Disney's Night of Joy

On September 7th and 8th, the Magic Kingdom was invaded by Christian Artists - and I was a part of the fun!
We saw David Crowder Band, Chris Tomlin, BarlowGirl, Newsboys, Mark Schultz and Salvador.

Expedition Everest

Cameron, Krystal and I went to Animal Kingdom for a WILD time, here are some photos!

Disney's Corporate Culture

When one thinks about the Walt Disney Company, some words come to mind. Some of those words might be entertainment, quality, family, Mickey, guest service and fun. A lot of these words are synonymous with Disney and its desire to be the best provider of family entertainment and guest service in the industry; these words come about because of Disney’s corporate culture and the values that have followed the company since its inception. Corporate culture can also be described as the company’s personality. Many times the personality of a company can be the result of a manager’s style or a CEO’s vision, but Disney’s consistent aura is the result of some basic rules that govern company-wide decision making.

New Cast Members take a class titled ‘Traditions’ where they learn about what it means to carry on the Disney legacy. One portion of the curriculum focuses on the ‘Four Quality Standards,’ one way by which Disney makes decisions based on safety, courtesy, show and efficiency. New ideas, plans and even every day decision making can be put through this test, yielding an answer that is in line with the values of the company. If you were an imagineer designing a new attraction at the Disney-MGM studios, you know that putting in an emergency exit sign in the ride might not coincide exactly with the storyline or atmosphere that you are trying to create, but according to the Disney Quality Standards you know that safety comes before show, and must put the sign in. This can also be applied to regular park operations. If you are working in Adventureland at the flying carpet ride, but then spot a child standing on top of a rickety trash can in Frontierland, it is important for you to abandon the show aspect of your job that is defined by your Adventureland costume, and go over and ensure that the child gets out of the dangerous situation. These priorities help define the type of decisions the company makes.

Roy Disney said that “Its not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are (Disney Practicum).” Disney’s values can be seen in the morals of many of their classic films. There is nothing like a good adventure, courage will win, be honest with your feelings, respect others and surround yourself with diverse friends. It is also very important for a company’s corporate culture and values to emulate your own, as you will often times be spending more time at work during the day then at home. This culture can also dictate promotions, dress code, vacation policies, and basic values (sicareers.com).
Some of the company’s values that reflect my own include creativity, diversity and integrity. Disney is clearly a creative company. Ever since I was a child, my love for drawing came about from sketching Mickey Mouse and the other famous characters. My parents fostered this creativity and it has become an essential part of who I am. I don’t need to work for a company that animates or produces art, I need to find a company that solves problems in a creative way and has a strong visual sense about everything they do. Disney is one such company. My family has very strong values as well, as taught and demonstrated by my parents. Values such as honesty and courtesy are something that we pride ourselves on. I know that Disney promotes these values as well, as seen in their approach to guest service and entertainment.

Although my own values reflect a majority of the Disney corporate values and culture, since working here I have noticed a change in my attitude towards the company and a change in myself. Along with Disney’s culture of creativity, honesty and diversity comes another aspect of its personality: its size. With a working cast base of around 59,000 in the Orlando area alone, its easy feeling lost inside the company. Never before have I felt like just a number. When I ride the bus to the Magic Kingdom to enter the tunnels, images from the classic movie ‘Metropolis’ enter my head: loads of workers marching in blocks, going to work; however, Disney’s ability to empower their cast members makes it better than monotonous labor, but I am striving for something more. These frustrations with the company are also a result of doing an entry-level job, but I want a job that will put my brainpower and creativity to the test. There are jobs within the Disney Company that will most defiantly do that, but it will take some time to get there, time that I would much rather spend at a smaller company where I can have a bigger impact.

Frustrations aside, the company has taught me a lot; a lot about service, how a company should treat its customers, and how a business can be efficient in dealing with a large number of employees. I have also learned how to communicate better: by using inclusive language, giving clear instructions, and communicating over cultural and language barriers.

The Little Mermaid: The Musical

On July 27th, I joined my family at the Pre-Broadway engagement of The Little Mermaid: The Musical.
During intermission, Cameron and I tracked down Alan Menken, composer of such great movies as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast and Hercules - we also met Thomas Shoemaker, President of Walt Disney Theatrical Productions - both kindly talked to us and signed our program.

Animal Kingdom Lodge Zebras

Quote of the Day

Kid: "Mommy, why is Daisy Duck dancing around?"
Mom: "Because she's not as tired as your mamma."

