My Last Day at Finding Nemo

Well, I have quite the shocking update for those of you who have been following my blog: as of yesterday, I no longer work at Finding Nemo The Musical. Apparently, because It's Tough to Be a Bug is closing for five weeks, the management team decided that the remaining theaters ops attractions would be too "over-staffed" so they decided to deploy all of the college program participants to other parks. As you can probably imagine, I was extremely upset by this news, and not only by this news, but by the way that the news was presented to me. I came into work earlier this week, and found a training schedule with my name on it sitting next to the computer where I clock in. Honestly, at first I thought it was a mistake. I have less than one month left in my program, and I couldn't believe that they would make me leave Nemo, especially since Nemo will still be operating normally for the remainder of my program. However, that was not the case, as I soon discovered that my deployment to Hollywood Studios was NOT a mistake, and I had to begin there almost immediately. I had two days notice that I was leaving Nemo.

I'm going to make more posts about my deployment to Hollywood Studios, but I wanted this post to be dedicated solely to my last day at Nemo. For those of you who know me personally, you know how much I loved my job; and for those of you who don't know me, I hope this blog has conveyed my adoration for Finding Nemo and the Cast Members there. I've always bragged that I had the best job in the college program. So, as you can imagine having to leave Nemo before my time was over, and especially with such short notice, was extremely difficult.

The CPs attempt to make an arrow on stage for our last day together

To make our last day somewhat memorable, we had a mini party for the CPs. We brought in food and desserts and took pictures during the show breaks with all of the Cast working that day. I made sure to say goodbye to everyone that was working, and there was lots of hugging and wishing one another good luck in the future. It's sad to think that I may not see some of these people ever again. It's even more sad that because I had such short notice, I wasn't able to say goodbye to those people who weren't working or who were on vacation. I do plan to visit Nemo again before I leave Disney for good, but visiting just isn't the same as working there. Even though my last working day wasn't even that great (I had all outside positions, I never even saw the show), I was very sad to leave at the end of the day.

My coworkers on the CP's last day at Finding Nemo

To those of you who I said goodbye to and left at Nemo, I miss you already. To those of you who I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to, I hope to get the chance to say goodbye to you before I leave in August. I miss my "Nemo family" already, and I can't believe I won't be back to work again. Working at Nemo has been a true privilege, and I can't imagine my college program without all of you having been a part of it. The Cast at Nemo are remarkable people, with unique personalities that make it an awesome place to work. I hope all my fellow fish remember to always go with the flow!

"Bye Dad"
"Bye son... *big sigh*"

End show.

The Hub

The hub is basically the portal to all things Disney Cast Members. When you become a Cast Member with Disney, you are given a userid and password that allows you to log in to the website and get access to everything such as your work schedule, Cast discounts, special events, and many other things.

The two things I use The hub the most for are to check my schedule (it comes out every Sunday for the following week) and to request time off of my schedule. For example, this Thursday I am going home for a little over a week for my sister's high school graduation. When I first gained access to the hub in January, I immediately put the request in to have those days off. Immediately, the labor center approved Sunday-Friday, but they put me on the waitlist for Friday and Saturday. The waitlist means that the time requested is not available, but may become available. Eventually, I was approved for Friday as well, so by the time the schedule came out last week, I only was scheduled to work Saturday. Luckily, one of my coworkers was able to pick up my shift (which I requested through the hub as well) for Saturday so I now have the next nine (!) days off of work to go home, celebrate, and spend time with my family. Basically, the moral of the story with requesting time off on the hub is - DO IT EARLY! The earlier you request time off, the easier it is to get it approved.

You are also able to pick up extra hours on the hub. If there are any untrained positions that are available when you are not regularly scheduled to work, you can pick them up on the hub and add them to your weekly schedule. These include shifts like parade audience control, Fantasmic, special event greeters, and ESPN Wide World of Sports positions. These are a great way to get extra hours during the week, but they don't often show up, so it's important to pick them up right away if you want them and they are available!

The hub also has special Cast Member contests, gives information about costuming, shows your paycheck, details your record card information, and so many more things. It's one-stop-shopping for all things Cast Members could possibly need to know about anything Disney. I do have to admit that the hub is a bit difficult to navigate, so it takes some time to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, it is a wealth of information, and a necessary bookmark on your computer if you are a Cast Member!

Saying Goodbye & Saying Hello

Recently, I've had to say goodbye to many of my favorite people and things at Walt Disney World. The people who were just doing the spring program left throughout the month of May, with the last departures occurring May 30th. It was hard to say goodbye to some of the friends that I have made here, especially because I don't know if I'll ever see them again. It's crazy that you go on a journey with these people and spend all of your time either working or hanging out with them, and then suddenly they are gone. I'm definitely already missing my friends, and wishing them happy and fun summers.

Another sad goodbye occurred at DAK this week: we had to say goodbye to Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. It was the longest running parade at Animal Kingdom, and now with its departure, the only park with a parade is the Magic Kingdom. I'm sad to see the parade go because it was such a nice break from Nemo during the middle of the day. However, I'm glad I won't have to work the parade during the hot summertime!

The Last Jammin' Jungle Parade Crew

With all of the goodbyes did come some hellos! The fall advantage program people have arrived, and one of those people is my friend, Franklin from Clemson! We have a lot of new neighbors and I'm excited to meet some of my new coworkers.

