Extended, But Saying Goodbye

So the good news is I have been extended on my program until January 3rd 2014. It means I'll celebrate Halloween, Christmas and New Years in Disney World, and that I'll have worked 7 days shy of a full year for Disney. I'm staying in my current location, The Emporium, which opens up lots of doors for learning new skills and trying new positions. Seeing as how only one or two are left for me to try, I'm pretty excited about it.

The bad news, however, is that my roommates are going home. One was extended, however she and I will not be living together come August, one was denied her extension and the other three are ready to go home. As many issues we've had over the past six months, it's still hard to think about how in three weeks the life I've known for seven months will end, I'll pack up and move into another, smaller, apartment and they will pack up and leave for their homes in Arizona, Nebraska and Louisiana. This means no more early morning video game watching sessions and no more leftover jambalaya in the fridge. This means my roommates will no longer be in attractions, photopass and character attending, but will only be merchandise. And they will only be in the same location as myself. I'm not sure if that's a good change or a change I will come to dislike.

I knew this time would come, but the fact that it's so close is surreal. I wasn't expecting it to happen so fast, for the time I was to share with them to end so quickly, but it has. And so, if you're getting ready for your DCP, let me stress to you: savor every moment. Don't be upset too long, and don't get annoyed over the petty things. Go surprise each other at work when you can, and spend as much time as you can stand with those you love. It's a bittersweet feeling, and it's a depressing one. I'm losing three of my best friends and I have three weeks left to make it worth it.

Until next time,
Kelci

A Day In The Life

So let's look at what a normal day in the life of an Emporium Merch CP is like!

Five days a week I wake up either at 1 or later. Some days I get up at 4 PM for my 7 PM shift, and other days I'm up at 1 for a 3PM shift. I hang around the house and make lunch, eat, get into my costume and then I head for the buses. Because I live at Patterson I take a nice walk from my home to Chatham's bus stop and hang out for a few minutes until either the A bus or the B bus gets there. The A bus stops at Vista, Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary and then at Westclock, which is where I'm headed. It takes roughly 45 minutes to an hour, which is the same with the B bus. The B bus goes to the Poly and then stops at the Grand, before stopping at Westclock.

When I get to Westclock, most days I go straight onto the Cast bus, but sometimes I go into costuming. If I have to go to costuming I allow myself about 30 minutes more time than I needed, just in case I really have to hunt. Luckily for me, I wash my 3 skirts and my expediting costume at home, and only have to worry about getting new blouses and maybe a new tie if mine falls apart. After this I head to the Cast bus and ride it to our entrance of the Magic Kingdom. A couple days out of the week I stop in the Mouse and get Subway for dinner, but if I don't get Subway I head straight down to the Main Street USA area.

A lot of the time I get there early so I hang around the tables and talk with my friends or I'll read a book. Sometimes I hang out on the couch and relax, or fall asleep in the armchairs. This really just depends on what time I get to work! 15 minutes before I am scheduled to start work in the Emporium, I head upstairs to clock in. After that I'll head outside to relax or I'll wander around and talk some more. At the time my shift starts, I go back and get my assignment which can be anything from picking up Stock 5 or Register 17, straightening the charm table, assisting a register, merchantainer 1, door greeter 6, assisting Baby Care or going to Baby Care myself!

If I'm on register I normally hope for Baby Care, but if not I head out to a register where I will hang out for about 3 hours. During those 3 hours I will chat with guests, clean up my area, put things away and of course ring up merchandise. Sometimes we get pulled for other little tasks around the store, but mostly you stay put. After about 3 hours, I get a break and go downstairs or outside to hang out and eat. I then go back up and get a new assignment and head out again. After another roughly 3 hours in my area, I will get my second break and after that I come back for my final assignment. Once our store closes, I get a new task to help in a certain area, do the trash or fill the registers. Once that's done, I head for the bus and go home.

If I am a floorstock that day, I will pick up my radio and my earpiece during my 15 minutes before I start, do a radio check and go and meet up with my expeditor. Once I get my assignment to a floorstock or replenish position, I head out to my area and start to straighten and catch up with my morning person to see what's going on. I then start going back and forth to fill my shelves, and get my carts of merchandise my expeditor pulls for me. I stock, help my guests and jump on the registers if it's getting busy. Sometimes we're slow enough to watch the parade or just spend time with a family, but most of the time this is go go go! When we close, I'll get a door assignment, which is making sure people are only moving south in our store, and not allowing them to go north. Once we fully close, then we get down to the business of fully restocking our area, and then once we are done we head home.

While I'm expediting, I start at 2, which is the earliest of most of my shifts. For this I spend my day in the back breaking down merchandise and picking stuff for the stockers to put out on the floor. I love this role the most, just because I always have something to do and I can help my friends. It's also fun because you get some downtime to chill, without the pressure of being onstage.

