Central

This week has been a great week.
My mom was in town last week. It was great to have her here. She brought her friend Michelle with her. We had two full days in the park. It was a lot of fun.

The side effect of this visit has been some pretty serious homesickness. I'm sure it will pass, but it's been in the back of my mind.

I spent the first three days this week working on parade floats. Magic Kingdom has three parades that go every day. Move It Shake It Celebrate it Street Party, Celebrate A Dream Come True, and Disney's Electric Parade. Due to some construction in the park, DEP has not been going for the past two weeks. For MISICI, we double check that the audio on all five floats and the MC mic are all working well. After that we double check all of the props for the five floats. After the floats move to "Step On" we load the confetti cannons. It's a lot of fun. The park presents MISICI three times a day.

For CDCT, we check and set the props. That's it. Of all the offerings that Magic Kingdom offers, I think CDCT has the greatest area of opportunity. (Don't tell anyone I said this, but it's just not up to the same standard/level as the rest of the offerings at WDW.)

My favorite part about working parades is how all the different departments come together to present an experience for our guests. I don't know how many departments are involved, but I think it's about a dozen. There are so many "secrets" about producing these parades. I'll tell you all about it when I retire.

Today I spent at Parade Central. This is a teeny tiny room in the basement of Magic Kingdom. The first thing you need to know about central is that it's very very cold. The entire area is kept around 63 degrees. This is because central is where all audio for the entire park is ran. This includes background music and attraction audio. There would be no singing in the Haunted Mansion or Jack Sparrow in Pirates without this room, but I digress. It's Cold.

As a Parade Central tech, you run all audio for the parades and street shows. The coolest part of the room is the 16 video monitors we use to do the job. It's pretty cool.

We also had our first Intern Class today. The four interns met together with our coordinators and mentors. It was a lot of fun.

Ok, I'm going to bed.

Um . . . You Bet.

I'm really loving this gig. There are so many things to be grateful for about this job.
1. All of my break rooms are air conditioned.
2. I get regular breaks.
3. I'm getting paid to have this much fun. Most Tech Internships are unpaid, or they are $100 a week.
4. I get Free Poweraid anytime I want it.
5. I'm getting paid to learn.
6. It's my job to make sure kids have fun.

I LOVE THIS GIG!

Yesterday I was assigned to Dream Along With Mickey. This is also known as the Castle Show. There are seven positions on this show. Two of the positions are follow spots. One of the follow spots called in yesterday, so at lunch my crew chief let me know that one of the spots had called out, and they needed me to run one of the spot cues.

This is all good and grand, but I'VE NEVER RAN A SPOT BEFORE!!! I simply told my crew chief, "You Bet!" About 20 minutes later the stage manager came up to me to let me know that I was for sure dong the cue. She asked me if I wanted to dry run the 5:15 show. I responded yes, maybe a little too energetically.

But, I did it. I did three great shows. I didn't miss a single cue. It Felt Great! One of the best nights I've had.

This week, I'm working on Parades, The Welcome Show, and Wishes. It's going to be a great week!

Yo Ho Yo Ho!

I've had a great week. I'm sorry it's been a while since my last post. This has been a busy week.
For the last three day's I've been working on Jack Sparrow's Pirate Tutorial. I have really grown to love this show. There are two actors. One plays Jack Sparrow and one plays his first mate, Mack. The costume and make up dept have done an awesome job on this show. There are three different Jacks and three different Macks. The three Jacks look great. One, Steven (My favorite) looks just like J. Depp. Jack and Mack have a little scene, then they invite four kids up on stage to teach them how to Sword Fight. This show is so Fun. Then they invite ten more kids up on stage and they induct them into Jack's Crew. The Kids Love It! During yesterday's show, a kid looked Jacked right in the eye and said, "You Look Just Like Jack Sparrow!!!" Jack looked him in the eye and didn't miss a beat and said, "That's because I am Jack Sparrow!"

My job is to run the audio for this show. The entire show is ran from a tablet. It's pretty cool. We have a back up system that is a traditional sound cage, but I've not had to use that yet.

Working here at Disney has been a dream come true to me. I love to wake up every morning, and go to work. This is the best feeling in the world. I did have a little bit of home sickness this week. It kinda came out of no where. I was just driving home from work, and I really missed my friends and family.

My Mom and her friend Michelle just landed. They're going to be here for about a week. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with them and showing them around my new town.

Life Is So Good!

Show Support!

I have the coolest job in the world. But I have the hardest job to blog about in the world.

On my very first day as a Disney Cast Member, I signed a massive document on confidentiality. I had no idea how this would affect every day of my work life. We're hosting a VIP Special Event tomorrow. (You might hear about it on the news.) This has been taking up a lot of energy at the Entertainment Dept.

Yesterday, I spent the day with Stacey M. She is the in charge of Props for all of Magic Kingdom, and she's also a Manager. We spent the first 3 hours of the day getting ready for the event. After that, we spent 4 hours touring the back stage areas of MK and Studios. I had a blast yesterday.

