Ooops! Did not get time to blog yesterday so this update covers both days – Had a bit of a late night and an early start.
Yesterday was my first late start which was some welcome light relief. I headed out to Traditions just after noon and the classes were really quite pleasant. My class was led by Ernesto – a Guest Relations leader at the Studios. We got through the class so quickly that we finished 20 minutes before all the other classes so we all stood around outside Disney University taking the standard photos and enjoying the sunshine. Eventually the others finished and we headed back to Chatham. Alice and Rachel had their Traditions class in the morning so were already in the Magic Kingdom. I had about 15 minutes till the next A bus so I ran to Patterson and got changed as fast as possible and ran back to Chatham to catch the bus. As we went through Vista by pure chance Luke and his friends got on my bus. We all headed to TTC and took the boat over to MK. We met up with the others at Pirates which we rode with next to no wait. We went over to Frontierland and rode Thunder which was fun although the wait was pretty long. Next we headed over to Liberty Square to grab some funnel cake. I discovered the existence of Cinnamon funnel cake after Luke bought one – definitely getting one next time round – it is delicious!
After ‘dinner’ we headed over to Splash which had a 50 minute wait time posted. It was about 9pm by now so we thought we would hopefully get out just in time for wishes. The wait was a little longer than expected and we thought we would miss Wishes all together. Eventually we got a boarded a log in the first 2 rows. We got pretty wet on the little drops, especially Alice who appeared to just be in the unlucky seat. We got to the top of the big drop at exactly 10pm, just as we went over the top and had the photo taken the first shot of Wishes went off. It was magical! We could not have timed it better. The first huge explosions of Wishes were like a fanfare as we came over the top – definitely a memory for life!
After Splash we were a little damp and decided that the best way to dry off would be to ride Thunder again! Thanks to Wishes the wait was not too long and we got to ride near the back in the dark – in my opinion the best way to ride. Then it was onto Mansion to round the evening off nicely before making our way out of the park and catching a few glimpses of the 11pm Spectro. In Alice’s words: ‘A perfectly awesome day’!
This morning I had Once Upon a time is Now – the Magic Kingdom Park orientation. Not a lot I can post on here – Disney secrets and all – but suffice it to say that I now know much about what is under the Magic Kingdom and the history of the most visited theme park anywhere in the world. We got to ride a couple of rides which was amazing since we were being paid! In the afternoon we were handed over to our coordinator of training who took us on a tour of Frontierland all the way from Liberty Square to Adventureland pointing out all the things that guests might want to know such as restrooms, fast food and merchandise. We rode Splash mountain since 2 of the people in our group will be working there. Paid to ride on Disney attractions – this really is the best day of training ever! We then went for a short class on Fastpasses and Guest Assistance cards which was very interesting – it is amazing how good Disney is to guests with disabilities – they are so accommodating and understanding. It was then time to ride Big Thunder Mountain so those of us working there could experience it. Unfortunately when we got there it was 101 (Down) so we could not ride it today.
It was then time to get our costumes. We headed back out of the Tunnels and back to West Clock. Costuming at the Magic Kingdom is so much bigger than the Studios was – it was like going into a Walmart after shopping in a corner shop. My costume is really quite nice – it is brown shorts and a blue top which is worn with a brown belt. It was then time to head home.
The plan was originally to head to the Studios this evening however Alice rang me to say she was really tired and was not really up for it. I was really tired too but headed out to go and buy a watch since my other one broke. However I literally bought a watch and headed home since I need to be up at 5am again tomorrow – and in fact for nearly all of the next week.
Training continues tomorrow until the 2nd. I am hoping that means I will have the 3rd or 4th of July off so I can go and see the fireworks but who knows…
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