faith, trust, and pixie dust

i didn't expect to be blogging so quickly but i had a lot of stuff happen today so here i am again!
so today was my first day of training! i was a little nervous, of course.. and of course my bus broke down and i was late! so i might already have a 'point' against me! not good! i was supposed to meet my trainer at costuming and i get there... and there is no trainer for fantasyland merchandise! hahah. so i had to tag along with a trainer for main street usa for a bit. so of course i didn't get one of my costumes and she only had me check out one! we can check out five at a time.. so i will have to head back and get mine. okay i didn't explain that at all so you are probably wondering whats going on. so each park has it's costuming building and its HUGE. literally racks and racks of costumes for each land/position. they are very picky about how it fits you and are not nice at all. using your ID you check out your costume and voila!
my costume is the traditional fantasyland costume, it hasn't changed since the park opened in 1971! its very german looking, with a patterned floral blue skirt they call the 'chicken' skirt and a button down white blouse with some tulip looking blue green yellow and red flowers. very euro. then we wear black dress shoes that have to be polishable leather. wahoo. so anyways i met up with my trainer in the utilidoor finally! her name was andrea and she is from puerto rico. she was a really good trainer but i think she was only like 21! but she has worked in fantasyland since she was 16. so she knew a lot. we spent a ton of time in the utilidoor getting oriented. that place is crazy. its only in magic kingdom and really creates a unique work environment because you can see everyone. my favorite is seeing face characters (look alikes) i seriously can't help but stare. since i am in fantasyland i see a TON because they do meet and greets there and our utilidoor hall is right next to entertainment. today i saw wendy, peter pan, alice, the ugly stepsisters and stepmother from cinderella, snow white, sleeping beauty, cinderella, belle, and merida! it's crazy, i literally had lunch right next to sleeping beauty. when they come down to the utilidoor on break they stay in full make up and keep their wigs on but just strip down to their underclothes which is old fashioned bloomers and a cami or a big shirt so its really funny. the face of a princess and the body of a normal person!
we did some e-learning classes that we are required to take before we start and they are terrible. they are like 30 minutes long and you basically watch a slide show with some narration. yuckkky! but we did get to go onstage for about 2 and half hours and it was the best!!! so we toured all the shops that i will be covering. if i remember all of them it's fantasy faire, castle couture, sir mickeys, the dwarves mine shoppe, two carts which are enchanted grove and casey junior.. and pooh's corner! which is the exit shop for the many adventures of winnie the pooh. because of the expansion of fantasyland and storybook circus, storybook circus is temporarily a part of fantasyland so we are covering a HUGE amount of area! it's nuts. our costume looks super out of place there.
i learned a lot of fun vocab today! so instead of saying we are going for a break, we say we are taking our tea. when we have to go to the bathroom, we say we have to go to the grotto, and when we are bumping out we say we are going to neverland! it keeps with the show a lot more. i also learned how we create magical moments today! so in castle couture we have a pixie dust wand. when we are on the merchantainment shift (wandering around the store making sure everyone is okay) we can ask little girls if they would like pixie dust! then we wave it over their heads, covering them in pixie dust, saying a little poem about faith, trust, and pixie dust. isn't it cute! people started swarming us because they all wanted pixie dust. we even pixie dusted a dad today! hahaha good times. castle couture is right next to bibbidi bobbidi boutique so tons of little girls come in in their princess outfits, it's so cute. we also got the intro to pin trading! it was so interesting. i always thought cast member pins were so boring but it turns out all the cast member pins are not available in stores! so people really want them! they release collections of about 9 pins twice a year, in january and in the summer. they are called 'hidden mickey' collections and literally have a little silver hidden mickey on every pin. some of the collections are so cool. for instance one of the more recent collections is the orange bird which was just reintroduced to magic kingdom, and they have a london collection which i want SO bad! then some of them are ugly and random. you can trade two pins per guest. cast members with green lanyards can only trade with guests under 12. i have a black lanyard! when your pins start to get boring or if you have 2 of the same you can go to pin replenishment during your break and trade for new pins! cool right?
my favorite moment was today we were telling a british family about our special deal going on right now with a pin starter kit and lanyard. if you spend 40$ you can get it super cheap, and its really smart because even if you dont like the pins you can trade and get ones you like. the cutest little girl really liked a cruella de vil pin i had so she bought the lanyard basically just to trade with me. while she was waiting in line she kept checking to make sure i was keeping it for her. then as soon as her mom bought it for her she ran over to me and started tearing the box apart so that she could open up her lanyard and get the pin. she was so cute. i hope it will be a memory for her because she was so excited, it was her first time at wdw (disney world) and i think she really wants to get into pin trading. anyways so cute.
anyways then we went back 'downstairs' to the utilidoor and did more elearning and shiz. i learned so much today i feel like my head is gonna blow up. i met one of the managers and he seems really nice.... yep! i think that about wraps up my day in the park
so i got off at 6 and headed back to vista and worked out! i have to say the little weight room here is a crack up. all the boys are super dweeby and weird but obviously are trying to be all macho. i hate working out in public places cause it's such a meat market. whatever. also there are a TON of ASIANS. hahaha they are so funny! they come in in their little jean shorts and name-brand flats and start working out on the treadmills. so weird! it's dang funny. and they travel in little girl-posse herds. very entertaining.
that's all i can think of for now! hope everyone has a magical day ;)