I move home tomorrow morning. I'll be in South Carolina by tomorrow night. It feels so weird to me that my program is over already. Three and a half months felt so incredibly long while I was living it, but looking back it was so short. Now I feel like I just got here yesterday. I went and watched my parade today and it was so sad. I feel so connected to it and the people in it that leaving feels so hard. I know that I was just one in a series of CP's that will come through MiSiCi, some will be better than me some will be worse. And the people might soon forget me as well. But I will never ever forget how working on that parade made me so happy and special. I can't explain what happened but I just fell head over heels in love. With a parade. I know it sounds silly, but anybody here who works on parades or shows will tell you the same thing. We fall in love with them, and they stay with us. MiSiCi will always me MY parade here.
I'm ending this program in a really good place. It was such a bumpy road getting to where I am now, but all in all I completely loved my experience here. It started out really bad, and I had to get through some really crappy days at work. But my experience was all the stronger for it. I suffered through the bad stuff and the good stuff I got back was oh so worth it. I learned so much about how huge companies like Disney work and organize themselves. I learned that in a huge business like this people can seem disposable and unimportant, but the second that companies start treating people like that that's when they go down the tubes. Disney worked us CP's as borderline slave labor, but I don't think we were ever unimportant to them. They need us. Even if it is just for cheap labor, they need us CP's and the second they start treating us like they don't is when they'll be in trouble. Some days it felt really bad and I thought they were being ridiculous in how we were being treated, but I understand the big picture now. I've gotten such a large business mind from this experience that I don't think I could have gotten anywhere else and I know how much that will teach me in the future as well.
Living with five girls from all different parts of the country and all different family lives was quite an experience as well. I learned how to respect people's differences even if I completely didn't understand them. I also learned just how different I am than others when it comes to little things such as dirty dishes or how loud the TV can be. It was a big adjustment having to learn how being from different parts of the country really do affect people in a certain way and the way I live at home is different from many others. Part of that is my family life as well, and I've never been more proud of where I come from and who I am. Learning to respect people's different personalities and opinions, that I didn't always agree with, was a huge thing for me. It's a lesson that I will use over and over and over. As hard as it was getting along with everyone in our apartment, it changed me and taught me a lot.
One thing I really didn't expect was to make so many best friends down here. There are people in my life now that I can't imagine not knowing, even though we've only been friends for three and a half months. I legitimately can see these people being in my life for a long time. I never expected to get so attached to people down here and make so many deep and true friends. My friends here are nothing like my friends at home, here they catered to a different part of my personality that was opened up by the Disney experience. We bonded over simple CP things but had a lot more in common than I ever expected having with people from such incredibly different backgrounds than me. I am hoping against all hope that me going home doesn't suffocate our friendship and that we will be able to remain such close friends regardless of the distance. I think my heart would break if I ever saw the day that these friends weren't so close in my life.
All in all, looking back over the struggles and the good times, I can honestly say I lived this experience up to the fullest. I don't regret any decisions I made down here for they shaped the things I learned and the changes I've experienced. I've grown up a lot, seen a lot more of the world now. I've seen a lot about how people truly are and how you have to learn to get along with people that you can't really stand. I learned about large companies and how to remain personal with people in a business that has a whole heck of a lot of people. I've also learned some things that I don't even know I've learned yet. I know that this experience is going to continue to affect my life and my opportunities in the future and I'm glad to say that I've been here and conquered the CP experience. I don't think I could have picked a better time or place to have such a life changing experience and I hope that the lessons I've learned stay with me for a very long time.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
Today was my very last day on parade. I was track one which seems only appropriate: finishing it off where I started. The day was absolutely crazy, stuff went wrong left and right. It was incredibly stressful yet I was strangely calm for the most part. I could feel that today was my last parade day. I am head over heels madly in love with the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party parade, and probably always will be. But I had to let it go today, as sad as that is. I've learned so much about a startlingly vast array of subjects from it, though, and won't ever forget all that. I don't know if I'll ever use some of it again, like how to clip Woody's head to his body pad. But other things, like how to constantly be in a good mood and be approachable and helpful, are more standard and will stick with me. Saying goodbye to this program in a few days is going to be hard, but saying goodbye to this parade was probably the worst. I feel connected to it and know that it will always stay with me in one way or another. It's given me some of its very own magic and I intend to keep hold of that magic for as long as I possibly can.
That's all the magic for today!
