Good evening everyone!
Everyone these days seems to worry about money, and believe me when I say that I too worry about money. I do not however let lack of money stand in my way of a great time! Below I will list a few of my trips and the amount of money I used to survive on them!
1 week in Vegas to work for Justin Timberlake's golf tournament (100 dollars split between 2 people)
3 days in NYC on 100 dollars split between 2 people
4 tours with a band averaging a week to a week and a half on tour with roughly 1 to 200 bucks left to spend after paying for gas and things like hotels and whatnot....
Did my lack of money mean I got to do nothing fun? Oh hell no!! Here are some of my tips...
Coupons!!! These things save lives! In New York we had a buy one get one free wax museum pass. That saved like 20 bucks right there. In Vegas, the hotel we stayed at had a players card. If you signed up for it you got discounts in the food places and the gift shop... They sold alcohol in the gift shop and with the discount we bought a few bottles of champagne for way cheap!!! Every place you travel things are different, so keep an eye out for things like this...
Specials!!! Drinking out with friends can be a lot more fun than staying in your home. It can also get expensive. What you need to do is do some research! In Vegas there was a bar that had 1 dollar margaritas all day long... you can guarantee I got my moneys worth from that! There are also bars here in my home city that have happy hours and reverse happy hours that have drinks for a buck or two. Take note of these nights, so you won't over pay!
Food!!! You can find food specials just like you find drink specials. Just know your surroundings. Places like Denny's have value menu's as well as the fast food places. Also, if you get a group of friends together and you all go in on a meal that makes it even better. Think of things to make that may last several days, such as chili, or stew. If you are a breakfast person buy eggs. Those can be made in lots of ways and they last for awhile. Also, know where to shop. Dollar stores do carry some foods, but if you can find the discount grocery stores such as Aldi or Save a Lot... Idk what Florida has... but they have good products for cheaper than other grocery stores... Walmart is pretty reasonable too.
Ladies!!! Not going to lie... being a girl sometimes does have its advantages... If you are in to dancing or even just hanging at the bar guys do take notice. I have gotten drunk many a night on someone else's dime. Just make yourself look pretty!! :)
Last few notes... On some of these occasions such as in Vegas or on tour I sometimes only ate like once a day if that. If you keep yourself super busy you may just forget to eat... One day I spent on tour I was so tired in the morning I just had an energy drink... On the way to the venue I stopped and got a coffee. During the show I told myself we will get out in time to grab something on the way back to the hotel. There was an emergency with the tour bus after the show sending us on an errand that kept us busy until nearly 1 am... I drank a mountain dew and called it a night... I will just eat tomorrow. I am not saying this is healthy, but being busy does help things. Buy things like granola bars to keep with you in these cases. For things non food related, make lists and double check them before you leave. This will make sure you don't have much to buy when you get down there.
I hope this helped! If you have any questions please feel free to message me!
Peace, Love, and Disney!
Jenn
Monday, October 29, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
I'm Going to Disney World!... But before I do...
Hello people!
As I am completely over the moon that I got accepted into the Disney College Program a few worries have been floating around on the various pages and I am going to put my two cents in for a few of the questions. Please take into consideration that this is my point of view from my experiences.
*As a CP we are over worked and under paid*
There are so many jobs out there that are what I call thankless jobs, most are customer service oriented. I have been a manager at a few fast food restaurants and let me just tell you for the amount of work I did and responsibility I was given my salary did not reflect that... There were many days I worked almost 12 hours sometimes and didn't have a break. Disney may be considered the "happiest place on earth" but it is still an amusement park and thus does not pay big money for simple jobs such as fast food and merchandise or operating a ride. But hey look on the bright side, you get into all the parks for free when just a one day pass is over 80 bucks!!! I believe right there is worth the hard work!!!!
I know a lot of CP's are new college students and they probably haven't had a lot of work experience, so if that is the case, then yes the work that will be done at Disney may seem horrible. Welcome to the world of working!!!!
*Will working for Disney ruin the Magic of the parks*
Honestly yes it probably will... this may be my first time to work for Disney, but I have experienced other jobs that before I saw behind the scenes had *magic* to them. One would be a radio station... before I spent a lot of time up in a radio station I had no idea how everything worked... I won't ruin that for my readers, but I think twice before trying to win a contest or even listening to the radio...
I have also toured with bands... behind the scenes of that is not so glamourous. It is awesome to see so many fans love the group and how many people want to get "backstage" or just talk to the artist... Sometimes it is fun yes, but other times it is one big headache. Once you know the truth about *insert artist here* it may change how you think of them.
I am not trying to discourage people here... this isn't what my blog is about...I am just saying it is not all smiley faces and rainbows....
*Rules Rules Rules*
Disney puts the rules they have in place because they need to not only protect themselves but also every one who works there. Don't consider them mean because they won't let you have your best friend stay in the housing with you... That could very well be a liability waiting to happen... if your friend were to get hurt they don't want to be responsible for that.
The random room checks, while it might seem like an invasion of privacy, they just want to make sure everyone is following the rules... A lot of apartment complexes give random searches in various places. If you are following the rules, you shouldn't worry.
