Be Our Guest!!!

This morning, my roommates and I got up early and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. This was one of the few and rare times that we all weren't working at the same time, so we decided to go to Be Our Guest for lunch! The restaurant is located inside the Beast's castle in the New Fantasyland, and it is beyond beautiful. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was fantastic! My only recommendation is to get there as soon as they open, because the line gets ridiculously long! Additionally, Be Our Guest is a quick service restaurant for lunch and a full service one for dinner, so keep that in mind when trying to eat there. Also, I'm done another thing from my bucket list!!!

Here are some pictures:

A Day in the Life

I figured I would write a "Day in the Life" post so that I can give some of my readers an idea of what my typical work day is like!

I typically work 5 days a week, and I've been getting around 35 hours per week. I know that in the busy season (summer, spring break, etc.) I will be getting way more hours, but for now I'm pretty happy with the hours I've been getting. I usually have to be at work between 10 and 11. Animal Kingdom opens at 9 almost every day, but our first show at Finding Nemo, The Musical isn't until 11, so that's why I don't have too many early days. When I get to work, I park in the cast parking lot (thanks again, Mom & Dad, for the car!) and then walk through the front entrance of the park and backstage. You have to scan your company ID to get into the backstage area. From there, I walk to the Dinoland gate, and I come back onstage near the Dinosaur ride. I then have a long walk from there to the Theater in the Wild, which is where the Nemo show is. I usually answer guests' questions on my way to the theater, since it's a decent walk. All in all, it takes me about 20 minutes to walk from my car in the parking lot to the theater.

The outside of the theater

When I get into the theater, I clock in using the computer. We have a really cool system that allows you to clock in, and it also gives you an assignment. I went over what the positions in and around the theater were in a previous post, so I won't get into it again, but there's a lot of different positions. Then, I go and start to work! We have a rotation that comes around almost every hour, which makes it so that you aren't in one place for too long. Also, we get breaks depending on how long we are working. Two fifteen minute breaks and one thirty minute break for an 8 hour shift, one fifteen and one thirty for a 7 hour shift, and two fifteens for a 6 hour shift. During my break times, I try to eat, use the bathroom, and sit down for a little while before I have to get back to work.

In the middle of the day, I may have a parade shift. Our parade at Animal Kingdom is Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. Part of our responsibility as theater ops cast members is to man part of the parade route. Most of the CP's and ICP's (international college program) in my area pick up the parade shifts. We each get a task, and our job is to interact with guests along the parade route before the parade starts, and then control the audience during the parade. For example, today I was Ropes 1, meaning that I walked behind the parade and carried a rope and everyone who wanted to follow the parade walks behind the rope. I like that job the best because I get to feel like I'm a part of the parade! Other jobs involve pulling ropes to control the audience and watching the audience to make sure they don't cross the tape lines on the ground.

The parade sign

After parade, I go back to Nemo and work for the final show or shows. The other good thing about working parade is that you get to miss the 3:00 show, which is typically our craziest and busiest show! Depending on when the park closes, my shift can end anywhere between 5 and 8. My shift isn't exactly the same every day, but because Animal Kingdom has such specific hours, I generally work only during the day, never late nights, which is awesome for me!

Some of the cast of the show

My drive to and from work usually takes about 20 minutes, so when I get back to my apartment I grab some dinner and then usually relax and hang out with my roommates. Occasionally, we will even hit the parks or Downtown Disney after work!

Some downsides of the job are that it's a ton of walking and being on your feet for the majority of the day, guests can get unhappy if they just miss the show and have to wait until the next one, and the lag-time between shows can get super boring when we just have to stand outside and answer questions. However, the job has way more upsides than downsides! I get a ton of guest interaction every day, whether it's waving to little kids, telling people "Happy birthday!", or pointing our guests down to the "bubble zone" in the theater. I also really like loading shows because it's always exciting and makes time go by quickly. Because there are only 5 or 6 shows per day, my day goes by much more quickly than it would if I were simply loading a ride all the time. Finally, most of my coworkers are awesome, and I can already tell that it's going to be hard to say goodbye at the end of my program!

If you have any specific questions about my job or my typical day, let me know! I would love to answer any questions and I love talking about my role as a cast member for Walt Disney World! I hope you all have the most magical of days, and don't forget to come visit me at Nemo! (:

Play Time

While a huge component of the Disney College Program is working, there's also plenty of free time to go and play in the parks, which is arguably one of the best parts of the program! I had off these past two days (Friday and Saturday) so I spent my free time doing laundry, running errands, and of course, going to the parks!

