Evangeline's

So my life was consumed by my Finance Fundamentals project. We were given the pro-forma and year 1 actual results of a restaurant. We had to come up with a theme and then also changes that would be made to make the restaurant perform better in year 2 - to essentially get it back on the path.

Our team, titled the Goof Troop, created Evangeline's located at Port Orleans French Quarter. It was based on Princess and the Frog - a nice romantic, elegant restaurant. We made some adjustments and had a pretty solid case. We presented on Wednesday to a group full of managers, executives and fellow interns. I thought we did really well - all the groups did. I'm really proud of all of us!

Now that it is over, my schedule is freeing up a bit, though we started our Department Overviews which is a series of presentations from different finance departments so we have a good idea of different areas when we want to do meet and greets and start applying.

I'm still working on promotional analysis in addition to other odds and ends. Liz and Megan came into town last weekend - Disney in 2 days. WOO! I think I finally recovered hahaha Just in time too - Victor comes in this weekend. It's a busy busy month!!

FAIL ON UPDATING

Yeah, I know. It's been a month. Life has been a bit busy. Let's see where I left off.

I did go home, and saw family and some friends so that was really nice. Exhausting but nice. It's hard to travel home when you work M-F.

Work has gone by so fast! I've been working on my Finance Fundamentals project (information will be disclosed after the presentation haha) and the analysis of the QSR promotion. It's been a fantastic learning experience. My leaders and peers have kind of let me run with it. I'm getting great experience with the data pulling tools that we have. I went to training classes before on it, but I learn best by experiencing it.

This week I got to go to an All Hands meeting and hear about this past quarters results some more and then listen to presentations on the new cruise ship (Dream) and the new fall line up/movie released. Let me just say, CANNOT wait to go on a cruise haha

Also this week was a team afternoon. The fiscal year is winding down so everyone is celebrating a job well done. We went around Epcot on a picture scavenger hunt, it was a nice team builder, so much fun!

My life this week has been a bit busy. I've been in and out of the building for various meetings, I think I had a total of maybe 8 hours working time. Oye! Its' stressful but kinda cool haha

Outside of work, as mentioned I went home. Summer and I had a tourist day, we needed a little Disney magic in our life. I got a big group together to go to Mama Melrose's and that was just awesome. How I managed to get 9 people together, I will never know. Last night we went to Disney on Ice. I love how I have found people who are driven and intelligent, but still have that passion for things like Disney on Ice. It's nice =)

I need to start working on my resume and apply for some other internships. I can start applying for full time positions in November, dun dun dun!

Time is Flying

Last week was forecast week, and it was interesting with two of our leaders out in CA. It was pretty hectic. I offered my services to anyone that needed them haha. I worked on budgets for most of the week. I met with one of the pricing cast members to discuss the analysis done on promotions. I like getting a feel for the other areas that work closely with mine to see how everything comes together.

This past week I met with my mentor for a bit and discussed meet and greets, that protocol and such. We had another meeting for our class during which we met our team adviser. The class itself this week was pretty interesting - a lot of valuable real world stuff which I appreciate. I also started to learn more about programs we use to pull data from so I can help with random requests. I'm excited!

The working life is pretty good, I realize though that time is flying so I'm starting to think about January. We all are. Everyone is a bit stressed since the majority of us have graduated, it's nice to know I'm not alone in that. We're all supporting each other and I couldn't ask for anything more. I actually bought a GMAT test prep book. I figured knock it out and it's good for a few years.

Two of my old college program roommates are back for another program, so we had a little reunion. It's weird that so many people are back! It's nice though. Some attractions are closing for refurbishment and Summer Nightastic is ending, so we made a trip to studios to enjoy some of it one last time. Tonight, Wishes returns and I could not be more excited. I'm goin!

I'm traveling home next weekend to celebrate some birthdays, go to my cousins baby shower and my sister's birthday party. It'll be nice to see the fam!

Pat on the Back

Let me just say - I am proud how often I have updated this. I'm patting myself on the back haha much improvement from my college program days haha.

