The Disney Point

When you work at Disney, there are several rules that must be followed. We must never refer to the guests as customers, we must never put our hands in our pockets or fold are arms across our chest, and we must never ever point with one finger. Always use two fingers or your whole hand to point at an object or when giving directions, this way another guest does not feel as if you are pointing at them in a rude manner. After 37 hours of pointing this way, you start to point at everything that way. At Target you see that Coke is on sale on the other aisle and you Disney Point to them in order for your roommates to see. While shopping at Downtown Disney you Disney Point to clothing that you think is cute. And even at home, you end up pointing to the TV when your favorite commercial comes on. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I am convinced that until the day I die I will be using the Disney Point. And that makes me smile.

Work was pretty boring because the store I was in is very slow and customers weren't very chatty. But I did get to pin trade with several people through the two days and on monday two little children talked to me for 15 minutes about their Disney experience. It was magical.

Today Christy and I ran some errands and got lost a few times but we did eventually find our way. Then we ventured over to Downtown Disney for some window shopping and dinner with Connie and Amanda. During our window shopping adventure Christy introduced me to this magnificent shop called Little Mismatched where you can buy three unmatching socks and even the boots and flip flops they sell have different designs on them. The store was basically made for me.

Princess Aurora

Finally everything is starting to slow down, or at least my head isn't pounding because of all the information being crammed into it. My first day of work went pretty well. I traded many many pins and was even the star of some photos. One guest asked if he could take pictures of me while I pretended to trade pins, and of course I was more than happy to oblige. I was petrified of closing by myself but one of my managers, Melissa, came over and taught me how to do everything correctly. So all in all, my first day of work was a good one minus some cranky guests.

Today, I worked in Animation Courtyard which is where In Character, Studio Store, and the Bear Cart is. My first few hours I was assigned to In Character, which is the Princess store outside of The Little Mermaid show. Pretty boring at first because most guests go straight to the rides before they even think of entering the area I was in. But, I got to watch as they ran to Toy Story Midway Mania and some even tried to cut the crowd by running through Animation Courtyard. Unfortunately for them, it is a dead end and they can't get to Toy Story that way but it still made me chuckle inside.

Later on in the day during my last hour in the princess store, two little girls dressed in Aurora costumes entered the store and saw the other wearing the exact same dress. They ran to each other and started twirling around and comparing dresses. Most definitely one of the cutest things ever.

I later had to stock the Studio Store until my last ten minutes where I relived someone from the Bear Cart and sold a few water bottles and crayon sets.

After the long bus ride home, I took a quick nap and was on the bus headed to Magic Kingdom. Did some shopping and ate at the Pinocchio Quick Service Restaurant. It must have been my lucky day because there was one table open next the window and it was calling my name. So, I had a nice relaxing dinner watching the boats from It's a Small World pass by. All in all, a great day even though I did have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning.

Sweet Shop Disaster

Today was a great day until the last hour and half of work, then it got messy. It was the same three people with me today that I have been training with for the past two days, so we are all really close now and basically are bffs (one is my roomie Christy). Anyway, we had three trainers today and we all had a blast until we had to go to Sweet Spells to learn closing procedures. Apparently the workers before us had not done their job correctly and missed a few key tasks that set two of our trainees into a tizzy. They started barking orders at us and weren't really the nicest to our guests either. So basically at the end of our shift we had had enough and all four of us are hoping to close with them as little as we can. But I did get to help guests today on the sales floor and ring up their purchases which was pretty cool, not to mention the fact that I got to trade several pins today! Unfortunately, no one gave me any Belle pins...

One more day of training then I will have officially earned my ears!

What do you mean you don't like High School Musical?!

This morning I was at work before the park opened and was allowed to greet our guests as they walked/ran to the Rockin' Roller Coaster or Tower of Terror. Can I just tell you how amazing that was? I got to wave at guests and tell them good morning and they did the same to me! Instead of being the guest waving to the Cast Member, I was the Cast Member waving to the guest! I just wish you could have experienced this moment with me. It started the day off perfectly!

So, before I begin to describe what today's happenings were, I first must tell you that I will be working in 10 different stores and I will have about 5 different costumes:) I have a store called Once Upon a Time which is built to look like a fancy store and does carry some of our more expensive items in it, along with an area they call the Ranch. It is directly across from Beauty and the Beast:) I'll also be working in the Villain Store/Sweet Spells which is candy and sweet treats along with Villain merchandise. And another store which is on the corner of the street and I can't think of the name off the top of my head. I am also working in the store right across from the Toy Story Midway Mania, which sells every Toy Story toy you can possibly think of along with 3 stores in Animation Courtyard. There is a Princess Store, which I'm pretty certain will by my favorite, along with a cart and the store right outside of One Man's Dream.

