Resident Summer

So in April I was lucky enough to volunteer in a Cross-Utilization capacity to be a Disney Media Representative for the National Media Awaken Summer Event (you can read a little here:  Awaken Summer).

Well, the media outlook that I worked with (105.1 WOMX Orlando's Mix) apparently didn't get completely sick of me during our Disney's Animal Kingdom at Night Preview and Disney's Animal Kingdom Broadcast the follow day. I apparently was tolerable enough for them to ask for me to work with them again for out Florida only media event for Resident Summer! I was so honored to be asked to hang out with them again (oh wait, I guess it was considered work).

This time both their morning and afternoon shows came out and it was so much fun to meet them all. They were all great people and I was happy to be able to help introduce them all to the new Town Center at Disney Springs (let's just say that I am addicted to D-Luxe Burger now...)  and all of the great new offerings this summer, including the new Soarin' Around the World video and Frozen attractions at EPCOT, Star Wars fireworks at Hollywood Studios, Jungle Book show with the new Animal Kingdom at Night, along with the new stage show at the Magic Kingdom. Some of these thing are already open, but there are a ton of things opening today, June 17th!

If I didn't have enough fun working the event,
they even gave me this yummy treat!

If you search #ResidentSummer on your favorite social media device you can probably find a lot of the things that the media posted from the event! 

I hope that I can work some of these events again in the future. I love my job in Revenue Management, but the opportunities like this to get out in the parks and interact with our guests, media ones or otherwise, really helps keep the magic alive!

Media partners CJ and Carly with Mix 105.1, Marketing Manager
Jane, and myself after another successful broadcast!

...and a new era with Fall 2016 interns!

Today was the first day at Team Disney for the Fall 2016 interns. This is my second round of new interns since starting at Team Disney. It's so funny because on the first day it is sooooo easy to tell the interns apart from everyone else. 

First off, they are all dressed really nice. Now, this isn't to say that everyone else dresses like a bum. However, the beautiful thing about working in a non-guest facing role is the Disney Casual Look. So in reality most people are in jeans and a not-too-casual top. However, all the interns are dressed super business-y the first day (and generally pretty nice for the following week or so). Now don't think I am too judg-y, because I TOTALLY did the same thing during my second PI at Maingate and during the first week or so of my full time position at Team Disney. I think it is definitely the way to go when starting a new position. You don't want to underestimate what your area wears and not get off on the best foot possible.

I literally just want to go up to all of them and introduce myself, but I don't want a reputation of being some creepy, over-eager person. I also keep reminding myself that the number of people you meet in the first week or so is so overwhelming. I figure I'll let them know the people they actually need to know first and then maybe I'll introduce myself.

I only saw the F&B interns for a tiny bit today when I saw them going on a tour and sitting in their cube at the very end of the day. I think they were in a conference room for the rest of the day. I think I want to give myself a goal with each set of interns. Last set of interns I wanted to try and introduce myself and become friendly with the F&B interns since they sit right outside my desk. I think this round of interns I want to get to know these new F&B interns AND make myself try and get to know at least one other set of interns. Right now I am thinking I will stay on my floor which means the largely MSI cube or Decision Science cube. Honestly, many people in decision science intimidate me. Many of them, including at least some of the interns, have PhDs. They are all just SUPER smart and I feel very inadequate around them. So I think I will lean towards the MSI cube. I will still probably try and get closer to the F&B interns since there is less than half the amount of MSI or Decision Science interns so it will be less pressure to just stop by and I literally pass by them a dozen times a day.

If you are an intern just starting, I hope that wherever you are working your first few days are going fantastic and that you are enjoying the magic!

End of Another Intern Era

Now that I am full time it is really weird to see interns come and go. 

