My First Question!

My first Question!

pendletongal8 asked: "What's the best thing you do at work? What's the worst thing you do?"

Best thing: Asking the little ones profound questions about life and hearing their young wisdom. And obviously writing down all the REALLY precious gems!

Worst thing: Cleaning the poop of a child off of a  6 foot radius. Seriously it was everywhere.  The carpet, the slide, her clothes, her hair. It's one thing if it were my kid, but this was beyond gross. Like all of a sudden her butt was like, "I want to pretend to be a lawn sprinkler for a sec".

You Can't Sit With Us!

You Can't Sit with Us!

(...Well you can but it'll be a sea of yellow shirts talking about kids the whole time.)

If you can recognize where the above picture if from, you earn 1000 Oceaneer  Cool Points.

 (I made that up, we don't do points. But you're still cool.) *

  Oddly enough, after your first few days/weeks on board, you start to realize that a lot of things remind you of high school. People hooking up and having dramatic short-term relationships. Gossip and rumors spreading like wildfire within a matter of hours. Ridiculous rules and punishments set by the higher privileged Officer staff/faculty. The surly nurse. But most of all: The Cliques.

Actually, scratch that. There really isn't so much of a "cliquey" atmosphere that some people would like you to believe, as there is a very odd way that people within the same department tend to really only cluster with their own. Housekeeping hangs out with housekeeping, Deck with Deck, Spa with Spa, Mainstage with Mainstage, you name it. Without a doubt there is some inter-departmental mingling that goes on, but nowhere are the lines drawn quite so clearly as when you first observe all of the crew in the Mess.

For some reason, Youth Activities tends to always sit in the same spot together. It's like a big clusterfuck of yellow polo shirts. Sick of talking about work on your off time? Branch out and try sitting at another table!

Here's our own "School Cafeteria", Disney Cruise Line Style:

And you won't find all of the ship in here, there's a super exclusive "Officer's Mess" with fancier food and most higher-ranked positions on board get to eat whenever they want in guest areas!

* If you really didn't know, this is map of the school cafeteria that Janice and Damian made for Cady (Lindsay Lohan's character in Mean Girls)

The Food Situation

The Food Situation

One of the biggest adjustments that we have to make from living on land is one of the most important things to many of us, and also what seems to dictate our mood for the rest of the day: OUR MEALS. As one of my fellow New Hires referred to it when he asked on the first day: "So...what's the food situation?"

Now don't get any ideas, especially if you've cruised before as a guest or passenger on another cruise line, about eating the great food in the restaurants every night, or being able to eat whenever you want to. Because as a Disney Youth Activities Counselor...you won't have that ability.
(Even though technically it says we do according to our Petty Officer rank privileges on board, that's been revoked and we're only allowed to eat our meals in the Crew Mess.)


The Crew Mess is where Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner take place for us on board.

Breakfast is normally from 6:00 am - 10:00 am

Lunch is served from 11:00am - 2:00pm

Dinner is 4:00pm - 8:00pm

Now just in case you've been screwed over with scheduling and your breaks don't actually let you eat anything all day, (which can happen! It's your responsibility to look over your schedule and tell a Manager so that they can change it around and let you go eat.) there is an additional mealtime:

Late Night Snack which is from 10:30 - 11:30 pm.


The 'Mess' as we call it, is  large cafeteria at the Aft of the ship on Deck 1, and has its own galley/kitchens behind it. The food is served "buffet-style", in which you pick up your own tray, plate and cutlery, and pick and choose whatever it is you want. Now before you even touch anything, there are these large motion-sensor activated stations that you must always use whenever you enter and exit the Mess. You can always tell someone who is new to the ship by how long it takes them to wash their hands and figure out how to make the water start and stop.

(Handy tip: Hang back and watch people doing it for a while unless you want to be embarrassed while people make impatient noises in line behind you!)

