They Call it Tradtions...

I call it the best first day at a job I've ever had.

Today started early for me, first alarm went off at 6:15, didn't even need the several backups I had set. Two bowls of cereal, shower, shave, and I was on my bike by 7:15 on my way to Team Disney Anaheim (TDA). I'm hopping I looked as dapper as I felt riding down Ball in my dress clothes. I arrived some five minutes later and was greeted by a courtyard full of many new Cast Members such as myself. We all made small talk until our Leads for the day greeted us and began to check us in.

After check in we made out way to the CM Auditorium in (TDA) and there we watched several welcome videos. The first was clips of Walt talking about his vision for the park and there were several values mixed in as well. Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger was nice enough to join our class via satellite, well that's what our Leads joked. We then split off into groups to meet new people and play a game. We had to name as many Disney animated characters as we could in 90 seconds; sadly my teams was 11 shy of winning. We then we arranged in more new groups and headed up stairs with our Leads to classrooms.

We had another activity to do, it was a timeline of the Walt Disney Company. I don't mean to let my ego show to much, but I put the team on my back and only made a few errors. More video clips and Power Points slides, I enjoyed all of them, then time for a break. Kristian and David, my Leads, made mention of free coffee and it was a mad dash for most of us to go get out caffeine fix on. More video clips and Power Point slides, then it came time for our backstage and on stage tour. Backstage was something I always dreamed of seeing and now I was going to get my chance. We strolled through the backstage areas, went on stage and made several stops around the park. I couldn't have been more proud of my paper name tag at the point. During our outing in the park I shared some of my Disneyland knowledge with my new found friends. Then it was time for lunch. All I'm going to say is the Eat Ticket Cafe has some of the coolest Disneyland memorabilia hanging in it. Surprisingly the food wasn't too expensive, so maybe I'll splurge and eat there a few days a week.

It was back to video clips and Power Points slides again, I was trying to soak it all in... I hope that didn't make me seem like the over the top CM to be.... Afternoon caffeine break, more clips and slides, then we headed back down to the auditorium. This was it, this was the moment I've been waiting for. Or so I thought, they had us meet with out Onboarder (another fancy Disney term). Art gave us some forms, told us to be prepared and in the "Disney Look" for tomorrow, then sent us back in the auditorium. We watched a quick video welcoming us the the team and it ended with a segment of Walt talking. It was a truly amazing experience, but I knew what was coming next. Mickey was going to come out and give us our name tags and CM ID. I may be 23 years old but this got me a bit choked up. This was it I was finally no longer Sean the Disney Dork, I was Sean from Tempe, AZ a Cast Member at the Disneyland Resort. I have never had a job that has made me feel this way after just one day of training, nor I job I wanted to succeed to my maximum potential more than I do now. While they may just be two pieces of plastic they changed my life. I cannot say how thankful I am to my family, friends, and all of you that read this. I hope to continue this blog with stories of how my fellow Cast Members and I create happiness and magical memories.

Hold on to your hats and glasses folks, this here is the wildest blog in the wilderness.