TheNeverlandDiaries

A little blog about big adventures.

[tnld]

Second Star to the Left Date 11920.5

Adventurers I must be honest with you EPCOT is not what I expected it to be.... IT'S SO MUCH BETTER. I'm absolutely loving it. All of the "higher ups" have been wicked welcoming. I feel like I'm just visiting a much bigger extension of my Harbor House family. I'm steadily making new friends, networking, leaving good impressions and learning new skills. Like today I learned how to properly pour a beer from the tap, pop champagne, uncork a wine bottle and tap and un-tap a keg (which surprisingly four years at a liberal arts college I never learned how to do.) Soon I'm going to be cash trained which I am kind of nervous about because I am absolutely horrid with math but it will be a great skill that I can take with me when I have to return to my home location and should open up new opportunities for me all around. I'm just so jazzed every day when I come home from training; I think this deployment is just what I needed to recharge my Disney Magic. I'm actually slightly disappointed that Sunday through Wednesday of next week I'm still going to be going through the motions over at CHH because I'm so pumped full of excitement for this Festival to kick off. Well I'm going to change out of my work SHORTS (not dress!) and see if any of my housemates want to help me practice my new knowledge of how to open beverages. hahaha Be sure to leave any questions you may have about the Disney College Program or anything you'd like to see more/less of in the blog in the Ask box because I would absolutely love to hear from you Adventurers. As always HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!

[tnld]

Second Star to the Left Date 11919.0

Good morning adventurers! Although as I sit at the bus stop star gazing under the brightest full moon I’ve ever seen I’m not quite sure that it is morning. Nope. 6 a.m. Definitely morning. At least I’m not sweating it out in my colonial dress today. And why might you ask. Oh didn’t I tell you? I’m being deployed baby! And not to some rinky dink QSR in one of the other lands of the Magic Kingdom - oh no, for my first ever deployment I’m off to EPCOT’s 2013 Food & Wine festival. I’m so excited! To be that kid, it’s “a whole new world” over there. New Guest dynamic, new setup, new co-workers,  new outfit. I have pants. Well shorts. And I don’t even care that they’re bright white and go from the bottom of my rib cage to just above my knee. (Alright they look a smidge odd.) But for someone who before her Program barely ever wore skirts/dresses this my friends is a huge deal. Also I have mother flipping dragons on my shirt. Suck it, Trebek. So yeah, today is my first official day of training and next week I still have a few more shifts at my Home location but after that I’ll be making magic over at Food & Wine! (At least until the festival ends.) A few of my Harbor House CPs are coming too but the booths we’re assigned to are random and so we probably won’t see each other outside of training. I’ll definitely miss Harbor House but honestly adventurers it’s about that time that I need a little vacation from the people I’m accustomed to or I’ll probably Hulk out on one of those monkeys. Oh hey the bus is here. I got to go but leave me some of your questions in the Ask box and keep an eye out for new posts. As always HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!

[tnld]

Second Star to the Left Date 11902.5

Okay so a quick update before I clock in for my shift. I had to get my key changed again because another housemate left yesterday. Not for the same reasons as the last one though.  She actually got a beautiful job offer and we are wishing her the best of luck. It's going to suck because we got really close. I hope her replacement isn't a bigger weirdo than all of us hahahaha Alright I got to go but HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!!

[tnld]

Second Star to the Left Date 11828.0

You aren’t going to believe what happened. Last week my roommate was staying in one of the resorts visiting with one of her friends that came down (actually her roommate from her first DCP). So I had the room to myself and the first night I think hey self let’s watch a movie in bed because WHY THE FRIG NOT? So I get into jams and I have my laptop sitting on my bed. I curl up next to it much like a small cat and then try to figure out what I want to watch. The next thing I know I’m waking up to a large crash. I look over the side of the bed and there’s my laptop just chilling like a flipped turtle on my floor. I reach down shut it and put it under my bed so I don’t step on it in the morning. Come daylight I see that my laptop had landed on its battery cord and smashed the little AC adapter into smitherines. *facepalm* This is why we can’t have nice things kiddos. So after playing “No this isn’t identity theft I’m on an internship in another state” phone tag with the computer people and the bank all week because ordering things online means that you deal more with customer service than if you could actually get yourself to a store; I am getting a new laptop. Yeah Friday is going to be like Christmas adventurers. My new computer probably will no longer be included in what’s arriving this Friday BUT because of coupons/sales/finally making mad money at CHH I am getting like 3 UPS boxes containing items I materially desired. It’s nothing huge it’s like some new kicks, a few bras & a book but I’m so jazzed because I love mail. Also my parents should be mailing me my new Main Gate passes this week (as Disney changed that system for us with the arrival of the Magic Bands). Other than that my new housemate is a googaplex times better than the one she replaced. Even though I didn’t meet her for the first like 40 hours she lived in the house.. ANYWAY I’m off to work but more entries to come. Keep an eye out adventurers but until then HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!

