So on Tuesday there wasn't much, just a meeting on the apartment complexes and the rules. The complexes , by the way, are REALLY pretty, spacious and have a pool, tennis court, fitness center, and depending on the apartment complex you get, it has its own little resort.

The building on the left is a Chatham building, where I live. Those other 2 don't exist, it must be an old picture. All the buildings in Chatham look like the one on the left.


Today was the big day- Traditions. This is when they really drill into you the look of the park and how you're supposed to act. It's really long and really boring, although it's fun in some parts. We arrived at a building labeled Disney University.

They basically drilled in this message: "WE CREATE HAPPINESS" as the mantra for the cast members of the park. They then took us on a quick tour to Magic Kingdom. If you work in one area of the park, and have to get to another, you actually go through underground tunnels, including ones below Cinderella's castle, so as not to ruin the illusion for the guests. Remember, Disney is all about image. So we walked under a tunnel under Cinderella's castle. Here's a picture of what it looks like.

Under the castle, we passed CINDERELLA walking through the utilidors!! Well, a girl playing her. She looked pretty tired & pissed off. If you work for Disney, remember some of the magic is ruined for you because you see the behind-the-scenes. I smiled at Cindy but she looked unhappy.
So, for example, if you need to get to the mainstreet of Magic Kingdom from Fantasyland, you cannot walk over in uniform out of a park out in the open. You HAVE to use the utilidors. In the park they had us remember to look for 4 "keys"- that they stress. FIRST & MORE IMPORTANT: Safety. The lotto for that is "SafeD starts with me!" (the 'D' being written like the d from 'Disney') The second most important is COURTESY. The third is SHOW (making sure you ALWAYS project the disney image!) and the fourth is EFFICIENCY.
During this quick tour to Magic Kingdom we turned out of the utlidor into the park, and right as we turned, there was Cinderella's castle. I started tearing up & I was the only one who did so. It was the perfect moment; the castle was in the middle of its princess show; the first 3 princesses were dancing with their princes. Mickey & Minnie were up there too. Minnie said she wasn't a princess like these girls, and Mickey said 'you're a princess to me.' and joined them in dancing. Then the 3 princesses song played, and 'A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes' ended just as we passed the castle, it was perfect. We also passed the Rapunzel meet and greet.
BTW, when a bus is out of service, it says 'Flynn Rider' on it so everyone knows not to board it. AHAHAH


When we got back we had more super boring presentations. The two leaders sounded super rehearsed but enthusiastic. Mickey came in (they 'pretended' the knock on the door was a pizza delivery, but it was so obviously rehearsed) and delivered us our name tags. Here's a picture of mine!


We finally got one before we left. By the end my feet were aching, and I just wanted to get out of the clothes- we had to wear nice work attire. If you didn't wear the perfect attire as specified in the handbook, they won't let you board the bus in the first place and WILL send you back to your apartment. You'll have to do traditions on ANOTHER day and it's not a good start.

Yesterday was fun- I went in the pool, it was FREEZING- today was exhausting and boring but at least I'm better prepared.
Tomorrow is my day off and I'll be spending it at Disney World, since today I got my employee card & now get into the parks for free!