Port Orleans Resort

Now that the anticipation is over, here is the rest of the info! 

My job is to work in merchandise at the Port Orleans Resort in the gift shop. 

I had more training than I could have imagined!  I assumed it was going to be very organized, since there are over 70,000 employed Disney cast members, but it was pretty much overkill.  The first week I worked was 43 hours, followed by the next week of 44 hours.  Definitely something I wasn't used too. Thankfully the hours decreased to around 35, which freed up some more time to enjoy the parks!

There are 2 different sides to Port Orleans: Riverside and French Quarter.  They are both extremely different on the outside, but the individual rooms look identical. Riverside was built in a way to reflect the classic plantation style mansions from the south. It was originally named Disney's Dixie Landing Resort, but was shortly changed after.  When my GPS came up with "Dixie Land" as the search results, I thought I'd for sure get lost again since I didn't know what that was !
French Quarter was opened a year earlier and was built to replicate New Orleans.  It only can host about 1,000 guests, whereas Riverside hosts double.  Because of this, RIverside is extremely, extremely busy and French Quarter is not at all.

Riverside has multiple activities that guests can enjoy.  There is a fishing hole stocked with blue gill, catfish, and bass.  There are boats and bikes guests can rent out for their enjoyment.  And every night there is also a big screen TV outside that will play a movie, followed by jazz music on weekdays that are extremely popular with guests.  Lastly, you can also take a carriage ride around the resort!

Next, French Quarter is my favorite to look on the outside, as you can see in these pictures.  I love how distinct the doors look since they are all different colors.  When we were on one of our many tours, they said that the architects painted them differently because of the close replication to New Orleans.  Since there is so much partying in New Orleans, it may be hard to find your door at night.  This way, you can just remember having a bright yellow door, by visually seeing it, instead of remembering a set of numbers. (pretty smart, I'd say!)  

In addition, they also print the names of the streets on the sidewalks, so it's easier to find home.

As most people know, Disney wants everything to come to life as part of their show.  So since Mardi Gras is the theme, they have multiple ways to show this.  Here are just some examples:

 

 

But then you also have creepy pictures like this that are approximately 428x your body weight that will scare the kids... (and me)..

But I do have to admit, they do have a really sweet pool for the kids at the French Quarter!

We also hand out beads, as beads were very popular for Mardi Gras, which I will show in future posts, because I am learning to make designs out of them!

And lastly, here is another video showing the resort live and in action!  This video is worse than the others...mostly because I'm not sure if I was allowed to take videos in my costume, so I just did them really quick and in disguise!

Next update will be about what we actually do at work and guest interactions...pretty humorous!

If anyone would like to send special life-sized bubble wrap over here, that would be greatly appreciated. One of my roommates has bronchitis, one has a sinus infection, upper respiratory infection, and mild bronchitis, and another one that lives in my room sounds like coughing is her laugh.......help!