We also get to say hello to FOLK, or Festival of the Lion King at Animal Kingdom. FOLK has been down since January because they rebuilt the theater in Africa. It used to be located in Camp Minnie Mickey, but since Avatarland is being built where the Camp used to be, the FOLK theater had to be moved to Africa (where it truly belongs). I've been inside the new theater already, and it's beautiful (but very similar to the old theater), but I haven't seen the show yet. Rumor has it that the show is the exact same, but I'm still excited to see it in its new home. I'm also excited that I don't have to answer the "what happened to Lion King" question anymore at Nemo!

So, there you have it. The beginning of summer has been a series of goodbyes and hellos here at Disney World. While it's sad to say goodbye to all the memories, it's exciting to think that there are new memories to be made. I'm looking forward to enjoying my last two months here, and I hope you continue to enjoy me on my Disney Dream!

Picking Up EHH Shifts

Last week I picked up my first EHH (extra hours hotline) shift on The Hub, and it was a parade shift in Asia! This was exciting, especially because I already know how to work the Animal Kingdom Parade, so I just got to experience it from a different side of the park. I also got to wear a new costume, which is always exciting! I also wanted to pick up the shift because the parade is going away on May 31, so I wanted to be able to work it a few more times before I have to say goodbye!

Costume for the parade shift

I learned a lot from working this shift, particularly that I am glad I always work on the theater ops side of the parade! We have things a lot more organized, and there are not as many traffic control problems on our side of the parade. Nevertheless, it was great to pick up a shift and experience new jobs and work with new Cast Members! I'm definitely going to keep looking to pick up shifts on the hub; hopefully I can find a Fantasmic or Magic Kingdom parade shift sometime soon!

If you want to know more about the hub and picking up shifts, look for an upcoming post all about the hub and how to use it!

Animal Kingdom Cast Party

In case you haven't heard - Animal Kingdom is growing!

Last Thursday, there was a Cast party in the new Festival of the Lion King theater in Africa for all of the Animal Kingdom Cast Members. They had catered food, lots of drinks, free Mickey ice cream bars, and lots of tents and tables outside giving away free things. The idea of the party was for Cast Members to get to see the inside and outside of the new theater and to thank the Cast Members for all of our hard work.

I can't say too much about the theater, but I will say that I believe that most Guests will be very pleased!

I really enjoyed the Cast Party. I was able to take pictures with the shovel used to break ground at Avatar land, learn about the new and exciting things coming to Animal Kingdom (hint: it's going to be AMAZING!), and spend some quality time with my fellow Cast Members away from work.
It was also really nice to have an event where they were thanking us. We even got to meet Rafiki and Timon!

Meeting Timon & Rafiki

Breaking ground on Avatar!

Starlit Splash

May 7, 2014 was definitely the best night of my entire College Program. Disney Internships and Programs rented out the entire Typhoon Lagoon water park from 7 PM to 1 AM for all of the College Program participants and had a giant party for the CPs!

From the moment my friends and I entered the water park, we could tell that it was going to be a good night. There was a DJ playing lots of great party music and a huge dance floor on the beach. The wave pool was in full force and we could smell lots of amazing free food right around the corner. Throughout the whole night we were able to spend tons of time in the wave pool, go on three tube slides, dance on the beach, meet Captain Jack Sparrow, have some free food (including Mickey bars!), snorkel with sharks, and watch an amazing fireworks show from the water!

Meeting Captain Jack Sparrow

There were so many CPs there, and you could tell that everyone was ready to let loose and have some fun. We were all dancing on the beach and in the water, swimming in the waves, and talking amongst ourselves. At 11:45, the entire party stopped, as they set up a fireworks show and we had an amazing fireworks display that we could watch from the beach or the wave pool! It was beautiful, and a perfect way to celebrate the night.

To make things even better, it was my friend's birthday at midnight, so we got the DJ to make a special birthday announcement for her and we all danced in front of the stage for a good part of the night. It was honestly the most perfect night; I loved every single second of it.

I am so grateful to Disney for setting up a night for the CPs to celebrate all of our hard work and accomplishments. Starlit Splash was a total blast and a complete success!

Typhoon Lagoon at night

How Cast Members Treat Other Cast Members

There are obviously a ton of perks to being a Walt Disney World Cast Member: free park admission, 20% off of all Disney merchandise, restaurant discounts, 50% off of activities, resort discounts, and way, way more. However, another perk of being a Cast Member is the way that Cast Members treat one another. 

Whenever I am at work and another Cast Member passes by me, they will always smile and wave, or say hello. It doesn't matter who they are, what department they come from, or how high up in the company they are. Even the Vice President of Animal Kingdom, Josh, will walk by and say hello to all of us!

Besides just being extremely friendly to one another, you feel like you are a part of a small family. Even though there are 65,000+ Cast Members, it doesn't feel that way. If you go somewhere and tell someone you are a Cast Member, they will automatically ask you about where you work, what you do, and how you like it. We all share this special bond of working for The Mouse, and it brings us close, even if we don't know personally know each other. 

The people at Nemo are especially great at treating one another fairly and nicely. I've heard a lot of stories form CP's about how the full-timers don't like the college kids because we "take their hours" and all of this stuff, but I never feel any hostility from my Nemo coworkers. We all truly care about one another and want to see the others do well, not just in work, but in life. When I had bad sunburn from my trip to the beach, I had at least 3 or 4 coworkers ask me about it for multiple days, give me tips as to how to treat it, and tell me to let them know if it was really bothering me. It's times like these that make me glad to be a WDW Cast Member at Finding Nemo The Musical. 

I love being a Cast Member, not only for all of the amazing perks, but for the way that I am treated and the way that all Disney Cast Members truly care for one another.