The Crew Mess buffet area on the Dream/Fantasy

 Now once you've got your plate and cutlery all nicely balanced, it's off to the food serving area with its expanse of sneeze-guards over steaming aluminum trays. Here's a breakdown of what the menu might be for each meal:

*Note that if you're either a) strictly vegetarian or b) allergic to a variety of things, the possibility of cross-contamination is high. Apparently when you first apply if you openly indicate any of this you get weeded out. If you managed to make it through... eating will be a big challenge.

BREAKFAST (6:00- 10:00am)

-Yogurt-

-Bread, Rolls for toasting. -

-Assorted mini pastries, danishes, and croissants- 

-Peanut Butter and Jelly packets -

-Scrambled Eggs-

-Sausages-

-Roasted Potatoes-

-White Rice-

-Oatmeal-

-Grits-

-Ham slices-

-Juice/Water/Milk/Tea (the soft drink dispenser is usually not on for breakfast)-

LUNCH (11:00- 2:00pm)

-Lentil Soup (Changes daily)-

-Salad Bar with Cucumbers, Onions, Spinach, Hard boiled Eggs, Tomatoes, Lettuce-

- Assortment of Dressings (Italian, Thousand Island, Caesar, Raspberry) -

- White Rice -

- Cajun Roasted Potatoes -

- Parboiled Rice -

- Roasted Chicken Legs -

- Steamed Fish -

- Glazed Pork Loin Chops -

- Chicken Madeira - 

- Fried Fish -

-Juice/Water/Milk/Tea/Soft Drinks (Coke Products, not Pepsi!) -

Glass Dessert Cabinet with assorted individual square slices of cake, blue or green jello, chocolate mousse

*Counselors in "the know" will usually hang around closer to 2pm, when the 'good food' i.e. better selections leftover from the higher-ranked Officers Mess is often brought to the Crew Mess and served in limited quantities. Reuben sandwiches, Philly cheese steaks, tortilla wraps, etc. * 

DINNER (4:00 - 8:00pm)

 -Cauliflower au gratin-

-Creamed Spinach -

-Parboiled Rice -

- Lamb Stew -

-Curried Beef in gravy-

-Jerk Chicken -

-Sundried tomato pasta -

-Fish in a sweet and sour sauce -

-Green peas -

-and surprise! White Rice -

-Juice/Water/Milk/Tea/Soft Drinks (Coke Products, not Pepsi!) -

Glass Dessert Cabinet with the same desserts from that morning. Maybe a sneaky parfait tossed in the mix.

 And everyone's favorite/when the Dining staff will make a mad dash to beat you to it/long line-up hour

LATE-NIGHT SNACK (10:30 - 11:30pm)

- Steak -

- Hot dogs -

- Burgers -

- Sushi - 

- Salmon -

- Sandwiches and Wraps - 

- A lot more desserts -

- Ice cream! -

- Ham and Cheese Quiche - 

- Beef Skewers -

 - Grilled Chicken strips-

- Shrimp rolls -

-Fresh Fruit - 

- Lobster - 

- Fries -

- Pizza -

 - Basically whatever was leftover from the guest dining rooms -

And for the stragglers.... Ramen noodle cups!

*Note the wide selection food isn't always guaranteed, but whatever does come out, it comes in waves of increasing goodness. People will circle like vultures and swoop. Watch out for sneaky Deck/Engine crewmembers who will hoard platefuls of things and bring it back to their own table. It's a very tense time, line-cutters are often called out. But if you can survive it - late night snack is where it's AT! *

 Oh and there's usually a ketchup / mayonnaise or mustard dispenser, alongside bottles of various other condiments (hot sauce, sweet chili sauce, vinegar, olive oil).

...Now it doesn't sound too bad, and to be honest it really isn't terrible at all! But the tricky part will be getting used to the same thing day in, day out. It's kinda like going to a boarding school or a college with a menu that varies only very slightly from day to day. More cynical Counselors might call it prison food.

Most Counselors have adapted their own ways to reconciling themselves with the ship diet:

1) Going gung-ho and embracing the white rice for every meal

2) Being creative and transforming the food into different dishes themselves

3) Sneaking food from above deck or from the kid's meal time

4) Sticking with Salad and Peanut butter sandwiches.

