this, and said with her accent, "Ohh, just some more miles?  Okay... uh, how many minute is that?"  Not too long, lady.  Not too long...

We were sitting at an 80 minute wait.  Actually, we were saying it was an 80 minute wait.  The FLIK cards showed us that people were waiting much shorter, from what I heard.  More like 50 or 60. But when the line is long like that we always say way more because people just swear that they've been waiting in line forever.  FLIK cards don't lie.  Those are the red cards we hand to random guests to bring with them to the front of the line so we can see how long they're waiting.  To that guy who insisted it had been two hours, I seriously pity him for the amount of people who had to cut in front of him for that to happen.

Anyway, one man told me, jokingly, that he'd been waiting "6 or 7 hours already in this line."  So I responded with, "Well then only 2 or 3 hours more to go!"  In reality everyone who got to the point where I was pulling strollers away was only about ten minutes away from the front anyway.

Due to the wait, I've been more motivated to give awesome safaris lately.  And to be honest, I feel like the people who ride my safaris have been more fun, making it easier for my safaris to be better.  Maybe something about waiting in a 60 minute line makes people want to enjoy it more.  But the people are more likely to applaud at the end and get involved.  And I love it when the parents really get into the story with their kids.  "Did you hear what she said?  There's poachers around!  We better watch out buddy!"  And there's no greater compliment to me when a four year old says excitedly in the middle of the savannah, "This is the best ride ever!"  Melt my heart!

Not that all of my safaris are awesome.  I get burnt out, too.  I get exhausted.  Today I was last truck again.  I love being last truck but it kind of sucks because they bring in a lot of the animals.  Last time I was last truck the only animals I saw for the entire second half of the ride were flamingos and the addax.  Super lame.  No lions, no cheetahs, not even the warthogs!  The reason I like last truck is because I get paid extra to sit in the VM lot at the end of the day waiting for fuel.  Literally just relaxing and doing nothing.  Except pulling the truck forward a few feet every couple of minutes.

Anyway, I could just write forever.  I'll stop here and update some other time.  Just rambling, remember?  My special talent. Heehee.

Hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to write about next time.  I'm moving into my new apartment soon!  That'll be fun!

Animal Sightings

I've done so many safaris I don't even remember them anymore.  In fact, I love going back through this blog and reading what I wrote because, to be honest, I don't remember some of that stuff ever happening.  And it even happened just in the past few months!

Today, the lion was not only walking around in a perfect view of both the male and female, but he also started roaring.  He actually roared right on call for me!  I mentioned that it looked like he was going to roar to my guests and told them if they were quiet, we might be able to hear him.  And then, magically enough, he really started roaring!  I've heard him roar before, but it's always exciting to hear from the animals!

The hippos also spoke to us today (that's a lot more common though... probably the most common, in fact).  And I heard the cheetahs for the first time!  It's hard to hear the cheetahs because they're so far away.  But recently I was given an idea to pay more attention to listening to the animals, or, more importantly, allowing guests to listen to the animals.  The cheetahs sounded just like a cat, actually.  They were playing with each other.

I got a little worried today as I came around the elephants.  One was laying down on the ground on it's side and not moving.  It almost looked dead, but then it started rolling in the mud and another little elephant came over and started throwing dirt onto the first one's back.  They're so cute!  One time the elephants were playing like that and they even started talking very loudly!  So awesome!


We've also been having problems with squirrels lately.  I'm not really sure if I wrote about the squirrel that attacked me a while ago.  Basically, it lunged at my face and if I hadn't have dodged it it probably would have killed me.  Okay, so that's a slight exaggeration, but you get the point.

Anyway, there's this little squirrel that apparently someone's been feeding.  Everyone keeps blaming us safari drivers.  I haven't done it, but apparently there's such a big issue that they've been threatening reprimands for feeding the squirrels.  This just made me laugh.  But seriously, they've been having a big problem with the squirrels being not afraid of humans.  One even jumped onto my manager's leg the other day.  They come right up to us humans saying (in squirrel speak of course), "Food?  Food?  You give me popcorn?  Yes?"  Super cute... but also just a tad creepy.

