The Tunnels

A note to Disney-goers: The Tunnels of the Magic Kingdom are real.

It blows my mind sometimes that people still don't really believe that they actually exist.  And to be honest, I LOVE that mystery about Disney World.  There's just so much magic and mystery that people can't really be totally sure of what's going on.

Well, I wander these tunnels a lot.  Every day, pretty much.  Usually I'm just trying to get a teeny bit of exercise on my break or something.  I really enjoy walking around the tunnels though.  I still sometimes get a little lost.  Especially when I'm lost in thought, not paying any attention and then suddenly I hear what sounds like thunder right above my head shaking the ground and I can hear people screaming (Okay, if there's screaming I'm probably under Stitch, if it's just a rumbling sound I'm probably just under the Hall of Presidents or Philharmagic).  Still, the Tunnels have their own magic as well, and I love it.

Grand Floridian and NGE (Next Generation Experience) Test

Remember that one time I told you to look out for a post on me staying in the Grand?  Like a week ago?  Yeah, that was awesome.  I never got around to writing it because I was too busy.

And the sad fact is... I'm still too busy.  But I'm forcing myself to write for the next few minutes because, seriously, last weekend was stinking awesome.

This is a Magic Band, for those who don't know.  It's awesome.  It's ingenious.   It's next generation! (and this one happens to have my name on it... spelled correctly!)

 Last weekend, my friend Sami got to do a play test for these little beauties.  The Magic Band is the new, upcoming way to "experience Disney."  It has a little chip inside that can be used for everything.  I mean everything.

We used it to open the door to our Resort room (no more key cards).  It had a days worth of park hopper tickets on it, so we used it to get into the park (just tap it to the new turnstile and it turns green and you walk in!).  We used it as Fastpasses that we set up using out Smartphones (or you can plan your Fastpasses on a computer at home or at Guest Relations).  We rode Coaster and Star Tours... and I feel like one other ride but I can't remember now.

You can even hook these things up to your credit card so you can charge things to it!  And these will have Photopass on them eventually so you can have the park Photographers take pictures for you and view them later.  Ingenious I tell you.  Incredible.  Brilliant.

Also, it should be noted that they're not uncomfortable.  I actually slept with my Magic Band on by accident (I forgot it was there and forgot to take it off).  And they're dang sturdy.  We went swimming with them and everything.

But back to the Grand Floridian.

 I don't have as many wonderful things to say about this place.  I mean, it was Grand, for sure.

 I just don't know that I'd want to pay a thousand dollars a night to stay here.

 The room was beautiful, though.  As was the rest of the hotel.  And the pool was fun.  We went down the waterslide like five times... yep, we were right there in line with all the seven year olds.  It was awesome.

 I liked the room, but it reminded me a lot of a Marriott.  I've been spoiled in my life.

 I looooooved the Mickey Mouse touches though.  Definitely my favorite part!

 There were hidden Mickeys EVERYWHERE.  I loved it!

And I have to say it was pretty awesome to see Disney World from our window! We watched the fireworks on the beach.

Anyway.  The point of this post is:

1. The Grand Floridian was nice, big, and beautiful, but I wouldn't necessarily pay an arm and a leg to stay there.

2. Magic Bands are incredible. 

We ran into a couple of trips here and there.  They didn't bother me, but really seemed to bother my friend.  However, it was her website and her project and when we ran into the issues, she knew how to fix them and just couldn't because she wasn't at work so it was frustrating for her.

I had a great time though.  This whole Magic Band thing is incredible!  I know people are all freaked out about "What if I lose it?"  "What if someone steals it?"  "I don't want Disney having all my information!"  But really, once you get to know the system you realize there are ways around it.  The chip inside the band is deactivatable (is that a word?) and doesn't actually store your information so you can cancel it and clear the chip any time.

What bothers me most about it is that now you actually have to plan your day to use Fastpasses so you're constantly watching the time making sure you're in the right place at the right time.  And it scares me how easy it is to pay.  I mean, really. I literally tapped the band to the register and BOOM! my meal was paid for.

Freaky!

Grand Floridian

Stay tuned for a post this weekend about my stay at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.



