Today started out early at 4:30am as we visited the horticulture services center where we received additional details about our professional internship program. Horticulture services is located just north of Animal Kingdom, which makes it about a 15 min drive from my apartment (light traffic at 4:30am!).
All 34 professional horticulture interns were placed into designated "regions" of the Walt Disney World Resort for the summer. The region I was placed in is Region 3 which includes Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, and Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. I will be spending roughly 2 weeks at each location and each day will include different experiences and tasks (pest ID, irrigation techniques, design, maintenance, and plant ID). Basically there will never be any two days alike! Each shift will last from 4:30am to 12:30pm with weekends / holidays / afternoons off which makes for some awesome free time to ride Splash Mountain!
We also received our costumes today at the wardrobe department. Each intern received a set of 10 costumes. Our "costumes" are unique in that they allow us to travel between different themed areas of parks and resorts but yet still blend in with the general story-line of a certain "area". Also the costumes we wear are all custom made to fit each person on the team.
Lastly we were briefed on an update regarding our summer creative design project. The project is very open ended, but must relate to what we learn throughout the summer and relate to our region of work (Animal Kingdom). The creative project will also be presented to a panel of Walt Disney World Horticulture Managers and also Industry Professionals from around the Orlando area. Can't wait to get started!
Over the next couple days we will continue our safety training and move onward to our selected regions throughout Walt Disney World. In the mean time I have to start studying this one inch binder of Disney World plants! We will have a test soon.
Wes, this is so exciting! We need pictures of the costumes next. Curious as to what this means. What a great experience and thanks for the blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gretchen! Ill have some pics up soon of the costumes. It pretty much looks like im going on a safari. I'll keep the blog updated every few days and at least once per week.
ReplyDeleteSo proud of you! Keep blogging-- I am loving all of your stories!
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