goin seasonal.

My first normal day back at work was...well not normal. Not only did the way that we do things change, but they added a new zone too. The town square theater opened up in town square at the Magic Kingdom. They added a new store, lobby and a new place to meet mickey and the princesses. I had that zone all day and it was really cool to have that zone now because theres always a lot going on there. I didnt like yesterday as much, mainly because it was REALLY hot out. Even at night it felt like a sauna. On the bright side though, Im going to go seasonal for sure. Im probably going to come down for about 2 weeks a year to work and play in the parks. The best part is that I found out one of my CP friends at work is getting an apartment down here and I will get to stay with her when I fly down. Its going to be a great way to stay with the company to get the benefits and go on vacation at the same time! I decided that Im not going to upload pictures to this blog anymore because they have limits and stuff so you can just check it out on facebook if you want! The album is "Florida and Disney Life"

family visit.

This past week my grandparents and sister were/are here. I think this was one of the better weeks that I have had here. They came in on saturday, so we checked into disneys pop century resort on sunday. Monday it rained all day but we went to magic kingdom and it was amazing because all the rides were walk on. tuesday was dry and we went to animal kingdom and hollywood studios (fantasmic is amazing). wednesday was epcot and that was cool too. The past few days I have been staying with my great grandma about an hr away in ocala. They leave tomorrow :( but I cant believe we only have 1.5mos left! I have a lot of pictures to post but ill do that later!

this ones pretty boring.

Today actually ended up being a really good day. I feel like it was better though because I had been working so much. Since I have been working so much, I dont really have all that much to talk about...especially since my last post. Hopefully this next week (family visit woohoo!!) will be a little more interesting!

work, sleep, repeat.

I actually have a lot to talk about this time. First off I got my second GSF from my manager Sarah for doing the wave while guests were waiting for a parade in the hub in front of the castle. This week has been really long, but in a way I like it. I love most of the people I work with so it doesnt really seem like work. I had another check-in thing today and that went well. It really makes me want to look in to a future with the company. Today was the longest day, I worked til 4am and some of my work friends and I went to the cafeteria for breakfast...thats why it's almost 5 am right now haha. The grandparents and my sister come in on saturday and I couldnt be more excited! I also saw a member of the chicago bears and his family today! I wouldnt want to work anywhere else on this program.

extension.

Ive started working out a lot more latley which is good but earlier this week I got sick AGAIN!! Thats like the 5th time ive gotten sick here so Im going to try to keep working out and staying healthy. Ive been working 12 hour days and Im starting to really feel it. Its already late right now and in the morning we have a fire alarm inspection and they are shutting the water off...great way to start a day off! Also, I applied to extend yesterday. I decided not to pick current role/location because while I like my job, if I stay here I want to do something different. We wont find out for a few more weeks but I'm excited to know the outcome!

great service fanatic.

I was going to write this yesterday since I always write my posts on Sundays and Wednesdays but I was at work. This week I work 52 hours, so basically I get up, go to work, go to sleep and start over. I got my first GSF on 3/5 for doing the same thing I always do, just everyone else wasnt doing anything. The apartment is pretty messy and I dont reallly care anymore. Everybody tries to create all these rules and not follow them so I decided I dont care anymore. I cleaned it last time, so if we fail the inspection we fail I guess. Im excited because in a little over two weeks my Grandparents and sister are going to be here and i got ALL the days I requested off!! Im excited to see disney from a different perspective and get away from the apartment for a while!

day after day.

Ive had the past few days off so I dont really have that much to talk about. Work wise, im about to start working  alot more (im pretty sure i said that in the last post) but I dont really mind working so much because its busy so it goes faster. However, at the same time there are also more people working so its not really harder, just longer. For the most part I really dont mind my job, I just dont like the process of getting to and from work. Getting up, getting ready, driving to the parking lot, getting on a bus to the entrance to the tunnel of Magic Kingdom, walking .5 mile to my location, then working and doing the reverse makes for a way longer day than I feel necessary. Oh!  Extension decision time is coming up!