I just looked on the website and a one night stay starts at $652 plus tax.  During the Holidays, Cast Members can sometimes get a discount making it more in the $450/night area-ish (the prices of the rooms go up during Holidays so really it's a BIG discount off the normal price at that time).  Keep in mind, this is the cheapest room possible.



Except this weekend my friends and I won't be paying a few hundred dollars.  No, we are the luckiest people ever!  We get to stay for a night at the Grand for the grand price of free.

That's right.  Free.

The catch?  We have to use our free Magic Bands the next day at the parks as Fastpasses to make sure the system works.

I'm not even kidding, people.

My life is amazing.

Office Woes

I made a mistake yesterday.  A very embarrassing mistake.

I misspelled my own name.

No no.  Not just that.  I misspelled my own name on my signature to my emails from a certain computer in our office.  Meaning, that every email I sent out to people... professional emails... from our team's inbox, which is professional, I have a very definite misspelled name.

So. Embarrassing.

Fortunately, I caught the mistake.  I think I recovered all the emails I sent out and fixed it all.

There's a guy in the office who likes to tease me for being blonde. (PS, I'm not blonde... not visually anyway)

"How could you misspell your own name?!"  He asked me, laughing, "Wow... just wow..."

For those curious I accidentally hit the 'm' twice as the last letter of my last name.  That's all.

I'm gonna go crawl under a rock now.  Don't mind me.

On Life

When it comes to making big decisions in life, there are two parts of me that pull me in two different directions.

There's the human, lazy side of me that wants to go the easy way.  I'd rather not have responsibilities and appointments and relationships.  I'd rather spend my days at home, relaxing with not a care or stress in the world.  And chocolate.  Lots of chocolate.

Then there's the realistic side of me.  The part that realizes that if I really did live that way, I'd be depressed and pathetic.  The realistic side of me loves to have things to do, to feel needed and wanted.  It makes me feel busier than I can handle at some times.  And yes, it gets me to the point of being angry and stressed... but I guess sometimes I'd rather have stronger emotions than none at all... right?

Well.  This week I finally made it to full time status in my job.  I actually got it last Sunday but they weren't able to tell me until yesterday.  Long story.

Regardless, as excited as I was to get to that point, I suddenly thought, "Great! ............now what?"  Now what do I work for?

To be honest, I absolutely LOVE my life right now.  I love my job and the people I work with.  I love Disney and getting to play there.  I love Florida and the beaches.  I love all the opportunity for parties and places to go around here!  I love Give Kids the World and the volunteer work I do there and the incredible people that I meet there.  I love my church, my friends, my apartment, the weather, the shopping, and did I mention?  Disney!

I just want it all to freeze right here right now.  I want to spend my free time playing with my friends, and my work time... well... playing with my friends! (okay yeah, I actually work too, haha)  I want my life to continue in this (mostly) stress free world full of Disney World and joy.

But the realistic part of me realizes I need to keep going.  Keep moving forward.  Keep opening new doors and finding new things.  Keep learning and growing.  Keep meeting new people and making new relationships.  Keep creating.  Keep thinking.

Well, the good part, I guess, is that the realistic part of me usually wins.  I won't go into detail, but I'm working on opening new doors.

I love this part of my life!  Love love love love love it!

Sometimes Slow

I made a comment tonight at work about "that time I went to China."  The guy sitting across from me apparently didn't realize I had been there and asked, shocked, "Wow.  You went to China!?" 

The guy down the row a little who likes to joke said, "Yeah, she got on a bus, fell asleep, and went a bit too far."

The first guy replied, completely seriously, "Oh.  I didn't realize busses went to China."

This is my life, people.

Cast Members Overheard: Part 2?

I heard this woman talking in the bathroom earlier.  Okay, maybe a more awkward first sentence of a blog post... anyway.  She was talking to some older woman and said, "Oh no! I forgot all about that.  Man I'm just like... that... umm... you know... Dora!"  "Dora?  Who's that?" "You know, the fish from that movie who forgets everything?"  "Oh yeah!  I forgot about that!"

Neither woman seemed to realize there is no fish in "that movie" named Dora.  They're just as bad as Dory...

My friend was telling me about a special projection video in EPCOT.  She told me, "It will be Mike Sassoki!"  I was thinking it was some famous announcer guy... I replied, "Who's Mike Sassoki?"  "You know... the guy from the Monster movie?"  "Mike Wazowski?" "Oh yeah, that's the one!"

