ATTENDANT CORE DAY 1:
If today proved anything to me, it was that I am meant for a
career in Walt Disney Entertainment. I don’t know what division of the company
I will be in, I don’t know exactly what I’ll end up doing, but I know that this
will be my career.
Today was day one of Character Attendant Core training and
it was fabulous. Long, but fabulous. We were instructed to go to the Animal
Kingdom Wardrobe building and then our trainers took us to the Creative
Entertainment building. Mind you, this was in the middle of the strike of
Hurricane Issac on Orlando (all in all, about twenty minutes of rain).
The DCE building is incredible. It’s all brightly colored
and strongly themed and if I had to sit in a cubicle all day, this is where I’d
wanna do it. My trainers today were Joyce and Ashley, both very lovely and
experienced attendants, and I was with a group of four other CPs and one cast
member who was a former CP and training to be an entertainment manager at Magic
Kingdom (so, if I picked up shifts at MK, she could potentially be my manager,
which would be incredibly cool). Day 1 was a lot of sitting in a conference
room, doing paperwork and e-learning, and watching powerpoints and videos that
made me cry. We learned how to log into our EISS schedules, something that can
only be done from company computers. For people in the entertainment
department, EISS has a schedule that is more accurate than the HUB.
We ended the day doing a few mock line closings, which were
absolutely terrifying. I wasn’t totally incapable of spieling to close a line,
but I didn’t think I would ever be able to do it right.
At the end of each day, your trainers ask you to come up
with a “word of the day” do describe your emotional state or whatever. My word
of the day on day one was “anxious” but that was basically the PC term for
“scared $#!%less.”
Started off at MK, where we clocked in and took a tour of
the entertainment base and then we went over to Hollywood Studios and toured
their entertainment base. The “educational” portion of our training picked up
at Epcot, which was really cool, since it’s my home park. Since I was the only
person in my group headed over to Epcot, my trainers took me around personally
and showed me special parts of the base and introduced me to some managers.
We also got our attendant packs, which are bags that clip
onto your belt (making the dreaded costume even more dreaded, but way more
convenient). Packs hold maps and times guides and markers and pens and stickers
and water bottles so we don’t die in the heat. And a bunch of special attendant
pixie dust.
We went to one of the off-set locations backstage, where
there was also a face character training class going on, so that was a good We
were supposed to start practice sets today, but it was raining on and off, so
we stayed inside and did more mock line closes, which was fine. And I felt like
I knew what I was doing a little more. So at the end of day two, my word was
“Whew!” complete with hand motions.
On CORE DAY THREE…
We were handed off to our new trainers, Brian and Katherine.
They were awesome, legitimately awesome. If you’re going through attendant
training and you do not have Brian and Katherine as your trainers at some
point, you are missing out. Brian works at DAK and Katherine works at DHS and I
was so disappointed that I wasn’t going to be working in a park with one of
them.
Day three was at Epcot, and like Joyce did the day before,
Brian made sure to introduce me to all of the higher-ups at the entertainment
base who I probably won’t remember at all by the time I actually have to go to
work.
Day three was also the beginning of our practice set day. We
had a few mock sets (dealing with problematic guests) inside, in which I
realized that I am THE PERFECT problematic guest. Then we went out on stage
with the character training class, who we already kind-of knew from our W2E
class last week. My first ever set as a character attendant, I was working with
Mickey. And it was nuts. NUTS. Because this was an impromptu unscheduled meet
& greet in a twenty minute set, and people ran from all over the World
Showcase to come see it. There were ten
characters in what was essentially and alley way, so all the lines molded
together and people were coming from every direction. We had to hard close our
lines and turn people away and get our characters off set in time.
My first set was chaotic. My second set was a little less
chaotic. My third and fourth sets were with Pooh, and the lines were shorter,
so it was a bit easier.
Brian made a point of telling us at the end of the day that
we, as attendants, are the directors. We are in charge. And we have to be firm
and have control over every situation.
Being told that I was in control, even if we were supposed to notice it
before, really helped a lot. It’s all about having confidence and vocal
strength, I think.
