Sunnys Days Of Disney

Saturday, January 23, 2016

I love Chef Mickey's! It's one of my favorite restaurants, both because they have a wide selection of things I can eat and for sentimental reasons. The characters are always super cheerful when they're at Chef Mickeys (mostly likely a combination of the good food and indoor atmosphere). We ended up having a fairly late reservation that we managed to snag at the last minute. Alexa, Lexie and I were exhausted from our lifeguard pretest (and from worrying about it!) but we were glad to be able to get ready before we went!

Living with Celiac, eating out can be one of the more difficult things, but eating at Disney I (almost) always feel completely safe. They're very honest about if their food is safe or not, you have a dedicated menu, and in many places a chef will come to your table to talk to you and take you around the buffet. At Chef Mickey's, it was pretty self-explanatory. Don't eat the pasta or rolls, we'll bring you dessert, yada yada. They have amazing ribs, and their short ribs were good to! The mash potatoes were some of the best I've had at Disney, and I honestly didn't feel like I was missing anything.

One of my roommates has a lot of allergies, and they were really rude to her, and very "well, there isn't a lot we can do to help you." it wasn't very Disney. Yes it was the end of the night, but I was disappointed in the way she was treated. Never have I been treated that way at Disney, and I would never treat someone that way. Hopefully it was just a one off, with a chef that was having a bad day.

Meeting the characters was so much fun! They seem to hold a special place in their hearts for this restaurant, and it shows every time. Pluto got lost on his way over chasing a squirrel, but we meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald. We ended up closing out the restaurant and it was amazing to interact with them after most other people had left. Mickey was goofing off and dancing like his life depended on it, and it was just so cool.

For dessert, they brought me out this delicious vanilla cupcake (and a chocolate but I don't like chocolate cake...), but kudos to you if you can eat dessert. By the time it came I was so full I could hardly move, let alone eat a cupcake. So our lovely waitress put them both in a to-go cup for me to take with. We had a great night, and I would go back in a heart beat!

Friday, January 22, 2016

Friday was Traditions! It was also a huge thunderstorm with tornado watches... Oh joy.

So right off the bat it was kinda disappointing. I had heard so many stories about how amazing Traditions is, how much you learn about the company, and I guess my expectations were to high. First we walk over to Chatham to catch a bus, and it's just a regular bus, nothing special. No games and fun facts like they did in the past. It was nice because I did end up making a new friend, Rachel who it turns out lives in the apartment directly across from ours, which is so cool! We got to Disney University (DU) and were immediately hurried inside and split into groups. Rachel ended up in my group, so we stuck together for the day.

As for Traditions? It was painful and boring and horrible. It is very different than how it was in years past. No trivia games, no history of the company, just this very cut and dry, here is the information you need, remember it. They had a couple times where they asked questions and were supposed to be handing out little figurines, but most of the time they forgot to hand them out. Honestly, it was a lot like sitting through a giant lecture hall with a professor who feels extremely self-righteous.

To top it all off, we weren't able to go to Magic Kingdom and tour it because of the weather. I am very much aware that it is not Disney's fault, they cannot control the weather, but it was just the icing on the cake of a bad morning. As a die hard Disney fan, I was looking forward to my one and only chance to go behind the scenes, learn about the Disney Company, and experience things first hand. As is, we sat in our classroom and simulated what we would have talked about if we had gone.

I got my name tag and blue ID though, which was great! They had to put Hannah instead of Sunny on my name tag, because it isn't a derivative of my first or middle name, but hopefully I'll be able to change it once I get to my location! It's all beautiful and great and I am so excited to be able to go into the parks with my friends! It's kinda weird to think about the fact that they don't even make the name tags until we start our class, because they can remake the name tags if something is spelled wrong or you want a different name.

Of course, the sky completely cleared up as we walked out of class, so Alexa (my roommate), Rachel and I headed to EPCOT for a quick drink after a long day! We walked the world show case, wandered through a couple shops, and ended our journey around the world in France with a macaroon ice cream sandwich... yummmmm!

