This will probably be one of my last posts on this site. I now have just three more days of my College Program. So what's going on?
Well, I'm working hard. I've been working everyday for the last two weeks of my program. Christmas at Walt Disney World is insane. Anyone who has come down for the Christmas/New Year's season knows what I'm talking about. You can't take a step without almost tripping over someone. It makes it kind of hard to carry an apron of glow or navigate a couple hundred pound cart through a crowded street. In addition to this influx of people, Fantasmic! has also added a third show, every night through January 5th. That means our shifts are longer, which is nice on your paycheck, but rough on your body and confusing logistics-wise. No rest for CMs though.
If you've been following me, you'll be pleased to know that I HAVE A JOB! Since posting my last entry, I have gotten a call from Casting and as of January 9th, 2014, I will officially begin my role as a Casual Regular (Part Time) Merchandise cast member at Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom. So this will be my new home...

I'm really looking forward to this position. I will be working at the carts and outdoor shops in and around the Tiki Room and Aladdin's flying carpets, as well as in the Pirates of the Caribbean shop and I will continue to sell Glow items, but now you'll be seeing a lot more of me on Main Street, USA!
So as I near the end of my college program, my time in "The Hills" is becoming bittersweet. On one hand, I'm really looking forward to moving on to my new location and meeting new Cast Members, but as January 2nd approaches, more and more of us are starting to realize that the gang is splitting up. I've had a wonderful time in the Disney College Program, and I honestly don't think I could've asked for a better experience. Not everything was smooth, but the only way we learn and grow is through adversity. I met lots of interesting people and made friends from all over the world. Some I will continue to see, but many will be going home after the new year and to all of them I can only say, I will miss you all and I hope you have the greatest success, whether you're going back to school, moving on to another job, or just returning home to regroup and find the next great adventure.
I will likely make one more post, after my program has officially ended as a reflection. Thank you all for reading this blog. I hope that you've found it interesting, if even entertaining, but most of all I hope it's given you a glimpse into the life of a College Program Cast Member. Until then, may you have a very happy new year.

Hello everyone, again. I left off my last post still waiting for news on the Professional Internship front. Well I've gotten news, and unfortunately I was passed over for an internship. But, like I said in the last post, I'm still committed to making the most out of my time down here, so the day after I found out about my er...lack of internship, I took my butt to Casting and applied to a few part-time positions. I applied to stay in my current role, as a Merchandise Cast Member, but I also looked at other roles, namely the role of Character Attendant. I've already been through an informal interview, so now the next step is to go before the heads of the Entertainment department and prove to them that I have what it takes to be a Blueberry (well, the other kind of blueberry). In addition to those applications, I've also spoken to my managers and expressed interest in being considered for a Casual Regular assignment here in Hollywood Hills. In short, I'm working hard to sure up my bases and make sure that once January 3rd rolls around, I still have a job.
While I am disappointed that I did not receive an offer for a Professional Internship, I also recognize that I was up against a great many other contenders, some of which who were just better qualified than I was. Maybe it just wasn't my time, or maybe God is telling me "Katie, you really aren't meant to do that.". I guess only time and more hard work will tell. Like the quote for this post says, I hope that this set back will serve to only motivate me further and perhaps even allow me to prove that I have the drive and determination to succeed. This certainly isn't the end of my Disney journey, just a "Road Closed" sign that I'll have to detour around.
It's coming up on Christmas here and you can definitely tell. Well, not by the weather. I think Florida is the only state NOT experiencing winter right now. But there are certainly more guests coming in everyday and everyone seems to be getting into the holiday spirit. I've mailed my family's Christmas presents home and my roommates and I have already set up our tiny little Christmas tree and decorated it with random things that we could find around the apartment. Here's a picture...

Isn't it pretty! I've also said goodbye to another roommate (Sammie) and welcomed in a new one (Andrea from Peru). I think we'll get along fine. She's a Lord of the Rings fan and we're going to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug tonight at a midnight premiere. Not a bad way to start off a roomies relationship.
I also we very fortunate to receive FIVE complimentary tickets to the 30th Anniversary Christmas Parade filming, starring the one, the only NEIL PATRICK HARRIS!!! It was great fun, filled with cameos by many Disney friends, including this new one...

I'm only a little disappointed that I'll probably be working when the Christmas Parade airs on ABC, Christmas Day. So someone has to record it for me at home! The week of the filming I actually got to see Neil Patrick Harris not once (at the filming), but THREE times! I don't know if Hollywood Studios is his favorite park, but he visited three times during the week that he was here, and seemed to particularly like Tower of Terror. I also happened to be taking my break outside during Fantasmic when he and his family were being whisked away in their Guest Services van. To say I was a bit starstruck would be accurate. But come on, everyone says they would be totally chill until their face-to-face with someone they've only ever seen on television or on the big screen.
With less than a month to go in my program, I'm sort of in this weird flux stage. I know that I'M not going anywhere, but many of my friends are, and so I feel like I need to do as much as I can with them. We had graduation just yesterday and I got my graduation ears!

