Another "long" update. If you wanna know whats been going on, read ahead, my friends!
In this post:
Monday, June 5, 2006: My first day of training.
So I woke up at 4am to bring Mom to the airport. Got back to my apt, fell asleep and woke up again at like 6:45 so I could get to the DAK Ent. Bldg on time. Training started at 8:30am sharp, and when Disney says something is "on-time" you better be there. I will always remember the motto that we use. Too bad I can't share it with you...it would help a LOT of y'all out with timing issues...oh well! Anyways, so I am the first one there and talk to one of the trainers, Marc. He is such a sweet guy and very encouraging. Once everyone shows up, we play a game to introduce ourselves. My training group had 10 people, most of them were international CPs but I love them all and wouldn't trade anyone. I loved getting to know all of them. The group was: Leigh (22 year old spunky girl from Cottonwood), Richard (he was going through his manager training), Moises (from somewhere in Mexico), Alex (she is from England), Ava (somewhere near Cork), Jo, Amy, Vincy and Adeline (all from Hong Kong) and myself. Our trainers for Monday were Marc and Gabe. Anyways, the game was "Name that Character" I had Prince John....basically, the trainers would name a fact about the character and if we had that character, we had to say the character's name, then if it was right we had to stand up, say our name, where we are from, something about us, our favorite Disney movie and favorite Disney memory and then name another interesting fact about our character. So to give you a look as to what it looked like, here you go: "This character sucks his thumb a lot" and I immediately knew it was my character...so I jump up and say "Prince John!" Marc is pretty surprised since nobody else got their character until like 3 clues were given...so I stand up and say, "Angela Noya, I'm from New Orleans, LA, something about me was I was on my CP when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, my favorite Disney movies are Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland. My favorite Disney memory was when I came to WDW for the first time with my now ex-bf and his family and I got to meet Cinderella in the princess tent. An interesting fact about my character is that he dots his "i"s with crowns." Of course, everyone then asked how the house was and my family was doing after Katrina...and then we finished the game. We watched a short movie about how important we are to the parks and how much the guests love us, etc...we even got a message from Roy Disney!! It was so neat watching it, I got the chills. Then we got a break, played another game called "Guess the Theme Park" there were 4 groups with 3 pics in each. Whatever group finished first got to pick out of "the hat" This game was designed for us to get hints on how to take good pics. We got a visit from Pluto and Pluto helped us learn the dos and donts of picture-taking. Then we got a break and we did a few more things and then the last game we played was "Guess the Price" (like the Price is Right). We learned how much Mickey's shoes cost, Minnie's heels, her bows, her dresses, Buzz's battery pack, Goofy's hat, etc...cost so that we would have a "deeper appreciation" for it all and that we would take better care of it instead of just throwing the stuff around. Let's just say that I'm glad I'm not tall enough to carry around Buzz's battery pack all day...After we had lunch we got to put on our VIP heads, hands and feet. We had to stand in front of the mirror and look at ourselves and sing "Happy Birthday", "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah", and "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" so that we could get used to our new features...it was pretty comical watching each other find our noses, ears, eyes, etc...I had a BLAST and still do. At the end of the day, Leigh and I decided that we were gonna go to MK to watch Spectro and Wishes. We met at the Monorails, got in line for Spectro, watched it, followed it up part of Main St and then booked it to Frontierland so that we could watch part of it there while I got to visit with my Pecos ppl. I loved seeing them all! Esp my hunny bunny and Eric. Leigh and Amanda (one of her traditions friends) went in front of the castle to watch Wishes. Hunny Bunny and I went down to the tunnel to surprise Ika. I have never seen him so surprised...so that made me feel good. I wish I could upload all my pics on here, but it would take up like the entire page...and I don't think y'all wanna see them. But if you do wanna see them, go look at facebook or something.
Tuesday, June 6, 2006: 06-06-06...oh goodness...the devil is coming out!! What a load of shit. Anywhooooooo-
2nd day of training. Trainers: Gabe and Jontel.
