Another day, Another dollar

So today was my 4th day of work this week, out of 44.5 hours I've worked 33.75 of them. Does not sound too bad, but when you're days are 12 hours, 11 hours, 9 hours, etc, long it definitely takes a toll on you. On top of it I am attempting to study for the LSATS. Key Word: Attempting. It is not really going well. I have never been good at studying, but even now when I really need to because my future career depends on it I still lack motivation. This week I have further established that even when I get asked if "Hablas espanol" and I answer "asi asi" or "un poco" the spanish speaking guests still think that means I am 100% fluent and try to talk to me at 100 miles per hour in spanish. Asi asi means so so, not that I am fluent in spanish. I guess we translate that differently. Another thing I have learned this week is that even after spending all day encouraging guests to defeat bad habits and lead healthy lifestyles in one of our venues I still go home starving and eat as much junk food as possible. Probably not what the sponsors were looking for. At our closing meeting tonight we were informed that the newest venue in our building is going to be closing down until its grand opening in march for some work. Apparently on the blogs and in person, guests have been commenting on areas of the venue that they liked and didn't like and things about it that they think need to be changed. Because they take guests opinions very seriously here, they decided to close the venue and take to heart exactly what the guests said. That to me shows how important the guests are to where I work. Without the guests there would be no reason for us to come to work everyday, therefore it is important to value their opinion. Well, I have to work 11 hours tomorrow before I get two days off so that's all for tonight. Have a magical weekend!

Long week followed by a trip to Virginia followed by another long week

Last week my hours were not terrible, minus the 12 hour day and getting extended 1-3 hours more each day when I got into work. Thursday night I got extended to work a special event for one of the attraction sponsors. It was probably my favorite experience of the program so far. I got to work at the new venue I just got trained at a couple weeks ago, which I absolutely love. It is so interactive and all of the guests love it (or so it seems, maybe I'm just having so much fun it seems like everybody else is). There are 6 different positions we work at within the venue and rotate through, but for this event they let us pick which one we wanted to stay at for the whole time. I luckily got my favorite position and got to get up and move and interact with all of the special attendees that came through the venue. It was so much fun, I never expected older adults to get so into it as they did. After that evening ended at about 10:00PM, I had to get home and get ready because I was headed to Virginia the next morning for 48 hours. Of course, my flight got delayed an hour and then NOVA traffic was a disaster and the normal 45 minute drive took two and a half hours. Just lovely. Eventually I made it back and got to get my butt handed to me in team practice after not riding for 6 weeks, saw my lovely horse Achilles, and all my friends. It was a nice break to come back and see some familiar faces and of course spend time with my horse who I have missed so much while being in Florida. No matter how much I try to beg and plead my parents refuse to let him come down to Florida, but lucky for him he just gets pampered and fed lots of treats all day every day. Sunday I made my trek back to sunny Florida. The forecast was for snow in Virginia that day which caused me to have a minor freak out. Luckily the weather held off, my plane was on time, and we took off and arrived to Orlando with no problems. Today the weather was great and I somehow managed to get the day off. I ended up going to Hollywood Studios with people from work. Bad idea! Hello Holiday Weekend! Woops.. So we did not get to go on any rides because the wait was 60-120 minutes for pretty much everything. Such a waste. Tomorrow begins my work week... 8.5 hours tomorrow and a grand total of 47 over the next 5 days. I'll be sure to update as the week progresses. Stay warm northerners!

 Two More Months until I see him again :(

 Valentine's Flowers from Achilles!

 Hollywood Studios!

 No way Jose!

 Too bad the line was 2 hours long...

Assortment of SOAT people and other CP's.

Show, Show, Show!

Over the last few days at work and even during my day off today the element of "Show" has become increasingly more evident with each day that I continue to work here. The entire company is based off of show and the ability to provide the highest level of entertainment to everybody who sets foot in the property. That aspect is one of the major reasons that I love working here so much. No matter what area you work at within the property you are providing entertainment to the guests and providing your "show" aspect to them each and every day. Every single area is so detailed, intricate, and well thought through in order to create the magic and make each guest experience one of a kind. Another aspect about my job that I love is how everything that happens behind the scenes remains behind the scenes so that the show is at the highest level possible. All setting up, maintenance, cleaning, etc is done overnight when nobody is around. For big events and holidays things appear overnight and how it is all created remains a mystery and is "magical" to all guests. It is truly magical to work here and be a part of the magic.

Done "Earning my ears" for the second time

Today concluded my 5 days of training and my assessment for the rest of the area that I work at. So I am not officially trained on both buildings and majority of the venues. It is a huge relief to be done learning new information, taking assessment tests, and then performance assessments. I can now be in rotation for the rest of the semester and be fairly stress free. I start working in my new training area tomorrow which I am really excited about because it is a lot more interactive and you are "in character" more than the area I was in for the first month. I get to actually get to play a larger part in the guest experience which is really fun for me. Currently I am trained at 5 venues within the area I work at so for the next 3 months I can be put on two different rotations. 1 rotation for the same venue all day which is what I have been doing for the first month or another rotation where I will be working between 4 venues all day. The variety will hopefully make the days go by quicker.

Enjoying Florida on my Days Off

So I had Wednesday and Thursday off and potentially today off unless they end up calling me in for a 6 hour shift this afternoon. Wednesday and Thursday were gorgeous so I went to Animal Kingdom with a friend from work Wednesday and then Blizzard Beach with a couple people from work Thursday. Last night I enjoyed downtown Disney and ate an amazing dinner at the Irish Pub there and did some gift shopping for friends and family. It is definitely nice being within a 10 minute drive of the property and being able to go to any of the parks. Today the weather is kind of gross. Cloudy and probably in the 70's opposed to sunny and in the 80's like it has been. It is the slow season right now so up until Valentines Day we will not really be working past 40 hours. This week I only have 30 and next week I have around 34... Sounds great, but when you have $100 for rent each week, groceries, and gas money, that doesn't really help too much. Hopefully, I'll be able to get more hours next week if I do not get called in today. Well, I'll be sure to post again once I am working tomorrow and Sunday! I finish my new training Sunday and get assessed on it Wednesday of next week. Wish me luck!