Housing meeting and Traditions…
“Traditions” was technically my third week here in Florida because it was a Sunday, June 15th and my arrival date June 9 was a Monday. Nevertheless, let me share my second day, which was the Housing meeting. Let me start by saying that this meeting was boring. I do not want to sugarcoat the experience but it was boring.
I felt like the time was so long and I tried my best not to fall asleep. The speakers, Jonathan and Alex tried their best to make the event more interesting. They talked about housing rules pertaining to underage drinking, weapons, guests, noise, inspections and the party bus. They emphasized underage drinking and the party bus because those two are the top two reasons why most college program cast members were termed in the past. I know that all participants in the Disney college program came from different parts of the world and they have different values and way of thinking about drinking. Thankfully, I am of legal age as well as my roommates so we opt to stay in a non-wellness apartment and not deal or worry about being termed. After four hours, the housing meeting ended and I decided to go back to my apartment and asked my roommate to go grocery shopping and find a dry cleaning store to fix my suit for my upcoming Traditions.
Traditions…
This is probably one of my most memorable experiences this year. I was so excited to see what Magic Kingdom looks like. It was 7:00 am in the morning and we arrived in Disney University together with my roommates and other students with our best suit on. They divided us in groups and were assigned two team leaders named Katie and Julie. They were phenomenal in channeling the Disney way of presenting the event. Before starting Traditions, they played a video about safety, which is the number one protocol in Disney’s Four Keys Concept. The video shows what to do and where to go in case of emergency. They talked about the history of Walt Disney, played a video about the parks and the historic icon Mickey Mouse. I was a little teary eyed because of excitement. After four hours, we were told that we are going to the backstage of Magic Kingdom. They gave us a radio and an earpiece so we can hear our speakers amidst the pool of noise in our surroundings.
Since I do not have a car, I learned that I need to take two buses to go to work. Either an A or B bus to West Clock then transfer to a West Clock bus to go to the backstage of Magic Kingdom. Thankfully, I am so used to commute in New York City and I hate being late. Once we arrived in the backstage, we were ushered inside Musketeeria, one of Magic Kingdom’s cafeterias. After that, we walked inside the tunnels, one of which is the “long tunnel” where above it is Cinderella’s castle. The walk in this “long tunnel” usually takes five to ten minutes depending on how fast you walk. To my surprise, I do not have to deal with it because my workplace, Stands East that comprise of Fantasyland, Tomorrowland and Circus are located in the first left turn and it will only take me a minute or two to reach my work location.
After the tunnel walk, we emerged in one of the huge doors in Main Street. It is so beautiful and I cannot help but feel like a child once again. During the tour, we learned on how to use the Disney point and the Disney scoop. We were told that no matter what our role is, we are all part of the custodial team and must keep our parks clean by using the Disney scoop. We also went to the main entrance and checked Disney and Mickey’s statue. Afterwards, we went back to Disney University and got our own name-tag. I was the first one to be called and I could not be any happier.
“Traditions” was a long day but I did not felt tired at all. I think this introduction is a good way of showing us new cast members of the expectations and nature of our work. I cannot wait to start training and earn my ears in the next couple of days.