[tnld]

Second Star to the Left Date 11817.5

So guess what? We’re getting a new housemate today! And we’re very excited/nervous. See things didn’t exactly work out with one of our original six... the nicest way I can put it is she just wasn't a people person. Several incidents eventually led to her termination from the program and to be quite honest it's been like two weeks and I still don't know much about it. Sorry I haven't brought it up before I was just trying to see where it would all go. But yeah the cleaning crew has come and gone and at some point today a new girl will move into our house. And I won't be home from until like midnight or later. So I probably won't get to meet her... maybe for a few days.. awkward. But yeah. We're very excited. Updates to come until then HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!

[tnld]

Second Star to the Left Date 11813.0

First off, I finally got the guts to ask out a guy at work. Yeah, don’t get to excited for me yet adventurers. As he is from France I decided it would be brilliant of me to ask him to dinner in French…even though I don’t speak French. Protip: if you are going to ask someone out do it in your best language because love is already complicated enough. Anyway, it turned out that there was a misunderstanding and he thought he was helping me practice my French so when he said “Yeah!” I thought that meant he would like to go to dinner not yay you finally said two sentences of French without completely butchering them…kind of. Anyways we worked it out & we’re still good friends but the worst part of the whole ordeal was the gossip. Apparently, a lot of people on the College Program (I reiterate for emphasis - COLLEGE) find it perfectly acceptable to act as if we are in high school. So there was a lot of he said she said, assumptions & the like which make the whole thing 20 gazillion time more difficult for me and him. Moral #1: A lot of people here gossip; keep your personal stuff on lock & make sure you are there for the job.

Secondly, my family came to visit. It was great to see them don’t get me wrong but this trip was very different from our usual family vacations. For one thing I wasn’t on vacation. I had to work one of the days & trade some shifts for the remainder of the week (hence the 9 day stretch I’m currently busting through). Also my family kept being like oh you’re here until January so it’s more about what we want to do. Which is fine. In fact, that’s what I wanted. To relax and ride the coat tails of someone else planning. But then every two minutes they were like “Okay, what do we do?” “What do you want to do?” “Oh we don’t care it’s up to you.” (Cut to me releasing my arms into the air in exasperation.) My personal highlight of the trip was when I didn’t even make it onto the MK monorail. Like most mornings here in Florida it was brutally hot. I actually got to eat breakfast that day because I was with my folks & not running to catch my bus. I felt really dizzy and tired as we waited for the monorail and as we slowly moved up the queue like elephants in the sun the feeling got worse. When we were finally on the platform I told my family I just needed to sit a moment while we waited. They were going to be adding a new train to encompass the large amount of Guests trying to get to MK. So we waited. My family asked me to stand up. I complied but I was still too lightheaded, so I sat right back down. Then I needed to shut my eyes. I felt like I was going to be sick and it was still so hot. I needed to lay down. I told my dad he should probably get a Cast Member. I actually don’t remember a lot of this middle part or how long I was there. What I do remember is this CM about my age sat down next to me to make sure I stayed conscious and she starts off with “I know you’re probably feeling like garbage right now but you’ve been blessed with beautiful looks. I couldn’t believe it when your Dad told me that you were 22. I thought you were just pushing 18.” I still don’t even know how to respond to this. Anyway I think I talked to her about nonsense for a while & I must have told her I was a CP at one point because all of the CMs at the monorail knew as I came around more, including the hot EMT that checked my blood pressure. After slowly drinking some water or powerade (not sure which was first at this point) they got me to sit up and eventually stand. I asked if I could just sit for a moment in the wheelchair that they had brought. They had me sign some electronic pad saying that I was choosing not to go to the hospital because “I was fine”. I’m signing the last letter of my last name and - remember how I got to actually eat breakfast this morning? Well when you fill your stomach rapidly with liquids there isn’t much room for anything else. Yep. - cinnamon bun all over the monorail platform, my legs, and my cute canvas slip-ons. Goodbye hot EMT it was lovely meeting you sir. My Dad took me back to my apartment so I could clean up and change shoes. The only positive thing to come from my yak attack is that the monorail coordinator was told my mother and sister that we were missing our lunch reservations at Be Our Guest and he pulled some Disney magic and got us dinner ones instead! It was awesome. So beautiful and delicious. Especially as Be Our Guest is booked out through January at this point. Moral #2: With Florida it isn’t the heat it’s the humidity. If you are coming down here hydration is key. I don’t care if you think that your straight Aquaman-ing your life you better become King motha-effing Triton in your water consumption if you plan to survive.

