TRAINING DAY ONE

Thursday Nov. 29, 2012

I woke up bright and early at 5:30 AM so that I could get showered and ready in time to meet the DCL training team in the lobby. I also wanted to be able to grab breakfast beforehand. Looking sharp in my "smart business" Disney look, I made my way to the End Zone Food Court. It wasn't hard to immediately spot others who were also there for training. Holding envelopes and folders full of paperwork and nervously eating our breakfast, we stood out like sore thumbs. We quickly began eyeing each other and coming together, introducing ourselves, and inquiring about our specific ship duties. I made fast friends with a guy named Riccardo from Italy, another guy named Yoann from France, and a girl named Linda from Ireland. At precisely 7 AM, our DCL Casting Assistants met us in the lobby and we all boarded a bus to the Disney Casting Office. Here, we filled out some final paperwork and received our shore side Disney ID's. After just a little bit of information about what the next couple of days would entail, we received the excellent news that our shore side ID's would get us into the parks for free and that since we were all joining such a strenuous and hectic job and lifestyle, they wanted us to have time to play. So off to the parks we went to be able to frolic for the rest of the day. Not a bad first day of training, right?

My three new friends had never been to America before, not to mention Disney World. So I became the official tour-guide.  I decided that their first experience should be in the Magic Kingdom since that is the quintessential Disney park, what with Cinderella Castle and the like. After about 45 minutes of showing them around, I realized that I had a missed call and voice mail from a 407 (Orlando) number. As as I listened to the voicemail, my heart sank.

"Hello. This message is for Matthew James. This is [insert cast member name here] from Disney Cruise Line. We are currently at your hotel to pick you up for your 10:30 AM costume fitting and are not able to find you. It is currently 11:00 AM. Please give me a call back as soon as you can so that we may make additional arrangements. Have a magical day!"

I couldn't believe it. How could I have forgotten one of my training appointments? I tried to think hard but I just couldn't remember being told about a costume fitting time. So as I began calling the number back, afraid of already starting off on the wrong foot, I was receiving a phone call from the same number. I answered.

"Hello?" 

"Hi! Is this Matthew?"

"Oh my gosh, yes! I just listened to your voicemail! I am so sorry. I am not sure what--"

"Please, do NOT be sorry! This is totally our fault. Soon after I called you, I realized that we had never sent you the information on costume fittings. This is our mistake and I apologize for the inconvenience. However, we DO need to go ahead and have you fitted into your costumes. Where are you now?"

"Well, I'm at Magic Kingdom. Should I head back to the hotel?"

"Absolutely not. We don't want to inconvenience you any further. I am sending someone now to pick you up from the park. Once we are done, we will take you back so that you can join your friends. You can meet [insert cast member name here] in the cast parking lot and she will take you to your fitting."

"Wow. Okay. Thanks so much!"

"My pleasure. Thanks for being so flexible and again, I apologize for the inconvenience. Have a magical day!"

"No problem at all. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!"

Whew! With that weight lifted off my shoulders, I explained to the others what had happened. We tried to make arrangements to be able to meet up later in the park. However, since everyone had  international numbers, we had no way of texting or calling each other. So I told them I'd see them tomorrow for day number two and I headed to cast parking.

I met the costuming assistant as planned and we got in a company car to head to the warehouse. What I was not aware of was that this facility is not actually on Disney property. It's located about 30 minutes away, directly between Disney World and Port Canaveral. Obviously, this makes perfect sense. Disney thinks of everything. When I arrived at the costuming facility, I was greeted by warm and friendly faces who took me into a room to be fitted. As I walked in, my jaw dropped. I had no idea that I would have so many costumes. There had to be twelve different outfits ranging from race car drivers and pirates to suits and tuxedos. And they made me feel like a king. I stood on a step while they pinned, sewed, zipped and measured to make sure every costume fit me perfectly. It was truly a magical experience. Once I was done there, I hopped into the company car and was taken back to Magic Kingdom. I walked around for a while, wondering if I would run into my friends again. But that's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. So I decided to be alone for a while and strolled through the park enjoying the 75 degree weather and people watching. After a few hours, I headed back to the hotel to have dinner and begin settling down for the night. I wanted to be sure to get a good night's sleep because the next day would definitely be a long one.

 Little did I know what the next few days would have in store.