Dana

Oh man, what a long week it has been for me. I’ve been getting up at 4:30am the last three days for work, and I feel like it is starting to take a toll on my body and energy. So tonight I’ve decided to lay low and just hang out with some friends at my apartment. There is always so much to do and see at Disney, and I feel like I am constantly on the move, even when I’m not at work. So it will be good for me to stay home tonight.

Today I had the privilege to work with my buddy Jessie, from the movie “Toy Story 2”. She was so much fun to spend the day with. I really like her spunky personality. It was also fun seeing Woody today, he’s such a gentleman.

Woody and Jessie, the best of friends!

I know I’ve been writing a lot about my work experience here at Disney, but I would also like to mention that Disney allows an academic experience for those who need it in the college program. Some people (my roommate included) take part in the academic classes at Disney, and once a week they have class. My roommate has about 8-10 hours of homework a week and about 8 hours of in-school time. I think this is a wonderful opportunity for students to gain college credit while they are a part of the program. My roommate is taking a course titled ‘Marketing: You” where she learns about how to network and sale her talents and abilities to companies and work environments. I just think that having the option of taking classes while in the college program is really nice to have.

Posted by Dana at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey all.

Okay, so I know I’ve said it before, but I absolutely love working at Disney! Yesterday I went to the Magic Kingdom with some friends to ride a few rides and get some ice cream. We only went to the park for a few hours, but I love that I have the option of going to the theme parks whenever I want to. I thought I would get tired of the Disney theme parks, but I’ve been here for two and half months now and I still get giddy ever time I enter the parks.

Today I am going back to the Magic Kingdom to watch my roommate in the Dreams Come True parade. Yesterday was her first time in the parade, and she was really nervous about performing. But I guess she did really well because she was thrilled after the parade with her dancing and all. So today I’m going to go take loads of photos of her. I’ll be like a proud soccer mom at a tournament!

Although Disney is a lot of fun, it’s also nice to have a chance to get off the property and go do some fun things. Later today my boyfriend and I are meeting up with my friend form Disney for coffee at Starbucks. Her name is Jennifer and she is also from Washington State (Yakima, to be exact). I was so thrilled to meet another Washingtonian when I got here!

Alina, Me, and Marge waiting in line for Toy Story Mania, one of the newest rides at Hollywood Studios.

Posted by Dana at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wow. What a fun week! My parents and my aunt and uncle came into Orlando last Sunday and we all spent the week together hanging out at the parks. It was so much fun! I got the whole tourist point of view of Disney once again.

I was scheduled to work a few of the days while my family was in town, but I was able to get one of them off so I had three days to spend in the parks with them. On their first day we all went to Animal Kingdom for the entire day. The first thing we did when we entered the park was ride the newest roller coaster called “Expedition Everest”. My dad loved it, but the rest of the family was quite fine with only riding it once.

My family and my boyfriend Ryan were able to come meet Alice at the Grand Floridian for breakfast last Tuesday. It was a lot of fun, and I know they enjoyed meeting her. Also at the breakfast were Mary Poppins, Pooh, Tigger, and The Mad Hatter. It’s a pretty interesting bunch of characters. I guess they’re going for a British theme.

It was great getting a whole week to spend with my family. The next time I will see them is at my college graduation, coming up this June. I am looking forward to graduating so much! I am especially looking forward to being back in the Northwest, even if it’s only for a few days. It will be so nice seeing some of my college friends again; after being away for three months.

We all got to meet Donald together! What a sweetheart!

Posted by Dana at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’ve been scheduled a lot more shifts with my friend Alice lately, and I’m not complaining! Alice is so much fun! Yesterday I worked at the Grand Floridian with Alice. She and the Mad Hatter went from table to table greeting guests, signing autograph books, and posing for photographs. It was so much fun! The Grand Floridian is a beautiful hotel with a wonderful garden outside.

Talking to the flowers

Yesterday Alice was out at the Epcot UK Pavilion. She had a wonderful time playing in the mazes at the UK, and spending some time with her favorite nanny, Mary Poppins. I have a few pictures from her day, and you can see how much fun she was having.

Lost in a maze garden

I personally am having a blast here at Disney. I don’t think I’ve had a bad day yet. This has been an amazing experience for me, and I appreciate every day I go to work. I love being able to make magic for families from every part in the world. I feel like a celebrity when I’m at work, in the costumes, and then at the end of the day I get to take it all off and be my regular self again. That’s a pretty good life.

My family is coming to visit tomorrow! My parents and my aunt and uncle will be visiting me for a week, and I’m so excited! They haven’t met Alice or any of my friends yet, so this will be wonderful.

Posted by Dana at 06:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some of my Disney friends are leaving the program this weekend, and I’m very sad that I’m going to lose them. There are several start and end dates for the college program, and one of them is ending on Friday. So as one last “hooray” with my friend Holly, a bunch of my other entertainment friends and I went and had breakfast at Play N’ Dine. This is a restaurant that we all work at a lot; mostly being friends with Playhouse Disney’s characters The Little Einstein’s. If you have a sibling younger than 6, they’ll know who I’m talking about. Breakfast was awesome, and it was great seeing the restaurant with my own eyes. We were total dorks, dancing silly dances with toddlers, but we didn’t care. We also spend the day together at Hollywood Studios riding the rides and watching some of the shows.

