Saralyn Franklin worked as a cashier, food server, and preparer at Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Mill from August to January. The Mill is a fast-paced food court serving over 400 guests per day Southern-inspired foods. Saralyn aimed to improve her guest service, work ethic, and skills over the six month program. She accomplished her goals by interacting positively with guests and working collaboratively with the management team and culinary staff.

1. Disney College Program
Food and Beverage
Riverside Mill, Port Orleans
August 12, 2013-January 3, 2014
Saralyn Franklin
SEE4099
Fall 2013

2. Welcome to Port Orleans Y’all

3. A Taste of the Southern Charm &
Hospitality
• Disney’s Port Orleans Resort requires optimum
communication, professionalism, problem solving,
and team building skills
• Working 40+ hour weeks as a cashier, food server
and preparer, back stocking, interacting with
guests in the dinning room
• Port Orleans cast members work side by side with
each other and the culinary team to ensure
nothing but optimum guest satisfaction

4. About the Port
• Port Orleans Riverside Mill: fast paced, bustling food court
flowing with Southern charm and hospitality
- Hours of Operation: 6am to 12am
- Capacity: 462 guests
- Menu Items: pizzas, pastas, burgers,
baked goods, novelty drinks, Southern
themed spicy sandwiches
- Staff: 4 main Food & Beverage managers, 72 cast members
• Working along side supervisors who guide, teach by example,
and promote well being and work efforts of all guests and
cast members

5. Day to Day Down South

7. My Personal Goals
• Over the 6 month course, I was:
- Aiming to build guest service skills
- More professional work ethics
- challenge myself to become a better and more advanced
worker
- create a “magical experience and moments” for all guests
positively impacting their vacations
-gain experience from working side by side highly skilled
professional managers
• Goals were fully accomplished and gain life lessons that will
last me throughout my entire hospitality career

8. Overview of the Mill
Executive Chef
Site
Supervisor
Site
Supervisor
Culinary
Team
Site
Supervisor
Culinary
Team
Saralyn Franklin
Cast Member
Site
Supervisor

9. Life at the Mill
Daily Projects:
- various assignments such as work in the burger,
bakery, pizza, pasta, soup/salad, and
beverage shops
-stocking inventory of these shops
-cashier
-guest interaction in dinning room
Strategies:
-staying organized, efficient, time cautious, prompt and
ready to work at all times

10. Professional Skills
Communication
• Guest interaction on a daily basis
-greeted, made small talk, catered to
needs
and requested “Welcome to Port
Orleans Y’all”
-inferring about vacation, needs, overall satisfaction
• Working together with various cast members, site supervisors,
managers, and culinary team
-vocalizing guest’s orders
-communicating culinary needs
-”order up!”

11. Professional Skills Continued
Professionalism
• Speak courteously to guests
• Be in head to toe strict costuming
• Meet the “Disney look” guidelines
-always professionally dressed, natural hair, no tattoos, etc
• Speak with and work with extremely experienced managers and
leaders
• Responsibility of banking out rooms and money vaults
• Act upon Disney approved behaviors and standards
• Act as guidance and a mentor to our guests
-provide directions around resort
-go above and beyond their expectations

12. Professional Skills Continued
Problem Solving Team Building
• Work with other cast members to ensure task completion
• Vocalize with culinary team to get orders out promptly and efficiently
• Improvise when needed
-no meat sauce  chop up hamburger and
place into marinara
sauce
-out of hot fudge  heat up and serve chocolate syrup
• Work as a team of cast members
- help each other complete assignments (ex: carrying items to be
stocked for them, helping in shops by taking orders as well)
-collaborative efforts (you hand me the cheesecake, I’ll decorate it
with a chocolate syrup mickey)

13. Personal Reflection
• Took the professional skilled learned through coursework materials
and applied it to real life experiences
• Learned about the importance of passion in serving people in order
to be successful in the industry
• Applied the lessons of management, costumer service, facilities
operations, and service & ancillery to everyday fieldwork
• Learned how essential team work, professionalism, problem solving,
and flexibility is
-improvising and adapting to chaos is a must
• “Attitudes are contagious, is yours willing to be caught?”