Ah well.  I love the animals I work with.  I love my job.  And I'm super lucky for this experience!  I'm definitely going to miss this job!

Too Much TV?

Often during my job there are times when I feel like I'm in a movie.  For example, this morning I opened the Cheers dock, which is the exit basically.  So I was literally waiting for like 45 minutes for guests to come.  So boring.  By the time the first truck came, I felt exactly like in Madagascar when the animals of the zoo are waiting for people in the morning and start yelling, "Yay!  The people!  The people are coming!  I love the people! Yay people!!!"

There are other times when I feel like Maria from The Sound of Music.  When I'm on the safari and I get to a point where I've said all the interesting stuff I can come up with and there aren't really any more animals to talk about for a few seconds so there's that little bit of dead space.  I look in my rearview mirror and see a bunch of expectant faces just waiting for whatever I'll say next.  It reminds me of the scene where Maria sings "Raindrops on roses" and she turns to see the kids all looking at her expectantly and puts her hand to her head, not sure what to go on with for a second.  Ahh, I understand perfectly.

As I come around the savannah and explain the termite mounds and how not only termites get use out of them, but the elephants and antelope also use them, I always want to finish with the quote, "And so, we are all a part of the great circle of life."  I've never actually said it just because it doesn't completely fit, but still.  Such a good quote from the best movie ever.

Speaking of The Lion King, people always point out the animals from that movie.  As we go around to warthogs they all call out, "Oh!  Hey! It's Pumbaa!" and the lions are all called "Simba" "Nala" or "Mufasa."  The best is the mandrills though.  People catch on and call them Rafiki.  But really.  Have you ever seen a mandrill?  Looks nothing like Rafiki.  I'm just saying.  They're smaller, fatter, and lazier.  And not as wise.


 

I'm just sayin'.

That is all. (I'm too tired to figure out how to make this pictures fit side by side... so there ya go)

Oh, and I love my job!

Things I Just Love

I've been kind of grumpy lately.  I had a bad encounter with a guest that made me angry at all guests for a while.  Then I went home early on Tuesday because I wasn't feeling well (and I was still mad).  But I'd had the past two days off, and it's been wonderful.  And I've been thinking more and more about things I love about life rather than... negatives. 

So, here's to happiness!

Today I headed out to Magic Kingdom to get some friends into the parks.  On the way I was on the monorail and noticed a little four year old boy who asked his dad, "So, after Magic Kingdom, can we go to EPCOT?  I want to see the big white ball!"  Many adults don't even understand there are four different parks.  I mentioned how impressed I was, how advanced he sounded (he said other things too that just showed he really totally understood what was going on) and spoke with his grandmother a bit.  As I did I learned he hadn't even been here in a year.  "Oh, so what's the occasion this time?"  I asked.  "No babies!!!" the little boy yelled.  Apparently he had a little baby sister, two months old back at home.  Cutest thing ever.  He turned his little head to look out the window of the monorail at the castle and said, in the cutest, most excited voice ever, "This is going to be the best day EVER!"  And then let out a sigh.  I love it!

This past week I've gotten to do two scavenger hunts.  One in Magic Kingdom and the other in Hollywood Studios.  I love watching the Osbourne Family Lights dance and seeing the families around dancing with their kids and all over just having a fantastic time.  Also, it snows during the light show.  There's something about softly falling snow that is just plain magical.  I love watching the Jedi Training academy and watching little kids take out Darth Vader.

I love when I come around elephants on the Safari and Jabali is out playing.  The baby elephant.  The other day I went around and the elephants were all in the water playing, splashing and even making noises.  Crazy!

Shopping for Christmas gifts for people.  I love finding presents for people.  Unfortunately I could never afford to get everyone everything I'd want to get them.  But I'm pretty excited to give out some of my presents this year!

