My Last Day

Yesterday was my last day of work at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Such a weird feeling! I would say it turned out to be a pretty great last day. I had the chance to make a little bit of magic one last time. I had some guests approach me (a mom and 2 little girls) one of the little girls (named Emily- believe it or not) had lost her lanyard with all of her Disney pins on it while they were in Magic Kingdom earlier that day. The little girl was crying and so upset that she lost her favorite pins. I called guest relations at Magic Kingdom to see if they had been turned in yet. Believe it or not, things usually turn up at Disney World. I've lost my cell phone before and Alex has even lost his wallet and we both got them back unharmed! Anyway, no one had turned her pins in yet and when I gave them this news the little girl started to cry all over again. I felt so bad! They headed back to their room to figure out the next step but I wanted to try to do something to at least distract her. I went through our collection of pins in the back office and chose a few to give to Emily. I wrote a little note explaining that of course these wouldn't replace her pins but I wanted her to at least have something to trade while she's here. I went to deliver them to the room and ended up running into the family in the hallway. I gave her the pins and she was so happy. The whole family was really grateful. I'm sure she will get her pins back but I hope that moment diffused the situation a little bit.
Also at work the managers recently put a little reward system into place. When doing a check in we're always supposed to read the comments on the reservation in case there's some vital information that another cast member has noted. So they started putting special comments on certain reservations that say "thanks for checking your comments, see your supervisor for a prize!" My very last check in around 11pm last night was a special prize check in. :) Also, I received one last "great service fanatic" card yesterday for following up with my guests. What a way to end!

Also, here's a picture of me in my costume on my last day. Even though it's hideous and terribly uncomfortable I know some of you have been asking to see it... so here it is!

When one door closes..

I'm so sorry we haven't kept up with this blog lately! To be honest, it's mostly been work work work since the family left. We hadn't even been back to the parks until earlier this week! I'll go back and fill in some details eventually.
So here we are, 4 months later and my program is coming to an end. My last day of work at Animal Kingdom Lodge is tomorrow. These past few months have FLOWN by. I have been trying to find a way to keep working for Disney until Alex finishes up with his program in early July, but it has been an unsuccessful search. To say the least, the cast member I dealt with at Disney's "casting" building was not very magical. She told me there was no hope. Luckily, I did just land another job with a vacation property management company where I will be performing a similar role.. just not at Disney. It's definitely a bittersweet end. It has been quite hectic working long, crazy hours and having no sense of a routine but I have some great co-workers and I've had awesome experiences as a cast member. Also, getting in to the parks for free was a huge perk! We're trying to figure out a way to continue this since Alex will still have those perks- which probably means dishing out a lot of money for an annual pass.. we'll see!

Although our time in Florida is not quite up, it certainly feels like an end for me. No matter what my experiences have been-- the good, the bad and the ugly I am still very passionate about Disney magic. This will always be my favorite place to visit and I know Alex and I will be making many more visits in the future!