Living and Working at Disney- Soarin's CM Journal

[cy1229]

I still wish they had finished the other half of pop century. Can you imagine how cool the 1920s and 1930s buildings would have been?? All that art deco! Streamlining! *sigh* oh well.

[dstrawn9889]

Soarin do you know the Disney rates for these suites yet.

Virgin Holidays have them available from later in the year..............wait for it..................two weeks in February low season remember with car hire and Disney tickets £5200. I would like to see them but could get two trips for that at All Stars. Guess we will be heading back to POR.

That is what I am wondering too. It seems like for being a value resort, the Art of Animation is priced more like a moderate!

That's the point, since it's far more room.... that's how the suites at Music are priced as well.

Nemo, Cars, and Lion King are the suites. Little Mermaid is being done from the existing half of the old set of buildings that were slated to be the Legendary Years for Pop. Hence why that piece is standard value.

weren't they ALL going to be legendary years... they just had the skins of 2 or three buildings up, and the slabs for the rest already poured... and then they changed the themeing to be 'MORE' kid friendly, after all, that is when they want to hook em' early, like they did US

[Soarin08]

UGHHH so much to cover from today!!! Where to start... this is gonna take several posts.

So today was the Community Luncheon and Plaque/Key Ceremony onboard the Fantasy over in Port Canaveral. I signed up to work the event and had to drive myself over, which was worrisome at first because I was unsure of how to get to the port, but it was a piece of cake. I actually arrived WAY early, as my scheduled shift was at 8am and I got there at 7am, but my leader put me on to work since I was the first to arrive.

Bright and early- good morning!



I was stationed in the cruise terminal for the morning, checking in the invited guests for the luncheon and ceremony. I did last names R and S, we split into six groups to do it, one person per group of letters-



My main task before the guests arrived was to put labels and lanyards on the credentials- these were the only way we could get on the ship. Like so-



^^^ I'm keeping that forever, by the way. That was mine. Since I was just a general event worker, I didn't get my name on my credentials like most of the invited guests did.

Basically, this was the deal- the community luncheon was for important people in Port Canaveral, such as the mayor (who was SO NICE, I checked him in), members of the port authority, local government officials, etc. The Boys and Girls Club division in the city also came, as Disney was presenting them with a donation to build a new facility in PC during the lunch. The plaque and key exchange is apparently something that is tradition in the cruise world- I didn't follow it too well but oh well. The lunch was held at Animator's Palette- I can't even imagine! I don't know what they ate.

Here is a daytime shot from the window of the terminal-



And some shots from the entrance to actually board the Fantasy-









And just a shot from the window-



One of the ladies who was working with me, Diane (who is apparently my neighbour, working next door to me in 210 Celebration), joined me on the viewing deck to take some better shots of the ship-











At 11.30, we were allowed to break for lunch in groups. Since the invited guests had to surrender their drivers licenses in order to get on the ship, someone had to maintain the desk at all time. So me, Diane (the lady I mentioned above) and Jo, another neighbour in 210 Celebration, headed to the cast break room for lunch.



Disney catered the event and had promised boxed lunches... they did so well. We had: two half sandwiches (one turkey and Swiss on a croissant and one ham and cheddar on some sort of cheese bread, along with lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, salt, and pepper for condiments), a bag of chips, two chocolate chip cookies, a granola bar, some peanut M&Ms, a banana, Italian pasta salad, a bottle of water, and then our choice of canned Coke, Diet Coke, or Sprite.

And they put it all nice and neat in this bag-



Which I kept!

So next post starts the self-guided ship tour... with a ton of interior shots!!!!! So stay tuned!!!

[Amy]

This is a really neat shot Soarin! That is a very nice picture of you too ~ I like your shirt!
I don't blame you for wanting to keep all the goodies as souvenirs ~ what a great way to remember the day!
This is so fun having someone who was there and can share with us ~ looking forward to the next installment

[mills10]

Great report! Thanks for taking the time to share this with us!

[Soarin08]

Great report! Thanks for taking the time to share this with us!

It isn't done yet!!

Thanks Amy!! Everyone loves that shirt- Dress Barn!

[Amy]

Great report! Thanks for taking the time to share this with us!

It isn't done yet!!
Thanks Amy!! Everyone loves that shirt- Dress Barn!

It's so colorful and cheerful ~ and it looks like it would match anything

[Mousekedude]

I was gonna say "love the shirt" too!
Looking forward to the rest of the report....

[MmeLeota]

I was gonna say "love the shirt" too!
Looking forward to the rest of the report....

Me too! (on both points)
Lovely pictures so far!

[Soarin08]

I was gonna say "love the shirt" too!
Looking forward to the rest of the report....

Me too! (on both points)
Lovely pictures so far!

The shirt's a hit! I like it because it can work with any of my dress pants but then I can turn around and wear it with my skinny jeans on Friday and it still looks good.

I'm out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with lunch at DTD and then off to MK, so I'll try to get the interior shots posted tonight. I was flippin' tired yesterday...