I mean, I guess you could almost use the "Pixar Animation" excuse.  But really guys?  Really?

In other news I rode the Mermaid ride again today.  That was a good time.  I still can't figure out the interactive queue where you're supposed to point at the objects on the screen? Ah well.  I still can't wait for the Dwarf Mine ride to be open!!!

Universal Studios

A friend of a friend of mine happens to work at Universal Studios so we just happened to come across some free tickets last week.  Good times!

Mostly.

Well, I don't really have any pictures because we were only there a few hours and I didn't bring my camera.  We were there for the All American Rejects concert.  A band that I remember listening to with my sister in the car while we went joy riding drove responsibly to and from church activities that my parents were always aware of.

In person... these guys were not so good.  Or maybe just the sound quality of the stage killed it.  But the band was difficult to hear and the main guy (I love the band, but honestly have no clue of any of their names) looked just... gross.  Disheveled hair in a wife beater all sweaty and unshaven.  He slipped a time or two saying a swear word and made some jokes about "Oh, oops, family park..."  Great.  So professional.  Ah well, I guess bands just aren't professional.

Man, I feel like I'm talking like an eighty year old.

Anyway, the rides were fun!  We rode MIB.  It's one of those rides where you get a gun and you shoot the aliens to boost the score up.  The average of our ride vehicle was around 356,000.  (six people in the vehicle)  Sami's score was 126,500.  I would have made fun of her... but my score was 7,800.  Yes, only four digits.  Not six.  Not even five.  Shut up.  I suck at those games.

We rode the Mummy which was my favorite.  Incredibly well done roller coaster with a surprise and a twist.  And there was a ride/show thing that was hilarious where they get members of the audience to participate.  Sami and I felt like snobs picking apart and judging every ride and all the details assigning points between Disney and Universal.  It was definitely a good time.  We did all the awesome rides except the really huge roller coaster.  I guess I'll just have to save that for next time!  It's really nice to visit other parks and get that "fresh" theme park feeling of something new again.

But I still love Disney.

And that was my awesome Saturday in Universal Studios.  How awesome was your weekend?

I Work At Disney!

I was really bummed out yesterday about not getting full time, especially after finding out that two people who I thought were behind me on the list to go full time both received full time.  Not cool.

Then I remembered that I work at Disney World.  And I love the people I work with.  And I got free ice cream on my break.  And as I left the fireworks were going off.  Ya know, no big thing.  I just get to see the MK fireworks every day!  And I have awesome friends.  And I live in Florida.  And the weather has been great recently.  And we still have free access to the waterparks, which is always awesome!

However, in case you're wondering, I'm still not going to be full time for a while.  The negative is that I wont have the benefits. The positive is that I will continue to have Sat/Sun off, which is actually really, really nice.  And I know I'm going to lose that if/when I go full time.

Florida Living 101

I went to the gym today, and after a few minutes of running I noticed a sharp pain in my chest.  I was slightly worried, but continued running for a bit.  It didn't seem too bad as I had no trouble breathing (at least, not worse than what's normal for running), it wasn't radiating and it wasn't a tight pain or anything.  Just a sharp, piercing pain in my chest.

After a minute or so I finally reached my hand up to touch my neck just as a natural instinct to the pain.  Immediately, I realized where the sharp pain was coming from.

Stupid sunburn.  My shirt was rubbing against it as I ran and it hurt! It was from my shift at Blizzard Beach on Monday.

First sunburn of the year.  I guess it's time to break out the sunscreen and aloe.  Boy, I love Florida!

Onstage Again!

I got to work on stage this morning.  I've been looking forward to this shift for *weeks* now.  No joke.  I know it sounds crazy, but I miss talking with the guests and having funny stories.  My office gets a little boring sometimes (part of the reason I don't write much about it).

Anyway, I got to work the "lost children" and information booth at Blizzard Beach this morning.  As parents passed by with their kids entering the parks they'd stop their kids and point and say, "This is where you come if you get lost, okay?"

I probably heard that a million times.  The fact is, though, if the kid gets lost it's really the parents who need to know where our hut is, because any lost child will be collected by a Cast Member and taken there.  It's the parent who is expected to find their way back to pick up the lost child.