We danced with June

I normally can’t stand clowns, but Jo Jo is very sweet

Today I worked at the Magic Kingdom with my friend Alice in the morning, and my friend Dale in the afternoon. I love the chipmunks so much! And today after my sets in Town Square (the front of the park) I discovered that Disney planned out a catered BBQ for all the Town Square cast members. It was awesome! Free pulled-pork and ice cream; who could say no? It was a very easy day, although I had trouble pulling myself out of bed at 4:30 in the morning! Yep, I had to be at work by 6:30am, and in order to do that I had to hop on a shuttle at 5:20 that took me to a bus at 6:00, which then took me backstage to the Magic Kingdom. I’m pretty tired now. In fact, I think I might go try and take a quick nap.

Tomorrow: another fun day with my pal Alice!

Posted by Dana at 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Home sweet home. I just walked back into my apartment and it feels nice to kick my feet up and relax after a long day of work. Today I worked at Hollywood Studios Play N’ Dine restaurant. I love the character dining experiences, they are fun for the guests and for the characters. Plus today it was 94 degrees and I was very fortunate to be inside all day. I was not so lucky yesterday when I worked at Animal Kingdom. I will include a picture of my “friend” from yesterday and maybe you’ll understand why I was less than thrilled to work outside in hot humid weather.

Other than the hot weather everything is going well here. My roommate is coming down with the flu so I’m avoiding her like the plague. My family is coming to visit next week and I do not want to get sick while they’re here! In fact, I’m about to leave my apartment in a few minutes and go shopping with my friend Alina. She is also an Evergreen student and joined me down here for the College Program.

What I love so much about working here is that I can play in the parks any time I want. A few days ago my boyfriend Ryan and I were at the Magic Kingdom backstage talking to a manager about our contracts, and after our meeting we went onstage to ride the Tea Cups. Working at a theme park definitely has its perks!

Riding the Tea Cups! Alice’s favorite ride!

Posted by Dana at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I unfortunately suffered from an intense migraine yesterday, which took up a good chunk of my day off. It was lame, I was mad that I lost a day of hanging with friends just to sit in the dark. I absolutely hate migraines, but there’s not much I can do about them. I’ve already received two while I’ve been here, and each time I’ve gotten a migraine it’s raining outside. Coincidence?

The rain is very different down here in Florida than in Washington. In Washington the rain comes down constantly, but it’s never too heavy of a downpour. Florida gets much more sporadic rain showers, where the rain will be hot and beat down on the dirt so hard the dirt will bounce. But I have yet to see a downpour last more than a half an hour here.

I did have the opportunity to ride the newest ride at Hollywood Studios yesterday! The ride is called “Toy Story Mania” and it is based on the hit Toy Story movies. I don’t want to give anything away in case some of you might come visit the parks and ride it, but it’s an awesome 3-D ride with some very cute graphics. My favorite part about the ride was the queue line. It’s designed to look like the inside of a toy box with all these games and toys spilling out everywhere. Giant crayons line the area, and the ceiling is a scrabble board! My friend Alina is working at the ride, so it’s even more fun to go there and see her. She really enjoys working at “Toy Story Mania” and loves being a part of something brand new and special at the theme parks. She really lucked out with her job; working at that ride is a big deal!

This spring quarter is literally flying by! I cannot believe there is 5 weeks left to the quarter. I still have a paper I need to write about my experience working in entertainment at Disney for my internship contract, and talk to my manager here at Disney about my evaluation at the end of the quarter. So much to do!

I met the Fairy God Mother on Sunday! She was lovely.

Posted by Dana at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last few days I have been working as a spare at Hollywood Studios Entertainment. This means that I sit around a breakroom and read or do something to keep me busy until either someone in a character costume gets sick or hurt and I take their spot, or my duty manager tells me I can have an early release from work because there is nothing more for me to do. Usually I get pulled to a character, but yesterday I have my first ER (early release). It was glorious! I left work around noon and went to the Magic Kingdom with my friend Josh. We watched the Disney Dreams Come True parade. Now that I’ve been working here for a month I know a lot more character performers, which makes watching a parade a lot more entertaining for me and them.

I’m enjoying this experience more and more each day. Although I feel a little bit like a small fish in a massive pond of entertainment, I feel like each day there is another opportunity opening up to me. This has been such a wonderful internship so far, and I can only expect it’s going to get better and better.

Last night some of my girlfriends came over to watch “27 Dresses” together. Evan and I finally got TV! We have a friend who has a computer flat screen monitor and he is letting us borrow that to get television through. It’s wonderful. I’m surprised how much I was disconnected to the news without the television. I never thought I would miss a TV, but I'm sure glad I have one now!

Posted by Dana at 07:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)