Week Twenty-Two: Kenan Thompson and E-Stop at Barnstormer

So I know this is super late, but my laptop is broken so I'm having trouble getting anything on here to work.

June 19th (Monday): It was super rainy and humid, BUT I FOUND OUT I GOT MY FALL EXTENSION!! Same role and same location for me, so I'll be staying in the circus and most likely cross-training at either Mine Train or Mermaid. At work I had one dad that was super mad at me because his daughter was too short to ride but she had ridden it all day yesterday (Barnstormer obviously). It sucks when that happens, but it's usually the kid wearing a different pair of shoes. I tried explaining it was a safety thing but he would hear none of it. Luckily after that I got a super awesome family with a dad that had never ridden a rollercoaster before, so the Barnstormer was his first!! He rode maybe five times in a row, starting in the middle of the plane and slowly making his way to row one. It was so cute that I wrote them out a coupon thing to go ride Mine Train!

June 20th (Tuesday): This was a sad day because I had two friends leave the DCP :( My roommate Sami, and one of my best friends here, Corey. So I went and said goodbye to Corey in the morning before work and almost cried, but I'm sure I'll see him again!! Work was CRAZY HOT but pretty slow so that was fine. I was mostly on Dumbo B for the day, which would normally be a bummer, BUT I GOT TO CHECK KENAN THOMPSON'S SEATBELT. YES, LIKE KENAN AND KEL. So that was super cool, I got to actually interact with him.

June 21st (Wednesday): I was off so I went to Animal Kingdom with my coworker Jenna, and we rode Flight of Passage (which is so incredible). This little girl in front of us was ADORABLE, she goes "mom, I'm nervous because I've never ridden a banshee before" and her mom just goes "that's ok sweetie, I haven't either" and it was so cute omg. We also saw Festival of the Lion King (obviously) but there were only three tumble monkeys, so they couldn't do the acrobatic sequence :( Then we jumped over to Magic Kingdom to ride a few rides and watch Happily Ever After from in front of the castle! Ugh, so good. Pictures to come, I just can't work around my broken laptop right now.

June 22nd (Thursday): Hottest day I've worked so far, with the weather channel saying "feels like 108 degrees today" ew. I walked to Starbucks before work with two of my coworkers to plan out our Florida Keys trip coming up, then went to work where we were pretty slow. I put in for cross-training, requesting Mermaid, but my leader also put Mine Train down because that's generally where they need people.

June 23rd (Friday): I got to E-stop Barnstormer which I never thought I'd get to do!! I don't know how much we're allowed to talk about these things, so let's just say it was a guest using poor judgement and leave it at that. So we had to go down for a good 30-45 minutes to reset everything and call in leaders/security/coordinators. We also had multiple ambulance calls, mostly due to heat and people not drinking enough water.

June 24th (Saturday): I did laundry and when I was folding my laundry afterward I found a giant dried out grasshopper bug thing, missing its head. I literally almost threw up, it was the most disgusting thing I've seen in awhile. At work we had a short weather downtime from 8:50 - 9:30, so fireworks were delayed until 9:30. So we were open for the last thirty minutes and maybe had twelve guests that entire time. Then shutting down at 10pm we had another thunderstorm roll in that actually flooded out exit, so we had to wade through like 4-5 inches of rainwater. ALSO none of us brought our rain gear because we're dumb, so we got soaked.

June 25th (Sunday): I remember hardly anything from this day, but we got to be Weather 101 until close, so we could only complete half of our closing procedures! A great way to end the night ;)

That's it for now, hopefully I can take my laptop in to get fixed this week. Wish me luck on the upcoming 4th of July crowds!!

I GOT MY FALL EXTENSION!!!!

HAPPY HAPPY NEWS Y'ALL!!! I got offered a fall extension!!! WOOOOOO :) Acceptances came out June 19th, and we were told we would hear back by June 20th. Rejections seemed to go out on June 20th, but that might just be within my friend group! Of my coworkers, three of us got extensions and three didn't. One got offered PhotoPass, one merchandise, and then I got same role and same location! So I'm the only one staying in the circus, at least as a CP.

