Training Day One

My first day of training was yesterday, Friday, August 27. I woke up early at 5:45 and drove to the Disney University instead of taking the bus. At only a 20 minute drive, it's so much better than taking the 40 minute bus ride. Class started at 7:15 in the Disney University cafeteria. From the Disney University, we took a Disney bus to the front of the Magic Kingdom, and were taken through the front gates. We walked past a lot of people already lined up in front of the train station waiting to get in.

Walking down Main Street with only a few other guests (who I believe were there for breakfast reservations) was very cool. You never see Main Street like this... it's always filled with people. After a bit of lecturing at the Guest Relations building, we headed down Main Street towards the Castle. On our way, we passed the filming of 2011 Miss America Pageant contestants and a few Disney "celebrities."

From there we walked through the Castle and over to Cosmic Ray's... my new home for the next four months! It was cool to see the restaurant completely empty! Heaven knows it's going to be packed... they say it's the third busiest quick-service restaurant in the world! (There are two 24-hour McDonald's locations, in Moscow and Tokyo, that are in the lead.)

After Cosmic Ray's, we headed into Tomorrowland and went on the Buzz Lightyear Spin ride! We were being paid to go on the ride! It was my first time on the ride... it's very similar to Toy Story Midway Mania at Hollywood Studios, but TSMM definitely has it beat. But still, it was very exciting to be on the ride!

After Buzz Lightyear, we walked over to Liberty Square, where we went on the Haunted Mansion, one of my favorites! At the end of the ride, we took a secret Cast Member exit and went backstage to head back into the Utilidor.

After a bit more computer-based learning, we took a bus over to the Costuming building. We each picked up two of our costumes, tried them on, and checked them out! The Tomorrowland Food & Beverage costumes are a silver shirt with an upside-down buttoned-on triangle on the front, with black pants. The costumes reflect the theme of a community where humans, aliens and robots live and work together. It's not the future as we envision it today; it reflects a city of the future as imagined by people of the 1920's and 30's.

After a long first day of training, it was finally time to head home!