Ok sooo…I’ve been a horrible blogger lately, I know. Partly
because I’ve been pretty busy and also because I’m lazy. Lol.
I decided that since every day at work is pretty much the
same (clock in, position, rotation, break, position, rotation, clock out) I
would just blog at the end of my week with highlights from work and then at the
end of my “weekend” with events from my days off. We’ll see how that goes. It
obviously did not work this last week. lol. And my week isn’t technically over
until tomorrow, but I’m really behind and people have been bugging me to post
something. Lol. And since none of the roommates are home and I’m just sitting
on the couch watching Harry Potter, I though I could multi-task.
So…work has been great. I still love it. Some days are
better than others. It usually depends on which positions I end up getting. And
of course I close almost every night. Today and yesterday I actually got off at
5:30 and that was awesome. I
actually got off at 4:30 yesterday
because I put in for an ER (early release). I realized I should have put in one
for 3:30 after about the fourth
person asked me if I needed a 103 (restroom break) within one hour. We were way
over staffed yesterday. You also know we’re over staffed when you get the
position “Research Door”. I got this for the first hour of my shift yesterday.
With this position you literally stand there and hold the door for people. And
yes, I did it for an hour! Lol.
So I see and talk to hundreds of people everyday and get
asked the stupidest, most ridiculous things ever. I’ve been asked if the Naked
Mole Rats are dead (“yes, we display dead animals at Disney”….really people?!).
While in Gorilla Valley
I got asked if we carry stun guns or tasers (um…no!). She just couldn’t believe
that we didn’t carry some kind of protection no matter how much I tried to
reassure her that the animals can’t escape. (Even though I did have a very
vivid dream last night that the bachelor group did get out of their habitat).
Lol. Oh and I had a guest tell me that there is no way there could be a male gorilla
in the family group because the males eat the babies…um no they don’t. It’s
really hard not to laugh in people’s faces sometimes. Lol.
So I was in Savannah
the other day with the Meerkats and I had this older couple come up and talk to
me. I don’t know how we got on the subject, but the gentleman asked me if I had
seen the Life of Pi yet. Well I haven’t. He kept going on about how amazing it
was and how there was so much more to the movie than meets the eye. He wanted
so desperately to tell me some secret meaning the movie had in it, but he
didn’t want to ruin the movie for me. So he asked me if I had a piece of paper
(and I did, I carry a notebook in my pocket so I can write things down that I
need to remember) and he wrote down this secret meaning and made me promise I
wouldn’t open it until I saw the movie. Lol. So it’s folded up in my drawer and
no I haven’t opened it. I can’t! lol. So I need to obviously rent the movie and
watch it.
So on top of Entrance and Birds, I really like the Gorilla
positions. They’re just so amazing! Today I was in Outpost (where you can view
the Family behind the glass) and Lilly our three year old was sooo active!
Watching her play is so much fun. I HATE Rehab position…people just ignore you
and it’s annoying.
Oh I did finally get my pin lanyard for work! So last
program when I got my work lanyard I had to meet with this certain person and
sign this paper and promise I would give it back. Well this time I literally
walked in the office said I needed a lanyard and they threw it to me across the
room. Lol. No certain person or signing anything. I was like ok that was easy.
lol. But you know me, I love pin trading! But I feel like there aren’t many pin
traders at Animal Kingdom compared to Magic
Kingdom. Which I guess makes the
kids I do trade with that much more special J
So it’s still raining…EVERY day. And I still don’t have a
pouch for my rain gear. So I still get drench all the time. It’s ridiculous.
And I have NEVER heard thunder like I do hear. The storms are always right over
the park. We go 101 at least every other day. We went down at 3:30 the other day and never went back up.
Which was kind of nice. A group of us just chilled in the research center until
it was time to go. Lol. And again…people are stupid! I had to close that night
so I ended up at entrance with Anne Marie until we could go down to the
Village. We stood there and told people who came off of Safari that we we’re
down due to weather and that everything is going to be over the bridge
(stroller, restaurants, shelter). No matter how we said it people still came up
to us asking if we we’re open or where the strollers were…lol.
I did make a magical moment for a family the other day. I
was in Valley and it was almost 5:00
(the time they put the bachelors up). So I’m talking to this family and they’re
fixing to walk off, but I told them if they could wait about five minutes
they’d be able to see one of our males up close when the keeper throws food to
him. They we’re so thrilled. It was a lot of fun to see them get excited about
that.
I was at Viewing Blind the other day with the Okapi and saw
one the females get shocked because she got too close to the front. That was
interesting. I was just glad there were no guests around. I really didn’t want
to explain that. There was also an owl loose for two days from the Flights of
Wonder show. I don’t really know how she got away, but I felt bad for the
Flights of Wonder staff because they had to just stand there and watch her
until she decided to come down. They followed her every time she flew to a
different tree, they had to stay from sun up to sun down, and just stand there.
Lol. I guess she finally came down because they weren’t out today.
