Saturday, May 31, 2014

What Comes Next?

       I have Saturday, Sunday, & Monday off!!!! SO MUCH SLEEP! Then on Tuesday I have my orientation at the Boardwalk. On Wednesday I have my first Front Desk Shift at 5:45 AM, and again on Thursday & Saturday. On Friday I have another Disney University Class about the Disney Vacation Club because the Boardwalk is a DVC Resort!
       I'm having an amazing experience here in Florida, thank you all for following me on this adventure!

This Past Week (-Disney University)

       So although I had training 8-4:30 everyday and I should have been resting, I did not. I had a jam packed, fun filled week. I am losing tracks of the days, and they are all running together so I am going to try and recap day by day the best I can.

Monday
       On Monday night I went to Hollywood Studios with several of my roommates and rode the Tower of Terror! We then got on the single rider line for Rockin' Rollercoaster, but it ended up being just as long as the regular line so we got off of it and went to meet Zach and his roommates. We all then jumped in our cars and drove to the Magic Kingdom to get Dole Whips.
       To anyone who doesn't know, a Dole whip is a frozen, pineapple flavored, ice-cream typed thing (yes I am very descriptive)... It was my first time having one, and I am not a fan. I am clearly in the minority though because this is one of the most (if not the most) iconic food items at WDW... After that we went on the Jungle Cruise which is MEGA scary at night... Then we went on Pirates of the Carribean. Zach, Travis and I decided to leave after that because we all had work in the morning, but we got to catch Celebrate the Magic.
       Celebrate the Magic is my favorite thing in all of WDW. It is a projection show on the castle that runs twice a night. If you have never seen it, it is a MUST-DO. I may or may not have cried when the Frozen section began... I always get emotional during Celebrate the Magic, even more so this time because now I am a part of the magic.

Tuesday
       On Tuesday night Zach, Alex and I met up with Alejandra and Julissa at Magic Kingdom. We got to see Philhar Magic which is one of my favorite attractions in all of the parks. Then we went on a hunt to meet princesses! Yesterday was my niece's 2nd birthday so I wanted to do something really special and have a princess record her a birthday message. My friends were so great for coming with me and bearing with me as I asked not one, not two, not three, but four different princesses to record her a video. They were so patient with me :)
       After that we went and saw the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor (in which Alex was committed to buy everyone Churros) and Space Mountain. Zach and I headed home after that because we had work again the next morning.

Thursday
       All nights this week I got about 5 hours of sleep. Wednesday night I got about 3... And we didn't even go to the parks! All of my roommates were off though, so we hung out in our room and then headed over to Zach's. Travis was the only one home and he was preoccupied with a game so we took the opportunity to switch the contents of everyone's closets and stick post-its everywhere in sight :) Then all of the guys got home and we hung out for a while. I ended up staying there way later than I meant to. "Oh I'll leave in 20 more minutes....Okay 40....."

Today
       Today was a rough one.... I had a personal situation in the morning that left me in tears. So I cried and called my mom and got myself together and went into Disney University where I proceeded to see a couple of my classmates and immediately start crying again. They were so nice about it though, with empathy and hugs which is all I needed. There are some really amazing people in this program.
       I got home from work and conked out for two hours, made myself some pasta because I was way too lazy to do anything else. Now I'm blogging and am going to go to bed, I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open.


Friday, May 30, 2014

A Week at Disney University

       All CPs (college program participants) train at Disney University for some portion of time. Usually it is only for an eight hour day or 2 four hour days. As a concierge we spend four days at Disney University training for the Front Desk position and then another five days later on in the program to train to be a Concierge. These weeks have 8 hour days of learning learning learning everything there is to know about your role.
       On Tuesday we had "Welcome to Lodging" which was an overview of working in the resort environment. The class consisted of people from front desk, concierge, custodial, and housekeeping. We went over the types of resorts we have at Walt Disney World: value, moderate, and deluxe. We also went over how to incorporate Disney's 4 Keys into lodging. If you are doing a program, the 4 keys will be hammered into your head because they are so incredibly important and relate to all lines of work. After a couple of hours we were split into groups by role, where the front desk and concierge people went to "The Journey Begins," which is the beginning of front desk training.
       In this class we went more in depth into the kinds of resorts we have. We talked specifically about each resort in each classification. The Boardwalk is a Deluxe Resort, so we have what is called a Concierge Club Level. I would go more in depth into what that means if I actually fully understood myself... We also went over the Disney Vacation Club a little bit. We went over what our duties as a front desk person are. Some of these duties include being the first interaction guests have with a WDW cast member, issuing and troubleshooting magic bands, giving access to a room, currency exchange, and giving guests tools to make their vacations great.
       On Wednesday we began "Destination Cashier" which was split into 3 eight hour days... :

