Amber Earns Her Ears: My Secret Walt Disney World Cast Member Diary (15 page)

I began my week — I would say bright and early, but even the sun wasn’t up yet — at four on Monday morning. I hadn’t yet recuperated from my drive down, as my parents and I had hit the parks from the time we arrived until the night before check-in at Vista.

When I got the text from Lindsey, telling me that everyone (but me, apparently) had decided to gather for check-in at 5:30 a.m., I had been peeved, to say the least. But surprisingly, when I got to the security area, I found quite a few people already there. I had foregone coffee (a choice muddled by the early hours, I’m certain) and, after being smacked by the security gate because I wasn’t paying attention, I saw my future roommates standing together in a little group by the fan. I joined them, but after the initial flurry of greetings, conversation deteriorated rapidly into silence.

At some point, the number of people in the security tent became too large, so Disney moved us across the lane, where we formed a spindly line two people abreast, the lucky ones (myself included) finding a seat on the ledge of a flower bed or on the railing. When the sun finally rose, some of us began to feel energized, and conversation picked up.

I looked through an enormous pin collection that one girl had brought with her; listened with sympathy as another told us how her old car had died right before moving down here, forcing her to scrap it and pay for a U-Haul trailer; and partook (with only some sarcasm) in the attempt at a Wave that petered out halfway through the line.

Finally, at eight o’clock, a wonderful woman on her Segway motored over and told us that we would start moving soon. She told those who had brought their luggage where to put it, gave family and friends directions to their gathering area, and warned people that running would not be tolerated, a rule that those who had been in line since three in the morning (questionable judgment) backed up with a few earnest threats.

The check-in process was fairly painless and took less than an hour and a half. We received our sticky name tags, filled out housing paperwork, selected our desired apartments and complexes, and received our keys. I had to borrow Lindsey’s cardigan for the requisite property ID picture, as I had completely forgotten that tank tops don’t fall within the Disney Look — I was just focused on staying cool in the heat.

After lamenting with the rest of my roommates over the extreme close-ups taken of our faces, I filled out my car registration paperwork (which required my ID, proof of insurance bearing my name, and car registration), and then we were on our way to the buses that would take us to Casting.

At about nine, we boarded the coach buses and listened to our narrator (who resembled Edna from
The Incredibles
and sounded like Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials) give us valuable advice.

At the Casting building, we stood in line to receive our lovely stickers on our program guides that would tell us where we were working. As I heard “Magic Kingdom, you’ll be joining us at Disney’s Magic Kingdom”, I was feeling good about my chances. When it was my turn, and instead of “Magic Kingdom” I heard “Future World”, I was disappointed, but the fact that I was back at Disney World helped buoy my spirits.

This process took about the same time as had check-in. We were fingerprinted for our background checks, received our pay cards, and were inspected to make sure we fit the Disney Look. After completing paperwork at a few other stations, I boarded another bus to take me back to Vista, where I got my car and drove to Chatham, my apartment complex.

After inspecting our three-bedroom apartment (which was much more spacious than I imagined), we all claimed rooms and began moving in. At some point my parents joined me, but left before three o’clock, when we had to attend the mandatory housing meeting. This meeting is dreadfully dull, and I think they choose to put on the most boring speaker first. That way they can work you into a stupor with their corny jokes that no one laughs at and the “instructional” videos filmed by actors worse than those on
The Bold and the Beautiful
, and hope that when the fun guy comes around for the second half of the meeting, you will be awake enough to go over the rules.

The rest of Monday afternoon registers as a haze of Disney goings-on, but at some point my parents came back to take me shoe shopping. Depending on how by-the-rules you are, this can be the most painful part of the process, especially as my parents decided to go to the Florida Mall, which is at the end of a road under construction.

It took ages to reach the mall, and afterward it took just as long to find a store that sold shoes that fit my parents’ interpretation of the Disney Look. At one point, I was close to tears from a combination of exhaustion and frustration; any pair of black sneakers would work, as long as some other color didn’t scream from the sides. Eventually, though, we found suitable shoes, and decided that my bag of leftover seafood pasta from Olive Garden would function just fine as groceries for the night.

On Tuesday, my parents came around to accompany me to Target, where I picked up things from a list I had started the previous day. I drove back to Chatham, and then later over to my parents’ resort to join them for dinner at Beaches and Cream. We said our goodbyes, the promise of their return in two weeks making it a less-than-dramatic event.

Wednesday brought Traditions. I had managed to miss the early morning class, and instead boarded the bus at 12:45 p.m. with the rest of us lucky arrivals. I won’t say much more about Traditions, except that even though I had gone through the same class before, watching some of the videos and hearing some of the letters read aloud gave me chills, and at some points my eyes and nose were a little itchy.

Thursday was my first day of work. I met my trainer and one other girl who was going to be trained with me in Future World, then picked up my costume and went over to my first work location. I learned that I’ll be working at Image, the gift shop attached to Journey into Imagination with Figment gift shop; the nearby Captain EO cart; the Green Thumb Emporium outside Soarin'; and Seas (the Sea Base Alpha gift shop by Nemo&Friends). I spent the day just observing, and then spent the next day in a class to teach me how to work with merchandise.

Saturday was my first day of
real
work, and it began as one of the most frustrating days ever. By the time lunch break hit, I was ready to leave; I’d been there since 8:00 a.m., and had messed up on the register innumerable times. I printed the information on the wrong slips, gave guests the wrong copies, and forgot to staple things together.

The girl I was training with gave me some great advice: “These people wait in line for Soarin' for two hours. Waiting five minutes to make sure that their shipping information is correct is no big deal.”

After that, I was a little less stressed out; it made sense, after all.

