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