Omg I witnessed one of the rudest guest I’ve ever seen
yesterday. I was at Outpost and thia lady came up and she was in a motor chair
and after looking at her I realized she was only in it because she was
overweight and obviously lazy. That just irked me. So I’m standing there fairly
close to this lady when another lady came up to ask me a question. Well the fat
lady (sorry for my bluntness, but she made me mad) had her camera out and the
other lady stepped in front of her to talk to me. Well instead of ROLLING
herself around this lady (where she would get a better picture anyway) she GRABBED
the lady and said “you’re in my way”. While the lady was still talking to me! I
was so shocked I didn’t know what to do. And she did this to like two other
people. I was so angry! People amaze me sometimes.
And then you have the guests that make the rude ones worth
it. I love when people see my name tag and actually use my name. It just makes
the interactions more personal. They other day I was in Research and we have a
Sand Boa that you can never see because she’s constantly buried and this one
guest asked if I could take it out and of course I said no, even if I was
allowed. Lol. So when he was leaving I heard him talking to his family and he
said “There’s a snake in there, but Megan won’t take it out for us”. We both
just laughed. And then there are the guests who say hi to you using your name
or thank you using your name. It’s just a neat thing that I enjoy. Lol.
So like I said, I see hundreds of people every day from
every walk of life and every corner of the country. I was talking to a
co-worker today about how I’m sure I talk to more people who don’t speak
English than guests that do on a daily basis. It’s kind of ridiculous. But
anyway…anyone who knows me knows I have a huge heart and passion for children
with special needs. And I love this job because I get to see them all the time.
I’ve seen multiple Down syndrome kids who just melt my heart and I got see a
little girl (who couldn’t be older than three) at Outpost the other day who had
I’m guessing a trachea or the like around her neck so she couldn’t talk. But
when her dad said “what does a Gorilla say” she beat her chest like a Gorilla.
It was the most precious thing I have ever seen! With seeing these kids and
talking to Ann Marie (the lady I close with most of the time and has been with
the company for years) I’ve really been thinking about what I want to do after
the program. And I’ve thought A LOT about going back to school for Special Ed.
Like I’ve been researching schools. But I still don’t know. I freaking hate
school and don’t want to go back, but I know if I want to work with these kids
that’s what I’m going to have to do…..
Anyway…back to work. Lol. I did receive a Great Service
Fanatic card the other day! Woo Hoo. These are cards other cast members can
write for you when they see you going above and beyond. And then it’s put in
drawing for different prizes. I was at Forest Entrance the other day and the
stroller person form Safari came up to me and said that a guest had pulled her
aside and told her how welcoming and kind I was. So that was super awesome. I
have it pinned on my bulletin board in my room. Which is slowly but surely
filing up. I got a picture drawn by Cayden and a picture from grandma of Aunt
Christie, Uncle Larry, and me from when we went to the gulf when we stayed with
them. I love it. I also got to skype mom the other night and she was keeping
Cayden and Jacob for the night. I miss my nephews so much so I was super happy
to see their sweet faces. The first thing Cayden asked me was “where’s Mickey
Mouse”? It was super cute.
I was finally added to the Pangani group on facebook! We
have our own group where people can find shifts or pick up shifts or trade
shifts. I REALLY wanted to find someone to take my Friday the 13th
shift because Hollywood Studios is having a Villians party and I really wanted
to go. I mean I could still go if I was working because I get off at 6:30, but it would just be better if I wasn’t
working at all. Well once I was added to the group it was super easy to find
someone to take it! There are people who are willing to take shifts all the
time. So I’m off Friday!!! Woo hoo! I think there are two other roommates off
that day as well so I won’t have to go alone. I’m sooo excited!
So my “weekend” this past week was pretty uneventful. I went
to Downtown Disney to see a movie, but once I got there I really didn’t want to
go by myself so I just got dinner and went back home. Lol. Then I went to
Walmart on Tuesday and spent freaking $60 on junk food. Lol. So I’ve banned
myself from grocery shopping for at least two weeks. And then of course we went
to Senior Frogs Tuesday night. (Ok so I went to Senior Frogs with a co-worker
on Friday night and it was ridiculous. We were the youngest ones there and it
was just weird. So I’m just going to stick to Tuesday nights. Lol.) Then we
picked up our Maingates on Wednesday. Yay! So we can get into the parks again.
Oh we also had inspections on Wednesday.
So we knew inspections were coming up, but they didn’t give
us a specific date. So we had been cleaning and trying to keep the apartment
some what tidy. Which is hard with six girls. So Wednesday Karie and I were
dead asleep (yes, at noon) when Lynn
comes charging into our room yelling “they’re down stairs”! So we jump up and I
start scrubbing the toilet and Michelle is in the kitchen scrambling to put
everything up and we just looked like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut
off. So we’re all sitting on the couch when they bang on our door. And they
came in and looked through every room and made a bunch of noise by drilling our
fire extinguisher to the wall. And all the sudden the guy asked “who’s
Michelle”? And she raised her hand and he was like “you lost your bra”? And we
all just look at each other like what? And Apparently Lynn (the jokester of the
house) had written on the white board “I lost my bra –Michelle”. Omg…it was the
most hilarious thing ever. Michelle was so embarrassed. Lol. But we passed! And
instead of giving up cookies like my last program we got peanut butter crackers
:/ really?? We clean our butts off and get crackers? Whatever….
Tomorrow is my Friday! I’m closing so I’m off at 6:30. I’m determined to go to a park soon.
Ok so I’m going to try to not wait so long to blog because
it’s overwhelming when I do! Lol.