Day 3/4

Man have my days been picking up. Monday and Tuesday I had all the time in the world, and now suddenly I'm so busy I've barely got time to grab a bite to eat. I have a feeling that I'll be on a semi-starvation diet whether or not I want to this summer. But I'm done for today, and I probably won't be doing much tonight since I'm so exhausted.

Yesterday was Traditions class: aka brainwashing time. We had to sit there and watch this half hour video of this badly animated guy whose mouth didn't match up with the words, as he pretty much made the entire room fall asleep as he droned on and on about safety, responsibility, and respect. It was all pretty common sense stuff--I doubt anyone actually learned anything new in that section of the class.

However, things started picking up once we actually met our two Traditions teachers, and they were both pretty exciting. They took us briefly into the Magic Kingdom because, according to them, how are we supposed to learn how to make the magic unless we experience it ourselves? I thought it was cool, but it was probably the least exciting part of this adventure. Here's a few of the awesome things I got to see/do/learn (that Disney will allow me to tell you, of course :P) over the past two days:

1. The famous Utilidoor. This is an underground tunnel system running beneath the entire Magic Kingdom. We got to walk right under Cinderella's Castle and the moat surrounding it, as well as Main Street. It's definitely a new experience to see Disney from the backside/underground. In one way, it's a huge shock because, well, this is my childhood I'm seeing all torn to shreds. The magic in the park is definitely not beneath it, neither is it behind all those nicely painted walls. It's all business below, and there's no fancy decorations down there. But as much as it killed the magic for me, it also increased a lot of my appreciation for Disney. I've always been a lover of being backstage, so I find it fascinating to see how everything is working.

2. The characters. We get to see characters in various states of dress--my favorite was getting on the bus with Princess Aurora in full makeup with her wig on, and in half of her skirt and a t-shirt. I've seen way more princesses and other characters in ways that the public never gets to. Today I sat next to Tinkerbell on the bus. She was wearing sweatpants, a baggy t-shirt, and this giant wig with a bun the size of my face on it. I'm fairly certain I've passed several of the princes in the Utilidoor, but none of them were in costume. But I'm assuming that's what they had to be, seeing as their hair was definitely not to Disney standards.

3. The history and detail of Disney. There is SO much that goes into the Disney parks that you never realize. Small little details, that make guests feel and think certain things as they walk through the parks. It's amazing to learn about the kinds of studies they've done for this park. Think about the trash cans for a second. Do you remember how many trash cans there are? Probably not very clearly, because they're all made to blend into the scenery. However, Walt Disney did a study when he first opened Disneyland where he gave each guest a free candy with different colored wrappers, and then he removed all of the trash cans from the park. Afterward, he went around and collected all the wrappers, measuring how far people would walk before they gave up on finding a trash can. I think it's something like ten feet. So the next time you go to a Disney park, look around. There's a trash can every few feet--one of the reasons the Disney parks stay so clean. Another really interesting one is that Main Street is scaled so that when you stand at the entrance, looking at the castle, it looks really long. The first two stores on the corners of Main Street are two stories, but they are made to look like three. As you go down Main Street, each building gets smaller and smaller just slightly so that you can't tell as you walk down the street--however, when you look from the front, it looks much, much longer than it actually is. This makes the castle look even BIGGER when you stand on Main Street. The castle itself is 189 feet tall--specifically 189 because if they were to make it 190, then they'd have to put a flashing red light on top of it to warn aircraft. And you know Disney--they're all about the show. A flashing red light on top of Cinderella's Castle doesn't quite match the show they wanted. So its 189, shorter than they'd have liked, and so Main Street was created this way to make it look taller. Another interesting tidbit about Main Street--it is ever so slightly inclined as you walk towards the castle so that when you're still full of energy you go uphill (and it also increases the illusion that it's longer than it really is) and at the end of the day when you're tired, you're walking downhill without realizing it, and it's easier on you. And one more cool tidbit about the Magic Kingdom--in Liberty Square, located next to Adventureland and home to the Haunted Mansion, there is a cobblestone path winding around the area, and the surrounding ground is red. This is a detail from the colonial days, back before restrooms. At the time setting of Liberty Square, people would use chamber pots and then throw it out the window on the ground. Cobblestone paths were created so that people didn't have to walk through this, and Disney decided to replicate that small detail in the park. This is why there is a cobblestone path through Liberty Square with surrounding red concrete. The shutters in this area as well are all slightly skewed, tilting away from the windows. This is because back then, metal was really expensive and most people couldn't afford hinges. Instead, they would tie their shutters on with leather straps. However, as the sun softened the leather over time, the shutters would start to droop as the leather stretched out. There are so many small details like this that I've been learning the past two days that just blow my mind. There has been SO much work and research put into these parks, it's absolutely fantastic.