If your contract happens to coincide with any major holidays, or independence days of various nations represented on board- usually we get a bonus dinner of decently delicious food and desserts all around! Everyone excitedly reports the news to each other upstairs in the youth spaces, and a buzz of sheer joy is felt as people leave for their dinner breaks and come back to revel in that satisfied states full of culinary delights. I wonder if it's very nice/very sad that our food situation can affect us so much!

I will now close with a lovely assortment of photos a fellow crewmember covertly took of the Crew Mess on a very ordinary day (and how depressing it can sometimes be):

 Clearly Disney Show doesn't quite always extend to labelling food correctly.

 

Mmmmmmm!

When you get to breakfast a little bit late, you're literally left with crumbs.

 The daily vegetarian offering.

And for dessert....so many options?

The World According to Youth Activities

The World According to Youth Activities

One very big thing that you will notice when you are working on board is the multitude of nationalities you will not only be working with on a daily basis-  but also learning to live with! I never knew I would ever make so many friends from so many countries. I ended up learning SO much from them and realized that I was more than a little ignorant about their cultures as well! (Yikes!)

What you might notice after a while though, is that certain jobs on the ship tend to  correlate with certain nationalities. Yes, I know what this sounds like, but this really seems to be the case. I don't know if it's any kind of specific racial selection, maybe it just turns out that people from certain countries just tend to choose certain jobs in general. Or what I've also heard... Disney only hires from certain countries for certain jobs. 

For example: Most of the Disney mainstage performers and characters tend to be American. Most of the workers swabbing the decks and engine rooms come from the Philippines. Many of our Dining room servers came from Europe or Latin America. A lot of the Galley cooks were Indonesian and Indian. Chinese people did all our ship laundry. A lot of those hunky gorgeous lifeguards were South African or Australian.

All of these of course have many exceptions in their department...but is it just a really odd coincidence?

In Youth Activities...we have a similar situation:

Of all the Counselors I have ever worked with, they tended to always come from the same bunch of countries: Brazil, United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Mexico, and South Africa. It kinda makes sense because a lot of these are large countries with a lot of English speakers...but so are many other countries around the world! 

When I first started, this is what the Youth Activities staff makeup was by nation:

22 - British (English/Scots/Welsh)

13- American

8 - Brazilian

6 - Mexican

5 - Canadian

4 - South African

3 - Australian

5 - (Other countries)

In terms of Management, this was usually made up of Americans, Canadians and the occasional Brit.

After a while, you start to learn a lot about your extended international family, especially a lot of their national quirks :

English people were very quick to point out spelling differences and use different terminology: "bin", "queue", "trainers". Also much more likely to complain about the food we were eating and disappear to have "a cheeky fag" (smoke!).

Scottish counselors had big accents and bigger personalities. Often exceptionally passionate people if you could understand them when they didn't slow down!

Americans usually seemed to be easygoing and turn into Managers after a while. Also more likely to be the Ent Hosts (Youth Activities Entertainment Host/ess) running the programs. Also the subject of a lot of American jokes everyone else liked to throw around.

Brazilians were friendly and fiercely proud of their country and would bond together to show it. Would make sure they pointed out that in Brazil they spoke Portuguese, not Spanish (even though they probably could if they really wanted to). Liked to complain about the food in the Crew Mess whenever it was too spicy.

Mexicans were the nice people you would go to if you actually needed to find a Spanish speaker, and were often all females who were friends with everybody on board. Also the girls in the department who always  seemed to have a lot of luck with romance on board!

Canadians sometimes actually did talk funny with the way they pronounced "sorry". Liked to talk about snow and take pictures of sunny weather to show their families. Always made sure that you knew the difference between themselves and Americans. Also probably speak French, so make sure you know where they are in case a French-speaking child comes up!

