Fall DCP Extension Applications!

Crazy how time flies, am I right?! Fall extension apps dropped this morning (Monday, May 29th) and they were pretty much identical to the app for summer extensions. You still had to rank your top five roles, fill out basic info, and write WHY you wanted to extend. My role choices went as follows:

1. Same role, new location (reminder: I'm attractions)
2. PhotoPass Photographer
3. Seater
4. Same role, same location (Storybook Circus attractions but I would also get to cross train at either Mine Train or Mermaid)
5. Character Attendant

I also requested Festival of the Lion King or Soarin' as my new attraction in my blurb of why I wanted to extend (at the very end as a side note). The following roles were available to choose from:

• Same role, same location
• Same role, new location
• Attractions
• Bell Services
• Bus Greeter
• Character Attendant
• Costuming
• Custodial
• Housekeeping
• Lifeguard
• Merchandise
• PhotoPass Photographer
• Quick-Service Food & Beverage
• Recreation
• Seater
• Watercraft

Also we could have a new end date of either November 30th OR January 4th, and those end dates will be decided after you get your offer. The start date for the extension is July 30th. To be eligible for an extension you can't have more than one reprimand, and no more than five attendance points in the past six months. To be considered for same role, same location the same thing applies but with 9.5 points instead of five. You also have to pay a $150 nonrefundable fee for your extension as well as a renewal fee for your parking decal if you have a car (I think it's like $25 or something). Preference is given (according to the email) to those who achieve the highest volume and consistency of hours worked, as well as participants who select to stay in same role/same location.

I think that sums up my extension application experience. Now the waiting game begins!! I think last time it took roughly three weeks for me to hear back.

Week Eighteen: GOODBYE VISTA, HELLO CHATHAM!!

Talk about a crazy week!!! But a pretty good one :)

May 22nd (Monday): We had thunderstorms in the afternoon so we went weather 101 TWICE and I got to literally do nothing for the last hour and a half of my shift which was FANTASTIC. Such a good day. Luckily for us, the lightening wouldn't leave the area so we couldn't operate our attractions! Also Snooki was at MK and apparently rode Dumbo which is kind of funny. I worked 11am - 8:45pm.

May 23rd (Tuesday): I GOT TO MOVE OUT OF VISTA HALLELUJAH!!!! It's no secret I was no fan of living at Vista Way, and let me tell you when I walked into my new apartment at Chatham, I wanted to cry happy tears. We're in a 6-person, 3-bedroom apartment on the third floor of building six! Pretty close to the bus stop and super close to laundry, mail, and trash! Yay! Only bummer is that we only have one fridge between the six of us...but anyway my thighs were on fire for three days because I climbed 65 flights of stairs carrying all of my crap up to the third story (there are no elevators). Here's my half of my room:

May 24th (Wednesday): I got an ER for once in my life, which was super nice. We also went weather 101 again for about an hour (yay!) and I spent the ENTIRE shift at Dumbo B. Didn't touch A side OR Barn the entire nine hours. Also we had a super angry old man on Dumbo because he was across the ride from his family (even thought it's first come, first serve and not assigned elephants) so that was just peachy. I worked 11am - 9:15pm.

May 25th (Thursday): I went to the grocery store before work to get a few things I forgot on my previous trip, and my new apartment is only five minutes from Publix which is SO nice. My shift was good, I only got yelled at one time in Portuguese by a really angry Brazilian family, and I worked from 4pm - 11:45pm.

May 26th (Friday): It's getting SUPER hot out, and there wasn't even a little bit of cloud cover to shield the run, so I spent the day sweating. My shift was 2:45pm - 11:45pm. On the bright side though, I got to spend the majority of my shift at Barn, which never really happens.