Disney is a huge company that employees thousands of people. In order to keep things in order more rules have to be in place compared to say a small retail store in a mall or something like that.
I am looking forward to the experiences I am going to have and I hope everyone else does too...
See you all in Florida!!
January 15 to May 10 Merchandise!
Best,
Jennifer
As I am completely over the moon that I got accepted into the Disney College Program a few worries have been floating around on the various pages and I am going to put my two cents in for a few of the questions. Please take into consideration that this is my point of view from my experiences.
*As a CP we are over worked and under paid*
There are so many jobs out there that are what I call thankless jobs, most are customer service oriented. I have been a manager at a few fast food restaurants and let me just tell you for the amount of work I did and responsibility I was given my salary did not reflect that... There were many days I worked almost 12 hours sometimes and didn't have a break. Disney may be considered the "happiest place on earth" but it is still an amusement park and thus does not pay big money for simple jobs such as fast food and merchandise or operating a ride. But hey look on the bright side, you get into all the parks for free when just a one day pass is over 80 bucks!!! I believe right there is worth the hard work!!!!
I know a lot of CP's are new college students and they probably haven't had a lot of work experience, so if that is the case, then yes the work that will be done at Disney may seem horrible. Welcome to the world of working!!!!
*Will working for Disney ruin the Magic of the parks*
Honestly yes it probably will... this may be my first time to work for Disney, but I have experienced other jobs that before I saw behind the scenes had *magic* to them. One would be a radio station... before I spent a lot of time up in a radio station I had no idea how everything worked... I won't ruin that for my readers, but I think twice before trying to win a contest or even listening to the radio...
I have also toured with bands... behind the scenes of that is not so glamourous. It is awesome to see so many fans love the group and how many people want to get "backstage" or just talk to the artist... Sometimes it is fun yes, but other times it is one big headache. Once you know the truth about *insert artist here* it may change how you think of them.
I am not trying to discourage people here... this isn't what my blog is about...I am just saying it is not all smiley faces and rainbows....
*Rules Rules Rules*
Disney puts the rules they have in place because they need to not only protect themselves but also every one who works there. Don't consider them mean because they won't let you have your best friend stay in the housing with you... That could very well be a liability waiting to happen... if your friend were to get hurt they don't want to be responsible for that.
The random room checks, while it might seem like an invasion of privacy, they just want to make sure everyone is following the rules... A lot of apartment complexes give random searches in various places. If you are following the rules, you shouldn't worry.
Disney is a huge company that employees thousands of people. In order to keep things in order more rules have to be in place compared to say a small retail store in a mall or something like that.
I am looking forward to the experiences I am going to have and I hope everyone else does too...
See you all in Florida!!
January 15 to May 10 Merchandise!
Best,
Jennifer
Friday, September 7, 2012
Keeping it professional
Good evening everyone,
It is 3:07am and I am still wide awake, so I thought I would be productive and write a post.
I am going to share with you another one of my experiences, where I learned a lot of valuable lessons.
In October of 2008 I went out to Las Vegas for an entire week to work the Justin Timberlake Shriner's for Hospitals Open. This was the first year that it was hosted by Timberlake himself. People volunteer for this event for all different reasons. Some people love the cause and this is their way to give back, some people love the sport, most people that year volunteered to get an up close and personal look at Justin. You may be asking what my reason was... It is no surprise that I am a huge fan of Timberlake's music, but I am always down to help a worthy cause as well as gain experience in the field that I wanted to some day work in. The week that I volunteered I did everything! I walked some of the course, I directed patrons to where they needed to go, I worked in the clubhouse. A lot of the time I worked the parking lot and took players to their cars, or helped check them in. One of the days I even got to check in Justin as he was playing in the Pro Am that day. I kept my cool, I didn't freak out and he made jokes with me. I saw him quite a few times that week and each time I stayed completely professional. He is just a normal person like the rest of us and in return for my professionalism he treated me kindly and with respect as well.
This week ranks as one of my favorites of all time. Who doesn't love a good golf tournament in the great city of Las Vegas being surrounded by some pretty amazing people?! I volunteered again in 2009. Not as great of an experience as 08' but I still had a great time. If the opportunity arises again I would love to be a part of it.
From these experiences I have learned that pros in the business do not lie when they say, "If you act like a fan, they will treat you like a fan." Keeping it professional is a top priority when working in this business.
I will leave you with the photo Justin so graciously stopped to take at the end of one of the nights on the course.
Goodnight!
It is 3:07am and I am still wide awake, so I thought I would be productive and write a post.
I am going to share with you another one of my experiences, where I learned a lot of valuable lessons.
In October of 2008 I went out to Las Vegas for an entire week to work the Justin Timberlake Shriner's for Hospitals Open. This was the first year that it was hosted by Timberlake himself. People volunteer for this event for all different reasons. Some people love the cause and this is their way to give back, some people love the sport, most people that year volunteered to get an up close and personal look at Justin. You may be asking what my reason was... It is no surprise that I am a huge fan of Timberlake's music, but I am always down to help a worthy cause as well as gain experience in the field that I wanted to some day work in. The week that I volunteered I did everything! I walked some of the course, I directed patrons to where they needed to go, I worked in the clubhouse. A lot of the time I worked the parking lot and took players to their cars, or helped check them in. One of the days I even got to check in Justin as he was playing in the Pro Am that day. I kept my cool, I didn't freak out and he made jokes with me. I saw him quite a few times that week and each time I stayed completely professional. He is just a normal person like the rest of us and in return for my professionalism he treated me kindly and with respect as well.