South Africans had very different accents but were usually very fun and all the other South Africans on board seemed to know each other from home somehow. Always surprised you when they suddenly spoke Afrikaans and are handy with introducing you to the fit South Africans working on Castaway Cay.

Australians could always be heard from across the room with their distinct voices. Unsurprisingly the life of the party, there would always be one that brings the Vegemite and educates the rest of the staff.

(The other countries kind of fell inbetween, and no one really knew how they ended up getting a job in the department!)

That just warms the heart doesn't it? 

Reading a Daily Schedule

Reading a Daily Schedule

So while I was researching more information for the job I barely found information about how my work would actually be scheduled. For all I knew, I had a vague idea that I was going to be in a kids club floating around and helping out just like summer camp. I had no idea that my every move would be plotted on a spreadsheet.

I dug this up from an online forum that someone who use to work on another ship posted up (http://www.wdwip.com/smf/) and at the time, I barely knew how to read it - but here I will gladly decipher the mysterious schedule! 

This used to be painstakingly plotted out by a Manager but is now being done by a computer via a set algorithm based on which Counselors are capable of doing which things in the space. (The funny thing is the person hired to click away and make this schedule makes more money and have more privileges on board than you will!)

You'll notice that most of the staff have staggered start times, but will more or less finish at midnight or later. Prepare yourself - this is almost guaranteed to be your life for the next while!

On the bright side, anywhere that you see a blank White or solid Black space is a break for you to get some rest in before returning to work. 

NEXT: A Typical Day in the Life of a Counselor

A Typical Day in the Life of a Counselor

A Typical Day in the Life of a Counselor

You could very well have the same reaction when you first see the daily schedule.

For starters, depending on wherever you come from around the world you might call it a rota, a roster, an itinerary or a timetable. At Disney this is called a "schedule". These are distributed the night before and are printed off in copies for every single member of the Youth Activities department to hang onto. On this lovely, multicolored schedule you will be able to see everyone's names and where they are expected to be at any given time while they're working. The worst part about all this is that if you lose it, you really won't know where you're supposed to be next. On the bright side, whenever anyone comes to relieve you and "bump" you from your position, they can usually look up where you should be.

(For information on how this works, have at look at: Reading The Daily Schedule)

What? Bumping? Relieving positions? 

And why does it matter knowing where you're supposed to be?

If you're thinking along the same lines, don't worry so was I when I started. I've never before had a job where people were assigned positions that they had to stand at and they couldn't move from but this is the way that it is done at Disney. Don't worry though, you won't have to stand for too long for over half an hour in one spot (in most cases) because you will be constantly rotating with other people over the course of your day. 

I guess a good way of thinking about it is like the bases on a baseball diamond. If you're standing on first base, and your teammate has just hit the ball and is coming along, you move on to 2nd base. Whoever was on 2nd base moves onto 3rd. This way, you're effectively "bumping" each other to the next position as you get there!

Another way to look at it is like the "Changing of the guard" if you've ever seen that at a national site in your country like Arlington Cemetery or Buckingham Palace. You're expected to stand within a fixed position or area supervising and cannot leave unless another guard (or in this case, Counselor) has relieved you. Even if you absolutely must leave that spot for whatever reason like a bathroom break, you must get someone else to cover for you in that position or you'll be in huge trouble.

I'll go into more detail about the possible positions you could be placed in during your rotation during a later post. For now I'll go over a very general idea of what your days might look like, using examples from when I first started on the Disney Magic:

There are generally 3 kinds of work days you will encounter: Earlies, Mids, and Lates which corresponds to what time of the day you will mostly be working. This rotates so that you will often be starting and finishing work at a different time each day. You will also constantly be working with the same people whose schedules coincide with yours (example: Two counselors, one working mostly Earlies and the other working mostly Lates during that week will rarely be able to hang out) . But remember, no matter when you start work:

You will be working on average 9 - 11 hours every single day.

