August 5th was our program graduation! It's a good reason to dress up and a good occasion to take pictures with your friends. We got there really early so we could fully enjoy it. We got our graduation ears, diploma and souvenir box and then took lots of pictures! It was a lot of fun even though it was crazy hot and humid, even for Florida!
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On July 2nd, I was working at 7 AM so I had to wake up at 5 to take the bus at 6:05. I don't know what happened to my alarm, but it never went off so I woke up by myself at 5:50!!! I didn't want to be late for work so I put on my costume and ran for the bus. I got there just in time, but I didn't have time to pack a lunch and I was working until 3 PM. What you don't know is that we don't have a cafeteria at Typhoon. We have a little itty bitty store where you can buy some snacks (chocolate bars and chips) and that's it. Lucky for me, the managers were having a BBQ that day and were making hot dogs and hamburgers for everyone! Thank you Typhoon Lagoon managers for saving me on this awful day that suddenly became a great day! On Tuesday June 30th, I was working a PM shift and got put on the "Kiddie Rotation", which means I was mostly working at Ketchakiddie Creek, the kids section. I love that rotation because you don't have to scan all the time and can interact with kids. But, on that day, there were two little girls who were too tall to do the slides. Instead of arguing with us, crying or throwing a tantrum like most kids (or their parents) do, they decided to become "lifeguards in training" (their words not mine) and spent at least one and a half hours helping other children get on their tubes and gently pushing them down the slide and helping them get out at the bottom. They even asked us what the rules were for that slide so they could help us enforce them. They were awesome!
Christina, an other lifeguard who had been at the kiddie raft while they were helping us, and I thought that they should be rewarded for their good work and, since she was out early that day, she clocked out, went to Guest Services (while she wasn't working), asked for Honorary Citizen pins and coupons for free ice cream and came back to the kiddie area to give it to them. They were so happy and it totally made our day! It was so cute! And girls, if you are reading this, thank you so much for your help! You did a great job! It's days like this that I love working for Disney! Forecast Typhoon was our first training at our location. It lasted only 4 hours and we got to learn about the story, the setting, the attractions, the restaurants, the different activities, the hidden Mickeys, etc. It was a lot of fun, but, since I have already worked at Typhoon Lagoon, I felt like I was cheating when they asked us questions. We also talked about the four keys again (Safety, Courtesy, Show, Efficiency). It was simply a fun little introduction of the park and we got to tour the whole park. Apparently I'm aloud to call guests "Dude"! Not sure if I'm brave enough to try, but it's supposed to be part of the story! The Story of Typhoon LagoonEvery Disney park has it's own story. Here is the story of Typhoon Lagoon that you can also find on the signs at the entrance of the park and in certain books and videos about the park. I didn't write this!
"A furious storm once roared cross the sea Catching ships in its path, helpless to flee Instead of a certain and watery doom The wind swept them here to Typhoon Lagoon." For as long as anyone could remember, the quaint thatch-roofed village had nestled along the shores of the sparkling lagoon, in the shadows of a great volcanic mountain. Then came the 20th century with its cruise ships, and tourists and the Placid Palms Resort... a special little place for lucky vacationers each year. The great storm, however, changed everything... a furious, unrelenting typhoon catching a small fleet of ships by surprise, and tossing them about like toy boats for one terrifying hour. But in the storm’s wake was left a remarkable scene. A surfboard had penetrated completely through a huge tree. A small boat had blown through the roof of one building. A great buoy had crashed through the roof of still another. The Placid Palms Resort was now the Leaning Palms, almost ready to topple over at any moment. A small harbor had been cut off from the sea, trapping an overturned boat and thousands of colorful fish, uh... plus a few sharks along the way. Nothing, however, topped the sight of the shrimp boat, 'Miss Tilly', impaled precariously on the peak of the great volcanic mountain. To this day, the mountain tries vainly to dislodge its unwelcome burden with an enormous geyser of water every half hour. Well, what nature has done is a little redecorating. The inhabitants were left with the most extraordinary assortment of waterfalls, rapids, pools, surf and all around wetness the world has ever seen. The once sleepy resort had been turned into Typhoon Lagoon. MAGICAL MOMENT The mascot of the park, Lagoona Gator, is out surfing on the coast of Australia (according to the last news we have of him). Every day, to take his place, the Cast Members choose one guest (usually a small child) to be the "Big Kahuna" of the day. The Big Kahuna is responsible to make sure that everything is working the way it is supposed to. For that, he gets a guided tour of the park before it opens, his name on the board at the entrance of the park, a medal, a special reserved area on the beach right in front of the wave pool and, most of all, he gets to choose which kind of waves we will have on that day and to turn them on. It is such a special moment for that child, his family and for us as cast members! :) 60 days! Can you believe it? I would love to say that time is flying by, but that would be lying. I look at the countdown on my phone at least 3 times a day :P it's pathetic.
Spring break was last week, so I only have a couple of weeks left until school is over! The weather is a lot better now. The temperature is finally above 0 degrees celsius, so it's a lot easier to wait for Florida now that I can go outside without freezing. The new Cinderella movie is coming out this weekend! Who is excited? I can't wait to see the costumes and what they have done with this story. I absolutely loved Maleficent so I'm afraid I'm going to be disappointed by this one, but we'll see. I have been watching vlogs all week and I can't wait to leave. If it is like last year, I should get my DS-2019 in the mail next week. We got it on March 18 last year. After that, I can pay for my SEVIS fee and then all of my documents will be complete except for DORMS which we will get at the beginning of May. I really need to start looking for roommates. I want to choose my roommates so I can start getting to know them before the program starts, but I am still under 21 and all of my friends from last year are now over 21 which means we can't room together, so I don't know anyone. I should start paying more attention to the roommate search Facebook group... I'm sorry this post is so boring for you guys, but I'm really excited and I needed to tell the world: 60 DAYS LEFT!!! Hooray! I promise I will try to make my posts more interesting in the future. For now, I hope you are doing well and are planning a Disney vacation in the near future and I will update you soon! Fun fact: I did my first Magical Moment of the year today! One of the little girls in my group at the pool is going to Disney World for the first time in a couple of weeks and she is really excited about it so I gave her her first pair of Mickey ears, some Mickey and princess stickers and her first pin so she can pin trade. She was really happy and even more excited to go. It was a really cute moment and it totally made my day! |
AuthorHello everyone! My name is Marie-Ève. I am from Québec, Canada and this blog is about my summer as a cast member in Walt Disney World. Since most of my family and friends speak French, everything on this blog will be written both in English and French. Archives
December 2015
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