I definitely like them better than my graduation cap and sort of wish I'd had them when I graduated before! Of course they're getting embroidered. I have to say, I'm not feeling too reflective yet. I guess it's just the looming monster that is "Christmas and New Year's at Disney" keeping me focused only on what's ahead. I went to Magic Kingdom as a guest last night, probably for the last time until after the holiday season. It was just much too crowded again.
I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas (see what I did there =P) and a safe and happy New Year. My next post probably won't come until closer to my program end date, in 2014. Thank you to everyone who has been following my time on the College Program so far. I hoped you enjoyed reading my blog! Until next time...

Why hello there everyone! I figured I'd just check in, give another update since we're half way through a new month. So here's what's up...
It's busy busy busy busy busy. Oh yeah, did I mention it's busy? If you asked me to describe my workplace in two words, I'd say Screams, because it's not Hollywood Hills unless a few guests are screaming their lungs out in Tower of Terror, and Portuguese. Yup. Anyone who's been down to Disney World in July and August knows what I'm talking about. The tour groups are out EN MASS!!! What does that mean for us Cast Members? Well it's very crowded, that's for sure. Kind of a bit more rambunctious than usual, and the Super Greeters and International Tell-A-Casts are our new best friends. But don't let the green shirts fool you. It's not just tour groups from Brazil. Last week we had groups from Uruguay and Paraguay, and this week we had lots of groups from Argentina. I'll just say, my High School Spanish is getting a work out! Whew!
Now that I've really begun to get my work schedule under control and almost down to a science, I've started to expand my focus a bit more and look to take advantage of some of the personal enrichment things that Disney has to offer it's Cast Members. Most people think that's just a bunch of meet and greets and networking events, and sure, some of them are. But wait! There's more!
Just this Monday, I took a Beginner's Puppetry Workshop. Yep, you read that right. Puppetry, as in The Muppets, Finding Nemo The Musical and Sesame Street. In fact, the very first song we learned in the Workshop was the Sesame Street Theme song! The one from 1998-2001 that all us nineties kids are familiar with. If you lived under a rock as a child (which is totally fine, I'm not about judging people's life choices or anything like that), then here it is.

Yup. It was actually really hard! Puppetry isn't just about opening and closing your hand to the words. You have to isolate your thumb, otherwise your puppet looks up every time you open its mouth! And then there are crazy things like dropped syllables and variation and inflection, AND THEN, after ALL THAT, they tell you that you have to make your puppet act. With EMOTIONS!!!! I took this class with a friend of mine, Jonathan from England. We ended up having a mix up with the class times, so we went to the same workshop twice. Let me tell you, it was worth it because there's so much that has to go into puppetry and making a puppet seem real! But it was so much fun. Me and Jonathan did a duet of "Tonight" from West Side Story (not our choice), and then we were in a quartet of "I'm Yours" by Jason Miraz. And to finish things off, the whole class did "Don't Stop Believin" (the Glee Cast version). It was so much fun and our instructors, Chris and Jason, were so...well...animated! I'm on the look out for another workshop. If I can get the basics of the first one down, I might be able to move up to the Intermediate workshop where you start learning about things like eye-blinks and how to use an actual puppet. In the beginners class you get two googly eyes that you wrap around your fingers with a rubber band, but you'd be surprised how your hand takes on a life of its own once it has eyes. If you don't believe me, just ask Jerry, Jonathan's new friend. =D
In addition to the Puppetry workshop, I've also enrolled in a Sign Language course. I'm on week two of ten and boy is my brain stuffed! The class is just so much fun though! It's taught by Michelle, who is Deaf, though the rest of the class is all Hearing. I've tried books before, but nothing beats an actual class. Not only do you learn to sign, but you also learn how to interact with Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. They have so many different ways to get their points across and the class has definitely already given me pointers of how to interact with Deaf and Hard of Hearing guests. It is a bit tricky, though, because everyone in the class is at different levels. A few of us came in only knowing the alphabet (and even then, only SORT OF knowing the alphabet), while others came in having taken courses before and one lady has been signing for over a year! But we still muddle through it, and if we don't know, well like I said, Michelle has ways of getting her point across. The class is really fun and extremely informative. I'm hoping that by the end of the ten weeks, I'll be able to test for my language pin. I really want to become proficient enough. It's a really great skill to have. For next week, my homework is to practice, but also to write about what we think it's like being Deaf. I think that I'm going to take some ear-plugs and go about my day. Go play in the parks, go to the grocery store, just try and get an idea.
So that's what's up with me! I'm starting to get more shifts in the shops now. It was really fun picking up hours at Storybook Circus, so I'm back there tomorrow evening. Also, as we come to the end of July, my International College Program friends are winding down their programs. It's sad and I'm going to miss them, but I know that a few have plans of returning for PIs or various other reasons. No matter what, before they leave we're all going to get "The Kitchen Sink" from the Boardwalk. It's an enormous ice cream sundae that is LITERALLY in a basin. Should be AWESOME!
See ya real soon!

