Training Day(s)

Yea, I know it's been a while since I've updated this thing, but I've been busy and I'm sure you guys have better things to do than read a semi-amateur blog. Besides I'm gonna make this one extra long, so get over it.

For those of you who have been reading, it's nice to see you again, and for those of you just joining us, welcome.

To preface this post, all you need to know is that I work at Splash Mountain in Frontierland in the Magic Kingdom. Which brings us to training:

The first thing that my trainer told me was that first day is called "Oh Shit Day" because they show you everything that you would be doing, and then on the other days, we would focus on each aspect. So we started with the queue and all 5 combinations of it. Then we took some time to shadow all of the ride positions (Dispatch 1, 2, and 3, Unload 1, 2, and 3, Grouper 1, 2, and 3, Merge Point, Photocells, Wheelchair Assist, Stand-By Greeter, Fastpass Distribution, Fastpass Return, and Tower). Then I read from the Operations Guide Manual, which describes what to do during Downtimes, Cascades, Intrusions, Resets, and Evacuations as well as random facts such as Splash Mountain opened in 1992 and the ride lasts 11 minutes and 24 seconds.

Oh Shit.

While it was a lot of information to process it wasn't too bad... until I actually had to perform the positions. My first time at Photocells, a person passed out in the line, someone got of their log, a couple's photo got "washed away" by someone else making an obscene gesture in the background, a lady left her aluminum water bottle in a log, and the Wheelchair line was backed up.

Oh Shit.

Over the next few days I spent time being trained at all of the positions and reading some more out of the O.G. everday. Now let me tell you about reading the O.G. The room they have you read it in is just warm enough that it makes you tired, and the constant hum of the A/C unit in the wall might as well be a lullaby. Couple that with the fact training was in the morning and I was already tired and that's a recipe for disaster. I would pay moneys for a video of me trying to read that manual because it must have looked like I was head bangin to some dope beats the way that I was nodding in and out of consciousness. Training lasted 5 days but it was spread out over 2 weeks. I had finished day 4 and my day 5 wasn't until next week, but I still needed to work to fulfill the minimum number of hours so I spent all day at Fastpass distribution.

Oh Shit.

For those of you who don't know a Fastpass is an ticket that helps you bypass the normal stand-by line, and its free with your park ticket, but you can get one every 2 hours. While at distribution, you get a lanyard with pins on it so guests can trade their pins with you. Also, when people walk through the front gates, their IQ drops a substantial amount. This will make the next few sentences clear. So I stood around the Fastpass machines all day helping guests get their tickets un-stuck from the machines and that's fun, but then you get the same 3 questions all day? "So how do I get a Fastpass?," "Why is the ticket not valid?," and my personal favorite "Why can't I get a Fastpass?" There were some highlights though: This Dad came up to me all shady and whatnot and I'm thinking, "Oh great, what does this crazy person want?" So he comes up to me and says, "I hear you're the guy to talk to about getting free Fastpasses."
So now I'm thinking I'm gonna have some fun with this guy so I say, "I'm known to locate certain things from time to time... how many ya need?"
"3"
"Oh the Father's Day Special," so I take 3 Fastpass tickets out of my pocket and turn around and hold them behind my back.
"Thank you so much sir"
"Just remember that you didn't get these from me"

And that brings us to the pins. Apparently these pin traders are all into it and its a big deal. I'm just like whatever, I've got pins, they're not spectacular, but I think they're alright. Well all day I would get people, of all ages, asking to see my pins. Some of the adults were nice and would say, "thanks" and then walk away, while the kids would walk up, look at my pins and just say, "no" and walk away, so it was like whatever, I've got bad pins its no snot out of my nose and then an hour before close, I finally got one person who wanted to trade a pin with me... and then it was like dominoes. It seemed like every person who looked at my pins after that traded with me. I traded like 10 pins. So then it finally ended and I was able to finish my training... or so I thought.

Oh Shit

On the day that I was supposed to be assessed and certified to work at Splash Mountain, I was halfway through, and I was running that ish like Usain Bolt. But then it started raining, and lightning-ing and we had to shut the ride down. Well that's just great, so now I'm not assessed.

