Published on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 .
Since I have been getting a lot of questions lately about the rumors of me leaving Main Street Operations, Here is the e-mail that I sent out to the Main Street Operations Team:
When asked about WED Enterprises, Walt Disney said, “Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” There are times in our lives that we need to make a move in order to keep ourselves motivated to keep moving on our careers.
I wanted to send out an e-mail to inform everyone that my last day with Main Street Ops will be Thursday, June 21. I have accepted an assignment with the Dream Squad here at the Magic Kingdom and will begin there on Sunday, June 24. I am still in the process of interviewing for a coordinator position with Walt Disney World Ticketing and have not given up my passion towards that side of our business.
My time on Main Street has been a great learning experience and one that is filled with lots of great memories and friends. It has been an honor to be a part of this team and I look forward to working with everyone again in the future. Thank you again.
Published on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 .
Well folks, it has been a long day. Between helping Frontierland Attractions with moving Big Thunder Trains to fighting fires in the Indian Village. I have had a non-stop day! Bigest excitement for the day was putting out a fire on the train tracks. Now for those of you that don’t know, the fireworks bunker/launch site is just next to the tracks so fires are a normal thing in the evenings and at no time was anyone in danger. Issue is, this one was at 11 am. Looked like it was smoldering all night. I got a call from one of the trains and was hiking out to go check it out. Once on the scene I had to remember which tee-pea the fire extinguisher was located and then attempted to put out the fire.
This is where the humor comes in. My first attempt saw the hardly ever used extinguishers hose being shot off (this is due to where it is stored. The heat and the elements had rotted the base of the hose) and me getting the water all over me. My managers Craig and Chrissi are now laughing at this point and Craig takes over once the hose is reattached while I try and try off and get all the chemicals off me and gets nice and close to get the thing out while trying to keep the hose still on the fire extinguisher. We got the fire out just as Reedy Creek Fire Dept shows up and they proceed to pull out the more manly hose to finish the job I started.
Between the fire and other issues in the day, I didn’t get a break till close to 4 (I came in at 7). So no break time for Firefighter Tom despite being successful in putting out the fire the first try! Despite all the business stuff though, today was a fun day. Not too often I get to say I am a firefighter in my role.
Published on Sunday, April 16, 2006 .
Well, it is official, I am an Engineer on the Walt Disney World Railroad! I completed my check out this past Tuesday and have been working a busy schedule the last few days with the holiday so this explains the delay in my post. I have also had a friend in town who was nice enough to take this picture in this post for me (thanks Brandon). Going in to this week, I have 55 hours scheduled but that may change. Mostly engineer but a few conductor shifts. I am so far loving the new responsibility and role as it gives me a better understanding of the operation and the ability to assist our guests in new ways. So stop on by for a “Grand Circle Tour around the Magic Kingdom” the next time you are in the park. Trains depart every seven minutes. All Aboard!
Published on Tuesday, April 04, 2006 .
Wow, where do I start? I have had one very full week with my training for Engineer on the Walt Disney World Railroad. Training to drive the steam trains starts with one day of Steam Class, four days of training and then one day of assesment by another trainer and a manager. Steam Class is basically what it sounds like. You spend most of the day in the Roundhouse learning about how a steam train functions and you get practice with lighting and firing the trains in the Roundhouse. Your 8 hour day ends with two trips around the Magic Kingdom driving the train. It’s really fun!
Yesterday was the start of my real training though. This is when you take all the stuff you learned in Steam Class and have to apply it for real. You fire a train in the morning, take it out of the Roundhouse to the Main Line and do all the safety checks. From there, you get practice firing and driving. After finishing my second day after Steam Class, I am feeling pretty good. It is all so much to take in. I get to close the next two nights to learn that routine. Only thing I am having issue on is my stops. I am about 75% there. I can hit most of them but every now and then, I have over shot by two to three feet. Simple back up will fix it but I’m working on it still. After all, I’m still training.
So that’s the begining of my training. I will post more as I finish this week.
Published on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 .
It seems that I have been on the trains ever since I came over to Main Street. I really do enjoy working on the trains and have been excited to be a part of Walt Disney’s tradition. One of the coolest things about working trains is that you become part of a select group of cast members that get to control a genuine steam engine. I am currently waiting for my training to move up in to the cab to drive the train but in the mean time, I have been busy shadowing the engineers on my breaks and after work in the cab. It’s such a thrill being up there. I’ve been able to practice driving a little bit, doing to firing and of course, doing the whistle! Talk about a thrill. I feel like a little kid all over again and most of the engineers act the same way.
Aside from waiting ot move up to the cab, the only new thing going on for me at work is that I have been able to get some practice training and will soon become a trainer it looks like for new cast members. My first trainee was one of the new Guest Service Managers for our area. It was sort of a surprise thing that I would be training a new conductor as I am not a trainer yet but both of her trainers had called in. It was a blast Chrissi and I can’t wait to work with you more. Thanks again!
Published on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 .
I feel like a little kid all over again. The last couple of days I have been training on Steam Trains at the Magic Kingdom. Right now I am working on conductor but I hope to become an engineer some time soon. Well, today I got to ride in the cab of the train and even do the whistle. Wow! I felt like a little kid on a toy train. Walt himself loved trains, I loved trains as a kid. Now, I feel in love with them again. Where else in the world can I work on an actual steam train and make a special vacation for our guests?
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