Sunday, August 28.
OFF.
Monday, August 29.
OFF.
I believe this was the day Ricky and I went to the post office to send my (last) check to Wazzu. We walked to McDonald's and then to the post office, which, it turns out, is closer than we realized. Since Ricky wasn't working until 17:00 we decided to go to Walmart and grabbed a taxi from the post office. It cost us $15.00 or so. Walmart was a rush, as usual. We tried to make it a half hour trip but the bus ended up breaking down before reaching Walmart so we had to wait half an hour outside. As usual, the bus system fails... how nice would a car be?
Tuesday, August 30.
Restrooms - Everest.
08:30-18:00
This is the beginning of one incredible week spent in restrooms. Read the rest of this blog, you'll know what I'm talking about. I suppose starting up with Everest restrooms made the rest of the week easier, a little bit. The park has slowed down a lot so restrooms are not as bad as they were in July and the first half of August; the Guests come in wave so it's a matter of giving up for half an hour until a lull comes and then cleaning up as much as possible. It was a dry day for the most part so everything stayed clean. While closing up a bit of rain fell (and when I say a bit, it poured) so I had to hurry when dumping my trash at Theater in the Wild. The Theater in the Wild restrooms are completely empty until the shows end and a huge wave of Guests come through, so four times a day.
Overall an easy day until my mad dash for the Main Office at the end of my shift being almost late. So much for leaving my area ten minutes before the end of my day.
The person in charge of the male restrooms in my area was Rhami, the international CP from Turkey. At 15:00 or so Coordinator Don called me asking if I had seen him at all that day; it turns out Rhami never showed up, so for a few hours that day the restrooms in Everest and Theater in the Wild were not cleaned at all. It led me to wonder why that had not been caught earlier in the day, we open those restrooms at 8:30 in the morning.
Wednesday, August 31.
Restrooms - Africa.
08:30-18:30
Following Everest (and the accompanying Theater in the Wild) came Africa. Aida who has restrooms very often agrees with me that those might be the worst. For some reason the counters are constantly flooded, we are not sure how it occurs. But busy restrooms mean that the day goes by fast, fast, fast. Apart from flooding counters the day was rather uneventful, I did some word-searches during my breaks and lunch and watched the Parade as it kept me away from the break room. I forgot that you have to cross the street in Africa in order to get through otherwise you have to wait for the Parade to go through Harambe to cross over. I made sure to start closing my restrooms early enough so I wouldn't have to rush over to the office, I learn from day to day how to be more efficient!
Today was the International CPs' last day working so after work I went to the Magic Kingdom with Ricky to meet up with Marcie and Amandine for Amandine's last Wishes. It's sad to see more people leaving.
OFF.
Monday, August 29.
OFF.
I believe this was the day Ricky and I went to the post office to send my (last) check to Wazzu. We walked to McDonald's and then to the post office, which, it turns out, is closer than we realized. Since Ricky wasn't working until 17:00 we decided to go to Walmart and grabbed a taxi from the post office. It cost us $15.00 or so. Walmart was a rush, as usual. We tried to make it a half hour trip but the bus ended up breaking down before reaching Walmart so we had to wait half an hour outside. As usual, the bus system fails... how nice would a car be?
Tuesday, August 30.
Restrooms - Everest.
08:30-18:00
This is the beginning of one incredible week spent in restrooms. Read the rest of this blog, you'll know what I'm talking about. I suppose starting up with Everest restrooms made the rest of the week easier, a little bit. The park has slowed down a lot so restrooms are not as bad as they were in July and the first half of August; the Guests come in wave so it's a matter of giving up for half an hour until a lull comes and then cleaning up as much as possible. It was a dry day for the most part so everything stayed clean. While closing up a bit of rain fell (and when I say a bit, it poured) so I had to hurry when dumping my trash at Theater in the Wild. The Theater in the Wild restrooms are completely empty until the shows end and a huge wave of Guests come through, so four times a day.
Overall an easy day until my mad dash for the Main Office at the end of my shift being almost late. So much for leaving my area ten minutes before the end of my day.
