Saying Goodbye & Saying Hello

Recently, I've had to say goodbye to many of my favorite people and things at Walt Disney World. The people who were just doing the spring program left throughout the month of May, with the last departures occurring May 30th. It was hard to say goodbye to some of the friends that I have made here, especially because I don't know if I'll ever see them again. It's crazy that you go on a journey with these people and spend all of your time either working or hanging out with them, and then suddenly they are gone. I'm definitely already missing my friends, and wishing them happy and fun summers.

Another sad goodbye occurred at DAK this week: we had to say goodbye to Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. It was the longest running parade at Animal Kingdom, and now with its departure, the only park with a parade is the Magic Kingdom. I'm sad to see the parade go because it was such a nice break from Nemo during the middle of the day. However, I'm glad I won't have to work the parade during the hot summertime!

The Last Jammin' Jungle Parade Crew

With all of the goodbyes did come some hellos! The fall advantage program people have arrived, and one of those people is my friend, Franklin from Clemson! We have a lot of new neighbors and I'm excited to meet some of my new coworkers.

We also get to say hello to FOLK, or Festival of the Lion King at Animal Kingdom. FOLK has been down since January because they rebuilt the theater in Africa. It used to be located in Camp Minnie Mickey, but since Avatarland is being built where the Camp used to be, the FOLK theater had to be moved to Africa (where it truly belongs). I've been inside the new theater already, and it's beautiful (but very similar to the old theater), but I haven't seen the show yet. Rumor has it that the show is the exact same, but I'm still excited to see it in its new home. I'm also excited that I don't have to answer the "what happened to Lion King" question anymore at Nemo!

So, there you have it. The beginning of summer has been a series of goodbyes and hellos here at Disney World. While it's sad to say goodbye to all the memories, it's exciting to think that there are new memories to be made. I'm looking forward to enjoying my last two months here, and I hope you continue to enjoy me on my Disney Dream!

Spring vs. Spring Advantage

If you're considering applying for the DCP or even if you're just curious about the application process, a huge part of the experience is applying for spring vs. spring advantage (or fall, fall advantage). The spring advantage program runs from January/February - May and the Advantage program runs until August. Basically, the difference is that spring advantage DCPers work during the summer months.

For me personally, I am so glad that I am doing the spring advantage program. I am not in any way ready to leave Florida yet, and I feel like I have so much left that I still want to do! However, I have a lot of friends and coworkers that feel differently. Some of my friends who are doing the spring program wish that they had extended and were staying longer. Others who are doing spring advantage wish that they had only done spring, because they are ready to leave now. I honestly think that your job has a lot to do with your happiness and wanting to stay or leave early. I love my job, my coworkers, and all my friends here, so I am so glad that I am staying for a few more months. I have some friends though, that hate their jobs, and thus are wishing that they had only signed up to do the spring program.

The one thing I will say about doing the spring program is that you have the option to extend your program through the summer. Basically, if you have a good record card, you will probably be given the opportunity to extend. Additionally, with that extension opportunity you can stay in the same job or you can switch jobs, which is also a nice incentive.

I recommend the spring advantage program because I don't think 4 months is long enough to be here for! However, I do have friends that would say differently, so my best advice to all of my readers is to do whatever you think is best for you. Take into consideration all of your options, and then decide how much time you want to spend in the happiest place on earth (:

Starlit Splash

May 7, 2014 was definitely the best night of my entire College Program. Disney Internships and Programs rented out the entire Typhoon Lagoon water park from 7 PM to 1 AM for all of the College Program participants and had a giant party for the CPs!

From the moment my friends and I entered the water park, we could tell that it was going to be a good night. There was a DJ playing lots of great party music and a huge dance floor on the beach. The wave pool was in full force and we could smell lots of amazing free food right around the corner. Throughout the whole night we were able to spend tons of time in the wave pool, go on three tube slides, dance on the beach, meet Captain Jack Sparrow, have some free food (including Mickey bars!), snorkel with sharks, and watch an amazing fireworks show from the water!

Meeting Captain Jack Sparrow

There were so many CPs there, and you could tell that everyone was ready to let loose and have some fun. We were all dancing on the beach and in the water, swimming in the waves, and talking amongst ourselves. At 11:45, the entire party stopped, as they set up a fireworks show and we had an amazing fireworks display that we could watch from the beach or the wave pool! It was beautiful, and a perfect way to celebrate the night.

To make things even better, it was my friend's birthday at midnight, so we got the DJ to make a special birthday announcement for her and we all danced in front of the stage for a good part of the night. It was honestly the most perfect night; I loved every single second of it.

