Watching Finding Nemo from a Guest's Point of View

My family visited again this past week, and I had to opportunity to watch Finding Nemo The Musical from a Guest's point of view. My coordinator gave my family and me VIP seating to watch the show. At first I was a little hesitant, mostly because I watch the show at least twice a day, usually more, so I didn't want to watch for fun. However, after watching as a Guest and not having to worry about watching people leaving, watching camera flashes, keeping the aisles clear, etc. it was much nicer! I was actually able to enjoy the show and take some great pictures! See the pictures below, and keep looking for more posts coming about my family's visit and all of the fun stuff that's been going on in the most magical place on earth!

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.