Traditions, DAKlimation, and the Magic Kingdom

Hello again, friends!  Or should I say Jambo?

On Thursday afternoon, I had what Disney calls "Traditions" - a class meant to get new employees hyped up to work for the company by explaining their ideas on service and what it means to current employees to work for the Mouse (complete with video footage of Cast Members being interviewed/giving stories, etc.).  I don't want to spoil it for any of you who might be considering coming to work here at WDW, but let me just say this - I was nearly in tears on multiple occasions!  Disney does an amazing, amazing job of making their new hires feel incredibly special and warm and fuzzy to be helping to make the magic for their Guests.

The only downside: it was cold and rainy - like, in the fifties and RAINY.  ON MY FIRST DAY OF (TECHNICALLY) TRAINING.  And I was not prepared for it!  My advice to anyone for anything (not just Traditions, though I do think it would be more magical if I'd been properly attired): check the weather and dress accordingly.

Oh, yeah - I also GOT MY FIRST NAME TAG!!!!!

I had planned to go to the Magic Kingdom after Traditions, because we got our WDW Employee ID cards (yay!), but to be honest, I didn't get back until around 8:30 (I'd taken a bus at 1:45 to get there) and I was cold and wet and just wanted to relax, so I stayed in and went to bed early - which was a good decision, because the next morning I had "DAKlimation," the Disney's Animal Kingdom park orientation!

Again, I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who might get to work in DAK, but I had a blast!  I feel so, so blessed to be working in DAK with all of the animals and other amazing Cast Members.  We talked about the park's mission statements in a classroom and then took a tour of our park (with a little surprise - but I won't reveal anything!) and then after lunch we headed to Costuming to pick up our oh-so-cute outfits!

And by oh-so-cute, I mean oh-my-gosh-do-i-really-have-to-wear-that.

Okay, so it's not actually that awful - especially since everyone has to wear one - and the hats are actually really cute!  That being said, costuming was a disaster.  There was literally NOTHING in my size, so I had to make due with either larger sizes or articles of clothing from other rides that looked similar.  They told me to come back every so often to see if they'd gotten anything in that would fit.  So maybe not the most magical moment, but, hey - I'm still working at Disney World!  And I'll have almost a week and a half more of training, so I'm not anticipating a huge problem.

But now I feel obligated to share with you lovely people a little about what I learned not about DAK, but about life in general.

A) Disney's sizes run very, very strangely - my pants are literally twice the size I normally wear, and my shirt is two sizes smaller.  Not such a good ego boost.

B) You should ALWAYS CHECK THE WEATHER.  DO NOT WEAR A SKIRT AND THIN SWEATER WHEN IT IS GOING TO BE FIFTY FIVE DEGREES AND RAINING.  Also, Disney doesn't allow you to use an umbrella if it's got a logo or something on it (I made the mistake of bringing a UNC one, which is blue and white with a UNC logo and was too ostentatious for me to use while representing the company), so make sure to invest in either a Disney umbrella or one that is very plain (I'd suggest plain black) with no logo.

C) DO NOT WEAR HEELS TO ANY ORIENTATION EVER.  ESPECIALLY NOT ONE THAT REQUIRES YOUR WALKING AROUND A PARK IN THE RAIN.

I hope that some of you will learn from my mistakes so that my suffering won't have been in vain.

Anyway, all that negativity aside, I can't wait to go play in DAK on one of my days off and get to know my park a little better!  It's a really cool place!!

Finally, after I took a coworker to find the necessary brown boots for Safaris drivers when we were finally finished with Costuming, she and I headed to the Magic Kingdom to meet up with some of my other friends!  We'd been having awful luck with transportation all day - on our way to DAKlimation another bus caught on fire, so we got really delayed (I don't think anyone was hurt, though, so that's a plus!), and we'd had to take a really long bur ride back to our apartments while carrying all of our costumes - and that luck didn't seem to change.  We took a bus to the Polynesian, thinking that we could get on the monorail and avoid the hassle of having to avoid going backstage in the MK, which ended up being about a ten minute walk from the bus stop.  And when we got to the station, the monorail was closed, so we had to use the ferry - which takes twenty minutes.  Katie and I were dying - we were so excited to go play and we'd already had such bad luck with transportation that it was doubly sad to have to wait on the ferry, even if it /was/ pretty scenic.  Training technically ended at two and by the time we finally made it into the MK, it was 6:47.  Talk about a lot of travel time!!!

But I can't really complain, because then we were in the Magic Kingdom!  After grabbing a quick bite to eat at Pinocchio's in Fantasyland (I got an overpriced flatbread pizza that was okay - I'd recommend it in a pinch because it's probably less expensive than most of your other options), we had just enough time to try and catch a good spot for Celebrate the Magic and Wishes!

Our view of the castle for the shows!!!

That being said, it was too foggy for us to see the fireworks during Wishes (which is really sad, because it's been years since I've seen it - if I've seen it at all!), so we left early and headed to Space Mountain.  After that, we grabbed some famous Dole Whip floats - and, yes.  It lived up to expectations.  I mean to take a picture of it but it was SO GOOD that before I knew it, I'd finished!  Then we did a bunch of other rides - Pirates, Big Thunder Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid (which I'd never done before - it was really cool and very well put together, if a little in the uncanny valley for me), and we finished up the night with Peter Pan right as the park was closing!  We had a really, really amazing time and got a lot done, considering we were only there for four hours!

p.s. i promise to take pictures next time i go to a park sorry i was too excited to think about it

The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful, with a very long, crowded bus ride - so crowded I had to spend most of it standing and holding onto the railings for dear life - and finally getting back to my apartment around 12:15.  Yikes!  Considering I woke up around 5:30 for DAKlimation, I was pretty darn exhausted and I had a little snack before going to bed.  I was so tired I don't really even remember getting to the actual bed or under the covers - but that's the DCP for you, I guess!  I wouldn't have done anything differently (even though my outfit choices were cute but questionable), because I know that everything I've done so far an everything I'm going to do for the rest of my time here is going to be an unique, absolutely unforgettable experience <3

I hope everyone had (yesterday) and is having (today) the most wonderfully magical day!