4. Whisper phones. These things are magical. It's just like a walkie talkie earbud type thing--what you'd picture the Secret Service wearing to communicate. However, these are just ones that you loop around your ear, and one person has a mic on their's so that they can talk quietly while in the park and everyone wearing the whisper phones can hear. During our Traditions class when we actually went into the Magic Kingdom, we were each given a whisper phone and we all walked around the park in our business clothes, wearing these awesome wires in our ears, looking all professional as we listened to our teacher tell us a bunch of the secrets of Disney. I felt so pro walking around the park with that thing. We all pretended like we were in the CIA. Although I'm fairly certain the CIA would have wireless ones... :)

5. New park information. We were told SO much about new things that are going to happen to DisneyWorld over the next few years. And fortunately for you, I'm actually allowed to share them. :) The biggest one that I'm most excited for is the new Fantasyland. Currently Toon Town is shut down (they're removing it entirely), and part of Fantasyland is closed as well. This is because there is a lot of construction currently going on to create a NEW Fantasyland. But this new one isn't just a renovated version of the old one--this is an entirely different section of the park. The way Fantasyland is set up right now is as if it were Cinderella's courtyard--the walls surrounding it are made to look like the same stones from the castle, so that you feel as if you're in the courtyard of her castle. The new Fantasyland will be the Fantasy Forest--the land outside of Cinderella's castle walls. This will include the Beast's castle, Belle's village, Aurora's cottage (which she lived in till she was 16) where they will host a birthday party for Aurora turning 16 every day, I believe. It will also have a whole new section for Ariel and Prince Eric, as well as Pixie Hollow, from the new Tinkerbell movie. This is just some of what will be going into Fantasy Forest, and I'm pretty excited. Sadly, it won't be open till 2012 or 2013, so not for a while. But it's sounding like it's going to be pretty fantastic. :)

6. Ride backgrounds/stories. Most of the rides here have a general story that guests can somewhat follow. However, there are some very specific stories for particular rides--stories that make the ride even MORE fantastic once you know all the details. The biggest example of this is the Haunted Mansion. Think back to that Haunted Mansion movie that came out a little while ago starring Eddie Murphy. You know--the one where he's a real estate agent and they get stuck at this mansion, which, they come to find out, is home to a ghost seeking for his murdered loved one. The story of the Haunted Mansion is similar, but not quite the same. We were told the story today just before we were able to get on the ride, and let me tell you--the ride is SO much scarier once you've heard the story. I love the Haunted Mansion, but I think I love it even MORE now that I know the complete story.

The story goes something like this: There was once a man named Edward Gracey (look for the gravestone for a Master Gracey while waiting in line--the dirt will look as if it has been freshly placed) whose parents died when he was very young. He lived in a mansion alone with his butler, and the butler kept a diary of everything that happened in this mansion. In the diary, the butler recorded how as Edward got older, it became necessary for him to look for a companion. However, he didn't trust people in the town--most had tried to use him for his wealth, and so he had a very bad view of those living near him. So the butler took him to a woman with a crystal ball who could see the future (hence the room with the floating crystal ball and the woman's face in it). This woman showed him a girl that he thought was perfect--and this girl happened to live several towns over, so she knew nothing of his wealth. The woman warned, however, that there was a very shady aura about the girl, and that there was something in her past that was incredibly dark. He brushed it off though, knowing that people sometimes have things in their past they don't like to discuss. So he began to court this woman, and he finally proposed. She agreed, but she'd refused to tell him about her past. When she moved into the mansion, she was surprised by his wealth, and asked that in the whole mansion, she just wanted one room to store some things from her past that wouldn't be out for everyone to see. She asked to hide away her things in the attic, since no one would go up there. Edward agreed, and she moved in and they lived happily for some time. One day she said that Edward should get to know the people more and learn to trust them. There was a boy in the town turning nine, and so she suggested they throw a birthday party for him and invite the whole town. So they threw this spectacular party with a feast and dancing, celebrating with all the people in the town. The butler served all the guests throughout the party, but as he walked around, he began to notice that both Edward and his new wife were both missing. He grew worried, and so he began to search the mansion for them, knocking on all of the doors. As he found empty room after empty room, he began to panic more, dreading that something awful had happened to them. After searching all the rooms with no luck, he remembered the one place no one was allowed to go--the attic. He ran up there, and as he entered, he saw pictures and documents everywhere. The documents were all marriage licences--and the pictures were wedding portraits of Edward's wife with several different men. As he walked to the back of the attic, he saw something on the floor--Edward's body. He had been beheaded, and standing above him was his wife, holding an axe. The butler was so angry and so terrified that he ran towards her and pushed her. She fell back through the glass window and fell to her death in the garden. The butler, overcome by grief at losing his master and best friend, took Edward's body out to the yard, dug a grave, and buried him right then and there. He then went back into the party, acting as if nothing were wrong. He went into an empty hall and then hung himself.

And that is the story of the Haunted Mansion! So the next time you get the chance to go on the ride--remember the story. There are so many little details in the ride that you don't even pick up on without knowing the story beforehand. I'd never really understood the room with the bride and all the pictures until now. I'd comprehended that she'd obviously married and then killed her husbands, but I didn't see how it connected with everything else in the ride. Or the door knockers, all banging on the doors in the beginning of the ride. There are a lot of little things here and there that, once you know the story, make the ride much scarier.

