Guess Mike was right

So before I left Mike told me that I would update this blog for a few weeks and then totally forget about it once I got down here. He was right. Not that I have totally forgotten about it. It's just that there is always something more exciting to do than to work on my weekly journal entry for Eastern.

I went to Sea World and Islands of Adventure the past weekend, Harry Potter was amazing even though I have never read a book nor seen a movie. I am moving to Epcot on November 3rd. The days of my country club like hours are over. My first day I have to be there at 7am and the second day I work till 10pm. It is going to be a shock to my body to get up at 5:30!

I am also now trained as a Walt Disney World ticket seller. Holy cow that's a complicated job with all the different types of tickets, the upgrades, the reissuing of tickets, and of course, the ticked off people who scream at you because they bought the wrong ticket before and it is now all your fault.

So now I should really move on to BSing my way through a few weeks of journal entries that I am going to be turning in when I get back. Let's see, that last journal entry I did was week one...good...so week 2 I guess?

Week 2

After my Traditions class I had a few down days to settle in and get familiar with the Disney World property. Before I was allowed to start working as a park greeter at Blizzard Beach water park I had to do the park orientation which all properties have. Blizzard's is called Forecast Blizzard. There we learn about the park and its history, sort of a smaller Traditions class. We also were taken on a walking tour of the park so that we were familiar with where things are located inside. History is a big part of the Disney Company. They like to share it and have all their employees know about the company. This helps in creating a since of ownership for every cast member with their work location which leads to more productive workers.

While out in the park we were broken up into groups of four and we were given the task of acting as a guest and interacting with working cast members. We were looking to see how they displayed the four Disney Basics: I project a positive energy, I am courteous to every guest including children, I stay in character and play the part, and I go above and beyond. Afterwards we shared to the group and reviewed these Basics.

Lastly we had to go through a safety course called Safety in Motion. Here we learned about how to move through our work place safely and how to perform certain tasks, such as lifting, in a way that would not put stress on our bodies. This protects Disney in that they can say that they provided training to all of their workers in how to prevent injuries.  

Forecast Blizzard lasted about six hours. After which I had to complete some online training. These courses were in power point format and at the end of each course was a mini assessment in which I had to answer a set number of questions correctly in order to pass.

Week 3

I started my training this week as a Park Greeter. Whenever a cast member starts a new job they receive on job training, or OJT. I was provided with a trainer who I was with for two days. Each job has a set training length. I met my trainer at the cast servicing building and he walked me through an entire day. I was shown how to clock in and where to go after. It wasn't long after I was given a brief overview of how to operate a Walt Disney World turnstile that I was put on one. My trainer was there the whole time watching me and helping me out whenever a situation arose. The training process is broken down into very specific requirements, with time guides. Example: 30 minutes observing turnstiles, 1 hour working turnstile, 30 minutes observing wheelchair gate, 1 hour working wheelchair gate.

While I was training I was given a red ribbon to hang off my name tag that read "Earing My Ears." This was so that both cast members and guests knew that I was new and acted as a bit of a safety blanket. I liked the idea of a training ribbon and thought of all my previous jobs and how useful something like this would have been. Instead of having to introduce myself to coworkers and explaining that I am new. Here, if you see the ribbon you instantly know and you instinctively go out of your way to help them out.

I opened my first day of training and I closed my second. OJT is suppose to expose the trainee to all the possible situations that will arise on the job. I was back on the turnstiles and learned about the closing procedures. Now, is two days enough time for you to master all the aspects of the job? Absolutely not. However, I found that my cast members were very helpful since they knew that I was new and were aware that two days is not enough for a person to master the job.

At the end of the second day i had to take a 50 question written test with a certain score that I had to meet in order to pass my training. The questions were designed to again test me in every aspect of the job and to review the tasks that I had been completing the two days of OJT. Once I passed I was able to remove my ribbon and the next day I was on my own. After the test I had to electronically sign a form saying that I received my training and that I feel able to perform all aspects of my job.

I really liked the training that I received at Disney and found it to be better than any job I have had before. I would have liked for the training to be a little longer, but I understand that part of training is also doing the job on your own and learning from your mistakes, and learning from your cast members. This training was very structured and organized with a check list that my trainer had to check off as I experienced the situation on the job.


Alright that's enough for now. Perhaps latter tonight I will write some more, if not that tomorrow for sure. I am trying to figure out how many weeks I have been down here so I have a journal for each week.