Harry Potter Celebration at Universal - Part 1

Tonight was the beginning of the Harry Potter Celebration weekend at Universal Orlando, so I just simply had to go. So, as soon as I got off work, I changed clothes in the bathroom and headed off to Universal!

When I arrived, I walked as quickly as possible to the front of the park, trying to figure out how to buy an annual pass at such a late hour. I found guest relations, waited in line, purchased my annual pass (after haggling with the guy to let me use my apartment utilities bill as proof of Florida residency since I don't have a Florida I.D. yet), and got into the park just barely before they closed the park. The event was held 30 minutes after the park closed, so you had to actually be in the park before that time to attend. It was an insane rush to try to achieve all of this in the time that I had, but I made it!

Neville, Fred, George, Luna, Seamus, Mr. Weasley

It was so cold tonight that I bought a pretzel just to warm my hands up. It was really cool to get to see so many members of the Harry Potter cast in person and I'm really glad I went. Also, Neville is a babe:

I won't get to go at all tomorrow, but I plan on spending the first half of the day there on Sunday! Can't wait to see everything else at the Expo!

First Few Visits to the Parks

Here's a photo recap of my first few visits to the parks while on the program!

First time at the Studios:

Completely random run-in with "The Wizard"! This guy's name is Rodney and he goes to the same university Jon and I did. He was friends with Jon and I had never met him before. I was walking around in the Tower of Terror gift shop and saw a wizard hat and cautiously asked, "...Do you go to Auburn?" Or maybe it was, "... Are you from Alabama?" Either way, he was like, "YES!" and then I knew it was really him and not some other guy who dresses like a wizard. So it was really cool getting to meet him and his lady. They were so nice and I got to send Jon a photo to completely blow his mind.

Lines for everything were pretty long, so all I did was ride Star Tours and Great Movie Ride. The only paper Fastpass I was able to get before they were done away with was Star Tours : ( I really, really wanted to collect them all while I was on my program. I'm still pretty upset about it.

 First time at Epcot:

Vegan "beef" lo mein from Sunshine Seasons!

Epcot was DEAD the night we went. It was the greatest experience of my life. The entire park looked like it had closed an hour or more earlier and there were still just a few guests walking around, taking in the sights. During Illuminations, there were gaps all around the lagoon with no one standing by the railing. When there were guests at the railing, they were only one-person thick. I've never experienced anything like it in my life. I was able to hop, skip, jump, and dance all throughout World Showcase to some really amazing new music they're playing now. And I got to see Illuminations from so many different vantage points that I never had before.  Hands down, the best show on property.

We also rode Spaceship Earth and Maelstrom. And we were able to peek in on the new Elsa and Ana meet-n-greet in Norway.

First time at Animal Kingdom:

This was my first time getting to visit Animal Kingdom at night, so it was really exciting! I had never been able to see all of the park's lighting and it was really awesome to see.

We rode Expedition Everest twice - once in the front and once in the back. Riding this at night is AMAZING. Especially in the front during the part where the track goes out. So much scarier when you can't see what's below or how far down everything is.

We had a really cute interaction with Donald. After we took our photos with him. He ducked down behind the dinosaur with his flashlight and acted like he was making signals with it. 

Jon was really hungry, so we decided to eat at Restaurantasaurous. We both got the veggie burger. We had a bit of an issue with mine - the hostess told me it was vegan, as is. It came out with a chipotle mayo sauce on it and I had to talk to someone else, who told me that neither the bun or black bean patty were vegan. So I had to get a completely different burger and bun without any awesome sauce. But the burger ended up being really great. The new vegan buns they have are SO much better than the nasty gluten-free Ener-G rolls they used to use.

 

They also had this really cute shirt in Dinoland U.S.A!

Resort Orientation: Memories, Movies, and Magic!

Yesterday was my resort orientation at Pop Century. We met at 9:30, which was such an unbelievable break from the 8:30s the past few days.

We had to meet at Cast Services Building B, which is shared by Pop Century and Art of Animation. Pop used to share with Caribbean Beach, but now they're in Cast Services Building A, right next door. This was my first time using my ID to gain access through a gate, so I'm sure I looked like a goon, waving my ID around until something happened.

When I went inside, I signed in, got my "Earning My Ears" ribbon, and they took my photo against a wall (for what, I don't know). Then I was guided into our classroom where we were given an overall introduction to Pop Century. It was extremely boring to me since I've stayed there so many times. And it was so awkward because everyone in the class was so unenthusiastic about being there. One girl literally kept her arms crossed and had a scowl on her face the entire day. I don't know what everyone's deal was, but it was quite unsettling.

Anyway. We played some silly "What's this place?" and "Where is this located?" kind of stuff. Then we took a tour of the resort, which was also kind of boring since, again, I've been there so many times. It really would have been cool to do all of this at a resort I didn't know much about.

I did get to see where I'll be clocking in when I start my on-the-job training, so that was good. And I was told where to park and everything.

Then we went back to the Cast Services building and went on our lunch break. Many of us went to get our costumes from Costuming during this time.

Mine. Is. Hideous.

There's no other way to describe it. It's the most unflattering, un-themed costume ever. It's just a plain, grey, skirted costume with a unisex maroon sweater for when it's cold. And I have to wear hosiery every day. Blaaaaarrrghh. It's so ugly. But whatever. I'm sure it could be even worse. Supposedly Disney is "taking a look" at Pop's costumes right now, so who knows if anything is going to change while I'm there or what any new costume would be like.

After that, I headed back over to Pop to get something to eat. I ended up picking up some Babycakes cupcakes and getting a build-your-own burrito (which was really good).

When I got back, I was met by a training coordinator who gave me my schedule for the next week and told me who my trainer would be. Then she told me that I needed to stay for a safety class and then do some e-learning activities in the lab.

The safety thing was just horrible. I mean, it's great information and all, but my goodness it was boring. Then my e-learning ended up being an hour-long session on chemical safety in the workplace. What chemicals am I going to be using at the front desk?! It was so annoying, because the other two girls working the front desk at Art of Animation were getting to learn all about Disney's Magical Express and I was learning about Safety Description Sheets. *sigh*

After I was finally done, I clocked out and headed home. Jon had Traditions today, so we decided to go to Epcot. Like I said in my previous post, my experiences in the parks the past two days will have to be talked about separately. So that's coming up soon!

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!