I felt kind of like it was easier than I thought it was now,
and that I had the potential to do it if I wanted to. So my word of the day was
“relieved.”
On DAY FOUR,
We started off at Animal Kingdom, took a tour of the
entertainment base, and then did our character dining education, where we
observed at Tusker House. I want to pick up a shift there at some point. It
looks like a ton of fun.
After that, we headed back over to Epcot, where we basically
just hung out and then did more practice sets. There were three twenty-minute
sets today. My first two, I worked with Minnie. The third, I worked with
Donald.
My first set was better, but my last two were great. Really,
really good. So good, in fact, that Brian and Katherine had absolutely nothing
to critique for me. I also had my fair share of problematic guests to deal with
during these sets, which just gave me good stories to tell for later, so it
really wasn’t a big deal.
One woman was complaining – behind my back, in front of my
face – that “the people in the blue shirts” were horrible, awful human beings
for forcing the characters out in the heat. The characters were all probably
going to die, and she hoped we were all arrested for second degree murder.
Another family came by after I closed Donald’s line. He had
to head over to Character Spot in Future World, and he was on a very tight
schedule. We are taught to never let anyone on our lines after we have closed
them, because it is an extremely slippery slope. The man was BEGGING me to be
able to see Donald, because he had a picture with him in every other outfit but
his blue one and he needed a picture of him in his blue outfit. He was near
tears. His wife then came over, accusing “one of my little friends” of kicking
over her beer and doing nothing about it. The least I could do to make up for
it was let her and her apathetic children see Donald, and if not, I would
completely ruin her vacation. I simply apologized and led Donald away.
When I was back inside, my trainers asked me what the woman
was complaining to me about. I told them the story. It turns out that
Katherine, one of my “little friends” was the one who accidentally knocked over
the beer when she moved the woman’s stroller. The beer only tipped over, and
the woman picked up the cup and drank what was left and said nothing. Had she
said something to Katherine, she would have been able to get her another beer.
Instead, she chose to use it as collateral to guilt trip me.
Another woman insisted that her screaming child, with blood
pouring down his leg from a fall, did not need first aid or a band aid and had
to “shut up because Donald doesn’t like crying babies and he’s going to leave.”
Donald was about to move over to C-Spot, and C-Spot was right over by first
aid, but the woman would hear none of it.
But there were also some magical moments. Minnie interpreted
that a guest’s new henna tattoo was a symbol for strength and mimed it to the
guests. They freaked out. They were SO excited. And when they posed for the
picture with their forearms out and their hennas exposed, Minnie did the same.
Donald saw a Daisy plush in the crowd and took it from his
young guest and started dancing around with it. The little girl was absolutely
elated.
We got our pin lanyards before we went out, so when pin
trading is added to the mix, there is way more to multitask with. Attendants
have to keep an eye on their characters at all times, keep an eye on their
lines at all times, make sure their line is forming in the proper place, make
sure that your set is running on schedule, cut the line off, give time
warnings, spiel to your line, interact with guests, interact with characters,
facilitate guest and character interactions, take notice of guests and treat
them like individuals, entertain guests, be prepared to answer all questions
and solve all problems about anything in the park, be prepared to solve any
problem that arises with your character, entertain the line while they wait,
and NOW pin trade. Turns out, an attendant’s work is never done.
We went back off-set afterward and took our assessments,
which we all passed. We talked about where we would all be working on our first
shifts. I said I would be in Character Spot and Brian talked me through the
different roles. By the end of day four, I felt like I had known these people –
my trainers and my training class – for years. I was so sad that I wouldn’t get
to be working with them every day. Saying goodbye was a really bittersweet
experience, because I knew I was about to start my real job, but I was really
going to miss my training family. Only at Disney would you have so much fun
training for a job that you would never want it to end.
I felt like I fit into the department and the job so
extremely well. My word of the day to cap off training: Comfortable.
Real life starts Friday, August 31, when I take on the PM
shift at Character Spot in Epcot. Weeeeeeee!
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