EARLIES: 8:30am start

• *Prior to 8:30 - Wake up, get dressed, grab Breakfast in the Crew Mess
• 8:30- 9:00 - Open the space by turning things on, wiping down surfaces, laying out toys and costumes
• 9:00- 10:00 - Stand at the front Desk checking in kids, attaching their wristbands
• 10:00 - 10:30 - Stand next to the Washrooms to make sure kids are going into the right one
• 10:30- 11:30 - Act as a support counselor during the Program of Mouseketeer Training
• 11:30 - 12:00 - Wipe down all surfaces with a bleach bottle according to a checklist
• 12:00 - 12:30 - Sit at the top of the Slide to make sure kids are going down properly, without Crocs.
• 12:30 - 13:00 - HALF HOUR BREAK TO EAT SOMETHING
• 13:00 - 15:00 - Back at the front Desk checking kids in & out, sending parents messages for pick up
• 15:00 - 15:30 -Stand within the Captain's Closet to help kids try on costumes and dresses
• 15:30 - 16:00 - Stand next to the Washrooms again
• 16:00 - 16:30 - Stand near the Fish area to ensure kids are washing their hands and supervise
• 16:30 - 17:00 - Stand at the top of the slide and try not to fall asleep
• 17:00 - 17:30 - Pick up Cinderella from the Character Zoo and bring her up for the Royal Ball
• 17:30 - 18:00 - HALF HOUR BREAK TO EAT PROBABLY
• 18:00 - 18:30 - Stand next to the Washrooms one last time

Done for the day! 

Hours worked: 9

MIDS: 10:00am start

• *Prior to 10:00 - Wake up, panic thinking you got up late. Check schedule, go back to bed.
• 10:00 - 10:30 - Do some coloring pages with kids in the Captain's Closet
• 10:30 - 11:00 - Play a round of Hide-and-Seek in the Oceaneer Club
• 11:00 - 12:00 - Pick up lunch Food from galley, clean and sanitize eating areas, don hideous outfit
• 12:00 - 13:00 - Serve children their lunch which rocking a hairnet and apron. Check allergies.
• 13:00 - 15:00 - 2 HOUR BREAK! Grab some food since you skipped breakfast and wash hair.
• 15:00 - 16:00 - Stand at the front Desk during an empty Open House. Arrange the desktop icons.
• 16:00 - 16:30 - Pick up Stitch from the Character Zoo and bring him upstairs.
• 16:30 - 17:00 - Be a support Counselor for a luau with Stitch.
• 17:00 - 17:30 - Stand next to the Washrooms and pray that none of the kids has an accident.
• 17:30 - 18:30 - Fill in at the Nursery while one of them goes on a dinner break.
• 18:30 - 19:30 - Wipe down hard-to-reach surfaces with a bleach bottle.
• 19:00 - 20:00 - YOUR DINNER BREAK! Change into pants since you forgot you have shorts on!
• 20:00 - 21:00 - Stand at front desk admiring all of the costumes for Pirate Night
• 21:00 -22:00 - Be a support Counselor during Aladdin's Fun Adventures
• 22:00 -22:30 - Stand at the Washroom, listening for the faint sounds of the fireworks outside
• 22:30 - 23:00 - Empty all the trash bins, bring all of the trash on a trolley and sort it below deck.
• 23:00 - 24:00 - Clean and sanitize all of the toys and dresses. Prepare buckets of soap and bleach.

Done for the day!