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
Today was my very last day on parade. I was track one which seems only appropriate: finishing it off where I started. The day was absolutely crazy, stuff went wrong left and right. It was incredibly stressful yet I was strangely calm for the most part. I could feel that today was my last parade day. I am head over heels madly in love with the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party parade, and probably always will be. But I had to let it go today, as sad as that is. I've learned so much about a startlingly vast array of subjects from it, though, and won't ever forget all that. I don't know if I'll ever use some of it again, like how to clip Woody's head to his body pad. But other things, like how to constantly be in a good mood and be approachable and helpful, are more standard and will stick with me. Saying goodbye to this program in a few days is going to be hard, but saying goodbye to this parade was probably the worst. I feel connected to it and know that it will always stay with me in one way or another. It's given me some of its very own magic and I intend to keep hold of that magic for as long as I possibly can.
That's all the magic for today!
Friday, May 3, 2013
Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
I was track 5 today which sent me straight to Shade Control when I got there this morning. It only took me about 7 minutes to check all the heads and shoes. I know exactly what I'm supposed to be looking for now on all the shoes and heads, so I feel really confident about it. I realized that all day today, that I felt really confident with everything. I've finally mastered the MiSiCi parade, and tomorrow's my last day on it. Of course. I headed back to the PC and put away all the NSA by myself since everyone else was still working on stilts. I helped load up, and we were off.
When I was helping Woody put his head on for the first and second parades, I had some trouble. I think that his clips were strapped in tighter than usual because it was a really tight squeeze trying to get it to clip. And I felt really horrible when my fingers were basically failing me because the way the performer has to hold their head while I clip it sometimes digs into their neck by their windpipe. So I try to do it as fast as I possibly can so they're not having their windpipe crushed. But Aaron could tell the clips were tighter than usual once I got it finished so I knew he wasn't upset or anything that I took a little longer than usual. But I still felt horrible.
After the second parade I got Bob and Frozone's dirty costumes in mesh bags and took them back to the PC to be washed. It's not my track's job, but Edna was on the track that was supposed to and she's irritatingly flaky about taking care of her track's responsibilities. So I'm back in my old habits, taking on everyone else's jobs and making sure everything gets done correctly. I guess I'm just doomed to have that as part of my work ethic.
The last parade was downed so we broke the costumes down inside Shade Control and unloaded the truck in the rain. I went ahead on the truck and loaded everything up because Edna was nowhere to be found when we were ready to load. Which isn't unusual. So one of my coworkers volunteered to spray the heads and shoes for me inside Shade Control while I finished loading which was very nice of them. We did laundry and hung around the PC for our extra time since we had 30 extra minutes with the parade being downed.
Tomorrow's my last day on parade. And it really started to hit me today. My regular coordinator Ana wasn't coordinating today, but she was still around for part of the day. She won't be there tomorrow so I had to say goodbye to her today. It was really sad, being my first goodbye of many and I tried not to think too hard about it. I'm really going to miss (almost) everyone I've gotten to work with here. They've become my friends and have gotten me through the long and boring days there are. Ana was my leader but she was my friend as well, we got along so well. So saying goodbye this morning was hard. I said something about it to some of my performer friends, and they let me in on something that I'd heard about but hadn't been real to me before now. That going home is going to be really hard. One of the performers, Alex, said she basically had a mental breakdown when she got there and all she wanted to do was come back. Kevin told me the same thing. How much I was going to miss everything here and how everyone he knew that loved their job here was always itching to come right back. It made me incredibly nervous. I was always prepared for things to be different at home when I got there. My friends, my family. They've all lived a semester in the same life with me gone, learning to do things without me and such. So I knew going home would be a struggle to get back in the groove of things there and get comfortable again. I also know how much I've changed being here and how I've grown up and seen the world. I was ready to handle all of those changes. But I had never thought about the fact that I might just not want to be home, that all I'd want would be to be back here in Florida. I honestly don't think that I love my job enough for that, but coming back in a different role here? I don't know. It's a different atmosphere here, a different life. It's magic and make believe like you can't get anywhere else. I'm nervous for my last day on parade tomorrow, because of how much I love MiSiCi and how much I'll miss that. But I'm going to just ignore all the nervousness for now, because I can't deal with that until it comes when I'm home. I'm ready to just be happy for all that I've learned here and how much of a home I've really created. I'm ready to have to tell everybody goodbye, even though it's going to be really sad. They've all given me a little bit of their magic and I'm hoping dearly that I can hang on to it.
That's all the magic for today!