Those are just a few of the things that I've learned/seen in the past two days. I'm on information overload now--there's just been so much that I've been told and shown that it's too much to process at this point.

As for my schedules and whatnot, I was thinking that yesterday was going to be my only 5:30 AM morning. Boy was I wrong. Today was another 5:30 day, and I finished at 1 PM--two hours EARLIER than my shift was originally supposed to be. Most of that time was spent walking around the Magic Kingdom or under it. Towards the end of my shift, my area coordinator took me to the Costuming building, where I was fitted for my Fairy Godmother in Training costume. I have to say, after walking around that Costuming building and seeing all the possible costumes--I'm fairly certain I have the prettiest cast costume aside from the actual characters. The Costuming warehouse is pretty spectacular--its just rows and rows and rows of pants and shirts. Then they also have a section for accessories--belts, hats, socks, headbands, etc. And then there's a changing room area with a lot of mirrors, and in the back is a giant return section where all of the returned costumes are sorted and shipped off for cleaning. I checked out two shirts, two skirts, one jacket, and one headband for my costume. I'll probably head back eventually and pick up three more shirts and skirts. My program is allowed to check out five of each at a time, and one of each accessory. I'm much more excited about my costume than I originally was--I knew it was one of the cuter ones, but man. I lucked out. It's a nice costume. And even though its like, four thick layers, I'm working indoors, so I have air conditioning.

And the BEST part yet is something that I discovered at 6:30 this morning as I met a fellow Fairy Godmother in Training--Disney has just decided that we will be the only tipped job in all of Magic Kingdom. I am now allowed to receive tips! Originally the boutique was allowed to, but then they took away ALL tips, and apparently they just recently decided to bring them back to the boutique. The girl said that she usually makes about $70 a week in tips, so that will be nice to have the extra money with my paycheck. She was telling me that the week before they implemented it, a guest tried to give her a $50 tip, but she had to refuse because she wasn't allowed to accept tips till the next week. She said it was one of the more frustrating moments of her life, knowing that if it had come a week later, she could have taken it. Thankfully for me, it's already in place, so I can accept tips from the get-go. :)

And that's about it for today. Tomorrow I start my first day of costumed on-site training. It's also nice because I don't start till 11:30, which means I don't have to be on the bus until 10:20. So I can sleep in until 9:30 tomorrow! I love that 9:30 is sleeping in for me now. It seems so late after the past two days I've had. By 9:30 we had already ridden a ride and learned a ton about Disney history. We'd been in the park for a good two and a half hours. :) However, after tomorrow, I go back to 7:30 shifts every day until next Thursday, except for Tuesday and Wednesday, which I have off. I'll begin my actual un-supervised work next Friday. I'm slightly nervous, because the girl I talked to this morning was telling me that the first day of training she was in the boutique learning how to check people in and whatnot, and then the second day she was underground the entire time, learning how to do the hair. She said that the days she was underground training, she came home crying every time because she was so frustrated. I'm sitting there thinking, hm.... not such a great first impression of my job. However, she told me that she'd had no experience with hair and that she was hired because she had experience with kids, and so that was why she was so frustrated. That came as a HUGE relief, because I at least have experience with hair--little, but I have SOME experience. I like to think that I can generally manage when it comes to doing up-dos. I also like to think I'm not quite the type who comes home crying when I've had a rough day. So we'll see how training goes. :)

Last night we went into the Magic Kingdom once we got off work and spent a few hours there. We went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Let me tell you--April is the BEST time to come to DisneyWorld. There were no lines whatsoever. Space Mountain had a twenty minute wait, but considering how that line is usually two HOURS? That's pretty good. We walked onto all the other rides. We were also attacked by some storks. That was pretty cool. We were minding our own business, eating churros as we rested on the edge of a planter box when all of a sudden--BAM! This stork flies straight at us, all we see is white wings, and we're all screaming and ducking and running helter skelter as this stork landed behind us. Apparently he didn't want to take the detour around us and decided to just go for the shortest possible route to the planter box. In any case, it scared the bejeezies out of us, and we were then sent into a laughing fit for about ten minutes. As soon as we stopped, the stork took off again, and a second later we hear another group of girls scream somewhere down the road, sending us into another fit of laughter. So just a word of caution: beware the storks. They like to scare you. :)

And that's about it for now! I know that's quite a lot, but I figure the next few days will probably be pretty busy and who knows how tired I'll be, so here's the update for the past two days. Now you've got a little taste of what it's like backstage. :) Oh, and by the way, there is a backstage tour called Keys to the Kingdom (sounds like a church lesson, doesn't it? :P), and I can get you 50% off of tickets for it. In case you're curious. It takes you to the Utilidoor so you can see the underground tunnels and a bunch of the backstage workings of Disney. :)

Till next time!