52 HOURS!?!

This week was actually really good. Im starting to fully understand every aspect of my job so there arent very many suprises anymore. Theres a board in the apartment with all of the rules on it now because nobody seems to understand putting dishes away and not using the heater in florida in march. I can say that that aspect about the program I wont miss. Were coming up on spring break season now so Im scheduled 52.5 hours next week! Im excited because my grandparents are coming to visit at the end of the month...it will be a nice break!

learn to work the heater.

I had the past two days off and I feel like ive really got a lot done. Yesterday I woke up early, did laundry and went to wal mart. In the afternoon, I went to class (DES leadership) for the first time. I think Im really going to like that class. It only meets for 8 weeks but I already feel like I learned a lot and some people to network with. Today I went to Universal for the first time. I really like Universal and Disney but  Universal is deninitly geared more towards teenagers. Everything is going good with the roommates, except one of them obviously doesnt understand how to work the  a/c and turns it to 90 on heat! Ill have pictures of Universal Orlando next time i go there and don't forget to bring the camera ;)

entertainment throwup.

This past week has been the busiest so far! I guess presidents week is always busy, but it seemed really busy. Since it was busier there was more entertainment stuff (my managers call it entertainment throwup). every night was electrical parade, projection show, fireworks, projection show, electrical parade. It literally gets so busy you cant even move! While today wasnt as busy, these past two days have been REALLY hot! I like the night a whole lot better now haha!

track my progress.

Ok so Im going to admit that I'm REALLY bad at taking pictures and remembering that I was going to take pictures. So these are mainly from the beginning of the day when I remembered that I was gonna take pictures of stuff! Tomorrow we have an inspection so I spent the most of the day cleaning. I saw Melissa Grimm today! I miss hanging out with her and she is going to have some big news for you Iowa people coming soon! Oh, and I decided that Im going to keep track and ride every ride (within reason)! I have also posted a map along with the pictures of my progress (just the Magic Kingdom for now. One park at a time! jeez people!) Click "read more" to check out the pictures and the map!

catching up.

So, my headache ended up being allergies. It really sucks being sick/having allergies (it might as well be the same thing). The past couple days the Magic Kingdom has been open until midnight (even later sometimes with extra magic hours) and while it is pretty busy for a while, its like a ghost town towards the end. It almost seems like they are jumping the gun when it comes to extending the hours. Anyway, I had yesterday and today off. I went to costuming like I always do on tuesdays but they didnt have ANY large shirts. So I had to go all the way to epcot just to get new costumes. At least I have a car or that would really suck. I also tried Waffle House for the first time. It was alright...After that I did laundry and forgot about it for 2 hours. (it was still there haha!) I ended up spending $100 at walmart because I was bored and waundering around. Eventually I went to a movie alone (not so weird for me working at a theatre back home). Tomorrow im thinking Typhoon Lagoon sounds good before we have to start paying for it! Im going to start posting pictures soon. You can find all of my pictures on facebook if you're interested!
Anyway check out this $37,000 crystal castle (my birthday is may 12 :) fyi)

day off.

Now that Ive gotten used to it, the program is going really fast! I had a day off yesterday and I had a headache almost all day so that kind of sucked. It was nice to not really do anything for once though. Today is my first weird day. I work 7:45pm to 4:30am. Most of my other shifts are 2:30 to around 10. My Grandma and Grandpa are coming down for a few days at the end of March and I couldn't be more excited to show them around!

don't feed the birds!

So today was...interesting. It was hotter than most days so that kind of sucks (I have to get used to it though!) Anyway, while I was working today this woman thought that it would be funny to feed a duck a fry. (I dont recommend that you do that) Long story short she ended up getting attacked by birds! As mean as this is, IT WAS HILARIOUS! Later on I ended up closing the area where the monorail station is. About 10 minutes before the fireworks the monorail broke down! It was like living a nightmare. Trying to get 30,000 or more people onto a bus/boat all at the same time is not fun!

cp party.

