The Kelsey Chronicles: Disney Edition: Training and Relaxation

Wednesday, when I last wrote, was my first day of on the job training. Since then, I've been overwhelmed with information, new people, and physical labor. Today I finally got a chance to relax!

On my first day of on the job training, I got to wear a red "Earning My Ears" ribbon on my name tag. Taking it off will be another milestone in my internship, another reminder that my time on my internship is limited!

My costume! The hat can be swapped for a hair net and in the kitchen I wear an apron!

My first day of training was 8 hours long. It consisted of a trainer, Renee, and two other kitchen trainees. In addition to online lessons, we learned how to make burgers and run "soup side". Cosmic Ray's is made up of 3 bays: chicken, burgers, and soup/sandwich. We also closed soup side and when Cosmic Ray's closes, it needs to look spotless. It looks like a brand new restaurant every night! The teamwork there is evident. It's interesting because college program employees always close. Personally, I'd rather work early and get done early, but it makes me feel good that my presence allows full time parents and students to go home and tend to their kids and their homework. We also got to taste test chicken side. It was awesome!

My second day of training, yesterday, consisted of a bit more information and physical labor. In addition to taste testing burger side, I learned how to work both burger and chicken side as well as fries, nuggets, and "take down". Take down consists of stocking things, trash/food waste, and other random odds and ends. Stocking wasn't too bad, but bringing out the trash and food waste was pretty gross. We have to push the food waste cans all the way out of the Utilidoors which is uphill and quite a walk away! For whatever reason, we got an hour long break, so my trainer said we could go ride Space Mountain if we wanted! I love Space Mountain, so of course I jumped at the chance to ride on it! After I changed, I got to come out of one of the "Cast Member Only" doors to get to the ride and go in when I was done! It was the best break ever!

The Utilidoors are so cool. The magic of the Utilidoors still hasn't worn off for me. It's amazing that there's a whole secret world beneath the Happiest Place on Earth! It's funny because right above the women's restroom in the Tomorrowland break room is Stitch's Great Escape, so every few minutes it sounds like it's thunder-storming above me! Another cool/weird thing about the Utilidoors is that I see tons of face characters with their wigs and makeup on, but without their costumes, so it seems as though these characters are casually enjoying their lunches or making phone calls. It's hilarious! Some casual characters that I've seen include Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Merida, Alice, the ugly step sisters, and Gaston.

Today I had a day off, so of course I spent my time at Walt Disney World! My park of choice today was Hollywood Studios. I spent about 4 hours just wandering the park. I rode Tower of Terror, voted for a singer at the American Idol Experience, and watched the Beauty and the Beast stage show. I also walked through One Man's Dream where my great uncle, Blaine Gibson, was kind of featured. I wanted to tell everyone around me about my connection! I was just so proud to see that his humble work was recognized in some way. I also found a bust of Walt in the park that he did. I wish he could give me a personal tour and share all of his Disney knowledge with me.