I have to preface that my team doesn't have interns, but many of the teams we work with have them and the teams that sit around us have them as well. In Team Disney (at least on my floor), off the main walkway there are 4 intern cubes. These are megacubes. On our floor each person has their own cube (except the hourly DVC Stat Associates), but the interns have ones that are 3-6 time bigger than a normal persons cube, but that's because a bunch of interns share it. Like I said, my team doesn't have any interns, but I pass the food and beverage pricing and revenue management intern cube every time I walk in from the elevators or have to go to the bathroom. So pretty often. Therefore these interns are the ones that I see and interact with most often. In the office I even refer to them as "the interns" when they aren't even on our team. 

When I started in my current role the Fall 2015 interns were already 2 months into their internship. They were all settled and I never really interacted with them much. Partially, becasue I was so overwhelmed by all of the other people I needed to get to know, and a little because they weren't the most sociable bunch. One just wandered the halls 90% of the time with his headphones on or sat at the intern cube with his feet up on the desk watching videos on his iPhone. To say the least, my team wasn't his biggest fan. The second wasn't awful. I think he was just shy or socially awkward. He was say hi, but would look away and kind of avoided conversation all of the time. 

The third was the only one I semi-conversed with on any sort of regular basis. He was by far the nicest of the bunch. He is also the only one still left with the company. After his PI in F&B pricing ended, we accepted another PI doing something with Disney Cruise Line in Celebration. But a couple of months ago I started seeing him around Team Disney again. Every time I saw him I was either rushing to a meeting or he was in the midst of conversation so when I finally got a chance to talk to him I found out he had received a full time position in Planning! I was so happy that of the 3 of the Fall 2015 interns that he was the one to stay with the company. I still don't see him much but it's nice having another friendly face in Team Disney.


Last week the Spring 2016 interns finished up their PIs. I was really, really sad to see them go. I made an effort off of the bat to introduce myself to them and would try to periodically stop in and chat. Admittedly I didn't talk to them AS much as I wanted to, but it is amazing how time flies! I loved this group. The 3 of the F&B interns were so nice, actually had personalities, and really seemed to actually want to be there. I think a combination of these things really helped them out, because all of them are staying full time with the company?!?!? It's crazy in that they all found out in the last two weeks. The one pricing intern found out on a Friday that she was going to be staying on the F&B pricing team full time. The second found out on the following Tuesday after memorial day that she was being offered a Finance position. Last Friday was a little awkward because the F&B Revenue Management intern didn't have an offer or any plans after the internship. The others in his cube were all staying and the pricing interns had had so much excitement in the last week when they found out. However...he just had to wait another week and he was offered a position as a Merchandise Business Insights Analyst. It's kind of exciting that he will be going to my old home at Maingate and gives me another reason to go back and visit!!!

There was also 4th intern who joined their cube from another area that needed space a couple of months into the internship, but since she hasn't been in this cube as long I don't know her as well. She just extended into another PI so I guess more time to get to know her!

It really is amazing how quickly the last 10 months as a full timer has gone. It is also going to be crazy for all of the new Fall 2016 interns to join Team Disney on Monday. I am excited to see all of the nervous, excited faces all dressed formally in business clothes getting their building tours on Monday. With such a great group to live up to, I am exciting no meeting the new group of faces that I will walk by a dozen times everyday for the next 6 months. I hope they are another fun group joining the Disney family. And who knows, if they are as good as the last set of interns, perhaps they will be around for a long time to come :)

Awaken Summer

So I'm not sure if you've heard but my little neck of the woods here in Central Florida has a couple of cool things heading our way pretty soon...

Disney World has a ton of things that are coming this summer, some that we knew about, but even more were announced the last few days as Disney welcomed media from around the country and world to show off what new things guests can expect soon as the parks Awaken Summer. (I know, I know....I can be cheesy after being punny with our guests the last few days). 