Okay, so maybe we won't go THAT far, but I can say that my training is officially over and I have now "Earned my Ears". Yay!!!! What does that mean? I get to take the little red ribbon off my name tag and now when guests ask me a question I really should know. =/ Even though I've gone through training, I really am still learning about a few things and getting into the hang of living and working down here. I commented to one of my co-workers last night that each shift feels like an experience. I go and it's something new every day or night. It's wonderful, but just mentally and physically exhausting! That's why I haven't written anything since last weekend. This week has just been a whirlwind, but I'm here and I'll try to give you the highlights.

Tuesday: Day off. I slept and went to Wal-Mart, and that was the eventful part of my day. Meh...

Wednesday and Thursday: This was officially my second day of training, since my trainer called in sick on Monday. I had a wonderful lady as my trainer, named Aleida. Aleida es de Cuba =) We were together for both day two and three and she was exceedingly patient with all my questions and roundabout explanations. While with Aleida I had a few cool expereinces. I pin-traded with a deaf couple and got to use what limited sign language I knew (Basically "Have a good day" and "Thank you")  and I got to make a few Magical Moments. One in particular involved three little girls, Bailey, Lainey, and Whitney. They were at Disney World celebrating Bailey's and her sister's (Who was on Rockin' Roller Coaster) adoption. Bailey, Lainey, and Whitney were too short to ride the roller coaster, so they were waiting. We colored in pictures of the Disney Princesses and when they were done, I had them sign them and told them to make sure they went up on the fridge at home. It was adorable!!!

Friday: This was my Fantasmic training night. Fantasmic shifts are much different from normal shifts. I can understand why some people may not like them because they really are very tiring and they are only six hours long. =/ So you don't make as much money. But I enjoyed my Fantasmic shift. My trainer, Charlene, and I took a cart out to "HOJO", or the junction of Hollywood and Sunset Blvd, right in front of the Sorcerer Mickey hat. And of course, it was the first day of the last Star Wars Weekend, so we were out there for the Hyperspace Hoopla! I might have looked a little silly wearing so much blinking, spinning stuff and dancing to remixed Star Wars music, but I had a blast doing it, so there! I believe Charlene was thoroughly amused. We sold quite a bit too, so I'd say it was a successful night.
Because Fantasmic is a night shift, I didn't have to report until later, so I went to the park a bit early so I could get a Darth Vader chocolate, peanut butter cupcake. OHMYGOSHITWASAMAZING! And while I was in Darth's Mall (Get it??) I met up with a few members of the 501st, Florida Garrison. For those of you who don't know, the 501st was a legion of Clone troopers/Storm troopers known as "Vader's Fist". Anakin fought with them during the Clone Wars and kept them around after the Purge. The real-life 501st is a group of Star Wars fans who do appearances and charity work through foundations like Make-A-Wish, etc. I got to "talking shop" with them and they were pretty cool. Two were Cast members too. They gave me their cards and told me to drop them a line if I thought about joining up. Wow! I'm not much of a fan of the Empire or the Dark Side, but these guys were pretty cool and they are super-nerds of Star Wars like me! I might have to consider it!

Saturday: Saturday was my last day of training and I had Donald. Not Donald Duck, another Donald. He seemed quite impressed with my track record thus far and after seeing me work for about an hour out at the Rockin' Roller Coaster cart, determined that I was thoroughly prepared for my final test. So we went and did that before lunch and despite a few tricksey questions, I passed! The rest of my day consisted of stocking, though, because I had a weird shift time. It was also pouring, so there were a lot of people in the shop. Queue more Magical Moments! One little boy in particular stuck in my memory. His name was Josh and he was from England (it's so cute listening to a child speak British English!!!) Josh was a huge Star Wars fan and his favorite character is none other than THE OBI-WAN KENOBI! The Force is strong with this one! =) Josh was too short to go on Rockin' Roller Coaster, but we talked a bunch and it was so fun! Afterwards I got to meet Josh's dad (an ex-rocker himself) and we talked a bit more. It was still raining when they left, so Josh challenged his dad to a race to Tower of Terror. =)

