July Jungle Update

Wow, I didn’t even realize how long it’s been since I wrote a post, until someone commented on my Instagram page asking when the next one would happen. So here it is! So I just had to check back and see when the last time I wrote was and it makes me so sad that I haven’t talked more about my program yet, but I have had so much work and fun, that I have barely sat down on my laptop once since I’ve been here.

So first thing I need to mention was my training on location. I had two trainers (Emily and Tory), Emily was training Tory to become a trainer, and they were BOTH so fabulous. They had such a fun and unique way of teaching us everything I needed to know about Jungle Cruise! I was so so nervous to “go live” aka take boats full of victims, I mean visitors. But after the first few, my hand stopped shaking and now I have my bote spiel down to a science. Tory usually works ATT, but we still work with Emily every once in awhile, I especially love when she works as our coordinator!

More recently, I’ve literally been working my booty off and then on my ONE day off a week, I’ve been trying to go out with friends/coworkers/roommates, and we have so far done: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, Citywalk, Universal, outlet mall, and Downtown Disney. Because I only get one day off a week, I’ve been having to get creative and go out before/after my shifts! My next day off (tomorrow) I am heading back to Universal and spending the day there until my roommate gets off of work and they we are going to Harry Potter world together! YAY! And next week, my roommates and I are heading to Typhoon Lagoon together!

Besides work and play, I have seen Aunt Susan and Grace and Gabby who came down for a little more than a week! We got to hang out and they rode my bote, and THEN we met Dan Cockerell: the Vice President of Magic Kingdom!! I also so Jim and April Sammons and of course Cy, Garrett, Eli, and Hume! And soon my mom and Lisa are coming down in October for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!!! I’m so stoked to see my mom soon!

So enough rambling. TL;DR: work, play, family, friends! Until Next Time!

Training!

Alright, so yesterday’s post mentioned that I have been going through some training. Just to get an idea of the time line so far: I arrived to the program on Monday, June 13 and just had checkin and casting and then nothing else until Friday, June 17, which is when I had my Traditions class. Traditions is a 5 hour class where 2 cast members teach us about the company’s core values, history, and a tour of the Magic Kingdom. It is something every single Disney cast member is required to attend (including CEO Bob Iger and MK VP Dan Cockerell). It is very inspiring to anyone who knows and loves the company and also to those who have never stepped foot on Disney property before their checkin date! It is truly magical.

After Traditions, I had a day off and I think I took that day to start unpacking the essential items. And then some of my roommates and I headed to DHS (Disney’s Hollywood Studios) in the pouring rain! We got to do all of the major attractions including Toy Story Mania in about 30 minutes!! Sunday, I had my first day of training and it included a broad idea of what some of us would be doing! It was a very basic class where we learned about major topics like treating guests with respect and knowing our physical limits and staying within those green zones (THANKS TRAINER ANDY! 🙂 After that class, I wasn’t finished I had my Welcome to Attractions Operations class where we all got to tell each other where we would be going within attractions operations. This included a vast variety but a lot of us were heading to Park Attractions and I found 3 other ladies heading over to Adventureland/Liberty Square (Ad/Lib)! I didn’t know it then, but the four of us would be together for the next few days!

Monday we broke into our individual operations where a small group of 20 of us got to walk around our park! MAGIC KINGDOM! This was so fun and we even got to ride Haunted Mansion! After that class, we broke down even further into our areas within MK, and the four of us met our trainer, David! We were FINALLY told our locations and I was the first to be told I would be a JUNGLE CRUISE SKIPPER! I will never forget that moment. We were backstage by Carousel of Progress! It was fate because that was one of my grandma’s favorite attractions ever! I can still hear her humming the song!

David was an AMAZING trainer! He is a cast member of Haunted Mansion and he is AMAZING at what he does. If you don’t believe me and think I am just hyping him up, he was the person chosen for the MK trainer of the year award! There is only one person chosen every year and he was picked!! He knew every answer to our questions and was great at getting us into the magic and everywhere we walked people knew him! Both guests and cast members (a lot of cast members) came up and said hi to David. He is pretty famous in our cast member ohana and he knows everything there is to know about the company and magical moments. He even told us some magical moments he has had with guests! You can tell how great of a time we had with him just because this whole paragraph is simply ABOUT him! Not even about the training, because that was almost forgotten compared to the real life advice and secrets David let us in on! It was a fantastic 2 days we got with him and I will forever be impacted by his training. By the way, I did a backstage tour of Haunted Mansion on my last program, and he was my tour guide. So you can imagine the backstage secrets he held with my favorite attraction!

