On Board at Disney

The trip to the Casting Center for my new hire meeting at 9 AM was through torrential rain. I went 30 MPH the whole way - for 30 minutes - and had the wipers on max. It really does rain hard in Florida. I made it with 15 minutes to spare and I was called in for fingerprinting right at 9 AM. There is a new method for fingerprinting - scanning - that eliminates the old, ink method. Much better! The paperwork was reviewed and we (8 of us) went into a short class that was intended to distribute the folder with all the Disney employee booklets, rules and instructions. There were meetings (classes) scheduled each hour during the day.

Working for Disney Parks is more of a culture than a job. There are very strict rules for dress and appearance, as there are for business conduct and procedures. There is an 8 hour day scheduled for each new employee's first day - called Traditions Day - which is a total introduction to the park and its operations. The class yesterday was spent discussing dress and appearance requirements for our Traditions Day which is scheduled for 7:30 AM on Tuesday. Several of the people were told that they had to make adjustments in their appearance -trim mustache, cut hair, etc. - before Tuesday, or they would be sent home. It will be an interesting experience, I'm sure.

I found out that I will be working at the Wide World of Sports complex and that the Atlanta Braves use that facility for their spring training games in late February through early March. I will probably be involved in some way with that event, along with other activities in that facility.

The "free passes" policy is not totally clear at this point. As an employee, I have access any day to any and all park locations at no cost. What isn't clear yet is the arrangement for family and friends. It appears that the only advantage they will have is an employee discount of 20% on all purchases that I am able to get for them. It did make reference in the policy manual about free passes, but in not much detail. I will get further information when I meet my supervisor next week.

So, Tuesday begins the real work schedule and I'm looking forward to it.

We sat around and watched it rain most of the rest of the day. We did go to the store to get some groceries, but that was about it until around 3 PM when Josie jumped up out of her seat to grab the camera. It turned out that a huge Sandhill Crane showed up right outside our window:

After watching him for awhile, his mate showed up and they calmly walked along behind the rigs on our row:

They are huge birds.

The sun is finally out again today so we will have to plan something to do to take advantage of the nice day. That's about it for now...