Queues

Today I got to sweep line queues for the first time since I’ve started! It’s actually more fun then you would think, I got really lucky and got to talk to some awesome guests today. I was in Adventureland and Frontierland so I was sweeping Pirates, Tarzan, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, and Big Thunder Mountain.

It was more like playing then working since I got to climb up in Tarzan’s tree house and talk to a bunch of kids. When I swept Pirates, there was a small group ahead of me that striked up a conversation with me and asked about some Disneyland secrets. I began to tell them some facts that aren’t really secrets but aren’t necessarily well known. They were so interested and we had so much fun talking that they asked me what would happen if I just jumped on Pirates with them haha.

I continued sweeping and it surprised me that in just about every line I got into, I had very friendly people to walk next to. One little girl in line had a birthday shirt on but no birthday button, and lucky me, I had one in my pouch! I got a bunch of buttons last week from City Hall to pass out and I’ve finally given them all away, which has been really fun to do. What kid doesn’t love free buttons? I learned my lesson though, I got a sharpie now because when I gave that little birthday girl a button, I couldn’t write her name on it 😦

One of the best things about my day, as weird as it may sound, was helping a lost boy find his parents. When I went to sweep Pirates this little boy was crying outside the line and so I went up to him and he said he didn’t know where his parents went. I got his name, age, and parents description and stood there with him. I reassured him it was going to be alright, that he wasn’t lost, and we’d find his parents. I distracted him a little and talked to him about his Cars shirt and his favorite ride. By the time his dad came around, he stopped crying and was laughing as he was trying to explain to me the ride. Even though I didn’t do much, I still felt proud to have been able to help calm this little boy down and get him back to his parents.

Closing Main Street at 5pm

This afternoon I closed Main Street but it was a different experience because we closed the park at 5 pm instead of the normal 8 pm during the week. The reason we closed early was because Disney was putting together a special celebration for the Cast Members that have been there anywhere from 10 to 60 years.

I got to pin trade with a bunch of princes and princesses and even a cute old couple. The old couple were from Utah and I told them I’ve never been there since I don’t have any family there and they said they’d be Grandma and Grandpa and I could come visit them haha, it wasn’t creepy like it kind of sounds, it was actually really cute. Another cute thing that happened today was a little girl was crying and so I went up to her and pulled out a bunch of buttons to see which one she wanted. She picked out too and began to giggle instead of cry. She and her family only spoke Spanish but her mom started snapping a bunch of pictures and they all thanked me immensely. It didn’t matter that we didn’t really speak the same language, all that was important was that whatever was bothering that little girl, I changed around her mood as she was leaving the park so that hopefully she’ll only have pleasant memories of today. This was the first time I felt like I really made magic and it felt great!

Because they were closing early, this was the first time that I got to see Main Street totally closed. I don’t think I’ve seen all the doors closed, especially with the sun still up; it was really weird. As all the guest left the park and I swept closer to the castle, I saw the Cast Members as guests all dressed up taking pictures in front of the castle and drinking cocktails. It was so cool to get to work during a party like this, even if it was only for a little while right before I left.

I hope I can be attending one of those Cast Member parties as a guest one day!

Dapper Day in Fatasyland

Friday was my first Dapper Day at Disneyland! For those who don’t know what Dapper Day is, it’s a well-known event that Disney fans created where guests dress up in their most fashionable olden day attire. It takes place twice a year in Disneyland, Disney World, and Disneyland Paris. It started in 2011, but I didn’t learn about it until Spring 2014 when they had the first one of the year. As soon as I heard about it I was excited to know that I’d be in the Disney College Program at the time of the Fall 2014 one.

Unfortunately, I had to work the prime hours that Dapper Day was occurring but I made the most of it while still having to wear my costume.

I worked Fantasyland for the first time and although it was the hottest it’s been since I’ve been here and I had to do trash, it was still really fun! I enjoyed looking at everyone’s Dapper Day outfits and talking to the kids. Some people get REALLY into Dapper Day and have awesome outfits. Some even Disney Bound, which means they dress like a Disney Character or Disney inspired in their dapper outfit.

I was excited that I got called to clean up a spill in Snow White’s Scary Adventure and walk though the attraction! It was a very small spill but it was cool seeing it with the lights on.