I am so grateful to Disney for setting up a night for the CPs to celebrate all of our hard work and accomplishments. Starlit Splash was a total blast and a complete success!

Typhoon Lagoon at night

New Housing Arrangments

As I mentioned earlier, there are some things that happened in my Chatham Square apartment that I am not too happy about. In the middle of March we received an email about them adding furniture to our apartments within the next thirty days. To make a long, annoying story short, about two weeks ago they came into our apartment to install bunk beds in each room and then rearrange our existing furniture. Before the people came to install the furniture, we had to move everything out of our rooms, including removing our bedding. It was not a fun ordeal, especially since we all work 5 days a week. Moving our stuff out of our apartment was not what we had in mind to do with our time off. 

On the morning of the furniture installation, a person from the Disney team knocked on our apartment door around 9:15 to remind us that they were coming in a little while. I was annoyed because I was in the middle of taking my online test when she came. She offered me orange juice and a granola bar, a "peace offering" as I like to call it. I took four of each for my roommates and me and quickly shut the door and finished my test.

All in all, the furniture installation was done to make room for a third person in each bedroom. I am obviously not very happy about this, especially because there isn't room for a third person in our apartment. We don't have the closet space, a bathroom drawer, or dresser drawer space for a third roommate. Additionally, we don't have the room in our refrigerator and pantry to add two more people's things to the mix! These apartments just aren't designed for six people, period. To make room, they added a bunk bed in each bedroom and then lofted a single bed to put drawers underneath it. They moved our dresser to in between our beds and took out our nightstands, while my roommates Megan and Danielle got to keep their nightstands because their room is slightly bigger. 

I don't know if/when they are moving a third person in, but if/when it happens, you can bet that I will be one unhappy girl!

A word of advice to incoming DCP participants: DON'T PICK A CHATHAM 1 OR 2 BEDROOM! There are plenty of three bedroom apartments that house 6 people that are made for 6 people. The one and two bedroom apartments in Chatham are now housing 3 or 6 people, respectively, when they are not designed to do that. 

Here are some pictures of our new bedroom (excuse the mess), complete with bunk beds and all. The only good thing is that they added a third bulletin board, which meant I got to make a "Disney board" to decorate our room!

My side of the room, with a now lofted bed 

Allie's side with the new bunk beds

The dresser is now in the middle of our beds

Our new bulletin board behind the TV 

The drawers below my bed (there are 4)

Our new Disney bulletin board!

Program Update #1

A lot has happened since my last post, so I wanted to make a general program update to let you know about all of the cool things that have been going on during my DCP.

First, I finally got to see the new Festival of Fantasy parade at the Magic Kingdom! It was amazing! It's great to see some of the new characters making their first parade debuts, and the floats are truly spectacular. The amount of detail on each one is enough to make your head spin! Here are some pictures from the parade.

The parks are definitely getting more crowded since it's spring break season, and with the crowds of course come a lot of changes at work. Almost every day we make a slight modification to the loading process at Nemo, which keeps things interesting! After all, Walt did say "We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

My friends and I have been planning a lot of fun days and activities, with the most recent being the Miley Cyrus Bangerz tour in Orlando! Five of us bought tickets to the concert in the Amway Center in Downtown Orlando. It was seriously so crazy (as expected with Miley) but a ton of fun and a great way to spend time together. 

In the middle of all of this fun, we've also had other issues to worry about, like passing the second round of inspections! We all cleaned for a couple of days leading up to inspections, and this time around we got inspected on the second day of inspections! I was in the apartment when they inspected us, so I got more of an idea as to what they did. Honestly, it was so quick. There were three people that came in, looked all over our apartment, and then told us if we needed to improve in any areas or if we were doing a good job. We passed with flying colors and got our 2nd White Glove Award! I'd say we are doing pretty well with inspections, well that, or the other apartments in the complex are just really dirty and gross...

Anyway, I have a lot planned in the next few days. I have a Meet & Greet tomorrow with my teacher to talk about how I should approach the rest of my program, an advising meeting with my Clemson advisor for next year on Thursday, my last two classes of environmentality and sustainability, and even some fun play time at the parks and resorts. Be sure to stay tuned for my posts in the next few weeks!

I hope everyone is having a magical day, and remember to keep on dreaming!

Living In Chatham Square

So, after living in Chatham Square for close to two months, I can say that I have a fairly good grasp on the living arrangements here. I wanted to make a post about Chatham so that people have a good idea of where I am living, and future DCPer's can get a good feel for the complex!