Tomorrow is the welcome session for all new custodial CPs and I guess it is a lot of fun. It's nice to be doing something different for once. I've really started to get used to it more here so I would say these last few weeks have gone a lot faster than the first few. Yesterday we got extended by an hour at work but they didnt tell hardly any of the guests that so we ended up being there for nothing pretty much. I dont miss home as much as i did when i first got here, but at the same time im not going to be upset when it comes time to go home either.

things that have happened so far.

I have been in Florida for 1 month and 4 days already! I feel like its taken forever. The next few blog posts  are my blog posts from school that I write twice a week so that you can get an idea of whats been going on, starting the day after I got here

night owl.

I really like my job now just because it has a lot more freedom than other peoples jobs (I can take breaks when I want, move around) etc... My hours are going to turn weird pretty soon im thinking. next week i have a shift from 7pm-430am. how exciting haha.

meet and greet

Today I had the opportunity to go to a meet & greet for Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom (they are releasing a new fragrance). I wanted to buy a camera (dont ask why I came down here without a camera) so I ended up getting there around 2pm and going to the Florida Mall Best Buy. After looking like a fool spending 45 minutes in a crowded Best Buy walking back and forth between two cameras, I finally picked one. I headed over to the mall just to scope out where it would be. The meet and greet didnt start until 7pm  but there were already people in line!

They ended up showing up after what seemed like forever and made us all sign waivers saying that we wouldnt mind being on TV because they're filming  a new reality show (Khloe & Lamar on E! in March). The entrance to the store had this on the outside of it:

I did finally end up meeting them (and made a few friends in the line). Here is the picture from the meet and greet: 

On a not so happy note, it apparently irritated one of my friends that all of this was going on so she decided to harass me more than normal. Now this person, who shall remain nameless, has pretty much always harassed me and made fun of me. Adding more to it was too much. So I decided that I'm going to be a changed person and not let people like that be involved in  my life...better off that way.

grocery bingo.

A lot of the people around me are starting their classes but mine doesn't start until march first. Today I went to Animal Kingdom and later went to grocery bingo. It amazes me how many people actually showed up for it. so many in fact that some of my roommates were too late and weren't allowed in. I had a lot more fun than most of the Bingo that I played in the past. I didn't win anything but still had a good time!

packers in the parade.

So far im really starting to like it here. Im starting to make a lot of work friends (and people i dont like as much) and hang out more. Im pretty used to the parks by now so Im thinking its almost time to go to Universal or Sea World. My friend Erika was here this past weekend and that was a lot of fun! I didnt get to hang out with them that much, but the time that I did it was fun. Today the Packers MVP was in the parade so that was really cool, but then it started raining so the park wasnt very busy.

typhoon lagoon.

This week I went to Typhoon Lagoon, it was a lot of fun. Its free for us until the end of February so I thought we should probably go. They have a water coaster thing that was pretty awesome, and I also got to swim with sharks and other fish. Swimming with the sharks was probably my favorite part (that part was free too). Other than those two rides I would say that I actually like Lost Island in Waterloo better. They have more rides and stuff. I'm starting to get more settled here and I feel like we have been here forever! I'm starting to get used to it, and while I am working for Disney, i'm definitely WORKING for Disney. My job is OK, and ill never forget the experience but it's not going to bother me (it might even be exciting) to go home and see everybody and stuff in a couple months.

getting sick sucks.

I ended up going home sick two days ago during work and calling in sick yesterday, but today i feel much better. My fridays have now changed to monday since im going to have tuesday and wednesday off every week. So far im getting along with most of my roommates, but some of them are a little more lazy when it comes to cleaning so that can be frustrating at times. Overall, I'm have a great time!

the florida mall, etc.