My busy calendar mildly fell apart this week, but that's ok. I went to my first promotions meeting and met with Amy who is the go to person for all promotions and that was awesome. She was really chill, a nice welcoming vibe. My promotions analysis meeting got pushed to next week.

I had my first meeting with my Finance Fundamentals team and it was very productive. We have to prepare a budget for year 2 for a restaurant and figure out why it didn't bring in as much cash as expected. We discussed the numbers and developed a pretty awesome theme, which I will not reveal.

Our second class in Finance Fundamentals was on financial reporting, so naturally I really enjoyed it, others not so much. The next day we had a class on Excel which was very helpful.

Friday was a busy day for me! I met with someone on my team and discussed how to work on a budget. Then I had a brownbag lunch with some executives and then back to work on my budget. I'm pretty excited about this - it's the real deal ya know?

Next week is forecast week so everyone is going to be in a tizzy. I'm working a longer day tomorrow - I want to get in early to sign up for the cast choir in the candlelight processional but then I have a meeting until 5.

I hung out with some of the other finance interns on Friday - that was nice. To see everyone out of the working world with their game face on haha. I started going to the dance studio I found that has adult classes and it's awesome. The guy that runs it choreographs professionally and used to work for Disney! It's a lot of fun.

I've had a pretty chill weekend, tonight I'm making Mamma Mia Meatloaf. I know - you're jealous. =P

Corporate Barbie

I've fallen into quite the routine here. I wake up, take a shower, put on my corporate gear, chat with Summer, make breakfast/lunch, head to work. I have reports to do on Monday/Tuesday as well as catch up from happenings over the weekend. Go to lunch, work on whatever, pack up go home, have dinner, hang out with friends, go to sleep. Wash, Rinse Repeat.

Last week, I met with my mentor. As mentioned before we have a leader, coach and mentor. Our mentor is someone still in finance, but outside the department. Kind of a safety zone. They are there to help you with anything. I immediately loved her. She has worked a variety of jobs, having just transitioned into a new role at Downtown Disney - my former home! We sat and talked for an hour, and I expressed to her I wanted to pursue more accounting and that I was interested in pricing. She thought of some departments for me, taking notes, thinking of ways to get me in on shadow opportunities. I get to meet with her every 3 weeks. Next time, we're getting Earl of Sandwich =)

I also got to pick the brain of my leader last week. After the forecast meeting, I went through the presentation deck and just wrote down questions. Some were legit 'what is this chart?' and others where just general 'why is this like this?'. I only got through a handful in our blocked time (which we went over...). Next time!

One of our team members also transitioned into a new role. We had a farewell lunch for him and he came to me and told me if I needed anyone to talk to, he was there. He had been through the intern program and such. I'm going to miss him! He was fun, and I really appreciate his offer of advice. I told him I would probably harass him haha

This past week has been pretty quiet. A lot of the team is on vacation, including my leader. During my check-in with my coach, I expressed to her how much I enjoyed tracking the quick service coupon promotion and I'd like to learn more about it. We get up, walk around the building, she introduces me to some people who are involved and got me in on the weekly meetings. Then she took me around the building some more and I spoke with one of the cast members that designs the stores. He showed me some previous projects which was really neat. He worked on the new cruise ship stores and will be working on the Hawaii resort stores.

I set up time to meet with one of the pricing cast members to review how they analyze promotions and then I also have time with another cast member who works in merchandise planning to hear her input on the promotions gig.

Also during my check-in, Duranne decided to pull me from the SAP class and put me in the merchandise training class instead. I felt pretty special not having to do all the typical intern classes haha. The class was really interesting. It was on contract and policy compliance. Basically the rules and steps that have to followed and taken in order for a product to be released. Making sure its not a rip off and what to do if it is a royalty.

I started my finance fundamentals class on Wednesday. It was much like my PDS class during my college program, but now I think I can appreciate it more. The highlight of this class was I met the woman that interviewed me. I went up and introduced myself and told her how stress-free my interview was and such. I mean, my interview was a conversation. I actually laughed during it. It wasn't me putting up this prim and proper face. I was honest and I guess that's why I'm here now.