The person in charge of the male restrooms in my area was Rhami, the international CP from Turkey. At 15:00 or so Coordinator Don called me asking if I had seen him at all that day; it turns out Rhami never showed up, so for a few hours that day the restrooms in Everest and Theater in the Wild were not cleaned at all. It led me to wonder why that had not been caught earlier in the day, we open those restrooms at 8:30 in the morning.
Wednesday, August 31.
Restrooms - Africa.
08:30-18:30
Following Everest (and the accompanying Theater in the Wild) came Africa. Aida who has restrooms very often agrees with me that those might be the worst. For some reason the counters are constantly flooded, we are not sure how it occurs. But busy restrooms mean that the day goes by fast, fast, fast. Apart from flooding counters the day was rather uneventful, I did some word-searches during my breaks and lunch and watched the Parade as it kept me away from the break room. I forgot that you have to cross the street in Africa in order to get through otherwise you have to wait for the Parade to go through Harambe to cross over. I made sure to start closing my restrooms early enough so I wouldn't have to rush over to the office, I learn from day to day how to be more efficient!
Today was the International CPs' last day working so after work I went to the Magic Kingdom with Ricky to meet up with Marcie and Amandine for Amandine's last Wishes. It's sad to see more people leaving.
 |
| This is what we did while waiting for then. Ricky kicked butt. |
The Magic Kingdom has set up its Halloween decorations already, pumpkins can be seen everywhere!
Thursday, September 01.
Rafiki's Planet Watch.
08:00-17:30
Working at Rafiki's was a surprise and a little stressful before getting there. A few of the CP guys have been up there, girls usually never go up there. The Planet Watch is a little island floating above the park, the only way for the Guests to get up there is by the Wildlife Express (Laura drives that train). The train only starts up at 9:30 so Michael who works at Rafiki's all the time drove us up there.
Only two custodials work there, once up there we are in charge of streets and restrooms. There is only one Guest restroom, but five of them backstage. Some for all the cast members, some for the veterinary areas. As soon as we got up there he showed me around quickly and then we set to work opening up the outside, wiping down trash cans, tables, and benches, and pushing puddles.
Michael and Jean are usually the two custodials in charge of the area so they have a typed up schedule to help others follow along, incredibly useful. After drying up the outside part we opened the Guest restroom and moved on to check on all the back area ones. It's a maze; a huge, confusing maze. But by the end of the day I had the hang of it. After that we took a break, longer than the ones in the main area of the park because of the lack of work, and then went through the trash cans to pick out recycling from the main cans. Michael told me that the trash at Rafiki's was actually close to 80% recycling. People don't bring food on the train and the only thing available at the Planet Watch is ice cream.
The day went on like that for the most part, cleaning restrooms, picking out recycling, taking long, long breaks. Michael showed me all the animals backstage that are undergoing rehabilitation and told me stories of the animals that used to be there, showed me pictures on the walls of cows, pigs, llamas, goats, etc. Adorable. I met porcupines, Fennec foxes, parakeets, and a goose. They all had names, but honestly, it was all a whirlwind by the end of the day.
The trash run is so quick that Michael is usually in charge of that while Jean closes her restroom, I followed suit and closed my Guest restroom and then swept the indoor part of Rafiki's before pulling the last few bags of the trash run when it started raining.
Rafiki's Planet Watch usually has three Greet and Meet characters: Pocahontas, Rafiki, and Jiminy Cricket (who is the face of our recycling program). For some reason Pocahontas was the only one there for most of the day, Jiminy never appeared, and Rafiki only showed up for the last two hours or so.
Overall a very informative day, great fun. And as Michael has teased me about since then, I stayed with him all day. Apparently the others usually do their own thing. I'd rather hear stories and work with someone than be bored out of my mind and get lost in the back areas of Rafiki's Planet Watch.
Friday, September 02.
Dinoland - Dinosaur.
11:00-17:30
Back to Earth with a non-closing shift. I am definitely not a fan but I don't have a choice. I met Cori, one of the new CPs so it was worth it, she worked Boneyard; Justin had the closing Dinosaur trash run and was sad when he realized I was pulling each and every can no matter how little trash was in it. Rafael had done the same before me to make his day go by faster so there was nothing in the cans. We used pin trading as our excuse for clumping and spent most of the afternoon in the area between Dinosaur and Boneyard. Cori and I did get called out by manager Diane - who wasn't even working - who told us that we should break apart. She kept looking back to make sure we did. We didn't, nothing happened.
