Florida Humidity is Freaking Awesome.... =/

Yesterday I did absolutely nothing. And I mean absolutely nothing. I sat on the couch and watched TV. All day. Lol.

Here’s a picture of my costume finally!

 

 

So today was my first day. And let me just tell you, it was nothing less than exciting. So when you go backstage at Animal Kingdom you have to swipe your card and then go through these rotating doors, but they’re like rotating doors made out of metal bars. So I hate rotating doors to begin with. Like no joke, I’ve had nightmares about them. And right before I came down here I legit had a dream that I was at Disney and took forever to go through a rotating door and then when I finally did I got sucked under it and stuck! LOL. I’m so not lying about this. So every time I go through these doors backstage I like freak out. Haha. But anyway, I made it through the doors and I met with my trainer. Her name is Carol and it was just me and here. Which is great because it’s just us and it’s more one on one time. So after about an hour of just going over paperwork and getting my “Earning My Ears” ribbon (yay!)

we went out to walk to the area and the trail. We hung out in Africa and looked around and then she showed me the break room for Pangani which is the same break room for the Kilimanjaro’s Safari drivers so that’s pretty cool. But to get to it you have to cross the Safari path and that’s kinda scary because you don’t want to get ran over by a humongous truck full of guest. Then after the break room we went to see the Gorillas (which I have decided are my favorite). So Carol was describing the Gorillas and giving me facts when all the sudden I needed a drink. So we walked to the water fountain to fill up my water bottle and then I felt like I needed to sit down. She asked if I could make it to the break room and I told her I kind of need to sit down immediately. So she sat me down on a bench and I instantly felt nauseous and started sweating like I have never sweated before. Like dripping off of me profusely. (And I think the bug bracelets they give us made my nausea worse because they are so strong. They are yellow bungee bracelets that smell like citronella). So Carol went to go get help and came back and told me we needed to go to the break room where it’s cool. So she literally had to hold me up and direct me to the break room because as soon as I stood up I started seeing spots and by the time we got across the Safari road I literally couldn’t see anything and my ears started ringing and I could barely hear. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. Like 10 times worse than marching season practice. LOL. And it all happened so fast! I was fine and then BAM I’m down. So she finally got me seated and then my pant legs started to go up and people started putting cold rags on the back of my knees and my wrists and the back of my neck. I kept trying to put my head down because I still felt nauseous, but they wouldn’t let me do that and then they started shoving these Gatorade like popsicles down my throat. So after about 30 minutes of that nonsense I felt much better and I had color in my face again. (Carol said she’s never seen someone turn that color before in her life). Lol. So we decided to go back to the training trailer and spend the rest of the day inside. So I’m kind of a day behind in training and might have to make it up, but I’m not really worried about. So we went over more boring stuff that I already know because of my last program. But I did find out I don’t have to do most of the E-learning (computer training) because this is my second program. So I was super freaking excited about that. But I did have to take the E-learning about zoonotic diseases. I just like saying zoonotic. Lol. It was kind of stupid. It just talked about rabies and West Nile and demonstrated how to properly wash your hands for like 15 minutes. lol. Which I totally didn’t need because I worked at a daycare and already know how to wash my hands!

Then we ate lunch and went over animal facts, which is like 90% of my job. There really is more to Trails than I anticipated. There are like 10 different positions and different areas with different animals and we have to know facts about every one of them. And then we have to interact with guest constantly and we also have to give out Wilderness Explorer badges at some of the positions.

Let me just take a minute to tell you about the Wilderness Explorers. It’s like the coolest, funest thing ever. Lol. So like I’m sure you’ve already figured out, it’s based of the Wilderness Explorers in the movie UP. Stationed around Animal Kingdom are Wilderness Explorer Leaders who have the best costume ever! Because they look just like the one from the movie. And they give out these booklets and there are 33 different badges (stickers) you can earn from all over the park. But the cool thing is that you have to do different things and find certain places and figure out puzzles in these books to earn your badge. So there are 4 or 5 badges you can earn inside Pangani Trail. There’s hiking badge where you have figure out the name of the water fall by the gorillas, there’s a tracking badge where you have to figure out the different tracks from different animals, and an aviation badge where you find different kinds of birds in our aviation section of the trail. It’s like to coolest thing and the kids love it! I’ve even seen adults with booklets. Lol. But if your stationed in one the positions that has a badge to give out, you get to carry a Wilderness Explorer bag and help the kids earn their badges. It’s super fun.

But anyway…back to training. So there’s a lot to know, but it is sooo much easier than custodial and Magic Kingdom. Lol. (Or as my roommate likes to call it, Tragic Kingdom. LOL. She’s working Tomorrow Land attractions). Like for closing all we do is follow our leader/manager around and put up ropes. Like seriously? Super easy. lol. And no matter what time the park closes, the Trails close at 7:00 because all the animals have to be put up before dark. Super sweet. One thing though that I will miss about MK is having a locker. There are no lockers at AK so there is literally nowhere to put our stuff. You can keep it in the break room, but that’s kinda sketchy. So I guess I’ll be traveling light. Lol.

So around 5:00 Carol decided to try going back on the trails again. And I was feeling much better so I figured I’d be ok. The first thing we did we go to the gorilla outlook and watch what they call the stationing of the gorillas. This is where they put the gorillas up for the night and it’s awesome to watch! Every animal in the park is trained. And I mean every single one. Even the birds. What happens is when the gorillas hesr a certain sound they know it’s time to go in. So the three less dominant gorillas start to go inside, but the dominant one sits on the specific rock while a trainer throws him treats and when she throws the special treat (tonight it was a cantaloupe) he knows she’s done and now he can go in. It really is amazing. I find the gorillas absolutely fascinating!

So after that we went over some of the positions of the Trail like Greeter and Research and Aviation. Seriously all this job is is standing and talking to guest. Lol. So we get to the Research building which is pretty humid because there’s no AC and the doors are constantly opening and shutting. And I got to see the naked mole rats which I’ve decided are also my favorites along with the gorillas. They are sooo interesting. They live in colonies completely underground and have a queen and workers and soldiers just like a bee hive. The queen is the only one who breeds and can she have up to 27 babies. They are completely blind. Like can’t even see light. And they huddle together to keep warm. I think they’re cute. Lol. But after visiting in there (way too long) we walked to the aviation part and I started to feel light headed. :/ I was like are you freaking kidding! So I told Carol right away because I did not want a repeat of this morning and neither did she. So we went straight back to the trailer and talked about closing instead of actually doing it. Plus it was like poring so it kind of worked out I guess. But again, they shoved those popsicles down my throat. Lol. They’re actually awesome and I need to see if I can find some at the store. Since obviously this humidity and I do not get along. It’s really bad. I’m just hoping I can make it…

So we went over closing and more animal facts and flash cards of every bird in the aviation section. And I have to memorize them. So that’s super fun. And then it was finally time to go home. So I had to go through the scary rotating doors again and catch the bus back home. I love the J bus. It’s so much calmer than the A bus from MK. Everyone gets to sit. Lol. But it does take a full hour to get back home. So that sucks. I got off at 7:30 and didn’t get home until about 8:45.

I have training tomorrow at 8. So I’m going to get up early and eat a good breakfast and drinks lots of water and hopefully I make it through the day. Ugh…I really hope I do. I felt so bad today.