The 4th of July

In the place Where Dreams Come True, more than 1,000 immigrants from dozens of countries will realize their dream of becoming United States citizens during a naturalization ceremony on the fourth of July at Walt Disney World Resort.
For the first time in its 35-year history, Disney's Magic Kingdom theme park will be the backdrop as Disney Parks and Resorts and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) jointly host a "Dreams Come True" swearing-in ceremony on the forecourt of Cinderella Castle. The event will be open to park guests on Independence Day morning.

dream along with Mickey

The time is here, I am officially a Walt Disney World cast member.

Yesterday, I completed Traditions, a class that was started by Walt Disney himself. Although it has changed over the years, this introductory class "imparts the importance of the Disney history, legacy and brand through several promotional videos and group workshop exercises."

Needless to say, the most exciting moment of the morning was when I entered the room, to find my engraved name tag sitting on a table. The instructor pointed out that when we wear this name tag, people don't see our name...they see "Hey, I know everything there is to know about Walt Disney World."

More to come!

Six days and counting...

In 6 days I will be turning in my Colorado boots and sliding into some Florida sandals, ready to soak up the sun and work for the mouse - The Disney College Program; and you thought my studies were over! oh no; these textbooks start with "Once Upon A Time" rather than "Sociology is a fascinating science..."

For those of you who enjoyed keeping up on my wanderings in London in between eating Nutella and munching on fish and chips, this will act in the same way. I look forward to hearing your comments and sharing photos with you.

Cheers, Duncan.

Home

I woke up and rolled out of my famously comfortable bed. It would be the last sleep in that squeaky worn down twin mattress that had held me during my sleep for the past three months. It was a real champ.
I looked around my room and found that the only things on my walls were chipped paint where past tenants had hung posters – no more Christmas lights, no more harry potter poster gracing my bathroom door, no more England football poster over my bed – this certainly did not feel like my room. My suitcases were neatly lined up in a row ready for my departure. I walked into my kitchen to savour one more bowl of Kellog’s delicious Crunch Nut Clusters Milk Chocolate Curls and woke up Erigony and asked her to join me in the kitchen. I had so much sentiment built up inside for this flat, was this the last time that I would see it? Sadly, it was beginning to feel like I was a guest in someone’s house, and it was a feeling I was not warming too – I needed to leave to the airport quickly as to not let the feeling set in. It was not a tough goodbye. I had thought that it would have been hard to say goodbye to such close friends knowing that I was leaving to another country an ocean apart, but it was surprisingly easy. Easy because I knew that this was a “see you soon.” Not a “goodbye.” Something told me that I would be back in London, and back to see my mates. These are friends that are worth travelling great distances to see, worth staying in touch with, and worth making great sacrifices for.

I brought my luggage down the stairs and met the car that was waiting for me outside. We loaded my bags into the car and headed to Heathrow via the M25. I was happy for the decision I made to have a car take me to the airport; I was imagining myself carrying all of my luggage on the underground on a Monday morning rush hour – it would have been madness. The driver of the car was from Cyprus and we had an enjoyable conversation on the 45-minute journey.

I checked in, passed security and entered the main terminal. I was beginning to feel quite nocuous. I was carrying every souvenir I had bought over the 3 months on my back, I was tired, thirsty and starving. I walked over to Pret a Manger – my favourite sandwich stop and grabbed some yoghurt and granola and a large water. I sat down.

“Man this sucks!” said a man at a table behind me, as I turned to see a large Denver Broncos logo printed across the back of his t-shirt. My jaw dropped. I turned to look at the other table and there was a group of teens wearing shorts and flip flops and in front of me I found a lady and her husband arguing over what to feed their child who was crying out for food. They were all American. I had suddenly found myself inside the USA enclave of Heathrow airport and I despised it. Was this really where I was from?

I arrived at the gate to find passengers wearing baggy hooded sweatshirts embroidered with USA across the chest, teens wearing pyjama pants and slippers as public clothing and a furious mother yelling at the British Airways clerk, speaking ridiculously slow in order to humiliate the worker, as if they did not understand English. The culture shock had begun, and my feet were still touching the sweet ground of her majesty.

The flight was enjoyable and felt quite short. I watched almost all of the different movies that were offered in our personal video screens and enjoyed the delicious Indian curry for lunch. The lighting outside was really interesting; we departed London at 12:30 and it was bright sun. We approached Iceland and the north pole and experienced a beautiful sunset for an hour, then landed in Denver where it was a sunny afternoon.