I just have to say that there are so many cool things that are coming that I am just like a kid in a candy store! It has also been neat as now that I have been with the company for a little bit that I have gotten to see things I worked on as an intern come to fruition. Like all the new stuff at Disney's Animal Kingdom! I was able to play a super small part in it while I was an intern at Merchandise Planning and we were able to see the artwork and predict how many of each product we would order. And while that seems like ages ago, some of the artwork is out now and it is exciting to hear the buzz around all the great new things coming to the park that I was lucky enough to call home during my time as a Wilderness Explorer. (and you can pretty much guarantee who will likely be buying a ton of that merch!!!)

The last few days I was lucky enough to play a teeny tiny role in helping host some of the media while they were checking out some of the exciting new offerings. If you want to see some of the cool stuff that they were able to see (including a sneak peak of Rivers of Light!) you can search #awakensummer (or if you want to specifically see the people I worked with you could maybe look up WOMX on their website or various social media platforms ;) The talent may or may not be vying for first place in line for Olaf)

Anyways, while this summer is bound to be hot (I did mention this was Central Florida, right?) you can be sure to find me at the parks quite a bit with all the new stuff going on.

Updates and new Bucket List

Hello everyone! Once again I have disappeared from the world. I have been at my Full Time job for 7 and a half months so far! It's been crazy at times, but most of that is a good crazy. I still love my position and think that it is an amazing fit for me. My team continues to challenge me and keeps me wanting to continually improve. Through my position and covering another position while we were going through the hiring process to backfill the position, I have learned so much more about how Disney works and have worked with an incredible number of people from around the company. We have hired the new person for our team who has been with us for about a month and as I am transitioning some of the tasks I was covering I have realized that I will miss many of the things I was doing in that position and the wide range of people I was lucky enough of work with every week. However, since I will be going back to only having one position I am excited to see what new projects I will be working on!

While I have had a pretty amazing work life, I haven't been to the parks nearly as often as I did when I was an intern. I think it has been partly due to my foot limiting me so much when I first came back since I was still pretty limited after my surgery in June, partly since I have been spending a decent amount of time at Universal with my roommates, and partly since I know that I am not going anywhere soon so I don't feel pressured to go all of the time anymore. That being said, Disney has a lot of exciting things coming up in 2016 that I am sooooo excited for (in addition to some things leaving us. I'm looking at you, Hollywood Studios). Therefore, I decided it was time to update my bucket list! I figured that while I don't have a time constraint to do things anymore, there are still many things I never got around to and many new things that I want to do and I think that having them listed in one place will make it more likely to happen! So if you would like to see what is on my 2016 Bucket List, head over to that page to see what I have planned! 

New Year's Resolutions

I have to be honest and say that I am not normally big on New Year's resolutions. I normally think, if you want to do something better why do you need to wait until a new year to make that happen? But in reality this year I wanted to be intentional in my daily living and decided that there were a couple of things that I truly do want to do better in 2016.

1. Running. Late in college I started running and loved it. I didn't continue in Florida at first since I was on my feet so much at Animal Kingdom walking miles a day in the heat. However, after I left DAK and started my second PI as a desk position I started running again. I actually found that I was in decent shape due to that fact I was getting a good amount of exercise just working as an Education Presenter. However, I had to have foot surgery in June and wasn't allowed to run for 6 months. Christmas Day was the 6th month mark so I am excited to try and get back into shape. It isn't going to be easy but I signed up for my first runDisney event to help motivate me. My goal is to try and "run" all of it. Which is more like, try not to walk no matter how slow you go! Inaugural Star Wars Dark Side 10k here I come!

2. Reading. I used to read a lot. A LOT. In college I only read for pleasure in the summers but would fly through books. However, since I graduated college I have read 3 books. Isn't that sad that I know exactly what 3 books that I read?!?! So I want to try and read a book a month. It doesn't sound like a lot but I figure I need to make a reasonable goal or else I won't stick to it. I am currently reading the 3rd book in the Kingdom Keepers series (which might tell you what 2 of the 3 books I have read since graduation were :) ). I actually read half of it but stopped in May so I tried picking up where I left off and had no idea what was happening. So here goes to January's book!

