Welcome to Coral Reef Restaurant!

So, yesterday was first day of on-the-job training. So, instead of wearing business attire and sitting in a classroom all day, I was finally able to wear my costume (I'll take pictures and post them later) and learn my actual job! :) And so far, I am loving it! I learned how to check people in, and I learned how to seat them yesterday. I pretty much got seating down because I did that at dinner, and we were slammed. It was pretty much reservations only last night, and my trainer ended up having to leave me to go help bus tables. She did make sure I was okay on my own first, though. And I was. After seating my first family, I got really comfortable with it. I'm still not 100% comfortable checking people in on my own though. But then again, I did that at lunch when we were pretty dead, so I didn't get a lot of practice in. Maybe tomorrow.

My fellow cast members at Coral Reef are really nice, as are the managers. They all welcomed me, and no one seemed upset that they had another CP there. Which is good, because I've heard so many stories from people about how their managers are mean, and the full- and part-timers didn't like having CPs around. I'm so glad that is not the case at my restaurant. Having great people to work with is going to make my job easier. Which is good, because this is my first time working in the restaurant business, and I don't want it to be too difficult.

That was pretty much my day yesterday. Today, I'm off, so I'm hanging out with Cayla, Tiff, and Jordan, and we're going to see the Peabody ducks at the Peabody Hotel, and then head over to Blizzard Beach for some fun!

Have a magical day!

Orientation Days

First, let me begin by apologizing for not blogging last night. When I got home, my roommates were at the pool, and then we all decided to go to CiCi's and then to Downtown Disney with the guys across the hall. So, that made half of the 2nd floor of my building hanging out last night. And it was a lot of fun. I meant to make last night an early night, but that didn't happen. And that's fine. I was hanging out with some awesome people. :)

So, yesterday was basically another day at Disney University. It was for everyone who's role is food & beverage. We had to sit in a room and watch presentations over safety when dealing with food and all of that good stuff. Then, we got to go down to the computer lab and sign up for the HUB (pretty much the place for Cast Members to go online for everything related to our jobs), and do some online classes. We also got our work shoes yesterday, too. Food and beverage is the only role where the shoes are supplied for us. Every other role has to provide their own shoes. So I'm not paying anything for any part of my costume. :)

Today was my orientation at Epcot. I won't go into everything that happened because I do want future Epcot CMs to have something to look forward to with orientation. And trust me, there's a lot to look forward to. :) I did get to get my costume today (and Disney sizing sucks, for the record), and I did get to see the kitchen of the restaurant I'll be working in. The two of us that are working at Coral Reef also got to meet the head chef of the restaurant, which was pretty cool. We also got our work lockers, and a little tour of the backstage area of Epcot. And we got to take a couple more online classes. And we got our schedules for on the job training (OJT) for the next week. This is where the really long hours for me begin. Tomorrow and Monday, I work from 11:15am-8:45pm. I'm not sure the exact hours the restaurant is open, but I'll be there for most, if not all, or them. Fun day indeed.

Tonight, I'm relaxing a bit and probably going to Hollywood Studios with the roomies. :)

Have a magical day!

Traditions!

Yesterday was a very long day. But it was also a very fun day. I had Traditions (which is held at Disney University!) yesterday, but I had the afternoon session with Cayla (Tiff and Izzy had it in the morning). So, I was able to go with Cayla to take her dad to the airport (which meant that I also got to see my parents before they headed home), and then I was able to do a Walmart run and get some stuff done around the apartment before I had to catch the bus at 12:45pm for the 2pm class. We had to dress up for Traditions, which was fine. What wasn't fine was standing at the bus stop all dressed up in the heat, and then the buses being 30 minutes late. >.< I have a feeling I'm going to need to get used to late buses. Hopefully they won't be that late.

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about Traditions because I think it should be a surprise for the people who will take it in the future. I will say that it is a long class, though, so bring food. They do have vending machines there, but you only get 2 10 minute breaks. So I would just go ahead and pack a snack. By the time we got through, I was starving. But other than that, it was a very informative class, and they did add some fun into it. We even got to take a field trip. :p And we had a special visitor, and they gave me a little something for being smart and knowing that Walt Disney founded the company:

My prize! :)

What was the best thing about Traditions, though? Well, we got our company ids and name tags, of course!

