Traditions

Sorry guys it’s been a little while since my last post; training has been taking up most of my time! Today I thought I’d talk a little bit about Traditions! For those of you that don’t know, the only way I can really describe Traditions is kind of like a welcoming or initiation into the Disney Company. Everyone who starts to work for Disney must take this class and personally I found it fun.

The first thing you have to prepare for is the fact that it’s a long day, the class is about 5-6 hours. There are morning and afternoon classes which pretty much means you could either be scheduled to start either between 7-9 in the morning or 2-3:30 in the afternoon. There’s also a few days in between check-in and Traditions to hangout.

My Traditions was at 2:30 the Saturday after my check-in. Most of my roommates (like myself) had the afternoon Traditions, so we all were able to ride the bus together, but unfortunately we were not in the same class. Once you arrive at Disney University (it still sounds cool to say I took a class at DU) you are ushered into the cafeteria and split up by class. Make sure to pay attention to every detail of this building, it’s awesome! The walls are lined with Disney moments in history and pictures of Disney achievements. You’ll even find a few familiar faces hanging down from the ceiling to greet you along the way. Once it’s time for your class you will be brought into a classroom and signed in. After finding a seat it’s time to begin!

Since I can’t really go into too much detail about what is discussed in Traditions I can tell you this much, they make you feel proud. They make you feel proud to be part of this program, proud to be part of the Disney family, and most of all proud to be creating magic for guests everyday. Once they see you’re starting to get tired out they will do something to really lift your spirit. In the middle of your table will be a big red box. Inside (once they tell you to open it) will be a surprise for everyone at the table! Watch my video to find out what it is!

After that they decide to show you Disney in action! How do they do that you ask? Well Disney University is pretty close to Magic Kingdom, and what better way to learn about Disney parks than going to one right? That’s right, they throw you all on a bus with some cool spy ear pieces to hear your guide and you’re off to the Magic Kingdom! You get ushered through cast member only areas and next thing you know you’re in front of Cinderella’s castle. This was the moment where a lot of people got emotional. The part where people realized that their dream was finally becoming a reality. I’ve seen that castle I don’t even know how many times, but this time definitely felt different. Along the way up Main Street, cast members left and right congratulated you and guests looked at us as if we were VIPs. It was kind of surreal. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to video tape any of that due to Disney rules, but just trust me on the fact that it was definitely magical.

Once you return, Disney has one more trick up it’s sleeve. It was name tag and blue ID time. NAME TAGS AND BLUE IDS. (For those of you that don’t know Blue IDs are what let you into the parks) That mean’t it was official, it was officially time to start my journey! But of course in usual Disney style they can’t just hand name tags out. Instead they got the big boss man himself to come in to help! After the name tags were passed out, the music started to play and we were congratulated! Then it was time to head back to the complexes and enjoy our evenings!

Check out my short video below to get a taste of what Traditions was like!

My Video: Toria’s Tales of Disney: Traditions

Also I’m trying to upload my next video from the day after Traditions! Some of my roommates and I went to the Magic Kingdom for the day! (The video is just uploading painfully slow but I will hopefully have it soon!)