Time in: 4:30 p.m.
Time out: 12:30 a.m.

So I was on the Hoedown track again today but when my coordinator called the PC they didn't need help. Instead she just put me back in Soil for my entire shift. I didn't really mind it though. In fact I kind of liked it because I was back there all by myself and I did the whole thing my way. My coordinator came by a couple hours later and was super impressed at how on top of things I was. By the end of the night I was really bored, but that always happens. There's never enough to do to keep yourself busy for eight hours.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 4:00 p.m.
Time out: 12:30 a.m.

I had the Hoedown track again today but there was nothing at all to do for the bears so all I did was help the Splash girl. I know exactly what to do for Splash now. It's awesome. I love the feeling of actually knowing what I'm supposed to be doing. I could do that whole thing by myself. Then I walked back to the Character Room (I didn't get lost this time! Finally.) and went to lunch. Then I came back and helped in Soil again. Same old same old. Then I had to take out all the trash from the whole Character Room out to the dumpster. And then I helped Mrs. Pat in the laundry for about twenty minutes at the end, just to kill time. There are no longer any surprises when it comes to the Character Room.

On the bright side, I got my new skill assignment today! I start Thursday, March 7th at the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! parade!!!! I am so excited!

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 5:00 p.m.
Time out: 1:30 a.m.

I went to the PC to do Hoedown again yesterday. I helped with Splash too which was fun because it was a different girl than I usually help, so we were talking the whole time. And when MiSiCi got there we helped them unload too. Then I built up the bears for Hoedown, then headed back to the Character Room for lunch. After that, I went to soil. I stayed there for a while like usual. My coordinator sent me on a run after a couple hours. We had to go pick up some Z-racks from the Town Square Theatre which didn't take long at all. Then it was back to Soil and helping put away stuff from the Hang Dry room. Same old same old.

That's all the magic for today.

Time in: 5:00 p.m. 
Time out: 1:30 a.m.

Yesterday was a glorious ride in the front seat of the hot mess express. It sucked. I think it was mainly because my coordinator has taken to talking to me as if I'm intellectually disabled and can't function. She literally read this paper aloud to me while pointing at words as if I couldn't read. It was so frustrating. 

Anyways, I started out doing my line assignment and building Mickey and Minnie outfits. It took me no time at all because they are the easiest. Everything else on my line assignment didn't need to be done so I asked my coordinator Jackie what she needed me to do. She put me at the issue counter because she was going to show the other girl who was there how to do something else. So I manned the issue counter and put away basics. I ended up being there quite some time because the girl's replacement went with the runner to learn different locations we have to make runs to. So when the next person finally got up to the issue counter, I had already missed something important on my track. My coordinator came over to me and asked to physically see my track and told me, quite cheekily, "Zoe. You're supposed to be in soil right. I'm going to need you to go to soil, okay?" As if I had just stayed up there for the fun of it! It was so rude. So I went back to soil and was afraid to go do the assignment on my track that I had missed because if Jackie came to soil and I wasn't there, I'm sure it would have been a problem. But I ended up getting another girl to cover soil for me and I ran quickly to grab the band laundry and sort it all out. It ended up being fine, but it was extremely aggravating.

After lunch, I went back to soil. The performers were coming back really late tonight because they extended the Magic Kingdom hours until 12:00. So I had to be there until 1:30 with just Jackie and another girl that Jackie is really rude to. It was awkward, to say the least. But we got everything done and then helped the girl working on Fairies so she wouldn't be there too late by herself. Then I was done. It was an easy day based on my work load, but so stressful and I left very ready to never go back again. 

That's all the magic for today. 

Time in: 8:30 a.m.
Time out: 5:00 p.m.