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
I was track 5 today which sent me straight to Shade Control when I got there this morning. It only took me about 7 minutes to check all the heads and shoes. I know exactly what I'm supposed to be looking for now on all the shoes and heads, so I feel really confident about it. I realized that all day today, that I felt really confident with everything. I've finally mastered the MiSiCi parade, and tomorrow's my last day on it. Of course. I headed back to the PC and put away all the NSA by myself since everyone else was still working on stilts. I helped load up, and we were off.
When I was helping Woody put his head on for the first and second parades, I had some trouble. I think that his clips were strapped in tighter than usual because it was a really tight squeeze trying to get it to clip. And I felt really horrible when my fingers were basically failing me because the way the performer has to hold their head while I clip it sometimes digs into their neck by their windpipe. So I try to do it as fast as I possibly can so they're not having their windpipe crushed. But Aaron could tell the clips were tighter than usual once I got it finished so I knew he wasn't upset or anything that I took a little longer than usual. But I still felt horrible.
After the second parade I got Bob and Frozone's dirty costumes in mesh bags and took them back to the PC to be washed. It's not my track's job, but Edna was on the track that was supposed to and she's irritatingly flaky about taking care of her track's responsibilities. So I'm back in my old habits, taking on everyone else's jobs and making sure everything gets done correctly. I guess I'm just doomed to have that as part of my work ethic.
The last parade was downed so we broke the costumes down inside Shade Control and unloaded the truck in the rain. I went ahead on the truck and loaded everything up because Edna was nowhere to be found when we were ready to load. Which isn't unusual. So one of my coworkers volunteered to spray the heads and shoes for me inside Shade Control while I finished loading which was very nice of them. We did laundry and hung around the PC for our extra time since we had 30 extra minutes with the parade being downed.
Tomorrow's my last day on parade. And it really started to hit me today. My regular coordinator Ana wasn't coordinating today, but she was still around for part of the day. She won't be there tomorrow so I had to say goodbye to her today. It was really sad, being my first goodbye of many and I tried not to think too hard about it. I'm really going to miss (almost) everyone I've gotten to work with here. They've become my friends and have gotten me through the long and boring days there are. Ana was my leader but she was my friend as well, we got along so well. So saying goodbye this morning was hard. I said something about it to some of my performer friends, and they let me in on something that I'd heard about but hadn't been real to me before now. That going home is going to be really hard. One of the performers, Alex, said she basically had a mental breakdown when she got there and all she wanted to do was come back. Kevin told me the same thing. How much I was going to miss everything here and how everyone he knew that loved their job here was always itching to come right back. It made me incredibly nervous. I was always prepared for things to be different at home when I got there. My friends, my family. They've all lived a semester in the same life with me gone, learning to do things without me and such. So I knew going home would be a struggle to get back in the groove of things there and get comfortable again. I also know how much I've changed being here and how I've grown up and seen the world. I was ready to handle all of those changes. But I had never thought about the fact that I might just not want to be home, that all I'd want would be to be back here in Florida. I honestly don't think that I love my job enough for that, but coming back in a different role here? I don't know. It's a different atmosphere here, a different life. It's magic and make believe like you can't get anywhere else. I'm nervous for my last day on parade tomorrow, because of how much I love MiSiCi and how much I'll miss that. But I'm going to just ignore all the nervousness for now, because I can't deal with that until it comes when I'm home. I'm ready to just be happy for all that I've learned here and how much of a home I've really created. I'm ready to have to tell everybody goodbye, even though it's going to be really sad. They've all given me a little bit of their magic and I'm hoping dearly that I can hang on to it.
That's all the magic for today!
Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
Yesterday I was track two but the stilts never went up so I was basically just like any other track. It threatened to rain all morning long so the stilts got downed for the first show and they did an Abort To Restart after the conga section, which just means that they skipped the rest of the parade's choreography and immediately head back to Shade Control. I did have to make Louie's head before the parade started which is my absolute least favorite thing to do. His arm pads were already in there, but it was sprinkling outside so I couldn't lay him out on the table to do it. I had to balance him on my legs in a chair which is all but an impossible way to successfully build a Louie head. He came back after the first parade and said his arm pads were the old ones and he'd like the new ones so I ended up having to do that again anyways. It's a pain in the bum and I'm so glad I won't have to do it again. Yesterday was officially my last day as track 2 and I'm glad about it.
They downed the second and third parade, but not until 5 minutes before each show was supposed to go out. We ended up having to break everything down inside and load the truck in the rain. I got done with all my work downstairs with about an hour to spare, which I spent pretending to look busy so as not to raise any suspicions. I didn't feel like doing Character Room work at all.
That's all the magic for today!