My favorite, though, was that dad that stopped his son and pointed and said, "Okay buddy.  This is where they're gonna take you when you get lost."

When?  Really?

I love working with the guests!  I really do miss it sometimes!

Downside of Working in a Dungeon

I was standing outside last night talking with some friends when something wet fell on my head.  I looked up and it to figure out where stuff was dripping from.  I was surprised to find there was nothing above me but the sky.

It took me a good solid ten seconds to remember what rain was.

I've been living underground far too long.

Things I Love About My Job

For Valentine's Day last month Disney went around asking people to give a reason why they love their job.  I couldn't pick only one...

1.     You’d think working at Disney would make you feel like a number, but I’ve never felt like that.  From my first manager who drastically improved my resume writing skills to my more recent managers who support me in every role I want to pursue, I’ve always had an excellent experience with my leadership teams.
2.       The “above and beyond” attitude just fits in with what I’ve been taught my whole life. It may be partly due to the church I was raised in, or because my dad was a teacher, but I’ve been taught since I was young about the difference between getting the job done and actually putting forth a good effort.  You can get A’s in school, but if you don’t actually learn anything does it really matter?  You can get a decent job, but if you don’t love what you do you’ll never love your life.  I love being pressured to always find new, creative ways to make things not just good, but incredible!
3.       Getting to dress as a manager and walk through the tunnels is always fun.  People think I’m a manager and straighten up as soon as they see me coming.  Sometimes they even ask me questions as if I know what I’m doing!
4.       It’s a Small World After All.  Seriously, despite the fact that tens of thousands of people are employed by Disney World, and thousands are CPs who come and go every few months, I still find myself running into the same people again and again.
5.       Going upstairs to watch shows, fireworks and parades on my lunch break are one of my favorite parts of the job.  I don’t think there’s any job anywhere else in the world that provides that.  I literally hear the fireworks every single night!  Days off aren’t half bad either.  “Hey, I’m bored… what do you wanna do?”  “I dunno… should we go to Disney World?”  “Eh, I guess so.”
6.       Everything is always themed.  Even backstage.  There are Mickey posters everywhere reminding you to be safe.  When they show pictures or videos in classes we take of people doing things the “wrong” way it’s always a character like “Maleficent.”  Timon and Pumbaa I’m pretty sure were the characters of some of my training videos.
7.       I love fixing things.  It makes me feel so accomplished.  My favorite calls are the wacky problems where people tell me, “This weird and ridiculous thing happened… can you help me?”  And then we figure it out!  I also love that I’ve been here long enough that I can help teach other people stuff.  “Oh, you don’t know how to make that change in CDS?  Let me explain it to you.”  I still don’t know everything.  And I still make mistakes.  But for the things I do know, I really love it.
8.       The old couples who work here.  I love it when a man from ESPN calls me on the phone to change his time and says “And can I change my wife’s time too? I know her number!”  So cute!  I love seeing the old couples walk through the tunnels holding hands on their way to work.  And if I see their matching last names in CDS I always try to make their breaks at the same time.
9.       Disney World is famous.  I’ll admit it, that gets kind of fun sometimes!
10.   Themed cast parties.  I love them!  Piles of free food.  Leaders serving you.  Raffles.  Prizes.  Free food.  Desserts.  Music.  Food.  Characters.  And all the while there are unknowing guests just chilling in the parks. And did I mention piles of free food!?
11.   The Cast resources we have.  Libraries where you can check out books and even Disney movies!  Computers and other learning resources.  And also discounts around Orlando.  Nothing super great, but it’s always nice to be eating out at a random restaurant and then realize you get 10% off the tab!
12.   Disney lingo.  ER.  FT. TA. MNSSHP.  MiSiCi.  DTD.  FOLK. DAK. DAAR.  DHS.  ST.  NCNS.  ADO. BOG.  I could go on forever.
13.   I auditioned for a teaching job on Friday.  Disney is the only place I know of that makes you audition for things like this.  I was given a script to memorize and everything.  Smart idea, though.  Everything is themed and everyone is part of the show.
14.   Every single thing at Disney has a story.  Every. Single. Thing.  Everything is so detailed and there’s a reason for all of it.  The Imagineers are artistic geniuses!  And I love getting to learn the stories behind everything.  Look for the ring stuck in the pavement by the Haunted Mansion next time and learn the story behind it.  Ever notice in the ceiling of the Sir Mickey’s store in Fantasyland, how it has what looks to the be the fingers of a giant lifting it up?  Pay attention to the detail on the roofs of buildings, especially in Animal Kingdom.  It just blows my mind.
15.   I’ll be honest.  As sad as it is that my office has no windows, I kinda like telling people I work in the dungeon of a castle.

