Indiana Jones Movie Night

Indiana Jones Adventure

As soon as I looked at my papers given to me at the start of Traditions, I saw that I had been given the role of Archeologist at Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. I was beside myself with excitement. No, seriously. I was holding back happy tears while others were jealously looking on.

After a few minutes of everyone excitedly receiving their paperwork, taking a few seconds to scan the words until they saw their assigned location followed by a cheer of triumph (in a few cases a curse word and sobs), we all began to ask where everyone else would be. A friend of mine, Josh, who I had stood behind in line during Check-In and instantly became friends, came over and proudly announced he’d been placed at Indy. We literally jumped for joy and started asking who else would be joining us. Three more girls, Tasha, Ari, and Miranda came forward and like most relationships among Cast Members, we were instantly friends.

Inside the fedora

Since all five of us would be working together, I invited everyone over to my room at Carnegie to have an Indiana Jones movie marathon with pizza and ice cream. Since Ari’s training would begin before anyone elses’, she had already gone to Costuming on property at Disneyland and gotten her costume. Ari had previously done the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World, so she was familiar with the costuming process. Josh and I were the only two who had never worked for Disney before. Ari arrived wearing the hat, something we all looked at like it was the singular most beautiful thing we had ever seen in our lives. Even the inside was magical! Okay, I’ll admit. We were happily drowning in the Disney kool-aide, but we didn’t care. That thing was freaking glorious. It was a physical marker that our journey was just beginning… and we were going to look fantastic doing it.

Miranda doing Tasha’s hair 1930’s style

Almost instantly we sent Ari back to her room to change into the entire costume. How dare she show up without it. It only took one or two second of begging for her to break and race upstairs. While we waited, Miranda pulled out her bag that contained every type of hair tool and product imaginable. Despite not having a single bit of cosmetology training, she was a natural at hair styling. Tasha was first up. Miranda had her sit down facing the TV, which had been playing Raiders
of the Lost Ark despite no one paying attention, and curled then pinned her hair expertly. It wasn’t long before Tasha looked like she had stepped out of 1937. Next we had to see her with the hat on.

Ari in her Indy costume

Almost as soon as Tasha stood up, Ari arrived looking more comfortable in her Indy costume than she did in her normal clothing. Everyone took out their cameras, ooh and ahh’d over the culottes and asked if it was comfortable. Despite most people’s assumption, the women’s bottoms are, indeed, pants and not a long skirt. And boy were they comfy! The women’s shirt was allowed to be rolled up to just below your elbows and the hat was required to be worn at all times- not that any of us objected. Pretty soon, we were all trying the hat on and Miranda was commandeered to do everyone’s hair. She parted Josh’s perfectly, pinned Ari’s up in a fabulous up-do, and twisted mine into a very sophisticated bun.

We took turns looking in the mirror, occasionally laughing that none of us were watching the movie whatsoever. It was a wonderful new start to a friendship and we all decided to call ourselves The Indy Crew.

Traditions

 

Before you are allowed to work in Disneyland resort, no matter what role you are given, you must go through Traditions.

Image from Disney Internships & Programs Blog

Traditions is made up of a few classes with the rest of those in the DCP that teaches you how Disney runs as a corporation and resort, how they want us to make Disney Magic day in and day out, and what makes Disney successful. It was really fun and had loads of great information. They divided us into different “classrooms,” which were meeting rooms in one of the corporate buildings, and taught us everything we needed to know about Disney and its culture. They showed us a lot of inspiring and educational videos as well as spoke to us about how we’re part of the team now and how we can start making magic. It was like drinking the Disney Kool-aid and it was, dare I say it, magical!

Team Disney Anaheim (TDA) Photo courtesy DisneyLeaks

Traditions is held at the corporate offices called Team Disney Anaheim (TDA) located at 700 W Ball Rd, Anaheim, CA 92802. From the I5 Freeway right behind TDA, the building is a boring green color with nothing particularly attractive about it. From the front, however, it’s a whole other story. The magic practically spills from every curve and corner. Photos from inside TDA, especially inside the building itself, are strictly forbidden. So here is a photo that someone else took! Disney really tries to preserve the magic, so there are loads of times

Team Disney is located at the top right

when photos are forbidden. Once we learned where and when photos were allowed, everyone became much less anxious. Taking a photo where you’re not allowed will result in instant termination. They told us right away that there is an entire social media team at Disney who comb through the internet for infractions such as unapproved photos. One person in a past DCP took a photo at Traditions and by the end of the day, was packing up to go home.

