The Arrival

I MADE IT TO DISNEY.

This is one of the few moments that I actually have had a little break since Monday, and my schedule is about to get even crazier, so I figured now's the time for a little update!  I haven't gotten too much of the Disney experience yet, but I'm definitely starting to feel the magic.

Day 1: Lines and struggle bussing through move in

Monday, January 13th was my official check in day with the Disney College Program.  I met up with most of my roommates at 7:00 a.m. at Vista Way, which is one of the housing complexes that check in was held at.  We had to wait an hour outside of the complex until they let us in, which gave people time to chat with everyone or nap on our suitcases (which my sister did).  Imagine a pack of anxious and exhausted college students with their lives packed in suitcases, all in a line that led down a main road. It was a sight to see, and it was even more entertaining to see all of us when we were led into the complex.  All of us dragged our suitcases to the very end of the complex, where we needed to wait in more lines.  

I can't remember the number of people that checked in that day, but it was probably around 1,000.  My roommates and I were lucky enough to be near the front of the line, and after receiving our program guide, room key, and housing ID tag, most of us were allowed to catch a bus to our apartment and move in.  Some people had casting that day, which is basically more lines and paperwork that needed to be filled out, but my time wasn't assigned until the next day. So that gave me the rest of the afternoon to move all of my stuff into my apartment at Chatham Square.  The apartments here are really nice, and a plus side is that there are three bathrooms here for all 6 of us.  By the end of the day, we all passed out pretty early from a quite exhausting day.

Day 2: Background checks and exploring Downtown Disney!

On Tuesday I went to casting, which included more lines, paperwork, and intense background checks.  

One good thing about this program is that buses take you absolutely everywhere, including all the meetings we need to go to.  A lot of people have complained about the transportation system, but I honestly haven't had many problems with it (yet).  On the bus back from casting, we had a speaker who entertained us for the ride back to our apartments. For instance we played trivia for prizes, and he told lame but pretty funny Disney jokes. Like, why did Aladdin go into the Haunted Mansion?...  He wanted to find Abu! *cue laughter*

Then last night we did some exploring through Downtown Disney! We ate dinner at Earl of Sandwich (seriously best sandwich place EVER), and we went to some of the different shops there.  We also took pictures with statues of Cinderella and Sleepy Beauty, which is close enough to the characters as we can get right now.  

Once we all go through Traditions, we finally will be able to get our park passes and probably never go anywhere but the parks.  After Downtown Disney, we did some shopping at Target, which was an experience in itself (explained below), and we ended the night playing Disney Apples to Apples.  It was a really fun night, and I'm so excited that I'm learning more and more about all my roomies.

Day 3 & 4: Housing meeting rave and dole whip festivities

The only meeting I had yesterday was for housing, which was definitely new for me. We walked into a room that had strobe lights and music blaring, and the cast members were extremely chipper.  It definitely got me pumped to be there.  But then the slide show began, which kind of downed the mood in the room.  The speakers we're funny though, I'll give them that.  They gave us a lot of information on the do's and don't's while in housing, which was more common sense than anything else. The whole experience overall was entertaining though!

Today two of the roommates are at Traditions (lucky ducks), and the rest of us ventured to get dole whips!  Dole whips are pineapple ice cream, which everyone here raves about.  I have to say it was quite delicious! We also explored a bit on the monorail, and we drove through the parks.  That was quite the tease though since I don't get my passes until tomorrow!

And to add on to this post, I've also learned a few things from living down here for the past few days.

Things I need to get used to:

• Not being able to enter Chatham until a security guard comes over to check your housing ID, front and back.  If you happen to forget and walk by, the guard will chase after you.
• Being on complete opposite schedules from my roommates.  We all had different times for recent meetings, and we all are working different roles in the parks. 
• Turkeys meandering at our front door step, as well as cats that hop.
• Being called "princess" by cast members, and having to call other people these types of terms once I start working. Gotta keep the magic alive!
• Tap water that smells like the swamp.
• SuperTargets... That have a Disney section and also sell alcohol.
• Calling things "carriages" and "soda" and getting weird looks from people (including my roomies that like to make fun).

There's probably more things that will eventually be added to this list.  Watch, when I get back to Boston, I'll end up calling a little girl a princess and get weird looks all around.

