Earning my ears!

After a few days of settling in and attending various housing meetings and traditions class, I was given my training schedule for the following 3 weeks! The first class we all had to attend was called 'Welcome to Operations', held at Disney University.  It was a long day, but we can now all say we are fully trained in 'Safety in Motion' and will never try to lift anything in our 'Red Zone' ever again! The afternoon was then spent learning more about health and safety specifically in our role of Food and Beverage.


After getting our new attractive non-slip shoes, we headed back to housing before making our way to Magic Kingdom AT LAST!! For a couple of people in the group, it was their first time ever setting foot in the Magic Kingdom. Watching their reactions made it even more magical!  A heavy rain shower didn't stop us from riding Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid, followed by a special meet and greet afterwards with Ariel herself.  A ride on the teacups, Big Thunder Mountain, a late night Splash Mountain, as well as seeing Wishes and the Electrical Parade was the perfect end to the day.  Despite insisting my hatred for the Electrical Parade, watching the midnight parade with an almost empty street (leading to endless opportunities for interacting with the performers) showed to all around me - as well as proving to myself - that I didn't hate it quite so much as I thought...

The following day, we had our 'Onboarding' Training day, which involved a visit to Epcot for a tour around our work location.  Despite the overload of information, it was great to see where we'd be working and meet the management team :) After a computer-based learning session, we also got our costumes for work!!

A few of us decided to stay in the parks after training for a wander around the World Showcase before getting the boat across to Hollywood Studios.  Despite having never seen Hollywood Studios so busy in my life (blaming the extra magic hours...), we managed to single rider Rock'n'Rollercoaster and watch the Frozen fireworks.  The queues were waaaaay too long for everything else and even the line for the second showing of Fantasmic looked insane... so we admitted defeat in the end and headed home to rest up before yet another early start.

The next day was our Epcot 'Discovery Day'.  All new Epcot Cast Members must go through this class... and although we were sworn to secrecy of what the day involved, I can tell you that we were given a guided tour of the park and told a bit about Epcot's history and mission.
After taking our costumes back to housing, we went back to Epcot to ride The Seas with Nemo and Friends, got food over at the Chinese Pavilion, and then settled down to watch Illuminations: Reflections of Earth <3

On the job training!

My first day on the job training was my Culinary Day! This basically meant I had to dress like a chef and observe what goes on in the kitchen and in the chippy.  It was really good to get an idea of how the kitchen works, plus I was allowed to taste some of the food (...the best part).  I also got to have a go at making the trifles, as well as helping put the Fish and Chips together.

Here's the fetching outfit I had to wear:

The following day was the first day of wearing my actual costume!! Although nervous as I didn't really know what to expect, it was super exciting to finally start work!  The day was spent being trained as a Seater by my fabulous trainer, Georgie! Amongst many things, I was taught how the podium at the Rose & Crown works, shown the seating arrangements of the restaurant, and learned how to greet guests and take them to their tables.  Day 1- number of American guests who told me their grandparents were from Scotland: 3

It was a really enjoyable day, topped off by being able to help with a 'Magical Moment' at the end of the night.  We got to pick a little boy and girl to help blow out the fire around the World Showcase and set off the fireworks with Mickey and Minnie's magic wands.  It was a really special moment seeing how excited the kids were and the amazement on their faces when they set the fireworks off <3 We had their whole family filming and taking pictures of us, and from the reaction of the kids - and the whole family - I'm sure it will be one of the highlights of their holiday! Thanks to Georgie for all her help and top tips :)

For the next two days, I finally had some time off to recover!

As I now have access to my Disney discounts, I managed to book the Polynesian Resort with a whopping 60% for Mari, Becky and Claire coming to visit next month! Only the best for my princesses <3

Made my first trip to Cast Connections, which is the discounted store selling everything Disney and more.  As a Cast Member, we have exclusive access to an extra room filled with defective/out of season stock with a massive 70% off.  I was in luck and managed to get myself a Merida dress with over $40 discount... thats my outfit sorted for the Princess 5k next year :) Also bagged some new sunglasses and a pair of Halloween ears!


After a dreaded trip to Walmart, Sophie and I headed to Hollywood Studios. The park was a lot quieter than it was last week, so we managed to meet Buzz and Woody, ride Rock'n'Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, see the new and improved Frozen sing-a-long.... AND I finally got to see Fantasmic <3




Next up: Week 2 of training!