There are 4 different apartment complexes that Disney allows College Program participants to live in. There is Vista Way, Chatham Square, Patterson Court, and The Commons. Each comes with their own reputation. I can't really speak to the reputations much since I haven't lived in the other complexes, but I'll let you know anyway. Vista has the reputation of being the "party" place. It's the oldest complex, so the apartments aren't as nice as the other ones, but they are still pretty decent. I hear that Vista is the most social complex and it's really close to a bunch of restaurants and shops, which makes it convenient for people who don't have cars. Patterson is known as the "grandparent" complex. It's the newest one, so the apartments are really nice and the facilities are beautiful. However, it has the reputation of being very quiet and many people I know that live there say that they don't really know their neighbors. Another disadvantage to Patterson is that it's the only apartment complex without a bus stop right in front of it. Patterson and Chatham share a bus stop in front of Chatham. The Commons just became available to all DCP participants this year. Previously, it was where all the International students stayed, but this semester they opened it up to everyone. The nice thing about the Commons is that you have a washer and dryer inside your apartment, but you also pay more for the apartment every week. Chatham Square is known as the middle-ground between Vista and Patterson. It's in the middle in terms of apartment "niceness" and social life. I know a lot of my neighbors and am friends with a lot of people in the complex itself. Most of my friends live in Chatham, which makes it extra nice because we don't have to leave the complex to visit one another. Chatham, Patterson, and The Commons are within walking distance of one another while Vista is further away. If you want to know more about my apartment, visit "My Apartment" post on this blog to see pictures of my 2 bedroom in Chatham Square!

Chatham is a really nice apartment complex. It has a very small gym for everyone to use, a pool area, and a field that they frequently use for DCP events. Mailboxes are separated by area and are found usually within a block of your apartment. We have a key that opens our box when we need to check the mail. Packages that are delivered by the USPS come to the clubhouse, while FedEx and UPS deliver directly to your apartment door. The clubhouse is where you can go to pick up packages, report maintenance issues, use free computers, or where you can pick up extra keys if you lock yourself out. The clubhouse also has the Disney Service Center inside it, which is where Cast Members who work in the housing and internships department work. They can answer questions about anything work related, they work out roommate issues, and help answer any questions you may have.

Security is probably my least favorite thing about living in the apartments here. I have a sticker on my car which lets me park in Chatham, yet every time I enter the complex I have to stop at the security gate and show my ID to get in. I also have to sign in any guests I want to bring to my apartment if they aren't housing participants. The sign in process is long and exasperating, especially since when I am normally at school, no one cares who I bring into my room. I get the whole safety aspect of the security team, it's just frustrating to me, someone who is used to living on their own and not having anybody really care about what you do in your space.

Another key aspect of living in DCP housing is the rules. Rule number 1: no sleepovers. This means if you have friends come to visit, they can't stay with you over night. Now, technically security has no way of knowing if someone is staying with you, but if they came over past curfew (2 AM) and found someone in your room, you could easily get fired from Disney. Rule number 2: keep your apartment clean. If you read my post on inspections, you can find out more about inspections, but essentially people come to check if your apartment is in tip-top shape a few times during your program, and you have to pass if you do not want to be fined. Rule number 3: no hanging things on walls. This means you can't have posters, pictures, etc. hanging on the bare white walls in your room. They do give you one small corkboard to put pictures on, but it's not a lot of space. Some people I know put posters and pictures up on the walls and then just take them down for inspections, but if you ask me, that's too much work just for simple decorations. There are tons of other rules for living in the complexes, but those are the three that really stand out to me.

As far as paying rent, Disney takes rent directly out of your paycheck every week. I live in a 2 bedroom in Chatham Square, so I pay $103 a week for rent. The more people you live with, the less rent you pay. And generally, Vista is the cheapest, followed by Chatham, Patterson, and The Commons. We are lucky because we do not have to pay for utilities, that is all covered by our rent, so we don't have to worry about how much water, electricity, etc. we are using.

One final note about Chatham is that they give you internet, but it is wired, so you have to bring a router if you want wireless internet. The internet connection isn't great, and it goes in and out sometimes, but it's not awful.

If you have any questions about the living experience on the DCP or about Chatham or any of the complexes in general, please let me know! I hope everyone is having a magical day! (:

Housing Inspections

One of the "living" parts of the Disney College Program is housing inspections. Essentially, inspections are when they come to your apartment and check to make sure that your trash is taken out, all your furniture is in good shape, and that you have a clean kitchen, dining room, bedroom, and bathroom. Disney wants your apartment to be "show ready" meaning that if someone walked into it, they would have a good impression of you as a Cast Member and a person.