I put same role and same location as my fourth choice, and that was what I was offered. My coworker who got merchandise had same role, same location as her second choice and merch as her third and got offered merch. Then my last coworker who got an extension had PhotoPass as his first choice and got it! So super random (in our opinions) on what you get offered. My roommate, Grace, also got same role, same location (Mouse Gear in Epcot). Also super weird, there are two different end dates for the fall but they choose your end date for you. So I could have gotten November 30th or January 4th, and they assigned me January 4th. My roommate, Grace, got November 30th so we probably won't be able to live together for our extension.

My original extension end date for summer was July 27th, and my transfer date for my fall extension is July 30th. I'm BEYOND excited for my extension, I'm just sad that not all my friends got their extensions. I think the most important aspect of the extension apps they look at is how clean the record card is, judging off who got accepted/rejected of my friends. I could totally be wrong, but my friends that didn't get an extension all had 6 or 7 points and a couple had a reprimand, but those of us who were accepted all had like 3 points or less. I know they also look at hours worked and stuff like that, but if I were to take a guess at what is most important for an extension, I would say record card.

Well that's my little fall extension update! Super pumped to get to experience Disney World in the fall and winter (again). ALSO I'll likely get to cross train at either Mermaid or Mine Train! So I'll keep you updated on that :)

Week Twenty-One: Chance the Rapper on Dumbo and Working Bridge Support

June 12th (Monday): I worked from 9:45am - 10pm but from 7pm - 10pm I was "Bridge Support" (think PAC shift for fireworks). Well the day itself went pretty well, we had some famous Celtics basketball player ride Dumbo, and so did Chance the Rapper! I actually got to see him twice, getting on and off the ride. So that was pretty cool. Around 6:30/6:40pm I got my bump out from the circus rotation and then met up in the Mermaid break room at 7pm for Bridge Support. What that basically is is holding a glow wand and telling people to stay to the right, or tell people that the bridge is closed if it's busy and to go to Tomorrowland. I was on the Fantasyland bridge and it was stressful and hectic with people yelling left and right at us, which is never fun. But it ended up being fine! We closed off the bridge when the fireworks started and kept it closed off while people exited into Fantasyland after fireworks were over. So maybe 25 minutes or so of the bridge being closed off, but that was for sure the worst part with people flipping us off and yelling at us.

June 13th (Tuesday): Off! I went to Epcot in the morning strictly to ride Soarin' and get a raspberry lime macaroon from France.

Oh and a chicken nugget kids meal for lunch. Then I went to Walmart for some grocery shopping and headed back home! I made taco meat for burritos, and funfetti cookies, then spent the rest of the day watching movies and chatting with my roommates. Really not very exciting.

June 14th (Wednesday): I was supposed to work from 4pm - 12:30am, but was late so ended up working 4:45pm - 12:45am instead. In the morning I went to the Dr. Phillips Hospital to try take care of my ER bill from January I still hadn't received, but they sent me to the downtown Orlando hospital because that's where their accounting department is. Well in between I had a haircut, so I got my hair cut then drove to the downtown hospital to work out the issue. I hadn't accounted for that extra time when I made my hair appointment, so I ended up getting caught in traffic (after I lost my car in the parking garage for ten minutes) and that's why I was late. I did get a half point for being late, but my coordinators were really wonderful and understanding about it. Work was good, I met some cool families and one girl with a unique name like mine that I bonded with. We were SUPER short staffed at night (like every night that we have EMH no one wants to work) so they were begging for extensions. It all worked out though!! Then I went home and ate a burrito at 1:30am.

