The Magic, the Memories and Me! - My ICP/CEP

I know around this time last year leading up to my programme I was constantly looking up blogs to try and find out more about what my role could possibly be like so I thought I'd write a post about Outdoor Foods in the hope that it maybe helps someone else.

ODF lies under the Quick Service Food and Beverage category so if you have been cast in this role there is a chance you could be placed in Outdoor Foods though you are unlikely to find this out until you are actually there.

As with any role there is good and there is bad and I completely agree that it is all about what you make of the job wether you are going to enjoy it or not. The people you work with make a huge impact on your work life as well and thankfully I worked with a great bunch of people but I think that is the case in most locations anyways.

Enough of the generic stuff, now on to ODF itself. As I said there is good and bad to all roles and I think the main disadvantage (for me anyways) was the heat and humidity. The key is in the name, this is an outdoor role so you will spend most of your day outside and sometimes you won't have much shelter or even any shelter at all so it gets HOT. You are encouraged to drink loads of water, which you are able to take from your wagon if needed and there is usually sunscreen that you can use so you're looked after in that sense. In the summer thunderstorms are also very common and occur on a daily basis pretty much so more often than not you will get caught in a storm while at a wagon and you can end up getting soaked. As a CP you are more likely to be given closing shifts and especially in Magic Kingdom this can mean you don't get home til the early hours in the morning (The latest I got in was about 6am but that was only twice). If you are closing, you are assigned a particular wagon that you have to close, ice-cream wagons are the easiest and take a lot less time to close so they're not as bad. The popcorn wagons and Adventure Nut (the only nut wagon in the park which is in Adventure Land) require you to to clean the popcorn kettle or nut machine and I'm not gonna lie, it really isn't fun. You are expected to clean it in around 45 minutes but the time can vary, sometimes you are lucky and get some help but if you're doing it yourself it can take quite a while. Closing can be a bit of a bummer but everyone is in the same boat and as I said, people are usually willing to help you out. 

Now onto the good parts, which for me I think outweighed the bad by miles and I really grew to love my role. With most QSF&B you are inside and in the one place every day, with ODF you get to work all over the park and the fact that you are outside means you get to experience the atmosphere of the park which I thought was pretty great. If you worked Main Street you got to see the parades, dance parties, (if at the carts in front of the castle you also could see the castle show and celebrate the magic). Obviously Main Street is the prime spot for Wishes but you could see that from all over the park and often during it you don't get very many guests so you basically get paid to stand and watch Wishes almost every night. Each land also has its own entertainment that happened throughout the day so there was usually something happening, eg. Tomorrowland has push and the club 626 dance party, Fronteirland is on the parade route so you would often see them from there. You really felt like you were working at Disney World each and everyday because you were out and about in the park, you would dance and sing along to the parades and dance parties which you were actually encouraged to do as it's all part of the show! There was loads of guest interaction, getting to talk to people from all over the world and also meeting some people from my home town was crazy. A lot of people when they heard my accent and saw my name badge would always ask about Scotland or tell if they had been and it always felt quite nice, like I was representing Scotland or something, the cultural aspect of the programme comes into play just about everyday even though you might not even realise it. Finally the people I worked with, the ODF family were an amazing bunch of people and I made loads of friends. Like the guests, there was people from all over the world and getting to know and work with them was a great experience. 

We didn't really plan a time to get up on Sunday so we all had a little bit of a lie in before heading to the French Quarter for breakfast. We also went to the pool there since it was Mardi Gras themed and looked pretty cool. The first thing we all did was go down the slide and then spent some time in the water. We then played name that tune where our team was called the scottish burds but I don't think the recreation guy really got it but he played Scotland the brave for us which was pretty cool. 

