My first two weeks on the job have come to an end, and so has my training! This past Sunday I officially became a Disney Cast Member at Roaring Fork.

While I'm keeping my "earning my ears" ribbon on my name tag until I feel more confident in a few positions, I'm so excited to be moving out of the training stage and into the actual job stage. There will be higher expectations and more work, but I'm ready to see what I can do working for Mickey.

Disney World training starts out the same for everyone: Traditions. Traditions is the very first day of paid work where you learn all about the Walt Disney Company and what it means to work at Walt Disney World. Lots of fun surprises are sprinkled among videos and slideshows about being a cast member. I even won a pin for correctly answering a trivia question! Traditions is a lot of fun, and once it's over you can drive straight over to the Magic Kingdom to make use of your self-admission pass. What better way to celebrate?

Training starts to vary from there, but lots of CPs find themselves in Welcome to Operations next. We learn about all the roles that make the parks and resorts run each and every day, as well as important things to remember in order to be successful. They have a fun way of presenting otherwise unexciting information, so I didn't think this was too bad! I also know now that Disney takes safety more seriously than any other company/business/institution I've ever encountered before.

The last "class" training I had was "Welcome to Food and Beverage." They try to make us all more excited about getting quick service, which I really appreciate. There are moments now where I wonder how frying chicken nuggets is magical, and I still think back to some of the tips said in this class. At the end we got our free non-slip shoes, aka the most uncomfortable pair of sneakers you could possibly wear for 8+ hours at a time. I highly recommend buying nice insoles to replace the foam (yes, that's right, foam) versions that come with the shoes.

After that, I went off to Wilderness Lodge and never looked back! All new employees of the resort got a general overview of the Lodge one day. It is an absolutely beautiful resort, even with all the construction. It was fun to get to know people working in other roles, too.

Finally I made my way to the Roaring Fork with the three other new CPs. After a day of general overview training and working in the dining room, I slowly made my way through every role: Dining Room, Food Court, Waffle/Salad, Expo (nugget/fry cooker and plates orders), Order Taker, and Food Runner. It's a lot of hard work, and incredibly overwhelming at the beginning. But I think I'm catching on, and the more I do it the better I should get.

Today is my first official day of work, so wish me luck!