Thinking about my second Disney College Program, Park Greeter, which is a sub-part of attractions (you'll be accepted as attractions and placed as a park greeter once you arrive and check in). Here's what Kelsey has to say about her experience as park greeter! When did you do your program? Spring 2014 What was your home location? Hollywood Studios Did you work any other locations? No How would you explain your role? Park greeters are stationed at the entrance of each park, guarding the touch points that the guests use to enter the park. Our job was to "be the gate" and only let in guests who had valid ticket admission. It was also our responsibility to verify resort reservations for entrance into extra magic hours, and to make sure that guests didn't leave the park with alcohol or our rented strollers/ecv's. When I was there, our roles also included doing "finales" at the end of the night, in which we would clear the park at the end of the night, but I've heard that park greeters at DHS no longer have that responsibility. What did your training look like? We had one day of park orientation (On With the Show), 3 days of training, and one assessment day. On With the Show consisted of familiarizing ourselves with the park itself. The first day of training started at 8 am and was a day of just learning the basics. We checked out costumes and observed the touch points. The second day was an early morning shift to learn how to open the park, and the third day was a late night shift to learn how to close the park. On one of the days the trainer took me around the park to show me the different finale routes, and on the day of the late night shift we went on a finale with our trainer. During training days we would also be responsible for a touch point with our trainer next to us observing us. We also studied a binder of questions and protocols. On assessment day, we took a test of questions from the binder, and the assessor watched us as we worked a touch point to see if we did it well, and at the end of the day let us know if we passed or not. How many hours you were scheduled per week? Usually 30 at the least. I took 2 seminars so I had two days off each week, and my shifts for the other 5 days were usually 6 hours. We often had the opportunity to pick up shifts in the mornings from 8-12 to help with the morning rush, which was nice when I was scheduled for an afternoon/evening shift. How long were your shifts? Did you have a break? Like I said, my shifts were 6 hours, so I got 2 15 minute breaks (once every 2 hours). If I had a 6 1/2 hour shift, I would get one 15 minute break and one 30 minute lunch break. What did you like? I absolutely loved my coordinators and coworkers. I still keep in great contact with some of them and they're some of my best friends! What did you dislike? There were always those guests that would get under my skin, but since I was at the park entrance I never had to interact with them for that long. What's your favorite story from work? One of my favorite memories was a Backstage Magic opportunity where we got to meet Anna and Elsa backstage. It was only a few months after Frozen came out, and they hadn't debuted in the Princess Fairytale Hall yet, so they were a hot commodity! I also have tons of stories about great guest encounters, like one couple that I chatted with while they were waiting for the park to open said goodbye to me when they left and remembered my name. Little things like that made the job great! Another one of my favorite memories is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hollywood Studios with a cast party. I also had a 3-9 shift on the day of the anniversary, so I got to enjoy the festivities that morning (and met the former VP of DHS), worked my shift, then got off just in time to watch the special fireworks at 9:30. It was a magical day! Thanks for sharing your story with us Kelsey! Future or hopeful park greeters, what are you most looking forward to? Comment below! As always, if you have questions, you can comment on this post, find me on social media, or contact me on the "about" tab. Don't forget to subscribe to my blog for weekly updates!
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