Day 1
       We were introduced to the computer program used for the check in/check out process. The program is called Lilo (yes after Lilo and Stitch). Me and Lilo have a love/hate relationship going on at the moment.  It's me though, not her. She is an incredibly advanced and efficient program, I just get frustrated with new things..
       So for day 1 we went through how to do a check-in step by step... There are 11 steps in total but within each step are a bunch of other steps. It's a lot to remember, but I think once I fully get the hang of it I will be set. I am going to make a bunch of flow charts to help me remember all of the steps of all of the processes we learned.
       On Day 1 we went into the lab which had faux-front desks set up and role-played a check in. I went and was so overwhelmed that I cried. We were an odd number so I ended up checking in a facilitator I had never met before, which felt like a lot of pressure.
       On Day 1 we also learned about how to handle cash and other forms of currency. We also learned how to do the "disney count" which is how you are supposed to hand change back to guests. Let's say someone's bill is 11 dollars and they give you a 20. As you hand them back each bill you are to count up to the amount. It's basically the complete opposite of everything I've ever learned about counting change.

Day 2
       On Day 2 we learned how to exchange foreign currency and travelers checks, send faxes, and do more complex check-ins. These processes are all simple but it's hard to remember the steps. I think after a lot of practice it will become second nature though. I got to check-in two of my peers this day, which was a lot less stressful. (Not that I'll be checking my peers in at the resort but shhh..)
       In the afternoon we went over different packages guests may have purchased prior to check-in. These include ticket packages and dining plans (of which there are 5 which are crazy convenient).

Day 3
       Day 3 was today, and the first thing we learned was how to check out. The check out process is much much simpler than the check-in process, and a lot of guests elect for express checkout which doesn't involve much work on our part.
       We also discussed the different types of groups and conventions that come to WDW, and what types of packages they might have and how to check them in. At the Boardwalk we have a convention center so I assume I will be in this situation often.
       Airline Check-in and the Magical Express were our next topics of conversation. After that we went into the lab and did the most complex lab yet. In this one we had to check someone in, change their contact information, settle their bill split between american and Canadian currency, travelers checks and a credit card. Then they wanted to send a fax, send a message to another person in their party, and change their credit card on file. Oh, and it was also their birthday. This lab was the most stressful yet but my partner and I were the first ones done. Although we couldn't interact with each other while dealing with Lilo..that was too advanced for us.
       Lastly in the class we learned about exceeding guest expectations in difficult situations. I learned a lot about active listening and how to problem solve. It was an extremely valuable section of the class.


       I really enjoyed the three days of Destination Cashier. Disney has such an efficient and effective way of training. The best part about it though, was that it was fun. I had four great facilitators: Lexi, Julia, Arnold, and Holli. If you have the chance to be in any of their classes, you are extremely lucky! They are so knowledgeable, kind, and helpful. They also made it very fun.
       It's nice because there is a real feeling of teamwork within our class. There are a lot of great people in it and we all have each other's backs and are there for support because we are all essentially in the same boat. I am going to miss going to class everyday and spending the day with them, I wish we could all work at the same resort together. Luckily there are a handful of other concierges in the class so fingers crossed we will be in the same Disney University classes together in a few weeks!

Monday, May 26, 2014

WHAAAAAAAT?

Over the course of 12 hours since I posted the link to my blog on Facebook I've gotten 1,620 visitors. Thanks so much everyone!

Sunday, May 25, 2014

My First Weekend in Wonderland

Friday, May 23
       I got up and went to Epcot with Macy, Julissa, Sherry & Alex. We went on a few rides and were then joined by our neighbors Santana & Vinny. It was Sherry's, Alex's, Santana's, & Vinny's first time at a Disney Park so we got them "First Visit" buttons which was very exciting. We got go on some rides and see the Dolphin show which is my favorite thing in all of Epcot! We also got to meet some characters, including the boss!