Alright last one. I made Disney magic the other day. I don’t know if someone sprinkled Pixie Dust on my breakfast before work the other day but when I got on Counter I was ON POINT. Huge smiles, great interaction, efficient service aw yeah I had it all baby. So I was asking families what they’re big plans were for MK and I get this little British girl who’s probably 4 or 5 who tells me that she’s looking for Peter Pan. I told her that Peter is one of my favorites and that I happen to know that he likes to hang out right around the back of the restaurant. Mom motions that they probably aren’t going to have time to meet with him. I ask her why she is trying to find Peter and she tells me that she would like to ask him to tell Stitch not to scare her any more. So naturally I open my big mouth and say if I see Peter first I can deliver the message for her and that Stitch probably didn’t mean to scare her as he’s much like a baby & doesn’t know any better. She gets super excited and tells me her name and launches into this big thing basically explaining Stitch’s pysche to me (& I’m thinking girl I know! I was actually alive when it came out in theaters & it’s my sister’s favorite Disney film). Mom collects their food & pulls the little girl along with her off to the table. Hours later while I’m closing CBars (typical) the family has come back solely because the little girl is looking for me. They find me and she sweetly asks me if I talked to Peter yet. Without even thinking about it I said, “Well Megan, I actually ran into Tinkerbell first and I told her your message about Stitch scaring my friends. She’s actually heading to Neverland before I am because I have to stay and clean up here but she promised that she would deliver your message straight to Peter. So when you see her tonight flying from the castle in Wishes she’s off to Neverland to take your message. Is that okay?” She broke out into a huge smile that I had remembered but then she got very serious and asked me, “Will he believe her?” I laughed and said, “Of course! They’re best friends! Don’t you believe your best friend about things like this?” She smiled and quietly said yes. “Alright then”, I said. “So that was okay?” She nodded and then very sweetly goes “Thank you, Beth.” The family left to go find a good spot for Wishes and I felt so good. A few of my co-workers had been standing nearby and after the family left they were like wow how did you come up with all that? I don’t know it’s Disney magic I guess. Moral #3: They’ll tell you that Magical Moments are when you give someone a birthday button or something like that but I think that the real Magical Moments are ones like these. Nothing flashy, just smiling and being nice and doing your best to keep the magic alive. Until next time adventurers, HAVE A MAGICAL DAY! 

[tnld]

Stop. Ohana time.

MY FAMILY IS VISITING! Ah! I'm so excited adventurers. Last week was a crapshoot of emotions what with all of my new friends at CHH leaving for their respective Motherlands so to have my Mother land in Florida this week is just so apropos. I can't wait to have crazy adventures with my sister who loves Disney just as much as I do. And then there's my Dad, from whom I derive much of my bizarre wit. ;) So later this week there will be more diary entries and of course the answering of whatever is in the Ask box. Keep an eye out and HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!!

[tnld]

