Wednesday, I was only able to attend one presentation before work - "Conversations with Jody Sweet" - who is director in charge of Walt Disney World casting, from the very bottom to the top. After the presentation, I rushed to Epcot to join Candice, Tessa, and Dave for lunch at Le Cellier. It was great to actually try out some of the food we had seen while working. Afterwards I headed directly to work.

Thursday was a very early day; I had to get up at 530am for a 730 presentation by Disney's Yellow Shoes Creative Group (Disney's in house marketing and advertising company), and I am sure glad that I got up for it. Formally known as Disney Destinations LLC, it currently has a staff of about 134 people in Orlando and Anaheim.

Some of the people at the interview were from the following divisions: Account Management, Creative, Studio, Photography, Broadcast Production, Media, Print Production, Marketing Distribution, Creative Project Management, and the Marketing Resource Center. The center is an archive for all of Disney's creative assets, has an archive of ALL printed materials (guide maps from day 1), and has a "cold room" which houses all historical Disney footage (like Wonderworld in Beverly Hills Cop).

I then went to the Utilidors for brunch (yes, again). The second presentation of the day was given by Lee Cockerell, Executive Vice President of WDW Operations. He gave a great presentation on his life leading up to his current position, and the struggles he had to go through to get there. An interesting thing I found out is that if I were to become an executive at Disneyland Paris, I would not need to get a Visa if I wanted to work in the US. :)

Today I had my first shift on stocking, and tomorrow I will be working crowd control for the Flower & Garden Festival.

Today I elected to take two more courses - the first one was "Conversations with Brad Rex" who is vice president of Epcot. He shared a great deal of info on leadership which I found to be very interesting.

For lunch I went to the Mouseketeria again and while I was waiting in line for Subway, Cinderella was in front of me, and we talked for a few minutes. It was very cool.

The second presentation was "Insights into Marketing" by Carrie Matson - brand manager (manager of marketing) for the Magic Kingdom, which was really cool because she showed us all of the different departments of marketing, as well as what the steps involved in marketing something (Pirates of the Carribean was her example). A girl at my table was on the CP, and she is actually a conductor on the WDWRR, which is one of the most sought after jobs. She just lucked out with it, and she is loving it.

On my way back home I stopped at Property Control to get more stuff! :)

Tonight there will be 14 Canadians arriving, so it should be a fun throw in. Tomorrow I have signed up for another course: Conversations with Jody Sweet - vice president of operations at 10am. I then have work from 330-930 in Le Cellier.

Today began at 7:00 am - I had to be at Disney U for 930 (or so I thought). The Disney scheduling on the Cast Portal was automatically set to Disneyland's time (PST), so it turned out I was 3 hours early! :(

So I went for breakfast at Subway in the Mouseketeria (the Utilidors), and I then explored the Utilidors to try and find my way around. I headed to Main St. to see what it was like above ground and I ended up buying a watch at the Emporium from my roommates girlfriend.

The first course was Career Insights with WDI, where one of the imagineers documented all of the costruction and story plots from Expedition: Everest, which he shared with us.

The next course was "Clerical to Leadership" which was an excellent course on how to make an entrance into leadership. 3 women presented: one of 32 years with disney, responsible for risk management and the SafeD programs. Another one (0f 27 years) is in charge of guest and cast communication - everything resort wide.

The third and final program was the Leadership Casting Call which was teaching basically the same stuff, and how to enter leadership postions and how the hiring process works.

Today I decided to head to Universal to see the last day of the Mardi Gras celebration. I took the I-Ride trolley from Orlando Premium Outlets to Wet n' Wild. I then walked from there across I-4, and into Universal.

Jase, Today I woke up after 12 and had the day off, so I decided to head to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge is a deluxe resort hotel adjacent to Disney's Animal Kingdom. It opened April 16, 2001. Designed by Peter Dominick, of Wilderness Lodge fame, AKL recreates the feel of a South African wildlife reserve lodge. Rooms follow the Kraal African village design, a semicircle concept, offering a view of close to 100 grazing animals and 130 birds on the property and in the private Savannas.

Like Disney's other resorts, AKL has a distinctive theme carried throughout its architecture, landscape and interior designs. As you drive up to the resort, all you see is a small gathering of huts. The incredible size of the resort is hidden from the front, so it will be like driving up to a small safari village.