May 27th (Saturday): Opening day for Pandora! Animal Kingdom actually hit park capacity in EARLY MORNING EXTRA MAGIC HOURS which is unheard of, so RIP Pandora Cast Members. The wait times were 150 and 300 minutes for the two new rides. Ew. I worked from 2:45pm - 12:45am, coming in an hour early and leaving an hour late because park hours got extended an hour in the morning and at night. At work I smelled burning and called in a light that was causing some brush to smoulder, so I got a four keys card for helping prevent a fire, which was nice recognition! My leader actually called me out at our nightly meeting thing to recognize me, which felt great. Also it was two of my coworkers last days at circus so we took pictures in costume! They're going to Hollywood Studios (either Great Movie Ride or Frozen Sing-A-Long) and Adventureland (Aladdin/Tiki Room/Treehouse). I'll show you our closing circus fam below <3

May 28th (Sunday): My shift was SO HOT TODAY OMG I MELTED but besides that it was a great shift!! I had some really fun family interactions, and my coordinator was actually watching me (I had no idea) have a high five war with two kids, and gave me four keys card for awesome guest interactions! So I've gotten two four keys cards in two days which is kind of awesome. I worked from 10am - 8:15pm which is a pretty nice shift.

Week Seventeen: Bye Bye Roomies (Tears For DAYS)

This was the week my roommates all finished up our program and went home! Super sad because I love them all dearly.

May 15th (Monday): My plane landed just before 6am, so I after I got back to my car and drove home I got home at 7am. I went back to bed and slept until 12:30 in the afternoon, did laundry, and sat in bed. Super thrilling.

May 16th (Tuesday): I worked from 4:45pm - 10:45pm and it was a super easy lil baby shift. Also uneventful. After work we got to go to the Philharmagic theater in full costume and watch Moana which was super cool!! They had free popcorn, granola bars, cookies, and soda. Thanks to the Fanland managers and coordinators for putting that on!

May 17th (Wednesday): I worked from 3:45pm - 11:15pm but got up to go to MK around 10am with Alyssa and Alexa. It was quite the stress fest because Alexa got kicked out of the system a day early (her leaders put her separation date as the 17th when it should have been the 19th at the earliest). Basically they wouldn't let her into the park because her pass was blocked due to crappy leaders. Alyssa pulled one of her free guest passes to get Alexa into the park, but that was unfortunate. Well we rode Dumbo, Space Mountain, Mine Train (twice), Splash Mountain, Philharmagic, Small World, and Haunted Mansion.

I had to go to work, and Alyssa wasn't coming to the apartment so I had to say goodbye to her outside the Philharmagic theater and both Alexa and Alyssa started tearing up. I just about lost it, going to miss them all so so much!!!! Well at work I had a really cute little girl ask to take a photo with me because they're doing a circus project at school and she liked my circus costume :') After work I went home and said goodbye to Brooklyn because her flight left really early Thursday morning.

May 18th (Thursday): I worked from 4:45pm - 10:45pm, but got up early to say goodbye to Alexa (more tears) and take Mariam to thai food then to the airport. So sad saying goodbye to everyone!!!! Work was nothing special, and after work I went to Target for a midnight grocery run and shopping haul. Then I came home to an empty apartment and cried.

May 19th (Friday): I worked from 12:15pm - 10:45pm and had an AWESOME day at Dumbo B with my coworker Jasmine! We were hitting our dispatch intervals (the time we're supposed to take to unload and load guests) and being super efficient which was great. It poured down rain for a bit of the day so it was crazy humid and muggy, but besides that it was a pretty good day! I also had a little kid who thought I was in my 30's which was hilarious (I'm 22). OH and this nut case of a mom rode Barnstormer like 10 times over with her daughter because there was no line, and once we had a line so the people couldn't ride again, SHE HOPPED IN WITH ANOTHER GUEST'S CHILD. Like she stuck her kid with a solo riding dad, and she rode with a solo riding child. She asked first but it was so awkward. I made sure the kid's dad was okay with it and he thought it was hilarious so it was fine, but like lady what's wrong with you??

May 20th (Saturday): I worked from 3:45pm - 11:45pm and we had free cupcakes from Gaston's Tavern in the break room! Woo! Work itself was pretty good, I got to watch Happily Ever After, the new fireworks show, from Dumbo B where the audio is really good, so that was a nice end to the night! It was super humid again so I was sweating BULLETS but I guess that's Florida summers for ya!

May 21st (Sunday): I was off today and spent the whole day packing. I did laundry, packed up most of my stuff, and put about half of it in my car. I kept all the liquids and foods inside since it's been so hot, but packed my clothes and stuff inside my car. I also ran to Walmart and Whole Foods to pick up a few things I forgot on my Target run! Then I cleaned and vacuumed the apartment and am ending the night in bed, working on vlogs and blogs.

