The Disney Adventure

The Disney Adventure
The Cinderella Castle!

Monday, August 30, 2010

EDEN!!!

SO!!! I get to work in Eden!! The 5 star dining room!! ME! That's right! I'm so excited. After my banquets shift on saturday and before my shift at the nightclub I get to work as a hostess in Eden from 6-9pm! Hooray!!! I also went to Calgary today with the girls and bought the new Nike+ heart rate monitor to assist me with my running goals. Excited!! Also, I feel it's important to realize just how many different uniforms I have lying around my room now that I work not only in banquets but also bell, larkspur, primrose and now Eden. You've seen the banquets outfit before. Here's larkspur!!
Soon to come is a shot of the bell outfit. PS. Bell is so much fun!!! I love it tooooo much!! YEsterday I got to drive a viper. Plus, I think it's really my area of expertise, lots of guest interacting and chatting and giving my opinion, which I love to do. 

Here's some photos of Chef Guy's newest sugar sculpture which is stunning and magical and makes me happy inside!!



Yes, those sure are little sugar bears. For true. Anyhow, it's True Blood marathon time here and the ladies will be over in a few minutes! Bye bye!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Belldesk

So, I've been working like a crazy person in 4 different departments. Banquets (my home), Primrose (the restaurant), Larkspur (the lounge), and BELLDESK!!!! I have so many different uniforms in my room that I'm sometime never sure which one I should be wearing at which point. I just finished my second bell shift and I LOVE it. Not that I don't love food and beverage, because I really do, it's a lot of fun and it's where my skill set lies. I've been doing it for so long though, and I've never done any front desk or bell stuff. I'm really loving it. I get to walk around in the hallways (food and beverage staff aren't allowed on guest floors unless absolutely necessary, in banquets sometimes we get to because we have to set up things in funny places, but no restaurant staff ever get to go anywhere)!! In the hallways!! So fun!! And everyone just assumes I'm doing important work because I'm in a bell uniform. When really, I'm often just wandering around. I get to do room checks, which means I get to see the insides of lots of rooms, I bring guest luggage to rooms, pick up guest luggage, chat with guests about their stays and such. I LOVE having more guest interaction. I also love telling people what to do, which really comes into play when they ask me what they should look at while in Banff. I think I really would excel in concierge. And the money is pretty good. OH, I also get to park cars!! So fun. I love the bell desk. It's my new fave place to be (other than banquets).

We have some VIP guests in the hotel right now, which prompted the PR department to send out a memo regarding guest security. It's a really big deal here. Famous people come and stay and they rely on us to not talk to the media. And staff that don't comply with the privacy policy lose their jobs. For real. No joke. Serious business!!

Also, I've got a really cool new toy. The nike+ system for my ipod nano!! It tracks all my runs and when I plug it into my computer it sends all the info to nike and it keeps track of my progress and stuff online. Super cool and is making me feel super motivated to achieve my marathon goals!! It also knows exactly how far I've run, which really comes in handy here because I never know exactly how far I've run, now I do!!  More accurate training = better results!! YES!! LOVE

Thursday, August 19, 2010

A new department!

So!! I've managed to insert myself into a whole new department!! Tomorrow morning I will be working a bell shift!! So that means I deliver things/baggage to rooms, valet park cars, just generally do random tasks for guests at the front door. I'm so excited. This is something I've never had any experience with and it will look great on my resume. It's also even closer to the front desk so that I can try to get myself in there somewhere. Hooray!! I've been in the restaurant all week which is fun and exciting, back to banquets tonight. Gotta go get myself a bell uniform!! Fun fun!!!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

P.S.

In case you didn't think Disney was cool enough, the Caribbean Disney cruise ships take passenger to various islands, one of which happens to belong to Disney themselves. The guest I was speaking to today told me about it and I found the link. Castaway Cay is a private Disney island in the Bahamas and apparently they've actually put Disney characters in the sand in the ocean so you can see them when you scuba dive. I told you they're taking over the world!

Do you believe in magic?