Today we got to put on our entire VIP costume. We met at DAK so that we would know how to get there if we were ever to work there. So once we had our full costume on, we got to look at ourselves in the mirror so that we could see what it looked like. We had to act out a story Jontel was reading while Gabe videotaped it. Then we got to watch it. Every single one of us had "dead arms" except for Richard...Richard and Goofy just knew how to act. That night was color coding. Once we finished that we were free to go. I got home fairly early (10:45ish, thank goodness) because we had to be at Epcot for 8:15 the next morning. Poor Leigh didn't get out of there till around 11:15. Our color codes wouldn't be up for another week, so I didn't worry about it.
Wednesday, June 7, 2006: Third day of training. Trainers: Jontel and Vivian.
SIM was today. Oh Boy, talk about thrilling. I had to do this for F&B AND Ent? wtf dude, it isn't like I forgot how to lift up a box. So once that was done, we had to put on our costume because it was our first day in the parks with the guests....nerve-wracking! The Yellow Rabbit helped me out though. I sure am glad I have a friend like him to help me through these times :-) *yay* We were between the Italy and AA Pavs I think...my first guest was adorable. I wasn't nervous until I walked through the gate. As soon as I saw the guests and they started coming up to me, I started to shake. My first couple of autographs were so shaky but I calmed myself down for the next set. I got ready a few mins early so I could calm myself down and get used to being in there. I went out, and my first guest of this set ran up to me and goes "Guys, look! This is where they see out of!" I start to panic in my costume. FYI: It is NOT a good thing to panic when in an enclosed space and you cannot walk very easily....Anyways, so I look at the kid and shake my head as if to say "What are you talking about? I don't understand." So I take the damn picture, finish everyone's autographs and the damn 8-year-old kid who said that shit hit my head. I wanted to hit him back, but noooooo I can't. That shit hurts esp when you have a headache...but c'est la vie. I forgot all about that when the little babies came up to me and said, "Rabbit! I love you! Where is Pooh Bear?" "Is Tigger bouncing?" "I love you Rabbit!" My heart just grew and my face had a huge smile on it. One little girl came up to me and just wanted a hug and a picture...she must have been 3 years old. I didn't want to let her go! Another family brought their 6-month-old daughter with them and the mom said "Rabbit, you are all over her room at home!" I gave the baby a gentle hug and posed for the picture. They were my last family for that set. I went inside and I still had the smile on my face. We then shared stories about our sets. That day we had a total of like 6 sets. We had lunch after our 3rd set. We met this guy who said he was gonna come see us...none of us believed him. He told me he would come see me since I am never out. Sure enough, my 4th set, there he was. He wanted an autograph, so I'm expecting him to pull out the book, or a map or an index card or something, but no, he pulls out this CORNER of a piece of looseleaf paper...and the smallest pen I've ever seen. NOTE: If you want an autograph from a character, give them something they can see and something big enough to write on. Otherwise, you aren't gonna get it. People, I swear. This was all on video of course. So when we went inside, we got to watch it. And what was given to me? The piece of paper that I autographed...I still have it. If I can figure out how to scan it in and put it up on here, I'll do that. That was pretty damn funny. That made that set go by fast. I hope I get to work with him sometime soon...
Thusrday, June 8, 2006: Fourth day of traning. Trainers: Vivian and Brian.