So, what did David train us on besides backstage secrets and tips and tricks? He gave us each very detailed backstories and historical content on our attractions (three of us are jungle skippers and one is a pirate)! He showed us the evacuations routes should the need arise that we need to evacuate guests. He took us on our attractions right up to the front (well technically we used to “vip guest” lane aka celebrities in the back of each attraction) of the lines. We were so inspired and asked a ton of questions and he knew every single answer. I think the most important thing he did was show us everything *he* wished his trainers had shown him! Including baby care, lost and found, first aid all the way down to how to unlock individual strollers (who would have thought there were so many ways to lock a stupid stroller). He really knew the in’s and out’s of his job, and as you can see it truly is the people who make the job inspiring and magical so much more than anything else you will find on the Walt Disney World Resort property.

So now here we are on Wednesday, my first real day off in the hectic schedule! I haven’t even gotten out of bed even though I will definitely need to in a few minutes to start unpacking the not so essential clothes out of my suitcase (oops!) and maybe some catching up on Game of Thrones and Orphan Black!

This next week, I have extensive On the Job training where I will learn my spiel and start driving the boats! Ah, I am seriously so nervous!

Alright guys, we’ve laughed, we’ve cried, I love you all like the family you are to me, now get out. I’m sorry, that was rude.

Please get out.

 

Short and Sweet

My days are literally running together! I finally get a little bit of time off tomorrow and Thursday! Yessss! The shock of being at Jungle Cruise still hasn’t sunk in yet. I can’t believe I was placed there! I am already so excited that I youtubed a bunch of cruises to start figuring out appropriate dialogue! And then today at my training (which I promise I will blog about tomorrow or Thursday!) we got to ride Pirates (one girl in my groups location) and Jungle Cruise (the rest of our location). And it is SOOO different from this perspective. Like these are the tours I am going to have to take with guests VERY soon! A little too soon in my opinion! 😉 but I think I can handle it because Disney says so!

Work Location

Alright, here it is! The question that has been ever looming on my mind (and all of my family’s mind!), where everyone else outside of Magic Kingdom gets to find out their exact location, we got to find out which land we would be in. I was told at Casting that I would be somewhere within Adventureland/Liberty Square (now known as Ad/Lib) so I kept thinking “oh, I think I know where I am going to be placed, but I know Ad/Lib is one of the most coveted of all the lands!” So I didn’t really expect to be placed as a….

SKIPPER IN JUNGLE CRUISE! I didn’t even expect to be placed in such a great location, let alone the MOST coveted role in Magic Kingdom (in my now biased opinion!) I am still in shock even after getting my costume and tour of the area! So if you are ever in the MK area and you would like a cruise, come see me! My name is Skipper Shelby!

First Day of School!

Okay, not really school, but first day of my program has already come to a close (as far as DCP activities go) so I figured I would type out a quick blog noting the whirlwind of a day!

My family arrived to Disney World around 8pm last night and man were we so excited to be on property, we weren’t even to our hotel yet and you could just feel the magic in the air! So we slowly found Saratoga Springs (I knew exactly where I was going, by the way!) and found our room! We carried in the essential bags and checked out the amazing 2 bedroom suite! It has a gorgeous view and is probably more spacious than my 3 bedroom apartment! I even joked that my parents could just let me stay here for the remainder of my program since we found out we have a non-renovated apartment (just my luck). But it is not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, though my parents and I couldn’t help but notice there was nowhere to attach our TV to cable or our router to wifi, which is a problem. But hopefully we just overlooked it and will find it later tonight! Okay, so back to my day!

After checking the room out, we got settled in and I got ready for bed and then realized my brother hadn’t finished my shoes that I was supposed to wear the next day! So I stayed up until 1am keeping him company while he drew all sorts of awesome designs! (I have pics up on instagram and Facebook) Then we both headed to bed, as I had a super early morning the next day! I couldn’t immediately fall asleep so I laid in bed hoping to fall asleep quickly so it could be check in day!!