On Thursday night after work, my roommate Allie and I went to the Magic Kingdom from 8-10 to close the park. We got there right after 8 and caught the end of Wishes from Main Street, which was so beautiful, even through the crowd.

After the fireworks. the majority of the crowd leaves the Magic Kingdom, so it was the perfect time to stay and hit some rides! We ate our first dole whips together, rode a bunch of rides, and even got to meet Ariel at her grotto (yes, this was the second time for me)! It was a great night (:

On Friday, I slept in for the first time in a while, which was so nice! When I got up, I had to do my laundry. I also went on a grocery shopping trip with one of my neighbors and cleaned up the apartment a little bit. That night, my roommate Danielle and I went to Downtown Disney to check out the stores.

This morning (Saturday), I slept in again, and then tried out the apartment complex's gym for the first time! It's really tiny and doesn't have many machines, but I'll have to make it work for the time being. I came back and showered, and then went to Hollywood Studios for the day with my neighbors! We had a ton of fun going on the rides and seeing the shows. We also stayed to see Fantasmic, which is arguably my favorite nighttime show in Disney World. It was fabulous and definitely did not disappoint!

Hollywood Studios!

The end of the Fantasmic show!

So, as you can tell, free entrance into any of the Disney theme parks is just another great perk of the Disney College Program! I'm looking forward to many more days spent with my friends in the theme parks. (:

Earning My Ears

To "earn my ears" and complete my training at Finding Nemo, The Musical I had three days of training and one day of assessment. I talked about day one of training in my previous post, so here I'll briefly explain how days two, three, and four went.

When you train, you essentially go to all of the positions in the theater and learn how to do each one. You have a trainer accompany you, and they give you advice, tell you the general things to know about each position, and jump in if you have any questions or need help during the show. My trainer, Wendy, was really laid back and cool. I think she realized pretty early on that I had a good handle on what my job was supposed to be, so my training wasn't super intense.

There are many positions inside and outside the theater. The main ones you must learn are photocell, greeter, wheelchair assist, fastpass, upper right, lower right, upper left, lower left, stroller parking, exit greeter, and house center. These positions assign you a place in the theater, and your job is to load the theater prior to the show, run crowd control during the show, and then clear the theater as quickly as possible after the show.

On Days 1 and 2, I covered most of the positions except for house center. I learned how to work the headset system that we all use to communicate with one another during and prior to the show. I also did some e-learning, which is a series of computer modules designed by Disney to make sure that new employees know the basic safety and courtesy guidelines. E-learning was extremely boring, as was reading the operating guide. The operating guide is a book that contains all of the proper procedures for the operation of the show. Those two tasks were definitely my least favorite parts about training.

Also, as an aside, on Day 2, we had a VIP come to the show! A famous actor and his family attended one of our shows, which was really cool. Obviously, no one made a big deal about it and we treated him the same as any other guest, but it was still a really neat experience and something I can now cross off my bucket list!

Day 3 was primarily focused on finishing up anything we had left to do, and learning house center. House center loads the entire show and is basically the "captain" for the show. They tell everyone where to seat people, keep track of wheelchair spaces, and control the opening and closing of all doors and curtains. It was definitely overwhelming, but after a while, I got the hang of it, and now I'm actually looking forward to running house center by myself next week.

I also learned Parade Audience Control (PAC) during training. As a CP, my job will consist of a lot of PAC shifts, which essentially is just controlling the crowd during the 3:45 parade at Animal Kingdom. There are certain ropes you have to pull, and you have to watch the crowd during the parade to make sure everyone is being safe and not putting themselves or the performers in danger. I think PAC is a nice break from Nemo, but everyone tells me that I will feel differently when I have to do the parade in the July heat and humidity!

Today was my assessment day. Assessment for Nemo consists of a performance and knowledge assessment. I was assessed by Awilda, because your trainer cannot assess you. I ran house center, photocell, fastpass, upper right, and did a shift at parade. Everyone told me I did an awesome job, and my coordinators and managers even took notice, so I'm really happy that I am off to such a good start at my role! I even managed to get every question right on my knowledge assessment (: Honestly, assessment day isn't something to stress about. If your trainer does their job, you should be able to breeze through the assessment. AND, at the end of your assessment, you officially "earn your ears!"

So, as of today, I am a fully trained cast member at Finding Nemo, The Musical and have officially earned my ears with the Walt Disney Company! I have off tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday, so I'm looking forward to relaxing, running errands, and hopefully hitting the parks!