Second Star to the Left Date 11724.0

Monday at work nothing really happened of note but I got to hang out with an adorable 1 yr old for like an hour when I was on A Frame. She was with her mother, of course, but they were waiting for the rest of the family to get through Haunted Mansion. She was so cute I honestly wanted to offer to babysit for them - I didn't. Because, you know that would be creepy. And I’m fairly certain they didn't even speak English. But anyways, the notable thing about Monday happened when I got home. I was chilling on the couch talking to my sister on the phone, looking at Facebook albums when there is a knock at the door. Pause. 1. It’s just after midnight. 2. My friend from work had stopped by earlier before I got home seeking my advice on a personal topic. Resume. I tell my roommates I’ll get it & my sister to hang on. We now have a rule that I shouldn't open the door. Standing in my doorframe is not my friend from work but some sweaty Asian kid panting for breath. He launches into this spiel about how is German roommate stole his keys and won't let him back into the apartment until he does something to boost his confidence about himself i.e. bring back a girl's bra and/or panties. I just start laughing at the kid. Holy spaghetti-o's Batman, 16 Candles just became real life. Do I at least get Jake and a cake at the end? I would love to tell you that I sent him packing with a lovely view of my door slammed in his face. I implore to tell you this. Unfortunately, I cannot. My other roommates got involved. Not that I don't love them to death or anything but one of them is definitely a more ballsy girl and it's not always a beneficial thing. So two of my roommates begin to question the kid and I'm effortlessly maintaining my laugh so that I don't have to talk to anyone about how I feel this is the stupidest thing ever, and then the Asian kid's other locked out roommate shows up panting at our doorstep. Now I'm not going to lie - he was a good looking kid. Which is probably how this happened: I go to my room because at this point I'm outtie 5000 I want no part in this insanity and my room roommate is like "What the hell is going on out there?" I pretty quickly fill her in and then my other roommate just forks over a bra and keeps talking to them. I'm in my room trying to wait it out. My laptop and phone are in the living room. I would like to get back to my night. But she keeps chatting them up. The sane mild-mannered one apparently hands over some drawers. And then the outgoing one goes, "Beth are you bringing stuff out here or not?!" And I don't know folks, maybe it was because she put me on the spot, maybe it was because I knew that if I refused I would never hear the end of it from her, I don't know. What I do know is that it's been a few days and I still haven't seen that pair of underwear I forked over in the middle of the night to two strange guys and I'll probably never see it again.

Tuesday was good but apparently uneventful as I can remember no events from that day. You're welcome.

Wednesday was also a good day. It was hot as Heath Ledger's smile in 10 Things I Hate About You but it was good. We had what my friend Pedro refers to as "Cinderella Time" at work today though. This is when the restaurant is overstaffed for the projected Guest Attendance and then all of us minions  CPs are assigned random cleaning tasks. Things I saw today: people taking out the actual trash bins (like the metal containers that hold the trash not the trash bins we change like every 5 minutes) and washing them down, people hardcore cleaning the Busser's closet, people Ecoshining the metal banisters that are everywhere backstage, and then there was my task. Another girl and myself were tasked to clean the AVAC room upstairs. We have 2 AVACs in the restaurant, one for each floor. The AVAC is a little room where the trash gets dumped and then sucked away to who knows where. Anyway, the two of us had to scrub down the metal walls with this gross creamy soap, faux powerwash it, and then scrub them down again with Ecoshine (basically it makes metal surfaces super shiny but it's a pain in the butt to apply). We also had to squeegee the floor, reorganize the bins that were in there and get rid of the debris on the floor from previous trash runs. There are no windows in the AVAC nor are there fans. I was in a colonial dress which is by no means made of light fabric or minimal layers. I was still wearing my civvies underneath my costume from my failed attempt to get a turkey leg before work. The temperature today was in the high 90s and the real feel was somewhere in the hundreds. I was dying. At one point I had to grab a paper towel because my face was sweating so much. On the plus side I most likely sweated off the pancakes I had late late Sunday night when I went out with some friends from work. :) Alright, so that's enough - probably more than enough- for one diary entry. I'm sure you're tired of reading by now and I have to get some sleep for work tomorrow. Thanks for sticking through to the end of the post. More (shorter) updates to follow so keep an eye out! And don't forget every other Friday (so this Friday!!) I'm answering questions about the DCP that are in the Ask box so click that link and start asking! Until then -  HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!

[tnld]

Tumblrites, ready your bodies.

Alright so here's how the diary entries are going to go down: I'm not really planning to hold anything back. This means that you're going to read about the good, bad, and the crazy - definitely the crazy because it's me so nothing is ever normal. Sometimes the picture painted might not be a beautiful one but I ask that you remember that I love it here and I'm allowed to have days AT WORK OR IN REAL LIFE that suck just the same as you. This blog is not intended to deter anyone from the DCP (in fact that would probably make me cry). This blog is simply intended to log my adventures in the place where no one ever has to grow up. Cool, I'm glad we got that out of the way :) So diary entries to come but until then - HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!

[tnld]

Tú hablas..?