This upcoming week is pretty good with about 43 hours, and 48 hours next week. Thunderstorms are all over the forecasts so we'll see what happens with that!

Week Sixteen: Montana Wedding + Train Bathroom Overflow

This week was such an interesting week!! Mostly in a good way.

May 8th (Monday): I worked from 11:30am - 9:30pm and it was just kind of a klutz day. On the way to work there were a bunch of cones out and this trucker could NOT figure out how to drive around them so he kept just running them completely over, which just looked kind of funny. Then at work my costume got caught on a doorway and ripped on the back, so that was just awesome. We had a super cute little girl come up to my coworker Beatrice and I, and keep giving us hugs because she loves hugs, so that was adorable. Also, right next to Barnstormer there is a train station where the train picks up and leaves from, and it's connected to a bathroom. WELL the bathroom had a leakage issue where the train station actually got flooded and every time someone flushed or washed their hands, they would pump more liquid into the station. SO the bathroom AND the train station were closed for a few hours on Monday which sucked. Because then we had to point guests kind of far away for the bathroom.

May 9th (Tuesday): I worked from 2pm - 10:15pm and it was a busy day! In the morning I went to Kona Cafe with my roommates (YUM!) for our last big roomie meal :'( The food is pretty tasty and Hawaiian inspired, so that's awesome (it's right next to 'Ohana at the Polynesian Resort). Our waitress was awesome so we wrote her an applausogram which recognizes hardworking Cast Members! After breakfast I went to the mall to make an exchange for an upcoming wedding gift, then went straight to work! At work I got to be in a farewell Wishes video created by Disney's PhotoPass so that was super cool! They just took a video of me saying thank you and a little note for Wishes. On a weird note we had these two guests wiping down their armpits on the middle of their Dumbo ride with those cool pack things you wear around your necks and it made me start giggling in the middle of my spiel. And sadly it was last day of the CP's who extended their programs from fall :'( It was kind of funny though because it was Xavier's last day and in the last ten minutes of his last shift he got to E-stop at Barnstormer, which rarely happens.

May 10th (Wednesday): I worked another mid shift from 10:30am - 9:15pm. Wait times were super short all day long, hovering around 15-20 minutes which is a nice change of pace. We did have this unfortunate bit of the day where Dumbo B was down due to an unusual noise, and as soon as they were up and running again, I had to E-stop A side for an unusual noise. So we were out one side for a good half hour at Dumbo which cuts our efficiency in half.

May 11th (Thursday) - May 14th (Sunday): I got to go to the airport, leaving my apartment at 4:45am for a wedding in Montana!! The wedding was Friday, and it was a beautiful country chic wedding.

And on my way back to Orlando from Montana I had an awesome 36ish hour layover in Seattle so I got to hangout with my family. Luckily I got all the days off I needed, so I was off from Thursday through Monday. My flight left Seattle at 9:35pm on Sunday and landed in Orlando about 6am on Monday morning.

Week Fifteen: Emergency Stopping & A Four Keys Card

It was a crazy week with weird ups and downs!!

May 1st (Monday): I worked from 10:15am - 9:15pm and had a busy busy day!! First off, when I was main panel at Barn I had an alarm go off because one of the brakes failed, so that was fun to deal with while guests were in the station and on the plane. Luckily I called a coordinator and she knew what to do (all I had to do was cycle the dispatch inhibit button, not that means anything to most of you). I had a super cute little girl who had my same hair color and was wearing her hair in a braid (like me) come up tell me we had the same hair and she was super excited about it and it was adorable. ALSO I got a four keys card!!! I helped my coordinator make a magical moment for an awesome family so my coordinator wrote me a four keys card :) For those who don't know, a four keys card recognizes a cast member who did something above and beyond. After work we had Starlit Splash which is the big spring housing event at Typhoon Lagoon, and there was a bus leaving from MK so I went on a hunt to find it. Since it was a CP event I wasn't sure if the bus would be at the bus loop or at West Clock so I changed and walked ALL THE WAY to the bus loop before realizing the bus was actually at West Clock and I had to pick a random tunnels entrance to go down and find my way back to West Clock. THEN it took 45 minutes for a bus to come to take us to Typhoon. The event had free food, a DJ, free shirts, and the slides/pools open. Basically Corey and I sat in the lazy river with his friend Xander from Norway for an hour.

