Today was day 3 of training, and my first day at the Magic Kingdom! It was very exciting to finally be in the park where I'll be working for the next few months. After taking the bus over and finally making it to the backstage portion of the park, I met my trainer (Maddie) who was with me all day today and will be with me tomorrow.
Today was a pretty interesting and overwhelming day of training. I got a complete tour of the Magic Kingdom (both on stage and backstage) and all the spots we take photos as Photopass photographers - which took about 2 hours. Then, Maddie showed me around the base, where I will pick up my equipment every morning, turn it in at night, and go to have any questions answered or problems solved.
After taking in all of this information, it was lunch time! We had a nice lunch break and then it was back to the base to pick up my equipment and go out onto Main Street to practice taking some icon photos of Maddie and other cast members. I managed to meet a lot of the people I'll be working with for the next few months. I took photos up and down Main Street and quickly learned where to stand and where to position guests to get the best shot.
After practicing for a while, we went down to a training room to review my photos - which all turned out surprisingly well for my first time out on Main Street (only three or four crooked castles out of about four or five dozen shots). Maddie led me through backstage talking me through all of the staircases and entrances I can use while getting from place to place, and then introduced me to the coordinators and leaders for PhotoPass. We then took a look at some reference photos for both icon photography and creative shots, took another round of practice photos in front of the castle of cast members and reviewed them (no crooked castles!) and then I took the first step to earning my ears...
I was out on Main Street (Maddie hovering somewhat near by), taking photos of guests.
EEK!
Since we were running a bit short on time, I only managed to take photos of guests for about an hour but I managed to fit in about seven or eight families. I got to have the CUTEST conversation with this little girl who's birthday it was tomororw. She told me all about her balloon and what she was going to be doing on her birthday - which was breakfast with Cinderella and then meeting Rapunzel wearing her very pretty Rapunzel dress. She was the cutest thing ever, and it completely made my day.
After taking guest photos for a while, which was intimidating and a little nerve-wracking at first because you really don't want to screw up, I soon found my footing and got the hang of taking photos while interacting with the guests and making it fun. Maddie and I then went back to base to review my guest photos (all were good except for a few SLIGHTLY crooked castles, which were easily fixable) and then I had to do some training acknowledgements, turn in my equipment for the day, and then take an examination to see what I've learned and accomplished so far. I scored a 100%.
Before I knew it, it was 6pm and I was done for the day. Since Maddie is my trainer tomorrow too, we said goodbye, I made it out of backstage to the bus stop and then it was back to my apartment. I made dinner and here we are! I decided to update the blog since I've had a few extra seconds. Now, its time to get my lunch ready for tomorrow and everything set up since it'll be another early - but MAGICAL - day!
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