       Alejandra, Levi, Ari, Anthony and Travis all came and met up with us after they had their first day of training. That's when we started traveling around the world showcase :)
       Zach met up with us after his 8 hour day of training at Norway. We then walked the rest of the World Showcase and went on Soarin which is Zach's favorite :) We also got to meet Aladdin & Jasmine right before they closed the line! 
Saturday, May 24
       I had my first day of training, "Welcome to Operations" at Disney University. It was only 4 hours but it was early so I had trouble staying awake. We learned about the daily operations of Disney, and how to be the best cast member possible. We learned how to deal with difficult situations, emergencies, and how to create magical moments and memories. I had to excuse myself a few times to wake myself up. During our break I was able to buy a diet coke and I was set after that. I also learned that I had to set up my work account on the Hub on my own @ Vista.
       I did this when I got home and found the rest of my schedule for this coming week. I am training Tuesday-Friday 8.5 hours a day at Disney University. Good thing I brought a lot of professional clothes. I am going to need them, seeing as I won't be getting my costume until I go to the Boardwalk training.
       As a concierge I will be training at Disney University for a while to work the front desk, which I will do for a while until I go back to Disney University for more training to become a concierge. So if anyone is doing this role: bring a lot of professional wear.

Sunday, May 25
       Zach & I went to Animal Kingdom. It was my first time since I went when the park first opened. It was fun, but not really my cup of tea. It was also extremely hot, so maybe I wasn't in the best frame of mind. I am definitely going to go back again to explore some more. 

My First Week in Wonderland: Traditions!

Thursday, May 22
       I got to the bus to Traditions at 6:50 AM.... Sherry & I were the only ones who had Traditions in the morning, everyone else had it in the afternoon. I was exhausted. When we got to Disney University, we met up with Zach's housemate Alex but were soon split up into separate classrooms.
       Before coming to Disney I had read about 23092834 blogs and basically knew every single surprise Traditions had in store for me, so I wasn't as thrilled with it as others were. For this reason, I will not be going into explicit detail about it as to not ruin it for future CPs.
       We watched a lot of videos welcoming us to Disney World, and learning about Disney's Heritage and (you guessed it) Traditions. We watched a montage of videos of kids finding out they are going to Disney World and I cried. I also cried watching Walt Disney's speeches. I guess I'm in the right place, huh?
       We took a short walk under and through Magic Kingdom. It was extremely hot, but fun to see what goes on behind the scenes. Afterwords we got our name-tags from a very special guest, and traditions was over. The whole thing was about 4 and a half hours, but like I said I don't want to go into too much detail.
       After traditions I took an extremely long nap. Then I unpacked my whole room, which was an amazing feat. I felt so much better after that. While I was making dinner Ari texted and asked if we wanted to go to CiCi's now that we could use our IDs for a discount. I had never been to CiCi's Pizza... but let's just say as a New Yorker I was insanely disappointed...
       Then I invited  all of my roommates over to Zach's apartment to play Cards Against Humanity with his roommates: Travis, Alex, Anthony and Levi (who came later). It was so fun and nice to have a group of people to hang out with.


My First Week In Wonderland: Day 2 & 3

Tuesday, May 20
       As per my itinerary I got on the bus to the Casting center at 10 AM. Casting was basically line after line after line and then some more lines. We went over my I9, got fingerprinted, and reviewed my schedule for the week. When I got back nobody was home and Zach was at his housing meeting (of which mine was the next day) so I took the world's longest nap after which Zach & I made a target run.
       When we got back we went to the Chatham Square complex to go to a DCP Pool Party with Macy & Ari. After being there for a while we decided to just come back to Vista and swim which was much more fun.

Wednesday, May 21
       Alejandra & I both had to go to our housing meeting at 11 AM which is where they went over housing policies & such. Afterwards we went to Downtown Disney with our other housemates + Zach. We got Starbucks & ate at Earl of Sandwich.
       At 8 all of us + Travis went to Chatham to play Grocery Bingo. None of us won anything... I don't want to talk about it.


^^our first roommate picture!