DAKlimation and Training Day 1

For the past two days, I've been training at my job site. I had DAKlimation yesterday, which was basically just an orientation to working at Animal Kingdom. We took a tour of the park for about 2 hours, had a classroom session for about 1 1/2 hours, and then had our lunch break. The park tour was cool because I got to learn a lot of new fun facts! The class session was also somewhat interesting; we learned about the new Fastpass plus system, about how the animals are cared for, and all about spreading the park's message, which is conservation. This is the perfect location for me because I am a Conservation Biology major, so I'm thrilled to be working in Animal Kingdom! After the classroom portion, we received our training schedules for the remainder of the week, which for me meant finding out my work location!!! I'll be working at (drumroll please)...... FINDING NEMO, THE MUSICAL!! I'm super excited about that because I love the show, and think that learning behind the scenes ins and outs will be really interesting.

After lunch, my whole group headed over to costuming, where we got our costumes for our roles. Honestly, I was super excited for costuming, and it ended up being completely stressful and overwhelming. None of the sizes fit like they should, and the building is so huge that it's hard to find everything you need. I was really glad to get out of there with 5 brown plaid shirts, 5 sage green pants, 1 brown belt, and some other super cute (note the sarcasm) accessories. In actuality, my costume is actually pretty tame compared to some of the others. It's just a general costume that goes with the natural/animal/conservation theme of the park. And, the best part about my costume is that I get to wear hiking boots! I don't know why, but I was so happy to go out and buy boots instead of boring black shoes to go with my costume!

Today, I had my first day of on the job training. I was so nervous that I ended up getting there an hour early and sitting in my car waiting! I met my trainer, Wendy, in the main entrance break room, we clocked in, and my day began! I worked from 10:00 to 18:30 (yes, Disney uses military time - aka 6:30) with a 30 minute lunch break and two 15 minute breaks. To be completely honest, I was really shocked with how training went. I was expecting everything to be happy and magical and "Disney", and when it wasn't, it took some adjustment on my part! I ended up really enjoying my day though, once I adjusted to the fact that I was now on the Cast Member side of Disney, not the guest side. I met a lot of people that I will be working with, watched the show, read a chapter of the operations manual, did some online tutorials, and then went into some on the job training at different locations around the theater. It was a bit stressful, because I had to wear a headset so I could communicate with everyone else, which made it hard to focus on the guests while I was hearing a bunch of talking in my one ear. It's definitely something I will have to adjust to!

Overall, these past two days of training have gone really well. The one thing I will say is that both days went completely differently than I had expected. My advice to any incoming CP's or people thinking about applying is to keep an open mind and know that not everything will go completely as planned. The Cast Member side of things is completely different than the Guest side! 

Keep looking for an update on the rest of my training this week. Also, come visit me at The Theater in the Wild for Finding Nemo, The Musical! I would love to see you there (:

Traditions

Today, I had my first official day of training, which is a class called "Traditions" at Disney University. It's a class that introduces new Cast Members to the Disney Company and lets you know about the Disney legacy that you are following when you join the Disney team. It's a lot of going over rules and regulations, but there are some fun parts. You watch videos from guests so you can see how much of an impact of you can have on a guest's vacation on any one day at work. I don't want to divulge too much information, but it's definitely an experience that I'm sure all cast members will always remember!

At Traditions, I received my ears and nametag, which was so exciting!

My first pair of ears!

My nametag! I'm completely official!!

After today, I can start my training at my job site (Animal Kingdom) on Sunday! I'm so excited to start training and learn all about my role, Animal Kingdom, and the Disney Company. I'll leave you with a quote from Walt that was displayed at Disney University today...

My Apartment

So, for those of you who are interested in the DCP housing experience, I thought I would share some pictures of my apartment in Chatham Square. There are 4 housing options for participants in the DCP. Vista Way, Chatham Square, Patterson Court, and The Commons. My roommates and I chose Chatham because it seemed like a nice middle-ground. There seems to be a lot going on, but it's never too crazy or loud. The apartments are also pretty nice (only minor issues) and the complex itself has really nice amenities, including a pool, fitness center, clubhouse, field, and laundry facilities.

I'm living in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment, meaning that I have 3 roommates. It's a really nice size and I like all the space we have. Also, as a plus, I love all my roommates; we're getting along so well!!

If you have any questions about housing, Chatham, or the DCP in general, feel free to comment below!

My side of the bedroom!