I'm an official Cast Member now!!! :)

My company ID.

I will admit to the fact that I almost cried when I got my name tag. Since my first trip to Disney World in 1997, when I was 9 years old, I dreamed of working here and having one of those name tags. And now, I do. My dream is coming true, and it's all unbelievably amazing and overwhelming to me. :)

After Traditions, Cayla and I came back to the apartment and met up with Tiff and Izzy. We went and did a little shopping (well...Tiff did), and then, we decided to put that company ID to good use, and we headed to the Magic Kingdom! It's a glorious thing to be able to get into the parks for free. We got there when everyone was either leaving or waiting on the parade and fireworks, so we were able to ride 4 rides pretty much back to back with very little waiting. We rode Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain, and then Izzy and I rode Haunted Mansion while Cayla and Tiff went and did some more shopping. :p

All in all, this is starting out as a wonderful experience. Today, I have Food & Beverage Core Training at DU from 1pm-5:30pm, and then tomorrow, I have Discovery Day at Epcot from 8am-3:30pm. I'll definitely blog some more tonight about how today goes!

Have a magical day! :)

Check-In!

I am going to start off by saying that I know it's after midnight, making this officially day 2 of my program. But...since I'm just now getting to where I can slow down enough to blog and I haven't slept yet, I will still refer to this as today. And now, on with your regularly scheduled post. :p

Oh my word. Today has been insane. I am so overwhelmed after everything I went through today, and I am so glad that day 2 is an off day so I can get settled in and recover from the craziness that was day 1.

I was up at 4:30am....something I typically don't like to do. I met my 2 housemates (Tiffani and Cayla) and Tiffani's boyfriend Jordan in the lobby of the hotel we were staying at, and we drove over to Vista to get in line for check in. We got there around 5:30, and while we weren't the very first people there, we were still at the front of the line. We stood in line until right around 8am, and I'm glad we did. By the time they opened the gate and let us in, the line was freaking long. I took video, and I'll post it tomorrow. It was ridiculous.

So, they let us in, and that's when the craziness started. We pretty much ran to the back of Vista and had to go through this process of filling out some paperwork that wasn't related to the paperwork we had to fill out before today. This is where we found out where we would be living, who our roommates would be, and got our parking decals (which I still haven't put on my car. I need to do that tomorrow). We also got our program guide, which will basically be our best friend throughout the program. It has pretty much any piece of information we need to know about the program, from maps of the apartment complexes to phone numbers, to information about the Orlando area. We also got our housing ID. I hate mine. My picture looks horrible, and no, I will not be posting it for you to see. :p

And just so you know, I did get with the 3 girls (Tiffani, Cayla, and my roommate Izzy) I wanted to be with, and we did get the apartment we wanted. All went very well with housing. :)

After we got through all of that, we had about 45 minutes to kill before we had to board the bus to Casting, so we walked over to the parents' area and met up with my parents for a bit. Tiffani took the time to actually drive over to the apartment complex and find our apartment. When she got back, we boarded the bus and headed over to Casting so we could find out where we would be working and get all of the technical things taken care of so that we could officially become cast members at Walt Disney World. And yes, this included taking another picture for our Cast Member ID. So now, I have to carry 2 IDs with me at all times. This should be fun.

So, I bet you're wondering where I'm working. Well, I was hoping I would be in a resort, but I'm not. I'm in a park. However, I got lucky and ended up in my favorite park, which is Epcot. And I'll be working at Coral Reef. This excites me. I ate there back in December, and it is such an amazing restaurant. Go look up information about it. It's awesome.