We were in MGM Animation Studio. Leigh and I got to meet up with Chip and Dale! We had some nice families and some not-so-nice families. One maybe like 17 year old Puerto Rican teen grabbed us and said, "Oh no buddy, you aren't leaving yet!" and threw us up against the wall and forced us to take the picture. There was absolutely no way for us to get out of it. Also, one of my eyes fogged up and I couldn't see out of my left eye, so I'm signing through my right eye. Brian came up to me after our line was done and said "If you don't start signing out of both eyes, I'm gonna body-slam you." UH...OK. When we got to the back, I told him what was going on and he said that he didn't care I had to fake it. Well, I'm good at faking some things...but that's aside the point. I had to make you feel good about it, but damn, it sucked....this doesn't suck at all but I need to make the kids believe I am seeing out of both eyes...anyway, after Brian told me that and we went backstage we had lunch. Our first set after lunch was possibly when I felt the best so far. Dale and I had an 18-year-old Make a Wish teen. He was in a wheelchair. I think his grandparents said his name was Michael or something. He could only move his right arm and his left a very little bit. He could turn his head, but not much. I motioned for him to turn his wheelchair around but he didn't want to. We signed his autograph book, got down on our knees, hugged him and took the picture. Dale was first to hug and didn't really get much reaction, I knelt down to hug him after signing the book and giving it to Dale. I was trying to look at his grandparents while hugging him and all of a sudden I felt something around my back....it was his arms. I swear my heart skipped a beat; his grandparents looked over at us in complete shock and started to tear up. I didn't know if I had done something to hurt him, so I slowly backed away, took the picture and waved bye to him. We finished our line and on our way back, we went over to the MAW family (they were against the wall). As I shook his grandfather's hand, he said (and I'll never forget this), "Chip, thank you for whatever you did to him, he hasn't moved his arms like that in years..." and then he started to cry. I had to leave real fast after that. I grabbed my basics and ran into the bathroom and I kept re-playing that in my head and I just cried. I didn't do ANYTHING. I was just doing my job. I hugged a teen, signed a book with "Chip" and took a picture. That is my job. I didn't save anyone from a burning building, I didn't pull anyone from a car accident...but they kept thanking me. I can't think of any other job in this world that allows me to have this much fun and get this huge of a reward and get paid for doing what I love. If you can think of one, please let me know. I just felt so good. If I ever have a bad day, please remind me of that boy and what happened.
Friday, June 9, 2006: Last day of training. Trainers: Vivian and Chris AMERICA! Love the guy...just wish he lived in LA. Dammit! Ok, calm down, Ang, you met a guy from LA who is 21...chill out...
So my last day of training, Gideon and I met. Only 3 sets today, but my pants didn't have the fur on the bottom of the legs so I missed my first set so Chris *sigh* and I could run back to costuming and get the CORRECT pants. I got dressed and stayed inside with him and signed autographs for him. I love Gideon! I have 5 fingers! This was the first day I scared anyone :-( I saw another child in a wheelchair. This time it was an 8-year-old girl named Sarah. She was with her grandfather, Willie. So I got her autograph book and personalized it for her...not that impressive just "To, Sarah Love, Gideon" But she smiled and reached out for a hug...Willie thanked me and then they went on to meet Darkwing and LaunchPad and Suzy and Perla. I felt bad for scaring the kids, but shit y'all, it is just a character!
In other news, Alex called me the other day and told me that he had his first simulation in the field at the end of last week and that is why he didn't get a chance to call me back. He called me while he was on his way to Jackson for his friend's wedding. He got a 4-day pass from the Army which gave him just enough time to leave OK, drive to MS, be at the wedding and drive back to get ready for his week and classes. Poor guy is always on the go. Every now and then I catch myself thinking of what I would be like if we hadn't broken up. In reality I know it wouldn't have worked out for the 2 years we were away from each other because a) he was in college and I was still in HS and b) even if he was at LSU it wouldn't have worked because we started dating at the end of the school year... But now that we are both kinda at the same point in our lives things are kind of coming together. I mean, I understand that he is busy and he will be in Alaska for 3-4 years but that gives me just enough time to finish college and get a job (either here with the company or at ASH) but if things go the way *we* are hoping they will he will get stationed at Ft. Hood but that means I would have to re-think the whole ASH job and company job unless he got stationed somewhere in LA or in Orlando...I don't know...I'm just taking things one day at a time...
Things are going pretty well for me. If only I could figure out how to get Joey to be "straight" or for Logan to move to LA.....hmmmmm.....Jen, you got any ideas?? I MISS YOU, HONEY!! Keep up the work and get your pay right, dammit!! Oh, tell mom I said "hey" and Becky needs to talk to her friends and get him to quit being an ass...I don't think I told you what happened, did I? Well, that'll be our next long conversation....oh how he has changed...after the "sets with clothes on" things just went haywire...