As I was arriving they were giving out ice cream backstage because they were celebrating their 5th anniversary. I then went to go see the Savanna overlook from the pool, then went for a swim. Then within an hour a storm had moved in, the lifeguards called everyone out of the pool, and I decided that I would head to the Animal Kingdom.

Yesterday I signed up for a whole swack of courses because I found out I had 2 days off during the Disney Learning Events. Ive signed up for the following so far: Career Insights with Walt Disney Imagineering, Put a Smile in Your Voice, Career Ladder: From Clerical to Leadership, Conversation with Brad Rex, and Walt Disney and You.

Yesterday I didnt start work until 4 so my roommate Alex and myself drove to Property Control - which took a couple of hours. :) On the way back to the Commons we actually passed the C Bus (the bus to Epcot) which was on its way to one of the other complexs. I ran upstairs to get my costume and drop off my stuff (at which time i could see the bus was on its way through my window). Ran down the stairs, and then ran with Anya to the bus - just making it. In all of that mess I managed to forget my name badge, so for the shift I had to be known as Jessie) :)


Yesterday was my first closing shift on popcorn - it was cool to have the fireworks going off in the background when you are trying to sell popcorn and pour the beer. Atfer work (around 1 am) there were tons of cast members trying to set up for the Flower and Garden Festival - bringing in flowers by the truck load.

This morning started off super magical - the power went out last night, knocking out my alarm clock (and my alarm) but I was lucky enough to wake up 10 min before the last bus to Epcot. Once again I couldnt find my nametag, so today I was known as Frank. When I arrived at 10:58, the system was taking forever to clock me in, so it marked my clock in time at 11:04 - so I had to go to a manager to fix the problem. On top of the special things..... it was my role to open popcorn - by myself!

Todays weather was 88 degrees - beating the all time maximum record. With about 40% humidity.....

Right now the weather is 84 degrees, with 48% humidity, and it's 10pm at night!

After a few days in Le Cellier, it is time for me to move on to bigger and better things - Popcorn!
My shift started at 11am which meant I had to set up the cart. Both Tessa and myself were trained by Jesse (which was her last shift on popcorn). It was a fun day - I enjoy being outside because of the weather, the freedom, and the ability to people/bird watch. It was hot out, about 90+ but it didnt seem too bad. The costume I was assigned is actually starting to grow on me:


Last night all of the Canadians got together for an easter dinner party - some of the Canadians cooked us all dinner - lasagna, seafood, apps and tons of other things. It was great that everyone could get together.

I found that on my schedule I will be working one shift at the F&G Festival on Saturday the 29th. The rest of this week I will be working funny hours such as 4pm-1am.

The bus to work today had no A/C - it was at least 90 degrees, hotter than outside, and it was unbearable. Work was fun today - I was given the position of greeter. I am the first person the guest comes in contact with - I sign in people with reservations, turn away those that dont have any, and talk to every guest as they enter and exit the restaurant. For dinner - we had over 500 people, in about 100+ parties. I really enjoyed this position because it allowed me to be outside and i got to meet everyone who dined in the restaurant. One guest was so happy with his experience that he wanted to tip me over $50 on his way out - but of course, being the responsible cast member that I am, I had to decline.

On my second day off I decided that I would head to Epcot to check out the shoemobile, visit Company D, and visit people working. Unfortunately they were out of size 13 shoes, so I guess i'll have to go to the outlet mall next week. I didnt purchase anything at Company D because it was all the same stuff I saw last week. I headed over to the other side of the park to visit other Canadians at work, and then decided to walk over to the Yacht and Beach Club through the Internationl Gateway.
As I was trying to leave the park (i.e. find the cast member bus back to the Commons) I wandered around an abandoned backstage (after 530) for about an hour. I was able to see everything! It was tiring, but really fun. I then managed to find my way to the costuming building out near the parking lot, and then found my way to the bus (right by the main entrance) :)

I had today off and decided to go check out the MK and Property Control. I managed to walk out with 9 shirts, 7 hats, 4 sculptures, 2 pal mickeys, 2 ties, and much much more! All I can say is that I will be going back every week to see the new stock. :)



Once my roommate saw what I had purchased, he wanted to go check it out as well, so I decided to go and check it out a second time, and managed to come out with 2 more bags of stuff! Lets just say my Sun Trust card is still too hot to touch.