Woodrow (a.k.a., “Woody, the AK custodian whose mom is super envious that he works in Disney World while she’s stuck at home in Tennessee”) finally – FINALLY!!! – traded an Animal Kingdom shift to work in the Magic Kingdom last night…
And … he loved it!!! 
ROFL – took him long enough! He’s only worked there a year and five months. There are college program people who collect as many alternate location shifts as possible! Not my kid. He seriously waited 17 months to try a different park!
Woody was assigned to Peter Pan and Mickey’s Philharmagic. He noted many differences between working in the AK and the MK – you have to sweep up foliage and flowers in the MK, but you don’t in the AK; the MK is way more full of people; there aren’t as many drains in the MK as there are in the AK; and the keys in the MK don’t have a scraper for removing gum from the walkway.
But! He kinda got to see the fireworks while he was tending the streets, and very late at night as he was squeegeeing off garbage cans, a little girl approached and gave him a Mickey sticker to say thank you. 
He doesn’t get many thank yous in the Animal Kingdom, so he really appreciated the sticker. 
Anyhoo. Woodrow says he loved working in the MK, and he’s going to trade for more shifts there in the coming weeks. Then, he says, he’s going to go try out Epcot for July. And then, he’s gonna give Hollywood Studios a whirl in August.
Very methodical, my late-blooming, rotten, good-for-very-little son-of-a-gun is! 
(Now y’all may have to keep your eyes peeled in parks other than AK if you’re looking for Woody.)
P.S. – He loves the new 100 Years name tags, and he is very happy that the Castle is reverting to its former state sans geegaws.
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I like his observations! I’m glad he enjoyed his time in MK. I will keep my eyes open for him on our trip later this month. 
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That is fun that he can try out the other parks in his role.
I will tell you that almost ALL the MK CM’s I know would like to transfer to AK because they never get scheduled until 2 or 3 am 
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I wish I had known. We were at MK last night.
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I bet! Woodrow worked ‘til 1:45 in the morning. He gave rides to a couple of co-workers who don’t have cars. He finally got home himself just about 3:00 a.m., ate a snack, brushed his teeth, and crashed! He has a day off today. Just takin’ his car to 535 for maintenance and trying to decide if he’s going to go to a park. Woodrow usually uses his days off to ride the Skyliner and walk around the lakes of CBR or Pop Century/AofA.
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Bummer!! … On the other hand, I hope you had a magical time. 
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It rained. The whole evening.
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First of all: 
Second: That is so weird. Woodrow didn’t mention the rain at all.
I wonder if he noticed?
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It wasn’t a downpour. Just a steady light rain.
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Glad he got to try the MK! We are headed down June 13-22 and I’d love to say hi to him. We are at AK on 6/17 and MK on 6/14 and 6/21.
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If my son Ben worked at Disney I imagine he might do the same thing on his days off. I’m happy to know someone else loves walking those paths as much as he does.
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From all of your stories, your son sounds like a good egg. You should keep him. 
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Thank you. I do consider keeping him, and then he goes off and spends a day in a park where I am not, and it just wrecks all the good will he had built up. Rotten kid.
… Many, many hours later. (I couldn’t figure out how to post on the new computer at work…)
So in between that time and now, Woodrow worked a second night in the MK. This time, he was assigned to Aloha Isle, and he had another spectacular shift. I have not talked to him yet – I have to go to sleep when he is still at work – but he got another thank-you gift, and two kids asked to take their picture with him.
He said he gave directions to some people who came back later to thank him. Can you imagine? Stopping at the end of their day to turn around, go back to Adventureland, and thank the custodian who told them how to get to where they wanted to go? People are gold. I am nearly in tears.
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Wow, what amazing stories.
I am going to have to start spreading some love the the AKL cast memebers!
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DD22 and I were discussing what she’s going to do now that she has graduated and doesn’t have a job. I told her that she is still eligible for the College Program.
Me: “If you got in, then I can send all my imaginary friends to find you.”
DD: “You mean like guy you found in AK?”
Me: “Yeah! Woodrow!”
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Tell him to say ‘hi’ to my niece Taylor if he sees her! She usually works parade and fireworks crowd control 
She absolutely loves the late nights. I think she’s nuts.
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I hope your trip is completely magical!
Just wanted to update you that Woody will be in the MK on the 14th, but of course, we won’t know exactly where until he’s actually there.
And he’ll be in the AK on the 17th in the afternoon/evening.
I’ll try to keep this thread updated. (Should it be moved to La Cava? I’m not sure it’s entirely on topic.)
Now, in other news, Woody worked in the MK again last night, and this time he was assigned to the bus depot, so he had a huge area to keep up with, but fortunately, it wasn’t very trashy. Lots of walking, but not so much lifting/carrying. But! For the fireworks! He was reassigned to the Hub, and the custodians can’t do anything during the fireworks! So they all wait near the Castle! 
I’m sure the custodians who have been there for six months are already tired of the fireworks, but not Woodrow – he watched Happily Ever After from beginning to end!!! 
And then, and then, and then – as the crowds filter out of the Hub, he said the ocean of trash came to light, and that’s when the custodians spring into action, sweeping and vacuuming like crazy. He claimed it was very satisfying to be part of the team to clean up the Magic Kingdom.
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Your son sounds like a gem; i will look out for him, for sure! I’m glad he’s getting to try some different spots in the parks.
Not that you need my approval, but it’s fine by me if you move this to LaCava.
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