Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

My first day off since training started! And, of course, all of my roommates had to work! So at about 2:00 this afternoon I decided I wanted to ride Tower of Terror, and I hopped on the bus to Hollywood Studios.

I couldn't have picked a better day to roam around the park by myself. It's only 88 degrees today with a nice, cool breeze. Also, for the first time since I got here, it didn't rain! 

Yet.

So I hopped in line for tower for about ten minutes before riding it for the first time. The people in front of me were vacationing from North Louisianna, so at least I had someone to talk to. 

  The corner of the park where I work.

When you dont have any idea what to expect of the Tower of Terror.. It actually is fairly terrifying. But I figured I should ride it and Rockin' Rollercoaster since I do work there.

     Inside Hollywood Tower.

After I got off Tower I went to see how long the line was at coaster. It said 40 minutes, and since I had nothing better to do with my day, I went ahead and waited in line, which ended up being a good decision because I only had to wait about 20 minutes.

The ride wasn't at all what I expected, but it was really fun. P

I spent the next 45 minutes or so wandering around the park, trying to familiarize myself with it. I don't think it worked too well, but at least I have a better understanding of where I'm working now! 

    Sunset Hills

    One of my favorite shops, Villians in       Vogue. It's got a lot of Nightmare before Christmas and Cheshire Cat merchandise.

    Sweet Spells! One of our most popular shops. Lots and lots of candy.

    The Brown Derby, our most expensive restaurant. Modeled after the original Brown Derby and you can get the real Cobb Salad, Grapefruit cake, and Shriley Temple.

 

   And of course, our Mickey hat: my favorite part of Studios. 

Central Florida Problems

This is every day living here.

I don't know why I bother doing my hair in the morning.

Hakuna Matata: it means no worries

So it's been a few days, but a lot has happened since my last post.

On Thursday I went through Traditions, which basically means I learned about some Disney Heritage, but also about some of our basics we need to know for the job; kind of like an orientation class, except in this class we got to walk around in and under Magic Kingdom, and Mickey Mouse made an appearance and I got a kiss on the cheek from the Big Cheese himself.

In Magic Kingdom, we arrived at Main Street just in time for the 3:00 parade

 

And I managed to snap one picture of my favorite building on earth:

We also were able to navigate the underground tunnel of MK where all the real magic happens before it's brought to the stage. Really it's just confusing and kind of smelly, but I was greatful for the opportunity to see it since I won't actually be working there. And, for all the obvious reasons, we weren't allowed to take pictures.

Once we were back in our training room, we did receive our Cast Member cards and ID badges. So now I have free access to the parks and a pretty sweet nametag.

Yesterday was my first day of on site training at Hollywood Studios. Basically, we had to walk around the park in dress clothes for three hours so we were kind of hot and miserable by the end of the tour, but seeing as how I had never been to HS it was all very new and exciting for me. 

I found out I will be working the Tower of Terror gift shop some days, the Rockin' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith (every cast member has added the "starring Aerosmith" every time they refer to it, which I think is silly.) and then I will be working the Fantasm! spectacular on some evenings. 

Every work place requires a costume, each more ridiculous than the last, and I did receive my "High End Merchandise" costume which is what I will wear through training and when I work the Tower of Terror shop.

It's based on the dress Lillian (Walt's wife) was wearing when he decided that Minnie Mouse should be wearing a red and white polka dot dress. 

After training, a hot walk to Walgreens, and a 15 minute power nap, my friend Kaly who lives upstairs from me, her roommate and Mikey, a friend of Kaly's from back home, used our lovely new cast member cards and went to MK about 7:00. 

Kaly's roommate has never been to WDW before, so the first thing we did was take her to my personal favorite ride: Space Mountain. She had about the same reaction I did after my first time riding, which was a lot of uncontrollable laughter and a few "what just happened?" 

Then of course, since it was her first tjme in the park, we had to take her on the teacups.

Mikey and Kaly:

Afterward we found a good spot to watch the castle be lit up and the Wishes fireworks show, and then we took off for Frontierland to get a couple more rides in before they kicked us out of the park.

A Whole New World

WOW! I can't believe it's finally here! Even as I lay on my tiny bed in my blank apartment, it still hasn't completely sunk in yet.

Our morning started in the Florida humidity, and after dozens of lines and hours of paper work I'm officially a Florida Resident and a Disney Cast Member.

Still no roommate yet, but I have four girls in the apartment now, with potentially two more to come. 

We got our job assignments today and I was so thankful to find that I will be doing merchandise at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood Studios.

And of course.. My cute disney picture of the day:

The door knobs at the Casting Building are the only Alice in Wonderland doorknobs in Disney World.

(And one of the employees called the Hogs upon seeing my shirt.)