So on the Saturday morning Eilidh, Julia and I had planned to get up bright and early to head to Universal however that did not happen. This was the first time we had all slept in a decent bed in just over 2 months so when the alarm went off to get up we did not want to move. I felt like I was sleeping on a cloud compared to the bed I had at Vista. I kept pressing snooze until I turned it off completely. A hour or two passed until we head a knock on the door, Eilidh got up and it was the housekeeper so she asked if they could come back later and we then took that as the sign to get up and ready. We went to the food-court for breakfast where I got pancakes and then we got a taxi to Universal. We arrived around 12 so decided to go to Universal first as we knew Harry Potter would be busy anyways so there wasn't much point rushing to go there first! We joined the single rider queue for the new Transformers ride as I hadn't done it yet, we only waited around 10 mins which was good considering how long the regular queue was. It's very similar to spider man but I love spider-man so I really enjoyed it. Once we got out of Transformers the Blues Brothers were just about to start to we stuck around to watch that before going on the Mummy and then Disaster. Eilidh got picked to be a villain on Disaster which was cool. After that we did the Simpsons, ET and rip ride rock-it which we actually got to ride again cos our video didn't work when we went to watch it so the woman offered us a re-ride so we got to skip to the front of the queue! We then headed to IOA where we did hulk, jurassic, forbidden journey, flight of the hippogriff, dragon challenge, spiderman and then the hulk again in the dark which was pretty cool. As we were leaving to get a taxi back to the hotel one of the workers stopped Eilidh and I and asked if my parents were picking me up. When we told her we were 22 and 20 she said 'you sure don't look it'. God knows what age she thought we were but it was so bizarre.

Friday was a very emotional day, the night before I could barely sleep and was wide awake from around 5.30 on Friday morning. I ended up getting up when Olivia did at around 6 so I could help them pack the car etc. Lia also came over before work so she could say bye. I felt totally fine packing the car but as soon as it came to hugging Lauren and Olivia goodbye I cracked and just burst into tears. Since they left so early I tried to go back to bed but I couldn't sleep so I ended up just sitting in the living room on my laptop until Kailyn got up. Once Kailyn left, I was the only one in the apartment which was very strange considering the 5 of them were already there when I moved in so I had never seen it empty. I got pretty emotional when I was myself but once I started to get ready to leave I was ok. I went and handed in my key and housing ID before catching a bus to Chatham. The bus driver wasn't for letting me on the bus with my luggage but thankfully he did. Once at Chamtham I met Eilidh, Julia and Maeghan at the bus stop and caught the D bus to our resort. While on the bus we realised that Julia had booked one room at Riverside and Eilidh had booked the other at French Quarter, we decided to all head to Riverside and just play dumb and wait and see what would happen.

Luck was on our side as after a lengthly check-in, we got an upgrade to a Royal guest room in order to get adjoining rooms! The rooms were amazing, they were princess themed and honestly the cutest room I'd ever seen! After running around screaming for a good hour as we found all the hidden disney things in the room we headed out to Hollywood Studios. We got tower of terror FPS before watching Beauty and the Beast and then Indiana Jones. We rode star tours, used our ToT FPs and single rode rockin' roller-coaster before finishing off with some ice-cream from scoops. We then got the boat that went to Epcot but ended up getting off at the Boardwalk to have little wander around before walking the rest of the way to Epcot. We also rode Test Track as I really wanted to do it one last time, we got into the line just as it hit 9 but luckily they let us in :D It was a really nice last day in the Disney Parks.

our amazing room!

the tap was the genies lamp!!

the magic carpet!!

Thursday was our very last full day as CPs, I got up around 9.30 to finish off most of my packing and then Olivia, Kailyn and I went to return our costumes. Olivia and I headed to Epcot as she wanted to meet Belle and I fancied doing Test Track again. When we got there the Test Track queue was huge so we headed to France to see about meeting Belle, we saw that we only had half an hour til her set so we watched the street show before getting in line to meet her. Unfortunately the park went 101 so we ended up not meeting her, after the rain we went to the American pavilion to get funnel cake. We headed for MK and the monorail and realised we basically did nothing in Epcot even though we spent a couple of hours there. Once we got to MK we met Lauren who was with her sister and mum and we managed to catch the last number of Dream Along with Mickey.  We all did Phillhar Magic and then Lauren, Olivia and I did enchanted tales so I could get a pic with the wardrobe and Ollie could meet Belle. Lauren and her family then headed to Hollywood studios so Ollivia and I got food at Cosmics before doing Haunted Mansion and Magic Carpets. We then met Kaylin, Lia and Tierra at Sleepy Hollow so we could go get a spot for Celebrate the Magic and Wishes. I thought I would have been really emotional watching the fireworks for the last time but I held it together. After Wishes we met Veronica so we could say goodbye. We then headed home making a stop at taco bell on the way. Once we got to Vista we finished packing and then basically gave everything we weren't taking to Lia and her new roomies. Before heading to bed we also sat and coloured from the colouring book that had been in the apartment and put them on Lia's new fridge. I was happy to spend the day and night with my roomies. I really am going to miss living with them all!!

