Jambo everybody! My name is Alexis and I will be your game driver for your 2-week photo safari here in the Harambe Wildlife Reserve!

Yep, you guessed it... I'll be driving the trucks at the Kilimanjaro Safaris in the Animal Kingdom! Could there be a more perfect job for me? Nah, I doubt it. So that was a very exciting thing to discover on check-in day.

Check-in day was... long. Oh man was it long. Check-in starts at 9, but in order to get your preferred apartment, you need to arrive early, and I mean EARLY. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning and it was still dark out. I figured nobody would be standing outside in the dark. Boy was I wrong! I ended up heading over to Vista Way around 6:15 and there were already about 100 people there! It was crazy. But I met some nice people and we talked until we could check in. Then we chose our complex, got our housing ID, and then went over to Casting. That's where it got very long. We had to give them our I9 forms, and that took a while. We also had to do fingerprinting for background checks. Then we discussed the Disney Look. Fortunately, we didn't have to dress up super nice because they knew we'd need to dress comfortably since we were moving in that day. We still had to adhere to the Disney Look, but they weren't too strict. Then we had a housing meeting for about two hours. I was all moved in that night!

The next day we had off, so I went to the parks with my mom before her flight that night. It was sad to say goodbye, but I know I'm going to have a blast this semester and she'll most likely be back here again soon.

On Friday we had Traditions, which is basically a sort of orientation. It was about four hours, and we learned about the Disney mission statement, as well as their rules and such. We even had a tour through the utilidors (underground tunnels for cast members) under the Magic Kingdom so that was pretty sweet. I ended the day by going to Hollywood Studios with some friends.

Yesterday was orientation for the Animal Kingdom, which is called DAKlimation (DAK = Disney's Animal Kingdom). So we talked a lot about the park, and we got a tour through it. And finally, today was my very first day of training. I'll begin driving the trucks tomorrow! Wish me luck!