February 6th - February 10th
Unfortunately I did not take a single picture to document days 12 through 16, so instead I'm just going to add some photos from the web for reference until I can update with my own pictures. Days 12-16 were my training days, so from Friday through Tuesday I went to Coronado Springs every day for 8.5 hours to train in each of the five on-site work locations. Although I don't have any really exciting stories or photos, I'll still give a run down of my training, mostly because I want every day tracked thoroughly for when I scrapbook my time in Disney. Sorry if this is dull, but here it is.
Day 12: Convention Center
Coronado Springs is one of the few Disney resorts that also has a convention center, and our convention center is HUGE. When I first saw it I was thoroughly overwhelmed. We have two ballrooms and one exhibit hall. As a frame of reference, a standard football field is 57,600 square feet. While our small ballroom is only 21,160 square feet, the large one is 60,214 square feet, and the exhibit hall is 86,000 square feet. This also doesn't include all the smaller conference rooms in the convention center.
There is always one male and one female working in the area so they can maintain their respective bathrooms, but if there's a convention in that day, particularly a large one, they'll but 4 or even 6 of us in the convention center to clean bathrooms and pull trash, as well as help clean ballrooms and break-out rooms between events.
FYI this is just the hallway. This is my domain.
My first day of training fell on the same day as a large nurse's convention, and to say it was busy would be an understatement. Most of the attendees were women and we were barely keeping up with the bathrooms. After that first shift I texted my mother telling her to cancel her flight here because there was no way I was going to hack it. As difficult as it was, fortunately I came back the next day.
Day 13: Lobby
My second day I was training with Yolanda in the lobby. When you're assigned to the lobby, you mostly just wander up and down the corridor and into the front desk area, making sure everything is clean and none of the trash cans are full.
I ended up really enjoying this day, mostly because I just loved my trainer so much. Like several of our other cast members, Yolanda is from Puerto Rico, so her Spanish can be a bit difficult to understand at times. Fortunately for me, Yolanda is a pretty good teacher, so I got to spend the day brushing up on my Spanish language skills. She also told me hilarious stories about her daughter and her grandsons and her cartilage-free knee. She was a hoot, and I'm always so happy when I'm working the same area as her.
Day 14: Pools
My first two days of training were just me and my trainer, but on my third day Kaitlyn came back! Kaitlyn is another CP who arrived the same day as me, so we had a lot of overlapping training. Funny enough, she is the only person I talked to about rooming together before coming to Florida, so we were already Facebook friends, and lo and behold we're in the same resort (which is exceptionally crazy because out of about 4,000 college programmers (CPs) there are only 6 working custodial at Coronado Springs). She did her first two training days before me, so by day 3 we were back together on pools. The evening shift is 3:30 to midnight, but because it isn't peak season, our pool closed at 9 until very recently, so we scrambled for the first few hours cleaning up all the towels and trash from the pool bar, but once 9 o'clock hit, we tidied up the area and then had very little left to do.
If nothing else, I've learned from this job how to keep myself busy. When there's nothing left to do, there's always something else you can do.
Day 15: Outside
On the fourth day of training Kaitlyn and I were again scheduled to train together. Unfortunately, the pargos, which are little golf-cart-like vehicles we drive around when we're outside, only seat two, so I was with the outside female, Christine, learning all the ins and outs of the outside female's job, while Kaitlyn was with the outside male, learning the ins and outs of a job she will specifically never do. Our resort is split into three little "villages" called Casitas, Ranchos, and Cabanas.
Casitas are orange, Ranchos are purple, Cabanas are lime green
The outside female is in charge of the Casitas side of the resort, so all the trash cans in the area, as well as the laundry room, the spa, the gym, and the pool. Outside is a fun role because you keep busy and Florida is just beautiful (even though it was torrentially down-pouring that evening) but I do get a little creeped out being all alone out there at night, and I was told I'm guaranteed to see raccoons all over the place when I'm working outside, so now whenever I go up to an outdoor trashcan I'm always sure to listen for rustling, and I give it a few good taps to make sure nothing is dozing with the trash. Fingers crossed that I never hear anything coming from inside.
Day 16: Backstage
Kaitlyn and I were together again for our fifth and final day of training, and we were back with Christine again as our trainer! Christine is one of the most genuinely good people I've ever met. I honestly don't think bad thoughts occur in her brain. She just celebrated 25 years working with the company, she's loud and hilarious, and she told me a good two dozen stories about the resort over the two days we were together. When you're working backstage, that basically just means you're in charge of cleaning all the areas cast members use where guests will never go, mostly including offices and bathrooms.
Although my job mostly entails pulling trash bags and cleaning bathrooms, we also sometimes just get to wander our area picking up bits of trash, dusting, spot cleaning, and interacting with guests. It isn't the most exciting job in the world, but there are always little bits that make the day as a whole. During my five days of training, I got to meet four different trainers and learn about the history of our resort. I got to pin trade, give directions, and I even got a smile card from my boss. If you've never heard of a smile card (which you probably haven't because I'm pretty sure they made it up) if you smile a lot your supervisor can write you one and it's entered into a weekly drawing for some kind of prize. What my supervisor doesn't know is that I was smiling because people were talking and I didn't know what to say and I was nervous so I was just smiling and nodding. But at Disney that is rewarded.
Overall they were a good few days! My first day made me want to quit and I genuinely thought my feet would never be the same, but each day I came home having had a better experience, better stories, and a better outlook, and now I am quite looking forward to the adventures to be had!
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