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
Yesterday I was track two but the stilts never went up so I was basically just like any other track. It threatened to rain all morning long so the stilts got downed for the first show and they did an Abort To Restart after the conga section, which just means that they skipped the rest of the parade's choreography and immediately head back to Shade Control. I did have to make Louie's head before the parade started which is my absolute least favorite thing to do. His arm pads were already in there, but it was sprinkling outside so I couldn't lay him out on the table to do it. I had to balance him on my legs in a chair which is all but an impossible way to successfully build a Louie head. He came back after the first parade and said his arm pads were the old ones and he'd like the new ones so I ended up having to do that again anyways. It's a pain in the bum and I'm so glad I won't have to do it again. Yesterday was officially my last day as track 2 and I'm glad about it.
They downed the second and third parade, but not until 5 minutes before each show was supposed to go out. We ended up having to break everything down inside and load the truck in the rain. I got done with all my work downstairs with about an hour to spare, which I spent pretending to look busy so as not to raise any suspicions. I didn't feel like doing Character Room work at all.
That's all the magic for today!
Monday, April 29, 2013
Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
We had two call outs this morning, so as track 5 I had to skip going to Shade Control and head to the PC instead to build stilts. I took over track 2's duties for the morning and cleared the dry room of the stilt shoes and helmets as well as build two stilts and put away the NSA. Everything else ran smoothly after that and soon it was time to help Lumiere get dressed. It wasn't Jared today, it was a boy named Doug and I had to help him much differently than I do Jared. Doug had almost no idea how to get himself dressed, I had to help a lot. But thankfully Jared had clearly explained the process to me when I trained so I was able to help Doug a lot. The first parade was pretty awkward trying to get into a groove, but after that I knew exactly how to help him and what he did and did not know about the costume. It was really interesting to see the vast difference in the performers selected to play the same role but Doug did do a wonderful job during the parade, that was obvious from the small snippits I get to see myself.
The rest of the day was really smooth. It was another odd assortment of people working together today, but we pulled it off smoothly and nothing went awry at all!
That's all the magic for today!
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
We had two call outs this morning, so as track 5 I had to skip going to Shade Control and head to the PC instead to build stilts. I took over track 2's duties for the morning and cleared the dry room of the stilt shoes and helmets as well as build two stilts and put away the NSA. Everything else ran smoothly after that and soon it was time to help Lumiere get dressed. It wasn't Jared today, it was a boy named Doug and I had to help him much differently than I do Jared. Doug had almost no idea how to get himself dressed, I had to help a lot. But thankfully Jared had clearly explained the process to me when I trained so I was able to help Doug a lot. The first parade was pretty awkward trying to get into a groove, but after that I knew exactly how to help him and what he did and did not know about the costume. It was really interesting to see the vast difference in the performers selected to play the same role but Doug did do a wonderful job during the parade, that was obvious from the small snippits I get to see myself.
The rest of the day was really smooth. It was another odd assortment of people working together today, but we pulled it off smoothly and nothing went awry at all!
That's all the magic for today!
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
Yesterday was just the same old same old. I worked with the exact same people I worked with on Thursday and it was just as unexciting on both days. Nothing really out of the ordinary happened at all. I was track 2 so I was outside with the stilts which I'm really starting to not like. I find it very awkward and uncomfortable because I'm an inherently shy human being so I don't just walk up and join in their conversations. You have to do that to keep it casual and be friends with them, and other people are absolutely great at that. I know some that are my good friends that could to track 2 every day and be best friends with everyone. I'm not like that so I always feel out of place just waiting for them to need my help. I'm sure it's mostly in my mind, but it still affects me. I just try to be polite and helpful whenever they're ready and be sure to offer extra water and powerade.
I'm also responsible for setting up King Louie's head which is not my favorite job. I hate it, actually. And yesterday he said it was wobbling on his head the whole first show which made me feel really bad. I tried to fix it, and thought I had, but eventually Ana had to re-sew a certain part to make it more secure. I love Ana, she's worked on this parade so long that she knows absolutely everything. When anything goes wrong, I run to ask Ana about it. Hopefully it doesn't bug her.