Disney Audition

I guess I should start off by clarifying that while I did indeed go to an audition today for Disney, it was in no way, shape, or form an entertainment audition.

Last week I went to the info session for ILT (Instructor Led Training) and basically encompasses a LOT of the training classes that are taught here at Disney World.  However, I will specifically be teaching the CDS class (the computer system that is used most in my department) (assuming I actually get the job).

In the info session they mentioned we'd have a script to memorize for the audition.  They told us not to worry, that the script would only be 23 pages long.  Immediately, I was reminded of Safaris.  "Oh good," I thought to myself, "I think the Safari script was more like 28 pages..."  Then I realized they were only joking.  The script was two pages. Also, I'm a little bit blond sometimes.

So, I memorized the script and practiced on my roommates and today was the big day.  The audition part went well... at least that's what I'm telling myself.  I didn't expect to make them laugh as much as I did.  Part of me was grateful that they were so entertained, but part of me was worried because my audition was a lot more relaxed and "silly" than the two girls who went before me.  Theirs were well rehearsed, but much more formal. I have a lot of trouble coming across as all business-y.  I take comfort in the fact that I don't think Walt Disney was a terribly serious man.

Anyway, then we did the panel interview part.  They sent us all out in the hall to wait and then came and called us one at a time.  I felt like I was in a doctor's office.  After the first two went in, it was my turn.  "Dianna?  We're ready for you."  Just like a doctor's office.  As I went in, I kid you not, the main interviewer told me, "Don't worry.  This will be quick and painless."  I couldn't help but just start laughing.  "Oh no, I am at a doctor's appointment!"

They asked me about CDS and quizzed me on random system questions.  They listened to how I explained priorities and rotation bumps.  Then they asked some general teaching questions. 

"What would you do if the computers suddenly broke on you in the middle of class?"  Well, would I have a white board and marker?  They said yes.  I'd draw stuff on the board and explain things the best I could that way.  One of the interviewers  responded, "Orrr, you could try to get the system running again, right?"  "Oh yeah.. that..."

Her answer was so much better than mine I just wanted to melt.  Then I just had to tell them, "Well, in my defense, I just came back from teaching English in China.  When my computer system went down there, I couldn't get it working cuz it was all in Chinese.  And I had to improvise because I had 40 six year olds who would start running down the hall if I looked away from them for a second!"  Then they laughed.

Ah well.  I hope it went well.  Now for the waiting game!

Real World vs. My World!

Real world problem:

I've got to figure out how to pay all these bills with little to no money!

Problem at my job:

I've got to figure out how to get all 15 positions covered with only 6 cast members.

I like to think I'm learning to deal with real world problems in my job!

That Time I Called 911 By Accident...

I accidentally called 911 at work the other day.  I thought I was making a routine phone call to ask a Cast Member if they could come in a little early the next morning and suddenly I heard a voice ask me, "911, What's your emergency?"  Confused, I quickly explained that there was no emergency.  I mean, if the CM couldn't come into work, it wasn't going to be that big of a deal!

Lesson learned, though.  If you have to dial a 9 to get an outside line.  And then a 1 before the area code.  And if the area code begins with a 1 (because the CM apparently put the wrong phone number into the system) then you automatically get 911.  Fail.

So, the other mistake!  Well, the guy sitting beside me gave me his radio because he had to go to the bathroom.  Therefore I was watching two radios at once.  Then I promptly forgot that I was watching both radios.  His radio rang and I answered it and it was the EPCOT Vacation Planning leader.  I forgot that I was watching his radio and thought this leader was calling me on my radio.  So I explained to them that they had the wrong radio.  They were confused.  "We always call this radio!"  They said.  Then I freaked out that I hadn't been doing my job right because I wasn't watching their area like I should have been.