I believe in magic. I also believe that if I work hard enough I'll get whatever I want. So with that intro, I feel that I can discuss my next work term. There's an opportunity to work with Disney that has been presented. Now you all know that I'm a Disney fanatic. Well, if you didn't, now you do. I looooooove Disney. And it also happened to be one of the hugest companies in the world. So what would happen if (when) I get this position is that I would go to California and take classes from the University of California Riverside to finish my program (so no more classes at Camosun) while working for Disney. And then after the classes are finished, I'd go to Florida and work for Disney there. This is such an amazing opportunity and I really really really really want to do it. The application just came out on D2L (our internet learning website) so I'm already working on my essay and resume etc. I just know that if I put all my effort into it, I will get this!! I'm going to try to attach the info flier so you can see exactly what I mean. Annnnd never mind. It doesn't like me and doesn't want to attach. Either way, I'm doing it. It's going to be amazing. I do obviously need to think about back up plans just in case, which I think will be the Four Seasons in Whistler. If I'm not with Disney I want to be with Four Seasons. I've been obsessively surfing the Disney website checking out hotels.

Speaking of which, check out the Disney empire by clicking here: Disney!!

OH....Aussie break. So, just to make things more confusing, when us Canadians say 'football', we mean football, traditional american football. When the Brits say 'football', they mean soccor. That was hard enough to get used to, but when the Aussies say it, they mean rugby. It gets pretty confusing over here.

I had a lovely chat with a guest this morning. She was a meeting planner who was here for a few days. It was really interesting to talk to her about the different hotels that she's worked with and the varying levels of service. People who spend a lot of time as guests in hotels can offer a lot of insight into the industry. I think it's very beneficial to get a chance to talk with guests like that. She had also just come back from a Disney cruise with her family, which obviously interested me very much.

I've been sick since I came home from vacation and as of today it's been 2 weeks since I've run. Which just won't do. Tomorrow I'm back at it!!

Oh yes, I almost forgot. We had the most gorgeous wedding today that I've ever seen. It was all clothed in black linen. Which looked amazing. I love the idea of black linen at a wedding, even though it's not traditional. The centerpieces were amazing, big black feathers and colorful flowers. They had some lovely Cinderella themed decorations on the tables. Wire chariots that held candles. SO PRETTY!!!! Here's a few pictures. They hardly do it justice.


Absolutely stunning!!!!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Vacation and other wonderful things

So I went on vacation. And I took some banquets staff with me. And it was AMAZING!! I really missed the smell of the ocean. So nice to be home. We went up to tofino for a day and I got to see the people from the program who are working up there. We even stayed in their staff accom. It was really interesting to see what their staff accom is like compared to ours. They don't have their own bathroom and they sleep in bunkbeds which is cool. But it definitely made me appreciate my bathroom. However they have a lot more freedom, they don't have crazy security staff like we do, much more chill. However, it's also a much more laidback property, which I imagine makes things quite different.

I'm already getting focused on winter co-op. I have a first second and third choice but I really really really really want to get my first choice. I'm afraid to talk about it yet just in case I jinx it, so I'm not going to say anything else until I know more details. But I will say that I love Disney more than most people love their own children.

Oh yea, my family was here. It was really nice to get to introduce them to my Banff family, and all my co-workers were so wonderful to them, and took good care of them when I had to work. More and more I realize how much the staff here are just like a family. We are so close, and we fight and we make up and we're constantly around each other 24 hours a day and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's like of like how the HMGT class is such a tight knit bunch. I miss everyone soooo much!  I got to see some people while I was home, but not enough, I can't wait til october when we're all back together like a happy little family in D-Ho. And we have new recruits!! Little firsties to play with!! While I was home I stopped at D-Ho to visit the summer class, it's really crazy to think that last year I was in the summer class group, it's been a whole year!!! wow. Time really flies. I'm getting old. Yikes. Ok, that's enough of that. I think I had more to say but as per usual, I'm getting distracted by shiny things. I'm also really sick so I'm just miserable right now. I don't deal with being sick well, so I'm going to go wallow in a corner and watch CSI.