Our bathroom

More of my bedroom

Our common area

Walk-in Closet

Living Room (and the attractive furniture they provide)

Dining Area

Kitchen

Fun with Friends & Housing Meeting

Before the DORMS system came out, the original plan was to have a 4 bedroom in Chatham Square, so that there would be 8 girls living together. When we had to split up, we all agreed to still meet and go out to dinner the second night of our arrival! So, my roommates and I met the other four girls (Angie, Melanie, Brittany, and Kate) at the bus stop and we all went to Downtown Disney for dinner at Planet Hollywood on Tuesday night! We had a really fun night, exploring Downtown Disney and then eating a really awesome dinner. We had a fantastic waiter named Tim, who performed the Single Ladies dance for us in the middle of the restaurant! We all also ordered fancy drinks in souvenir cups and had nice meals.

My Planet Hollywood Souvenir cup

All of us with our waiter

After a great night, my roommates and I came back and watched a movie and then fell asleep. Wednesday morning, I had a housing meeting over at the Commons, which is another DCP housing complex. The housing meeting is basically just where you go over the rules to living in the housing complexes. No weapons, drugs, threats, etc. It was all pretty basic, but they tried their best to make it fun and exciting for the participants. 

The housing meeting

After the housing meeting, my roommates and I went on a group shopping trip to Walmart. We bought a few things that the apartment didn't have (for me, it was baking sheets and tupperware). We also bought cookie dough so that we could bake later on! 

I cooked for the first time ever last night, spaghetti and meatballs! I was surprised with how well it came out, and quite proud of myself. Now I guess I have to learn how to cook other things... great. After dinner, we baked cookies, and then bagged them up and wrote little notes on the bags and went around our apartment building and delivered them to all of our neighbors! Most of the people we met were really nice and grateful for the cookies. It was an awesome way to meet people and let them know that we were looking for friends!

My first ever home-cooked meal!

To end the night, we took a walk around the complex and checked out the pool, fitness center, and clubhouse. It's a really nice area, and I'm really happy that we chose to live in Chatham. We also met some guys from our apartment building that weren't there when we originally delivered the cookies, and we ended up talking to them for a while and watching a movie with them!

Overall, it was a really great day. It's been really nice having all of this time to get to know my roommates better and we all seem to be getting along well! I'm so excited for when we can go into the parks for the first time together! Speaking of, I have my Traditions class tomorrow, and then start training on Sunday, so look out for more posts about those days!

Check In and Casting

I'm finally here and my college program has begun! After spending the entire day in the Magic Kingdom on Sunday, my mom and I woke up early Monday morning and my adventure began! I want to give you all an idea of how the day went, so here it goes!!

My roommates and I all met in the parking lot of the Walgreens across from Vista Way, which was our check in location. We met at 8:00 and probably were in line by 8:15. There were a ton of people in line already when we got there. We got cute little sticker name tags while we were waiting in line. It took us about 2 hours to get to the front of the line, where we officially began the check in process. First, we were given program guides to the DCP which they informed us were also known as the "DCP Bibles" because it had everything you would need to know inside. Once inside the building, we received our housing assignment! My roommates, Allie, Megan P., and Danielle and I are living in a 2 bedroom apartment in Chatham Square, which was our first choice! From there, we got our housing ID pictures taken, received the keys to our apartment, and registered our cars.

After doing all of the housing things, we went outside to wait in more lines. After finally making it to the front of the line, we found out our work locations!! Ready for it??? I'll be working... THEATER OPS AT DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM!!!!!!! I'm not entirely sure what this means, but I'm assuming that I will be working at one of the shows in Animal Kingdom. I'm really happy about my assignment because Animal Kingdom was my first choice of work locations! My roommates also found out their locations as well. Allie will be working at Magic Kingdom with the new Fastpass Plus system, Megan will be a hostess at the Contemporary Resort's California Grill Restaurant, and Danielle will be working in the gift shop of the All Star Resorts!

Obviously, finding out our work locations was the best part of the day. From there, we were all split up into smaller groups. We received our itineraries for the rest of the week and went over them with a cast member so that we understood the expectations. Afterwards, we had a quick stop at banking, and then outside to learn about education and safety! All in all, we finished around 11:15, so we were "checking in" for about 3 hours. It was a long time, but getting to know my roommates in line made it go a little quicker.

The first roommate picture!

Afterwards, I went to my apartment for the first time and moved my stuff in! Check for a post coming soon with apartment pictures and all that good stuff!

I had a drug test at 4, and then my mom and I went shopping, ate, and finished moving me in. It was a really long and exhausting day, but I had fun!

This morning I had my appointment at casting at 10:00. Nothing too exciting happens at casting, as you're basically just doing background checks, getting fingerprinted, and handing in all your forms. I did receive my training schedule, and my training begins on Sunday, which is January 19th. I have what they are calling "DAKlimation" (Disney's Animal Kingdom) and then find out the rest of my training schedule from there!