Then the guy came back from the bathroom.  And I remembered that I had two radios.  And everyone laughed at me.  FAIL!

In my defense I worked from 7am to 9pm yesterday!

The Disney Difference

I've had a few meetings over the course of the past week or so trying to catch up on training and such.  Disney meetings are unique in many ways, but one that entertains me the most is how Disney begins their meetings.

These classes/meetings don't begin with introductions and "thank you for being here" statements.  No.  They begin with "In case of emergency, these are the nearest exits, here are the fire extinguishers," and yes, even, "the nearest AED is down the hall."

Then comes the intros, thank-you-for-beings-heres, and don't-we-all-love-mickey-mouses.

Safety first.  Seriously.  I love it!

Broken Fridge

Our fridge has had issues with breaking over the past year.  We thought it was fixed last time they came, but alas, we woke up Sunday to a warm fridge.

Good thing we never gave back our Pepsi fridge!  Our landlord's brother loaned this to us last year when the fridge broke.

Well, the Sears guy came today.  I showed him the fridge and opened it to show him where the little numbers pad thing had dashes instead of numbers.  He reached up, pushed the arrow buttons that turned the fridge colder/hotter, and the fridge magically turned on again.

I felt soooo stupid.  He then explained that he didn't think we were that stupid.  I mean, the fridge had decided on it's own to turn the numbers into dashes.  So he didn't some fancy technical stuff and replaced some computer chip looking things.

As he worked we chatted with him.  "Where do you girls work?" he asked us.

"I work at Basin, and she works for Disney World." Erin responded.  "Where do you work?"

The Sears repair guy just stared at us.

The sad thing is, our blond roommate wasn't even home.

At least we made the repair guy laugh.

Just Like Riding A Bike

My first day of work was Monday.  Terrified, I went into work trying and failing to remember how to take a simple call.  "How do I do a call in again?  What's the number for the Labor Service Center?"  I thought to myself as I walked through the tunnel.

I got to work 45 minutes early, too.  Most people were telling me it was just like riding a bike, but my response to that was, "No.  Riding a bike involves pedaling and steering and that's it.  This job involves about twelve hundred different tasks all being juggled in mid air at the same time and you don't necessarily get immediate feedback if you do something wrong."  But all was well!  Thankfully after less than an hour I had recalled most of what I had to do.  It came back.  This job is a lot easier than I remembered it.

It took a while for me to regain access to all the programs I needed access to.  But now, at the end of the week I have worked nearly 50 hours and I still have another shift today!  Originally I only worked Wed-Sat, but I picked up a shift Monday and during that they asked me to come in Tuesday.  Then they wanted me to come in early Wednesday and Friday.  Ba-BAM!  Hours!

Also, it should be noted.  I really love my job!

I'm Baaaack

 Words will never fully describe my time in China.  It was an adventure.  It was incredible.  It was fun.  It was so difficult.  It was the best decision I have ever made in my entire life.  Well... top three for sure!

To sum up what happened: I taught English to 300 boarding school students grades 1-4 on the Guizhou Province in southern China from August to December.  Three other foreign teachers were with me, but taught the older kids (Grades 5-8).  Together, we had some of the best experiences of a lifetime.

 We saw ancient sculptures and toured ancient cities.

 We saw the Terra Cotta Warriors and visited the place where the guy who had them built was supposed to be buried (but apparently he died early so they didn't actually bury him under this mountain pictured behind us in the above picture).

 We walked across the scariest "bridges" I've ever gone across.  I get scared easily.  But I guess this is how they did it a long time ago.

 We saw Panda bears in Chengdu.

 We shopped along ancient streets with thousands of other people.

 We ate the nastiest most unique food I have ever had in my life.

 And I taught 300 of the most amazing, smart, fun, cute kids in the world!

 We saw funny signs.

 Again with the gross food... that "floss" stuff is dried meat!

 We found a few Western toilets that had directions in English on how to use them.  (but no directions in Chinese... I'm pretty sure if someone can speak English they probably know how to use a toilet...)

 And again with the students.  I can't get enough of these guys!

China totally rocks!  It was one of the most difficult things I've ever done in my life.  But I would never, ever change a bit of this experience.  Thanks to China Horizons for providing me with the best adventure ever!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!