After that we headed to Magic Kingdom to meet up with Sami and a friend she had met on her way over from Traditions, which is a thing we can do now that we live in the most magically place on Earth! We went on Haunted Mansion first, where Sami insisted she, Alexa and I could all fit on a doom buggy... can we? Yes. Is it the most comfortable thing? No. What it is, though, is a crazy amount of fun. We laughed and giggled our way through the entire ride, squished together and happy as could be.

If you don't know me, you probably aren't aware that I have a horrible, terrible fear of unstable heights (i.e. roller coasters with big drops) but somehow (without all that much trying) my roommates managed to convince me to go on Space Mountain with them. I spent the entire 45 minutes we stood in line going "This is a bad idea, I shouldn't be doing this, I should go back out." The wouldn't let me, and in the end I'm really grateful, because I loved it. There weren't any huge, ridiculous drops that I couldn't deal with, and I can't wait to ride it again.

After that we made it out just in time to see Celebrate the Magic and Wishes. As we walked up to Main Street the Electrical parade was ending and they were allowing people back on the street, so we managed to make it to the 10th row back directly in front of the castle. It was an amazing view, and I was so excited to begin my Disney journey with friends!

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Gooooood morning everybody! We're going to skip ahead to day 3 because day 2 was spent around the parks and I may or may not have forgotten to take pictures to remember what I did. Oops?

So Wednesday morning started bright and early with a housing meeting. 5 of the 6 people in our apartment had a housing meeting in the morning, but Liz's wasn't until the afternoon. Our apartment is crazy close to the office, so we walked over there just a few minutes and early and the line was wrapped around the building three times already. That being said, we were in the third row of like 8? So we were certainly not the last people there. It was the longest 1 hour and 15 minutes of my life. I was nearly falling asleep by the end of it. They tried to make it interesting but really, it was stuff we needed to know and something to get through.

I spent the day with my roommates, organizing my room a bit and hanging out! We did a lot of cleaning, since the apartment looked like it hadn't been cleaned at all between the last people and us. The really weird thing we noticed is that instead of cleaning things, housing just paints over any dirt or things left behind, which makes it look perpetually dirty. For example? They painted over a bobby pin on my window sill instead of throwing it away. Why? I don't know, but I have a bobby pin stuck under a layer of paint in my room. Oh joy.

At 6 o'clock, Alexa, Lexie and I had our swim tests! We were meant to be there by 5:45, but most people were already there when we got there at 5:30. We had a big group, but not everyone ended up passing their swim test. We were split up into groups, based on shallow, deep, or either though we didn't know that at the time. No one knew what they were going to swim until they were standing in front of the pool getting ready to get in. We did our vision test first, which was easier than expected. They start you out really far back from the board, which freaked a lot of us out because no one could read anything but the stop line. Turns out they had us standing back there so the person taking the vision test could have a little privacy in case they failed. We just had to read one line, and we were allowed to wear glasses or contacts if needed. The only stipulation is that if you wear them for the test, you need to wear them at work.

The deep water lifeguards went first, since they have a harder test. They had to swim 200yds, tread water with no hands for 2 minutes, and pick up a brick from the deep end. If they didn't pass the deep test but were able to do the shallow water test, they would be transferred to the shallow water group. My group ended up being the group that, should any of the deep water guards fail, would take their spot. We were asked if we would rather stay in shallow water, and 3 other people in my group and I said yes. (I didn't want a waterpark!!!) Our group went second, and most of us passed. We had to swim 50yds, and pick up a brick from 5ft of water without going down head first. It was super simple, and I was super stoked to finally get my work schedule!

I will tell you, there were quite a few people who did not pass. I cannot stress enough: GO PRACTICE! To be a lifeguard you must be in good enough physical shape to preform a rescue, CPR and all. Am I saying you need to be a body builder? No way. I'm certainly not the most fit person in the DCP. But I can swim the 200, I can pull a grown ass man from the pool, I take this very seriously. And that's what it comes down to. If you're serious about this and you practice, you won't be stressed about if you are going to pass or not. If you're not serious about it, even if you pass the swim test, they won't pass you latter. Ellis is very firm on only passing guards who care enough to jump in the pool to save someone.

I hope everyone is doing well and I'll talk to you soon!

