November 10, 2013

Sorry this post is a few days late... I have been a little busy! I am siting down to write this story for 3 reasons. 1. Clearly to inform everyone who would like to hear the story 2. So my friends will stop harassing me and 3. For memory and documentation purposes :)

Hank arrived in Orlando on Saturday and so we spent the majority of the day checking out the resort and deciding where we were going to have dinner. Typical for us. We decided to eat in Epcot at The Coral Reef, one of our favorites. Instead of heading back to go to sleep, I had to head straight on to work to work the Wine & Dine marathon that WDW hosts every year. I worked from 10 pm until 4 am, so on Sunday I was exhausted and just wanted to be lazy. Hank and I napped and watched multiple television shows all day until our dinner reservations at 5 p.m. Hank had made dinner reservations at Shula's Steakhouse at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel. (When I look back, I notice that Hank was very, very adamant about us being perfectly on time.) We rode the Friendship boat to the hotel and had a couple of minutes to spare so we sat at the bar downstairs for a little bit. After a glass of wine, we headed to the restaurant. They seated us right away, and gave us time to look at the menu. Well then the manager approaches us at our table and tells us that we have been chosen by a raffle to win a day at their hotel spa. I quickly responded with, "Is this a joke? I never win anything..." So he tells us that he needs us to come to the front and pick a time and then we can go back to our table. Clueless, I ask "Can I leave my purse?" He says no. Hank goes on to tell him that I am doing the college program and yada yada yada. The manager asks if I am going to have any family visit me in the next few months and I told him yes so he shows me this room to the right that has a big area for family dinners and etc. Well then he all of a sudden pushes a button and a small door lifts up and there is a table for two, champagne, roses, chocolate covered strawberries, and the quaintest little room I have ever seen. Turns out Hank had rented it out just for us. Hank was walking behind me so when I turn around to ask what is going on.... he is on one knee and asks me to marry him!



You know, everyone has a proposal story, and each one is unique and different and means something to that person. I could not have imagined anything more perfect for us. We had the whole evening to ourselves and the sweetest waiter I have ever met; not to mention the most delicious food. Disney World is one of my favorite places in the world, and it was a dream come true to get proposed to while I'm on this journey here.

We are so excited for this next step in our lives, and we are also very grateful for all of our family, friends, and everyone who has reached out, supported and loved us along the way!

Home

I flew home this past weekend to see my family, friends, and of course to catch a home game. It. was. fabulous. I enjoyed every single second of my time there, and it was a much-needed vacation for me.

I flew into Jackson around 6 pm and Hank and I hopped in the car and headed to Starkville because it was Bulldog Bash weekend. The streets of the Cotton District were packed to the brim Friday night, and it was so hard to find my friends, but I did spot a few. The next morning Hank and I went and had lunch with my family at Oby's (I've missed that place so much). Hank left and I went shopping with my mom, aunts, and grandmother. We had a prettttyyyy good time :) We then headed to the game and it was so good to be back. I can't even express how much it felt like home. I was sad to see us lose against LSU, but its no surprise. After the game I met up with all of my friends, and nothing has changed a bit... we are still weird. I never knew how much I would miss my friends; I miss them every single day. Seeing them was a great ending to the weekend.

Going home made me realize how grateful I am to have this opportunity in Orlando, but it made me realize even more how I can't wait to get back down South. I told Hank I love Disney World so so much, but I hate the location that it's in. In a perfect world, Disney World would be right in Mississippi ;) ha!

Hank is visiting again this coming up weekend! Two weekends in a row! I will update again next week :) 

I don't even know where to begin

Well my sister, Meg, reminded me that I haven't written on my blog in a while so I figured I would try and catch ya'll up on what has been going on.

The week after Hank left, Elizabeth, Morgan, and I went to a bar called Ice Bar. I had heard about these types of bars on like television shows and always thought they were neat. So basically it is a bar/lounge that consists of two parts. One being an 18 degree room where everything is made of ice! Even the glasses you drink out of, the chairs, everything. Yes, it was freeeezing! They provide fur coats and gloves, but our poor toes were numb and hurting by the end. So then we decided to go to the second part, the Fire Lounge. It was just a normal environment with music. It was fun and new experience.