Once we arrived, we received sticker name tags that had our first name (everyone, even the president of Disneyland, is on a first name basis), a folder with loads of paperwork, and the lovely paper shown to the left. I finally learned where I would be spending my program and I literally jumped with joy when I saw it: Indiana Jones Adventures! I literally could not have hoped for a better attraction! Everyone immediately started shouting out their assignment and location and gathered like school kids when they found someone else with the same assignment. Not everyone was happy with their placement, though. While some people hoped for roles in attractions, they were placed in locations they disliked so much that it brought about hushed swearing and a little bit of crying. I couldn’t hide my excitement from those people, but I did try to not rub it in their face.

Our name tags had a random character printed on them and, depending on the character, we were sent to different “classrooms” in groups of about 15-20 people. These were really just meeting rooms, but I’ll let you know that I have never seen such nice office rooms in my life. Giant TV’s, gloriously cushy chairs, and beautifully maintained Disney themed artwork everywhere.

Once there, our Traditions Leaders welcomed us, let us applaud and cheer for ourselves and each other for making it into the program. It was so exciting! They began with a wonderful movie about Disney’s culture, beliefs, and how it’s a company with the sole purpose of creating happiness. When the video finished, there were quite a few people teary-eyed. After working so hard to get into the program and then all the stress and excitement of finally arriving, it was easy to get caught up in the magic.

Image Courtesy Disney Internships & Programs Blog

We next learned about Disney’s Core Values and the best way to create Customer Service: The Four Keys. The Four Keys, when used appropriately, create the best experience for guests and cast members. They are so important that Disney encourages cast members to give each other recognition cards (hard copy of digitally) when they see another cast member demonstrating one of the Four Keys. These keys are as follows and in the following order:

1. Safety
2. Courtesy
3. Show
4. Efficiency

More on the keys later.

Next up is the most exciting part for a lot of Cast Members (because once you get your name tag, you are part of the Disney family!): a personal tour of Disneyland! In our groups from Traditions, we headed out on a mini tour of the park. It included stops to talk about things we saw and how the Four Keys were being used. A couple times guests stopped to listen in because they thought it was some show, but our Traditions Leads gave us a great opportunity to watch them interact with the guests and very politely explain it was a private tour. Great use of the Courtesy Key! For some cast members in my program, it was their first time at Disneyland. I loved watching their eyes grow wide as they saw different sights, particularly the fun Disneyland trivia our Traditions Leads told us.

Before we finished for the day, a special delivery arrived. I don’t want to spoil how the surprise arrived, but it included the exciting items below!

Mickey Mouse Ears!

Thankfully they used my requested name and not full legal name

Right after Traditions, I returned to the apartment to shower (it was freakishly hot outside during the tour and we were all sweating bullets in our nice “Disney Look” clothes). As soon as I was done, my roommate, Samantha, and I headed right back for a fun couple of hours at Disneyland! We had gotten our Cast IDs, so we had to put those free admissions to good use.

Since she had never been to a Disney park before, I wanted to make sure she got to see the park from a guests perspective before having to work there. Gotta keep the excitement alive! Unfortunately, we had a less than magical experience right off the bat with a cast member at the entrance. I was attempting to take a photo of her getting into the park for the first time and apparently that wasn’t allowed due to safety concerns. Instead of nicely telling us, he snapped and threatened to take our names to management. We didn’t know and were suddenly being yelled at. This was so upsetting that poor Samantha didn’t have a pleasant evening at all. I tried getting her a “First Time” button, pointing out things that I loved or thought she might like once we got inside (he finally just let us go in), but her mood was shot. There was little to no way of recovering from that horrible interaction. I took her to the attraction she was assigned (Splash Mountain), but we chose to put it off until next trip. Instead, we grabbed a quick dinner at The Hunger Bear Restaurant and headed back to the apartment.