Disney
ICP & CRP
Blog

Training

2nd Apr 2012

My Achilles Heel and House of Blues

Saturday was spent with Lesley as a guest at Epcot – we did quite a bit and avoided getting soaked in the storm that appeared in the afternoon. We were stuck in the Land pavilion for ages waiting for the storm to pass and then we sat in line for Test Track waiting for it to reset after the lightning had moved away. It closes next week so we really wanted to ride it before then. The weather this week has been weird, hot, really hot and a higher chance of rain than you would expect for March. It is 10 degrees above average, the weather forecast used the graphic below which I think sums up how I have felt most days!

On Sunday I had another Seating training shift with Amelia. I have pretty much got the hang of seating so I she mostly left me to my own devices to just get on with it. I also started helping the servers to bus tables when it got really busy. Technically it is the servers job to bus their own tables and get them ready for the next party but when they are really busy or have very large tables it can slow the restaurant down a lot if they do not get any help so Seaters sometimes jump in to lend a hand to keep the wait time down for all the guests.

I have decided that this is my Achilles heel, You need to put all the old crockery and cutlery on a tray and take them to the kitchen and then clean the table and bring out new cutlery. I think my biggest problem is the tray carrying, I am just not very fast at it. I even managed to break a plate and spill water down myself. Hopefully it is just a skill that will come with time although I did feel a bit like I was letting the team down when it took me so long to get a table ready.

I met Sian on the bus on the way home and she suggested we all went to House of Blues in the evening. The others did not get home from work until later but eventually a plan made! In the mean time I realised I had lost my sunglasses, I have no idea where they fell out of my pocket, somewhere between the Commons and the UK Pavilion. I rang the bus people but they had not found anything so I think they are probably gone. A bit gutting since I only got new lenses for them a couple of weeks before I flew out.

We all had a great night at HOB and of course saw half of the Commons there including lots of the Canadians from our arrival date. On Sunday nights it is free with a Disney ID and they play good music in a massive club although the drinks are a little pricey for my liking.

I am off today and need to do some cleaning as we have a housing inspection on Wednesday and then I think Sian and I are off to Hollywood Studios.

Scroll Down for another archive post after the break

Enjoy this post? Click Like to share it with your Facebook Friends

31st Mar 2012

Seating and Greeting

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.

Enjoy this post? Click Like to share it with your Facebook Friends