The passengers of our flight marched down the corridors of DIA towards the passport control. We were all immediately stopped by a short woman carrying a walkie talkie and roped off as a flight. Some passengers misunderstood the poor signage and were reprimanded loudly by the woman. The surrounding foreigners from my flight whispered to one another “I forgot how rude they are here.” After waiting for around 30 minutes in a roped off section, completely confused, our entire flight was able to proceed to passports where we were greeted by a police man shouting mens bathrooms over there, womens bathrooms over there, passport check straight ahead. The DIA workers were all wearing cowboy hats, it was quite odd.

I proceeded through the doors and found my family eagerly waiting for my arrival.

Farewell to the Goat and 400 santas

Cristobal and I headed to central to finish some christmas shopping and were greeted by hundereds of santas converging in Picadilly Circus - it was a sight to see. They all began shouting "what do we want?" "CHRISTMAS!!" "When do we want it?" "NOW!!"


We also all had our last night at the goat pub

Narnia and My Neighborhood

The world Premiere of the Chronicles of Narnia; where I was able to see Prince Charles and Camilla.
The House of Parliment, The Tower of London Ice Skating Rink, The Tower Bridge,

3 countries in 1 Day!

On Saturday, Michaele Erigony and I took a coach from London to Dover where we boarded a ferry to France and then rode the coach into Belgium for the Brugge Christmas Market. Belgium has been my favourite country I have visited in continental Europe so far - it was spotlessly clean and smelled of chocolate and christmas, an incredible place. Enjoy the photos.

Polar Express 3D

On Wednesday a group of us met down in central London at the BFI London IMAX cinema. We saw the Polar Express in 3D - a real christmas spirit booster! We loved the glasses so much we had to pose.

A great picture of my flatmates Stephanie and Erigony; and friends Mertdo and Michaele after the film.

Watch where you put that!

I walked into my fitness lab this morning with Michaele and was coldly greeted by the infamous frowning lady that proudly rules over the 50 square foot learning environment. This woman is not our instructor, but she is know to show up for the first 5 minutes of class to remind us of the strict rules that apply to the lab – telling students to move their backpacks into a small corner, and with her third eye spotted that I was chewing gum, and told me to place it the rubbish bin; I have never seen her smile.

Our instructor was late, and upon his dishevelled arrival he announced that we would be measuring body fat on each other. “Some Uni’s (universities) make you strip down into your underwear and walk around the class room for 5 minutes,” he gladly informed us. “This is going to be a part of your career, so you need to get familiar with touching other people, today you will get over your embarrassments!”

This statement was a little shocking to say the least, especially for a student such as myself who is just taking this class to fulfil a measly fitness requirement at CSU. “Turn to page 49, and read about the different locations on the body that can be used to take skin fold measurements.” The instructor then revealed a large shiny calliper that we would be using to pinch the skin for our data. “You may begin now.” After a cautious silence, I reluctantly volunteered within my group to be poked and prodded first.

The entire process felt a bit like being a turkey or other fowl that was getting measured before a holiday slaughter. Across the classroom, students were pinching folds of skins of other students with the callipers, as some stood humiliated in their underwear.

After the lab, there was an hour break which allowed me to head back to my flat and cook up a cheese toasty (grilled cheese sandwich) and get ready for the gym session that was to follow. In the session we learned about plyometrics and lunges. Our instructor demonstrated a certain exercise where she jumped as high as she could and landed in a squat and then leapt up immediately afterwards – repeating this 5 times. She asked us to practice it, but gave fair warning that it was a demanding routine that can lead to muscle soreness even in a well-trained athlete. When I returned to my flat, I found it a chore to even make my way up the stairs, as she was right about the strong pain.

The City of Lights

Here are some pictures from this weekend's trip to Paris. School work is all coming up quite quickly and I am searching for time to write on my blog. I apologize greatly for the lack up upkeap, but the storys will be up eventually. Enjoy!

Gobble Gobble

Today we decided to show our flat what Thanksgiving was all about.
Michaele and I headed to Tescos supermarket and found all of the necessary ingrediants for a proper Thanksgiving feast, except pumpkin pie sadly. It was a very nice meal, and we had Ed from England, Erigony, Cristobal, Stephanie as guests.

It's not just Oil

This morning I had the pleasure of sleeping in. After 5 days of waking up at 5:30 and trudging to a train station in the dark bitter cold, it was a nice relief to be in bed with my heater piping. I woke up and headed into the kitchen to munch on my “ludicrously delicious cereal” and met Krista’s dad and brother who had come over from Ireland for the weekend.