ABC Family and the 25 Days of Christmas just began.  Meaning this is all you're getting for an update.  But yeah, Merry Christmas! 

And I have to say that what I'm loving most right now is that my favorite month of the entire year has just begun!!!

Make A Wish

I haven't written much about the Make a Wish kids on here.  In fact, I'm not sure I've ever mentioned them.  However, they do have a pretty big impact.  The Make a Wish foundation brings children who have been diagnosed with life threatening illnesses or only have months, sometimes weeks to live, to Orlando to have one "last" family vacation.  It is extremely sad.  These kids are distinguished usually by their buttons, but they also have very special cards to bring around with them that show us cast members who they are.  It's pretty rare to see them, but we all treat those families like gold.  I don't see them often, normally only to let them into the Fastpass line because their card is an automatic Fastpass onto any ride in any park all the time, no questions.

With that said, I have a story.  Today, after my first break, I got my next assignment.  I was sent to a wheelchair truck.  I don't like driving wheelchair trucks.  I don't like the drama, I don't like having to come up with extra "filler" spiel at the end when things are blocked up in the jog, I don't like pulling up to that dock since it's the hardest one to go up to... I just don't like it.  On top of getting this truck, I went up to bump it and realized it had the headphones that I hate.  The kinds that go around the back of your head and pinch your head to the point you get a headache.  And since the cord was behind me I kept sitting on it and they kept falling off.  I asked to change them and she told me the other set was broken.

Needless to say, I was not happy and actually quite whiny.  I did my first three rounds happily driving guests, but being grumpy after pulling up to the dock and ripping off the headphones every chance I got.  (It's okay, I pull up to the dock just fine... it's just hard and I'm always scared I'm going to miss it).

As I finished my third round I was sad to see that I didn't have a breaker and I'd have to do another round.  I was hoping I could stop after three, I was hungry.  I looked back and saw one family in the line to get on my truck. As they approached I noticed it was a mom and dad and four kids.  And they had the Make a Wish buttons.  At least, the little girl did.  They were all very happy and had their faces painted and were perfectly ready and excited for a two week safari.  I did my best to sound upbeat.

As they boarded my truck, we waited a bit, and Tara (who was working the dock) noticed there weren't any other guests on their way.  Normally, in this situation, we load regular guests onto the truck who don't have wheelchairs or ECVs so that the normal line gets a little shorter, and my truck goes full.  We were sitting at about a thirty minute wait.  But, this family seemed really sweet and fun.  And they were Make a Wish kids.  So Tara and I agreed to go ahead and give this family their own, private safari, instead of calling for more guests.  The only time I've ever done this... However, it was, quite possibly, the best decision ever!

Instead of doing a normal safari, I gave the family just a little bit of backstage information as we went around, to make it a little special.  However, I stuck to the script as much as possible, basically giving them a combination of both VIP backstage tour with the normal safari meshed into one.  I chatted with them and joked, and they laughed.  The mom was practically rolling on the floor after one of my jokes.  I was very conversational and it was quite possibly one of my best safaris yet.

At the end they clapped for me and told me it was absolutely perfect.  Their kid only had weeks left, and this was their second day in their final seven day vacation as a family.  I let them know how honored I felt to have not only been a part of it, but to be a great, memorable part of it.  They said they felt like VIPs as well getting to ride like that. 

I know it doesn't sound like much on here.  But I nearly cried after I got my break after that round.  The family was so happy, the kids so loving, and I was able to give them a pretty decent magical moment that they would remember.  It felt so amazing.  I don't know how long the little boy had left.  But those kids look so emaciated from chemo and whatever treatments they've had.  The mom was telling me how they only had the energy to do half days.  I could tell the little boy only had a little bit left.