I am really jazzed for next week - my calendar has a lot on it, I love it!

From a personal life standpoint, I've been running around, having fun. I can't have too many lazy days, thanks to my Papa for that. I got a new roomie, Alisha, on Monday and she's pretty cool. She's working at the Land - extended her internship. So far so good there!

We do a lot of gather around and eat dinner things haha Still doing our weekly dinner and some impromptu dinners with the neighbors. Last week we went to the Polynesian, sat on the beach and watch the water pageant/fireworks. I saw Fantasmic the other night and spent the afternoon at Cocoa Beach yesterday.

Everyday is different. I've been doing a lot of soul searching/what am I doing with my life after January thinking. I just got a flash of the scene in Pocahontas during Just Around the Riverbend. "Should I choose the smoothest course, steady as the beating drum...."

Copy, Paste Values

This week was a bit long. I was busy at work and outside of work with the 4th and birthdays and such.

The week has been a lot of me sitting and listening to one the members of my team explain what he does at month end for closing and forecasting since he is changing jobs. It was overwhelming. I wasn't the only one feeling that way, even finance professionals did too so I shouldn't feel that bad, but it does make me question finance as my field. I enjoy accounting more which is less grey - I like black and white. But we'll see.

I started editing a file to set it up for the quarter 3 summary, and started matching item numbers to papers with merchandise on it that are held in the royalty department.

I sat in on the forecast meeting and went to training on presentations as well at the end of the week. I have more training coming up and then my finance fundamentals class starts the week after.

I think I've heard the phrase "copy, past values" more than anything this week haha, oh excel.

I'm enjoying my time here, socially and professionally - so far so good!

Enjoying Your 2nd Dinner?

Last Saturday I spent a few hours in the Animal Kingdom and then came home and made my famous Mamma Mia Baked Ziti for dinner. Michael made Banana Foster which was so good!

So Monday was day 2 of orientation (backstage at Hollywood Studios) where we learned more about what to do in order to further our career, definitely valuable information. After that we took a little walk to our lunch location which was in a room meant for events like this, but in true Disney fashion it was decorated with old props from shows/parades. There were puppets from the Lion King show at Magic Kingdom (pre Philharmagic) and contraptions from the Tapestry of Nations parade. We had lunch with a few executives who spoke to us about their history and what we should do during our time here. It was stressful haha but a good experience none the less.

After lunch we took a walk through DHS and rode Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster. It was important for us to experience what we are supporting. To see the guests faces and see how this machine runs. Awesome day of orientation =)

This week I also had another SAP training class and a welcome lunch (aww). At the office I ran my first report (this one on mail order merchandise) and acquired a couple others to do weekly. One is the weekly volume report (attendance etc) and one tracking how the quick service coupon promotion is going.

I also was working on pulling numbers for a deep dive analysis and my leader was really pleased with it so I got a project to take it one step further. I'm not sure how much I can say but it's a benchmarking type assignment. Next week is dealing with month end and forecasting so it'll be busy for my team! I am now finished all the online trainings as well, go me! haha it's been good at the office. I'm getting lost less and less.

From a non-work perspective, life has been busy too! I feel like I've eaten more than anything this week, enjoying second and third dinners haha. Tuesday night, Summer and I tried out the Zumba class here at the apartments and then went for a 2 mile walk. It was wonderful! We're going to train for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. I've always wanted to do something like that, so I'm excited =)

Wednesday night was the cast preview of Captain EO, which was opening officially on Friday. So after work I met up with Summer, Corinne and Adam - enjoyed some dinner in Japan and then headed to see Michael. I did not remember it haha but it was fun! Friday we did our traditional Epcot and Magic Kingdom experiencing Space Mountain twice (woo!).

We decided to do the 4th of July Magic Kingdom fireworks on Saturday to avoid the crowd and it was just absolutely stunning. We did some attractions afterwards - Adam hasn't experienced the world, just the land so we had to introduce him to some of world's magic.

Today I am cleaning up, doing laundry and then headed to the Studios to meet up with friends for the fireworks there. I have a busy week ahead and I'm excited for it! Happy 4th of July Everyone!