What exactly DID you do at Disney? May 2011 TR (TR link pg 44)

[crostorfer]

Yep, I would be losing $6 an hour if I drop to part time. If I went part time and worked 12 days a month I could be per diem and work 8 to get the same amount. I worry about not having hours once fall comes with all the new people but there are always midnight shifts on the weekend and with night/weekend differential I could work like 6 of those and make what I would working 3 days a week for 4 weeks. I kind of like those weekend midnights b/c there is no management or State personnel working around asking you stupid questions or checking to see if you have water in the room

I absolutely agree about the midnight shifts. I used to love working 12-8 just because I was always there alone and it was usually so quiet. I could sit and watch infomercials all night in the waiting room, LOL. Not a bad way to earn a paycheck.

I also agree with staying per diem just because you can make the same amount of money in fewer shifts. It kind of stinks to not have a totally set schedule, but the extra money makes a huge difference. I just hate that feeling of panic when you realize the hours are drying up and you have to figure out what to do from Oct-April. Do you have any people going on maternity leave soon? (besides you hopefully, LOL) I always used to pray for a pregnant co-worker. You can't beat covering 40 hours of maternity leave a week when you are looking to take a vacation.

As part-time I don't get any vacation pay, but it's ok because if I want to take a trip I can just work around my schedule. For our Sept mini-trip we are leaving on Saturday and I just traded another girl Wednesday off for Thursday so I'm not missing any pay. And next year when we go again, (yes, I WILL make myself wait another year to go), I will go for a week and only miss two days, no big loss, I can make it up the week before or week after.

Just wanted to add again, if they will let you stay part time at per diem rate, or close to, I would take it.

 

[jenbear123]

My vote is to stick with per diem. By the sounds of it you will make more money and have the flexibility to do what you want. That's anybody's dream!!! You don't need the benefits either since your DH already has them. IMO, the per diem work seems to be what will suit your family right now. I would still apply because then you'd still have the option of turning it down if need be. I can't believe you only get 6 weeks for maternity leave. Here we get 12 months! That's way to early to leave your baby to go back to work.

 

[lbuzz52]

Personally i'd stay with the Per Diem- The scheduling is only going to get crazy as the kids get older. sports, dance, after school programs, birthday parties, whatever. I'd rather have the opportunity to be there for most anything that may pop up. You have a good helper when you do need it. Plus, you're about to need $7k worth of diapers if it all works out

 

[pinkxray]

I am LOVING this tr!

Not to get off topic...I always thought being an x-ray tech. looked interesting. What exactly do you need to schooling wise to become one? Is it a hard profession to break into?

Is it wrong that I want to tell you if you are thinking about being an x-ray tech. STOP. TURN AROUND AND RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION?

Really it's not a bad job, depending on where you work. There are two options for school- associates degree or bachelors. Not many schools offer the bachelors. Quinnipac University in CT does and that cost $40,ooo or something crazy like that. The difference with that is that the last year of the 4 you learn an extra modality like CT or Mammo.

I went the 2 year route. I'm not sure how other states work, but any healthcare program offered at a community college is very competitive. Xray is not as hard to get into as nursing but it is getting tougher and tougher to get into. The have a list of certain classes you have to take before you apply- Anatomy, math , biology, english, maybe some others. You pretty much need a 3.7 or higher GPA and they like if you have medical experience (I volunteered at a hospital for mine). You could knock those out in a year. Then you apply and if you get in you have 20 months of very FULL time school. Classes and clinical. Over the summer and winter break you have clinical in the hospital 40 hrs a week. It is a very tough program, much more than I ever thought it would be.

Getting a job is much harder than it used to be. Up until a few years ago once you graduated you got a job, usually full time if that is what you want. At least in CT the market is a bit flooded since Xray programs pump out the techs but no techs are retiring anymore due to the economy. There were 25 in my class and maybe 5 of us had jobs when we graduated. I believe the rest have found jobs over the past year but mostly per diem, maybe a couple full timers- but those are the ones who already worked in hospitals as transport or aides.

If you actually consider it do your research into what the job actually is. All I thought of when thinking of x-rays was patients walking in and taking a picture of their arm b/c they fell. Nope. The majority of x-rays you take in hospitals are chest x-rays usually on very sick people who can't move well. Then there is the trauma room in the ER where people who got hit by cars or shot come and you have to shove a hard x-ray plate under extremely bloody, in pain person while all the nurses and doctors stare at you.

