I Can't Smell Anything

I'm not posting very much today, because I'm not having a very good day. I woke up this morning to find that what I thought might just be some allergies was actually a cold, and as a result I spent most of the day at work coughing and achey. I had to spend the afternoon at Tuscaluca Turkey Co. in Sunset Ranch Marketplace at Disney-MGM Studios, and all I can say is that I'll never eat a turkey leg by itself ever again. I want my turkey legs to come in pairs, with bodies of turkeys. To cap it all off, I had to ride home on a horribly overcrowded bus ride where all conversations were in a different language, so I could only think about my cold. Also, all my friends from back home that I wanted to talk to were busy when I got home, so I'm just sitting here in my PJs thinking that bed is the only alternative. Maybe sleep will make the icky day go away.

Slaving Away

So today was my first day working at Sunset Market Ranch in the Disney-MGM Studios. I started off the day by meeting my trainer for the day, Maria, and working the condiment bar. This is one of the most chill jobs at my workplace. It basically involves checking the condiment bars (there are two of them) and making sure they are stocked, and if they are not, then you stock them. Plus you get to interact with guests a lot more, which I like. I spent the rest of my day in Rosies serving up hamburgers and french fries. It's also not too bad of a place to work, time goes by really quick and you don't have to do much. I do, however, feel like I am the master of fast food at this point. Since I have pretty much mastered the system of quick service food and beverage distribution.
Tomorrow I start off my day with two hours of online classes, so I shouldn't really be doing too much. Plus, I spend the second half of my day at Taluca Turkey Legs, which my roomate Randy says is the easiest job in the world. Tomorrow night is extra magic hours at Disney-MGM Studios, which means we stay open an extra three hours until 10PM, so hopefully it's only the rides and not the food places. Even if it is, though, I get off work at 9PM, so I won't have to stay the whole time.
One thing that really irked me today, though, was the bus ride home from work. A couple of fellow Disney College Program cast members were talking about other cast members in the entertainment division and their sexuality. Apparently one of these two cast members who were talking on the bus had some good insight into the entertainment division and decided that many of the performers were homosexuals. It didn't stop with the frivolous labeling either. The two continued to use traditional homosexual stereotypes to mock these cast members in the entertainment division, and it really irked me. Now don't get me wrong. I don't blame any of this on Disney. I think they do a pretty decent job of encouraging diversity and tolerance both in the workplace and in the parks. For instance, I worked with people from pretty much all corners of the globe and two deaf people today. That hasn't happened to me EVER. I just wish that people would get their heads out of the sand and learn that sexuality is not something that we should consider when we consider a person's worth.

On with the Show!

So Randy and I spent our morning at Disney-MGM Studios finding out all about the history of the park and it's attractions. We also did some more of that awesome online training, and we visited our workplace and got our costumes. Some of the training was pretty interesting actually, and the walkthrough that was specific to our workplace was really informative. I also found out that we get one free meal each day we train, so that seems nice to me. There is also a Cast Member cafeteria at Disney-MGM Studios, and our group had breakfast there. It was actually really good food and cheap too. Randy and I got our schedules for the next four days and it looks like we will be working non stop. Luckily, we got late morning/afternoon shifts, so at least we don't have to get up early in the morning.
I think I'm going to go to Downtown Disney again this afternoon and pick up some merchandise for the people back home. I think I've finally scoped out what is the good stuff, and now I'm ready to buy. Randy also wants to go and eat some decent food, so I think we're going to go to a resturant down there. If anything exciting happens while we are down there, I'll make sure I post it.

"The Land" or "Watching Grass Grow: The Ride"

So Randy, Tyler, and I went to EPCOT today and checked out where Tyler will be working. He is working operations at "The Land," and it is pretty much the most boring ride at EPCOT. It is a tour through the greenhouses at EPCOT, and it's quite literally about as exciting as watching grass grow. However, we did ride Mission Space which was awesome. We also checked out The Seas with Nemo and Friends and the World Showcase. We stopped off in Norway to ride the Maelstrom, which was fun. It's always fun to pretend you are a viking. As we were leaving the park we looked again for 24" Mickey plushies, but we couldn't find them again. I even asked a Cast Member working in the store, and after he went and checked for me he said that they were discontinued. Now I'm sad, but I will probably go with an 18", because I don't want to spend $100 on a giant one.
So tomorrow I start training over at Disney-MGM Studios. Randy and I have to be at the costuming building at 7:30AM tomorrow, and we work until 3PM. It's not too bad of a day, and I expect we won't be doing too much. From what I hear on the first day you just visit your work site, explore the park, and get your costume. Randy and I also have like ten more online trainings to do, so we might end up doing that too. We'll see I guess.

