Sunday, February 3, 2013

I Wanna Be, Where the People Are...

If I were to work at any other place...whether a restaurant, a school, or a theme park other than Disney, I would never in a million years want to be a custodian.


But choosing Custodial as my role at Disney seemed like the perfect fit for me and it has yet to prove me wrong!

While the rest of my roommates had the lucky advantage of having a day off after Traditions, I started my Custodial orientation right away (two Fridays ago). They got to go to Hollywood Studios, and I was on my way back to Disney University!



The first day of orientation was all about the role of Custodial; I learned how to use different chemicals, how to handle sharp objects safely, guest interaction, etc. It wasn't the most fun of orientations, but I got to meet some of my fellow CP Custodians! Plus we got out two hours early! They discussed the importance of Custodial at Disney and how the cleanliness sets us apart from all other theme parks. Within the last decade, Disney has continued to make efforts for Custodial cast members to be less behind the scenes work and more "part of the show" such as:

Pin trading.


Water art.



The wave goodbye at the end of the night.
Obviously this is a wave hello, but it was the only picture I could find and you get the idea!


Fun Fact! Walt Disney was the first person to invent trash cans with a "PUSH" lid on them. Before, trash was thrown away in open barrels, but Disney didn't want his guests to be seeing or smelling trash in his parks. We learned that businesses are always looking into "what is Disney doing?" for ideas on how to improve things in their own companies.


After my Custodial Core training got out at 3:30, I met up with my roommates and we all went to Epcot! My jaw dropped when I saw the World Showcase, I have been there before, but seeing it from the perspective as my work location made me feel excited all over again to be doing what i'm doing.



Saturday was my "Epcot Discovery Day" which was for all CPs working at Epcot, Custodial or not. This was an orientation all about Epcot itself, which included the history of Epcot, and a fun tour of the park! We even got to ride Spaceship Earth during the tour, aka the giant golf ball ride. We took a boat tour around the World Showcase lagoon which was really fun to see all the countries from the water!


At the end of the day, we got our first training and work schedules. Again, while some people had a couple days off before training, I started the very next day! However I was relieved to see that I finally had two days off on Wednesday and Thursday.

Overall, training went really well! I was with my friend Kait the whole time, and we trained Streets on Sunday and Restrooms on Monday. Our trainer, Joanne, was very thorough, and we definitely got a sense that working Custodial at Epcot was more of a relaxed environment. (but still efficient of course, after all this is Disney!)
My name tag had an "earning my ears" ribbon for training!
We had our assessment on Tuesday morning, and after we both passed, our manager instructed us to pan and broom around the showcase in order to familiarize ourselves! That was really fun, even though our feet were exhausted by the end of the night! They told us that when we actually start working you get assigned two countries at a time. (it's a different two countries every time you work though so you don't get bored!)

I was actually amazed at how many guests approach you while working Custodial. I was expecting to talk to maybe two or three guests each hour, but people come up to you literally every 5min! Whether it's to pin trade, ask for directions, or just to talk, I am constantly being stopped and interacting with guests and I LOVE IT! All of my shifts so far are Streets, as opposed to Restrooms. (Restrooms aren't bad, just less interactive.) My shifts last 6-8 hours, but they always fly by. And every week I have 3 days off so far, compared to most CPs who have two!

Me in my costume after a long weekend of training!
My first two shifts post-training I've worked Canada/WSC Promenade and Mexico/Norway.
My favorite question that has been asked by a guest so far is: Where's the big castle?
Which is in Magic Kingdom....not Epcot.

When I eventually had my first day off on that Wednesday, I didn't know anyone else who was off work too. But I took it as an opportunity to go back to Epcot alone and really get to know the area because of the amount of questions I get asked. Even though it wasn't nearly as fun as going to the park with a friend, (YES I am a party of 1, mr. attractions cast member...) it was the best decision I ever made because it really helped me the next time I went to work. One of my favorite parts about my role so far is the look of relief on guests faces and their appreciation after helping them out! And sweeping isn't so bad when this is your view.