Hope I didn't scare you away. I do like my job, but I LOVE my paycheck after years of working in the cash office at Stop and Shop.

 

[anl]

Updates are great. I can't wait to see your pics of AKL!

My vote is to stay per diem as well. A big reason to me is that you are trying to get pregnant. It will be way easier to work around plus the time off will be great. Either way, sounds like you have a sweet deal. How how I wish I would have gone into the medical field!

 

[KatMark]

Great IOA update. I've not been there since 2000 (my husband has never been there) and they have added a lot since then. Unfortunately, we are not Potter fans (have never read a book and I've seen 10 minutes of one movie) and we no longer can handle the big thrill ride roller coasters, so we skip it. But it looks like it has some really cool stuff for kids as did the Universal side (the last time there was 2004) if I remember correctly.

 

[pinkxray]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I am glad to hear that most people would stick with per diem. I must work with the most motivated people in my hospital b/c they all seem to think I am crazy to like my per diem role. Most of the time when someone asked if I was applying I said most likely, but the few I did talk it over with and said I didn't think I would gave me this look . Seriously I had to pick their jaws off the ground. They seem to think having a permanent position is the best thing ever. I'm not sure they would be saying that if they knew I had taken pretty much all of May off b/c I felt like it. I just didn't feel like working the 2 weeks before our Disney vacation so I picked up extra days in April and didn't work the first 24 days in May.

I was very surprised DH picked per diem. There have been months where I have started with maybe 3 days on my schedule and I worried how would I have enough money for my bills and saving for Disney. I always ended up picking up more days as the month went on and over the last year haven't had any months that I haven't had enough days when I wanted them. I keep telling DH part time would be guarenteed hours and I wouldn't have to worry about fighting for hours once fall comes. He said it was worth the gamble for $7000, plus he said if I ever don't have enough hours he would help out with whatever I needed as long as it's not every month (not to get to personal but honestly I suck with money and hate dealing with it. DH knows this and he handles all the household bills, mortgage, insurance,etc. I handle my car and things that pertain to me like my IRA ,groceries and anything that I feel like(Disney vacations)

To be honest I am hoping that I don't even have to make the choice. I know if the evening girl applied she will get it so I kind of hope she applied. She is also currently trying to get pregnant so I could always cover for her if she is out first.

 

[Lidian]

It sounds like I was late to the job party ... but didn't want you to think I overlooked it.

If I were in your shoes (and benefits was not a weighing factor), I would stay per diem. Flexibility? That would be the biggest call in my book. And if my family was expecting certain financial obligations from my pay, I'd create two savings accounts. One for Disney, and one for "rainy days". So if shifts got sparce, I had the rainy day money to contribute what was expected of me. But that's totally what I would do ... and only you know what's best for your family.

Please let us know how it all turns out.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

If I were in your shoes I would probably stick with the per diem as well. Seems like the cons outweigh the pros in regards to the new position.

 

[pinkxray]

I forget what time we arrived at AKL. Maybe a little before 5? I made sure to keep Caitlin occupied as we passed all the AKL signs so she wouldn’t know where we were going. We parked the car and started walking up to the lobby. Caitlin walked slowly up the path. She looked around.

“Is this the animal hotel?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t see any animals, do you?”?

She kept walking.

She saw the zebra chairs on the balcony and exclaimed

“This is the animal hotel. We’re staying at the Animal Hotel!”

She was very excited and couldn’t wait to get to our room.

We walked through the lobby.

The lady at the desk said to take a left at the end and take the elevator. We took the left but didn’t see the elevator. We turned around and asked. The elevator is pretty far down. So we went back down the hallway. We finally got to the elevator and made it to the fifth floor. We walked and walked and walked. We looked out the windows and saw the animals. Then, we walked and walked some more.

I saw the giraffees and knew from the room map that once we got in our room, they would be right in front of it

Finally, we were at our room.

5320

Our beautiful room

Isn’t it lovely? I just love the rooms at AKL. I also love that the DVC rooms look like the actual resort rooms.