I went downstairs and met Michaele in her flat and agreed that we had to see the new Harry Potter movie today. We walked back up to my room to check the cinema times and proceeded to try and buy tickets online, but were refused because the showing at 16:40 was sold out. I looked up the phone number of the cinema and just called them up, thinking this would be easier. “Welcome to Cine world Cinemas London, just say the name of the film that you would like to see.” “Harry Potter and the Gobet of Fire,” I answered. “Im sorry, we don’t have any films by that name,” said the robotic like computer woman on the other end. I cleared my throat and tried again “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” except this time, I used my well-trained British accent – thinking that it would recognize it more clearly. It worked! She proceeded to say, “The times for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire are….”

The phone process became increasingly complicated, despite my earlier success in fooling the system with my London voice guise, so I wrapped up in a warm coat and scarf and walk the 4 blocks to the cinema. Erigony kindly joined me, and we bought 4 tickets to the 17:10 showing, we were able to choose our seats like usual before purchasing the ticket – ensuring that we would have great seats, even if we walked into the cinema during the previews (something the USA needs to get a move on, because it is just plain wicked.)

Michaele, Cristobal, Cassie and I went to the film and enjoyed it thoroughly; we walked back to Cristobal’s flat where we sat down at the table with Despiona and her boyfriend visiting from Greece. It didn’t take much time for Cristobal and Despiona to get into a full out argument over the usual subject: cooking oil. This hyper-ethnocentric debate is usually heavily laden with foreign swear words and violent hand gestures – and we are talking about cooking oil here people – it is as much a symbol of their national pride as a flag is, not something to joke about. I was actually surprised that no national flags were brought out – usually in these instances, Cristobal will run into his room to rip the Spanish flag off from the wall above his bed and fly into the kitchen waiving it as if Real Madrid had won a world championship.

I am trying to do as much as I can in these last weeks, as I leave for home in a month from Friday. I have made some very close friends, and London has felt like a proper home for the last 2 months. Every study abroad cliché has come true, and it is an invaluable adventure that I only wish everyone could experience.

Christmas Time Is Here

As I was waiting for my train to depart Cannon Street to take us to the filmining location on Wednesday, I walked outside the station and found Starbucks. It was still wet, cold and dark outside so I ordered a Toffee Nut Latte - it was really delicious. The view from the bar that ran paralell to the street was really beautiful and couldn't help but take some pictures.

Lights Camera Sewage

This week I am fliming south of London in an area called Cross Ness with my internship. It takes a while to get there and every morning we have specific meeting times where I am to meet the producer of the show, another assistant, and our talent at a London train station to go to the location together. Since I live in north London it takes some planning to get there exactly on time.
The shooting schedule requested that I be at Cannon Street Sation in central London at 7:45 to meet for the 7:57 train to Cross Ness. In order to get there I woke up early, and was at my local station to catch the 6:30 am train to central London - but to the suprise of myself and the other 50 businessmen and women on the platform, they announced that it was cancelled due to engine problems. Thats when mass panic set in - I ran outside the station where it was still dark and had began to rain - I looked quickly for the closest bus and hopped on it heading west towards an underground station. The underground I had to take was extrememly slow and stopped every 5 minutes - I kept looking at my watch, knowing that it was impossible to be on time at this rate. I could see outside the windows when the train would pop up from underground and the entire countryside was filled with a thick deep blue mist, as it was just barely geting light out - there were sillouettes of large trees in the distance and lights were turning on across the city as people were waking up for their early departures; it was really beautiful, despite my state of panic.
I decided to take a risk and hop off at Kings Cross Station and transfer to the 'Northern Line' that ran directly in the direction of my destination. I looked at my watch and I had exactly 10 minutes before the train would depart to the shooting location, the producer would be waiting for me right now - something I couldn't stand the thought of. When the northern line pulled into 'Bank' station, I actually ran off the train, sprinting through the consistant stream of Londoners that were dressed in their finest business atire. I flew up the escilator and turned a sharp corner to the next line that I had to catch - my train would be leaving in 2 minutes. I waited at the platform for 30 seconds, pacing in a circle as if I had to use the loo, the tube came and I got on - with only one minute to spare, I got off at Cannon street - ran again up the stairs in a fury and sliped my card into the barrier, frantically asking the police which platform the train for Abbey Wood was at - as I had no time to scan the timetables - he pointed to platform 5 and I thankfully saw the train and jumped on. The doors shut and it began its journey while I was pacing through the cabins trying to find the procuder and assistant - there was no sight of them. I found out when I arrived at the location that the entire 'Circle Line' had been delayed in the morning, delaying the producer from making the train.

We eventually all met up and began filming at around 10:00 after a 9:00 am crew call.

I will tell you more about the production, but thought you would enjoy some photos of the set: It is a Victorian sewage pumping station that was used to pump all of London's waste into the Thames river in the 1800's. It is a beautiful building with every attention to detail - quite rare for a sewage pup.