A few days later Elizabeth, Morgan, Allie, and I headed to Disney's Beach Club Resort to eat at Beaches n' Cream. Well, our main goal was to order (and finish) the famous Kitchen Sink. The dessert consists of 8 scoops of ice cream, mini candy bars, a whole can of whipped cream, brownies, and more... in a kitchen sink. We didn't even eat dinner that night because we were trying to save up for this gigantic "meal" and we still couldn't finish it!

More recently, Hollywood Studios hosted an event called "Unleash the Villains" on Friday the 13th. My roommates and I had been looking forward to this event for weeks and we were so excited to go. However, I am about to complain, for the first time on my blog, about a Disney event. We sat in traffic for an hour and a half, and when we finally reached the Hollywood Studios entrance, security guards were flashing lights directing us away from entering the park. So then we turned around and on our way back, we were let in the park as if there was no problem at all. We were very confused. After we get in the park, we are shocked at how extremely crowded and unorganized the event was. The line to meet the villains was a mile long, and people were cutting left and right. There were also characters lined up next to the main stage. There were no organized lines to meet them, no character attendants, nothing. It was a mob. We quickly decided that we were not going to accomplish anything and headed back to our car. Disney is always organized, but they must have not planned well for this event. They have several popular events such as Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween parties and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas parties that are a complete success, but I think Disney needs to re-evaluate this one.

This past week I have had my first round of sickness, and hopefully my last while here. I came down with a horrible cold/sinus infection. It caused me to miss work so I have only been working 22 hours this week, compared to my normal 36 hours. I am also taking Saturday off because MEG IS COMING! Yay! I can't wait to go to the parks with her. It is always so much more fun when someone comes and visits you, because it is like experiencing the park for the first time all over again. She is also very lucky, because with my discounts and free passes, she is only having to pay the resort charge (which is half of what is usually is) You're welcome, Meg.

You know how I mentioned my Australian friend in another post? She is tooo funny you guys. I have to tell ya'll what she calls "things" compared to what we know them as:
"Lollies" - candy
"Cinema" - movie theater
"Canteen" - cafeteria
"Trolley" - shopping cart

That is just a sample of our everyday conversations. Ha! I've learned quickly how to pick up on her lingo, and sometimes when she is talking to another American, I have to translate certain words. It's quite interesting! We have become great work friends, and since she doesn't have a car here, I take her to work when we are working the same shifts.

For about two weeks now I have had 1 or 2 shifts during the week called HOH, which means Heart of House. It is basically stock. I work in various locations like American Adventure, France, and United Kingdom. I love working in France because I can play with all the different makeup and perfume...it's fun! :) Working in the actual shop is my favorite though. I get asked random questions on a daily basis for example:
"You're from Mississippi, huh? So do you farm?"
"Why does your nametag have an university on it and some don't?"
And people love to come up and only speak Spanish to me and I look at them with a blank stare and motion them on to the girl from the Dominican Republic that works with me.
And I still have to count change for foreigners.
It's always an interesting day at work!

I'll try and update again after the weekend! 

P.S. I get to come home for the weekend in TWO WEEKS! Can't wait

Hank comes to visit!

I'm starting to get into the swing of things and a normal work schedule, which is really good. I kind of have an idea of what days I will be off each week, too. Work is going so well and I really love all of my managers, leaders, and co-workers or co-"cast members" ha! We have all become such good friends. I have become really close with my Australian friend, as I call her, haha. Her name is Jess! She is super sweet and she is always trying to imitate my southern accent...it's pretty comical. I have learned so many things about her culture and it is so neat. I constantly get asked the question from guests, "Where are you from?" because of my accent and people do NOT understand my name. They don't get how I have two names, or they think that they accidentally put my last name on my name tag. Nope...it's just a double name.

Being able to watch IllumiNations every single night is such a dream come true. I still get chills every time I watch it. The store is super slow when the show is going on, so we will usually step outside and enjoy the view. It's great!