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

We're here! We've officially arrived in Orlando! By the time you read this, I'll be in my apartment with my roommates (and I'll probably have posted again) but I'm scheduling this for Tuesday morning so I don't have to risk my roommates seeing it before i give them their gifts! I was actually really excited to do roommate gifts, because I came up with an awesome idea right away (and then ended up having to modify it, but it's all good).

I put each gift in a red bag with yellow tissue paper (for Mickey, obviously) and then used Disney paint chips as tags with their names on them. I couldn't find the paint chips at home, but they were easy to find here at Walmart. Each of the cards has a fund name and a small silver mickey embossed in the corner.

Inside of each bag is a mug that I made at Sam's Club ($6/each) with a picture of each of our roommates at Disney. Each mug is a little different, with a bigger picture of the person receiving the mug and the one of me, just because I couldn't get the photos to be even. Inside of the mug is a pixie stick (magic wand!), a stress relief hand sanitizer from Bath and Body, a packet of Advil, a small jar of Epsom Salts, Sunscreen, and a 1st visit button with "As A CP" written on it! It was a lot of fun to put together and didn't break the bank! What did you and you're roommates get each other?

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Ahhhh! Guys, we're actually here! How is this even possible?! I've been dreaming of this for 7+ years and I'm finally here! I am so over the moon and I'm so excited to get to share my experiences with you! First of all I am so sorry that it's been so long. I know I said by Thursday, but life happens. They weren't lying when they said you'll be crazy busy your first few weeks. I have been constantly moving since I got here last Sunday, and my feet are actually killing me. (What good are epsom salts doing sitting on my dresser when I haven't used them...?)

My schedule I received at check in. Please be careful of any information you post online. This document originally had my PERNER on it until I fixed it. That is not information you want to share with anyone.

So, let's start with check-in day! Last Wednesday night I got my 8-9 AM check-in for 1/11. We realized pretty quickly that those of us who had the earliest check in were also the people who would have to go through drug testing. YAY! I got to Vista at 7:30 (I have a time thing, shhhh) and there were already a few people lined up, but not many at all. They didn't let us in right away, but that was fine because there were parking spots across the street from Vista, so we walked from there. By the time two of my other roommates had arrived and we walked over, they were letting people in, only about 15 minutes early. We were able to walk right back and begin checking in. WOO HOO!

We went through the line so crazy quick it was almost a blur. We walked in and went right to get our picture taken for our housing ID's. One of my roommates had a necklace on and they made her take it off for the photo, even though it didn't show. My bangs fell onto my forehead, not in my face, and they made me push it back. It was a lot like taking a picture for your drivers license, only you have to be in the Disney look from the shoulders up. Morale of the story? Be prepared to follow what they want! From there we went and stood in a "line" that lasted less than 5 minutes. I went through first and she told me I had been able to link to my roommates and that we had been placed in the Commons! (Our first choice, but more on that latter!) She did let me know that, if you are able to successfully link with your roommates, you are almost guaranteed to be put together (unless something goes really wrong). We also found out where we would be working, but for all of the lifeguards it just said "To Be Determined". One of my roommates is working Concierge at Animal Kingdom Lodge, one is working Main Entrance Opps at Hollywood Studios, and one is working Attractions in Adventureland/Liberty Square (She found out latter she is going to be a skipper!) Its' a sold mix of locations. The rest of us are all lifeguards though, so we had to wait...

Not the best picture I've ever taken but still excited!

From there we went and picked up our housing ID's and our short term schedule. This schedule had casting, drug test, language test, our housing meeting, and traditions on it. People who had check in yesterday received this schedule in an email before hand, which is super convenient and lovely, so I hope they continue for the rest of you. Then we went to a door where they asked us if we had an tattoos or piercings. Those who did went to the right to fill out some paperwork, those of us who didn't went to the left for the last part of the check in process. We went and spoke with a gentleman who went over the Disney Look with us once again (because come on guys, it's not that hard) and then instructed us on where to go for the casting bus. Two of my roommates and I had casting immediately (8:30AM) while Alexa, my other roommate, didn't have it until the afternoon.

