What Exactly Does WDW Attraction Hostess Do???

Me working podium/Panel at Pooh 

If you are familiar with my blog you know that I have had two internships at Walt Disney World. I was an Attractions Hostess in 2000 in FantasyLand right before the new costumes were introduced. Most people aren't aware of what extensive training Attraction cast members receive. I worked at: Winnie the Pooh, Mad Tea Party, Dumbo, Ariel's Grotto, & Snow White's Scary Adventure. I had to memorize all the characters, scenes within each attraction, stories behind the attraction in detail, fire exits & fire extinguisher locations as well as emergency procedures for each attraction. On top of all of that we had to learn how to load/unload special Wheelchair cars & how to reboot an attraction if it suddenly stalls. You only have 30 seconds to load a wheelchair car on Winnie the pooh until the attraction will automatically shut down. That is a lot of pressure to do that in 30 seconds!!! I think I only had to load a wheelchair car ever twice but I did it within the time allotted. :)

 We also had to do ride throughs after the park closed every night which was fun. :) We also had to do walk throughs & pick up all the trash in the attractions. I miss walking through the scenes after close. I will probably never get to do that again unless I work at WDW again....

We also had to memorize all the spiels for Dumbo or what to say if a ride breaks down/evacuation procedures/lightning spiels. One time I was loading guests on  SWSA & the ride suddenly stopped for no reason. The girl working the podium/panel freaked out. I had to take charge  & made an announcement to have everyone stay seated & they would be moving momentarily. After a few buttons being pressed I had the ride up & running within 20 seconds! :) I took my training very seriously & took an extra day. You have to pass a lengthy written/oral test before you can go to work without a trainer. You are studying with a trainer for those first few days. I was a VERYYYYY shy person before my internship. I admit I cried right before I said my very first Dumbo spiel. It was terrifying to talk in front of all of those people if you are as shy as I was! I still have the spiel memorized to this day because I said it so many times. HAHA ...Now all the spiels are automated by a computer?! I am glad in hindsight that I had to do it because it helped my shyness by 10000000%! I will always be grateful to Disney for that. I don't know if I'd be the same person today without those experiences. :) When I got home my family was amazed at how much I changed for the better. 

Next time you are at WDW I hope you appreciate all the cast members keeping you safe at all times. :) 

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Old control panel for pooh. It has since been updated

Me & Pooh napping in scene on ride ;) 

SWSA Evil Queen Chair 

Me in Tigger Scene

Me in scene of SWSA