3. Get 10,000 steps a day. I should be able to hit this easy on days I am running (see goal number 1!) My mom got the whole family Fitbit's for Christmas so I want to try and hit 10,000 steps a day. On days that I miss the step goal I have to make up double those steps some other point during the year. I have a spreadsheet to track this and everything ;) I work a sedentary job now and between a desk job and not being able to exercise post-foot surgery I have gained a little weight. I am trying not to make drastic changes, but right now just work on making a few better life choices and hope that it all works out. :) 

4. Spend more time outside. I live in Florida for crying out load! I feel like I spend so much time inside so I want to actually use my patio or apartment complex pool, even if it is just to read. I want to go walking and see nature (and get 10,000 steps in) I don't want to for granted the vacation state that I live in and explore a bit more.

5. Craft more. I love to craft and even have a sowing machine. I haven't been good about it lately and still have to finish my smashbook for my first PI (oops!), so I want to at least finish that this year. I may have brought my sowing machine with me to Florida, but forgot supplies and have been too lazy/cheap to buy them so I just need to go get it and make stuff! I also consider coloring and doing puzzles crafts in a way so I will do those, too.

I think that these are the main ones. I am of course trying to do other things like eat healthier, be better about cleaning, etc. I actually have been really good over the last year and a half at budgeting so I want to keep being good at that and perhaps make some additional student loan payments. But overall these are goals that I think are good for me to be intentional in adding to my life. They are all things that I like to do but have been neglectful so I need to make sure I included them because I think they are good lifelong habits that I can make measurable progress with! If you made any resolutions, I wish you good luck! 

Spring 2016 Interns Starting

I know, I know. I haven't updated in over 2 months. I am pretty much the worst, but what can we truly expect? I always lapse, but this time I think I have a good excuse. A girl on my team left the company after 11 years to move closer to home, so I have taken on part of her position until we hire her backfill. Therefore I have been swamped with work on top of experiencing all the holiday related experiences that Walt Disney World has to offer (including the last year of Osborne Lights :'( ) I even got to go home for one and a half weeks at Christmas. I will try to catch you all up to my life, even maybe do a reflection post or two in the spirit of the new year, do some more PI related posts since the new application season is about to start, and even answer an questions anyone would care to ask!

Even though my time as a Disney Professional Intern came to a close last June, I have been extremely fortunate to continue my career at Disney and I love to answer questions and provide information for anyone looking to start a career at Disney, especially during the long and confusing PI application process. I just want everyone to be successful and live their dreams like I am!

Anyways, it is really weird to be at the other side of the PI process. This is my first internships season that I am a full time cast member. I started my job in August so the Fall interns had been there since June and so I never felt like I was "above" them in any way. If any thing I felt raw and new to the department just like them and in some ways they had been working in this part of Disney longer than I had! 

However, this past Monday the new spring interns have started. Coming into Team Disney on Monday was so weird with all of these extremely well dressed people walking in large groups around the building as seasoned cast members gave them a tour of our building. They were easy to identify as interns since almost everyone that works at Team Disney is very casual and wears jeans as often as possible. Our team doesn't have intern right now (we didn't in the all either. maybe next fall?) but there is a large cube of food and beverage interns that sit right outside my row. I pass them every time I go to the bathroom, elevators, see the other half of my team, etc. So I basically walk past them every 30 minutes or so. I haven't introduced myself yet because I want to introduce myself to all of them at once, I have been busy this week, and I feel like I should wait a few days since they are probably overwhelmed with the number of people they have met. 

Since I am the youngest on my team and am still pretty fresh out of college I kind of hope I can become friends with a few of the interns or at least help guide them in staying with the company. I only really started talking to the old interns right before they left so I didn't get to know them well, but I hope to change that this time around since I am more confident in my role and surroundings. I am excited to see how things end up shaping up and see where this set of interns goes!