May 2nd (Tuesday): Day off! Alyssa and I went to Epcot in the morning/afternoon and rode Soarin', Nemo, Test Track, the ride in the Mexico pavilion, and Spaceship Earth. Also it poured down rain.

Then we got lunch at Nine Dragons in China, which was super tasty. I got potstickers (SO GOOD), spring rolls, and fried rice. After Epcot we went to MK and rode Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, People Mover, Pooh, Teacups, and watched Philharmagic. Wait times were super short which was awesome (Space was only 35 minutes!!). Then at night we watched Wishes and cried.

May 3rd (Wednesday): Off again! I went to Cocoa Beach with Alexa and it was really nice. We brought a cooler with some fruity beer things and a bottle of wine and sunbathed then swam a bit in the ocean! We were there for four hours or so, and I got burnt. Like always. On our way back to the car we saw a man wearing a see-through mesh white speedo. So that was unfortunate.

Before heading home we stopped by Oasis for shaved ice, got Acai/Pitaya bowls, then got thai food for dinner in downtown Orlando.

May 4th (Thursday): I worked from 4:45pm - 11-:45pm and honestly couldn't tell you a single thing about work that day. Short lil baby shift that apparently was uneventful.

May 5th (Friday): I worked from 3:30pm - 11:45pm and had the joy of using the emergency stop for the first time! We ride stop/station stop all the time which is where you stop the ride without shutting the whole thing down, but in times of emergency we have to push the big red button which requires us to go 101 (go down) until maintenance and a coordinator clears us to power down/power back up again and load guests. So in my case there was a loud, unusual noise, so I E-stopped, powered down, called maintenance and a coordinator, then powered back up after maintenance cleared us. Thankfully the guests were super cool about it, but it was super stressful. Other than that it was a good day :)

May 6th (Saturday): I worked from 3:30pm - 11:45pm and it was an okay day. Dumbo B was a disaster, there's a huge list written up at all our break room locations of all the things going wrong at Dumbo B that have been cleared by maintenance. So it was making weird noises all day, and only 14/16 elephants could be loaded. We also went 101 two times within like 90 minutes of each other which really sucks. Also it was my FAVORITE coordinator, Beth's last day :( She's going over to maintenance for an apprenticeship (I think that's the appropriate terminology?) but we're really going to miss her.

May 7th (Sunday): For ONCE IN OUR LIVES, Alyssa and I basically had the same shift! SO WE GOT TO CARPOOL!!! So exciting ;) But yeah, I worked from 11am - 9:15pm and it was a pretty good day. I had a super weird guest situation where we had five guests throw a fit when their dumbos weren't all in a row (even though it's first-come, first-served) and we had to put them on the next flight. The reason they wanted all in a row is because they HIRED A PHOTOGRAPHER to follow them around Disney World and apparently needed photographic evidence of all rides because memories aren't good enough.

This is a short week because I'll be in Montana for a wedding Thursday - Sunday and come home at 5:30am on Monday morning. Luckily I got all the days off (Thursday - Monday) but that means I have a four-day work week this week. Funny because I still got 37 hours with just four shifts when some people don't even get that with five hahaha.

Week Fourteen: THE LANTERN PIC ROUND TWO & Magical Moments

It was a weird week because it started off kind of horrible and ended wonderfully.

April 24th (Monday): I drove my car to work, which was very exciting, and I worked from 3:30pm - 11:45pm. I got to be inside at ringmaster (the person who takes the pagers back from the play area), which is usually one of my favorite positions, but it was sort of awful. We had Dumbo A go 101 (went down due to an unusual noise) and maintenance took FOREVER to get there so we were only operating one Dumbo in the peak time of the day. So basically I had a ton of irritated guests because they were told one wait time and it ended up being much more than that. So that's no fun, but we made it through!

April 25th (Tuesday): I worked from 11am - 10:45pm and had a crazy day. I was having guests enter through the exit, guests trying to seat little kids together, and guests calling other guests names. One situation actually escalated to the point where we had to call security (we had an EXREMELY rude and disrespectful racist guest). Luckily I had a coordinator right next to me to help handle everything.

