Life (Or Your Job)'s What You Make It...

So a little birdie told me that by calling College Recruiting and getting your Personal Number and then calling Casting that you could find out your location before your arrival date.

*Sidenote - I wouldn't advise doing this if you like surprises or If you feel
you're going to be dissapointed by what you hear...*

Well I did that today (which I really shouldn'tve have because I'm technically on Vocal Rest and I shouldnt've made any phone calls), and found out where I'm working for the summer...

...which is EPCOT Towers and Glow. If you're not familiar, Glow is a section of Merchandise which is my role - where you either walk around a park dressed in glowy tubes selling them to children and adults for usually $5 when it gets dark (usually before a parade or fireworks)...or you're stationed in a section of the park with a cart where you sell glow toys and you get to play with them. Another part of the job description is during the day you get to stand outside selling squeeze-breezes (the squirt bottles with the fan) or other water dispensing objects and in my case I would also get to work at The Two Towers - which are the two merchandise stations right before you entire World Pavillion.

When I first heard I was working at EPCOT I was on the fence. Let me explain...as some of you know, EPCOT isn't my favorite park. In fact it's my least. I particuarlly dislike Illuminations - the fireworks show at the park - and becauuse it's a learning pavillion i didn't spend as much time there as the other parks on my first program. Now that's not to say I dislike the park entirely. There are some aspects of the park I like. World Pavillion, Soaring, The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Space Ship Earth will always be favorites of mine, but as a whole i do feel the park is pretty boring.

So its safe to say when the lady told me over the phone that I would be working EPCOT Towers and Glow I was at first dissapointed.

But then I thought something...

When I was deployed to Glow in the Magic Kingdom on my First program, I had the time of my life! I loved walking around as "Glow Boy" and entertaining guests, dancing, performing and interacting with them, being in the parade and making people smile. That put a smile on my face and joy in my heart to know I was a part of something that great!

In addition to that, this might give me a new appreciation for the park and I'll get to see it in a different way than I did as a guest. I'll meet new people, interact with guests the same, and there's more to do on the program outside of work!

Plus...I won't have to wear long sleve shirts, slacks and a vest to work every day...that's always a plus. In addition, this will encourage me to pick up more shifts at other parks for the summer and get more money.

Here's what people had to say about Glow and Epcot in the Summer Alumni Facebook Group:

"Glow, is you stand around with a cart full of glowing
objects to sell to people, but glow is fun you can like play with the toys to
get peoples attention. Plus the bus rides to EPCOT from the Housing Pavillions
are short. Magic Kingdom busses take like an hour."

"I was just reading about this glow stuff, and it sounds
awesome, you'll be like a walking Raver. lol. Maybe you could add some funky
techno to your cart, and you'll have a one man party. Oh the
possibilities."

"Glow is awesome at epcot, everyone always wants a toy.
You get to wear them all crazy like and if you're lucky, you can ride a segway
with them. =D Just depends who your manager is."

" I got deployed to glow for a week when i was on my
program. it was at mk though. it really want bad at all... you get put in a
location and your out there by yourself which can kinda sound boring but it was
actually a lot of fun... I was kinda sad I was only there for a week. I did
squeeze breeze during the day too which was not so much fun bc it was superrr
hot outside!!Im not sure if it's the same at epcot though... but it def. sounds
like your doing so sort of glow. "

"Remember...no location is final until you're actually
there..."

That last one stuck with me. Nothing is final until 12 days from now when they hand me my sticker sand say you're working (INSERT LOCATION HERE). So I could've been working myself up over nothing. The Magic Kingdom will always be my favorite park, but it'll be nice to work somewhere else and get a different experience.

Cause as the songwriter says:

"Life's what you make it...so lets make it rock!"

Safe-D Begins with Me!

As I sit here sick, tired and dreading my Pop Culture final (the paper I wrote on Disney movies got shot down and burned to the ground), I can't help but think how people get so overworked over the Swine Flu epidemic but will still go to the theme parks.

I heard from one of my friends working down there now that people are walking around the parks with masks on to not catch any symptoms of the swine flu. To me, that's utterly ridiculous.

You would think that if you'd spent so much money to go to a theme park that you'd focus more on the experience.

I got this from StitchKingdom:

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Mickey Mouse, Pluto, the Fairy Godmother and other Walt Disney favorites were still dishing out kisses, handshakes and high-fives
at the Magic Kingdom on Thursday, despite the flu virus alert gripping the
United States.

At the world famous Florida theme park, which is run by Walt Disney Co and visited by millions each year, enthusiastic crowds filled the avenues and rides, apparently unworried by the warnings of a possible pandemic of a new strain of influenza A (H1N1) virus.

The United States has declared a health emergency and in Mexico, where up to 176 people have died following the outbreak there of the virus originally termed ?swine flu, the government has ordered a five-day partial shutdown of nonessential government offices and businesses. The Mexican Health Ministry also warned people against touching or kissing while greeting each other.

Authorities in the United States, who have reported 109 confirmed swine flu infections but only one death, are recommending that people sick with flu symptoms seek treatment and stay home. Florida is testing a number of suspected cases.

At the Magic Kingdom on Thursday, one mother pressed her baby?s face into the costumed character Pluto's furry snout for a kiss. Other youngsters continued to snuggle up to various other Disney characters and share high-fives, while fidgety kids slid their hands along the rope lines while waiting to get on the rides.

Among the crowds were the Jansens from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. They said they were not worried about bringing their 2-year-old and 7-year-old children to the Magic Kingdom.

There's no concern for us. We always go to the big public places with the kids, said Ed Jansen. Just like any Dutch man or Dutch woman, we have both feet on the floor. We're not a panicked people.

Coordinating the international campaign against the new flu virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has its current alert level just one notch below a full pandemic.

Despite some official fears that crowded venues could increase contagion risk, there were no visible extraordinary precautionary measures in place at Disney?s Magic Kingdom.

Trash sweepers, as usual, swept up bits of garbage almost before they touched ground, but they did not appear to be doing any extra disinfecting or unusual
cleaning.

I have strepp throat right now (not swine flu), and I'm trying to get better so that I can enjoy my experience during the summer. But just because I'm trying to get better, it dosen't mean that as soon as I get down there I'm going to be extremely health conscious every moment while I'm on my program. I've seen custodial do their job and they know what they're doing and they teach us to wash our hands and be health safe while on the job.

So unless the Swine Flu epdemic gets so bad that they have to shut down the theme park (which won't happen - God forbid it does), I'm not going to worry or be extremely health concious...cause remember:

"Safe-D Begins With Me!"