For the record, the vacation that Make a Wish gives them is three days in Disney, two days at Universal, and one day in Sea World.  The seventh day is used for whatever extra activity the kid wants whether it be skydiving or going to the beach or visiting local museums or whatever.  Usually though, this mom said they spend that day together, as a family, with no one else in the world but each other.  I can't imagine the pain of losing a little kid.  Knowing your child only has weeks to live, or a sibling will be gone soon.  Seeing a little girl who doesn't have hair to braid anymore or this little boy who would never be able to throw around a football again because he could hardly even stand.  But yet, they understand joy in a different way than I think I may ever understand.

And now that made my wheelchair truck experience totally worth it.  The new perspective.  The opportunity to give that family something special.  Getting to meet that family.  It's all worth it.

I certainly am grateful for my family.  I'm grateful for so much, but health and life are some of the most important things I think I could be grateful for!  I love my life!  I love my job!

Which One's Best?

I'm constantly asked which of my three jobs at Disney was my favorite.  Merchandise in EPCOT vs. Main Entrance in Magic Kingdom vs. Kilimanjaro Safaris in Animal Kingdom.  Honestly, the answer to this question is not just a one word thing.  I loved parts of each one, and I've dreaded other parts.  And as much as I try, I can't weigh in and figure out which one, overall was my favorite.  They were all just different.

I loved Merchandise because I was always able to make the unhappy guest happy again.  I don't recall a single time I was unable to help out a guest in a positive way.  It was a simple job, in air conditioning, that was fairly low stress and fun.  My specific location was extra fun because it included the pictures that I got to take of guests.  I loved getting them to pose just right in front of the green screen and then "magically" putting it onto the background of their choice.  I loved the one-on-one guest interactions in this role.  I also loved that I could pick up shifts anywhere on property and there were constantly shifts available for me to pick up extra hours.

There were also several reasons why I didn't like this role.  I constantly felt terrible for making monetary mistakes or messing up counting or whatever.  It also got extremely boring.  The same old place selling the same old Merchandise every single day.  And it was nothing special... it was basically just like the bookstore I used to work at.  Same, easy, grunt work job that almost everyone in the world has had experience in doing at one point or the other.  Nothing big or exciting or different.  Plus it's sad that Figment is nearly gone, and no one hardly knows who he is anymore.  And I didn't like that my hours here were entirely unpredictable.  At least in my other jobs the parades are at the same times (or at least within an hours or so) and at my job now I'm off early each day... but in EPCOT I could literally have been scheduled anytime, morning, noon and night, and I had no say, whatsoever.

Now on to Magic Kingdom.  I loved going between turnstiles and PAC.  I absolutely loved getting the crowds energized.  Hearing the music to the parades and being around such great excitement, and getting others excited was absolutely amazing, and participating in Flag Retreat was just something else.  I got to watch the MK fireworks show (including the Holiday fireworks which normally cost extra, even for cast members) every single night to the point I practically had them memorized.  I worked with a lot more people my own age, and overall had a magnificent time.

Unfortunately, the biggest negative to this role was the amount I got yelled at.  For fairly good reason too.  At the turnstiles, people freak out when their $500 paper ticket doesn't work the first time.  And within the park during the parade, people are tired and exhausted at the end of the day with three screaming children and are at the end of their thread already when I have to go up to them and say, "I'm sorry, you may not watch the parade from here."  Hence me being cussed out at least weekly.  Almost daily.  Very, very hard on me.  But I learned a lot from it.  Unfortunately, it changed my perspective on people, making me think more the worst of people instead of the best.  I'm recovering from that and becoming more realistic day by day.

Now on to my current job!  Safaris!  My favorite thing about this ride, ultimately, is the people I get to work with.  Everyone is just so much fun.  I love how we have so many "outside" of work parties.  I love playing, and being silly, and goofing off.  I don't think I've ever loved a group of people so much... at least since the rescue squad I worked on.  I love talking about my job.  The hours are completely amazing. I'm off before 6 basically every single day.  It's also amazing to get to share stories of animals and guests... and sometimes the two combined.  Best thing ever!