Today at work was pretty much the same. I started off doing my line assignment which was to check the fairies' and Aurora's outfits as well as tidy all the shoe shells through the whole room. Then I built a couple of outfits for Marie (from The Aristocats) and helped my co-worker friend with Belle's petticoats. There's a part of it that has like a hundred snaps on it and I love to do that part, I have no idea why. Then I went to the issue counter to man the phone. While up there I folded and put away a bunch of basics, which are the t-shirt and shorts or sweatpants that performers wear under their costumes. We have tons of them. Then I went to lunch and when I got back I went to help in Soil for the rest of the day. Same old same old.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:30 a.m.

Time out: 5:00 p.m.

My track today consisted of first helping put away the clean laundry from NSA (the big laundry place) and then building a bunch of petticoats. I built Cinderella’s, Belle’s and Tiana’s today. Then I helped put away a bunch of clean clothes from the Hang Dry room then helping out in Soil, sorting dirty clothes, spraying sanitizer in shoes and headpieces, and then putting them away. Then after my lunch break I spent some time organizing the drawers on the Accessory wall. That’s starting to become my favorite way to pass time because I love to organize. After that I built some more petticoats, put away more clothes from Hang Dry, and helped out in soil again. It’s all pretty repetitive activities in the Character Room.

That’s all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:30 a.m.
Time out: 5:00 p.m.

Today in the Character Room was the same but different. I put away parts of the Evil Stepsisters and Lady Tremaine's (Cinderella's step-mother) outfits for a little bit. Then my coordinator sent me to make some of Cinderella's and Belle's petticoats. She had me teach a newer boy how to do it since he hadn't learned yet. It felt really weird to be teaching in that atmosphere since I'm brand new myself! But it was also cool, because I actually knew what I was talking about. I realized I know much more than I thought I did, which was a neat surprise. We did that for a while and then I went back to Hang Dry and put away a bunch of stuff. That took a while and then I hung out in Soil until we got our morning rush. That's starting to be my favorite place because I actually get to talk to performers and people outside costuming so I don't feel like I'm stuck in a cave so much. However, I am starting to really like the older ladies I work with. I finally feel comfortable enough to joke around with them which makes work a lot more fun. Then after I lunch I went back to Soil and stayed there pretty much the rest of the day. I'm learning to not look at the clock and have a slower pace, so my days don't feel as long anymore. Things are getting better, I guess. I think I'm just learning how to deal with my surroundings now. I'm hoping I get my new assignment soon though! Because the boy that I came in and trained with just saw his new job on his schedule. So hopefully I get to learn my new location soon!

That's all the magic for today.

Time in: 8:30 a.m.
Time out: 5:00 p.m.

Today I started out by putting away all the clean laundry from NSA (the big laundry place). I've learned that I have to go against all my instincts and work slowly in order for the time to pass easier. There's not ever a lot of stuff to do in the character room, at least not a lot that has to be done at the same time, so by acquiring a slower pace my tasks seem to take longer. It's been helping make the days go by easier. So I helped put NSA away, then I built a whole bunch of petticoats for Cinderella. Hers are the easiest to build. Then I helped in the back in Hang Dry by, of course, putting stuff away. That's all my job consists of these days. I helped in Soil for just a little bit and then went to lunch.

After lunch I spent some time organizing the accessory wall. My organizational OCD was in Heaven. Then I had to help build Belle's new petticoats and it was so hard! Hers are brand new and have like five pieces. I've never done it before so it was a pain in the butt. Then I built a bunch of outfits for Mickey and Minnie for a while and ended my day helping in Soil.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 4:30 p.m.
Time out: 12:30 a.m.

Right when I got there yesterday I was sent to the PC again to help with the Hoedown characters. They didn't go out to meet and greet so I didn't have to wash everything again, I just had to put away the dry pieces and build extra outfits for each of them. It took me no time at all so I ended up helping another girl do the Splash characters (Woody and Jessie). We had to re-set them for the next day and wash all their dirty laundry. Then we took the long way back to the character room to waste time because we got done extremely early. Once there, my coordinator sent me straight to the Soil station and I stayed there for the rest of the night. At one point we got bombarded with performers and the place exploded. I mean, seriously exploded. There were shoes piled up five to a stack. It was ridiculous. It took us most of the night to recover from it and by the end I was exhausted. 