After my shift, I got changed to meet my roommate Christine in the park. I wanted to previously go to the thrift store and get a really good outfit for the day but I never got a chance, so I just through something together the day before. My phone died and I couldn’t find her where we planned on meeting, so after 2 hours of a very frustrating and stressful situation, I decided to just go home and charge my phone.

I went back to the park and we finally found each other and had one 2 hours left until the park closed so we made the most of it and headed over to the Carousel. I got to ride Jingles, the lead horse who was painted gold for the 50th anniversary and then later dedicated to Julie Andrews in honor of the carousel horse she rides in the movie.

After the Carousel, Christine and I only had enough time for one more ride so we decided to go on Pirates. On the way out I decided to take some dapper pictures to go with my outfit. I even got to see the best dressed mouse around, Mickey!

I can’t wait till next Dapper Day when I can plan out my outfit and put more effort into it!

Working is Playing

Tonight I had a utility shift, which I was honestly kind of bummed about because I knew I couldn’t create magic since the park closed early and then I was backstage. To my dismay, I not only got to create a little magic, but I had magic made for me too! Tonight was one of the best nights working in Disneyland!

The first place we go to clean is Aladdin’s Oasis (the small place where they showed an Aladdin show, but is now just a rest area and meet and greet place). As soon as I got there I found a phone just laying on the ground! I got kind of excited because I had spotted it and I’ve never found a guest’s valuable to take to City Hall. When I took it to City Hall, the lady told me the guest was in earlier looking for it, so I was glad I could make the guest happy by getting her phone back to her that day instead of someone finding it tomorrow. I had always wanted to go into the Chambers of Wonders (the big Lion’s head), and guess what! We got to go in! It lead to the back stage area of the Jungle Cruise and we got to clean the deck.

Once we were done, our lead told us to sweep all of Adventure land so we did and I even got to sweep some of Tarzan’s Tree House. After that is when the real adventure started. After we cleaned the Indiana Jones queue for a short while, the lead closing the ride started talking to us so I asked if we could get a tour and he said yes! We got to walk through the entire time as they pointed out awesome hidden things to us. We saw one of the skeletons wearing Mickey ears with the name “Bones” on them and we saw a skull with a bronze Tinker Belle on top. When we got to the end, the lead told us how the cars literally can’t move back, so instead the walls move back when Indiana says “Wa-hoo, back up!”. This tour made my entire program! It was so nice of the two Indiana workers to do that for us, they could have just said goodbye and went home but they took out an extra 15 minutes of their time to make some magic for us, even though we were still on the clock.

When we finished with the walk though we finished cleaning the queue and I finally got to see the hidden Eeyore sign in the top back of the Indiana Jones queue. After making sure the queue was nice and clean, we headed over to Main Street to dust all the tall things down the street like the awnings and windows. Once we were finished with that, we had a break and that was it for the rest of the evening. We didn’t do anything else except sit around. Hey, I’m not complaining, if that’s what my lead says, then I’ll do it!;)

I got some awesome pictures on my way out tonight!:)

Meg Crofton event and Day Parade shift

Monday morning I had an amazing opportunity to listen to Meg Crofton speak! It was another exclusive Disney College Program even that we had the privilege of attending. For those who don’t know who she is, like me (I know, I’m a horrible Disney fan haha),she’s the president of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Operations. She’s the 4th president and the only women to have been president.

She read us excerpts from her journal that she had been writing in for the last 40 years. We got to hear her favorite quotes, advice, and experiences that she’s had while with the Disney Company. At the end we got a chance to ask her questions and we even got a group photo with her!

That night I worked Day Parade, so I got to do pre-parade and post-parade clean up, which was pretty fun since I talked to some guests as I cleaned my way down Main Street. I even got to pin trade a tiny bit. After the parade, a family with young kids asked me what they could do for the last 30 minutes of the park being opened, I gave them a ton of ideas but I was happy when their face light up after taking some of my suggestions. I even saw them later that night when the park closed and ask them how they enjoyed Small World and Toon Town and they said they were so glad I suggested them, so I was definitely proud about that.

2 hours after my shift started the park had closed and I got to sweep Main Street for an hour since the stores are still open down there. Once all the guests were gone, I saw the night crew working for the first time. It was so cool because I got to see them pull out the flowers and put in the giant Mickey pumpkin for Halloween. We walked backstage and our lead decided we should take a golf cart for a ride from Main Street to Critter Country and New Orleans all the way to Pirates. We did some utility work at Pirates, like cleaning the walls, window sills, and railings. And if you were wondering, Tarzan’s tree house music never turns off.