Sunday: AKA Yesterday, was my first Fantasmic shift ALONE!!!! DUN DUN DUUUUNN!!! Nah, it wasn't really that bad. In fact, it was pretty fun. I took out another cart, this one on Sunset Blvd, right near the entrance of Fantasmic. We took rain gear and ponchos, but thankfully our pre-planning meant the weather held off. I sold A LOT of glowing, spinning stuff, but the cool part was that I got to finally see Danielle! Danielle first tipped me off to the College Program and  we'd been trying to find a time to meet up since I got down here, but all of our attempts fell through until one night Danielle came to Hollywood Studios and BAM! there I was! Go figure. She took a picture, so I probably have a picture of myself with my glow on floating around the Internet somewhere. It was really cool to meet up with her again. She starts her training for her full time position at Animal Kingdom Lodge today.
I also met another Star Wars fan, a young man named Danny. Danny was in Tae Kwon Do and of course had his lightsaber with him. He wanted to spar with me (I was waving around one of the Sorcerer Mickey Light Swords when he came by). Unfortunately I had to tell him no, but that I could teach him a few actual lightsaber moves. ;) Since the street was basically empty at 10:30 (the park closes at 10, but the last Fantasmic show is at 10:30), I had plenty of space to teach Danny a few of the lightsaber moves that I knew. His mom thought it was so cool that she filmed part of it. I rounded off that night coming back about fifteen minutes late, but Danny and his family went home with huge grins on their faces and hopefully a very fond memory of the last day of Star Wars weekend. Mission accomplished.

Tonight I have another Fantasmic shift. In fact I have a lot of Fantasmic shifts coming up. Since they're so short, I'm going to have to pick up a few more hours, but that just means I'll be looking to work at other locations. I've got my eye on a Merchandise shift on Main Street, USA. Hmm...

After half a week of twiddling my thumbs and watching my roommate's impressive DVD collection, I've finally started. I'm sure in a few weeks it will sound crazy, but I just really want to get the ball rolling, to get to work! Blasphemy, I know.
This morning was an eaaarllyyyy morning. And you have to groan it out like that. A nice and early five AM wake-up call so that I could attend Disney Traditions. What is Traditions? Well, it's a training course. Not only do you learn about the history of the company, but you also learn about their standard of business and some basic legal dos and don'ts. Then you get into what they refer to as "The Four Keys" of Disney. They are a basic service model, designed to provide castmembers with basic tenets to aid their on-the-job decision-making process. They are:

I'll give you the short version, but basically Disney asked it's guests what they cared about most and what they liked the most about the Disney Experience and these are the four basics that they came up with. After we were introduced to these four keys, we were then taken to the Magic Kingdom, to see these four keys in action. THIS was the cool part. Unfortunately I have no pictures because most of the day I was in an area that was considered "backstage" and you DO NOT take photos of backstage. EVER. It's a fire-able offence and you know why? Because of that third key, Show. Nobody wants to be that guy/girl who crushes the hopes and dreams of every five-year old.
So we went down to the Utilidor, actually the FIRST floor of the Magic Kingdom. "Onstage", the park we all know and love, is actually not at ground level. Go figure. Being down there was pretty cool, and believe it or not, if you had even a semi-decent understanding of the layout up above, you could keep track of where you were below ground. We passed right under Cinderella castle and Ariel said hello to us. We went in around Fantasyland and came out at Main Street, U.S.A. It didn't seem all the far, but then I suppose you don't have to wind around all those twisty pathways like you do in the park.
After we came back to the classroom, they went over the keys in more detail and talked a bit about The Green Standard (Disney is as sustainability conscious as Dickinson, go figure) and a few of their other programs. Then we had a special visitor, Mickey Mouse!
Up until that point, everyone in the room had begun to resemble the bored college students in the middle of their three hour lecture. But as soon as Mickey Mouse stepped through the door, it was like everyone had reverted to five. And he brought some really cool stuff with him...

Ta-Dah! Yup, so it's official. I've got the nametag and the awesome ID badge that lets me play in the parks for free and get super cool discounts at a bunch of places nearby. Me and one of the girls from my group this morning decided to try out that free-admission perk and went back to Magic Kingdom. I will say, it's very different going to the park with a friend, or a peer at least, versus your family. We had so much fun and got to go on a lot of things. And the park was not nearly as crowded as I'm used to it being, going in June and July. Word of advice, if you can go in May, do it! Same stuff, less people. Not a single Fastpass kiosk was sold out and I could actually show up at a show five minutes to and be able to see the show without being rammed into by strollers and people in scooters. WAY BETTER.
So my next stop is Hollywood Studios tomorrow where I will be training for eight and a half hours in...well I'm not really sure. BUT I have to go to Costuming, so maybe it will be some more fun stuff.