Today I spent at Show Support. This crew is the center point for all tech equipment at MK. All 4 parks have their own Show Support. So, let's say that there is a need for a special event. Show support builds all the tech requirements that the "Designers" request. It's a lot of fun. I started this morning at 5:50. The day went really fast, and we had pick ups and drop offs at all 3 of the other parks. The crew is really nice and they are really helpful. I'm with them tomorrow as well.

Tonight, I went back to the park. I watched Dream Along With Mikey (DAWM). I love this show. All of the children's faces light up. They sing a long, dance along, and shout with Mikey. And, there are fireworks. I also saw Disney's Electric Parade for the first time. This Parade Is Awesome! That first Tinkerbell float comes around the corner, and you can't help but dance. It was so much fun. Then I watched The Magic The Memories and You, which is a Projection show. Then Wishes, which is the nightly firework show.

I have the best job in the World!

Next week is Captain Jack's Pirate Tutorial and DAWM! AND!!! AND!!!! MY MOM WILL BE HERE ON TUESDAY!

Woot!

Another Training

I had another day of training today. We met at the S.E.T.S. center. This is a huge warehouse hidden from guests view. It has all kinds of equipment in it. Our trainer today was great. Her name is Barbara L, and she's been at Disney since 1990. She is the Entertainment Trainer.

There are 4 interns selected for our program. They are Jeremy, Shelby, Aaron, and me. We are from all over. We also have been working with Jared. He's a new Full Time Tech at Hollywood Studios.

I got a lot of information on our program today. We will work in each of the four parks over the next four months. I got my first assignment. I'm the Tech on Captain Jack's Pirate Tutorial. I don't know a lot about this experience. Jack and a friend put the kids in a semi circle and train them on the ways to be a good pirate. It should be a lot of fun.

I really appreciated the training today. We spent 3 hours on some computers doing safety training. (I got to wear a harness today) After that, we spent 4 hours going from park to park and learning where to go back stage. Where the Tech Offices and Show Support Warehouses are.

I had a great day. I really feel like I'm getting paid to do a whole lot of training for the next four months. Life is good.

Traditions!

Today was my first paid day at work. I was given instructions to be at Disney University at 1:45. I had been given some advice and guidance as to what to expect. Disney University is a really big building. There is a credit union, security center, cafeteria, and a lot of office space. On the second floor are several classrooms. This is where my traditions class was held.

I had two instructors. The first guys name was Brett. He was the main instructor, and he led my tour in the Magic Kingdom. The other guy really didn't make much of an impression on me. He was kinda annoying. Like seminary teacher annoying. He made such a little impression on me that I can't even remember the guys name.

Disney is a pretty interesting organization. Obviously their first priority is to protect and grow the investments of their stockholders. I thought they did a good job at making that point clear. They spent most of the time explaining how they do this. We do this by creating happiness. It's a simple phrase, but I really agree with it. Our job is to create experiences for our guests. They could be guests at the resorts, guests on the cruise lines, guest at the movies, and guests in their living rooms/homes enjoying our entertainment. And really, who doesn't want to be entertained?

When I worked at Walmart, the company management worked very hard to hide the fact that they make $300 Billion in sales every year. They minimize the experience of their customers. I really liked the approach that Disney takes with their employees on their first day.

I still don't know which park(s) I'll be working in, what I'll be doing, or any kind of schedule. I hope to get more information tomorrow.

And, Florida water is gross. Just wetting your toothbrush to brush your teeth you can taste it. It's really unpleasant.

Welcome To Disney!

I had the day off, so I decided to explore the parks today. I spent 4 hours in Animal Kingdom, 2 hours in Epcot, and 5 Hours in Magic Kingdom.

I have so much on my mind tonight. I've never been to any of the Florida Parks before. First off, I loved Animal Kingdom. I saw Festival of the Lion King & Nemo today. About 3 minutes into Lion King, I felt like I was in way over my head. I've got a lot to learn, and I hope I have some fun doing it.

Epcot Is Amazing! First off, the world showcase is a great idea. I ate fish and chips from UK for lunch. I got in line to eat a Neapolitan in France for Lisa Elzey, but the line was way too long. Even I don't have 40 minutes to wait for a Bonn Bonn.

Magic Kingdom is a bit overwhelming to me. There are so many people there, and so many things to do. I think Magic Kingdom is something to do with friends.

I have my "Disney Traditions" tomorrow. This is technically my first day. I've got those first day jitters all over again. The level of work is going defiantly a step up from what I'm used to. I guess that's the point of an internship. To learn new things. To stretch yourself further, and do work your tail off. I've always thought I was a hard worker, but this is going to need some effort to back that thought up. My big challenge is going to not let my mind settle on thinking about what's next. I need to just focus really hard on doing my best in this internship. Dave Tinney always said that your current job is your interview for your next one.

I hope I have a good interview.