But, it gets very boring.  I'll be honest.  There are times that I cringe to do another Safari, sick of repeating the same things about the same animals again and again and again.  It's hard on me physically, my back sometimes aches when I get home and my voice is just gone after working just a few days in a row.  I get a sore throat, and I can no longer sing.  Like, at all.  Which is really sad, I love singing.  And it's exhausting.  I never get any exercise, but I'm still just exhausted at the end of the day, not wanting to do anything.  But at the end of the day, I always have the biggest smile on my face that just won't go away because I'm so happy to be with so many great people.

I just wanted this documented at some point, since this is my last CP ever, hopefully.  Maybe it will help others decide what role to have.  Honestly, I've both loved, and been terribly annoyed, by every single role.  It really has been a roller coaster, but I wouldn't change any of my jobs for anything.  I'm so grateful for the experience of working all of them.  Hopefully, I'll love my new job as much as I love these.

Random Updates

I keep starting posts... and then never finishing them.  One was where I listed things I wish all guests knew here at Disney World.  Like, I wish everyone knew to walk on the right hand side of the roads/paths/streets/anywheres.  I also wish they would all understand the Fastpass system before coming.  It would make their vacations so much better.  Seriously, you wouldn't believe the amount of people who are either entirely oblivious to it, or completely don't understand it at all (like they get their fastpasses, and then still enter the ride through the normal entrance thinking they need a ticket just to ride the ride... that dates back to a loooong time ago here at Disney when we had the E passes).

Anyway, another post was about how excited I am that the bongos are out on show now!  They're pretty cool, actually and I see them almost as often as the Greater Kudu.  Which is funny because they're supposed to be nicknamed "ghosts of the forest" because they're so reclusive.  But I see them!  A lot!


Hmm, not much else to report.  The rhinos were chasing the addax the other day.  I almost felt bad for the addax too, but then I remembered how often the addax stands in front of the trucks and stops up our ride... then I didn't feel so bad.  Then again, the rhinos sometimes do that too.  In all honesty though, the worst animal at stopping our ride is usually the ostrich.  However lately the giraffes have been being annoying.  Then we have the sweet little animals like the gazelles or waterbuck or the eland who never ever stop our ride or stand in the road.  Why can't they all be like that?

Anyway, hope that's enough of an update!  Sorry it's not very Holiday-ee.  Hopefully soon there'll be more Holiday-ish posts!  I am getting to see part of my family soon, so that'll be exciting!  Leaving bright and early tomorrow morning!  Can't wait! :)

Ten Foot Hault

Our location is doing the DAK PAC Olympics.  Yeah, I think I wrote about it on here before.  Today was the "Ten Foot Hault" event.  Before we took our trucks out to the ride path, we had to see who could get their truck's bumper closest to ten feet away from Tweezly, our giant plastic pet zebra.  (yes, I'm being serious, this really is a true story)  The reason is that out on the ride path when there's an animal in the road we're supposed to stop ten feet away from it.  Well, I completely failed at that event.  I was more than fifteen feet away.  Completely embarrassing.  I'm just hoping someone is as horrible at depth perception as I am.  In my defense, when I'm actually out on the ride path, I creep up a lot closer to the animals (depending on the animal and what's going on around us).  I don't actually stop that far away.  I just didn't want to get into trouble for scaring animals so I tried to stay in the safe zone.  Which really was a bad idea, because the people I work with are extremely chill and people don't really get mad at each other.  We get enough angry guests to spread around enough anger for everyone.

Anyway, in other news this has been altogether a completely and totally awesome week.  I was accepted to two PIs.  I accepted the one I wanted more and in doing so have learned tons about the company.  Found numerous friends who wanted me to stay with them, and actually found one perfect apartment to live in starting in January with a perfect location and even better price!  I stayed up late one night and watched the midnight showing of a movie that just came out (and proceeded to make it through the next day on only three hours of sleep).