DH also decided to switch it up from his normal first order of business in a resort. Instead of relaxing on the bed, he tried the sofa instead.Oh and what is he doing? As soon as we arrived and checked out the room, he called his mom to tell her how amazing this place was. Can you believe it?

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The room is lovely, I can certainly see why you all liked it so much.

 

[dtr_angel]

It looks like I'm also late to the job party, but I agree that staying per diem is the way to go. I wish I could do that, or it would be awesome if I could once I'm a nurse in a few months. Right now I only work 32 hours/pay period (every 2 weeks) because that is the minimum you have to work to have health insurance. I used to work more, but nursing school + work does not mix. Luckily my DH started a really good job last year. My DH could carry the health insurance, but since i work for the hospital mine is much better, and his job comes with a high risk of lay offs, so if that were to happen we'd have to pay $$$ for COBRA, so it's just easier for me to keep it. DH also gets paid an extra $100/month since he doesn't take benefits from his employer, so that off sets the cost of me paying for the benefits. They are much more expensive than if I were full time, but I still can't complain - its less than $400/month for both of us. Oh plus being able to schedule your vacations & maternity leave and not worrying - that's awesome. I think you made the right choice.

You are super lucky to have such a good job. I wanted to be an xray tech when I went back to school but I am so glad I didn't because of the job market here (I live in a small town though) my school pumps out about 16 new xray techs a year. In 2009 our two hospitals in the health system I work for opened into one brand new one, and a ton of people in radiology got laid off (although they claim it was due to technology changes i.e. no more file room, etc. instead of the new hospital but I think it was both) They used to start a class every semester but now it's just once a year since there were so many new grads and no jobs. At my school radiology students spend way more time in clinicals than we do in nursing, plus their schedule sucks - they pretty much get no break. My little brother wanted to go into it, but he doesn't want to move out of the area to get a job so luckily he changed his mind to PTA. I'm glad I picked nursing, I won't have to stress about getting a job!

 

[KatMark]

Diane, the room is spectacular. Obviously DH liked it if he was calling mom.

I cannot wait to be there in September...your pictures have me all the more excited.

 

[pinkxray]

I too would have a hard time moving to part time and losing the flexibility as well as a possible extra $7000, so I can understand your frustration. Since the benefits that would come with the new job don't really matter to you, then that would mean the cons of the new job would outway the pros of the new job. That would make me hesitant to take it. Especially if you are trying to get pregnant--you definitely want a flexible schedule after having a baby! And if you did get the new job, not only would you essentially be "making less" (b/c you would be losing the possible $7000) but then you would have to pay for a before school program on top of that...then for daycare for another child later. It is super expensive to have 2 children in child care at one time--I STILL don't know how we did it the year that we had to do it. It was rough.

Just my 2 cents. Not sure I helped at all, but really all that matters is that you do what's best for you and your family!! Good luck on what you decide and keep us posted.

Now on to trip related comments:

I'm glad to hear you guys had such a good day. I am so jealous you got to go to HP world. I really really really want to go see this but 2 things are stopping me: The crowds. and like Caitlin, my kids wouldn't be tall enough to ride many of the rides so it wouldn't be any fun for them. Besides, I know that HP world will be around for long time, so I have plenty of years ahead to visit it!

Isn't it funny how they managed to make it all day there, but not back at one of the Disney parks?? That must have been frustrating for you!

And my DH would do exactly the same as yours--he would not even hesitate to pay the $$ to jump ahead in line. I think I may have to agree on this one too, since they let you right on the ride. And you are on vacation after all, so what you might consider spending $80 on while on vacation is very different then what you would consider spending it on in everyday life.

Thanks for your 2 cents. I have no idea how it will work out, but I hope they make up their minds soon. Today is the deadline to apply so they should be telling whoever got the positions soon.


I couldn't believe we made it until 4pm. I think we could have easily made it until the 6pm closing time, but after our time in Suess landing I started to mention that maybe we should start wrapping the day in IOA up.

Hi! Wow...you've got a lot on your mind right now! I've never been to the children's museum in New Haven, as I've never heard much about it that was that great. There is one in Middletown, Kid City, that is fun, but Caitlyn might already be too old for it. Max is the primo age for it and he's four. I have heard good things about the Science Museum in Hartford, too. Supposed to be really cool.