June 15th (Thursday): I worked from 4:30pm - 10:45pm and came in as soon as the outdoor rides got cleared to operate. Bummer for me because I missed out on the bad weather and weather 101's but that's okay because we got an awesome triple rainbow!! SUPER pretty above Space Mountain. We also had a really nasty guest yell at my coworker because his daughter was too short to ride and my coworker wouldn't let her ride. The guest was like "come on man we paid $1,200 for tickets just let her ride" and obviously we can't do that and he got super mad. Like sir, you may be okay jeopardizing your child's safety but we are not. So anyway he told us it was f***ing stupid and we should change the rules. THEN right after I rotated up to the station I got a really complicated supervised child issue that I got a four keys card for dealing with.

June 16th (Friday): I worked from 4:45pm - 10:45pm and went to Hollywood Studios before work with my coworkers. We got to do Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, and Rockin' Rollercoaster via FastPass, and also did the Frozen Sing-Along which is really funny.

At work Barnstormer went down because it automatically emergency stopped itself after a simple station stop and before we could start to evacuate guests, a man literally jumped out of his row and started walking down the lift stairs. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND. Please tell me why people were so incredibly senseless this week. I tell you, the fourteen hour shifts go my so smooth and it's the six hour shifts where everything goes wrong. After work Cassie was kind enough to drive me home so we stopped by Taco Bell and talked about where we think people's brains go when they're on vacation.

June 17th (Saturday): I worked from 4pm - 10:45pm and it was a pretty good day!! I did laundry in the morning, then took the bus to work and work was SO slow. Like 10-15 minute wait times the entire shift for my rides. Sadly it was Angela's last day in the circus (she's going to the Grand Floridian for bellhop) so we all took a picture with her!

The random green child also works in the circus, she had just been at Mine Train for the day. After work I took the bus home which was terrible because all the CP's who were in the park for the day were just coming home after the fireworks and took all the seats. So everyone who worked that day got to squeeze together and stand. When I say squeeze, I mean every single inch of space was taken up.

June 18th (Sunday): I was off! I went to Universal Studios with my two roommates Erika and Sami, and we did Mummy, Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, Dragon Challenge, Jimmy Fallon, Jurassic Park, and the Hulk (not in that order). We also got Butterbeer ice cream which is SO GOOD.

After Universal we went to Animal Kingdom and saw Festival of the Lion King which is always amazing, but they were down one tumble monkey and didn't get to do the acrobatic sequence. Then we got dinner at Satu'li Canteen which is really tasty and rode Flight of Passage which is absolutely incredible. Then back home! Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, Sami has decided to self-term her summer extension and will be heading home on Wednesday :(

Week Twenty: FINALLY Seeing Happily Ever After and Doing Pandora!!!

This week was pretty good! Busy and wet, but good.

June 5th (Monday): I worked from 4pm - 11:45pm and went grocery shopping the morning (SPENT SO MUCH UGH). We were SUPER short staffed at work (until the VERY end) and really busy, so that always sucks. At one point we were actually off shoulder with just a play monitor. So basically we normally have two people staffing ringmaster in the Dumbo play tent, one to hand out pagers and one to take pagers back PLUS a play monitor who makes sure kids are safe while playing. Well we were so short that we had one person doing all three positions WHILE THE PLAY AREA WAS MANDATORY. That means that it was part of the line and every single person had to go through the play area to ride Dumbo. Just imagine handling 150 people at a time by yourself...nightmare!! On the bright side through, I got to spend the last hour tasking (AKA helping other people/not having a specific position).

June 6th (Tuesday): I was the only one with the day off, so I went to Epcot by myself then headed home. At Epcot I used FastPasses for Living With The Land and Spaceship Earth, and actually managed to get a Frozen FP but it started down pouring and I chose to go home instead. I did walk the World Showcase and get yummy tostadas and an avocado margarita from Mexico, but I was completely soaked through and ready for a hot bath after my Showcase lap!! There was also some really intense thunder and lightening.

