Guest Relations Numbers

One of the most popular Alumni Only Professional Internships is the Guest Relations Internship. For Alumni Only you have to have done a CP or PI to be eligible to apply (or currently doing one). Guest relations cast members are very highly regarded in the parks and is perhaps the most coveted front line position. Since this is an internship with such high interest and acceptance should be rolling out in a matter of weeks/days, I decided to look up how many current Guest Relations PIs there are. Note that this is one of those internships that is very likely to vary the numbers by semester. For example, I have heard that while My Disney Experience with the new FP+ system  and magic bands rolled out a lot more interns were accepted than normal to help with what was anticipated to be an extra crazy time in the parks. 

Right now there are currently a total of 32 Guest Relations Professional Interns and here is how they break down by park:
15 Magic Kingdom
7 EPCOT
2 Animal Kingdom
4 Hollywood Studios
4 Disney Springs

It seems to change each semester when Guest Relations PIs find out which park they are in. I remember a semester when the recruiter used to tell you when they were giving the offer. There have also been semesters where your future leaders will reach out a few weeks after your acceptance (similar to how MIs find their placement). I think there have been a few different scenarios as well so who knows how this semester/future semesters will play out. I guess we will all just have to wait a little longer to see! Good luck to all who have applied!

Here is a link if you want to see a similar post about MIs: Management Internship Numbers

Ride Count

Also, I forgot that I have added a Ride Count tab so I can keep track the number of times I ride each ride. I have downloaded a Ride Counter App, which is pretty good, but isn't up to date with the newer rides and whatnot. Therefore, if you are interested in following how many times I do each attraction just take a peak. (currently Hollywood Studios is the winning park and the top three rides are:  The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (5), Rock 'n' RollerCoaster (4), Star Tours (3).

Hello, My Name is Sandy and I am from Vernon, CT

First off, I promise I will go and post about the last week and a half, but I figured I would at least try to post consistently now to not get tooooo far behind. So I'll start off from yesterday (the day off that I pretty much did nothing but watch Ghostbusters 1 and 2 on TV, uploaded photos to my laptop/Facebook, and didn't get out of my PJs until around 6pm).

Sunday Night (HS)

Last night we went to Hollywood Studios, but not as many people showed up as we wanted, but a good group of people came, including some of the Seas interns, which was fun since we don't get to see them that often anymore. Some of us went on a quick ride of Tower of Terror as we waited for Allie to show up and the wait was really short. We were going to head over to do single rider Rockin' RollerCoaster, but Allie said she was entering the park so we went to wait for her and a group of the Seas interns that said they only wanted to ride Tower once so had skipped the first time. This allowed us some time to shop around the store. Amber went and got the picture from the day before (Saturday) when a bunch of us had been on the ride and I got 2 ToT pressed quarters! When everyone met up we went on ToT and we were on a car with a bunch of first timers and there was so much screaming on that ride. Then we went and rode Rockin' and pretty much walked on in the regular standby line so we all got to ride together. A bunch of people left at this point, but Amber wanted to ride Star Tours to see how it was with a different scenario and Allie had never been on it (we barely made it on the last ride of the night. this was my 3rd time riding and it was a bit of a mix of the other 2 times I went on it). Then we headed home to get a good nights sleep (but apparently Allie got in an accident on her way home. eek!)

Monday

So today on the way to work I realized I forgot my name tag. Therefore, I got one of the extra presenter ones. One of my leaders, Josh, asked if I wanted to be from California or Connecticut and I didn't have too much of a preference, so he handed me Sandy from Vernon, CT. So all day we were joking around about me being Sandy. I confused Matt (the current Core Team intern) and Critter decided he was going to call me Sandy for the next 6 months. 

We started off with some info on the animal positions that we staff and then we headed out for a scavenger hunt to familiarize ourselves with the park (eg. nearest bathroom, smoking locations, break rooms, badge locations, animals, etc.). My group was one of the only ones to get done, pretty much since Tara had worked custodial at DAK before on a CP so she knew her way around. Afterward, we met at our trailer and split into our 3 tour groups again to tour our animal locations. We lost our leader Bethany today to another group, but got Matt. It was nice to get a different person's point of view and he even did a couple sample presentations. We got super sweaty and then broke for lunch.

After lunch we went back to the classroom and went over different emergency situations, met with a primate keeper (who was awesome!), did some practice conversations, and played a jeopardy review game for our assessment. Talking with the Primate Keeper made me think of how cool it would be to work with the SSP (Species Survival Plan) and make breeding recommendations based on a data and whatnot!

After work Allie, Amber, and I headed home. We chilled most of the night. Lexi, Dana and I watched some TV together and I made reservations for my family to visit next month (which ended up being a big mess). Tomorrow we have our assessment in the morning and were told to dress in "guest clothes" to go and do some stuff out in the park. Some of us have been guessing what we are doing (riding rides, earning non-Troop Leader badges, etc), but I am excited for tomorrow!

Training Schedule Part 2

Sorry that I haven't been good at updating! I have been making notes each day and I plan on writing more in depth about this past week or so. Today is on of my days off and the beginning of a new week. We got the rest of our schedules for the next two weeks yesterday. Today is the last day for the rest of the semester that all of the presenters have off together. We are planning on getting together tonight to go on Tower of Terror and trying to get a full elevator of animal programs interns and maybe make some signs or something.

This next week is still full of more training, including finally getting more in the park training. Then next week we start full time in the parks as the current presenters leave. Here is my work schedule for the rest of my training:

June 23-24: The last two days of classroom training, including our assessment (whatever than entails...)

June 25-26: Shadow days in the park in small groups with the current presenters.

June 27: Last day all of the Fall presenters will work all together. Time training in the park

June 28: Final day of On the Job training in the park!

In a little bit Amber, Dana, and I are planning on heading out to meet other Animal programs interns at Hollywood Studios. Hopefully, we will have a good turnout!