Yesterday and today were my first days off after working 7 days straight. Yesterday I went to the Florida mall, and today I managed to go to all 4 theme parks for a little while at least. I'm starting to like my job more and more, I just dont like the location as much. For Custodial they split the magic kingdom into the west, east, and south. The west is Frontierland, adventureland. The south is just main street, and the east is tomorrowland and fantasyland. I work in the south right now, but i would really like to move to the east, I know a few people over there and it just seems like a more fun place to work. We'll see what happens!

im all alone. kind of.

Today is my first day by myself at the Magic Kingdom. So far im not too nervous about it because there are so many people i can go to to ask questions. I didnt really like the guy that actually trained me, but after the two "official training" days, other people really helped me out. Like you said, the slightly overworked feeling is starting to kick in...kind of. Its not that the work is hard, just that during the training days they give you way more time to do stuff than is actually needed so it makes the days seem much longer. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my days off, and I cant wait! I'm not sure exactly what ill be doing today ( we find out when we get there), but im sure it will be fun. There really isn't that much cleaning involved since there are so many of us.

more training.

  Today marked my third day of training for Custodial. My first class was called Custodial Core, held at Disney University. The first half of this class was an intro to all the chemicals and what to do if we find blood. After going to lunch at Magic Kingdom, we went back to the university and did elearning. That is probably the most tedious thing i have done since we have been here. The next day, yesterday, my class was called "once upon a time...is now". Basically just an orientation class, all the CPs working in MK were in one big group. They shared trivia and little things with us like the design of the buildings on main street. About half way through the day we split off into our respective roles.‎ Our trainer (his name was Ryan) was really cool and he showed us the show and courtesy aspects of custodial. We got to ride the people mover in tomorrowland as well as Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion throughout the day. Today the class was called "Be our Guest", and it was my first class that wasnt at the university. Our trainers name was Preston, and i personally liked yesterdays class better. It wasnt because of the trainer, just that this class was a lot of standing. All of us Custodial CP's are in different Zones of the park (East, West, and South) Im in the south. Anyway, we pretty much spent the day looking at the AVAC, break rooms, supply closets and meeting locations for each zone. That in itself took forever. The last part was spent elearning again, and i think i might have fallen asleep. Tomorrow I begin my first On the job training.

training and exploring.

Yesterday was my first training class, custodial core. The beginning seemed like stuff that anybody would know, like how to mop. We learned different code words etc. We went to lunch at Magic Kingdom, which was fun and we got paid for the hour lunch. After lunch we had to do some online training and got to leave afterwards. So far since living here ive been to magic kingdom and epcot (ive been to all of the parks before, multiple times). Today i think im going to Animal Kingdom with Melissa Grimm. Im adjusting to living on my own pretty well, so far so good.

First getting here.

 Check-in was yesterday and it went a lot better than i had read about. We arrived at Vista Way around 7:00am because i read somewhere to do that. We were probably the 10th people in line so the entire process went really fast. We had the housing meeting the same day so that was nice to get it all done in one day. Were staying in a chatham 3 bedroom. Today i got all of my stuff in the apartment. We have 3 roomates from puerto rico, one from Illinois and Joe Decious and I. So far I really like it here!

Welcome

I decided to create a blog becasue I'm living in Orlando working at Disney World! I want to remember everything that is happening these next few months so im going to try to document as much as I can. Todays is my check in day and basically they herd you around like cows throwing paper at you. Except its much more glamorous haha. It really wasnt all that bad. Im working in the Magic Kingdom park on Main Street! That is so cool! Right now my friend Tanya is here but shes leaving in the next few days and im really going to miss her because I have this gut feeling that things arent going to be the same when I get back. (They already arent...everything on the blog before 2/16/11 actually happened, Im just writing about it from memory on 2/16 (the day I created the blog) and pre-dating everything) Anyway I guess were both just busy...