Hey you all. It’s Sarah, back at it again with another post about the Disney College Program. How are you guys?

During my program, I was a parking attendant at Hollywood Studios. If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t know this was even a role, much less a role a CP (Disney College Program participant. Basically what you’ll be called if you do the program). But what do parking attendants do? Let’s take a look.

On my first on the job day of training, I met my trainer who first took me to get my costume. Then she showed me the break room and how to use CDS on the computer. She lead me outside and we walked around the parking lot safely for a brief overview. Next on our tour we went into DHS (Hollywood Studios) and she showed me some of the main attractions, pointing out some trivia and other little facts along the way. She introduced me to some people and other coworkers. After that was done, we went backstage (the place guests don’t see) and showed me the workings that go on backstage.

Noon rolled around and we broke for our 30 minute lunch break. I was introduced into more parking CMs (cast members) during that time. Me, the introvert, was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with the amount of people I was meeting.

All too soon our break was over and it was back to training. My trainer had me read from a binder to learn about safety stuff. I read, while trying not to fall asleep. That concluded day one of training.

The following days my trainer showed me the different things you can be assigned to do. I was trained to do opening/morning, regular, and night/closing shifts. The opening training days was hard since I had to get up early. The sun wasn’t even warm yet…

Who am I kidding? It’s Florida. It’s warm 24/7.

Some of the jobs you can be assigned to comes in two groups: trams and the actual lot. I’ll start with the trams. You can either the driver or spieler. Driver is self explanatory: you drive the tram. You learn how to drive the tram, the different signals, how to start it, how to shut down, and how to make turns. The spieler is the person on the back of the tram telling you all the corny jokes. Spielers tell you where the tram is going, gives you some important information about the park for the day, and makes sure everyone is safely in their seats.

A lot of the lot tasks include directing traffic to the actual parking lots, telling you where to park, and if it’s busy, help people load the trams. It will take too long to go over every little job. They are like 7-9 jobs depending on the time of day.

Then came the day that would showcase everything I learned; my assessment.

The first part of my assessment was to take a test. My assessor checks it and goes over what I got wrong. We moved on to the actual testing. I do all the positions while answering questions thrown my way.

Remember how I said I was introverted? Well, I am extremely introverted. I’m so painfully introverted that I failed the spieling part of assessment. I cried. I literally cried. I wish I was joking but I’m not. I’m super hard on myself so that the fact that I failed hit me hard.

And guys, let me tell you this: if you fail your assessment, it’s not the end of the world. You’ll just get more training on what you failed then get reassessed. It’s not a big deal if you fail. I was reassured by many people in my location about failing. Other CMs told me stories on how they messed up while testing.

During my break on my assessment day, two of the parking CMs did their best to try to cheer me while trying to get to know me. They took me on a walk backstage to help me calm down. That meant so much to me. It made me feel like they cared. It did help me feel about myself. They didn’t have to do that but they did. They could of been mean or not acknowledge me since I was only a CP. It’s something I’ll always remember.

I passed the spieling part of my reassessment after a couple of days. I was finally able to be on my own. Being on my own for the first time was intimidating to say the least. But over time I got over that fear. I fell into the groove of things.

Working during the fall program meant I would be working the major holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve/Day, and New Year’s Eve/Day. I will say this; I’m so glad that I was placed in DHS rather than Magic Kingdom during these holidays. From what I heard, it was crowded AF at MK (Magic Kingdom). Like it was shoulder to shoulder, can’t move a muscle crowded. People could only ride 3 rides all day because it was so crowded. I don’t doubt it.

When I was working my Thanksgiving shift, it was pretty empty for a major holiday. Well it was reasonably empty for when I was working my 2-8 shift. I can’t speak on what happened in the morning or during the closing shift. But for the most part, it was pretty chill. I was surprised.

Working the Christmas and New Year’s shift was a bit of a different story. From what I heard, the parking lot got filled real quick Christmas morning. People had to redirected to Epcot. I was closing the night shifts for both Christmas Eve and Day. The lot was fairly full but we were parking people in our own lot. Cars were coming, but not as frequent.

Let me tell you a story. During my Christmas Day shift I was in the lot. Part of the job I was doing required me to call in to my coordinator when I was open and close rows over the radio. I was with another CP, just casually talking. I called in to my coordinator that the current row was full and we were opening a new one. While I was waiting for a response, a guest was passing out candy canes with a thank you note attached. The other CP asked what the guest gave me.

At the same time, the coordinator responded. I, without thinking, held down the button on the radio and, instead of replying to my coordinator, I answered the other CP and said, “Candy cane.” We both looked at each other for a second and bent over laughing at my error. In between gasps for air I corrected myself and open and closed the rows.

Working the New Year’s shift was magical in its own right. We were coming in during the night to ring in the new year. After a while it slowed down to almost a stand still. I was on break when the clock was about to strike midnight. The coordinator working that night called everyone in the break room to come outside. We counted down to midnight as a group. At the strike of midnight, fireworks from all the parks went off at the same time. We all hug each other, wishing each other a happy new year. Getting to see all the fireworks from all four parks was something I never thought I would experience if it wasn’t for my program.

Like with any job, there are ups and downs. Highs and lows. But overall I loved my time there. Being a parking attendant wasn’t my first choice, but I don’t regret my time spent in the parking lot. The parking CMs became my family. I got along with the other parking CPs. I can tell you many other stories and magical moments with guests, but I’m planning to write about that in a different blog post.

That is it for this post. Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed what you read. Be sure to be on the look out for more. I still have so much to share. I hope this gave some insight on on-the-job training and by overall parking attendant journey.

On a random, unrelated side note I’m finishing this post at 1:16 am again. This time I’m not on the couch watching Degrassi. I’m in my bedroom listening to The Psychology of Azula by Hello Future Me on YouTube. Did any of you watch Avatar: The Last Airbender or Legend of Korra? I did. If you did, you should check out his channel. He makes a lot of great content about Avatar and other movies/shows.