Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Update from Disney

I have been having trouble being able to post on my blog so that's why it has taken a little while to give you an update.

I started on Tuesday, Jan 15, 2013 which was a delay of one week because my background check was delayed.  Tuesday I reported to Disney University for my first day of training called, "Traditions."  It's is basically an orientation to Walt Disney.  We also took a tour of Magic Kingdom which included going through the tunnels and appearing on stage through a concealed door.  That's about all I am going to be able to tell you about the course and our tour.  It was a long day and included a lot of walking.

I reported to ESPN Wide World of Sports facility on Friday for an Introduction to Sports class which oriented us to all 274 acres of sports fields.  We walked all the fields, learned where to pick up our costumes and took computer based training (CBT) on Safety and Hazardous Communication Right to Know rules.  Again, another long day and lots of walking.

Going to costumes was not a good experience but at least I got 3 shirts, 3 shorts, jacket, belt and they are some of the coolest costumes in the system.
Back of the jacket
Back of the shirt with the black shorts
Saturday was training on the turnstiles and the various tickets accepted.  It was a very busy day.  There was softball, baseball, college cheer and dance and Kick It 3V3 soccer.  They said it wasn't any busier than when the Atlanta Braves have spring training.  That begins in February and lasts through March.  Half of the day we were in the classroom and the other half we worked the turnstiles.  There are four of us students being trained.

Sunday we actually worked the turnstiles.  Had a first opportunity to be called names by one of our guests.  Guess it's bound to happen when dealing with parents running late and not wanting to follow the rules.  LOL  Anyway, after our 3:00 break, we walked the fields again so we would have a knowledge of where to tell people to go if asked.

Friday will be my next work day and I'll be trained as an usher.  3 days in a row is tough to get back in the swing of things.  My feet ached from being in close toed shoes, remember I haven't had on a pair of close toed shoes since 2009.  Yep, getting up early and getting ready takes some getting used to.  So far so good.

Later...

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Look-out Mickey, here I come!!

Finally, I got the much awaited email from Disney that  I had been selected for the position I applied for in October and interviewed for in November.  I had received a couple of emails from them inquiring if I wanted to remain on the wait list. 

I have completed the background check and will be going to Traditions (Disney's indoctrination/orientation) on January 8, 2013.  Then I'll get my schedule and my costume for ticketing at the Wide World of Sports venue on Disney property. 

I am extremely excited.  Let me explain just a little bit.  In my other life, I was in employee development which is a fancy term for the training department of TN Environment and Conservation which housed State Parks in Tennessee.  As part of a training program for customer service we used a training program based on Disney's magical moments.  That was in the early 90's.  Ever since that time I have wanted to work for Disney to find out if what I had trained over 400 employees in was factual.  So I'll find out and I really don't think I'll be disappointed but I'll report later. 

I couldn't very well quit work and come to Disney so I put it on my bucket list and now I can mark 'er done!

Too soon for pictures of my costume but that will come even though it's pretty dull in comparison to some at the different parks.

Later...