My last shift at Magic was the Wednesday before my programme ended and it turned out to be a great wee shift. I was parade vending (selling ice-cream which was cool as I sold that on my first ever parade shift) and I worked the usual 1.30 to 10.45 shift. Ice-cream carts are always easier and quicker to load so I was out in the park just after 2 so I headed to the castle for the 2.15 Dream Along with Mickey show. I ended up just staying in the same spot for the 3 o'clock parade so I got to see the parade one last time. I then took a little walk into Fantasyland since its my favourite and then headed back to the castle again for the 4.15 castle show and also ended up staying for the 5.15 show too! On my way to the 4.15 show I was stopped by a family on the fantasyland bridge who bought almost $40 worth of ice creams from me and we were chatting for a while and saw I was from Scotland and they even got a picture with me and took one of my name tag. Then later when I was heading backstage I bumped into them again. At lunch the register in the mousketeeria was not accepting cards and I only had $5 so I ended up getting free fries which was nice. After my break I restocked and headed out by club 626 dance party and danced to the cupid shuffle before heading back to Main Street for the parade route. We basically headed straight back stage after the parade to unload and bank out. The GTs were on break so we couldn't fully bank out so Jane and I headed out to MSB just in time for Wishes where on the way out I heard someone shout my name, I turned round and it was the family from earlier on in the day waving at me and said bye to me which was sweet. Wishes was great as per usual and it was my last time seeing it while getting paid. I said bye to some of the vendors out there before heading back in to bank out. I wrote my goodbye note for the notice board and said all my goodbyes. The hardest one was probably Katie who was actually on break when I was leaving so I went to find her and ended up sitting for a good 20 mins chatting before leaving. She cried which made me feel a bit misty eyed as I was leaving. Once I got back to Vista, Lia, Kalyn, Olivia and I along with Lias new roommates all went to ihop at like 1am for pancakes making it a good wee ending to the day of my last shift.

My second last shift and I finally got to Parade vend again! I was happy cos I was worries I wasn’t gonna get to to do it again before leaving cos I kept getting switched to a land. I headed out in time to watch the last 5 mins or so of the castle show before walking the 3 o’clock parade route. We headed round to see the captain Jack sparrow show and then over to the castle in time for the 4.15 show. I was with Victoria and we were singing and dancing along to the last number as we basically know the whole choreography. It was pretty fun and guests were turning round and watching us. After out lunch break there was a thunderstorm and we thought we were gonna get sent home but around 7 it passed and we were told to head back out for the 9 o’clock parade route. That was only the 4th full parade vending shift I’ve done this whole summer as I always eats switched or get an ER. I happy I got to do it at least one more time as I prefer it to regular vending. It was also nice to work with Victoria again. She’s not working my last day so I said goodbye to her and Mark. Saying goodbye didn’t feel real and it really hasn’t sunk in that I only have 1 shift left. Can’t believe it!!