Left to right: Lexie, Elyssa, and I

From there we hoped on a bus to Casting, which was so fun! The girl who was "running' it was super sweet and nice, and we just barely made the bus, which was a relief! Casting was pretty straight forward. We got split into two groups, route A and route B to help the time go faster. I was with route B, so we headed into a hallway where we were emailed our schedule for our first "3" days. As a lifeguard, I was emailed a blanket form that all lifeguards will be getting, saying my test was Wednesday at 6PM, with all sorts of useful information on it (I'll write a post about my test later). From there we went to a room where they went over our schedule and the Disney Look with us again, which was so short, I'm not sure what the point was. Then we headed over to verify and sign off on our background checks! While there, one of the girls in line behind me realized that if you flip the paper over, your work location is on there! For most people, you'll already know, but it's super convenient for lifeguards! So I found out I'm going to be working at Animal Kingdom Lodge and Coronado Spring! I love both of those resorts, and my sister did her CP extension at Coranado, which is cool! I also have a roommate who is guarding at the Contemporary, and one who is at Typhoon Lagoon, deployed to Pop and Art until it opens! We're all so excited, and I'm pretty sure we have the safest apartment in Disney with 3 lifeguards...

Immediately after that we headed to get finger printed. Some people (like me) went through really quickly and were easy to finger print, some people had a harder time. My only suggestion is to just let them move your fingers. Don't try to move your hand where they want, just keep it loose and go with the flow! Then we headed over to the slightly longer line where we waited to talk to someone to really do our I-9. This takes a while longer, because plenty of people mess it up or just flat out don't do it. Once that was done I was home free! My roommate had already been to our apatment and grabbed our bedroom, so I was so excited to unload! Casting took about 2 hours and I had a drug test pretty soon after, so we went home (HOME!) and unloaded ALL of my stuff from my car (you guy saw the massive pile of stuff I brought, right?) I got it unloaded and got a started unpacking and setting up my room!

My roommate Sami is wonderful and lovely, and everything good. She picked our room for us while I was at casting, so we're in the room with the bay window! It's got a slightly smaller closet and bathroom, but we've made it work. Our room is so cute and colorful and bright, I love it! Since we ended up having a smaller closet, so I got a cube thinger magig to hold some of my clothes and such. It was a little bit more than what I had originally wanted to spend, but not significantly so. I'm happy with how our room turned out, even if it took a while to get there! The Commons was our first choice, and it's my favorite complex! That being said, not a lot of people got their first choice of housing this week, so we consider ourselves very lucky! (Thank you Lord for in home laundry...)

At 1 PM I had a drug test, as did three of my other roommates. We headed back to Vista, but got a bit confused at first. Drug testing is done in one of the apartments in the building before the welcome pavilion instead of in there. They were very strict on not letting us in early, even though they were in there and let the groups after us in early. It was all a little sketchy, but we got in and out quickly enough. None of us were actually worried (unlike other people standing in line with us...) and we assume we all passed since we didn't get a call telling us to come back!

After that we spent the day figuring out what we needed to do in the apartment, what we needed, and making it start to look like home! Trips to Aldi, WalMart, Sam's Club, and goodness knows where else have been made multiple times this week! Life has been crazy busy, but we're finally starting to settle into a routine! I have today (Tuesday) off, so I'm going to try and get a few posts written before I head to the Parks so I can schedule them over the next week or so! I broke my toe earlier this week (more on that latter) so I'm going to try and rest as much as possible today! I hope everyone who checked in with me or yesterday is having a magical time!As for the rest of you. I'll see ya real soon!

Friday, January 8, 2016

Some how, some way, I am going to miss this job more than I ever thought I would. I'm going to miss being called "Na-na" because she finally just got over calling me Mama. I'm going to miss having someone be so excited to see me they run in the house screaming my name, as if they didn't see me yesterday. I'm going to miss hugs every five minutes and laughter that doesn't have a care in the world, and little kisses smacked onto my check on apology. Little feet running laps around the house and a sweet baby talk getting out the first two words of rockabye baby over and over again. There is something special that comes with being a nanny, and even when you're moving on to better things, it makes goodbye bitter sweet. Grow up good and strong and never ever forget you are loved.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Before we begin, I want to start by saying I have not yet check in, this is not account of my check in, that will come in the future. This is just a 'what can we expect' post. Okay? Okay. Now that we have that sorted out:

CHECK IN IS IN 4 DAYS!!!

