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All the girls from my condo in front of Epcot

This week has just been crazy busy starting with Traditions last Tuesday all the way to officially earning my Mickey Ears :)). To start off, Traditions is Disney's way of training its new employees on Walt Disney's vision for a great Guest experience -"The Four Keys":  Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency. All are very important to being a great cast member. During that long day we not only learned about The Four Keys and how to apply them to our jobs, but also we had the privilege of meeting Mickey, touring a little bit of the Magic Kingdom and the secret tunnels under the park, and earning our Cast ID's.

Wednesday we went to Cru International Headquarters and recieved a tour of the building, which was so beautiful and not what I was expecting for an office building. We got to see part of a project they've been working on called The Jesus Film, which is totally inspiring and a joy to see how many people the film can touch. It's really cool, so if you would like to check out what they have been doing here's the website http://www.jesusfilm.org/

Rockin' Roller Coaster! So much fun

Women's night this week reinforced my sense of identity and what that looks like through Christ. One of the verses that really stuck out to me that we covered was 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 "You realize, don't you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God's temple, you can be sure of that. God's temple is sacred - and you, remember, are the temple". We don't have to find our identities in materialistic or any other things because we can find our identity in God and that's where we are made holy and are freed from any sins. I know if I find myself within God that his light will shine through me and others will see that and be drawn to it and that I may be a good influence on others that I come into contact with, not only this summer but beyond that.

Friday through Tuesday was none stop Disney Training. We learned a lot of cool facts about Disney and it's history. There was so much thought behind the design of the Magic Kingdom by Walt and his Imagineers, from the second you step through the gates to, the number of lights hanging in Liberty Square (13 lanterns, to be exact, are hanging in the tree representing the original 13 colonies), and also The Magic Kingdom was actually built above ground. Depending on where you are in the park you may be as high as the 3rd story. The ground level (underground to guests) is a complex city of corridors called utilidors whose walls are color coded to signify the location. The utilidors function like a city below the park consisting of complicated tunnels with cafeterias,  employee check cashing services, rehearsal rooms, and sanitation stations just to name a few.

Work is crazy! I'm in the kitchen at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe located in Frontierland. YEE-HAW!! There are at least 25-30 staff in there at all times and it's the 3rd busiest restaurant in the WORLD. The Magic Kingdom also has another restaurant that made the top 10 list, which is Cosmic Rays at number 2. There's so many different positions and things to know when working there but I've quickly gotten the hang of it. I can already tell the smell is going to get old really fast but it's just one of the many things I'm going to have to deal with. The people are all pretty friendly and available to answer questions. This summer, though, is going to be a lot of just working, sleeping, and eating (in that order of importance); the first two days of training we worked from 4:30 to 12:45 but we went over time and didn't get home until 2:15.

Goofy time in China

I thought the story behind Pecos Bill was pretty funny so I'll share it with you:

Over the years Pecos Bill, along with his trusty horse Widowmaker, have made quite a name for themselves forging new trails and taming others. Pecos Bill was considered by many to be the greatest of all cowboys. Pecos Bill can draw faster, shoot straighter and ride a horse harder than any other man alive. Legend tells us several tall tales, like the time Pecos jumped on a powerful twister and rode is like a bucking bronco. Then there was the itme when Pecos was so bored one day that he took his handy six-shooter and shot out all the stars in the sky except for one. That is how Texas received its name as the "Lone Star State." In 1878, with the encouragement of his friends, Pecos Bill decided to open his own watering hole, a restaurant that he called the Tall Tale Inn and Cafe. The restaurant quickly became a popular hang-out for some of Pecos Bill's legendary friends. As time went by, it became a tradition that when each friend paid a visit they would leave something behind for Pecos to place on the walls and remember them by. As you can see from the items that adorn the walls, Pecos Bill has some mighty impressive friends. Seems every tail eventually led to the Tall Tale Inn and Cafe.

“If you can visualize it, if you can dream it, there’s some way to do it.”

 — Walt Disney









Some more pictures...

Italy

In front of Cinderella's Castle