After I hop on the bus I take a 30 minute or so ride back to Chatham, and hop off the bus. I walk to Patterson, show ID at the gate and head home. Sometimes my roommates'll be awake, but most of the time I'm the last person home. I'll turn on a movie and make some dinner, sit down and relax a little bit. Then I hop in the shower and get into bed, red a little bit and then go to sleep. By the time I'm asleep it's about 4 or 5 AM, and I will do it all again this afternoon.

Goodnight!
Kelci

Sure Has Been A While!

Well hello there! It sure has been a long time since I even thought about this blog, let alone updated it! And since my post about earning my ears I've done a few wonderful things here at Disney! For one, I've worked at Disney's Boardwalk Resort in their On The Boardwalk shops which is a HUGE leap in differences than my home at the Emporium! For other work related things, I was stock and baby care trained and I asked my leader if I could be trained on anything and everything in the Emporium and she said she would see what she could do. :) Apparently my name was also put in for a merchantainment task force one of my managers is putting together, so I think I'm doing ok!

Other than that I've really just been sleeping and spending time with my friends and roommates. We've had some issues, but nothing we couldn't overcome with some mediation from housing! Also, don't be afraid of the hours. I have the worst hours in the universe but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

A normal day in my life right now is getting up at about 3 or 4 PM and eating breakfast while checking things online, reading or just generally hanging around the apartment before getting ready for work. I then leave for work two (or more if I need a costume) hours before my shift starts, just to make sure I get there on time thanks to the crappy bus system. I stop by costuming if I need to, or head straight to the Main Street Breakroom and hang around there until about 15 minutes before my shift. Majority of my shifts at the moment are stock shifts, which I prefer to register because I'm not locked down to one location and I can roam my zone and others as long as my work is done. I normally get out about 3, 4 or 5 AM right now as our hours are getting longer and longer and we head to the Mouse to get breakfast after, before we head home and do it all again that night. I love it so much, and I wouldn't give it up for the world.

Until next time! (hopefully sooner than this was!)
Kelci

I've Earned My Ears!

Since last Friday I've been working on earning my ears in the Emporium and as of Wednesday, January 16th I have done it! I have earned my Merchantainment ears in the Emporium! :)

It was a lot of hard work (5 days of orientations and training) but it's nice to know that on Sunday when I go to work I can do everything on my own, and if I need help there will be someone there to help me! I'm pretty terrified to go out on my own, to be honest, so at least there is another CP who earned her ears with me on Tuesday that will be working with me at first.

I think the best part about the training I had in the Emporium is that they set it up really well, I had one day in costume training, followed by a day of classroom training, followed by an entire day of register training in costume, followed by another day of in class training and finally my last day of in costume training which basically went through all the jobs we could possibly do in the Emporium followed by 3 days of to rest and recharge. (Minus baby care and stocking of course, as those are separate training sessions I won't be getting for another week or two.)

My first day was basically an orientation of sorts, where I got my costume and got to wear in in the park while I had my Main Street tour! We went in all the back stockrooms, all over backstage and then into every single store on Main Street West and Main Street East! We also went up in front of the train station and nearly all the way back to the castle, so we could see where our costumes would take us and where they were not allowed. We also did a lot of paperwork on the computers, pin traded and met all the coordinators, leaders and managers that were on staff.

The second day was Merchantainment which started out with computer work that is required by Disney and ended with about 3 or 4 hours of a lecture and practice on our point of sale machines (Registers!). This class was actually pretty boring, but has a lot of really important information that we needed to know and remember. I also got a long lunch and ate in the Mouse and got more costumes this day!

Day three was another park day that started early and went seemingly forever. I spent nearly the entire day moving from zone to zone in the emporium working on the registers. I learned how to do all the paperwork that we can possibly do with a customer, how to send things to hotels and to the front of the park and also how to package mugs. I also pin traded some more and learned how to trade in my lame pins that no one wants for good pins that go super fast!

Day four was another classroom day that really had nothing to do with a classroom. Technically this was my park orientation, but I had basically had all of this my first day so I was pretty bored out of my mind. It was a lot of trivia I already knew, and a lot of park history I had read a lot about. For the people who had nvever been to Disney World, it was fun, but for me it was not so much fun.

Day five was my last day of training and we basically did a mishmash of the things I did on day one and day three. I ran the registers for a while, did some merchantainment, pin traded and once again visited just about all the storerooms we have. I also took my final test for merch and I passed! The test really is common sense, and they go over just about 95% of what is on it, but the other questions are pretty easy to answer if you know your basic safety!

However, not all merch training is set up like mine was. My roommate G works at the Boardwalk, and she has nearly 10 days of training because she is being trained in 4 stores vs the one I work in. So just keep that in mind if you are merch, because even on the other side of Main Street USA the training is longer than mine (But there are 4 stores to work in, vs my 1 gigantic store!

Past the training I've just been trying to get used to living in Florida and using the buses. I went to Typhoon Lagoon on Thursday though, which was great! We were there for about 2 hours and we rode every slide with no wait! (AND FOR FREE!) Other than that I'm heading to the parks soon, even though I really haven't bee motivated to do so, and I'm gonna ride Mission Space and Space Mountain!