But on to my main point of this post..... Hank came to visit me this weekend!!! We had so much fun playing in the parks. When he arrived on Friday, I went and picked him up from the airport and then we headed to check-in at the resort. Unfortunately, I had to work at 4:00 that day and so he just chilled at the hotel and watched football. Saturday we hit the ground running and started the day off at Animal Kingdom. AK is Hank's favorite park. We met some characters and ate at one of our favorite restaurants in all of WDW, Yak & Yeti. We also went to see Festival of the Lion King. As we were walking in, a cast member stopped us and asked if we would follow her. She took us to the very front row that only consisted of about 3 seats. One of the performers asked Hank to stand up and say his name, and to lead the warthog section. It was hilarious and Hank actually had to make a warthog noise in the microphone :/ We were so close to the performers that we felt like we were actually in the show. Once we decided to leave AK, I was tired from working the closing shift the previous night and Hank was tired from his 5am flight, so we headed back to the hotel and took a short nap, then headed to Epcot for our dinner reservations at Tokyo Dining. It. Was. Phenomenal. The food and atmosphere was so amazing! Hank got the salmon and I had the tempura dinner, which consisted of tempura shrimp, chicken, and vegetables. Yum! Afterwards, we walked around World Showcase and we also stopped by my shop so that he could meet my new friends and check out where I am working. Then it was time to head to Magic Kingdom to catch the fireworks and the parade. Magic Kingdom was open until 3:00 am (Extra Magic Hours), but we couldn't make it. We decided to head back around 1:30 am. The next morning we had breakfast reservations at The Polynesian Resort. It was a character breakfast so we got to meet Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto. Pluto tried to steal our bacon! We headed back to the hotel because Hank had to get packed up to head back home. I was sad to see him go, but he will be making many more visits to WDW! I also can't wait for all of my other family members to come and visit, too!

Here are some photos from this weekend :)

 

I've Earned My Ears!

Since my last post was about training and my experience with that, I am now here to inform you all that I have finally EARNED MY EARS!!!! No more training for me! Today was my first day working by myself and I can't sit here and tell you that it was a breeze, because it was rocky in some parts, but I'm learning. Since International Gateway is another entrance into Epcot, at World Traveler we deal with A LOT of package pick-ups and shipping. We also rent strollers, ECV's, wheelchairs, and lockers. When a guests comes in the store and wants to ship something back home, or send their bags and purchases to their resort, a whole process accommodates that. And it is lengthy and time consuming. I'm not going to get into the details, but I will say that I believe Disney is a wonderful company, but they could make that process MUCH easier. Needless to say, my little shop is constantly busy in some sort of way. The guest interaction is great (minus the snoody, picky, guests that can come by) and the time goes by pretty quickly, which is a good thing!

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Yesterday after I got home from work, Elizabeth and I decided that we all needed a good meal and we wanted to watch the fireworks. What did we come up with? We all went to the Polynesian resort and ate dinner at Kona. It. Was. Fab. I got their Asian stir-fry and it was great! Afterwards we watched "Wishes" on the beach. The view was fabulous as well. The Grand Floridian was to our left, and the Contemporary was to our right, with Magic Kingdom and the Castle straight ahead. As many times as I have visited WDW, I have never watched the fireworks outside of the park, and now I highly recommend it to anyone.

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Wednesday, since I had the day off, Elizabeth, Morgan, and I headed to Epcot to thoroughly enjoy World Showcase. We went through every country, every gift shop, and ate dinner in Japan. There were so many goodies that I wanted to buy in each of the shops, but I refrained. We also met several characters including Princess Aurora, Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto. It was a great day off! (pics are on my Facebook)
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Tomorrow I have work at 4:15, but Elizabeth, Allie, and I are going to Animal Kingdom early in the morning. Having the closing shifts aren't so bad when you can go play in the parks before work!

Training & Random Ramblings

So much has happened since my last post. I have been through 3 days of training, and I start my tier 4 training on Thursday. I have tomorrow (Wednesday) and Friday off! Whoo hoo time to play in the parks!

Tier 1 training started on Sunday from 10am-6:30pm and it consisted mostly of just getting acclimated to my location and the store I will be working in. I got fitted for my costume and got to bring 5 home with me. Yayyy.... They are SO cute (sarcasm). After that my trainer, Brittany, and I headed to do a little bit of online training and then went straight to World Traveler afterwards. I got to interact with the guests so that was awesome. I gave little princesses and princes stickers and greeted guests with Mickey outside. Working in merchandise also requires cast members to pin trade. I have never been a pin trader, but after doing it for 3 days, it is so much fun! Kids love it and its exciting to watch their faces light up when they see a pin on my lanyard that they love or is a part of their collection. I also got a tour of our stockroom, breakroom, and all of my backstage area.