April 26th (Wednesday): I spent a lovely morning before work watching What A Girl Wants and Sky High, then worked from 4:15pm - 11:15pm. I was supposed to work until 12:45am, but a coworker switched end times with me! I was on Dumbo all day long, literally didn't touch anything at Barn. Also, a guy gave his pager at the Dumbo play tent, and winked at me. Super uncomfortable hahahaha. We also had to call an alpha (ambulance) for a little boy who hit his head really hard in the splash zone play area thing outside Barn, but luckily the kid was deemed ok.

April 27th (Thursday): My day off!! I spent the morning/early afternoon in Epcot with my coworker, Morgan. We did a world showcase lap and rode Nemo, Spaceship Earth, and Soarin'. She's a CP who extended her fall program out of monorails into the Circus (so she's been here awhile) and this day was the first time she got anything from Flower & Garden!!! Nuts.

After Epcot I met up with my friend Melissa, and we went to Universal for a few hours. We rode Spiderman, Forbidden Journey (Harry Potter castle ride) twice, Gringotts twice, and Mummy. And obviously got butterbeer. We ate dinner at the new chocolate emporium and it was SO GOOD. I got the Blue Plate Burger which had a burger patty, cheddar cheese, mashed potatoes, corn, lettuce, and bourdelaise sauce. It also comes with meatloaf but I ordered it without that. They have a really tasty menu and awesome desserts, I would highly recommend checking it out!

April 28th (Friday): I worked a lil baby shift from 5:15pm - 11:45pm and went to the mall before work! I had some errands to run and ended up spending most of my paycheck. Whoops. I went to the Mall at Millenia by Universal and it was really nice!!! I got a new swimsuit, a bunch of hand sanitizer, new sports bras, and a bachelorette party gift for a friend! Work was kind of funny, I just had little funny things happen. I had one man with a little girl sitting on the outside of the Dumbo so I asked him to move her to the inside, and when he lifted her up to move her, he lifted her straight out of her skirt. So this little child is just in underwear and it took him a few seconds to notice, which was hilarious. His family thought it was so funny, and I couldn't stop giggling. Also, I had to spiel directly to a guest with a child standing on the gate in the middle of my safety spiel. It went like this: "...hold up on the lever to make Dumbo fly high in the sky PLEASE KEEP ALL CHILDREN OFF OF THE FENCE thank you enjoy your flight." Also my coworkers visited me at work :')

April 30th (Saturday): I was off again today, so in the morning I did laundry. I had to use another building's laundry though because this really rude girl took all the washers, even though I was CLEARLY about to put a load in. After laundry I went to Animal Kingdom and watched Festival of the Lion King and walked the Pangani Trail. Then I took a bus to Hollywood Studios simply to buy my father's Christmas present (it has to remain a surprise because he reads this). After Studios I went home, got dressed up, and went to Magic Kingdom with Alexa and Mariam! We did another lantern picture and played around the park. The line for the lantern picture literally took about an hour, probably because it was Dapper Day and everyone wanted a pic while they looked nice.

April 31st (Sunday): I had the joy of waking up at 5:30am to work from 7am - 9:15pm. I had this weird training class from 7am - 8:30am that only took ten minutes, then a normal shift from 8:30am - 9:15pm but it's cool because #overtime. I was basically on Dumbo A all day long, but it was a pretty good day!! We were 101 at one point, but it was sorted out really quickly and easily. I also got to make a magical moment for a really sweet newly married couple. They were telling me they weren't going to do Mine Train because of the line and I happened to have a FP for Mine Train so I gave it to them and the wife gave me a big hug and it was wonderful. Then, I told my coworker Liz that they were newly married so she got the entire line to cheer for them, and again spieled congratulations while they were riding Dumbo! So that was really neat to make a magical moment for someone who appreciated it so much :) I also had a little boy literally drop his pants and pee right outside the Barn queue line. The mom grabs him and says "sorry, still working on potty training" and walks up the entrance. LIKE HELLO WOMAN YOUR KID IS LIKE SIX, POTTY TRAINING SHOULD HAVE ALREADY HAPPENED. But we called custodial and got it all fixed up, my coworker was laughing pretty hard at that. 

That was my week!! Started rough and ended great :) I only have two more weeks until my roommates all leave and I'm getting so sad :(