We were at Casting for what felt like forever. We had to get our background checks (including fingerprints) done. We got to turn in our on-boarding paperwork (the paperwork we had to fill out prior to getting here), we got to set up direct deposit for our money to go directly into our checking accounts, and we got information about our Traditions class and training schedule for the rest of the week. Traditions is on Wednesday. I have the later session, which is at 2pm. I'm glad because those who have the 8am session have to be at the bus stop at 6:45am Wednesday morning. I won't have to be at the bus stop until 12:15pm. More sleep for me! :p All I know about Traditions is that it gets us acquainted with the Disney Company and Disney World, and we get our CM IDs. Once we get those glorious CM IDs, we can officially get into the parks for free and start getting our CM discounts! The parks are going to be overrun with CPs on Wednesday! :) I'm so  excited to get to visit the parks again. I'm just trying to figure out if I should visit MK or Epcot first. :p

I start training on Thursday. I have what is called "Discovery Day" at Disney University then. I think this is probably when everyone with the same roles get together and learn about their role and what to expect and all. Friday, I actually have orientation at Epcot. I'm not sure if it's just for my restaurant, or if it's a park orientation. I guess I'll find out then!

After Casting, we headed to get our cars and go to the apartment to start unloading and moving in. Of course, it rained pretty much the entire time we were moving things in (oh...and we're on the 2nd floor of a building with no elevators.) Pretty fun stuff there. :p I was completely soaked by the time I finished getting all of my stuff inside. We had a few hours before our housing meeting (which was at 3pm) to start unpacking, so we did. Then we went to the meeting, and that lasted about 2 hours. Not gonna lie, it wasn't the most exciting thing in the world, and a lot of it was just repeating information we had already been told. I was pretty glad when it was over.

I went out to eat with my parents because I hadn't eaten a real meal all day. I get the feeling that I will have more days like that. So....I'll probably (hopefully) lose some weight on this program. :p After dinner, they took me to Walmart, and then I came back to the apartment to finish unpacking and such. I'm still not done, but I do have most of the stuff unpacked. I can always finish tomorrow. :p

That was pretty much day 1. It was all very crazy and overwhelming. A lot of information was thrown at us today. I'm going to have to take some time tomorrow to sit down and go over all of it.

I think it's bedtime for me now. Hopefully I'll get my pictures/videos uploaded tomorrow so I can post them and show you how things went. I'll do an apartment tour once we're all completely settled in and everything. :)

Have a magical day....er...night! :)

Made It To Orlando!

So, I arrived in Orlando late yesterday evening, after a very loooong day of driving. I didn't do much of anything because, well, I was exhausted last night. Pretty much came to the hotel, got settled, got dinner, and then went to bed. Such excitement, I know. :p

Today has been a little more eventful. It started off with a visit to Downtown Disney this morning, including breakfast at one of the newest restaurants there, Pollo Campero/Fresh A-Peel. I had some cereal and one of the fruit cups, and it was really good. Then I headed over to Babycakes Bakery (which is inside Pollo Campero), and tried one of their coconut doughnuts. I did have some reservations because they use completely organic things in their baked goods, but I was curious. And the verdict? That doughnut was one of the best doughnuts I've ever had. :) Then after that, there was some more shopping, then a trip to Walmart and to find where I have to go check in tomorrow, and to find where the apartment complex I hope I get is at. :)

Tonight is the check-in dinner for everyone checking in tomorrow. I'm excited because I get to meet a lot of the people I've talking to on Facebook. And....I finally get to meet my awesome housemates in person! :) I'm so excited!

Well, that's all for right now. I'll try and blog about tonight when I get back. If not, then look for a pretty lengthy update tomorrow. Actually, look for a pretty lengthy update tomorrow anyway. :p

Have a magical day!

Reasons Why I Love Disney [[Day 36]]

**1 day until check-in!!!**

Source: Simple Disney Things

I'm such a geography buff, so this is my favorite part of Disney World. I could spend all day at World Showcase if people would let me. :p

Well, this was my last "Reason I Love Disney" for awhile anyway. Tomorrow is the big day for me (finally!!)!! So, be looking out for actual blog entries about the program now. :p

And later on today/tonight, I'll blog about the drive down to Orlando yesterday, as well as getting to finally meet my lovely housemates in person. And of course, the check-in dinner is tonight, so I'll blog about that, too. :p 

Have a magical day! :)

Reasons Why I Love Disney [[Day 35]]

**I leave for Florida TODAY!!! And check in is in 2 days!!!!**

Source: Simple Disney Things

I love Disney date nights. They're the best. 

And I love this sweet picture of Minnie and Mickey. <3