Day 2 of training took me back to Disney University to attend my Merchantainment class. Merchantaining is a "Disney term" that means what you think it does. Merchandise + Entertainment. Disney believes that even the shops should be entertaining. It could be anything from walking around with a goofy hat on and interacting with guests, to grabbing Mickey hands and waving to guests. It can literally be anything. This class was also to teach us about working the registers. This was a more difficult learning experience, but it was fun.

Tier 3 training was today from 8am-4:30pm. I met up with Brittany again and we went straight into World Traveler and started practicing the registers. Disney has a certain way of counting back change, and that was the biggest adjustment for me. I learned A LOT today. It was the most hands-on training I have done yet, and I feel like that is the best way for me to ultimately learn. I was on registers for about 4 hours today, and it was a lot of fun! I got to interact with guests from all over the world. I love asking where they are from! I will share a sweet story from today:
So I am working the register and a teeny tiny older oriental lady comes to my register with 4 postcards and a picture frame. I tell her the total and she hands me a stack of one dollar bills and lays all of her change on the counter. She gestures that she does not know how to count American currency and asks if I can help her out. So here I am flailing myself all over the counter to help this precious lady. She thanks me and did not speak a lick of English the whole time she was there. I am so thankful to work in a place where I get to experience different cultures and nationalities. It is truly like traveling the World every single day.

I also got to casually eat lunch with Princess Aurora today and that was pretty cool... she didn't feel like wearing her dress to lunch, but her hair and make-up were done, of course!  (If you catch my drift....) ;)

Since I am training, I get to wear a flag on my nametag that says "Earning My Ears." It is really helpful when I am learning so that guests know I am not perfect and do make mistakes. Today, this man came up to the counter and wanted to purchase two drinks. I rang him up and before he left he said, "Good luck earning your ears! You're doing a great job." It totally made my day and made me realize that I really shouldn't worry because there are people out there that are so understanding and encouraging. 

My trainer, Brittany, is the nicest person ever. She is so understanding and patient while I am learning all of these new things. She is so funny, too! I am going to miss her tremendously, as I am gaining a new trainer on Thursday. It is so easy to meet people here... everyone is willing to help you in any way and the work environment is like nothing I have ever experienced. I don't even feel like I am working... it's so much fun to go into work everyday... I never know what I am going to experience next.

Traditions & Discovery Day

Welcome back!

Friday morning I had my Traditions class. Traditions is a 4-5 hour long class (or orientation) that explains in depth about working as a cast member and the Walt Disney Company itself. It is also the official first day of work! $$$ yay! You learn the company's heritage, values, and other aspects that are very important in making the company what it is. It's a very confidential class, so I can't reveal everything, but I will say that a tour of underground Magic Kingdom was involved. It was UNBELIEVABLE! After we got back to our classrooms, the bossman himself, Mickey Mouse, delivered our nametags! It was so exciting and I could just eat him up. The sad part is that they misspelled Mississippi on my nametag and I have to get it fixed :(

Today, was considered my first day of training. I attended Discovery Day at Epcot. This was like an Epcot orientation, ha! We watched even more videos and it was actually super interesting. We learned that Walt's vision for Epcot was dramatically different than what it is today. Walt's original vision for Epcot stood for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. It was supposed to be an utopian type of environment that contained educational and futuristic technologies. This "perfect city" was leading up to the next step, Walt Disney World. I think working in Epcot is truly a privilege, because I get to work in the park that Walt wanted to create even before Magic Kingdom, and all of the other aspects that make up Walt Disney World. Even though the Epcot today is nothing near Walt's Epcot, it is still a special place. After learning all of that, we took a tour around the whole park. We learned many interesting facts throughout the tour. My feet were killing me though, I seriously have 5 blisters! After heading back into the conference room, we went over a little bit more info, and then met with our leaders. They handed out our new training schedules and told us about our costumes. I get to pick up my costume(s) tomorrow.......and they are...... funny.

On another note, since yesterday was our first day of having park access, my roommates and I decided to go to Hollywood Studios for the afternoon/night. We didn't have much time, but we rode Tower of Terror twice, The Great Movie Ride, and watched Fantasmic! I can't wait to spend my free time going to each of the parks whenever. One of my goals while on the college program is to eat at each of the countries in World Showcase. Gosh, they sound and look so appetizing!

 Well, I'm heading out to go buy my stylish white tennies for work! :o

All moved in!

I realize that my last post was in March when I got accepted into the Disney College Program, but I am now here to update you guys on everything going on in Orlando!

