Today was a big day because I had TRADITIONS!!!! And the name of the class is exactly what it entails. A couple of cast members telling us all about the traditions of Walt Disney World. We watched a couple videos, answers some trivia questions, and had an all-around good time!
Before I came down to Disney, all I had heard about Traditions was that it was practically a brainwashing class to get us to only think "Disney" for the rest of forever (or at least the rest of our time here at Disney). People were saying that it was incredibly boring and that they hated it. I loved every single second of it!! There were times that I was fighting back tears from being so happy and excited!
The day started out with me waking up at 5:15am to get a shower. I had to be at the bus station by 6:55am in order to get on the bus to go to Disney University.
Two of my roommates had Traditions today, too, so we were able to ride the bus together (but unfortunately we didn't have the same class together). My other three roommates had Traditions yesterday, but two of them had orientation for their jobs today.
Once we were separated into our groups for the class and led to our classrooms, we were seated at some tables with big red boxes in the middle. We were instructed to leave the boxes closed. What could be in there you ask? You'll just have to wait like I did ;)
We started with come Do's and Don't's while being a cast member. It's your basic "Don't be hateful. Do help people when you see they need it." etc, etc. We answered (via our group of people at our table) a few questions of what we thought the best course of action would be for a particular situation or if we thought what the person in the scenario did was correct or not. Like I said, pretty basic work-related things.
Then finally came the reveal of what was in the big red boxes. Anyone have any guesses? No? Well, I'll just tell you!
It was..............
OUR OWN SET OF MICKEY MOUSE EARS!!!!!!!!!!
How awesome, right?! I've never owned a pair of official Mickey Ears, so this was a wonderful surprise!
So anywho, we learned a little more about the company and what we should expect while working here. We watched a few videos of parents surprising their children with Disney World vacations, and I was definitely wiping many tears away from my eyes the entire time! If you just go to YouTube.com and type in "Disney World Surprises," I'm sure a TON of videos will pop up for you to get the understanding of why I was crying. Our leaders told us that that is why we come to work...because those little kids are so excited to see their favorite princesses and pirates, and we must continue to create that magic for them.
Now, on to the rest of the day. We learned about the "Four Keys" that are important to being a cast member: Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency (all in descending order of importance). Safety is always a number one priority, and Disney has adopted the "Safe-D" approach.
We reviewed all four of the keys, and our leaders were going to have us act out scenarios, BUT......
THEY TOOK US TO MAGIC KINGDOM INSTEAD!!!!! They wanted us to pick out real-life examples in the park of those 4 keys. Our class broke into two groups. My group was Team Goofy (woot, woot!). Our leaders passed around these headset thingys that allowed us to easy hear our leader without her shouting.
The funny part about all of this is that the majority of the class had on Mickey Mouse ears. The leaders (Mike and Roxanne) wanted us to blend in with the crowd at Magic Kingdom, so they asked us to actually take OFF the Mickey ears. What? Plus, we all had on business attire. I highly doubt anyone going to Magic Kingdom to ride rides and eat turkey legs is going to be wearing nice dresses or slacks and button down shirts.
Oh, by the way! Here's my outfit:
It's just a simple black dress I bought from The Loft store.Our sleeves have to be at LEAST 3 INCHES, so I had to wear a little black sweater over it. Try walking around in the blazing hot Florida sun in THAT!
Back to the story!
We went to Magic Kingdom, but instead of going through the front gates, we actually went through the UTILIDORS!! They're the utility corridors that all cast members use. Some people always thought they were a myth, but I'm here to tell you that they're REAL!!!
We stood underneath Cinderella's Castle!!!!!!
AHHHHHH!!!
We toured around New Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom after finally emerging from the Utilidors (we ended up coming out of a door close to Main Street, USA), and then after we finished our assignment, we headed back to Disney University.
Once we were back in the classroom, we shared our examples of the Four Keys we witnessed in the park. For every answer, that person received a mini figurine of either Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald, or Pluto! I shared an example of courtesy and got a Minnie Mouse!
Her little head swivels! It's so cute!
And then.......the indescribable happened......
My new boss, Mickey Mouse himself, BROUGHT US OUR NEW NAMETAGS!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!
He looked right at me!!!!
It's official now! I am a Disney employee!
I also saw my name on a set of Mickey ears on the TV!
I fought back so many happy tears when I walked up to receive my nametag (unfortunately, Mickey didn't pass them out). I immediately put it on and felt a wave of excitement!
Time embark on this journey!
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