Friday 27 June 2014

My role

So I thought I'd do a post about my job role whilst in the program.

I am working in the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Downtown Disney. There are two roles in the boutique, you either do the transformations or are on cash wrap, which is me!

I am on cash wrap, so either work on the register (that's the till to you and me, I'm still trying to get used to all these american words!) or in the stock room. 

I have mostly worked on the register. This involves putting together the tote (bag) for the princess's full of stuff to take home with them from their transformation. I then put the package through the register and take the payment.

There are 4 packages to chose from, one package includes the hair and make up, another includes hair make up and nails. The big packaging includes: hair, make up, nails, costume, wand, crown and professional photos graphs taken by a photographer to take home! Lastly the finally package is hair, makeup nails, BBB top and tutu. Within the package there are 4 different hairstyles that the princesses can choose from, ranging from one that looks like a bun with a cute tiara to a colourful up do with fake coloured hair! All the styles look great!

The princess gets to take home the make up pallet (including eye shadow, 'lipstick' and 'blusher') their nail varnish plus one extra depending on the package and the comb that the FGIT used. 

When there are no guests to serve we have to look busy so we prepare the nail varnishes by wrapping in tissue and putting in boxes or prepare the totes and other useful jobs like that! 

Seeing the princessss faces when they look in the mirror after the transformation is enough to cheer anyone up! That's the highlight of the job! The little girls really do look and feel like princesses and we sure do treat them like royalty! :) 

There is also a knight package for Prince Charming which is pretty cool!

More info here :) 


Thursday 26 June 2014

Electrical Parade and Fantasmic

So To cheer ourselves up we try and make the most of our days off and evenings when not working!

On Friday 20th June I watched the electrical parade at Magic Kingdom at 9pm, we tried to watch it on our first visit to Magic Kingdom but it was cancelled so were hoping to see it this time!

Main Street was super busy so we went to Fantasyland to watch it and were right at the front, (after moving spaces as a child was sick near us!). It gets darker a lot earlier over here so it was dark for the parade. All the characters, trucks and banners had tiny little lights on so that they lit up! It looked so magical and I'm glad we got to see it! Here are some photos from the parade :)










On Wednesday 25th June myself and some of the girls headed to Hollywood Studios after work to watch Fantasmic! I had tried to go the week before and we waited for over and hour in the auditorium and then it got cancelled due to storms! We queued up for the 9pm show but we had really awful seats at the back and couldn't see anything so decided to try for the 10.30pm show! We asked a cast member when was the best time to arrive to get good seats and he told us the later show was quieter! He then gave us 4 fast passes for Rockin Rollarcoaster - how kind!!
We went to the ride and got straight on :)

We then went to watch the show! The show starts with Mickey doing some magic to make a Fantasmic show! This is also in the darkness to lots of lighting is used. They also use water and lights to create these cool pictures - it looked amazing! Lots of characters were included in the parade including the story of Pocohontus! Fire and fireworks were also used, it was impressive!

The end of the show concluded with all the characters coming out on a huge ship and fireworks! 


























Saturday 21 June 2014

First day of training in the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

I had already picked up my costume so went to work at 9.30am in costume.


We met our trainers and did some admin on the computers and signed onto the Hub so we could get our schedules.

The Bibbidi Bobiddi Boutique in Downtown Disney is located in World of Disney which is the largest Disney shop in the world!! So I spent my training day with some CPs working in World of Disney. First we were given a tour of the stock rooms before being give a tour of the shop floor, which is huge! There are so many rooms to remember!

I was given a star wand full of pixie dust and had to go up to little princesses (or big ones!) and ask them if they wanted some pixie dust! I then said a cute little phrase and watch their little faces light up, it was so magical! 

After lunch we were sent onto the shop floor to interact with guests. In each room our trainer gave us a task and we had to complete it. Such a finding out where a guest had travelled from, or a guests favourite ride. I really enjoyed interacting with all the guests! 

Our day finished at 6pm, and I was shattered! However we had a welcome party at Chatham to attend. I rushed home and changed out my costume and headed to the welcome part. We got free pizza and soda and a picture with Peter Pan and Wendy. There was also a DJ! We thought it would be cringe dancing however the Americans know how to party and it was hilarious. Like being at an American college with dance offs and then suddenly everyone line dancing. This would never happen back home!! 


Tuesday 17 June 2014

First visit to the parks

Magic Kingdom 

On Saturday I had a day off so went for the first time ever to Magic Kingdom! Me, Lily, Nahela, Georgia and Sylvian went :) I was too excited to go and walk through the gates and see the Princess castle! As soon as we arrived Minnie and Pluto were doing separate meet and greets, Pluto had a shortest queue so we went to see him. He was very energetic with us and danced with me which was cute! 


We then walked down Main Street and saw the castle, took some photos and then the watched the show on the stage at the castle which featured all the main characters and some of the Princesses and Maleficent! 





We then went straight to the Mine Train ride which is based on the Seven Drawfs. This is the newest ride and most popular and had a 75 minute wait! It was not worth the wait and was just a roller coaster, will try and get fast passes next time!