Let's back up to Monday, August 12. Monday was check-in day. All of my roommates and I got in line at about 8:00 am and didn't get finished with the process until noon. It was a very long and tiring day. We turned in our paperwork, took pictures for our ID's, got our housing assignment, and received the exciting news of where we will be working! We are living in Patterson Court, which is where we wanted to live! It is the newer apartments so that's definitely a plus in my book!!! The apartment is great, they provide all the kitchen utensils, furniture, pretty much everything. However, they don't allow you to hang a thing on the walls. So, all we have is our own personal cork board. Splendid.
For the semester, I will be working in Epcot! My location is a store called World Traveler that is located in between France and the UK in World Showcase! I am really excited about it because it is not one of the busier stores in Epcot and so hopefully I will not be stressed. I personally love Epcot, and I absolutely love the countries as well. I feel like this is the perfect location for me :)
After the check-in process, we started to move into our apartment and make all the necessary Target and Wal-Mart runs!

The following day, Tuesday, I had Casting. My roommate, Morgan, and I took the bus at 9 am to head over. This is where we did even more paperwork, and learned a little bit more about what we will be doing for the next week or so. I received my first training schedule... so I start training on Saturday in Epcot. That day is called "Discovery Day," in which we will be touring Epcot and learning more about the park and our job. I'm excited about that! During Casting, they also perform background checks and fingerprinting. My poor pinky finger had to be scanned a good 30 times before it finally worked. My life. After that, we just signed more paperwork and finally got to go home.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I had my housing meeting at 12 pm. It took place in The Commons, which is the apartments known for the International CP's. It lasted about 2 hours, and we were taught rules and regulations of living on Disney housing and everything in between. It was probably the most boring thing I have done so far.

Today, I have the day off. I have not a thing to do so I am hopefully going to rest and get some errands done. I need to take advantage of this time off because after today, I hit the ground running. Tonight we also have a "welcome party" and a few friends from Toy Story will be joining the party as well! ;)

Tomorrow is my official first day of work. I have my Traditions class at 8 am (I have to catch the bus at 6:45) and I am excited about it! All I know is that we learn more in depth about Walt Disney World, take a underground tour of Magic Kingdom, and we receive our name tags. The course is about 4-5 hours long, so it will be interesting. After finishing Traditions, we also get our main gate pass, which lets us cast members into the park!!!!! I have yet to be able to go into the parks since my arrival, and I am so excited to finally be able to go whenever I want. Ahhhhh

I am already having a great time, and I am so thankful for this opportunity to be able to make magic and work in the happiest place on Earth! Life is certainly different here. People don't have the "southern charm" that I am used to in Mississippi, but I have to remind myself daily that I will be back home before I know it and to take advantage of all of this.

It is also so weird to be surrounded by people from different countries. I sat by a guy on the bus yesterday from Germany, and it was neat to talk to him.

And people stare at me in wonder about my accent. And my double name.

That's all for now! Catch up again soon!

-Meri Scott 

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Fun facts from my housing meeting haha....
 - The August 12th arrival date was the largest arrival group in the Disney College Program history
 - In 1981, the program had 248 members, and now it has 14,000 annually!
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DCP - Fall 2013

I got accepted into the Disney College Program!!!!

I am SO excited about this. Since I was a freshman in college I have thought about this program but was too afraid to actually do it. I am supposed to graduate this December, but now I will be graduating next May. I just cannot believe I am going to be living in Orlando and getting to visit my favorite place everyday! I am so obsessed with Disney World, and I'm perfectly ok with that.

So, I got accepted for merchandise. This was actually my first pick. My second was character attendant and then my third was costuming. I will not know which park or where I will be working until I get there. I will be there from August 12th to January 3rd. I am still debating on whether or not I want to audition to be a character performer...since my height range is too tall for a lot. It is going to be an adjustment for sure, but I am excited about this opportunity and doing something totally out of my comfort zone.

Now let's talk about all of the rewards I will be receiving just by being a cast member:

- Discounts at Walt Disney World resorts
- Disney Cruise Line discounts
- Free theme park admission (I'm pumped about this, clearly!)
- A limited number of free tickets for family and friends
- Sneak previews of new attractions, parks, and resorts
and much, much, much more!

I really hope to use this blog as a journal once I am fully there in August. I want to keep my family and friends updated on my experience and, of course, I want to remember my experience here also!