My last day

Today was my final day working at Innoventions. It has not quite hit me yet, but yesterday people started saying goodbye to each other which was very sad and today I said goodbye to even more amazing people. I cannot even believe that January 11 was already four months ago and I have essentially completed my program. I am going to miss driving into work every day and seeing the Walt Disney World arches and living in Florida. Working here has been exhausting, difficult, but all at the same time absolutely amazing. However, it is going to be nice to no longer have to say 100000 times a day... "How many?", "How old are you?", "This is not a ride this is just a test vehicle, the actual ride is over there.", "Universe of energy is out the doors next to sum of all thrills and straight ahead.", "test track is closed for refurbishment until the fall", "Soarin' is through the green breezeway and straight ahead to the land", "you walk pas the fountain and over the bridge to get to the world showcase", "welcome designers. numbers one through four on your left, five through eight on your right. you have four minutes to design your ride", "are you two riding together?", "please empty out your pockets and put all loose belongings in a locker", "this is your emergency stop button, do not press this unless you want the ride to end" then they press it and look at you dumbfounded when their ride ends and you tell them to leave, "Welcome to the great piggy bank adventure presented by t.rowe price. have you been here before?.....etc", "Welcome to run time by IBM have you been here before?... etc", "What do you do here" (while in UL), and pretty much everything else we had to say by the book over and over again. Regardless though, I have learned so much while working here and will remember everything I have learned and take it back with me as soon as I leave. This was a fantastic experience and I do not regret one minute of it.

Goodbye Innoventions :(

 Where it all began Four months ago

January 11 check in: Stephen, William, Suzy, Casey, Mike, Donna, and Me.

The Final Countdown

My program officially ends on Friday, but I am finished working on Wednesday. The fact that the last four months is about to be over is mind boggling. I knew that the time would go by fast, as it always does when you are doing something you enjoy day in and day out, but I never would have imagined it would go by this fast. Today was my 5th day out of 9 straight days of work before I leave. The last 5 days were pretty long, but today started off pretty smoothly. Once 6:00 rolled around things took a turn for the not so pleasant as a guest that was very unhappy, rude, and dissatisfied decided I was the perfect person to take out all of that frustration on. If the last four months has taught me anything, patience is for sure number one. It is key to be able to smile at all times and bite your tongue even when you are getting yelled at, sworn at, or treated badly. No matter what, the guest is always right and that can be very difficult to stomach, but it is crucial. I have definitely learned more than I can put into words from doing this program, but moments like today make me realize that it is time for me to start a new adventure and continue moving forward. Yesterday I had a meeting with one of my managers to discuss my end of the program evaluation. We talked about my overall experience during the program, what I learned and gained from it, etc. She also gave me very good advice on how to now work my way up in the professional world using this internship as a starting block. She gave me a lot of encouragement and inspiration to be able to use this program as a tool to help me achieve my goals rather in the company or elsewhere. Even though this internship was at one specific place, I will be able to take everything I have learned here and apply it to all aspects of my life. I have loved working here the last four months, meeting all of the people I have, and gaining all of the knowledge I have. However, it is getting time for me to close this chapter of my life so that I can start a new one using all of the skills I have gained from this experience. No matter how hard things have gotten at times, I would not take back this experience for anything and would recommend it to any college student who has a love for the most magical place on earth like I do.

Why I love working here even on the roughest days.

The days here can be long, very long... a 6 hour shift can feel like 12 hours and a 12 hour shift can feel like 24. However, this is definitely a magical place to work and when you surround yourself with amazing people it makes the day go by that much quicker and keeps you smiling no matter how tired you are. Each night we close with a manager and they give us a talk at the end of the night to wrap things up and sum up the day. One of the managers in particular is the exact vision of Disney and goes above and beyond when it comes to all of us cast members. He spends the day on the floor with us periodically, checking in on us, seeing how our day is going, if we need anything, etc. He always has his energy level at 1000% and each night his talks are completely inspiring and make me love coming to work. No matter how exhausted I am I see how much he loves working here and how much he appreciates each and every one of us and that makes everything I go through with guests and cast members worth it that much more. With my program ending in 12 days I am realizing more and more how sad it is going to be to leave this unique work environment. This place is like no other place I have ever worked and and will ever work at. The experience I have gained here personally and professionally is one of a kind and I will never forget everything that I have learned. Not only have I gained a lot of business insight and skills learning the ins and outs of this company, but I have also put my psychology degree to good use dealing with all of the people I come across each and every day. When these next 12 days are said and done it will be hard to look back on the last four months and leave everything behind.