So that's all I have for now! The roomies and I are going to a welcome party for all the cp's soon, and tomorrow I have Traditions.  That will be my first day of training, and I finally get my maingate park passes! Which will definitely be utilized as much as possible.

Once again, thanks to those that actually read my entire blog posts. These are dedicated to you :) My next post might include more updates, an apartment tour, and more info about my awesome roomies!

Have a magical day :)

And the journey begins

It's official. I can actually call myself a DCP kid for the Spring of 2014. For those of you that don't know what DCP is, let me tell you: IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE. DCP stands for the Disney College Program, which I will be participating in from January to May. I will basically be living in my favorite place on Earth for 5 months, working for the legend himself.  Sure I may sound a little dramatic about this, but if anyone knew me they'd know how big of a deal this is for me. I've been a Disney nerd all my life, and now I have the opportunity to live and work in a place that is encompassed by everything Disney. How did I get so lucky??

So, to start this journey, let's go over my preparation during the last couple months. I'll describe for you my application process, acceptance, and what I've been doing to keep myself sane through all of this.

Application process

I decided to officially apply for the Disney College Program in August, about a month before apps came out. I know people have dreamed about applying to the DCP for years, but my experience was more of a last minute decision. I decided that it was a perfect time for me to apply: I will be done with school in December, and I'm graduating in May. What better way to spend my time in between than to work for Disney? Yep, so my mind was set, and I was going to do everything I possibly could to get into this program.

I had heard that the application process was intense. There was three parts: a simple application, a web interview, and a phone interview.  I breezed through the application and web interview on the day apps came out, September 5th. I then scheduled my phone interview for September 9th.  I had researched that the phone interview was the hardest part of this process, so I literally studied day and night for 4 days. I prepared so many notes beforehand on all of the roles, the top 3 roles I had wanted, and possible questions that may have been asked during the interview. I've got to say, waiting for that phone to ring on the day of my interview was one of the most stressful moments of my life.  I didn't want to screw up this amazing opportunity by letting my nerves get the best of me. About a half hour before my scheduled interview time (8pm) I made inspirational messages to myself, and I laid out all of my notes in front of me. I was ready, and when my phone rang at 8:09pm, my heart stopped beating as I answered the phone.  The interview actually went quite well.  I couldn't stop smiling while I was on the phone, which they tell you to do anyway.  I was too excited, and my emotions were high enough as it was. I was prepared for every question the interviewer asked, and I remembered to ask a couple questions at the end of my interview to let her know how interested I was in the program. The phone interview lasted a total of 19 minutes, and I finally started to breathe normal again once the interview was over.  Although, waiting to hear back from Disney seemed to take years. But it happened!!

Acceptance

I waited an antagonizing 11 days to hear my results.  On the day I got my confirmation email, September 20th, I was in absolute shock. It didn't hit me until hours later that I was accepted into the Disney College Program.  I WAS GOING TO DISNEY. I was offered the role of Character Attendant, which was my number one choice! With this role I will be working with the characters (obviously), and I will be introducing families to them.  So in a nutshell, I will get to experience kids meeting their favorite characters of all time, and I will get to be apart of making this magic come true for kids! I could not stop smiling/ laughing/ crying of joy once I sifted through all the pages attached to the acceptance email. That day is pretty much a blur because of all the emotions running through me.  I was somehow able to pick my arrival date and fill out any information they needed from me. And that was it. I confirmed my acceptance. I am now on my way to Disney, arriving January 12th and checking in on the 13th. These dates work perfectly because I depart on May 16th, and my graduation date is on the 17th. Talk about fate.

Keeping sane

So what have I been doing since my acceptance? I'm in my last semester of school, and I'm student teaching in an amazing school district.  This takes up most of my life at the moment, and it's a pretty good distraction from the DCP.  I'm constantly busy, so I don't have much time to dwell on the program too much. Once I'm done with student teaching in December though, my life will be consumed by preparing for my take off to the most magical place on Earth.  I'm happy that I get to spend the holidays at home with my family before I go off to Disney. It's an all around perfect opportunity.

And that's it!! If you've gotten to this part of my post, thanks for spending the time reading about my experiences with the Disney College Program thus far. You're awesome. I might start a vlog about my DCP experience too, but for now let's see if I can at least stick to this blog.

My next post: Packing list? Disney bucket list? We'll see.

Have a magical day!