We Don't Have Any 24" Mickeys

So I went to Disney-MGM Studios today, and it was a pretty good time. I saw where I am going to work and the costume that I am going to wear, and it wasn't too bad. There are definitely worse costumes to be wearing at Walt Disney World. My roomates Randy, Tyler and I went to the Tower of Terror, Star Tours, The Great Movie Ride, The "Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show," The Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and watched The Beauty and the Beast live performance. I took a lot of pictures of the Beauty and the Beast performance and posted them over at my Flickr Account. The link is in an older blog entry, but it's also on my sidebar now. It was a pretty good show for being 33 minutes long and having to present a 100 minute long story. We ended the day watching Fantasmic, which is the fireworks/live action night performance at Disney-MGM Studios. It was pretty cool, but the wind was blowing toward the seating and we were constantly sprayed by the water from the performance area.
If you've read this far then you're probably wondering about the entry title. I decided I really want a giant Micky plushie, but I can't find any. In the extra hour we had between riding our last ride and going to get a seat at Fantasmic, my roomates and I searched in all of the Disney-MGM Studios shops, and there were no large Mickeys. I found about 40 bajillion sixteen inch Mickeys, but there was nothing larger in the whole park. We're going to EPCOT and Animal Kingdom tomorrow, so maybe my search will be more fruitful then.

Quick Service Food and Boring

So I just got back from my "Food and Beverage Basics" class at Disney University, and I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. They had coffee first off, which pretty much made my morning. I mixed a packet of Hot Cocoa with a cup of coffee and had myself a "ghetto mocha." It was tastylicious. The two gentlemen we had leading the first part of our session were also pretty funny and kept things lively. However, it seems that Disney does a large part of it's training with online courses, and sitting behind a computer screen learning about food safety was not my idea of a good time. However, I have the rest of today off and tomorow and Monday, so that should be fun. I think I'm going down to Downtown Disney today with my roomate Randy, and that should also be fun. I think I'm going to spend some cash on merchandise. If I get anything cool I'll be sure to take a picture and post it on my Flickr.

I Finally Got My Cast Member ID, and I'm Going to the Magic Kingdom!

So I spent this morning in what Disney calls Traditions at the Disney University. Traditions is basically an training class that basically tells you very common sense things that everyone who has already worked a real job already knows. However, there was a slightly exagerated video about sexual harassment that was comical in it's exageration. I did get a pluto toy, though, for talking about fond Disney memories of my childhood, so it wasn't all bad. In fact it really wasn't bad at all. It was just four hours of a lot of information I already knew. I did get one of those cool Disney nametags that all the Cast Members have. I'll post a picture of it later.
I'm about to head out the Magic Kingdom with my roomates, and we are going to rock the park. It's a pretty casual day here in Florida too, so the park should be pretty calm. I'll report more on that later.
Cont...
So I just got back from the Magic Kingdom and I uploaded my pictures onto my Flickr account. I plan on uploading all my pictures there, so it is definitely something to check out regularly. We rode a lot of rides today, and it was a lot of fun. I would've liked spending some more time looking at merchandise in the gift shops, but everyone wanted to get on more rides, so I moved along. I saved my guidemap so I can mark off how many times I've attended each attraction by the end of my College Program. I assume that Pirates of the Caribbean will be into the tripple digits. Tomorrow I have training starting at 7AM until 10AM, and I am not excited for it. It is called Food and Beverage Basics, and I have a feeling that it is already things I know. However, Randy, my roomate, has the class with me and after we finish we are going town to Downtown Disney to look at merchandise. Apparently they have a place down there where you can build your own lightsaber. I'm kind of giddy about that.

Working with the Stars

So I got my job specifications today. I'm not sure why they held off telling us what they were for so long, because it wasn't really exciting or mysterious. I'm working at the Sunset Market Ranch at the MGM Studios doing some sort of Quick Service Food and Beverage. The description on the official Disney website reads that the Sunset Market Ranch serves up "hamburgers, hot dogs, smoked turkey legs, veggie burgers, pizza, hand-dipped ice cream and fresh fruit."
I'm really confused about how Disney sets up their college program. Yesterday we checked in and it took a good part of the day. Then we were given some time to meet with our roomates. This was a good set up. Today we had meetings from 9 AM until 11 AM, and then nothing, and then tommorow we have about half a day of meetings too. Why didn't they just combine these activities into one day, and then just give us a day to play around in the parks. We don't have our park passes yet, so we have to find something this afternoon. However, we do have a beer pong table now, though, so things may improve.

Jesus Loves U

So I'm here in Florida and boy is it humid. I arrived this morning at 6:45 AM, and spent my morning filling out endless hours of Disney paperwork. I do have five pretty cool appartment mates, though, so things aren't all bad. While my roomate and I were over at Wal-Mart (yes I know it is the Devil, but the busses don't go anywhere else) we were waiting for our return bus when we looked up to see words appearing in the clouds. It seems that someone commissioned a sky writer to write "Jesus Loves U" in the clouds. Unfortunately for this skevangelist (that's a new phrase I made up to describe sky writing evangelism) the winds were too high today and by the time he had finished the last upstroke on the "U" the message had all but faded away. We're planning a "get to know our neighbors" party tonight, so I should have some good pictures uploaded later tonight or tommorow morning. Tommorow I should also find out what my specific job is. They seem to shroud the whole job finding process as very mysterious. I wonder if we'll have to enter some "Temple of Doom" to discover our true path.