glossary

Glossary: (cause i thought maybe you'd like to know the lingo)

MK- Magic Kingdom

DAK- Animal Kingdom

EC- Epcot

Studios- Hollywood Studios

Poly-Polynesian Resort

Grand Fla- Grand Floridian Resort

Contemp- contemporary resort

Animation- To bring to life, to make real- using actions that fit with the characters personality bringing the costume alive.Backstage- area behind the scenes where guests should not see.

Back-to-backs- two performers who perform the same character in the same area; performers alternate so only one is on stage at a time, this ensures constant character coverage.

Basics: Black shorts and gray shirts worn under character costumes. Checked out in the parks and cannot be worn in the parks or home (although to get to certain set locations we march through the park in basics, barcodes on the chest and all, with our black character bags holding our costumes. i often wonder what people think our jobs are... a bunch of overly short and tall people who go in a door mickey and goofy later come out of...)

Character Attendant- An assistant to the character (and their lifeline/best friend)who watches the character on set and helps with line coverage, guest flow and keeps guest counts.

Costuming- WDW has the largest working wardrobe in the world,and character costuming is part of it and part of a characters daily rountine. All items are scanned out, and everything from socks to skull caps, sneakers to heads can be found inside. Rows and rows of mickey heads, cindy dresses and cruella coats...

Defog- Used to stop fogging on lense eyes

Disney Service Basics- Rules to live by at disney, repeated constantly and the WORK. - I project a positive image and energy.- I am courteous and respectful to all guests including children. - I stay in character and play the part. - I go above and beyond. - because I can make a difference for a guest. All roles in the disney company follow these guidelines everyday.

Duty Base- Where characters check in, do warm ups, and spend time as spares. At MK, called the zoo, at epcot the PICO building, AK the Parade building...

Early Release (ER) permission to leave work early without penalty or pay.

Face characters- portrayed by someone who looks like the character and the face is seen on set-- ie. Snow White

Fur- Characters performed by entertainers wearing a sculpted character head, whether or not the character is furry.

Fitting- Process of trying on a specific costume for management approval

Height Range- Measurement Scale which determines what characters each cast member can wear- ie. Duck, Mouse, Munks, Smee, Pluto, Goofy

Judges Tent: Character greeting area in Toontown behind mickey's house, mickey and minnie are located in this location.

Off Set Locations: 'break room' where characters rest between sets and prepare for the next sets. Usually has a tv, some movies, lots of racks and hangers for costumes, a fridge stocked with yellow powerade, a water jug, and some couches. Some are nicer than others.

On Stage- any guest area

PASS- Pass Show flow ensures everyone (characters on set, attendants, and photo pass) know whats going to happen with each guest, and ensures each guest has quality interaction with each character. An Acronym-
P- Preshow- A wave or outstreched arms welcoming the next guest to come forward. The beginning.
A- Activity- hi-5, dancing, pointing out pins, playing peek a boo, pointing out characters on t shirts, any kind of interaction with the guest.
S- Sign and Share- signing the autograph and showing it to the guest.
S-Snapshots and send offs- posed pictures and good bye hugs, waves. The end.

Sets- A character experience or meet and greet. during the summer, they are 20 mins on stage in an outdoor location followed by 40 mins off set in a break room, or 40 mins onstage in an indoor location followed by 4o mins offstage in a break room. Usually a shift has between 6 and 10 sets, though some shifts have as few as 3.

Skull cap- Surgeons cap used to keep hair from falling in a performers face inside the heads.

Spare- Extra character scheduled to fill in for those who call in sick or request an ER. AKA most boring shift of life.

Traditions: Class that marks first day as a disney employee. the passing of the disney tradition to new cast members. emotional day at disney university.

Vista Way- Apartment complex where I live.

VIP Characters- Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto (the fab 5) Chip and Dale are also often added, and Daisy Duck, and Stitch has been upped to VIP status. Originally referred to the original characters, now refers to popularity and frequency of appearances.

Walk time- each shift includes 20 mins of paid time at the end of the shift used to return costumes, change clothes, etc. You may clock out anytime during this period.

Warm Up- Stretch program at the beginning of each shift. Mandatory.

West clock- bus stop at MK cast parking where you catch the bus to the tunnel entrance.

Adventure Ho!

Just got home from Pleasure Island, went to comedy warehouse and adventurers club, super funny, i loved it. overall a good laid back day off, sleeping, blogging yesterdays whopper catch up blog, and swimming, and of course chatting with the momma. Oh, and Angelica made me Kraft Dinner.yum
Giuli and I didnt decide to go out til like 8, gemma had already left to see wall-e and sam and angie were having a girls night watching chick flicks. I'd had a dull day and giuli had worked all day, so we wanted something interesting. We didnt leave for PI until past 9, got a milkshake when we got there and then waited for the 10:25 seating of Comedy Warehouse. The club itself is really cute, with old disney memorabilia all over the walls. They seated us and then asked about drinks etc, and then the keyboardist sat down and did the little intro, then the show started. It's kinda like whose line is it anyway, and the actors and actresses are terrific. The show was an hour and a little bit, and was excellent. Then we wandered over to the adventurers club, which is also a comedy club but is a little quirky.
Basically, it is open house day at the 1937 adventurers club, and there is a very strange group of characters assembled in ramshackle mansion. They move about different rooms and do little skits. We got there in time to see a library show with the professor and the Club President, where they attempted to put on a radio show. It was really hilarious, but an extremely drunk and confused audience participant kinda stole the show. He was called to the stage to be the 'sound guy' which meant holding up the signs for the audience to react to, but he just couldnt get the hang of it. It was really funny. And then we stopped at mcdonalds on our way out, and were home at about 12:30. A good night, i def got my daily dose of laughter.