After waving to the guests, we went back inside Sweet Spells and we learned how to make the Famous Chocolate Covered Strawberries. I made cotton candy, candy apples, chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate covered marsh mellows:) YUM! My roomie Christy and I basically entertained everyone all day because of how excited we were about making all the fun candies and being able to see the High School Musical Parade pass every hour (one of the other trainees did not like High School Musical and Christy and I did our best to convert him, we failed. For now). And they were pretty impressed by the amount of love I had for Disney. They tried to find something Disney that I did not like, I won.

My work schedule next week is 39 hours. Seems like a lot but if the time disappears like it has this week, it will be a breeze.

Mickey Mouse is doing the "Cupid Shuffle"

So I won't write to much today although a lot happened because I'm pretty tired and I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. But overall today was good, even though Christy and I almost had a panic attack trying to find our Grandmaw Mary Poppins shoes, as we called them. But we had to settle for shoes that will hopefully pass inspection, if not we shall be out and about tomorrow night scouring the town some more to try to find the right ones.

Today was pretty fun, we got to go backstage of Hollywood Studios, my new home, and learned the basics about the park and some fun little tidbits of information. Later on in the day we got our costumes:) Although they are not our official work costumes, it was still pretty cool. And today was my first day that I was allowed to clock in! Super cool.

After work, they hosted a party for all College Program Cast Members at our Apartment Complex. The theme was "It's a Bug's Life" and we got to meet the two main characters from that along with everyone's beloved mouse, MICKEY! When we walked in Mickey was dancing to the "Cupid Shuffle" and it was super cool splendid to see him dancing with everyone, something I'll probably never forget. He was truly a celebrity everywhere he went people followed him.

Well, its about that time, so goodnight everyone:)

Super Secret Passageways!

Hello again my friends,

Day three was a mix of everything from very boring to absolutely amazing! I had Traditions today, which is a class you must take in order to become an official Cast Member. We learned about Walt and how the Disney Company was created and how it expanded into the Company we know today. We were also taught the core values that Walt created to give his guests the best possible experience. We were also taken on a tour of underground Disney and I must say that it was such an adventure. Unfortunately, I cannot reveal the secrets, but trust me when I say that it was super fabo and I will never forget what I was introduced to today. Toward the end of our four and a half hour Traditions class we watched a video of Walt describing his dreams and hopes for his company, guests, and employees and we were reminded that we are now a part of Walt's dream. Can you believe that? I, Kayla Ann, am fulfilling Walt Disney's dream! So basically what it comes down to in my mind is that Walt and I are now BFF, because BFFs help each other reach their dreams. And seeing as this has been a dream of mine for a long time, his company has allowed me to fulfill my dream of working in the most magical place on earth, and now I am fulfilling Walt's dream by treating his guests and parks the way he always wanted them to be treated. It was a wonderful moment for me to say the least.

Well, after going to Traditions two of my roomies (Christy & Kelley) and I went to Epcot to meet up with the rest of our household to eat and watch Illuminations, which in my opinion is the best fireworks show in the world. In order to get there we had to use the super secret passageway in Epcot and it was so cool because you just walk out into the magic of Disney (another highlight of the night)! Anyway, My roommate Christy has never seen it and just watching her watch this amazing show truly showed me what Disney World is all about. She was squealing like a little girl the whole time and was completely amazed by the fireworks and the globe. And oh boy when that globe started to open she could hardly contain herself!

Later on the bus I had a discussion with Kelley about Princess and the Frog and she was asking me a whole slew of questions about New Orleans and whether or not the movie was true to real life in the city. And I loved talking to her about our food and she is so excited about trying gumbo and red beans, so it looks like I'll be cooking sometime soon. Pray for me and the kitchen. haha.

So all in all, a wonderful day in the life of Kayla:)

Hello Friends:)

So, I'm sure many of you are reading this because you know me personally and just want to stalk me and seeing as Facebook wasn't adequate enough, you have come here. But, no worries I hope this meets your expectations.

Today was my second day of the Disney College Program, my seven other roomies and I basically took the day to shop, chill out, and get to know each other a little better. And I have some pretty cool roomies if I may say so. Connie and I are the only southerners in our apartments, so when the others were discussing how much they wanted to see an armadillo, we kind of chuckled. But then again, I've never seen a moose before either so I can't judge.

Tomorrow I get my ID and will be able to go into the parks so thats when the real fun can begin!