As for work...I have to tell you...if I could (or more the point my husband) be ina position to work per diem, or even part time, that woudl be so fantastic. It sounds like staying per diem will probably be best for you and for your family for a while. But I know nothing of how the healthcare field works, so what do I know? As long as you don't need to the benefits, sounds like making more money is the better deal.

On the other hand, you can always apply and see what happens... Good luck making the decision.

The part time vs per diem thing is stressing me out. I will have my mind all made up and then, remember something else that is a pro on the other side and changed my mind. I can't wait for it to be all said and done with.

Ah.. Kid City. I used to take Caitlin there when she was younger. Very cute place. I usually consider a nice trip to Stew Leonards as an outing I get to get some groceries and Caitlin gets to see the animals and get ice cream.

I absolutely agree about the midnight shifts. I used to love working 12-8 just because I was always there alone and it was usually so quiet. I could sit and watch infomercials all night in the waiting room, LOL. Not a bad way to earn a paycheck.

I also agree with staying per diem just because you can make the same amount of money in fewer shifts. It kind of stinks to not have a totally set schedule, but the extra money makes a huge difference. I just hate that feeling of panic when you realize the hours are drying up and you have to figure out what to do from Oct-April. Do you have any people going on maternity leave soon? (besides you hopefully, LOL) I always used to pray for a pregnant co-worker. You can't beat covering 40 hours of maternity leave a week when you are looking to take a vacation.

As part-time I don't get any vacation pay, but it's ok because if I want to take a trip I can just work around my schedule. For our Sept mini-trip we are leaving on Saturday and I just traded another girl Wednesday off for Thursday so I'm not missing any pay. And next year when we go again, (yes, I WILL make myself wait another year to go), I will go for a week and only miss two days, no big loss, I can make it up the week before or week after.

Just wanted to add again, if they will let you stay part time at per diem rate, or close to, I would take it.

If they do offer me the part time I will definitely ask if I can take it with no benefits. That would be the perfect solution.

I love those slow midnight shifts. I love to catch up on the Dis overnight.

My vote is to stick with per diem. By the sounds of it you will make more money and have the flexibility to do what you want. That's anybody's dream!!! You don't need the benefits either since your DH already has them. IMO, the per diem work seems to be what will suit your family right now. I would still apply because then you'd still have the option of turning it down if need be. I can't believe you only get 6 weeks for maternity leave. Here we get 12 months! That's way to early to leave your baby to go back to work.

Wow. 12 months off. I couldn't believe when I heard 6 weeks. That is crazy. I took 4 months off when I had Caitlin and that was only b/c my boss needed me back. Otherwise I would have taken longer.

I love my flexibility, but on the other hand I hate when the only shifts available are 4-12. They make my month miserable when I have a few of them.

Personally i'd stay with the Per Diem- The scheduling is only going to get crazy as the kids get older. sports, dance, after school programs, birthday parties, whatever. I'd rather have the opportunity to be there for most anything that may pop up. You have a good helper when you do need it. Plus, you're about to need $7k worth of diapers if it all works out

I am so confused with what I want So glad you guys are here to give me your opinions.

$7000 is a lot of money to put towards those diapers.

Updates are great. I can't wait to see your pics of AKL!

My vote is to stay per diem as well. A big reason to me is that you are trying to get pregnant. It will be way easier to work around plus the time off will be great. Either way, sounds like you have a sweet deal. How how I wish I would have gone into the medical field!

AKL is coming up.

The limited time for maternity leave is really factoring in my decision too. Where I worked before you could take much longer, but you just didn't get paid for it.

Great IOA update. I've not been there since 2000 (my husband has never been there) and they have added a lot since then. Unfortunately, we are not Potter fans (have never read a book and I've seen 10 minutes of one movie) and we no longer can handle the big thrill ride roller coasters, so we skip it. But it looks like it has some really cool stuff for kids as did the Universal side (the last time there was 2004) if I remember correctly.

Universal is much better at updating and changing rides than Disney. I don't think people mind as much when they change ride. Disney usually gets an (understable) uproar when they try to change something peope consider a classic.

I don't think we would spend much time there if we didn't like thrill rides though.

It sounds like I was late to the job party ... but didn't want you to think I overlooked it.

