Today I was up and at 'em by 7am, needing to leave the house by 7:55. I caught the bus no problem and had time to drop off my lunch in my locker at Cast Service before making my way to the ODF Base backstage. There I met my trainer for the day, Alex. He was wonderful to work with. The other trainee on our team, Sharon, was actually a transfer from a fast food restaurant in Epcot, so already knows what she's doing. She just technically needs to be trained for ODF, even though she's done it all before.
We got to our home for the day by 10am, and didn't open up until 11. We spent that hour putting the ice cream machine together and getting popcorn ready to go. We put out condiments and made sure we had enough cups - anyone who has ever worked in fast food knows what I'm talking about. It poured rain at one point in the morning and it was wonderful to be under cover. I'll have to pick up rain gear for tomorrow. I was using the register for most of the day, since that's the most important thing to be comfortable with right off the bat. It was pretty easy to pick up though, because I've been on cash at different retail locations before.
The worst part, however, was those stupid 1$ bills!! I lost count of the number of times I went looking for loonies or toonies for change. My first instinct was "oh no! I'm out of those coins!" But no, I just need to get used to having a bill for those. Silly Americans.
For break we sat outside, and I was hungry, because my break wasn't long enough to go back and get what I'd brought to eat... but my shift was a shorter than normal shift so I knew I could just wait it out. Both Alex and Sharon were great and answered little questions about working at Epcot for me :)
After break we went back to the air conditioning, and I was practically chilled. In Florida. In almost June. I think I'm getting used to this heat thing. At 3:30pm, we were done for the day, and Alex showed me how to bank out, and put my money in the right spot and receipts given to the right people. Then we clocked out and I was done my first shift!
I was going to meet Natalie for an evening at Epcot so I had brought a change of clothes with me and left them in my locker. But when I got back to the Cast Services building and back into a wifi zone, I had a message saying she'd gone to MK instead. So, I took my time eating the lunch I'd brought and shopping at Company D (the cast discount store backstage). I also signed out a few more costumes - the one that I had signed out originally had been 'okayed' by Franceso; and was wayyyyy too big. A size 16ish. And the belt, which he had measured to fit at my waist, was too small. It fit around my waist, but I have a high waist, and so where the belt fit comfortable, the shorts didn't go up that high! So, I got different sizes today for tomorrow and next week. I also found out that my red Staples outfit is only for training! I'll have something more exciting when I'm done after next week :)
I left my back back and costumes in the locker, got changed and went out into the park for a few minutes. I have a new app on my iPod that is maps of the Disney parks and that also gives you ride wait-times. It's very handy, and showed me that the test track wait for single riders was only 20 minutes. I knew i wanted to try it before my family came, so I hopped in line :) While in line, I met two other CPs, Dakota and Chole. Once they found out I was from Canada they immediately wanted to know how I was handling the heat, and why I didn't have an accent. The folks I had been working with earlier had commented on my lack of accent as well, and I guess I'm just not very exciting. But then I said 'eh' in conversation with the CPs and redeemed my Canadian self ;) I also told them I played hockey and frequented Tim Hortons; it was very exciting to them to have met a real live Canadian ;)
Once I got on the ride, I was split from Dakota and Chloe and ended up beside a very nice man from North Carolina. He's at Disney with his daughter, but she didn't want to ride Test Track and he wanted to try it out. He asked me how long I was here for, and I told him all summer and that I was a Cast Member from Canada. He thought that was awesome! He asked me a bunch of questions bout the program and how I found out about it, and was very impressed I came all the way to Florida by myself :) It was a fun ride, and again my favorite part was there fast bit, just like last time we were here :)
After the Test Track, I walked through MouseGear (the big merchandise store in Epcot) and Facetimed Mom and Dad for a quick second. up until then I had been debating waiting and watching the fireworks, but I wanted to get home and talk to them without internet glitches :) So, I hopped the cast bus (which was sitting there outside as I arrived!) and came home! I just finished talking with them and I think I'll call it an early night tonight.
All in all, my first day of work went very well! Hopefully my trainer tomorrow will be just as nice. I won't be air conditioned tomorrow, so hopefully I won't find it too hot!! Now I'm off to play some video games and call it a night :)
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