So one of the things I’ve learned from working at Disney is that while knowing a language other than English (& even that doesn’t have to be 100%) isn’t necessary, it does help - a lot. Even though you can mostly jump the language barrier with Guests with a smile & some good natured determination, knowing a second language might make all the difference when it comes to your workplace. For my part a lot of my co-workers talk to each other in Spanish, French, Creole, Japanese, & Chinese. And I speak English. I used to know Spanish, but then I didn’t use it for four years & now I’m just like, "¿Qué?" When my friends at work forget that I am not a native the Spanish speaker like they are. After the fifth time that my friend turned to me & drowned me in fluent Spanish in a week, I decided that no longer would I be ignorant of what was going on Backstage. So since last week I have been taking Spanish lessons on my bus ride into work on my phone. I am so jazzed to see the look on their faces when I actually understand their muy rápido rants in the Break Room. After Spanish I also hope to learn French & Portuguese & who knows what else! :) ¡TENGA UN DÍA MÁGICO!

[thedisneycollector]

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Because one of my favorite positions over at CHH is Bell Ringer and I get to pin trade a bit as such I thought I should continue to share these pin trading guidelines & possibly cut down on the number of times I get stabbed by pins. :) HAVE A MAGICAL DAY! thedisneycollector:

This is a very simple outline of some of the simple “rules" you should follow when you are trading with a cast member!

Only authentic Disney Pins are acceptable for trading with a Cast Member.

You may trade no more than 2 pins per day per Cast Member.

Cast Members may only accept pins in…

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Was that my bus?

Much like technology the bus has also been fighting with me. If you’re not a morning person & you’re interested in the DCP I suggest you start breaking the habit now. The only time I ever wish that I actually owned a car is when I see my bus to work pull away a minute before it’s supposed to leave. If you give yourself plenty of time the buses are fine (mostly). It’s the giving myself time that’s the problem.. Well there's always tomorrow. HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!

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Videos possibly soon :)

So on Friday I took little videos of my adventures on my day off. But apparently my computer is a Kracken's vajayjay & it won't load the videos up so I can edit together for one thing. The frustration is palpable folks, can you feel it? So hopefully my housemate & I can figure out my stupid computer. That way you adventurers can get a new video! (maybe more if we really crack this Rubic's Cube!) Okay well keep an eye out and HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!

[tnld]

Hey Hey Hey

Alright kiddos, let's do this. Boom Month One. First things first I absolutely LOVE it here. My roommates and I instantly became a little family and work is great. I'm in Quick Service over at the Columbia Harbor House and everyday I dress up like a badass Colonial woman. My swag level is so high I'm like straight Betsy Boss. (Oh yeah history puns.) Work is hard I'm not going to lie. I mean I've never hauled so much butt in my life day in and day out. But it is so worth it folks. When that little kid waves back at you as they are trailing behind Mom & Dad on the way to "trying to find Splash Mountain" everything is worth it. I love making magic for people and I honestly couldn't ask for a better place in this world. The worst thing about Disney is that every day I love it more. I have friends here and that's great but my family and everyone else I know and love are back home in the North. Every day that my heart grows bigger for my new life down here it breaks for my dears in the North. I miss you all so much but I must be honest that I have been thinking about moving down here. Maybe permanently. I have to keep thinking about it. All in a days work for a human Horocrux. Alright more updates to come so keep a look out. HAVE A MAGICAL DAY.

[tnld]

HOLA

Okay so we got the wi-fi fixed! (Apparently Disney I.T. shut us down for a hot second :/) I just finished up my training and I am working like forever hours this week. However my nine-day working streak comes to a straight up halt on Friday SO check back this Friday mid-afternoon for some long desired posts about the program so far. YAY. Alright I have to go get ready for my shift but I appreciate all the people that are flying with us now ^u^ HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!

[tnld]

UPDATE

So the Wi-Fi in my apartment has been down all week. We are working on fixing it but I'm literally running around trying to get enough Interwebs to post this. Keep an eye out though because more adventures will be posted soon. :) Have a magical day!

[tnld]

OFF TO NEVERLAND!

Hey there and "Welcome aboard, explorers!" I'm Beth and this is TheNeverlandDiaries. I'm currently participating in the 2013 Fall Advantage Disney College Program and I am so uber jazzed about it. I started this project so that a) all my lovely dears from home could keep up with my adventures down here in BeAuTiFuL Florida and b) when I was waiting to hear about my own program I was looking for anything and everything that would help me prep for the experience. :D I had really wanted to do this in a webseries but I am currently camera illiterate so... yeah. So for now check back here for updates! YAY! Okay that's all for now so yeah - HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!