Oh Shit

Not really though cuz I breezed through the last half the next day and I am currently a certified Splash Mountain Host.

Zombie Robot Clones

We had one night in the apartment to ourselves before the housing welcome meeting where we found out what was allowed and what was not allowed. Needless to say we broke two rules on our first night. But we were younger then, and didn't know any better. We then had the rest of the day to by groceries and nick-nacks. On Wednesday we had Traditions where we learned the Disney Way as well as the Disney Look, the Disney lingo, the Disney Scoop, and the Disney history. It was all very Disney, especially the people teaching it. Don't get me wrong, they were very good at their jobs, but I'm not buyin it. When we checked in, they took our finger prints on these high tech scanners and were very thorough. Either they want to prevent us from committing any crimes, or they want to make zombie robot clones of us. How do you think Disney is so well staffed? By the time I'm done I think I'm going to end up like this...



But I digress. After Traditions, the one and only Mickey showed up and they gave us a tour of the park and they showed us the secret passages and walkways. If you want to know you more you can ask meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Whoops sorry about that folks, now where was I? Oh yeah Disney is awesome, and it's the happiest place on Earth.

How I Met Everyone Else

Eduardo had just graduated from the University of Arizona, and he was waiting for his plane in the Tucson Airport. He was a little nervous since this is first time away from his Tucson home. He was put at ease when he saw a kid with an Arizona shirt. Eduardo started a conversation with the kid and found out his name was Will. So they were talking about where they were from and when Eduardo said he went to Tucson High, a girl named Veronica chimed in saying that she went to that same high school, but she graduated 2 years after Eduardo. Then it came time to check in and it just so happened that Eduardo and Will were randomly assigned to the same apartment.

Meanwhile, my mom was talking to another mom while their sons were checking in.

Meanwhile to that, I was waiting in a line much longer than any of the ones I waited at Universal, to check-in. I was talking with the people around and one of those people was named Jeremy. We were both talking about how we had no idea who our roommates were going to be. We said that if we didn’t like our roommates that we would both transfer so that we could be roommates. Later that day I find out that I am assigned to Frontierland Attractions in the Magic Kingdom and he is assigned a character performer and he is “friends with” Tigger. After Jeremy and I return from check-in and meet up with our parents to move into our apartments. We each hop in our cars and when my mom and I pull up into the parking lot, who should pull up next to us but, wait for it… Jeremy, and it turns out that my mom had been talking to his mom while I was talking to him. So we go into our apartment and we are setting up our room when Eduardo and Will walk in. We then meet our other two roommates, Nelson, who is a little quiet but cool as hell, and then Josh who is never here, so Nelson basically has a single. And thus the Crew, the Wolfpack, the Fab Five, our group of roommates was born.

And now for the cherry on top; after we had been moved in, Eduardo invited Veronica up and she told us what she had been assigned to. She is “friends with” Winnie the Pooh.

And So It Begins...

I have been in Orlando for a grand total of 4 days. I have finally settled in to my apartment, met all my roommates, (hopefully) bought everything I need, and am enjoying my day off before it all begins and I begin my job has an attractions member of the Walt Disney World Resort. So I guess I'm going to use this blog to tell my stories and give updates as to what is going on in my life in Florida. Kinda like Tucker Max. But without the sex. So nothing like Tucker Max. Alright, here we go. 

Upon arrival at Orlando International everything was going smoothly; my Mom and I were able to get our luggage and our rental car without a hitch, and we checked into our hotel. Since we had some free time, we decided to check out the place that I was supposed to check into on Monday. When my Mom booked the room at the Holiday Inn Express they said that it was walking distance from the check-in area. We put it in the GPS and it was 15 minutes away. By car. So we drove to the check-in, and on our way there we pass a Holiday Inn, the one we were supposed to check in to, so we went in, explained the situation and they fixed it. So after moving our luggage from the wrong hotel to the right one, we settled down and the next day went to Universal Studios and it was our lucky day because it was not crowded. I'm not gonna do a full post about Universal but all I have to say is Harry Potter World is awesome and the rides are gnasty.