Disney Lodging: The Journey Begins and Destination Cashier

Sunday started my first day of training at Disney University. Training lasted for four days and was split up into two different sections: The Journey Begins (one day) and Destination Cashier (three days). I had two really great facilitators throughout my training, Scott (who works at Pop Century) and Carolyn (who works at the Contemporary).

This is the wonderful drive I had every morning going to D.U.

Beautiful road with a long stretch of orange groves.

Me in "Disney Look" for my training classes.

So beautiful.

This guy. THIS. GUY.

Hercules, Flik, and Jack Skellington! My heroes!

Ok, I just thought this was funny.

DAY ONE: The Journey Begins

The Journey Begins was basically an overview of all the resorts. We talked about the different resort categories, the different cast member roles in the resorts, the different themes of all the resorts, etc. We played a fun game where we had to match obscure pictures from the resorts with the resort name. Our team was "The Silly Symphonies" (thanks to my wonderful team name skills - you're welcome). We went over the historical timeline of Walt Disney World, including opening dates of all the parks and resorts. We also talked about general guest services and Disney's green lodging initiative.

Awesome Skeleton Dance poster on the wall in our classroom.

This room had Walt's entire timeline, from the Alice Comedies to Mary Poppins. It was amazing.

We were given very long, one hour+ breaks on all of these days. So on the first day, me and another girl in the class (Sarah, who is working at the Polynesian) went to the Magic Kingdom to just walk around. While on the bus, we saw Peter Pan running around backstage, just being adorable. We went into the Mouseketeeria (sp?) and got in line behind Gaston, who only had his hair and thigh pads on (it was amazing). Then we roamed the Utilidors and decided to pop out in Liberty Square. It was really crowded, but we managed to see Mickey's Philharmagic before heading back to Disney University. It took us a while to find a route back under the park, but we eventually found the one that Jack Sparrow comes out from in Adventureland. (!!!)

Taking in an attraction on break.

The parks have been really crowded. 40 min wait for Haunted Mansion!

DAYS TWO - FOUR: Destination Cashier

On day two we moved to a different classroom, where we stayed for the next three days. It was a computer lab with large photos of the resorts on the walls, and it was connected to another room that contained an actual training lab that was set up just like a front desk at the resorts.

This is what's inside the elevator!

During the three days of Destination Cashier, we learned about Lilo - the computer program the resorts use at the front desk. We learned the steps of check-ins and check-outs, how to bank in and bank out, and other technical things. We also learned all about different types of packages, the different dining plans, different types of tickets, types of groups, levels of V.I.P.'s, and guest service techniques. We also spent a good bit of time learning about foreign currency conversion and different types of payments that we accept. It was a lot of information to take in over three days.

The labs were extremely helpful. We practiced checking in and checking out guests during all kinds of different scenarios. We practiced accepting foreign currency, sending faxes, filling out cashier check sheets, etc. They played music in the lab to mimic the loud atmosphere of a resort lobby, which I thought was pretty awesome (although a bit scary at first). Everyone was always nervous in lab, but I think we all did very well - especially by day three.

The first day I left my I.D. in the room while we were on break, so I didn't really have anything to do. On the second day, me and a few other girls went over to Property Control and Cast Connection. I bought a Walt Disney biography book (to add to my collection) for $5 and some Mickey groom ears for my husband for $0.50. Then we went to the cafeteria in Disney University and I got a salad.

On the third (and last) day, a lot of us went to the Magic Kingdom. We popped up in a Fantasyland gift shop and a few of us went to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. I got the Lighthouse Sandwich without broccoli slaw and the Vegetarian Chili. We ate upstairs, overlooking the Haunted Mansion.

At the end of day three, Scott told us a wonderful guest service story that he participated in that pretty much made everyone cry. So that was a good way to end training. I decided to go to the parks after that, but I'll leave that for another post.

Overall, this was some amazing, first-class training. It's amazing what we were able to learn before even getting to our resorts. Mind you, it was absolutely mentally exhausting at the end of the day. But it was all so helpful. I need to go over my notes and type them out so I can study before my first day of on-the-job training!