Space Mountain Event

Today my roommates and I all had the day off so we had a roommate date! After we all cleaned the apartment for our first inspection this morning, Kayla, Silvina, and I went to Monkey Business Cafe for breakfast. This was the first restaurant we all met at so we thought it’d be fun to go back. Unfortunately Christine went to the doctors for her thumb and Katie had previously made plans with her cousin so neither of them could come.

After breakfast we headed over to Disneyland and California Adventure- duh, what else would we do on our days off? We hardly had to wait in line for anything since the park was so empty!

We all (kind of) Disney bounded today at the parks. I wore a Lion King shirt and purse, Katie had purple with a Rapunzel back pack, Kayla was Captain America, and Silvina was Minnie Mouse.

Katie, Silvina, Kayla, and I before we left our apartment today

We got to meet Aviator Minnie Mouse

Silvina got to be the driver on Indiana Jones

Silvina was TERRIFIED on her first Thunder Mountain ride

Silvina and I got soaked on Splash Mountain

We got fast passes earlier that day for Radiator Springs Racers and met Katie and Christine there in Cars Land but as we were walking up to get in line this man asked us if we were a group of 5 because he had 5 extra fast passes that he wasn’t going to use. It was so awesome that a guest could create magic for us on our day off. It was so nice to see someone wanting to do that for some strangers rather then just let them expire or throw them away. When we got back in line we witnessed the cutest thing with one of the Radiator Springs Racers cast members giving this little boy the Piston Cup award because he won the race (obviously something else had happened on why he got an awesome Piston Cup trophy, but it was so cool to see magic being created for that kid).

After the ride it was time to go to our first Disney College Program exclusive event: Riding Space Mountain with the lights on! We were suppose to ride it once normal and once with the lights on but they didn’t know we had ridden it before normally so when we got on the 2nd time they just did it normal again, oops. So after we had gotten off and back on again, we got to see everything with the lights on. At this point I had a head ache and was starting to feel a little nauseous but I powered through it and it was still awesome! Although I would have enjoyed it alot better if I had felt normal, it was still a really cool experience and I’m so grateful that I can say I’m one of the only ones to have done that before. It’s HUGE inside! You have so much room to lift your hands up unlike people assume. You start really high up and for some reason I never thought the ride used all that space. It looks like a regular roller coaster inside and it was way different to see where you were going. It didn’t feel as fast when it wasn’t pitch black (duh), but now seeing it like that it’s going to be so weird riding it with the lights off knowing what it really looks like.


Oops, I turned around right as the picture was taking
   

 
   

I can’t wait for more exclusive DCP events! This is just one of the many reasons why this program is amazing!

       

Adventure (land) is out there!

I worked at Adventureland and Frontierland for the second time today. I was suppose to sweep the queues (attraction lines) but my lead asked me what I’d like to do so I chose to just sweep everything. Shortly after I started sweeping I realized I could pin trade on this sweeping shift. I went to get some pins at the custodial office and sure enough, as soon as I put the lanyard on everyone started stopping me to trade with them. I loved it! I love that kind of guest interaction. I made so many kids and (grown-up kids) happy with a simple thing like pin trading. One girl told me I made her day because I just so happened to have her 2 favorite princess pins. Another guy collects pirate mickeys and the mystery pin (the backwards pin that they don’t know what they’re getting) also just so happened to be a pirate mickey! It was so great to create magic moments in small ways.

Along with pin trading I answered questions, mostly asking where the bathroom is. I talked to some little kids and even gave an uncooperative little boy a “surprise” which made him very happy. He was the sweetest little boy as I pulled out a button and asked him who was on it. He said “I dunno” but was just being shy. I told him to listen to Mommy and have a really, really, really fun time today. He was so happy as I walked away which makes me happy that I have that opportunity to do that to kids. 

 As I was walking in Frontierland sweeping, I noticed there was a sign out saying “Happier Mondays” which is something they brought this summer where the parks would do something special for a specific number of guests via hashtags. So today was the last “Happier Monday” of the summer so they brought out old characters  from the Country Bears from Country Bear Jamboree. The tallest and the last country bear to come out was giving people high fives and since I was the only one going along with it, he kissed my hand and took me on a stroll which I wasn’t expecting at all since I had a pan and broom. He also took another guest by the hand but then randomly locks fingers with me but not the other guest so I thought that was kinda weird but still pretty sweet haha. When we got to his meet and greet location he gave me another kiss on the hand and I was back on my way to sweeping. Needless to say, that made my day:)

Silvina was working at Harbour Galley and since Galley is technically at the border of Frontierland, New Orleans, and Critter Country, I got to sweep the path all the way up to see her. Katie got off in the afternoon so she came with her friend to play in the parks to see both me and Silvina at work. Katie snapped a few pictures of me and we got to pin trade! I also helped them by telling them the showtimes for Fantasmic haha.

A gentleman gave me a simple “Thank you” as I passed by him. It’s nice to see that guests appreciate and acknowledge us; it definitely made me feel good. Today was even better than yesterday and I’m excited to see what the rest of the week brings me! Thank goodness I’m off Tuesday and Wednesday because I’ve been going nonstop for the last 6 days. Although my feet, legs, and pretty much everything else is KILLING me, at least I get to hang out with Keani, my friend from Arizona, in the parks tomorrow.

 

My first shift

 Today was my first shift all by myself! Well, I did work with another custodian for about an hour so he could show me exactly what to do in that particular area, so that was really helpful since we went over trash super fast yesterday. I started working by myself but then another custodian followed me around to sweep the trash cans but it really seemed like he was just there to supervise me and watch how i was doing things. He eventually left and I was back on my own, which I really enjoyed so I could get a feel for things and a develop a system for trash shift.

I ended up loving my shift today; it was a lot better then i anticipated. I thought I’d have to do trash cans with out the trash bags, called ‘liners’, but instead I got to do ‘bullets’ which is trash cans with bags in attraction lines. I actually got asked a lot more questions then I thought I would. They were mostly attraction related or where the bathroom was. I also told a girl where First Aid was, I gave a little girl a button, I took a picture of people on the Mark Twain Riverboat, and I didn’t have to clean up a code v, so needless to say I really had an enjoyable shift.

I’ve met so many custodial in the last few days that I can’t remember who I have and haven’t met yet haha! I kept asking random fellow custodians questions and supposedly I look new because attractions cast members kept asking if this was my first shift in Adventure/Frontier land and so I told them it was my first shift ever. It feels like I have ”New Cast Member tattooed to my face.

After work Silvina, Kayla and I want to the DCA (Disney’s California Adventure) to play. We rode Little Mermaid, Toy Story Mania, and Tower of Terror (my favorite!) We also went to Cars Land where I got a free Luigi button (since Kayla is obsessed with collecting all the buttons) and I met Drake Bell (who practically lives there). Even though my feet hurt and I don’t know how I’m going to walk tomorrow, today was a good day. Let’s just say you’re shift is what you make of it. Always smile! 🙂

I’m blue, kayla’s red 😦

 

 

Kayla, Me, and Silvina