Discovery Day is one of the four park specific training you can receive while working at WDW. Discovery Day (Epcot), Once Upon a Time is...Now! (Magic Kingdom, DAKlimation (Animal Kingdom), and On With the Show! (Hollywood Studios) are the four training classes.
One day after Operations I had my scheduled Discovery Day class. Out of all the parks, Epcot hasn't always been my favorite. It has the feel of a more adult park because of the addition of World Showcase. Wow, have I been wrong this whole time (see post about Food and Wine). Discovery Day was a day of new experiences, new information and memories, and definitely some new discoveries. Epcot stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Epcot is all about learning and embracing cultures, and new technology while focusing on diversity, progression, and traditions.
We met right outside the entrance to Cast Services and were taught how to clock in and enter the cheese grater as I like to call it. You have 6 seconds to go through the turnstile otherwise you will be locked out for 15 minutes. Not a good thing when you are running late! We started our day in a classroom behind cast services. This beginning segment started with a video that went back to the orginal storyteller and man behind Epcot, Walt. In the fall of 1966 Walt put together a video pitch to the state of Florida for his new Disney World entitled the Florida Project. During the time the video was made, Walt was ill and sadly died in December of that same year. He never got to see his Disney World and Epcot plan through. The Epcot was have today is vastly different from what was planned initially by Walt.
Afterwards, we got to delve into the park! Our group was so large that we split in half with two Discovery Day guides leading each group. Our leaders were very knowledgeable and quite nice. We learned many Epcot facts and had some great jokes to boot! Now hear this, it was the beginning of August and that means the weather that day was around 90 degrees--IN THE SHADE. We walked all around Future World starting with a group ride through Spaceship Earth (the attraction inside the big golf ball looking thingy for those of you who don't know). Next was world showcase and you could tell that our group was feeling the heat. I especially was not looking forward to a solid mile of walking with little to no shade. Lo and behold, that was not to be the case. The friendship boats came to our rescue! Turns out that was the plan the entire time. These boats take you all along the pavilions on the man-made lake in the middle of World Showcase. Many more facts about the countries were spewed at us and I remember very little because the entire time I was sending up prayers to the Disney gods for this unexpected bit of magic. One fact I do remember is that Morocco, which was not a part of the original opening pavilions, was built with special instructions. The prince of Morocco sen over his personal architect to work with Disney in making sure the construction of the pavilion was authentic. This is also why the pavilion does not have lights on it for Illuminations at night (see Illuminations post).
There is a part of the tour that I have not discussed and I will not discuss because I swore to keep it a secret. Legit. We all had to raise our hands and repeat an oath searing to never ever share so help me Mickey. You'll just have to work at Epcot to discover the special moment! All I will say is that was the first time I cried in a Disney park while down here. I felt very welcomed and at home.
At the end of Discovery Day is when you find out your assigned location (attraction, merch, qsfb etc). I already knew where I was being placed because I looked it up on the HUB previously. I received my schedule to train at the Sum of All Thrills (SOAT). There will be a whole post dedicated to it, but in short the ride is a virtual rollercoaster type simulator that you create from scratch. It also incorporates some math and science into the design process. Hurray for rudimentary equations and middle school math!
One day after Operations I had my scheduled Discovery Day class. Out of all the parks, Epcot hasn't always been my favorite. It has the feel of a more adult park because of the addition of World Showcase. Wow, have I been wrong this whole time (see post about Food and Wine). Discovery Day was a day of new experiences, new information and memories, and definitely some new discoveries. Epcot stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Epcot is all about learning and embracing cultures, and new technology while focusing on diversity, progression, and traditions.
We met right outside the entrance to Cast Services and were taught how to clock in and enter the cheese grater as I like to call it. You have 6 seconds to go through the turnstile otherwise you will be locked out for 15 minutes. Not a good thing when you are running late! We started our day in a classroom behind cast services. This beginning segment started with a video that went back to the orginal storyteller and man behind Epcot, Walt. In the fall of 1966 Walt put together a video pitch to the state of Florida for his new Disney World entitled the Florida Project. During the time the video was made, Walt was ill and sadly died in December of that same year. He never got to see his Disney World and Epcot plan through. The Epcot was have today is vastly different from what was planned initially by Walt.
Afterwards, we got to delve into the park! Our group was so large that we split in half with two Discovery Day guides leading each group. Our leaders were very knowledgeable and quite nice. We learned many Epcot facts and had some great jokes to boot! Now hear this, it was the beginning of August and that means the weather that day was around 90 degrees--IN THE SHADE. We walked all around Future World starting with a group ride through Spaceship Earth (the attraction inside the big golf ball looking thingy for those of you who don't know). Next was world showcase and you could tell that our group was feeling the heat. I especially was not looking forward to a solid mile of walking with little to no shade. Lo and behold, that was not to be the case. The friendship boats came to our rescue! Turns out that was the plan the entire time. These boats take you all along the pavilions on the man-made lake in the middle of World Showcase. Many more facts about the countries were spewed at us and I remember very little because the entire time I was sending up prayers to the Disney gods for this unexpected bit of magic. One fact I do remember is that Morocco, which was not a part of the original opening pavilions, was built with special instructions. The prince of Morocco sen over his personal architect to work with Disney in making sure the construction of the pavilion was authentic. This is also why the pavilion does not have lights on it for Illuminations at night (see Illuminations post).
There is a part of the tour that I have not discussed and I will not discuss because I swore to keep it a secret. Legit. We all had to raise our hands and repeat an oath searing to never ever share so help me Mickey. You'll just have to work at Epcot to discover the special moment! All I will say is that was the first time I cried in a Disney park while down here. I felt very welcomed and at home.
At the end of Discovery Day is when you find out your assigned location (attraction, merch, qsfb etc). I already knew where I was being placed because I looked it up on the HUB previously. I received my schedule to train at the Sum of All Thrills (SOAT). There will be a whole post dedicated to it, but in short the ride is a virtual rollercoaster type simulator that you create from scratch. It also incorporates some math and science into the design process. Hurray for rudimentary equations and middle school math!