On our way back to clock out, we had to stop at Small World to pick up my leads backpack so we got a fun 10 minute detour of all of backstage in the golf cart. I finally got to see 2 of the Disneyland cats that are there to eat the mice! There were soo many trucks there in the park that it was so strange to see them out there where guests would normally walk.

It was such a terrific day and a fun shift. I have my first official utility shift on Thursday so I hope I have a cool lead again and get clean things that guests might not get to see haha!

Main Street USA

Last night I closed Main Street, the most magical place in Disneyland! It’s definitely one of my favorite locations to work now. I was expecting to do trash but when I came in my lead had decided to put me on sweeping, which I was ecstatic to do! Unfortunately by the time I got to work all the lanyards to pin trade were gone, and this time they didn’t have any turned in until the park was closed 😦

Even though I couldn’t pin trade, I got a lot of guest interaction since Main Street is the busiest location with guests coming and going. Not to mention that it has the parade route, shops, food, first aid, character meet and greets, city hall, and the train station! I got asked lots of questions and got to take lots of pictures 🙂 When the parade was over, I got to clean up after it. And once again, I got paid to watch the fireworks and then clean up after them as well. While waiting for the parade, I saw that a little girl had split her popcorn on the ground so I went up to her and asked if she’d like a new one and she said yes, so I went to get a new one for her and her and her mom thanked me immensely. She was so cute and I was so happy I could help. I know that it wasn’t a big deal, but I’m sure it made their night better and I was excited to use the skills I learned in training. 

I loved working here and I can’t wait to work Main Street USA again!

Closing Adventure and Frontier

Last night I had my first closing shift and I got placed at my favorite location (so far), Adventureland and Frontierland. Closing is a lot different then working during the day. My shift started out normal and I got to sweep all around the area but when I asked if I could pin trade, there weren’t any lanyards available 😦 so it was kind of boring. Although I did get some guest interaction with answering questions and giving directions.

After my lunch I went back to the office to see if there were any lanyards turned in, which there were, so I was excited that I could pin trade for a little while. Since Fantasmic takes place on the Rivers of America in Frontierland, I got to help clean up both shows plus the fire works. It was nice to be able to do something different since sweeping by it self gets tedious and pin trading is hard at night since I have to take out my flash light.

When we were done cleaning all of that up I got my first code v that I had to clean up by myself. Thank goodness the kid only had water and a handful of popcorn in his stomach! As soon I was done I headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean since everyone closing Adventureland and Frontierland helps clean up the boats. It was pretty cool to see Pirates with the lights on; the water looked cleaner then I expected!

I got off at 12:30 last night but it was exciting to get to do something new for a change!

I enjoyed seeing this awesome view on the way out of the park!

Sweeping up Matterhorn

Today was my first day working anywhere other then Adventure land and Frontier land, and boy was it different. Granted I did work Adv/Front when it was busy Sunday and Monday after a marathon, but today was just too slow! I worked Matterhorn and I’m not going to lie, it was kind of boring. I did get to sweep and pin-trade though, my favorite thing, but with it not being busy, it being a very small area, and not very many pin-traders around, it was quite a slow day. I’d rather have a million people ask me questions and pin-trade every 2 seconds then be bored. I just kept walking around the Matterhorn over and over for 6 hours. Well not really, I had two 15 minute breaks, plus I got to clean up after the parade! So that was a nice change of scenery haha.

Once I was done with the parade I got to sweep all the way until after the park closed. It was so cool to be working in Disneyland and literally look around you and not see a soul in site! Before everyone exited the park I saw some guests waiting in front of the Matterhorn and I thought they were just waiting for their family but then I see some cast members taking them up the Matterhorn for a tour… with a basketball! I was so jealous! If you didn’t know, the Matterhorn has a basketball court on the roof. It’s definitely on my bucket list to go up there and play, but until then at least I can cross be the “last one” in Disneyland off my bucket list. Obviously I’ll never be the last one in Disneyland since there are Cast Members there 24-7, but I think it was pretty close haha. Walking to Main street to clock out, our Lead told us we could take pictures of the park empty so I did!

Even if it wasn’t the most magical day, I still put on a smile and tried to have fun. It’s not like it was a bad day, it just could have been more fun. I just have to remind my self how grateful I am to have an opportunity like this! And I truly am 🙂

 

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.