Honestly, I was stressing out about inspections a little bit. I'm one of those people who doesn't like to do things halfway, so when I heard that inspections were coming, I knew we really needed to buckle down and clean the apartment and get it "show ready." They don't tell you what particular day they will be inspecting your apartment, but they give you a 2 week window and they could come at any point during those two weeks. Luckily, my roommates and I were lucky enough to get inspected on day 1 of inspections.

The night before I went into super-cleaning mode. I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the floors, I vacuumed the entire apartment, cleaned the counters, microwave, oven, and sinks, cleaned the entire bathroom (shower, sink, toilet, and floors), straightened up my bedroom, and put away all of the miscellaneous things sitting around the apartment. It took me all night to do everything, but all the hardwork payed off because the next morning at inspections we were given the WHITE GLOVE AWARD! Basically, this means that not only did our apartment pass inspections, but they were extra impressed with us, so they gave us an award to acknowledge all our hard work! Only one of my roommates was home, so they took her picture and will put it up in the clubhouse and apparently we can go pick up goodies at the front desk tomorrow for winning! I was excited to hear that we had won the White Glove Award and glad that we got inspections done on day 1, but I have to admit that I'm slightly disappointed that we won't have an excuse to keep the apartment extra neat and clean anymore!

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!

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 (:

Finding Roommates

So, you've been accepted to the Disney College Program, now what? Well, for me, the next step was to find roommates for the program! To be honest, this was kind of a tricky and stressful situation, so I want to let you guys know about my experience, and share some tips with you on how to pick roommates for your program.

First off, join the Facebook group for your program. Sure, there are some posts on there that you really won't care about, but there are other really helpful posts that can answer some tricky questions. Additionally, as acceptances start rolling in, people create groups for each arrival date.  Join this group too. I know it sounds like a lot, but you'll be thanking me later.

You have to understand, that while yes, there are thousands of students accepted into this program every semester, the number of potential roommates one can have is actually quite limited. First, you must live with the same gender. This means girls live with other girls and guys live with other guys. Then, you are further split by your age. People under 21 must live in wellness, which means that there is no alcohol allowed in the apartment. People over the age of 21 have the option to live in wellness or nonwellness, but it seems as if most people go the nonwellness route once they are of legal drinking age. Finally, you are split by your arrival and departure dates. You must check in and check out on the same day as your roommates. This is to make it easier for Disney to completely fill apartments for each program. Remember, when you check out, the next semester's participants will be checking in shortly after! So, while it may seem like there are tons of options for roommates, you have to remember that you need these three things in common in order for Disney to approve the match. For example, I looked for girls who were living in wellness and checking in on January 13 for Spring Advantage.

The next thing I recommend is to make a roommate survey. Usually people start filling them out as the acceptances begin coming in, so just copy someone's and change their answers to yours. BE HONEST! You will be living with these people for many months; don't just say something you think potential roommates will want to hear. If you are honest with yourself, you will most likely have better luck finding roommates who have similar tastes, interests, and habits.

So, after you've determined your criteria and filled out your roommate survey, the waiting game begins. People will start to look at your survey and see if you have things in common. Remember to also look at other people's surveys, you might find them before they find you! I remember being really stressed during the roommate search process, because it seemed like so many people had already found roommates. Just remember to be yourself, stay calm, and the right roommates will eventually come along!

I've listed some quick tips for the roommate search:

1. Join the Facebook groups
2. Create a roommate survey
3. Browse other people's roommate surveys
4. Decide which complex you are most interested in
5. Determine the amount of people you are looking to live with
6. Talk to everyone who seems interested; don't judge a book by its cover
7. Make sure that the things that are most important to you line up with the other person's personality/characteristics/beliefs. For example, it was really important for me to have social roommates who would respect the rules we set place in the apartment!
8. STAY CALM! Don't panic because it seems like everyone already has a roommate
9. Don't just message people and say "want to be roommates?" Can you imagine someone coming up to you on the street and doing this? You would be extremely creeped out. Take the time to get to know someone, ask questions about them and their life, and then, if you feel it's right, ask them to live with you
10. BE YOURSELF! I promise, you will eventually find people who like you for you, and who want to live with you. Remember, this is Disney. You will be meeting all kinds of different people from many different backgrounds; embrace it!

After doing all of this, I finally found roommates! The whole process probably took me about 2 weeks. I ended up finding 7 awesome girls (8 of us total) and we are hoping to live in a 4 bedroom apartment in Chatham Square. 

Good luck with your personal roommate search! I know it can be stressful at times, but just remember that you will be spending the most magical time of your life with these people, so take the time to make sure they are people you see yourself spending these moments with.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Best of luck out there, and as always, keep on dreaming!!