It’s been too long since I’ve written about my Disney Quest, and after two entries I haven’t even gotten into the real nitty gritty of the program: the ACTUAL work! While Facebook and Instagram would suggest that I only went to the parks and partied (totally did) there was actually a ton of work that kicked my ass.
When I was accepted into the program I was accepted as a “Role Hopper” at Disney Quest which basically was fancy talk for, “You’re going to get extra training so you can do more than one role while here.” While others got trained for one role, I got DOUBLE the training which was actually a lot more fun than it sounds! No, seriously, for once in my life I’m not being sarcastic training at Disney Quest was actually REALLY fun!
Before I get into training and the job itself, I’ll address the elephant in the room. A lot of people reading this are probably thinking, “I’ve been to Disney World so many times… but what the heck is Disney Quest!?” For the uninitiated, Disney Quest is that big blue box shaped building next to Cirque Du Soleil in what was formerly called Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs).
Now that you know where it is, you’re probably wondering “What IS Disney Quest though!? What do you do?” Well let tell you.
Disney Quest is a five floor interactive theme park with seven virtual reality and 3D rides, and over 200 arcade games such as Frogger, Pac Man and newer games like Guitar Hero that are all free to play once you purchase a ticket. Once you buy a ticket you are allowed to leave and re-enter as many times as you’d like during the day. AND NO IT IS NOT A GODDAMN MOVIE THEATER WHY WOULD THERE BE A SECOND MOVIE THEATER NEXT TO THE AMC THEATER THAT IS LITERALLY HALF A BLOCK AWAY YOU STUPID IDIOT?
Did that first part before the pent up rage sound rehearsed? If so that’s because I said it a couple million times while working at Disney Quest. Also, for whatever reason every unsuspecting guest thought it was a movie theater even though AMC was basically right next door. If there’s one thing you’ll learn while working at Disney, it’s that people are idiots.
Back to the training though, I was being trained as both a custodial cast member and an attractions cast member for all seven rides at Disney Quest. The seven rides were as follows:
- Invasion: Up to four people sit in a room and try to pew pew aliens and rescue colonists from a faraway planet. NO it doesn’t move and NO it’s not scary there aren’t even seat belts for crying out loud.
- Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blaster: Bumper cars with two people per vehicle where the objective is to shoot other cars with the balls scattered on the space floor! What’s that? You weren’t listening to my spiel about how to drive the car so you just went back and forth like an idiot? Whoops.
- Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam: Pinball meets hockey in the most infuriating controls ever! Your small child will NOT be able to move his/her pinball in the ride but hey I gotta let him/her on anyways!
- Cyberspace Mountain: No, not Hyperspace Mountain, CYBERspace Mountain! It’s a virtual roller coaster ride that you and Bill Nye create together! Your simulation will do EVERYTHING you created it to do! Oh you put nine loops in it? Well guess what? You’re going upside down nine times have fun! Definitely the coolest ride at Disney Quest.
- Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride: Oh boy. Up to four people play together in a virtual reality game (complete with headsets that’ll terrify your kids) to collect as many jewels as you can to find the Genie in the Cave of Wonders. Most of the time though you’re just going to fly around aimlessly confused as to what is happening.
- Virtual Jungle Cruise: You and up to three others are on a raft simulator which requires you to row with real oars to progress the raft through the game. It even has airbags that inflates underneath your raft to simulate water. It WOULD be an awesome ride… IF GUESTS WOULD FOLLOW THE SAFETY PROTOCOLS! KEEPING FEET STRAPPED IN ISN’T THAT HARD.
- Pirates of the Caribbean – Battle for Buccaneer Gold: The second best ride at Disney Quest! Up to five people are in a boat, one is the captain that steers the boat while the other four are gunners and fire cannons at enemy ships to gather treasure. The boat again moved to simulate moving on water and there was even a final boss at the end that terrified unsuspecting kids! I don’t have any sarcastic or snarky thing to say about this ride, this was definitely one of the most fun and easiest rides to run for guests. The objective and controls were simple: sail and shoot stuff.
It was a lot to remember but one of the best things about working at Disney has to be the support system. My trainers, leaders, AND fellow cast members were all incredibly helpful and supportive throughout my program. To work at Disney it goes without saying that you have to be happy and cheery almost to a fault. Basically, you gotta be able to take horrible treatment from guests while still maintaining your cool and a smile. At Disney, that can be incredibly hard, some people you meet are going to try their hardest to ruin your day (because they’re dicks). All you can do is laugh it off with your fellow cast members, and believe me, we sure did at Disney Quest. Have you ever yelled or freaked out at a customer service worker? If so then congratulations! You are now the basis of a hilarious joke that worker now tells all of his or her fellow crew mates. Seriously, customer service people ESPECIALLY Disney cast members, get so much flack, it’s a miracle people keep their sanity. Hardest part about working at Disney Quest though? Wearing the uniform that’s exploding with color. We called ourselves Poptarts and the picture below will show you why.
The best part about working in Disney Springs is that there were bars and restaurants all around you opened late. Have a terrible day? No worries, Splitsville next door will make everything better with the power of alcohol and appetizers! These were the best nights of the program for sure. While in the program I made friends with people literally all over the world: England, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Morocco, it goes on! Disney really does hire some of the best of the best, and it shows in their reputation of excellence. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to share the program and work with! I love my fellow Pop Tarts!
So now you know why this blog series is called My Disney Quest! Now that we’re approaching Halloween season, I think the next entry is going to be all about Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party! Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!
The Magical World of Dids 