If I were in your shoes (and benefits was not a weighing factor), I would stay per diem. Flexibility? That would be the biggest call in my book. And if my family was expecting certain financial obligations from my pay, I'd create two savings accounts. One for Disney, and one for "rainy days". So if shifts got sparce, I had the rainy day money to contribute what was expected of me. But that's totally what I would do ... and only you know what's best for your family.

Please let us know how it all turns out.

Thanks for the input. I usually throw money in my rainy day fund when I have extra shifts. Last year I ended up only dipping into it one time. When Jan/Feb
came around and we had tons of snow Caitlin was home all the time with snow days. I stopped taking any shifts offered to me so I could make sure someone was home in case school was cancelled. So it was more of a snowy day fund. I am working a lot this summer and will bump up the rainy day fund deposits just in case.

You are right. Flexibility and being able to not take shift during those two months when it was snowing was priceless.

If I were in your shoes I would probably stick with the per diem as well. Seems like the cons outweigh the pros in regards to the new position.

I am very surprised I haven't heard any votes for part time. What is it with the people I work with?

The room is lovely, I can certainly see why you all liked it so much.

I asked DH if I could redo our room in that decor but he said no I love the carpet in the rooms and all the Lion King characters in the curtains.

 

[pinkxray]

It looks like I'm also late to the job party, but I agree that staying per diem is the way to go. I wish I could do that, or it would be awesome if I could once I'm a nurse in a few months. Right now I only work 32 hours/pay period (every 2 weeks) because that is the minimum you have to work to have health insurance. I used to work more, but nursing school + work does not mix. Luckily my DH started a really good job last year. My DH could carry the health insurance, but since i work for the hospital mine is much better, and his job comes with a high risk of lay offs, so if that were to happen we'd have to pay $$$ for COBRA, so it's just easier for me to keep it. DH also gets paid an extra $100/month since he doesn't take benefits from his employer, so that off sets the cost of me paying for the benefits. They are much more expensive than if I were full time, but I still can't complain - its less than $400/month for both of us. Oh plus being able to schedule your vacations & maternity leave and not worrying - that's awesome. I think you made the right choice.

You are super lucky to have such a good job. I wanted to be an xray tech when I went back to school but I am so glad I didn't because of the job market here (I live in a small town though) my school pumps out about 16 new xray techs a year. In 2009 our two hospitals in the health system I work for opened into one brand new one, and a ton of people in radiology got laid off (although they claim it was due to technology changes i.e. no more file room, etc. instead of the new hospital but I think it was both) They used to start a class every semester but now it's just once a year since there were so many new grads and no jobs. At my school radiology students spend way more time in clinicals than we do in nursing, plus their schedule sucks - they pretty much get no break. My little brother wanted to go into it, but he doesn't want to move out of the area to get a job so luckily he changed his mind to PTA. I'm glad I picked nursing, I won't have to stress about getting a job!

I am so glad DH has good benefits through his job. It seems to be all anyone talks about now.

I was very lucky to get my job right out of school. I have no idea how it happened that I was on of the few in my class to get a job, but I am very grateful. My school turns out 20-25 techs each May and there are usually only a few positons open throughout our area each time. Plus we have maybe 3 other programs in our area. I feel very bad for people who got into expecting to have a job right out of school. When I first starting looking into maybe 5 years ago there was a huge need and once you graduated you had your pick of jobs. Those days are long gone. My school thought about cutting class size but as long as they are making money what do they care?

I thought about nursing for a bit but I hate the idea of putting needles in people. There were 2 CT positions open last month and I didn't apply b/c you have to start IVs. It just creeps me out.

Diane, the room is spectacular. Obviously DH liked it if he was calling mom.

I cannot wait to be there in September...your pictures have me all the more excited.

DH loved AKL. I am so glad we stayed there b/c I think our trips will be much better knowing we are headed to someplace we all enjoy.

He called his mom in record time. I believe he even sent her some pictures of our view pretty quickly too.

 

[bouncycat]

I'm a little late to the job discussion too!! I would stay per diem also, sounds like it would suit you more too. Sorry I didn't post yesterday, drove my old guy to Melbourne, and then went to Epcot and MK with the kids. They wanted to get stuff for Chris for father's day.

I LOVE the pics of AKL!! I might just have to try that resort one time. I always thought that since it was near AK, that it was too far from everything, but SSR seemed to be quite a distance too!! That's funny your DH called his mom, that's a good sign, right?

