Traditions

You have been accepted into the DCP, you have arrived in Orlando and have been assigned an apartment to live in. You have met your roommates and attended the apartment meetings. You can not wait to start your job and get this show on the road. The only thing standing between you and your first day of work is about three solid days of getting to know the company.

Traditions is the first training tool used by Disney. This is a six hour class that every employee goes through to familiarize them with the history of the company and what it stands for. This class also goes through Disney's sexual harassment and hazmat (hazardous material) policies and procedures for dealing with each. At Traditions you also get your first official Walt Disney World name tag.

 
Sometimes they do not have everyone's name tag made in which case you get a sticker and you write your name on it. I know from experience because I was one of the unlucky sticker people. Very embarrassing.

If you do not die from boredom in Traditions you make it to the second day of training where they take you to the specific park you are going to be working at. Each park has a different way to train you. I worked at the Magic Kingdom so I can only talk about their training regimen. The day before MK's training they told us to dress in business casual but wear very comfortable walking shoes.

MK's training is called Once Upon a Time.... It has changed since I went through it but the gist of it is to walk everyone in your group through the Magic Kindgom park and give the history as well as fun facts about it. Our guide took us on the Haunted Mansion and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (which I got a very low score on) so it broke up the monotony. Better to be walking around at the Magic Kingdom than sitting inside all day.

After Once Upon a Time.... you find out exactly where you are working and go to Costuming to get several sets of costumes. Mine happened to be khaki pants, shirt, hat and a brown belt. So begins Day Three of training: Be a Guest, For a Guest. This day is the most fun because you get to interact with guests. Every trainer does something a little different with their trainees. I was still pretty timid about talking to guests when my trainer threw me into the middle of parade crowd control. I had never had to yell at so many people to get off a street in my life. It was fun but kind of scary. Near the end of the day the trainer takes you to the ride you had been assigned and shows you around.

That concludes your park training, and next comes the part you had been waiting for: training for your assigned job.