Saturday, September 03.
Restrooms - Main Entrance.
08:00-18:30
After a short time away from restrooms I was once again back toilet paper heaven. Main Entrance is my favorite set of restrooms, I'm not sure why. I worked with Thomas again, I can't quite figure him out; he doesn't talk to me, and kind of seems exasperated when I show up in the restroom closets. Not really my problem.
This was to be my last day in restrooms, if only...
Rafiki's Planet Watch.
08:00-17:30
Working at Rafiki's was a surprise and a little stressful before getting there. A few of the CP guys have been up there, girls usually never go up there. The Planet Watch is a little island floating above the park, the only way for the Guests to get up there is by the Wildlife Express (Laura drives that train). The train only starts up at 9:30 so Michael who works at Rafiki's all the time drove us up there.
Only two custodials work there, once up there we are in charge of streets and restrooms. There is only one Guest restroom, but five of them backstage. Some for all the cast members, some for the veterinary areas. As soon as we got up there he showed me around quickly and then we set to work opening up the outside, wiping down trash cans, tables, and benches, and pushing puddles.
Michael and Jean are usually the two custodials in charge of the area so they have a typed up schedule to help others follow along, incredibly useful. After drying up the outside part we opened the Guest restroom and moved on to check on all the back area ones. It's a maze; a huge, confusing maze. But by the end of the day I had the hang of it. After that we took a break, longer than the ones in the main area of the park because of the lack of work, and then went through the trash cans to pick out recycling from the main cans. Michael told me that the trash at Rafiki's was actually close to 80% recycling. People don't bring food on the train and the only thing available at the Planet Watch is ice cream.
The day went on like that for the most part, cleaning restrooms, picking out recycling, taking long, long breaks. Michael showed me all the animals backstage that are undergoing rehabilitation and told me stories of the animals that used to be there, showed me pictures on the walls of cows, pigs, llamas, goats, etc. Adorable. I met porcupines, Fennec foxes, parakeets, and a goose. They all had names, but honestly, it was all a whirlwind by the end of the day.
The trash run is so quick that Michael is usually in charge of that while Jean closes her restroom, I followed suit and closed my Guest restroom and then swept the indoor part of Rafiki's before pulling the last few bags of the trash run when it started raining.
Rafiki's Planet Watch usually has three Greet and Meet characters: Pocahontas, Rafiki, and Jiminy Cricket (who is the face of our recycling program). For some reason Pocahontas was the only one there for most of the day, Jiminy never appeared, and Rafiki only showed up for the last two hours or so.
Overall a very informative day, great fun. And as Michael has teased me about since then, I stayed with him all day. Apparently the others usually do their own thing. I'd rather hear stories and work with someone than be bored out of my mind and get lost in the back areas of Rafiki's Planet Watch.
Friday, September 02.
Dinoland - Dinosaur.
11:00-17:30
Back to Earth with a non-closing shift. I am definitely not a fan but I don't have a choice. I met Cori, one of the new CPs so it was worth it, she worked Boneyard; Justin had the closing Dinosaur trash run and was sad when he realized I was pulling each and every can no matter how little trash was in it. Rafael had done the same before me to make his day go by faster so there was nothing in the cans. We used pin trading as our excuse for clumping and spent most of the afternoon in the area between Dinosaur and Boneyard. Cori and I did get called out by manager Diane - who wasn't even working - who told us that we should break apart. She kept looking back to make sure we did. We didn't, nothing happened.
Saturday, September 03.
Restrooms - Main Entrance.
08:00-18:30
After a short time away from restrooms I was once again back toilet paper heaven. Main Entrance is my favorite set of restrooms, I'm not sure why. I worked with Thomas again, I can't quite figure him out; he doesn't talk to me, and kind of seems exasperated when I show up in the restroom closets. Not really my problem.
This was to be my last day in restrooms, if only...
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