Till next time!
Kelci

Check In Jan 7th 2013!!!!!

I checked in yesterday and I thought I would tell you all about what happened!



It was actually really easy and went super fast. You start in the line (Be there no later than 3:45-4:00 AM) and they don’t turn you away if you get there early don’t worry. At about 7:00 they let us start in the gates and we stood there for about half hour. After that we dropped off any luggage at the room they held it in and then we lined up outside the welcome building at Vista. When the line started moving inside at 8 we were checked in, asked a few questions, picked up our guidebook/ planner then found out our work location. Next you signed your housing contract and took it to the ladies who circled wellness or non-wellness.


Then you went inside and you went to a desk and got your apartment (It’s VERY important for your whole group to be together at this point or they MIGHT not be able to hold what you want.) then you got your apartment key. After that you sign another housing form, pick up your photo slip and then you get your photo for your housing ID taken. (Make sure you are 100% in the Disney Look and you are NOT wearing a necklace) and wait for the ID to print. Keep that with you! Next you sign the confidentiality form and then you go over the educational opportunities that Disney has. After this if you have a car make sure you have all the information as they need it in order to get you your sticker and your plate frame.

After this station you move to the Disney Look table where you go over the Disney Look with a current CM who will answer any of your questions that you may have about tattoos, jewelry, clothing and shoes. Next you go to the snack table (BRING A SNACK AND WATER BECAUSE THIS IS NOT FILLING AND YOU WILL BE DYING BY THE END IF YOU DON’T!) and then you have to have your I-9 forms ready before you get on the bus to casting!



At casting you will either be in the Mickey Sticker Group or the regular group. You do the same thing, the Mickey group just does it backwards in order to make sure they get things done faster. I had a screwup with my paperwork but they really take care of you at Casting. Everyone that was helping me was really nice, actually talked to me about stuff and they were all wonderful! You verify information you put into your application (over and over! Memorize your social security number!) and then you move on to getting your fingerprints done for the background check.

They scan your ID here so make sure you have it. Then we waited in a little room and was told about the need to change your address on the HUB within 48 hours of Traditions in order to get your Main Entrance Passes (MEPS) and then you cross the hall and wait. You go inside and they give you your training sheet and you traditions information and then send you down the hall to the I-9 station. You will wait at a little room and then while the person at the computer does your I-9 the other person will talk to you about your location and your first day of training. (Be wary if you take out your phone as more than one of us was yelled at for not talking to our fellow new CPs.) The next desk took your ID and talked to you a little and then you gave your purple paper to them (If you were Mickey Sticker Group) and then you were told where to go to catch the bus and you are done.



After that you wait for the bus which will take you back to Vista and then you can grab your bags and head to your complex! You will have your housing meeting the next day and if you are a Monday check in you will have your Traditions on Thursday and if you check in on Tuesday it will be Friday! :D



I hope everyone's check in goes great and if you have any questions leave them below!


Kelci

Four Weeks to Check In and Tying Up Loose Ends

Well today, December 10th, marks the 4 weeks to go mark on my DCP countdown. Keep in mind that this started at 108 days, and I'm now at 28! I'm starting to slowly get things ready to go and I have started packing up some of my clothes and shoes in order to be able to focus on my family and friends my last couple of weeks at home.

It's getting really real now, as today is also the two week mark from my last day at Payless Shoes, where I have been for close to two years. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than ready to be out of that awful corporation (I will miss my boss and some of the wonderful people I've worked with), but I'm ready to go. I won't be mourning this separation, but my last day at my other job is gonna be tough.

I started working for the Everett Silvertips in 2008, and I've spent four and a half happy seasons as a Sales Associate in their team store. If I wasn't leaving this year, I would have hit my five year mark which is half the time the team has actually been around. This job was my first serious job, and boy will I miss it. I've made some wonderful friends in the Store, and I honestly don't think anywhere will ever come close to how much I enjoy the people at that job.

I'm 100% sure I'm going to cry on Sunday while I'm working, as I'm going to be mourning leaving so many people that I love behind. Not that I would change the fact that I'm leaving for the world, but I'm going to miss a lot. This move means no more Silvertips Hockey, no more weekend games with some of my best friends, and no more boss to listen to me and give me advice and reassurance when I need it. It's going to be tough, but they keep reminding me that it will be worth it, and that's what I'm trying to keep in mind!

Other than that, my final for my last class I will EVER take at EVCC is complete, and I'm just awaiting my grade to be posted. I think I did okay, and now I'm going to spend my last two weeks at Payless not slacking as bad as I want to, and enjoy my last month at home. Come December 24th, I will be free from my slavery at Payless, and free to spend time at home getting ready to go!

Next up should be about my adventures in packing my entire life into 5 suitcases and a backpack and saying goodbye to friends and family.

Watch out DCP! Here I come!

Kelci