my first weeks as a character attendant

Hello, hello, hello!  I am back with another update on my second Program!

What a crazy two weeks it has been for me.  Lots of training, lots of information, lots of FUN!

When I last posted, I was getting ready for my arrival date's Housing Welcome Event, which was Monster's University themed.  It was a real scream!  Our Character M&G for the night was Sully, who was wearing his letterman jacket for us!  Here's Brianna, our apartment-mate Michayla, Sully and I.  There was pizza, games, and lots of dancing with friends.

A couple days later, I went to Traditions for the second time.  They've changed the policy, so if you're reading this post and about to return as an Alumni from a Program that happened 2017 or later, you will probably get to bypass Traditions.  I, however, did the Program so long ago that I had to retake it.  Gotta be honest... I didn't feel great during my Traditions session, so it definitely wasn't as fun as it was my first time around!  However, there was still magic to be made and it felt good to pin that special name tag over my heart again.

The next morning was my Welcome to Operations class.  Welcome to Ops is a class that everyone on the DCP has to take, regardless of whether you're in the Entertainment or Park Operations department.  Unfortunately, Alumni do not get to bypass this one, and some people dread Welcome to Ops, but my session actually had two seriously fabulous facilitators, so we had a good time!  Afterwards, they sent all of the Character Attendants in the room to costuming so that we could get our first Blues costume!

I had a day off in between Ops and my training, which I used for some life admin stuff.  Laundry, groceries, sleeping: I really needed a day to rest after the week before!

Here's a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed photo of me at 6:00 in the morning as I prepare to get on the bus to my first day of training.

Character Attendants do three days of general training to start their Program.  Our first day takes place entirely in a classroom, then we start working with characters on the second and third day.  I was absolutely blessed with the best training group and the best trainers!  We all had so much fun during our time together.

On February 11, I made my official Character Attendant debut with the help of my pal Donald Duck, who was ever-so-patient with me as I learned the ropes and tried my best to keep things safe and magical.  Throughout the course of the next day, I also worked with Chip & Dale, Pluto, Max Goof, Baloo, and the big cheese himself-- Mickey!  What a special time we shared together.

I had a day off in between my Attendant training and my Magic Kingdom-specific training, so I went to Epcot for some International Festival of the Arts fun.  I also rode the Skyliner for the first time and toured Riviera!  The Skyliner is a lot less scary in person than it seems in videos, and Riviera is stunning.

Everyone gets an area-specific orientation as part of their training.  Since I work in Magic Kingdom, I got to take "Once Upon a Time is Now," which took us through Magic Kingdom and told us all about the history of each land and where everything is.  Once Upon a Time is Now is one of my favorite classes.  I got out at 11:15, so I had the rest of the day to myself.  Since it was Valentine's Day, I decided to head over to Animal Kingdom, where John Smith was meeting with Pocahontas!  I had a really nice day-- I got to ride Kilimanjaro Safaris, I met John & Poca, and I met Donald & Daisy while they held their own special Valentine's Day M&G.

Then I met my Valentine, Rafiki.  We were very excited to see each other.

The next two days were Magic Kingdom-specific Character Attendant training days, which I won't go into.  I have to say: I have had a lot of information thrown at me in the past few days and I am very anxious for my first shift today.  There is so much to remember and I really want to do well here, so it's going to take a lot of time for me to settle in and get the hang of my new role.  This time around, I actually have to learn how to get around Magic Kingdom backstage, which is another task in and of itself, since I didn't have to travel very far when I worked at Peter Pan's Flight.

Please wish me luck today!  I have my first official shift, and I can't wait to work with Cinderella at Cinderella's Royal Table!

cheers,