Ema Earns Her Ears: My Secret Walt Disney World Cast Member Diary (Earning Your Ears Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

merchandise, such as hoodies and tote bags, but the best thing was the pins. I bought myself two pins and a lanyard for my ID.
    When we returned from our break, the class was split into two teams, since taking the entire class as a single unit for the backstage walking tour of the Magic Kingdom would have been unwieldy. I was glad that I’d chosen to wear flat, comfortable shoes, unlike some of the Barbies in their 8” heels. We picked up headsets as we left the room en route to the Magic Kingdom, a warning fresh in our heads that no photos or videos of backstage areas was allowed, with immediate termination the fate of those who disobeyed.
    After we took our tour through the Utilidors (tunnels), we head through some doors, and some more doors, and then up some stairs and though another door, and as if by magic we were on a side street of Main Street, U.S.A.! I could smell the sweet pastries from the ice cream parlor.
    We walked down Main Street as our leaders pointed out multiple cast members who were giving good customer service. Every cast member we saw had once been in our place, and they knew who we were, walking in our tight little groups with headsets firmly in place. They were sure to say, “Hello, Traditions People”, and welcomed us into the Disney family.
    Back in the classroom, I was never so glad for air conditioning. As we settled back into our seat and turned in our headsets, there was a knock at the door. Who should it be other than the boss himself, Mickey Mouse. Not only did he come to say “hi”, he brought him with some important items: our nametags! Mickey stood at the front, and table by table we got into an orderly line to collect our nametags and then sit back down, where we took photos of our nametags, my nametag with the critter next to it, us wearing our nametags, us wearing our nametags in a group…you get the idea, there were a lot of pictures taken of nametags.
    Finally, we said goodbye to Mickey, watched one last inspirational video from Walt, and then we were sent into the big wide world as official Disney cast members.

chapter seven
My First Trip as a Cast Member
    First point of call, Guest Relations. We had just embarked on a huge journey, and we wanted to let everyone know that we were new cast members, and what’s the best way to let everyone know you are celebrating something special than with a celebration button! We picked up our “My First Trip” buttons and asked for the Guest Relations cast member to write “as a cast member” underneath. Automatically, her first words weren’t “yes” but “Congratulations”. Every cast member we saw that day congratulated us and welcomed us to the Disney family with the most genuine of smiles.
    We headed straight for Space Mountain, and got in the 30-minute line, which actually was a minimal line of 10 minutes. We split into teams of 3 and jetted off into outer space at the speed of light.
    After going on a few other rides, we hung around Main Street waiting for the Move It, Shake It parade to begin. We danced with the characters and the stilt walkers. This was such a fun way to start our program. It really felt like I was on holiday.
    With 9 of us in the group, it was hard to agree on what to do next. The heat had become unbearable. Some of us wanted to go back on Space Mountain and other rides, but Amy, Shauna, and myself, who were suffering most from the heat, decided to go make use of our Disney IDs and get discount on merchandise. We had already picked out a few things that we wanted when we saw it in Downtown Disney, but had refrained from buying it since we knew we’d be able to pay less in a day or two. I wanted pins. I’d been on holiday to Disney World before, and my brother had bought loads of pins and started trading with the cast members, who kindly gave him a crash course on how trading worked. I wasn’t as much into pin trading as I was pin collecting. However, I saw how much fun my brother had had, and so decided