Dan@Disney

On Wednesday I started training in the Pavilion. Half of us are starting on Podium, seating and greeting dining guests and half are starting in Chippie. This meant I got to wear the costume, it is really not as bad as some people make out, I have definitely had worse. The hat is a bit annoying but it is kind of growing on me. The only thing that I don’t like is that you get 3 pairs of socks and you have to launder them yourself and not take them back to costuming – I am not the greatest laundry fan at the best of times.

I got a Facebook message from Katy saying she and Rob were getting an early bus and I was welcome to join them. I did not really want to arrive on my own so I went with them, it was really nice to walk in with someone I knew. Sophie was training me and we started by going over table numbers, which are pretty simple except for a few randoms which you basically need to just learn. Seating consists of waiting for a ticket to print and then calling the relevant party over and showing them to their table – nothing too taxing. After that I watched Sophie a few times before being left pretty much to my own devices. It was actually quite fun and the guests were all really nice.

A lot of people were going straight to CityWalk from Epcot but I didn’t have clothes with me. Kirsty and Laura invited me to go to BDubs (Buffalo WIld Wings) with them instead – it was a bit of a crazy night but a lot of fun. I was glad I wasn’t working the next day though!

On Thursday Craig, Emily, Bailey and I went to Animal Kingdom. It was very busy and very hot – not the best combination. We did manage to do Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest which was nice plus we saw the Lion King show which I always enjoy. Since it was so hot we left fairly early to get back to the Commons and then just chilled before getting a relatively early night.

Friday was greeting training with Charlotte. It was her birthday so I felt sorry for her having to train me – I tried to be the best trainee I could to make her day that bit easier. Greeting took me a little longer to get the hang of than Seating but your job is basically to check the guests in and make sure that all the details on the reservation are correct. You also work with the Assignor to try to accommodate as many walk-ins as possible and give them an accurate wait time. I did make a couple of mistakes during the day but hopefully I have learnt from them and won’t make the same ones again.

Because it was Charlotte’s birthday she asked for an ER and it was approved, which meant I got an ER too! On a training shift! I have only ever got 2 ERs ever so this was a lovely surprise. I am sure Karma will shortly return and I will be force-extended 4 hours or something…

I think today is probably going to include a trip to Epcot as a guest – it is the only park I have not been to yet.

Scroll Down for another archive post after the break

Monday was our onboarding day and our first day at Epcot. We had an 8:30 am start where we were met by one of our Coordinators of Training (CoT), D.J., who took us to do some more eLearning including responsible vendor (alcohol service) training and training on the MATRA POS system used by the cash registers. Once again I managed to avoid a few of the classes as they were still on my record from 2009.

For Lunch we met up with the Canadians who had done their Discovery Day (Epcot orientation) that morning. D.J. went far above and beyond telling us a few tales about previous CRP experiences and even offering to help us out if we ever found ourselves in a bit of a bind. He is a really nice guy.

After Lunch we walked over to the UK to meet with Whitnie, one of the UK F&B managers. She welcomed us to the Pavilion and took us through policies and procedures and gave a quick introduction to what is expected of us and how the next few months will look. We even got some free Fish & Chips for lunch!

After we were done for the day we all trekked back to the Commons on the C bus and got changed before dashing to Hollywood Studios for a few hours. We managed to do the new Star Tours, first time for me – very impressed and Tower of Terror. We were going to watch Fantasmic but the line, even for the late show, was insane so we decided to give it a miss. Plus we also had another 6am wake-up the next morning to consider.

Tuesday was an even earlier start at 8am for Discovery Day. This started with a presentation on the history of Epcot and then we had a walking tour of the Future World including a chance to ride Spaceship Earth. For World Showcase we transferred to a boat tour to cut the walking. It was a really interesting morning and a really nice way to learn the park, even if I did have sore feet at the end of it.

For the afternoon we were met by Anna who is the UK Pavilion CoT. She took us to Lunch and then on a tour of the UK Pavilion. It is big! I can now tell you where a lot of things are but I am pretty sure I am still going to get lost in there. We also met our other managers, Jack and Joe as well as one of our Coordinators. We finished the day with paperwork.

I am training on seating this evening with Sophie as my trainer which means I have had a really nice lie-in and I feel amazing for it – looking forward to getting started now.