Went to the Ft. Wilderness Campfire thing last night with friends from work (not smart to play football with a bunch of guys twice my size who also happen to be made of steel), ate S'mores and talked to my boss's wife who happens to have worked in both Professional Internships I was just accepted to.  Networked with her, and learned a lot about those jobs and what I'll be doing.  Ended up with way too little sleep and went home early today, but today's still been awesome.  I'm reeeeeally sore from the games we played (I basically ran right into a guy's leg and smashed my face in... found my glasses sitting on the ground five feet away thankfully still in one piece!) and super tired from the lack of sleep lately, but it's been worth it.  On top of all of that I even got two GSF cards today! (really good compliments from guests that go on my record card and say I'm a good person basically)

Definitely so incredibly lucky, and so incredibly happy!  What an awesome life.

Did I mention I work at Disney World?

Professional Internships

Last Wednesday I received an email from Recruiting asking to set up an interview for a PI.  I set up the interview which took place Thursday.  I learned more about that job, and hung up the phone feeling nervous despite the phone conversation going just fine.

Friday I received another email from Recruiting asking me to fill out background check info.  I told them all about my previous life as a convicted felon and all the laws I've ever broken.  After reading and obsessing over others who have been accepted/denied, I knew this email meant they were getting ready to give me an offer.  Or, in very rare cases, change their mind and turn me down.

But this email came Friday.  Which meant I had all weekend to obsess over what was going to happen. 

Monday came and I missed a call from Disney because I was at work.  I proceeded to play telephone tag all day, obsessing even more.  My manager told me he had received a phone call from recruiting about me and that he put in a good word.  I was delighted, but could hardly even show how happy I was.  I think I was more in a state of bewilderment.  Plus, it's hard to talk with a stomach in your throat.

Monday night my roommate and I were watching a movie and my phone started ringing.  It was that magical phone call!  The one where they offered me a Professional Internship!  But... not the one that I had the second phone interview for...  Well, she informed me I was still in the running for that one.  But I was officially accepted to this one, and I had to accept within 48 hours online.

I went online Tuesday (yesterday) and accepted.  The pay is higher, the job is fun, and I'll get to work at Disney World!

Today, I was just getting over that excitement and continuing to look for apartments (mainly friends to get an apartment with) when my phone rang again.  This time, again, from Disney.  (I'm learning that anytime a "restricted" number calls my phone it's going to be awesomely amazing!)  The lady on the other end offered me the other Internship!

"I see here that you've already been accepted to this other one, but at this point you are allowed to change your mind and choose between them if you'd like.  I want you to know though, that this is extremely rare.  We only offer maybe ten interns two PIs each season, if that.  This is a very high honor that you're allowed to choose between two."  As she told me this I nearly started crying.

Even though she offered me a day to think about it, I went ahead and told her I would rather stay with the first.  For one thing, I'm not really into answering angry guest emails all day.  I'm kind of sick of working with guests, and will enjoy working more with cast.  For another, the Workforce internship pays more per hour.  And also, the apartment I'm looking at living in is closer to the Workforce internship office, whereas it's more like ten of fifteen from where the GC internship would have been.  Also, Workforce will take me more in the direction I want to go long term.  So it wasn't a really hard decision to make.

But really.  Oh my gosh!  I'm still reeling... I can't even believe it.  I am seriously.  So. Freaking.  LUCKY!

Words can't even describe my joy right now!

Maybe I'll get Ghirardelli tonight to celebrate!  Just as a test to see if chocolate can even make the happiest people in the world even happier!

VoluntEARing

As with all things Disney, everything is themed and everything is cheesy.  Really, really cheesy.  I"m just warning you a little about this upcoming post.

So my roommate and I decided to do the Coastal Cleanup activity today.  We signed up a while ago, but today was that wonderful day!  I guess I should explain a little about it before moving on.

Disney is really big into the whole "service" thing.  There are tons of opportunities they give cast members to serve in their communities and such.  I've never done any of them because you have to register beforehand and there's always a lot of people who want to go.  And by the time I know my schedule, it's too late to register or something else comes up and I can't go.  But I heard about this coastal cleanup thing and I just had to do it so I gave away my shift for today to a friend so I could go.