June 7th (Wednesday): Another day off!! I started the morning off by getting breakfast at the Wave with Corey (Contemporary Resort restaurant) which was tasty. I got eggs benedict and this amazing fresh juice that was like berry/mint/pineapple/basil or something like that. SO good. Then we were going to do DAK but it started pouring so went for Disney Springs instead and saw Wonder Woman! he movie was great but super long. After the movie we took a bus to the Boardwalk and walked to Epcot, doing Nemo, Spaceship Earth, World Showcase, and got lunch at Via Napoli in Italy! I got a glass of chardonnay and a super cheesy pizza. YUM. Then we went to Magic Kingdom and rode Dumbo, Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, and watched Philharmagic. AND THEN I FINALLY SAW THE NEW FIREWORKS SHOW AND IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

June 8th (Thursday): I worked from 4pm - 11:45pm and just had really mean guests. Lots of confused guests as well (one asked me if I worked here...lady I'm in a circus costume and a name tag what do you think?!). We also had to call an ambulance for an issue at the top of Barn when I was at merge and that was stressful because literally no one told me anything and my line wasn't moving and of course the guests could only see me so they wanted to ask if the ride was broken and I was literally like guys I know nothing.

June 9th (Friday): Before work I went to the Mall at Millenia with some coworkers and shopped Bath & Bodyworks semiannual sale as well as at Lush! We hit some other stores as well then all got lunch at the Cheesecake Factory :) I worked a lil baby shift that evening from 4:45pm - 10:45pm and it was pretty good but busy! The park closed at 10pm so we still had a 20 minute line at close, meaning for once we weren't clear for a good 15-20 minutes past close. Literally unheard of at the circus. Also we all got out late because the park took longer than normal to clear.

June 10th (Saturday): I worked from 4:15pm - 11:45pm and it was finally a good day! We didn't have any downtimes (time where our rides weren't operating) and I had some fun guests. I had to ask one kid how old he was (they have to be seven to ride alone) and he was nine, but wanted to know how old I was. I like to ask kids how old they think I am, so I asked him what he thought and he thought I was 37 hahahahahahha (I'm 22) so that was super funny.

June 11th (Sunday): I woke up at 5:30am to meet up with some circus coworkers at 7am to do Pandora.

Park open was at 8am, but they ended up letting us in at 7:20am-ish, and actually let us get in line for Flight of Passage at 7:35am-ish, running the ride at 7:40am! So we actually rode FoP in 20 minutes which is insane. Normally it's at least 150 minute wait time. BUT WOW GUYS it was incredible. Picture Soarin' on steroids if it were more of an individual ride instead of a group ride. So absolutely amazing. Well we ended up doing FoP, the River Journey Avatar boat ride thing, Festival of the Lion King, Kilimanjaro Safari, and Expedition Everest all by 12:30pm. Super impressive, right? After that I went home in time to catch a crazy thunderstorm and watch movies at home.

Pretty good week! I'm a little burnt out of circus right now and really hoping for a new location on my extension, but mostly I just want to hear I got offered an extension (first thing's first!). Hopefully that'll be on next weeks blog ;)

Week Nineteen: Thunderstorms Forever, Michael Buble on Dumbo, & Cranky Guests

May 29th (Monday): I was super congested in the morning so I took Mucinex, but almost ended up calling in because it made me super nauseous (NEVER AGAIN). So rough start to the morning. The rest of the day was good, our bus driver played the Moana soundtrack on the bus which was lovely, and at work we had MICHAEL BUBLE ride Dumbo!!!! Unfortunately I was working B side and he was riding A side, but I still got to see him from afar! Crazy exciting. I worked from 10:15am - 8:45pm.

May 30th (Tuesday): Day off! Yay! I got a massage to help deal with some shoulder issues I've been having, so that was awesome. It was deep tissue so it hurt kind of a lot, but feels so much better now. Tuesday evening I went to Disney Springs with my coworker, Michaelene, and we did DisneyQuest (just the build your own rollercoaster simulator, the buzz lightyear bumper car thing, skee-ball, and the basketball shooting). We also got Earl of Sandwich for lunch and Ghiradelli for dessert!