Finally, I woke up and it was definitely morning! I accidentally woke up an hour and a half before my alarm, so I just sat in bed and read, knowing I would never be able to fall back asleep. Finally, at a more decent hour, I got out of bed and dressed and got into “Disney Look” before grabbing a quick bite to eat from the kitchen and some coffee! And then we were off! Mom, dad, and I headed to Vista to check-in only to be told we needed to come back 20 minutes later (darn being too early!) so we drove around while I got familiar to the area and then we headed back to Vista to begin the literal 5 minute check in process!

I met a nice girl also from Indiana (IU student….) and we started chatting and headed over to the Casting busses together! Got on the bus to Casting and off we went! This was also where I met up with my long lost DCP 14 best friend, Marissa! We answered some trivia questions right on the bus and finally we made it to Casting! As fun as it sounds, the only amazing part is finding out your location at Casting, before you found it out at Check-in), the rest is really just paperwork and fingerprints and asking any questions and checking your “Disney look. Very boring and routine. But then we got to go back and I got to check out the apartment for the first time. Not great, not bad. That’s all I’m going to say about it! I think I prepared myself for the worst, but I just remember that it’s a place to sleep, eat, and shower and that’s all I need! Otherwise, I’ll probably spend my time out and about (which is good anyway!)

During Casting, mom and dad moved in a bunch of my stuff so it was great that we only had one more trip to make after that, I definitely packed WAY too much stuff, just ask my dad! 🙂 So I got to unpack a few things and by “I” I mean my mom did most of it because she is so organized! And then we took a trip to Walmart! I undershot my budget, so hello more money, but bought a ton of food! We found out after bringing in all the bags that there was indeed no pantry like what Patterson had. So that REALLY hurt me, now a lot of my food is in my closet (DO NOT JUDGE ME!) So we are making due with what we received. After unpacking groceries, I had to head over to do my mandatory Attractions cast member drug test, which I heard could have gone really wrong if you didn’t have to pee at the time. But I made sure to hold it and drink lots of water in the morning so I was good to go after a few minutes in there!

After the drug test, we hopped in the car and did the last trip of stuff to the apartment and really got more organized with everything but my clothes, my mom made my bed and organized everything perfectly! So it will be nice to have a place to sleep tonight, since that  is where I will be staying tonight since I have a 9am housing meeting. We just returned from that trip after talking briefly to the other roommates and here I sit just relaxing and enjoying the view of my Saratoga Springs garden!

So you can see what a busy day it’s been! This has been one of my longest blog posts in awhile just to type it all out! Imagine LIVING it! 🙂 The entire family has reservations tonight at Downtown Disney Disney Springs, at the Boathouse! But first, a nap!

 

Last Minute Thoughts

Packing in as much family time as I can these last few days in Indiana has been insane, but rewarding! I have been putting off watching my tv series, crucial packing, and other such not as important things than family bonding. Everyone has even agreed to make one last dinner date to the Colonial Inn in Kentland (at my request) which just makes me put off more “unimportant tasks”! But hey, I can always buy new jeans or have them sent if they are so important, right!?

There is so much to do and here I am just sitting and blogging, no regrets though! I enjoy the down time and just hanging out. My days have been so “go, go, go” and this is probably the first day I have had to relax, and I can’t stop talking about how much I have to do that it is kind of counterproductive. Oops!

These goodbyes are definitely going to be hard, my family is everything but they are all very proud and encouraging, and the hello’s I’m going to have next week are going to be some of the people who stick around forever! So, yes I am ready to leave but at the same time my family is holding my place here in Indiana.

Orlando or Bust!

As I am officially one week away from my check-in date, I have realized that I have made a ton of new friends over the last 2 years. Every day I meet someone new and I have also realized that some people might not know what is about to happen on my social media; it is about to be completely covered by Disney posts and pictures.

For those who have been there from the beginning, you have a general idea of what excitement is about to overcome me and there is just no stopping the 100 different angles of Cinderella’s Castle or new restaurant I try for the evening, so if that is not your cup of tea, by all means you have my permission to unfollow or unfriend me, but if anyone wants to live through this magical experience vicariously, please do!

OH! And we received our arrival itinerary for our check in date (how could I possibly forget that!) and the roommates and I found out where we will be living for the next 7 months and are a little less than thrilled to be in Vista Way, BUT we were informed that they just renovated them in 2014 (SCORE!) so we are going to make the most of it and just be happy that we are accepted and have a place to stay, at all.