I ended up having a long conversation with one of the stilts, Liz. She's always there when I'm there and I always think she thinks I'm an idiot. Every time she asks me for something or even if somebody else does, I'll do the wrong thing out of a misunderstanding, and Liz will be there to witness. Almost every single time. She's also really great as a performer and has been there for a really long time. Quite honestly, she just intimidates me. And we ended up talking for a while because she approached me first. She asked me when I was leaving and when I told her how soon it was, she told me how unfortunate it was, not for me but for them, because, and I'm quoting here, "I actually know how to do my job". I thought I would fall over from shock. I'm so new here and so low on the totem pole that being recognized by anybody was fantastic enough, but to hear that from someone who intimidates you and who you thought thought you were a little slow on the uptake, felt absolutely wonderful. I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day. I know that sounds dramatic, but I've been working my butt off for three months trying to learn everything that I can about things here and be as helpful and knowledgeable as possible. As a CP I came in with everyone against me, thinking that I was just another CP and wouldn't know what I was doing, and I really wanted to prove them all wrong and do a really great job. And to hear that, at least to someone, I had accomplished that goal meant everything in the world to me. That's what I wanted from this experience.
That's all the magic for today!
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
Yesterday was just the same old same old. I worked with the exact same people I worked with on Thursday and it was just as unexciting on both days. Nothing really out of the ordinary happened at all. I was track 2 so I was outside with the stilts which I'm really starting to not like. I find it very awkward and uncomfortable because I'm an inherently shy human being so I don't just walk up and join in their conversations. You have to do that to keep it casual and be friends with them, and other people are absolutely great at that. I know some that are my good friends that could to track 2 every day and be best friends with everyone. I'm not like that so I always feel out of place just waiting for them to need my help. I'm sure it's mostly in my mind, but it still affects me. I just try to be polite and helpful whenever they're ready and be sure to offer extra water and powerade.
I'm also responsible for setting up King Louie's head which is not my favorite job. I hate it, actually. And yesterday he said it was wobbling on his head the whole first show which made me feel really bad. I tried to fix it, and thought I had, but eventually Ana had to re-sew a certain part to make it more secure. I love Ana, she's worked on this parade so long that she knows absolutely everything. When anything goes wrong, I run to ask Ana about it. Hopefully it doesn't bug her.
I ended up having a long conversation with one of the stilts, Liz. She's always there when I'm there and I always think she thinks I'm an idiot. Every time she asks me for something or even if somebody else does, I'll do the wrong thing out of a misunderstanding, and Liz will be there to witness. Almost every single time. She's also really great as a performer and has been there for a really long time. Quite honestly, she just intimidates me. And we ended up talking for a while because she approached me first. She asked me when I was leaving and when I told her how soon it was, she told me how unfortunate it was, not for me but for them, because, and I'm quoting here, "I actually know how to do my job". I thought I would fall over from shock. I'm so new here and so low on the totem pole that being recognized by anybody was fantastic enough, but to hear that from someone who intimidates you and who you thought thought you were a little slow on the uptake, felt absolutely wonderful. I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day. I know that sounds dramatic, but I've been working my butt off for three months trying to learn everything that I can about things here and be as helpful and knowledgeable as possible. As a CP I came in with everyone against me, thinking that I was just another CP and wouldn't know what I was doing, and I really wanted to prove them all wrong and do a really great job. And to hear that, at least to someone, I had accomplished that goal meant everything in the world to me. That's what I wanted from this experience.
That's all the magic for today!
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Time in: 8:45 a.m.
Time out: 7:45 p.m.
Today felt really off. I think it was just because of the weird assortment of people working, I guess. None of them I was friends with and none of us have ever all worked together. We didn't mesh well I guess. Anyways, the day started with us being late to leave the Character Room. We have a manager that's new to the Magic Kingdom and she was giving us our Track Talk this morning and took a little bit too long. But we managed to catch back up.
I was on track 3 today which I have never done before. It's essentially the same as all the others, with little details changed here and there. My characters were Bob, Frozone and Genie which I've never directly worked with before in a serious way. I've helped here and there but not a lot. I had to help Bob with his gloves today and he asked me to do this thing that I had never even heard of having to do before and so I felt extremely dumb. Someone came over and nicely showed me how to do it so I would know in the future, but it felt weird finding something new that I didn't know how to do there. I've gotten so comfortable in my knowledge there that I completely forgot there was an entire track that I didn't know. But I guess I do now.
Edna offered to go downstairs for me in between shows which was nice of her. Usually she's a pain in my buns so for her to do something nice was refreshing. We had a lady training with us today named Tina that occasionally would ask me a question about this or that. Even though I felt down about the whole Bob glove thing, I felt really good knowing how to answer her questions with the correct answer. I once again realized just how much I've learned here in such a short period of time. It's been great.
At the end of the night I didn't know all the procedures that went along with sending NSA out specifically with MiSiCi stuff, but Ana was nice enough to show me how to do it. And I managed to not mess anything up!
That's all the magic for today!
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