Monday, June 5, 2006: My first day of training.
So I woke up at 4am to bring Mom to the airport. Got back to my apt, fell asleep and woke up again at like 6:45 so I could get to the DAK Ent. Bldg on time. Training started at 8:30am sharp, and when Disney says something is "on-time" you better be there. I will always remember the motto that we use. Too bad I can't share it with you...it would help a LOT of y'all out with timing issues...oh well! Anyways, so I am the first one there and talk to one of the trainers, Marc. He is such a sweet guy and very encouraging. Once everyone shows up, we play a game to introduce ourselves. My training group had 10 people, most of them were international CPs but I love them all and wouldn't trade anyone. I loved getting to know all of them. The group was: Leigh (22 year old spunky girl from Cottonwood), Richard (he was going through his manager training), Moises (from somewhere in Mexico), Alex (she is from England), Ava (somewhere near Cork), Jo, Amy, Vincy and Adeline (all from Hong Kong) and myself. Our trainers for Monday were Marc and Gabe. Anyways, the game was "Name that Character" I had Prince John....basically, the trainers would name a fact about the character and if we had that character, we had to say the character's name, then if it was right we had to stand up, say our name, where we are from, something about us, our favorite Disney movie and favorite Disney memory and then name another interesting fact about our character. So to give you a look as to what it looked like, here you go: "This character sucks his thumb a lot" and I immediately knew it was my character...so I jump up and say "Prince John!" Marc is pretty surprised since nobody else got their character until like 3 clues were given...so I stand up and say, "Angela Noya, I'm from New Orleans, LA, something about me was I was on my CP when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, my favorite Disney movies are Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland. My favorite Disney memory was when I came to WDW for the first time with my now ex-bf and his family and I got to meet Cinderella in the princess tent. An interesting fact about my character is that he dots his "i"s with crowns." Of course, everyone then asked how the house was and my family was doing after Katrina...and then we finished the game. We watched a short movie about how important we are to the parks and how much the guests love us, etc...we even got a message from Roy Disney!! It was so neat watching it, I got the chills. Then we got a break, played another game called "Guess the Theme Park" there were 4 groups with 3 pics in each. Whatever group finished first got to pick out of "the hat" This game was designed for us to get hints on how to take good pics. We got a visit from Pluto and Pluto helped us learn the dos and donts of picture-taking. Then we got a break and we did a few more things and then the last game we played was "Guess the Price" (like the Price is Right). We learned how much Mickey's shoes cost, Minnie's heels, her bows, her dresses, Buzz's battery pack, Goofy's hat, etc...cost so that we would have a "deeper appreciation" for it all and that we would take better care of it instead of just throwing the stuff around. Let's just say that I'm glad I'm not tall enough to carry around Buzz's battery pack all day...After we had lunch we got to put on our VIP heads, hands and feet. We had to stand in front of the mirror and look at ourselves and sing "Happy Birthday", "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah", and "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" so that we could get used to our new features...it was pretty comical watching each other find our noses, ears, eyes, etc...I had a BLAST and still do. At the end of the day, Leigh and I decided that we were gonna go to MK to watch Spectro and Wishes. We met at the Monorails, got in line for Spectro, watched it, followed it up part of Main St and then booked it to Frontierland so that we could watch part of it there while I got to visit with my Pecos ppl. I loved seeing them all! Esp my hunny bunny and Eric. Leigh and Amanda (one of her traditions friends) went in front of the castle to watch Wishes. Hunny Bunny and I went down to the tunnel to surprise Ika. I have never seen him so surprised...so that made me feel good. I wish I could upload all my pics on here, but it would take up like the entire page...and I don't think y'all wanna see them. But if you do wanna see them, go look at facebook or something.
Tuesday, June 6, 2006: 06-06-06...oh goodness...the devil is coming out!! What a load of shit. Anywhooooooo-
2nd day of training. Trainers: Gabe and Jontel.