Hours worked: 11

LATES: 14:30/2:30pm start

•  *Prior to 14:30 - Spend your day relaxing on the beach at Castaway Cay and snorkelling
• 14:30 - 15:00 - Stand at front Desk checking out kids from Scuttle's Cove
• 15:00 - 15:30 - Hose down sand and beach toys and put back in containers
• 15:30 - 16:00 - Escort children left behind on Scuttle's Cove back to the ship
• 16:00 - 16:30 - Stand next to Washroom ensuring kids are washing hands
• 16:30 - 17:00 - Assist in preparing kids for Friendship Rocks and escorting them to Theater
• 17:00 - 17:30 - Awkwardly dance with kids on stage during Friendship Rocks show
• 17:30 - 18:30 - Keep composure at the front Desk as parents rush to check out their kids
• 18:30 - 19:00 - DINNER BREAK! Refill water bottle for the rest of the night ahead
• 19:00 - 19:30 - Stand next to Washrooms ensuring kids wash hands after Dinner
• 19:30 - 20:30 - Assist with Pluto's Pajama Party handing out pillowcases and markers
• 20:30 - 21:00 - Stand at the top of the Slide making sure the kids aren't pushing
• 21:00 - 22:00 - Spend an hour inside Captain's Closet talk to the other Counselor in there
• 22:00 - 23:00 - Sit at a table outside collecting wristbands as they are returned at end of cruise
• 23:00 - 23:30 - Take down and toss out all artwork and papers the families left behind
• 23:30 - 24:00 - Write out slips for each item left in Lost and Found and take to Guest Services
• 24:00 - 1:00 - Wash, soap, and bleach down whole space for inspection. Collapse from exhaustion. 

Done for the day!

Hours worked:10.5

Generally the duties might be more or less, depending on which ship you are assigned to. But the hours and the way you are rotated around from each area to the next remains the same!

But What will I WEAR!?

But What will I WEAR!?

...A costume of course!

Whenever you work for any part of the Disney Company, all of the Cast Members or Crew Members on board refer their work attire and garments not as uniforms, but as your Costume. It goes along with the big idea that you're always performing "on stage" at your job for the "Disney Show".

For Youth Activities we get one supplied to us from the Wardrobe people or "Costuming" who will keep track of our sizes after measuring us on the first day, and will launder our costumes and have them ready for pickup whenever we go.  Here's a look at the Counselor outfit:

When you first start in the Oceaneer Club or Lab, this is what you will wear. For the Nursery Counselors and Vibe, they have different clothing in alternate colors.

Where it says the polo is used, bear in mind that ALL of this will be used clothing with the exception of your undergarments and shoes that you provide on your own (thankfully). In fact, whenever you have your costumes washed and laundered, there is no guarantee that you'll be getting the same ones back; you will have been wearing the same clothes as someone you work with who is the same size as you the entire time- male or female!

Because of this sharing system in place....nothing will really fit perfectly (as you can tell by my thinly veiled sarcastic descriptions). The costumes do tend to look better in general on the taller and bigger males in the department though! It really does nothing for the female figure, to be honest.

For the most part we can mix and match whether we wear the cardigan or not, but must ALWAYS wear the pants after 6pm every day, no exceptions. They're very strict on the fact that the blue belt (provided) must fit exactly and not extend past the second loop after the buckle, cardigan sleeves cannot be rolled up, collars must be out, and cannot be too unbuttoned! And unlike the drawing above, the 3-4 buttons on the cardigan must be completely buttoned up and not left hanging open! (Oof!)

Now for a look at the Updated Costume as of 2014, as well as the Castaway Cay or Island Costume:

With the Reimagining of the Disney Magic in 2013, they updated the Youth Activities polo, which does not need to be tucked in as per Disney Look like all of our other shirts. It retains the primary yellow and blue colors while adding a bit of a sporty flair that matches the updated Cruise Staff polos as well. As of 2014, all of the Counselors on the ships will be wearing the new style of polo!

Whenever the ship is in Port at Castaway Cay, you will definitely most likely be working on the island (unless you're stuck on board indoors all day). There's a very specific costume for the island, including those hideous lovely TEVA sandals that they make you purchase!

*What I learned was that if you choose to wear sock and your white shoes, then you certainly can. So don't panic if you don't have the sandals!* 

The grossest part were the communal navy blue swimsuits you must wear beneath all that....and let's just say my personal swimsuit was also navy blue and I managed to get away without anyone trying to inspect under my clothing.

When you get hired you'll be sent a document detailing "Disney Look" so I won't get into detail on those requirements now, but I definitely recommend that you look at official Disney photos and videos of the Counselors online to get a good glimpse of how we all look in the costumes on a regular basis.