As I write, I’m exhausted. I’m sitting on my couch in the apartment, a mug of tea on the table beside me, listening to three of my roommates chat about how much they like their jobs so far. Even though I’m a little grumpy from sleep deprivation and frustration, I’m ready to settle into my routine, and glad to be back home.

I LOVE MY JOB.

That has been my constant refrain for the past week. Despite being tired most of the time (125 hours without a day off, anyone?), my work this year is far more energizing than the work I did last year at the Electric Umbrella. At the Umbrella, I loved being in the kitchen, interacting with my fellow Cast Members. I did not regret the lack of guest interaction while I was scooping French fries or putting trays through the dishwasher.

While I still miss EU, especially after I met up for dinner recently with some of the people who had worked there with me, I severely underestimated the fun of guest interaction.

Of course, there are the drunken guests, or the parents who don’t seem to understand that to get a good picture of all the kids “flying” around the Castle with pixie dust, they should snap it at the beginning of the trip, when everyone has had enough sleep to be amiable. I have dealt with a few of the screaming children who did not want to take pictures, I have forgotten to push the “start over” button and screwed up at least two pictures for guests, and I neglected to give one family their receipt for package pickup.

As if that weren’t enough, I also fell asleep waiting for the bus, and smacked my head into a shelf on Saturday. One of my trainers made me feel like an imbecile in front of guests.

But I love my job.

On Friday, I directed stroller traffic with another trainee. We wore silly hats (she wore a Viking hat, I put on an old school crown with red velvet and fur trim), used stunted lightsabers to point the way, and spoke in obnoxiously fake British accents. About ten guests stopped to take pictures with us that night; our trainer gave us Great Service Fanatic cards for being the only people she’s ever trained who were asked by guests to pose for pictures. It was one of the most fun nights I have ever had at Disney World.

Earlier in the week, I trained on the glow cart, which was so much fun. I swear, when I’m working in merchandise I get paid to act like a little kid. I had a normal shift at Image, which was dreadful. We were understaffed, and I can never seem to do things correctly there. But when glow cart training came around, three of us (my trainer, myself, and another trainee) pulled out the cart and pushed it in front of the Land to start selling.

As soon as the cart came to a halt, I was in with the toys; I put the light-up tiara on, tried (and failed) to get my Michael Jackson glove to work, and began twirling a lightsaber. The best part? You get praised for doing that kind of thing! Sadly, none of the children who ventured over to the cart wanted to duel with me, but it was still immensely fun. I got to pin trade, give directions and recommendations, and chat up guests who were having the time of their lives.

It feels as if the beginning of the day is the longest. Depending on the work location, my first break will either sneak up on me, or I’ll have a ghastly amount of time to watch the minutes tick by. I find it ironic how quickly times flies at my least favorite work location, but at Sea Base Alpha, where I have spent the last two days, everything moves at a glacial pace. But toward the end of the night, without fail, something ridiculously fun will happen that ensures a good mood for the end of the shift.

Sunday, for instance, was incredibly slow. I was working at Sea Base, and while I was having a blast, the day was dragging by. Only three people typically work there; we had time to stock everything, straighten the plush as soon as it was messed up, and I spent an absurd amount of time playing with the bubble gun. (Have I mentioned that I get paid to act like a little kid?)

When I felt like an hour had passed, I would look at the register to realize only a quarter of that time had gone by. I made innumerable runs to the stock room, swept up spilled sugar powder, and chatted with as many guests as I could.

Near the close of my shift, I found a poor Crush doll that had lost its voice. A little delirious from exhaustion, I decided to give Crush a pink Mickey head bracelet, strap on a Disney Conservation button (because Crush wants everyone to donate to help save his fellow marine life), and sit him on my shoulder with one of his fins looped around my neck.

Eventually, other accoutrements were added (including a shark tooth necklace, because Crush eats sharks for breakfast, dude), and I quite enjoyed the strange looks I got from children and adults alike as I ran around for an hour with a twelve-inch turtle perched on my shoulder.

Fifteen minutes before my shift ended, a family of four walked in, and I started talking with the two little girls. Both of them were overjoyed at the fact that they were in Disney, and the youngest was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. I knelt on the floor and started talking turtle with them (as in ‘dude’ and ‘wicked’, often!), and we went over everything: where they were staying, how long, what their favorite color was, what they were most looking forward to, what their favorite movies were…

For at least ten minutes I sat there and talked with these girls, and when it came time for them to leave, their father came up and shook my hand, thanking me for managing to keep his girls entertained while he and his wife had a conversation with another Cast Member. As they left, and I got ready to do the same, they promised to come look for me later this week, when they go ride Figment (the eldest’s favorite ride).

I feel, at this point, as if I have been down here for ages, rather than about to embark on my third week. Although I’m still waiting for certain aspects of my routine to establish themselves, I’m fairly confident about my work, and have felt at home in my apartment since the second or third night.

I can already see the drastic difference between my two roles (last time it was quick service), and while I can’t determine which is my favorite, I can definitely say that I believe my experience this year will turn out to be just as phenomenal as it was last year.

THE THEME OF THE past week has been chaos, with very little relief.

Not all of it has been bad chaos, exactly, but it has been about three weeks since I moved in, and I still have puffy bags under my eyes at all hours of the day.

Monday began on a poor note. It wasn’t a bad shift — eight hours, mid-day — and I was sent out to work the squeeze breeze cart in front of the Land. My coordinator helped me maneuver the unwieldy cart into the shade, and I was given an apron (but no calculator, which presages disaster for an English major!) with some seed cash for making change.

I had fun for a bit. I was in the direct path of the guests booking it to Soarin' before all the FastPasses had been distributed and the line not worth a second look, so I was able to interact with quite a few of them. One man doubled back to shake my hand and loudly applaud that I was the first Cast Member he’d met on his trip to speak to him for no reason other than pleasantness.