Hope you guys have a great father's day weekend!! We're going to Animal Kingdom tomorrow to meet up with some florida disboarders, and possibly Chris's GM2!! I like her, she's nice, and she doesn't take his crap!! HAHA

 

[pinkxray]

I'm a little late to the job discussion too!! I would stay per diem also, sounds like it would suit you more too. Sorry I didn't post yesterday, drove my old guy to Melbourne, and then went to Epcot and MK with the kids. They wanted to get stuff for Chris for father's day.

I LOVE the pics of AKL!! I might just have to try that resort one time. I always thought that since it was near AK, that it was too far from everything, but SSR seemed to be quite a distance too!! That's funny your DH called his mom, that's a good sign, right?

Hope you guys have a great father's day weekend!! We're going to Animal Kingdom tomorrow to meet up with some florida disboarders, and possibly Chris's GM2!! I like her, she's nice, and she doesn't take his crap!! HAHA

I admit.. I let out a little jealous sigh when I just read that you went to EPCOT and are going to AK tomorrow.

Have a good time in AK. I will be working on Father's day.

 

[pinkxray]

Here is what we saw when we went out on the balcony

It was now dinner time. DH actually agreed to make the drive over to Pop so we could use our remaining dinner credits there.

Food-Yum

After a few days of Roaring Fork I was thilled with all the options. I ended up just splitting pizza with Caitlin b/c we still had 2 dxdp credits and I intended to use them for room service. I had a piece of pizza and we took the desserts back to the hotel.

After our dinner we quickly returned to AKL. I wanted to check out Pop a bit but everyone else was too tired.

Later on I got hungry and decided to just go to Mara b/c I thought they had fried shrimp. Nope, they don’t anymore.

I got a very yummy salad and brought it back to the room. I also picked up a sandwich from grab and go to us the last credit.

I picked up those famous zebra domes and a coffee cake type thing for desserts.

I thought the zebra domes were okay. I don’t understand the fuss. I had one but decided to save my dessert calorie to spend them on the cheesecake and cupcake.

We still had 4 snack credits so I stopped at the store to pick up 2 powerades and these crackers

I headed back to the room where DH was watching TV and Caitlin was on the balcony. When you check in they give you a sheet with all the animals on the savannah and in her free time she would try to check off all the animals she could find.

I ate my salad on the balcony while I watched the giraffes.

We spent the rest of the night in the room relaxing. Caitlin called (aunt) Jenny to tell her we were staying at the animal hotel and we had to send some pictures.

Caitlin spent some time filling in her vacation journal and I think we turned in early. AKL had a different alarm clock and somehow I pushed some button that changed a setting. I was terrified the alarm wouldn’t go off and we would sleep through Discovery Cove the next day. I told DH to call for a wakeup call but I don’t think he ever did. He must have known my internal clock that wakes me up super early at Disney would get us there on time.


Awesome day.. I can’t wait to go back to AKL.

 

[KatMark]

I WANT TO GO NOW!!!!!!!!!! Giraffes are my all-time favorite animal and I can't wait to see them while drinking my coffee.

I'm with you -- don't understand the fuss on the Zebra Domes at all.

 

[Moira222]

I forget what time we arrived at AKL. Maybe a little before 5? I made sure to keep Caitlin occupied as we passed all the AKL signs so she wouldn’t know where we were going. We parked the car and started walking up to the lobby. Caitlin walked slowly up the path. She looked around.

“Is this the animal hotel?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t see any animals, do you?”?

She kept walking.

She saw the zebra chairs on the balcony and exclaimed

“This is the animal hotel. We’re staying at the Animal Hotel!”

She was very excited and couldn’t wait to get to our room.

Don't you just love when your child has that amazing excitment!

Our beautiful room

Isn’t it lovely? I just love the rooms at AKL. I also love that the DVC rooms look like the actual resort rooms.

DH also decided to switch it up from his normal first order of business in a resort. Instead of relaxing on the bed, he tried the sofa instead.Oh and what is he doing? As soon as we arrived and checked out the room, he called his mom to tell her how amazing this place was. Can you believe it?

I love the little kitchentte area with a microwave. that really is a nice room. Are the DVC rooms at WLR not the same as the resort rooms??