Which means at this point everyone is probably freaking out, finishing packing, and are possible even on their way! In case you haven't been able to figure it out, I'm pretty stinkin' excited. 4 days from now I will be all checked in and probably in my new apartment with my amazing roomies and that's the coolest thing of all! I have 6 absolutely amazing girls that I plan on living with, and a few days from now we'll be on the adventure of a lifetime together. But before I can start that I have a lot to get through first!

So if you haven't been crazily obsessing about the DCP for the last 7-8 years like I have, you might be a bit in the dark about what is going to be happening over the next few days. SO here are a few things you need to know:

You MUST be within the Disney look from the shoulders up for check in. This means no bare shoulders, no over the top makeup, and no multicolored hair. Take out your piercings, cover your tattoos, and be prepared to be checked for the Disney Look. Make sure you show up during your designated arrival time. The world isn't going to end if you're a bit early (though security might not let you in) but things could get complicated if you're late!

So as you're getting ready to go on your way, there are a few things you need to bring with you:

Proof that you are eligible to work in the US. If you are a US citizen that means your drivers license or state issued ID card AND your social security card for birth certificate. If you have a passport, that is all you need as proof.
Boarding Pass. Make sure you print the email Disney sent you with the barcode so they can gain access to your information at check in.
Vehicle Registration. This doesn't mean your actual registration, this means the registration Disney had you fill out during DORMS registration. If you're bringing your car to stay in Florida, you need to fill out this form so that your car can be parked inside housing. When you print this form, it will print your boarding pass with it, so save paper and just print it once.
Car insurance. Bring your insurance card and make sure it is in YOUR NAME. It cannot be in your parent's name. If you parent's pay for your insurance great, good for you, but the card must have your name on it, or you will not be able to register your car.

If you happen to forget your social security card or birth certificate, don't panic. It happens more often than you think. Disney will put you on a bus to the Social Security office with approximately five hundred million other people to obtain a copy. This will push your Traditions/Training schedule back a bit, but it you will be able to start eventually! Your best bet is to place these documents in a folder with a flap that closes before you leave home. Not only are you carrying important documents you don't want anyone else getting their hands on, you are also going to be receiving a bunch of paperwork that you don't want to loose. Which brings us to the next part: what are you going to be finding out during check in?

Housing! During check in you'll be finding you where you are going to be living for the next 5+ months! It will be given to you on a sticker attached to your program guide, along with your personnel id number and other information.
Work location! In years past, you would find out your work location during casting, but more recently they've been giving that information out during check in. Unless you're a lifeguard, you will find out your exact location at check in! Lifeguards don't find out their location until they have passed their swim test.
Schedule. You will be given your schedule for the first week during check in up to Traditions. You'll find out when your swim test, drug test, and language tests are if applicable. You'll find out when your housing meeting is, when you have casting, and when your Traditions is. Make sure you hold on to these papers, as I'm not sure how you would go about securing a replacement if they were lost!

There will also be a lot of other information given to you, but somethings are better left a surprise, don't you think? And that's check in! Just know, the earlier in the day your check in is, the more crowded it's likely to be. If applicable, drug tests and swimming tests will be given the first day, while language tests are generally the next day. If you have the first time slot, you probably have a drug/swim test. Everyone will also go through casting, where they will be finger printed and put into Disney's system. If you have to do a drug test, make sure you drink enough water that you can go to the bathroom, but not so much that it's going to dilute the test. Some positions, such as lifeguards, have to pass a vision test before they can work. If you have glasses or contacts you may wear them, but if your are life guarding be sure it's contacts, as you'll need to wear them during your swim test. If you don't pass the vision test or the swim test, they will reassign your role, they won't just send you home. And that's that! In just a few more days we'll be in the happiest place on Earth, working for the mouse. I can't wait to meet you all. See ya real soon!