That's all the magic for today. 

Time in: 4:30 p.m.
Time out: 12:30 a.m.

When I arrived yesterday I was sent straight to the PC to help with the Hoedown characters. First I set up a bunch of bins and bags for the characters to sort the pieces of their costumes into. They were on their way back from their set and I had to have it ready before they arrived. While they were sorting, I put away some small furs from the dry room and then some larger pieces that had arrived from the big laundry place. By then I went back and inspected all the pieces the performers had brought in. I sprayed out all the shoes and made sure they were properly matched. Then I sprayed out all the headpieces and sorted through everything to find all the small furs and put them in into the washer. I hung up all the pads and furs to be sent out to NSA (the big laundry place) and left it to be picked up then I put away all the shoes, headpieces, and accessories. Next came building the characters. Since they had been used that day, I had to make sure at least one of all of the characters was set up for the next time they went out to do a set. These characters are ginormous so it was pretty difficult to build them all. One of them I literally had to crawl into in order to build him correctly.

That was all I had to do for Hoedown, so I went back to the character room. My coordinator started me out setting up Cinderella's petticoats. There's a certain number that have to be ready at all times for her so I had to build a couple so that we had the right amount. Then I helped Tweedle-Dum set up his outfit before I went to lunch. When I got back I stayed in Soil because all of the performers were getting done with their sets and dropping their stuff off. They always come in huge packs at the same time, so we try to put a bunch of costuming people there so we don't get overwhelmed. It'd be pretty easy for the place to end up a disorganized mess, but everyone stays on top of thier game so it always is organized and efficient. It's pretty amazing to watch, actually. The costuming people do a wonderful job.

The end of the night came with putting away shoes, accessories and some laundry pieces that had finished drying. Basically just setting the room up to be ready for the morning shift to come in. It's all a very well oiled machine.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 5:00 p.m.
Time out: 1:30 a.m.

Unfortunately, the Internet is being wacky again. Sorry this is late.

What I learned on Saturday? People will complain about anything. There's always something they don't like about their job even if it is "their dream job" and "they've never wanted to do anything else with their life." Even if they get to portray Mickey at the happiest place on earth; they'll complain. People are never satisfied. I guess it's just because everything looks better from the outside: you don't know the complications and hassles that come with being Mickey until you have to face them every single day. Dream jobs are never as dreamy in reality.

Right when I got to work I was assigned to build some characters and had to help Mickey and Minnie set up a couple outfits each. Pretty easy work really. There's a tag that goes with each outfit that tells me what all I need to set out for it to be complete; so all I have to do is gather it all together, hook it onto one hanger and attach the tag. That's it. It's pretty simple. Then I went back to Soil and helped sort the dirty costumes for a long time. A lot of my evening was spent in Soil. I cleaned and put away a lot of headpieces and shoes. I've realized that my job is that of a glorified put-er away-er. Pretty low grade work, but people think it's so glamorous just because I'm at Disney. I think that's why so many people willingly sign up for the job: they think it'll be cool to tell everybody they know that they work for Disney; though I bet most of them leave out the part where they sort other peoples' sweaty undershirts and shoes.

I am learning a lot about the structure of a huge organization, though. Disney is basically run by coordinators in every area of the parks. Most places that I've worked before have their daily operations ran by managers, but, from what I've noticed, Disney's managers stay in their offices and do some sort of official paperwork and e-mails every day. It's the coordinators that are out and about in the character room giving people assignments and making sure everything gets done that needs to. It's a different structure, for sure. And scheduling is much different than I'm used to. Before, there's been a real person that I see every day, usually one of the managers, that makes the schedule every week and if you have a problem or question about it, you can go see an individual person directly. Not so at Disney. Here, you see your schedule and  request days off on the computer and someone far off somewhere else in the company either approves or disproves it and it's hard to have a personal conversation about it. It's an interesting system. It's very efficient, of course, but not very personal.

