The First 48

Welcome Aboard! Well, it took 2 days but we made it down here to sunny Orlando. The road trip went fine especially after we stopped listening to Gospel music and the lectures on tape Cool Daddy-T decided to bring along. There is nothing more stimulating on a long boring car ride than a lecture on nutrition. Anyway, the trip wasn’t too bad; we only stayed at one shady motel in South Carolina and met some interesting people at the Wal-Mart in Orlando. Whatever you step out of the house in, you are probably over dressed for the Wal-Mart here. Just as New York magazine does, the highbrow of the trip was getting a dipped cone at Dairy Queen. Reliving those Culver Lake memories one lick at a time. The lowbrow was we saw a poor puppy on the side of 95 just inside of NC and I had dad call the non-emergency police line so he could be rescued. I wanted to stop and turn the car around, but I was over ruled. While safe in our Radisson hotel with the Sleep Number beds, we got ready for the busy day ahead. Which leads to…..

6/6/11Check in: Disney style. All housing departments take notice on how swift and smoothly Disney moved in 500 people in four hours, including picking our rooms for us, taking photo IDs, and getting a nifty planner. I have never really been to summer camp (except for that one time I went to International Sports Camp where I was the “best overall camper” winner for my session. Note I didn’t say anything about best athlete or most agile) but this reminded me a lot of what summer camp must look like. You stand in line, get really friendly with the people around you, exchange numbers, and talk about the rad summer you are going to have. I had the fortunate part of already having a roommate so I didn’t have to make a friend in 45 minutes and so picking a room was fairly simple. There wasn’t much left available for non wellness housing and I did not want to live with more than four girls. I’m sure it’s super fun but I was not willing to try it. I got placed in Vista Way, which for being the oldest unit Disney has, it offers the most so I was pretty happy. It has a ton of space, especially in the walk in closet, which just means I will have to fill the empty spaces with clothes from the HUGE outlet mall down the road.

After we were cattle hearded onto a bus that sent us to the Casting Office. In real world that would be the HR department. On the bus ride everyone around me was so chipper. I was called “really Jersey” a few times, which I didn’t really get. How can someone be “really Jersey?” I guess I will learn that in the next 7 months. The Casting Office is right across from Downtown Disney, a detail that actually came in handy later on in this saga.

The Casting Office was not just any office. It was beautiful, huge, and very echo-y. We were given stickers of where we were being placed for work and I got the Yacht and Beach Club. I had never heard of it but everyone was making a big deal of it and said it was a very nice resort. I trust their judgment. I was later told I would be working at the Kids Club, which really bummed me out. What happened to the safety team putting bandaids on tiny scratches and assisting when there is an actual injury and fitting kids for life jackets? I was now being demoted from glorified lifeguard to glorified babysitter. However, the woman said most college students don’t work with kids a lot and it is fun making activities for them and having special programs for the kids while mom and dad are out having big people time. In essence I am the programming HRA all over again, but with younger kids. Transferable skills GMU OHRL, transferable skills. This whole process of signing your life away, giving your fingerprints, and getting looked over for the “Disney Look” took a little over two hours. This was also another line where I met peppy friends all just really happy to be down here. It wasn’t until after this I got back on the bus to go to my lovely abode. While unpacking I realized all the things I forgot like a hairbrush, straighter, Ipod computer connector and more dress clothes. But fear not! I remembered the scrabble board, clearly an essential.

I took the rents to the airport and let me tell you, leaving is a lot harder than getting in. After paying my two tolls, I got slightly confused with the road signs and so I just followed the signs for Disney World. Seemed logical. No. I somehow got mixed up and ended up on the opposite end of town. I figured I’d find signs for Disney and get back on the property to find my way out. Does anyone know how big Disney property is? Answer: large. Huge. 47 square miles, and I may have driven around most of it today. I luckily found Downtown Disney (see, being observant comes in handy) and knew how to get back by following the bus route taken earlier that day. I will for sure be taking the free buses to work for the first few weeks.

I got to finally meet my roommate who is just so sweet and from Texas. Her name is Lauren, and so I still get to talk to a Lauren everyday, whether they want to hear from me or not. We got to talk and chit chat and she asked me if I was excited for the program. I said I was but it didn’t seem real yet. It honestly at that point was as if the family went on vacation and they decided to leave me and now I have to work for a mouse for seven months until my parents will take me back. In a way, I’m not far off.

We went to Downtown Disney with her mom and two friends, which was really fun. I’d never been before so it was a blast. We went into the AMC theatre where you can pick any type of Coke product you want, but different than what’s on the market. They had like Sprite Orange, Raspberry, 7 different types of Coke, 6 different lemonades, etc. It was almost sad that a highlight of our day was getting a sugar rush from the soda. After we walked to Pleasure Island area and there was a pretty lousy outdoor singer playing guitar. After he was done though a middle aged woman went on stage and sang with a base player. She was entertainment in herself as she was singing Lady Gaga, but when she yelled ‘Dallas” the girls went nuts. We went to the front and started dancing with the singer and basically making a fool of ourselves. This little cute blonde girl came up to me and started dancing with me and asking to spin her. She was instantly the star of the spontaneous show. When I became a child and animal magnet I am unsure, but we had a good time and I guess this is why I was put with children as my position.

After we left, I got back to the room to unpack. It’s been a long and tiring day but if most days are like this, I feel that I am going to have a great 7 month experience. After one night in these beds though, I feel that I am going to have back pain in 7 nights……