My First Week in Wonderland: Check-in Day

Monday, May 19
       The day finally came! We woke up at the crack of dawn & Zach beat me to the car (he's usually the late one...) We arrived at Vista Way at 7AM and were in the first 20 people there. We waited on line outside the complex near the security booth and at around 7:30 they brought us in to the back of the complex to the Welcome Center where we stood on another line. There they handed us our program guides which are planners with all of the housing and program rules inside. They also gave us temporary name-tags.
       After what seemed like forever but was really probably only 20 minutes max, they let us inside where there were a bunch of stations set up for us to go to. First up was the table where they tell us our working location.... I went before Zach because I was too nervous/excited to wait. The man asked me my name & role and then went looking for my name on his list. This was probably a 10 second process but let me tell you it felt like a year. "Okay Amanda... you will be working at Disney's Boardwalk Resort." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had tears in my eyes, this was a dream come true. The Boardwalk is my favorite place on Disney (as I said before) and is where my family stays every time we come down. Needless to say I was FREAKING OUT! Zach went next and found out he will be working at Disney's Pop Century Resort. He's going to have to do the twist every day as part of his job!
       After this big reveal was the next big nerve-wracking hurdle...finding out where we would be living. We got sent to separate tables to find out. I was told I would be living in a newly renovated Vista Way 3 bedroom apartment which is exactly what I wanted. I collected myself and ran to find Zach who told me he will ALSO be living in Vista Way. This was where our nerves calmed down because DCP rules say that CPs can't be in any complex but their own after a certain time, so if we lived in different places we would be restricted on when we could see each other.
       We were then sent to take our housing ID pictures (really...do ID pictures ever come out nicely), fill out our I9 forms, get our itineraries and learn about safety and the education opportunities offered to us. The whole check-in process took about 45 minutes to an hour during which mine & Zach's moms walked to Starbucks and then waited in the friends & family area they had set up where they learned more information about the program.
       I had nothing on my itinerary for the rest of the day so I ran to find my mom so we could go see my apartment. Zach had to go straight to casting (which I was scheduled to do the next day) so I wouldn't get to see him until later.
       I was thrilled when I walked into the apartment. There were brand new hardwood floors, a beautiful kitchen and TWO FRIDGES (let's talk about what's important here....) The best part though, is my apartment's location. It is right behind the service/education center and the pool is in our backyard as well as the gym (which I have yet to go to....)
       I was the first one to arrive so I got to pick my room. I chose the bedroom at the front of the apartment next to the front door. The room would be shared with one other girl and we would also share a bathroom. The other rooms are towards the back of the apartment and have one bathroom between them.  The other bathroom has a tub while mine only has a shower, but it is plenty big.
       My mom, Zach's mom, and I moved all of my stuff into the apartment (a process that took maybe 20 minutes). I insisted that I would unpack all of my clothes alone later which is something I regret (I didn't get around to unpacking until Thursday...) Then one of my housemates came in and moved into my room. Her name is Alejandra, she's from Puerto Rico and she is super nice, I feel very lucky to be her roommate. Afterwards we went to meet Zach & bought Crepes from a Crepe Truck on the way.
       When we got to Zach's room, one of his roommates Travis was already there. Zach decided he was going to share the room with him and we moved all of his things in. We didn't stay long though. We went to Walmart to do a big shop. I got a lot of groceries and some miscellaneous things that I needed. After bringing all of that back to my apartment the four of us went back to Saratoga Springs to get the rest of our things. Then we went to the Boardwalk and ate at the Big River Grill and had delicious burgers. Then it was time to say goodbye to our moms which was tearful and hard but both Zach & I were excited to be starting this part of our lives.
       When I got back to my apartment all of my roommates were there and I got to meet them. There's Macy from Pennsylvania, Ari from Florida, Sherry from Mexico, and Julissa from Puerto Rico. We all chatted for a bit and got along instantly. I feel extremely lucky to have been placed in an apartment with them, it's a perfect fit. We chatted for a bit but turned in early because we were all exhausted!

Here are some pictures of my room/the common area of the apartment.









My First Week in Wonderland: Travel Days

I've been so busy since I've arrived that I haven't had the time to write my first official blog post!  I'm going to use this post and the next ones to recap the past week so hang in there with me, this is gonna be a long one.

Travel Day 1 (Saturday, May 17)
       Mom & I woke up and were out the door by 6:30. We stopped on the way for bagels and were on the road by 6:45. We arrived in Lorton, VA at 11:30, much earlier than we expected. We checked in our car with all of our belongings and then walked across the street to Quiznos. Then we stayed in the station until we boarded at around 3:45 with Zach & his mom... The train didn't end up leaving until after 6 when we were already in the dining car (if you ever take the autotrain...don't get the beef). The train ride was longgggg but much better than driving my car down the whole way.
Sunday, May 18
       We got off the train in the morning and by some stroke of luck both mine & Zach's cars came off the train at the same time and we headed to Disney World. We checked in at Saratoga Springs and laid by the pool where I had a strawberry slushy and a hot pretzel & a great nap. Then we took a trip to the Boardwalk/Beach Club to eat at Beaches & Cream. When we go there they told us that they (finally) started taking reservations and they didn't have any until 10. They had an opening at Cape May though, so we went over and were seated right away. We ate UNLIMITED crab-legs and other amazing food until we were stuffed. Then we walked around the resorts and took it all in.
       Zach & I finally took pictures with our Congratulations post-cards in front of the Boardwalk because it is our favorite place at Disney :)