[Soarin08]

So now to begin a post of interior shots.

So most of us were pretty much dying to go on the ship, and after we all had our lunch break, our leader told us that we could go on so long as someone was there to keep an eye on all the guests' IDs. There were two men working with us who had actually just come off the first preview cruise that morning, so they wanted to stay behind. So that left the rest of us to go on the ship and explore. I went with Diane and Jo, the two ladies I mentioned I had lunch with, as well as Jann and Debbie, who were with Disney Destinations. Jo had also just come off the preview cruise, but she wanted to act as a sort of tour guide for us.

So you walk in the atrium and-













There were some crew members in the atrium doing some cleaning, and lo and behold, I got to meet one of them that I hired- Gleiza from the Philippines. She was so appreciative of the chance to get to work on the Fantasy- I think she must have thanked me for the opportunity to work for Disney at least a half dozen times. All the crew were FANTASTIC that I met, the majority of them people I hired. We did well with staffing this ship!!

Next we proceeded up to what I think is the adults-only pool and bar area (judging from the map, that is)-





Actually, yes, this was the adults-only section. Here is a shot from the adults-only cafe, Cove Cafe. The pool is called the Quiet Cove Pool-



And the carpeting throughout the ship-



I will get on our spa tour in the next post. There are a lot of pics from that alone and a lot of things to describe- so bear with me!

[Soarin08]

So next we came to the spa area on deck 11, Senses (deck 11 is pretty much the adults deck, I gathered)-



We stepped inside and were greeted warmly by Natalie from South Africa, who offered to give us a tour of the entire facility. Natalie is one of our spa hostesses and what we call a concession- a person who is hired to work for Disney via an outside vendor. They are not considered CMs but still work on the ships like all the other Disney people do. Concessions typically are the spa hosts/hostesses, photographers, doctors and nurses, musicians, shopping guides (the people who do the tours in ports of call), and laundry stewards.

Here a a couple views of the salon area-





Detailing on the floor-



Fitness center-



The wall decor in the teen spa, which is called Chill-



This is Rainforest, which offeres aromatherapy steam rooms as well as sauna and shower treatments-



Some of the aromatherapy offerings-



Water runs down the paneling, you guys have prolly seen similar things-



The different showers in the sauna area- the names are such in order to describe the sort of shower that a person will receive-



One of the sauna rooms-



Another view of the showers. The lady on the right-hand side is Diane-



These were the COOLEST chairs ever. Made of the stone glass pieces, but they were warm. We all gave them a go and no one wanted to get up!



Hot tubs in the area with the above chairs-





The spa waiting room. I apologise for Diane being in the first shot, lol-





The couples' treatment room. Natalie said they aren't just for married couples. She said this is popular with a lot of moms and daughters as well-



The private couples' hot tub and verandah area-





This is one of the treatment rooms. This display is set up to show the chocolate foil wrap offered- we would all have gladly tested that out!



Detail of the ceiling-



View from one of the treatment room verandahs; that is the teen pool-



Back in the salon-







After we left the spa- with enthusiastic thanks to Natalie for her generosity in showing us around- we popped in to see the deluxe verandah view staterooms. So next post!

[dichuy]

My friend toured the ship before it left NYC and he said the pools and hot tubs were too small in his opinion. Beautiful shots! Thanks for sharing.

[SorcererDonald16]

Thank you SO much for sharing all this, Soarin. Your pics are gorgeous! I'm so glad you're getting to experience all of these fun things.

Never been on any kind of cruise, but I would like to try DCL out at some point.

Random question: Why would a person with diabetes want to consider avoiding the whirlpool spa? Granted I don't use public spas, pools, etc. (I get sick fairly easily, so I'm a bit of a germaphobe), but I've never heard of a warning like that before.

[Amy]

Wow ~ the atrium is just opulent! I've seen some photos from the other ships so I sort of knew what to expect. I imagine it is so much more grand in person since it is hard to get a sense of the scale from photos.
Do you know how much any of the spa and salon services cost Soarin'? I'm guessing those are not included in the cost of the cruise correct?
That is so cool that you were able to see so many of the people you had hired. That is very neat!

Thank you SO much for sharing all this, Soarin. Your pics are gorgeous! I'm so glad you're getting to experience all of these fun things.
Never been on any kind of cruise, but I would like to try DCL out at some point.
Random question: Why would a person with diabetes want to consider avoiding the whirlpool spa? Granted I don't use public spas, pools, etc. (I get sick fairly easily, so I'm a bit of a germaphobe), but I've never heard of a warning like that before.

Like you, I've never been on a cruise ~ but if I ever get to go, I want to go on a Disney cruise!

People that have diabetes generally have impaired circulation and have to be careful when they are around environments that are too hot or cold. They can easily get a burn or frostbite without realizing it since they sometimes aren't as sensitive to signals the skin is giving off due to decreased sensation in their extremities. Also the very likelihood of bacteria in hot tubs can be dangerous if they have any open wounds ~ actually that goes for anyone!