But moving on.  We arrived at the meeting place in Celebration at 7am.  They said they wouldn't be providing hardly anything, but just minutes after pulling into the parking lot we were stacked high with presents!

First, they gave us a small container of wet wipes.  I guess to use after picking up trash.  Then the tube that looks like big bite healer stuff is both bug bite stuff and sunscreen in one!  Then they gave us water bottles that poofed out when filled with water.  And, my favorite, I got my very own Disney VoluntEARs t-shirt!  I was soooo excited!  The presents alone made the whole thing worth it (and, of course, the satisfaction of knowing I served the world, gave back to the planet, helped out Mother Nature... you know... that stuff too of course!) They also fed us breakfast and lunch.  We had fresh fruit and Kashi Granola bars for breakfast/snack.

Then we headed out to Brevard County to clean up some ocean!  Tons of people came and there were people with giant video cameras everywhere!  As we got on the bus our "bus captain" explained the rules and what we were going to do.  Get into small groups, we had to write down every piece of trash we picked up so they could keep track of what sort of trash is most common (seriously, Disney researches everything), etc. etc.  At the end, our captain asked us, "So, are there any questions?"  Dead silence.  "Any questions at all?"  Suddenly a little girl in front raised her hand.  "I have a question!  Umm... what... which Disney character's favorite color is purple?"

Best.  Question.  Ever.  We were riding the purple bus, which I think it where the question came from.  For the record, we ultimately decided on Daisy, but I think Rapunzel is up there, too.

 

 It was still pretty chilly, which is why we wore our jackets.  Our group (just our bus) cleaned up 1.5 miles of the ocean's coast.  Just standing back looking at it, there didn't seem to be much in the way of trash.  But by the end, our trash bag was surprisingly heavy.  As were the trash bags of all those around us.  I was amazed at how much trash we found.  Mostly, it was just little chunks of plastic (sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between the chunks of plastic and the seashells... but when you can clearly read on it "Made in China" I tend to be convinced that it is indeed plastic) and bottle caps.  We also found candy wrappers, string, rope, a fishing line (it took forever to pull the kelp out of the fishing line), a hanger, and bazillions of cigarettes.  Nasty!  Cigarette butts actually had it's own section on the sheet we filled out.

 

Yeah.  This is me filling out the sheet.  I don't know why I'm giving the camera stinkeye.  Actually.  I do.  The sun was shining right into my eyes... and I had no idea Pamilla was taking a picture.  Anyway.  Pamilla loves this picture of me and even put it up on Facebook, so I figured I'd better explain it.

 The beach was beautiful.  And surprisingly deserted.  Especially for a Saturday.  We found tons of trash and overall had a fantastic time, I'd say.  I loved seeing all the Disney people with their families coming out to have fun.  Kids as young as five were allowed. 

Afterwards we went to the park and had a picnic.  Sandwiches, chips and cookies.  Then we came back home and finished watching the movie Aladdin that we had started on the way there.

It's been a great day!  But I've been waking up at 5am almost every morning lately, and the latest I've slept in is about 6:30, so I'm going to bed.  I know it's early.  I know I'm lame.  But I'm stinking tired!

Way to go Disney!  Way to provide tons of opportunities to serve!  I absolutely LOVED it, and totally plan on VoluntEARing again!

Judge Me By My Size Do You?

My Disney Heritage class yesterday was in the Magic Kingdom.  We met there and walked around talking about the history of the park(s) and went on Mickey's Philharmagic and searched for Hidden Mickeys.  Best. Class. Ever.  Disney Heritage should be a major.  Only, then the only job you could ever get with it would be... well... um...  Meh.  Never mind!

A kid in my class was wearing this t-shirt.  We weren't supposed to dress professionally since the teacher didn't want us to stick out in the MK.  I almost died laughing at it.  It's one of those shirts where it says on the front "Judge me by my size, do you?"