After Disney Springs we went to Animal Kingdom because Michaelene still hasn't seen Rivers of Light, so we got FastPasses for RoL, Dinosaur, and Kali River Rapids. Well Pandora just opened so DAK was nuts but we did Festival of the Lion King (they were down one monkey so they couldn't do the tumble monkey scene), Primeval Whirl and the Dino Dumbos before doing Dinosaur, then getting chicken nuggets kids meals before RoL at 8:35pm.

Naturally, 20 seconds after we scanned through for Rivers of Light, they went down for weather. So as the lightening and super intense thunder started up, we decided to walk around Pandora! It looks REALLY COOL at night with everything all bioluminescent and stuff. We also got the fun drink everyone has been talking about that is a frozen apple/lime/pear slushy with passion fruit boba on top! Yum! We headed home after that because the storm was getting really bad (apparently MK flooded).

May 31st (Wednesday): Another day off! I went to Universal with my Circus squad (Michaelene, Brittany, Dan, Jenna, and Kyle) and we name dropped basically everywhere to get in through Express. A bunch of our coworkers also work at Universal so they were kind enough to help us out :) I got to do Jimmy Fallon for the first time which was pretty fun, and we were able to do the Hulk, Mummy, Gringotts, Hogwarts, Dragon Challenge twice, Dr. Seuss, and Jimmy Fallon with Moe's for lunch at CityWalk. Also, super funny, Michaelene and I sat together on Mummy and the kids next to her (by kids I mean like young adults) wanted to know how they could get to know us better so that was hilarious. Who hits on someone in the middle of a rollercoaster ride?!

June 1st (Thursday): I worked from 3:45pm - 11:45pm and we thought we were going to go down for weather, but the weather forecast lied to us all day long so we were up and running the whole time. I also swear I saw some Disney exec but I might just have been hallucinating. He looked official and asked me to two-finger point him to the nearest water fountain, so I assumed he worked here and was important. Also I got a four keys card from one of my coordinators for helping make a magical moment!

June 2nd (Friday): I worked form 3:15pm - 11:45pm and it was okay. I was just really tired all day long (I think I'm in that burnt out stage) and we were only down for weather for about 20 minutes. We're in hurricane season, so you're going to hear me talk about weather A LOT haha.

June 3rd (Saturday): I worked from 11am - 11:45pm and it was pretty good! We were down for weather for two hours (see, told you!) and it was a pretty smooth day. I did have to station stop a lot at Barn for kids standing, but nothing too serious. We also had to confiscate a selfie stick and the guest only spoke Spanish so I had to pull one of my Puerto Rican coworkers to help me out (THANK YOU RAY YOU'RE A LIFESAVER). But confiscating them sucks because they tend to belong to crazy guests. It rained all day long, but not too heavy of rain, and I got to hangout with a giant frog while I was at Barn merge all by myself (halfway up the queue line). OH and we had to call in an unattended bag to security.

June 4th (Sunday): I worked from 11:15am - 10:45pm and it was a horrible day. I had the worst guest interactions and everyone was cranky and I couldn't do anything right. I actually had one guest get in my face a take a picture of my name tag to report me to guest relations UGH. So I was at Dumbo FastPass and had a few families that were early so I made them wait to the side to use their FastPasses. One family in particular was like 15 minutes early so that had to wait awhile. WELL while they were waiting I was dealing with another guest complaint who had been here since 7am and done like three rides, and I get MOBBED by people with FastPasses. When that happens you'll see a few turn blue (AKA they don't have a FP for that time/attraction) but it's really hard to catch all of them when you have so many people scanning and running by you. Naturally the family that had been waiting 15 minutes saw a family come through that had scanned blue and were IRATE. So they're the ones that took a picture of my name tag. Honestly that's the closest I've ever been to crying onstage, but everyone has told me it's okay and nothing bad will come from it. So I'm (mostly) over it. But yes, a horrendous day all around.

Luckily most of the week was pretty good, right now I'm really hoping I get offered a fall extension in a new location just because I'm burnt out from circus and it's really hard to be inspired to make magic when you're doing the same thing everyday. But we'll see, I LOVE my coworkers so I'll take what I can get :)