Today we got to put on our entire VIP costume. We met at DAK so that we would know how to get there if we were ever to work there. So once we had our full costume on, we got to look at ourselves in the mirror so that we could see what it looked like. We had to act out a story Jontel was reading while Gabe videotaped it. Then we got to watch it. Every single one of us had "dead arms" except for Richard...Richard and Goofy just knew how to act. That night was color coding. Once we finished that we were free to go. I got home fairly early (10:45ish, thank goodness) because we had to be at Epcot for 8:15 the next morning. Poor Leigh didn't get out of there till around 11:15. Our color codes wouldn't be up for another week, so I didn't worry about it.
Wednesday, June 7, 2006: Third day of training. Trainers: Jontel and Vivian.
SIM was today. Oh Boy, talk about thrilling. I had to do this for F&B AND Ent? wtf dude, it isn't like I forgot how to lift up a box. So once that was done, we had to put on our costume because it was our first day in the parks with the guests....nerve-wracking! The Yellow Rabbit helped me out though. I sure am glad I have a friend like him to help me through these times :-) *yay* We were between the Italy and AA Pavs I think...my first guest was adorable. I wasn't nervous until I walked through the gate. As soon as I saw the guests and they started coming up to me, I started to shake. My first couple of autographs were so shaky but I calmed myself down for the next set. I got ready a few mins early so I could calm myself down and get used to being in there. I went out, and my first guest of this set ran up to me and goes "Guys, look! This is where they see out of!" I start to panic in my costume. FYI: It is NOT a good thing to panic when in an enclosed space and you cannot walk very easily....Anyways, so I look at the kid and shake my head as if to say "What are you talking about? I don't understand." So I take the damn picture, finish everyone's autographs and the damn 8-year-old kid who said that shit hit my head. I wanted to hit him back, but noooooo I can't. That shit hurts esp when you have a headache...but c'est la vie. I forgot all about that when the little babies came up to me and said, "Rabbit! I love you! Where is Pooh Bear?" "Is Tigger bouncing?" "I love you Rabbit!" My heart just grew and my face had a huge smile on it. One little girl came up to me and just wanted a hug and a picture...she must have been 3 years old. I didn't want to let her go! Another family brought their 6-month-old daughter with them and the mom said "Rabbit, you are all over her room at home!" I gave the baby a gentle hug and posed for the picture. They were my last family for that set. I went inside and I still had the smile on my face. We then shared stories about our sets. That day we had a total of like 6 sets. We had lunch after our 3rd set. We met this guy who said he was gonna come see us...none of us believed him. He told me he would come see me since I am never out. Sure enough, my 4th set, there he was. He wanted an autograph, so I'm expecting him to pull out the book, or a map or an index card or something, but no, he pulls out this CORNER of a piece of looseleaf paper...and the smallest pen I've ever seen. NOTE: If you want an autograph from a character, give them something they can see and something big enough to write on. Otherwise, you aren't gonna get it. People, I swear. This was all on video of course. So when we went inside, we got to watch it. And what was given to me? The piece of paper that I autographed...I still have it. If I can figure out how to scan it in and put it up on here, I'll do that. That was pretty damn funny. That made that set go by fast. I hope I get to work with him sometime soon...
Thusrday, June 8, 2006: Fourth day of traning. Trainers: Vivian and Brian.