The inside of the Casting Building

Tomorrow, I have a housing meeting, I am free on Thursday, and Friday I have Traditions, which is my first official day on the job!

Stay tuned for more posts with pictures and the rest of the details from this first week! I hope you all are having a completely magical day!!

Officially Here!

After about an 18 hour car ride, I have finally made it to Orlando! Last night my mom and I stopped in Savannah, Georgia for the night and got up this morning and drove the rest of the way to Orlando. We checked into a hotel not too far outside Disney, and tomorrow we plan to check into Saratoga Springs, which is on Disney property! The plan is to get up early tomorrow and head to the Magic Kingdom so that my mom and I can spend our last day together in the park before I officially become a Disney cast member!

I got an email today about being drug tested during my arrival, which makes me think/hope that I will be at an attraction where I will be operating a vehicle/ensuring guests' safety, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed about me being assigned to a "good" ride!!

After we arrived this afternoon, we headed over to Downtown Disney! We saw the movie Frozen (my second time) at the dine in movie theaters and then walked around the shops for a little while! It was a really nice night and my mom and I both enjoyed the warm Florida weather.

My first picture of the trip! The sign behind me says "Welcome Home"

It's crazy to think that after tomorrow, my journey begins as a Disney cast member. My nervousness has officially exceeded my excitement at this point, but I know that once I check in and get into the groove of things that I will be just fine!

I can't wait to get into the Magic Kingdom tomorrow! Hope everyone has Disney dreams tonight (:

Leaving TOMORROW!

So, today is my last day at home. Tomorrow morning, my mom and I will be leaving for our 20 hour drive down to Florida. The plan is to arrive in Disney World early Sunday morning, so that the two of us can spend the day in the park before I check in on Monday.

My roommates and I found out our apartment location by going back into the DORMS site. We are going to be living in Chatham Square, which was our first choice!! We don't know yet how many bedrooms will be in our apartment, but the four of us are definitely together, which makes us feel better already.

I'm planning on spending my last day at home packing, working on my online course homework (yuck), and spending time with my family and friends. I can't wait to post on Monday and share with everyone where my work location will be! I'll write about all of the details of what is sure to be a long check in day.

Wish me luck as I begin my journey with the Walt Disney Company!! Disney, I'll see ya real soon (:

It's Almost Time!!

With 6 days until I leave for my program, and 9 days until the start of my program, you could say that my anticipation level is through the roof! It still doesn't feel real that I start my Disney College Program so soon. I feel like it was just yesterday that I applied, and now here I am with my days limited to the single digits!

So, an update on what's been going on since my last post. I finished my semester at Clemson, and had to say goodbye to all of my friends. It was really hard saying goodbye and knowing we wouldn't see each other again until August, but I know that once I get to Disney, make friends, and settle in, that it will all be worth it. Some of my friends even promised to come visit me, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!! 

Disney was supposed to send me an email about filling out my new hire paperwork, but I never got the email. I called them twice about it, and after the second phone call (with a very helpful cast member!) I got it all figured out and began the process of filling out my new hire paperwork. The paperwork is essentially you electronically signing a bunch of papers that give you information about working for Disney, including their policies and procedures. I had some technical difficulties filling the forms out at first, but after I looked up some help hints on the Facebook group, I was able to get it all sorted out and submitted. I also learned that you can fill out the forms during your check in, so there's no real need to fill them out beforehand, it's just to make the check in process go more quickly and save people some time.

A few days ago, I got my DORMS email. DORMS is the new system that Disney is using the help the college program participants indicate their preferences as to roommates, apartment complex, and apartment size. It's another tool designed to make check in easier on everyone. Unfortunately, because my arrival date is one of the earlier ones, there were no 4 bedrooms available, so my group of 8 had to split into 2 groups of 4. But, we all did agree to still go out to dinner on our first night and get to know one another in the hopes that we can all still be friends! As far as the DORMS system goes, it's extremely straight forward and really user-friendly. 

As for now, I'm just waiting. I've made a packing list, and am starting to try to get together with people before I leave at the end of this week. I'm checking the Facebook group (almost obsessively), trying to get any last helpful hints about check in and stuff. 

I promise to write about my check in day (January 13th!!) and let everyone know the details about my role, apartment, roommates, and everything else about the Disney College Program! I want to try to blog pretty frequently so that I can share my experience with others! 

For now, I hope all your Disney Dreams come true... See you on the 13th!