We then headed to Big Thunder Mountain and queued for it only to be told they had shut it due to lighting! The storm was massive so we grabbed some food to shelter from the rain! It was still raining so we went to Pirates of the Caribbean ride which was amazing! The set looked insane and I can't believe how good the film looks in compassion to the film, the ride came before the film! 

The parade was due to start at 3pm so we headed to get a good spot, only for them to cancel it 10 mins later and do a 'rainy day parade' instead which was just the characters in carts! 



We then went on Lilo and Stitch ride which was kinda strange before heading home to change out our wet clothes.

Then me Lily, Rach and the girls opposite headed back to Magic Kingdom to watch the Electric Parade and Wishes! The Electric Parade was cancelled so we went on Big Thunder Moutain instead! There was no queue and we walked straight on! The ride was so good in the dark!!

We then went back to the Castle to watch wishes, the begining bit was a light show projected on the castle with music and pictures from all the Disney films, it was beautiful! Finally at 10pm Wishes started and the pretty song and the fireworks! It was insane, can't believe I can go and see it whenever I want to!! 








Hollywood Studios

On Sunday I had class in the morning at Disney University. I came back to the flat before heading to Studios for the end of Star Wars weekend with girls I had met in class! We went to the American section where they have recreated America and took some pictures! Also took a picture with the umbrella from Singing in the Rain which was jokes! We then grabbed some dinner before meeting up with my flat mates and going on The Great Movie Ride which was a cool ride with scenes from old Disney films such as Mary Poppins and Wizard of Oz! 



We then went on Rockin' Rollercoaster which was amazing so much fun!! Finally going on Tower of Terror! There was real thunder and lightening which made it more scary and it was scarier than the one in Paris! Me and Chelsea were literally holding hands so tight, it was petrifying but hilarious! 



Finally we watched the most amazing fireworks to mark the end of Star Wars weekend! These were the best fireworks I have ever seen, the finale was deafening and lit up the whole sky! 




Animal Kingdom

Yesterday me and Rach and Tom went to Animal Kingdom. Me and Rach chilled by the pool in the morning which was lovely! As soon as we arrived at Animal Kingdom we got our fast passes (cast members are allowed 3 per day!). 
We has a wander around the park and saw the tree of life and then went to Dino Land and some crazy ride that jolted you around! 

We had fast passes for Expedition Everest so went on that and it was amazing! At the top of the mountain you can see all the parks and get to realise how far away from each other the parks are! The ride goes backwards and was such fun!

We then queued to get a picture with Donald which was cute :)



We them headed to Dinosaur Ride which was SO GOOD! It's like a cart and there are loadsa dinosaurs and a story is spoken out, it was brill!

We had some time to kill so enjoyed some dole whip (pineapple ice cream) and then went to watch the Lion King show! It's only a half an hour show but was INSANE! I did not expect to it to be as good as it was! It was spectacular and I want to watch it over and over again!! 






Finally we got a picture with the boy and dog from Up, before getting the bus home :) 




Saturday 14 June 2014

Disney Traditions Class

On Friday we had Traditions class at Disney University. This is a class that every employee must attend before they can start work! More info for those interested is here!!



We got the bus at 6.45am dressed in our smart clothes to Disney University! We drove through the main gates to Walt Disney World, past Epcot and Hollywood Studios and then past Magic Kingdom and past Space Mountain to Disney University! The Uni is massive full of Disney themed classrooms and also a cafeteria.



The class lasted over 4 hours and taught us the 'Disney ways' and also gave us a brief history of how Disney was founded and all about the expansion of the business and growth of the parks. We watched a number of videos including one about Walt's life and 2 videos with messages from Bob Iger, the CEO!! And a handful of other videos to inspire us!

We also got to go to Magic Kingdom to the staff entrance and to the underground tunnels, it was soooo cool! Not sure what I can share about this so I'm sorry but I'm not gonna share anything.....!! :(

After the first break from class we arrived back to our room to Mickey ears hats, which were so cute! :) we also had the opportunity to win prizes throughout class, I won a Minnie figurine :)


At the end of the class we had a surprise visit from the boss himself - Mickey Mouse!! He brought us all our name badges! Mine says Watford on it, as they use your birthplace, but I'm getting it changed to say London, United Kingdom!!



Once class was over we got the bus back to Patterson! We could've gone to the parks but it was chucking it down with rain so decided against it!

In the evening I went for dinner with the house girlies to Longhorn Steakhouse! I had a ribeye with chips and salad! The side salad alone was enough for one meal! They also kept on bringing out amazing fresh warm bread! I tried Minute Maid lemonade for the first time and it was divine!! (This was also free refills, this place is something else!!)


For pudding we shared two puddings between 5 of us! I couldn't believe the portion sizes, as if one person would manage that! We had a lava chocolate cake and a delicious apple pie! Wow!!!



We also received our passes which means we can finally get our free entrance to the parks so off to explore Magic Kingdom today for my first time ever - far too excited!!