We were in MGM Animation Studio. Leigh and I got to meet up with Chip and Dale! We had some nice families and some not-so-nice families. One maybe like 17 year old Puerto Rican teen grabbed us and said, "Oh no buddy, you aren't leaving yet!" and threw us up against the wall and forced us to take the picture. There was absolutely no way for us to get out of it. Also, one of my eyes fogged up and I couldn't see out of my left eye, so I'm signing through my right eye. Brian came up to me after our line was done and said "If you don't start signing out of both eyes, I'm gonna body-slam you." UH...OK. When we got to the back, I told him what was going on and he said that he didn't care I had to fake it. Well, I'm good at faking some things...but that's aside the point. I had to make you feel good about it, but damn, it sucked....this doesn't suck at all but I need to make the kids believe I am seeing out of both eyes...anyway, after Brian told me that and we went backstage we had lunch. Our first set after lunch was possibly when I felt the best so far. Dale and I had an 18-year-old Make a Wish teen. He was in a wheelchair. I think his grandparents said his name was Michael or something. He could only move his right arm and his left a very little bit. He could turn his head, but not much. I motioned for him to turn his wheelchair around but he didn't want to. We signed his autograph book, got down on our knees, hugged him and took the picture. Dale was first to hug and didn't really get much reaction, I knelt down to hug him after signing the book and giving it to Dale. I was trying to look at his grandparents while hugging him and all of a sudden I felt something around my back....it was his arms. I swear my heart skipped a beat; his grandparents looked over at us in complete shock and started to tear up. I didn't know if I had done something to hurt him, so I slowly backed away, took the picture and waved bye to him. We finished our line and on our way back, we went over to the MAW family (they were against the wall). As I shook his grandfather's hand, he said (and I'll never forget this), "Chip, thank you for whatever you did to him, he hasn't moved his arms like that in years..." and then he started to cry. I had to leave real fast after that. I grabbed my basics and ran into the bathroom and I kept re-playing that in my head and I just cried. I didn't do ANYTHING. I was just doing my job. I hugged a teen, signed a book with "Chip" and took a picture. That is my job. I didn't save anyone from a burning building, I didn't pull anyone from a car accident...but they kept thanking me. I can't think of any other job in this world that allows me to have this much fun and get this huge of a reward and get paid for doing what I love. If you can think of one, please let me know. I just felt so good. If I ever have a bad day, please remind me of that boy and what happened.
Friday, June 9, 2006: Last day of training. Trainers: Vivian and Chris AMERICA! Love the guy...just wish he lived in LA. Dammit! Ok, calm down, Ang, you met a guy from LA who is 21...chill out...
So my last day of training, Gideon and I met. Only 3 sets today, but my pants didn't have the fur on the bottom of the legs so I missed my first set so Chris *sigh* and I could run back to costuming and get the CORRECT pants. I got dressed and stayed inside with him and signed autographs for him. I love Gideon! I have 5 fingers! This was the first day I scared anyone :-( I saw another child in a wheelchair. This time it was an 8-year-old girl named Sarah. She was with her grandfather, Willie. So I got her autograph book and personalized it for her...not that impressive just "To, Sarah Love, Gideon" But she smiled and reached out for a hug...Willie thanked me and then they went on to meet Darkwing and LaunchPad and Suzy and Perla. I felt bad for scaring the kids, but shit y'all, it is just a character!
In other news, Alex called me the other day and told me that he had his first simulation in the field at the end of last week and that is why he didn't get a chance to call me back. He called me while he was on his way to Jackson for his friend's wedding. He got a 4-day pass from the Army which gave him just enough time to leave OK, drive to MS, be at the wedding and drive back to get ready for his week and classes. Poor guy is always on the go. Every now and then I catch myself thinking of what I would be like if we hadn't broken up. In reality I know it wouldn't have worked out for the 2 years we were away from each other because a) he was in college and I was still in HS and b) even if he was at LSU it wouldn't have worked because we started dating at the end of the school year... But now that we are both kinda at the same point in our lives things are kind of coming together. I mean, I understand that he is busy and he will be in Alaska for 3-4 years but that gives me just enough time to finish college and get a job (either here with the company or at ASH) but if things go the way *we* are hoping they will he will get stationed at Ft. Hood but that means I would have to re-think the whole ASH job and company job unless he got stationed somewhere in LA or in Orlando...I don't know...I'm just taking things one day at a time...
Things are going pretty well for me. If only I could figure out how to get Joey to be "straight" or for Logan to move to LA.....hmmmmm.....Jen, you got any ideas?? I MISS YOU, HONEY!! Keep up the work and get your pay right, dammit!! Oh, tell mom I said "hey" and Becky needs to talk to her friends and get him to quit being an ass...I don't think I told you what happened, did I? Well, that'll be our next long conversation....oh how he has changed...after the "sets with clothes on" things just went haywire...