I would post the image of my itinerary but I don’t think we are quite allowed to share that information, so here is a (not so) quick run-down! Check-in time for me is 9:45 am (which isn’t too awful, but I know I won’t be able to sleep the day before anyway!); I have casting just 15 minutes later, but I have heard check-in now takes 5 minutes or less so hopefully nothing too crazy will happen and I make it to Casting in time. I can then take all the time needed for Casting (which might be longer than normal because I STILL haven’t received my New Hire Paperwork..ugh) until 2:45 when I have a drug test for my attractions role, then the rest of the day is all mine to spend time with my family getting groceries and settled into the apartment and hanging out with the roommates! Then at 9am the next morning I have my housing meeting and after that I am home free for the next three days! Which is lovely time to spend with my family that I didn’t think I would have! We already have reservations and park tickets so it will be a nice little mini vacation until I have traditions at 2pm on Friday afternoon. YAY! So excited!

I only have 4 more days until I leave Indiana and begin the journey of a lifetime! And so much more to do until then!!

Counting Down

I keep stopping myself from typing a title that reads “Final Countdown” because as close as I am to leaving (TWENTY.FOUR.DAYS! 24!!), I still have a bunch of days, work shifts, goodbyes to say and things to do before that magical day comes. So as much as I would like to title this final countdown, I will simply just settle for “counting down”.

So what is new this week? I received a text from Marissa this morning firstly reminding me that the first group of FA (May 16 date) checked-in yesterday. So now we are just ticking off each Monday until ours is the day! Secondly, she sent a link that gave us the new protocol for check-in, which just by looking at it, is INFINITELY better. We get to find out our apartment before we get there this time (still trying to find out exactly when we know which apartment, but at least we know it’s before the day we move into said apartment!). We also get to go straight to the apartment and it is rumored that it reduced the previous 2 hour wait to a grand total of ten minutes! And even if it takes 30 minutes, that is still way better than the previous system. And since there is no way around the hour at Casting, I can handle that morning! Which means I will hopefully have the afternoon with my roommates unpacking and the evening with my family!

Countdown: 24 days until I leave, 27 days until check-in!

Things to do before I leave:

1. New Hire Paperwork (still have not received this)
2. DORMS with roommies (fill out and link roommates)
3. double check packing list on google sheets
4. pack all clothes/bedding/shoes/electronics/chargers already in use
5. double check documents needed (IDs, DORMS, car insurance etc)
6. Get oil changed, car checked over, tires rotated, car detailed, gas filled
7. towels
8. coffee mugs
9. kuerig rack
10. 3 drawers

Buy:

1. tv/laptop situation
2. shampoo
3. conditioner
4. soap
5. makeup
6. earplugs
7. raincoat or dollar ponchos
8. power strips
9. Universal Annual Pass
10. groceries

Oh, bother 🍯

It’s no secret to anyone that knows me that I am a worrier and have anxiety. I’m 99% sure that it is a genetic condition because my brother and grandma also showed signs of worry and anxiety (as a genetic engineer I am being 100% serious too!)
Now that you are aware, I have been anxiously waiting for all of the DisneyRecruiting emails (if you’ve ever done the DCP you KNOW which ones I’m talking about). Right now, all of the roommates have received and filled out their new hire documents and I am still waiting on mine. It’s torture waiting for emails knowing that I only have a month to go!!! (What if I don’t ever get it!?)
I know I will get the emails eventually but it’s hard not to think I am being forgotten when everyone else has received them!

The only hope has been brought to my attention from Marissa. I forgot that you only get your new hire documents after you have been placed in your location, but if you refer back to like any of my old posts, I have requested to be placed in a specific attraction. So my little ember of hope is that Disney is trying very hard to accommodate that request! (Please!) and they are seeing who will be extending and who will not into those specific attractions!!!

I have life again believing that is the case! 😂

So Close!

Guys! We are getting down to the very end of the countdown until check-in day! I am exactly 35 days from starting my new adventure! I am 35 days from meeting new and old friends again! and I am 35 days from finding out my location (eep!) But as much as I am looking forward to my new home and new adventure, I will of course be incredibly sad to leave behind everything; especially my family! They definitely support me going, but unlike last time I hope to make this a more permanant stay. I am very much hoping to enjoy my location enough to extend my program and then (hopefully) live in Florida until I “figure out” my next adventure.

Until then, 35 days until Disney!