One of my few days off left...

Today I spent the day off on a hunt for Princesses with my roommates. We were pretty successful. With only 18 days left to go in the Program and about 20 until I head back to Virginia time is ticking for me to check more things off my to-do list.

 Tiana!

 Mary Poppins!

 Rapunzal!

 Aurora!

Cinderella!

Belle!

Nearing the end of the program = evaluating my life plan

At the beginning of my program my dream job was to be a lawyer for the company a long ways down the road. Not only did this entail me raising my GPA at UMW a massive amount, studying for the LSAT (uhhh not so much), doing well on the LSAT (guess that means I should actually study for it), applying to law school, and then getting into law school (hey Yale, looking for any students?), but it also required me to be so spectacular that this program would help put my foot in the door to one day become a big shot lawyer for the company. Although I still absolutely love this place and plan to come here on as many vacations as possible, the idea of working here as a lawyer does not necessarily seem like my ideal job. I still think there are aspects that would be fantastic about it, but after all I have learned from being behind the scenes here I am not so sure I could actually be one of the lawyers. Granted doing the entertainment side of it would be very interesting, but the corporate, injury, etc, side would be far from glamourous. There are many aspects to the way the company is run from a business and legal standpoint that I do not agree with at all. I will not go into detail at this moment in time, but I bet you can imagine things that would be able to get hid under the table or brushed off thanks to top lawyers and the ability to write very large checks. With that being said, law school is still a goal of mine (if I can get to that point which seems pretty daunting thinking about it), but where that law degree could take me I am not so certain at this point. I would love to keep creating magic one way or another, but I need to figure out how to do that all while being a lawyer that people love to hate. Like I've been told, people hate lawyers until the day that they actually need one... With that being said, my program ends in less than 19 days which is unbelievable and I need to star thinking beyond summer classes and get working on my life plan.

1 Month Left :-(

Tomorrow will mark exactly one month until my program ends. I cannot believe how fast time has gone by here. The first two months flew by especially when the work, people, and places were all brand new. Although things have become pretty routine, especially with work, it is still amazing to be here. Not many people can say that they got to spend a semester at such a magical place. My dream come true, no pun intended. I feel like I have fulfilled the working and learning part of the internship, but I still have so many things here I have yet to do and want to get done. If you have read my to do list it may seem like I've got a lot done so far, but this is a HUGE place and I have lots left to accomplish. With our minimal amount of pay (yes the fact that I am getting paid for an internship is a miracle) it is difficult to really go adventure and see the rest of Florida which I had wanted to do while I was here. Even though my work is routine each day brings something new and I am still learning so much every single day. The job experience I have gained here and the people skills I have acquired will help me every single day for the rest of my life. No matter how bad my memory gets (and trust me it is pretty bad) I will never forget all that I have learned here. Usually, I am exhausted after getting home each day and just plan to crash, but after I get back from my short visit to Virginia next weekend I plan to spend all my days off cramming in as much as I can possibly do before May 11 comes. Wish me luck!

 Flower and Garden Festival!

 Thanks Easter Bunny!

Beaches and Cream for the Kitchen Sink!

I thought it was peak season?

For the last two months we have been warned that once March and April come sleep will no longer be a priority and our hours will jump from 30-40 to 50-60 hours per week. Well... apparently that is the case for everywhere, but Innoventions. For some reason majority of the CP's in Innoventions are only getting scheduled for somewhere between 30-40 with the occasional odd ball out. For the last 3 weeks my hours have been between 34-36 which seems ideal, but once rent gets taken out, you buy groceries, and you buy gas you have about $2 left of your pay check from that week. Not really ideal. So basically all you can afford to do is go to work and go home. No exploring around Florida on your days off with that sad state of funds. Regardless of how minimal my pay check is each week now I am still learning new things every single day and still absolutely love Disney World. Although some guests can be far from friendly each day I always encounter at least one group of guests that brightens my day and makes me realize why I do come to work at Disney World every single day. Each night our manages give us a closing meeting where not only do we get a wrap up of the days events, but they try to inspire us in some way so that the next day we can come to work and inspire the guests. The whole way that Disney is run and how it began never ceases to amaze me. It is amazing how one man's dream turned into such a huge successful company and I am just in awe that I am able to work for that company. I have about 5 weeks left in my program and am trying to absorb and retain as much information as I can so that I can help become more successful as a person and be able to make my dreams become a reality just like Walt Disney did.

 Flower and Garden Fesitval at Epcot!

  Flower and Garden Fesitval at Epcot!

 Seaworld!

 Seaworld!