This week ranks as one of my favorites of all time. Who doesn't love a good golf tournament in the great city of Las Vegas being surrounded by some pretty amazing people?! I volunteered again in 2009. Not as great of an experience as 08' but I still had a great time. If the opportunity arises again I would love to be a part of it.
From these experiences I have learned that pros in the business do not lie when they say, "If you act like a fan, they will treat you like a fan." Keeping it professional is a top priority when working in this business.
I will leave you with the photo Justin so graciously stopped to take at the end of one of the nights on the course.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
A Day On The Road
In the winter of 2010 I was on board for a tour with the band 100 Monkeys. I was an assistant to the photographer on the tour as well as the go getter for anyone that needed anything as well. The tour started the day after Christmas and went through the 1st of the year. Here is one of the days that I encountered...
It was early in the morning, probably around 7am. We had just pulled into New Orleans, as we had been driving through the night from the show the night before in Birmingham, AL. Having only got an hour or two of sleep in a cramped crowded van we get out to see our surroundings. I am double fisting iced coffee as the rest of the people in my group start to get ready for the day. Around noon is the in store performance for the band. I sit this out as I am just enjoying the beautiful winter weather in the south. For most of the rest of the day it is a lot of waiting around. There was an awesome sing a long outside the bus from my party and the band. That passed a little bit of time. I was ready to get into the venue!
While the show was going I hung out by the merch booth. Helping to sell as much merch as I could! As the show was coming to a close I started helping set up the table in the back for the after show signing. I was in charge of observing the line and making sure it kept moving. Around 2am we all start walking back to the hotel... but not to sleep. We hang out in the lobby waiting for a text of where we are all going to hang out. By the time we get the text it is well after 3am, but we head down to Bourbon Street anyway. The downside to touring is by the time you get done at the venue most places are getting ready to close... We meet up with some of the band, try to decide where to go, and in the end decide we should just head back to the car and make an effort to make it to the next city. The next city is Houston and that is a 6 hour drive. I am running on 2 hours of sleep and it is now 5 in the morning. I pull over somewhere in Baton Rouge to rest, because I do not want to wreck anyone in my party.
Two hours later I get up and continue the driving, and do everything all over again!
Being on a tour is completely exhausting and draining and I did not even have half the work that some of the others on the tour did. It definitely takes a lot of stamina and endurance to make it!
Monday, August 6, 2012
Introduction
Good evening everyone,
My name is Jennifer and I am currently a student at Full Sail University getting my degree in the entertainment business. As a person who is always working and loves to be out on the road more than I am in my own home I decided that a perfect blog would be to create a place where people can come and learn about the touring and traveling aspect of the industry as well as connect with those who already have a job in the profession and are looking for products or reviews for when they are out on the road.
Let me get the ball rolling!
Since I live in Kansas City I am going to do a short review of the city. Those who may come here for business that have never been here before might enjoy knowing something about the city that they are working in.
Kansas City is famous for its BBQ. One of the best places I believe to go get some good BBQ is Arthur Bryant's. They have three different types of sauces to appeal to all taste buds. The meat is plentiful and good portions. The staff is friendly and helpful.
For those looking for a place to unwind and even party after a long day of work there is the Power and Light district. Two stories of bars of all different types surround an amazing courtyard where live music is often played or big games are put on the big screens. There are lots of restaurants and shops around as well. This district is located right across the street from our largest indoor arena the Sprint Center.
I look forward to really adding more to this blog and am open to any and all suggestions! Feel free to comment on anything that you would like to see on this blog!
Goodnight!
Jennifer
My name is Jennifer and I am currently a student at Full Sail University getting my degree in the entertainment business. As a person who is always working and loves to be out on the road more than I am in my own home I decided that a perfect blog would be to create a place where people can come and learn about the touring and traveling aspect of the industry as well as connect with those who already have a job in the profession and are looking for products or reviews for when they are out on the road.
Let me get the ball rolling!
Since I live in Kansas City I am going to do a short review of the city. Those who may come here for business that have never been here before might enjoy knowing something about the city that they are working in.
Kansas City is famous for its BBQ. One of the best places I believe to go get some good BBQ is Arthur Bryant's. They have three different types of sauces to appeal to all taste buds. The meat is plentiful and good portions. The staff is friendly and helpful.
For those looking for a place to unwind and even party after a long day of work there is the Power and Light district. Two stories of bars of all different types surround an amazing courtyard where live music is often played or big games are put on the big screens. There are lots of restaurants and shops around as well. This district is located right across the street from our largest indoor arena the Sprint Center.
I look forward to really adding more to this blog and am open to any and all suggestions! Feel free to comment on anything that you would like to see on this blog!
Goodnight!
Jennifer
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