First Full Fweek

Traditions

Sorry, I needed some alliteration in the title, so I had to take a bit of creative license in the spelling. Let's pick up where we left off, shall we?

"Traditions" took place at 8 am on a Saturday morning, which is cruel in the most un-Disney sense of the word. But despite the early time, it was a fun and interesting morning. We learned about the history of The Walt Disney Company, received our official cast member name tags, and even met the big cheese himself - Mickey Mouse! And yes, that pun was intended.

We also got to take a tour of Magic Kingdom's "backstage," the parts of the park the guests never see. And this, unfortunately, is as much as I can divulge. This will be a frequent phrase, I expect, for Disney explained to us in Traditions that we must be very protective of the information we learn in our roles, so as not to ruin the magic for others. And that lack of information also means a lack of pertinent pictures... :( So let your imagination run wild! Just assume all the rumors you hear are true, because you'll never actually find out whether they are, and imagining that they are will surely make things more interesting.

The next day my roommates and I spent the day in the parks, since Rug had never actually been before. Imagine that: working for Disney having never been to Walt Disney World! And he lives just two hours from Orlando, far closer than any of the rest of us! Anyway, even though the rest of us had been to the parks before, we all grabbed "1st Visit" buttons. Cast members treat you extra special when you're wearing one of their Disney buttons, and we decided the "Just Married" ones might give the wrong impression.

We've also been taking pictures with every character we see. We're usually the only adults not accompanied by one or more children when we stand in line, but hey - ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Work Begins!

Work began bright and early at 7:00 am Monday morning. Not a long commute though, which is nice; my apartment is just five minutes down the road from Disney University (where Traditions class happens), which has a bus station that transports cast members to and from backstage Magic Kingdom. Quite handy in terms of both time and gas money!

My manager/mentor that I'm working with this semester, whom I shall call Rawlings, met me at the bus stop. He's a funny, friendly man, and I think it'll be a pleasure working with him this semester. Though to be honest, I have yet to meet a seemingly unfriendly cast member. Disney certainly has a type!

Half of this week consisted of online/in-person training, so there's not much fun stuff to report.

Just kidding, it's Disney - there's always fun stuff to report! But like I said before, I can only report so much. So I'll do my best.

Rawlings is responsible for the proper functioning of Splash Mountain, which is currently down for refurbishment till some time in March. This means that the flumes are all drained, so that the engineers can walk through and inspect the ride more thoroughly. And engineers includes engineering interns, so I got to go on a very thorough tour of the ride and all its behind-the-scenes mechanics! Very cool.

As a matter of fact, I got to do the same thing with Rockin' Rollercoaster in Hollywood Studios on Wednesday morning. But it was even better. Rockin' Rollercoaster isn't down for refurbishment; the third shift mechanics just needed Rawlings to come in (at 6 am, of course) to inspect a few things. Well of course I came with, and we finished inspecting things about a half hour before the park opened, soooo Rawlings and I rode the coaster twice before we left! The first time was in the dark, just like the actual ride runs, but a few miles per hour faster than normal, since the ride operators have to test it above the average speed each morning. And the second time we did the same thing but with the lights on! Such a neat experience. Rawlings also took me on a tour of the room in which the coaster resides, so I got to see the track up close. There's even a tiny Hidden Mickey on the floor in there! Good luck finding it when you're riding the coaster, though.

I also learned on Thursday from the intern specialist that they were actually pretty selective in hiring us on: apparently there were roughly 500 applications for engineering internships, and there are about 75 of us working here now! So that feels pretty good.

You're probably wondering what my job actually consists of. As nice as it would be to get paid almost twenty bucks an hour to experience the rides in ways guests never will, I have to actually be productive for most of the day.

I work in the sustaining engineering department, which is responsible for keeping the rides in the park functioning smoothly. If something breaks down, they call us to come get things running again, if possible. We also have to do routine refurbishments to improve the parts of the rides that need improving, hence Rawlings's role on Splash Mountain. The projects I'm assigned this semester will relate to these improvements/refurbishments. Rawlings is primarily responsible for Splash and also Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, so most of my work will be focused on those rides, which is great because they're two of my favorites!

By the way... My cubicle has a nameplate. What's that? Oh, yes. Yes, I am that cool.

[Imagine the picture of it right here.]

The Nooks and Crannies

The one nice thing about starting work at 7 each morning is that I get off by about 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon. This leaves me lots of time in the evenings to get stuff done, or just have some fun!

I've been getting to the gym fairly frequently, though I've had to stagger my workouts a bit lately because of some pain in my right knee. It's been bothering me for close to two months now, and I figured it would just kinda go away if I ignored it, but it hasn't... I'm worried the tendonitis I experienced in seventh and eighth grade is back. For now, though, I'm just staying away from running and leg workouts. My prescription back in junior high was to simply keep it rested and not over-exert it, so I figure I'll try that for a few weeks to see if it helps. No use in wasting a trip to the doctor to get advice I've received before!

I've also been keeping up on my trombone practice! Thankfully my roommates obliged my request to practice in the apartment, despite the loud noise and thin walls. This is good, because I honestly don't know where else I'd practice! Maybe make some money playing on a street corner? But people probably wouldn't pay much to hear long tones and lip slurs... Point is, I'm glad they're indifferent to my practicing.

And of course, we've been making good use of our free entrance to the parks. In addition to last Sunday's full day in the parks, Wednesday night we went to Epcot! Francisco worked on Test Track last semester, so he found an old buddy and got us literally dozens of fastpasses to a few different rides that we can use until the end of the month! We also rode Mission Space, despite the voiced concerns of Rug; but he ended up doing just fine, for which I was thankful, as I sat right next to him. We finished off with a walk around World Showcase and the IllumiNations fireworks show in the lagoon. As special as Magic Kingdom's stuff is, I have to say that Epcot definitely has the best fireworks.

Cooking didn't go as smoothly for me this week. Monday night I came home and made chicken Alfredo, but while I was cooking the chicken I forgot to keep stirring the sauce, so it burnt a little. However, there's an upside to this: no one was interested in eating the resultant dish except for me! So that was my dinner for the next three nights. And it wasn't actually that bad. It just had an unexpected smokey flavor.

Francisco and Jongui made a great dinner Friday night. It was just chicken with rice and beans, but in all its simplicity, it was delicious. We've also been working on a puzzle the last few days, and just finished Saturday evening! I'll leave you with a picture of it. It's pretty. And, of course, it's Disney.

See? Bambi! Until next week, friends!