Wednesday was my Disney Graduation which I attende with all of my roomies. Lia met us there so Veronica drove the rest of us over to Chatham where we checked in and got our certificates, ears etc. All six of us got a picture with our certificates and then we got some food. The line to meet Mickey and Minnie was super long so we decided to give that a miss so we just got pictures with the flags then left. Once we dropped our stuff off at Vista we headed to Magic Kingdom, we got celebration badges and a birthday pin for Olivia as she wanted to see if the Dapper Dans would sing happy birthday to her. Unfortunately the didn’t. We also got our graduation ears embroidered, mines took absolutely ages though! After having a look in the emporium and watching the dapper dans I finally got my ears back. We went to meet the princesses, Kailyn then met us as she got away from work early. Aurora and Cinderella were really good and spoke to us all which was nice and we got some lovely pictures. We the. Watched the 3 o'clock parade from the train station and then took the train all round the park before watching the castle show - Dream Along With Mickey. The castle show is deffo my favourite day time entertainment out if all the parks. That's part of the reason I love parade vending because I get to see it at least once almost every shift. After that we went to sleepy hollow where I tried funnel cake for the first time, it was so good! We then done tiki room, Swiss family treehouse, mickeys philhar magic and enchanted tales with belle. Kailyn, Lauren and Veronica all got picked to be part of the story which was cute. We then met back up with Lia as it was time for our Be Our Guest reservation!! We didn't have to wait too long to be seated and we ate in the rose gallery which had a music box style statue of belle and the beast in the middle of the room. The restaurant itself is gorgeous, especially the ballroom, even though I had seen pictures I was still amazed when I walked inside. Our server was great, he was probably the best I've had from all the restaurants I've been to on Disney property! Olivia still had her birthday badge which he noticed so we had to play along that it was her birthday. However that meant that Olivia got to 'try the grey stuff' with our desserts. I tried some of it and it was pretty good. The meal was amazing, I had steak, chips and green beans which I ate all off and then I had a chocolate cupcake for dessert which looked almost too good to eat! It was a great night having all six of us do something together. After dinner Veronica and Lia headed home while the rest of us stayed to get a picture with Mickey before heading home. It was such a great day!

Us all at Graduation

My first ever funnel cake

This was probably one of the best days of my programme. I had and early rise to go meet Andrew at 8 for park opening at MK. We met at the ttc and got the boat over to Magic, something that I hadn’t done this whole trip (I’ve always got the monorail) so I was happy to get to do that. We got in the park in time for the welcome show which is so cute but the Mayor wasn’t in it so it wasn’t as good as last time. Once in the park we headed straight to space mountain, we went on it and also got fast passes to go on it again later on. We stopped by the bakery so Andrew could get breakfast and then we rode astro orbiter and buzz lightyear. We then headed to the west side and rode haunted mansion, thunder mountain and got FPs for splash. We then used our space FPs and went on laugh floor which was one of the funniest I had seen. We rode splash and then headed over to Animal Kingdom as there wasn’t much else we wanted to do in MK. We got the bus to DAK and headed to Asia first to try get on Everest. Unfortunately the line was 90 mins and fast pass distribution was too late for us. We headed to dinoland and got FPs for dinosaur and then got some lunch. When we went back to use the FPs the ride was down so we headed back to Everest and went single rider since the line was still so long! I really like Everest, it’s deffo one of my favourites in the whole of WDW. We then did the safari which was pretty cool, we saw some things I didn’t see the last time I did it like hippos and there was a white rhino so close to our truck I could have easily reached and touched it! So crazy!! After that it was time for me to get my bus so I said bye to Andrew and left him in the park. I got the bus back to Vista to quickly change and then head over to the commons with Olivia for voluntEARing! We had no idea what we were doing but it turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever done. We went to the Give Kids the World Village which is a holiday complex for families on wish Holidays like make a wish. Sunday was their Candy land night so we were helping out with their candy themed games and stalls. I was a riddler, this meant I had a clue round my neck about a type of candy and the kids had to go round and guess what Candy we were and if they got it right we would draw on their sheet. All the kids were so cute and I truly loved every minute of the experience. The time went by so quickly and before we knew it we were heading back to Vista. A few of us went to Wendy’s for food afterwards. It was such a good night and overall I had an amazing day!

Andrew and I :)

This is how close the Rhino was to us!!

Our Splash Photo

All the volunt'ear's