And this is the back.  I just have to say I am soooo glad that I'm not working an attraction where we have a height limit.  We even have parents bring infants in their arms on my ride and it's okay.  My roommate who works Space Mountain has told me of the issues with it.  And the parents who stuff the kids shoes with tissues or tell their kid to stand on tip toes.  It sucks because it's such a hard thing to deal with.

But.  This picture cracks me up.  And that was the entire point of this post.

Now to get free Chik-fil-a (Thursdays after 4 for Disney Cast members!) and go to Grocery BINGO with my roommate.  We still haven't won, but it's fun and free!  Then Walmart to get milk and eggs... I can't believe I'm somehow out of both so I've been living off of dry cereal and soup.  Then sleep.  Oh, precious sleep!

Baby Sables!

I heard stories from the people I work with about when we got the addax a while back.  They said they just came to work and suddenly there were fact cards and the leaders basically just said, "Here's a new animal.  Memorize it and look for it."  Done.

Well, a few days ago they mentioned our "baby Sable Antelope" were coming out on show.  I didn't even know we had baby Sables.  I'd only ever seen the adult.. male I think.  Usually they put him over with the zebras, but once in a long while I'd spot him somewhere on West Savannah (out with the giraffes and Ankole cattle and such).

So yesterday was the magical day.  Their first day on show.  They put burlap all around the reserve to help protect them, just in case they got a little "lost."  And we got the little cards that had random Sable facts on them.  More Sable facts than the ones we had already memorized.

The only problem?  They didn't happen to warn us that baby Sable Antelope look absolutely nothing like adults. I mean, seriously.  Look:

So I was driving around and looked out, looking for a small group of Sables and instead saw two adults and several little reddish looking things.  I wanted to say, "What in the heck is that!?"  But of course, it's easy to figure out in that situation, since I knew every animal on the reserve except that one.  I'm just glad I didn't misidentify a squirrel or something as a baby sable.  The main thing I was worried about was that I didn't know how big the babies were, so I was scared I'd hit one.  But there were trucks parked all around the reserve both keeping an eye on the sables and keeping an eye on us drivers.  It all went well.

And I'm really excited for our newest addition! They really are adorable.

And in closing, something stupid I said on the safari yesterday (this could seriously be a daily thing here, stupid things I say).  This comment made my whole entire truck burst out laughing.  Soooo embarrassing: "The male lions of the pride are generally all females."

Meant to say, "The female lions of the pride are generally all sisters.(or at least closely related)"

Daylight Savings Time

America is weird.  Sometimes I feel like we are the only country who does Daylight Savings Time.  (Are we?  I actually don't know..)

Anyway.  I worked the Fastpass position today where I check the fastpasses to get on the rides.  All the foreign people kept coming an hour early and I had to keep explaining to them they needed to wait an hour.  And some even got mad, and pull out their watch which clearly stated that the time was "correct."  Then I had to remind them about daylight savings.  Some laughed as they remembered America is weird.  Others completely didn't get it.  Some just shrugged and left.  It was one of the funniest situations, and the most odd I've ever dealt with.  Really.  It never occurred to me that switching an hour back or forwards would be weird... but it is, I guess.

In light of Daylight Savings, though, our ride is officially closing at 4:45 for the rest of the month, regardless of what time the park closes.  This is good, because it means I'm off by 5:30 pretty much every single day.  It's also bad though.  Because 4:45 is a super weird time to be closing just one ride in a park that normally closes at 5 or 6 (closing times depends on the day... Disney is weird like that).

So I've been reminding people at the end of my safari if I have time.  "If you all enjoyed what you saw today, you're welcome to come back and join us again with Kilimanjaro Safaris!  We'd love to have you!  However, keep in mind that we will be closing at 4:45 tonight, so be sure to come back before then.  Thanks again for all your help catching those poachers!"

Have a hakuna matata day!  Remember, no hurries and no worries! (I don't actually use that one, but a lot of people I work with do)