Cruising The Seven Seas: Disney University Graduate

Disney University Graduate

3^rd February 2012

Getting out of bed this morning was a nightmare, my alarm didn’t go off - again. Luckily Aideen rang and got me out of bed shortly after 7am.

Today we were due to spend eight hours learning about Disney Traditions at Disney University. How the hell could we spend eight hours learning about Disney? Well, it happened!

During the training there were some overly “Disneyfied” people, mainly girls. The Disney trainers came across as almost fake, they were overly happy and excited for no reason. Everyone seemed too excited while the 97% of the trainees looked completely lost! At the end of each video or presentation we had to clap and cheer, it seemed completely bazar! “Oh my Gosh! I’m so happy for you guys. You are now starting on this new Disney experience. You are all now a part of the Disney team. Congratulations! I’m so happy and excited for you all”. I guess a simple "welcome" isn’t part of the Disney style?

So what did we learn about? Well, first, after picking up our Disney Tradition handbook, we had to introduce ourselves to other people at the table and write their names down. Their names were, of course, written down in the "New Found Friends" section of our Disney Traditions handbook.

Next, we were given a team activity, writing (in our handbooks) as many Disney animated characters as possible in 90 seconds. Thanks to Aideen and Clarita I was nominated as team leader. Unfortunately, we lost the task by 1 Disney character. We were beaten by the overly hyped Disney fanatics so I guess we did a pretty good job, considering.

Our common goal while working at Disney is “We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages, everywhere”. This is a quote we have to live by.

Something interesting that I found out, my ship, Disney Magic, was built in 1998, making it's first journey on 30th June 1998. Disney Magic is the first Disney Cruise Line ship. Disney Fantasy is preparing its first voyage/test cruise from Germany in March. On the Disney Dream, Hernan’s ship, in one of the dining room is an animated talking turtle that kids can actually have a conversation with. This, I was dazzled by! Who needs friends when you've got a talking turtle?

I’m not 100% sure if I’m allowed to say this, or if it’s classified as “Top Secret” but there’s a huge tunnel that runs beneath Magic Kingdom, a bit like an I-95 on a ship. Disney, of course, have their own word for this, the Utilidoor. It’s a 9 acre tunnel with passages leading off to allow Disney characters to get to where ever they need to be fast. Also, as Magic Kingdom is zoned, Disney doesn’t really want Captain Jack Sparrow walking around the Space Land to get to Adventure Land.

The most amusing part for me were the words Disney use. Consider it “Disney Speak”:

Children don’t get lost, their parents do! “Children with lost parents”

You cannot say kids, they are not baby goats. Children must be referred to as children.

On Stage – when you are in a guest area. You are basically on show and have to act as if you are up on stage performing.

Back Stage – Crew areas where guests will not see you therefore you can drop the act.

The Disney Look – looking the part for when you’re on stage.

Disney Scoop – picking up someone’s rubbish while working. You could be talking to a guest, see some litter on the floor, bend down and pick it up and later, when you get a moment, dispose of it.

Red Party – Formally known as “Bravo” on all ships, is a fire emergency.

Blue Party – Serious incident that is not related to a fire emergency.

Bright Star – also known as “Alpha”, is the medical emergency

Mr. MOB – quite possibly the most ridiculous of them all, is what we all know to be “Oscar” or Man Over Board. See what they’ve done there?

Disney apparently don't have a "Charlie" or emergency code word for security threat.

The best though, one that had me, Clarita and Aideen rolling up was “There’s a turtle in the pool”. Yes, you’ve got it! It’s code word for: a kid’s taken a dump in the pool! Another term is “AFR” unfortunately, I have no idea what that stands for. Turtles good enough though!

A child’s just thrown up? No, on Disney, they like to say a child’s just had a “protein spill”. I’m not joking! Some had me absolutely shocked!

One of the best quotes from Walt Disney himself was about the Magic Kingdom saying (the objective of something as magical as the Magic Kingdom) was “Escape is the Destination”. For some reason it stuck out like a sore thumb for me. I loved it and in many ways, it’s an extremely truthful quote. There are numerous ways of looking at it, but at the end of the day, escaping is what a lot of us are looking for, even if it’s for a one week holiday.

Another highlight for the day, was watching Clarita walk into a waist high pole… how she didn’t see it, we don’t know. It had Aideen and I in stitches!!

During the day, we even had Mickey Mouse come in and say hello. Plus, we were given little presents for answering questions correctly, I got a little Goofy. Aideen was lucky enough to get a Mickey Mouse from Mickey himself – even though she answered the question wrong and was misheard. Classic Irish moment from Aideen there!

My mind's in a bit of a muddle at the moment. I can’t really remember what else happened today. It seems so surreal!

At the end of the day we got our name bages. Clarita, Aideen and I are concessionaries (Clarita and I work for The Image Group while Aideen is Steiner) and we were more than disappointed with our name badges. As Clarita put it “we’re given second rated name badges.” As we aren’t Disney we aren’t entitled to have the “Disney Cruise Liner” or stars on our badges, we’ve just got plain white things. Also, we don’t have our job on our badges like you would working on a Royal Caribbean ship. For example, my name badge said “Louise Tickle. England (Home country). Photographer (job role) and Spanish flag (in my case – the languages that I speak)”. My name badge just states my nickname, "Lou". Apparently, I can get a Spanish flag added to my badge when I board the ship. I hope so.

After a long day, Clarita’s gone to bed (it’s only 18.50 here) so I’m going to shove a few things in my case and head out with Aideen for something to eat. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, for sure. We are getting picked up from the hotel at 05.00!! That’s something I’m really not looking forward to. I cannot wait to see the Disney Magic cruise ship though.

Hernan sent me a message today saying he’s enjoying himself on Disney Dream, the money is good but you work very hard for it. Hopefully we’ll cross in one port. Fingers crossed.

On a final note, I am pleased to announce that I am now a University graduate after graduating Disney University! Now that is something to tell the grandchildren…