Real Work

Yesterday was my first day out of training and into real Cast Memberness. I worked all around Spaceship Earth all by myself. I think overall, I'm pretty darn good at my job. haha. Just sayin.

At Disney, they'll tell you that for every bad experience a guest has, it takes 3 good experiences to just bring them back to neutral so its very important that every single guest be treated special and with courtesy and efficiency. Yesterday I was stationed at the entrance/exit of the park for the beginning of my shift and the end of my shift. Since most people are either in a rush to get in or are exhausted and just want to go home, not many people stop for pictures, so most of my time is spent saying "Good morning! Welcome to Epcot!" or "Thanks so much for coming guys. I hope we see you again soon!". I would say roughly 1 in 4 guests that I say good morning to automatically say "No thanks, we're not interested". haha. Its like uhh okay, I was just saying good morning... and I'm not selling anything. Photopass is a complimentary service, but alright. Of course, I don't say that. I just say "Okay, have a great time in there! You'll just love it!" hahah. Its not until the middle of the morning where you actually have time to explain to people what Photopass is. And multiple times, guests would stand right next to me, take a picture of their spouse, then switch. I would just kinda pop in and say "I could take a picture of the two of you together if you'd like" and they say "No thanks" and then continue to struggle with getting Myspace style pictures with the entire Spaceship Earth in the background. I then have to continue with "We can take pictures with your camera" then all the sudden they're rushing at me with their cameras saying "Oh that would be wonderful! Could you really do that? Thats great, thanks!". Almost always, they hand me their camera and say "Its the big silver button on top". hahaha.

Aside from the skeptics, its a fun job. I'm really enjoying it. Especially when girls show up in Princess dresses and I get to ask them if they've met the Princesses yet, or when boys show up with light sabers or swords and they almost always duel as soon as you pick up the camera. The best part is when kids don't want to be in the picture until I tell them Tinkerbell put pixie dust in my camera and it takes magical pictures today. Then they light up "MAGIC?!?". Its the cutest thing. They have so much fun setting up the magic shots, especially boys. You tell a five year old boy to make his best grossed out face on the count of three and his face starts contorting on "one". I love it. I would say almost half the time that I'm taking pictures, I have a hand on the camera and a hand over my heart. I freaking love this place. haha.

Today is my first real day off. I'm going back to Epcot (yes on my day off because I love it) to walk around with Nick and Chip as they drink around the world. For those of you who don't know, drinking around the world is where you get an alcoholic drink in every country in the World Showcase. That's 11 drinks. And over $100. haha. Its quite the challenge, which is why I am not participating, only supporting. haha. Hopefully I can make it through most of the day. My body is definitely not used to standing up for almost 8 hours straight every day. My legs ache every time I move them. It also doesn't help that our camera equipment weighs about 15 lbs that slowly, after hours and hours, starts to feel like 30 lbs. Our trainer said that eventually we'll build muscles and it won't phase us any more but as for right now, I'm exhausted and in pain. haha. Alcohol is greatly needed.