Time in: 4:30 p.m.
Time out: 12:30 a.m.

Yesterday was a super easy shift. I was in soil for pretty much the whole eight hours. Soil is where all the performers come and drop off thier dirty costumes including the t-shirts and sweats they wear underneath and all the pieces of their character costumes and they sort them into the appropriate bins. My job is to go behind them and re-sort correctly and send everything to the different laundry places. I also scan in all the shoes and headpieces and then clean them and put them away. And I take all the rings out of the princess skirts. It's a lot of organizing and sorting which I love to do! It makes my OCD so happy. I cleaned a bunch of headgear too. Then my coordinator asked me to help Goofy get a couple of outfits together to have the right number ready and up to par. At the very end of the night I sorted out some shoe covers just to kill time. It was an easy, simple shift.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 4:30 p.m.
Time out: 12:30 a.m.

As soon as I walked in a girl I've never met before named Laura and I got sent to the Production Center (PC) to help out there instead of staying in the Character Room. The PC is on the other side of the park and we had no idea what we were going over there to help do. When we got there the coordinator asked us to put some clothes from the dry room away and double check that all the characters from the Hoedown show were prepped and ready for the next day. By the time we finished all that she told us to wait for a girl named Muriah to get back and then we could help her set up Woody and Jessie for the show at Splash Mountain. We got all their stuff together and then trekked over to where they get ready and dropped it all off. Then we brought back the dirty stuff that was up there and sorted it and put it all in the laundry. By then all the characters in the Electrical Light Parade were getting ready so there wasn't much room for anything else so we just waited for them to leave. Their costumes with the lights on them are super heavy. After they left, we went back out to Splash Mountain to drop some stuff off that we had forgotten and then Laura and I were dismissed back to the Character Room.

We had lunch after that, then I helped put accessories away. One of the performers forgot to leave his hat where it belonged at his location, so I went with another CP and a lady named Pat to drop it off where it belonged. When we got back I helped sort laundry for a while then put some more accessories away. They were planning on waxing the floor after we all left last night so we had to go through a big section of the character room and get everything up off the floor which was a serious pain in the butt. Obviously y'all have never seen it but imagine the floor of your room when you haven't cleaned it in three weeks. That's what the floors there are like. It's all organized of course, but there's just stuff everywhere. By the end of that it was time to go thankfully.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 3:30 p.m.
Time out: 12:00 a.m.

We had a new trainer today named Ryan and he made today much better than yesterday. We got to help build Buzz Lightyear which was awesome. It took us a long time to learn how to do it properly because he has a ton of parts. Not a lot of people know how to do it but now I can say I do which is cool. After that we were quizzed on where each character is located within the character room and where to find specific pieces like shoes and accessories and such. Then we learned how to help Tinker Bell get ready for the night parade where she flies in the sky. She's pretty easy to help. By then a lot of the characters were back for the night so we helped put a lot of things away and sort out laundry. The hardest part to remember is what gets washed in house and what gets sent to the huge laundry services place on Disney property. It's a lot of little things to remember and everybody doesn't know everything. Even our trainer had a hard time knowing what laundry went where because apparently they switch it all the time depending on the season and such. We also learned how to properly clean headgear. Today was lots of tedious things that make up big projects.

That's all the magic for today!

Time in: 8:00 a.m.

Time out: 4:30 p.m.

Yesterday was alright. We toured a bunch of Magic Kingdom, mostly green rooms and other places where we might be asked to make a run to in case someone forgets a costume piece. A lot of the places are really close to where the performers do the actual meet and greets so that they don’t have to travel far for their breaks. I wonder if the guests even realize that. We also got to help Tigger, Minnie and Stitch clean their heads and see how that process works. Right after lunch our trainer had to leave because her son was sick at preschool. So we kind of floated around for the next three hours. We helped this one lady set up the Beast’s costume (which is HUGE, by the way). Then we spent the next two hours sorting tights and finding any ones with holes in them. It was a seriously sluggish way to end the day.

That’s all the magic for today.