Wet or Dry Apartment more mature?

[deadtoaster2]

I will be 21 at the time of my CP and was wondering whether going into a wet apartment would mean there would be more partying or more maturity?

I know that you can request a dry apartment even if you are over 21 which I have considered as I would prefer to simply stay away from that if possible, however I am wondering if living in a dry apartment would mean there would be younger CP'ers living there... which may mean there is more drama and less overall maturity. :confused3

Hopefully all of that made sense. I am just looking for the best option... as in least amount of (high school style) drama and room-mates that will... you know be mature? I don't want to come off sounding like some kind of a grump because I am of course up for having a good time, but hopefully you know what I am getting after here.

Advise/insight is appreciated.

Thanks much :)

[americangeiko]

Don't assume that just because there's older people in the apartment that they're more mature.

During my CP, the most mature people I had in my apartment were both about 26 yrs old. But most CPs aren't that old, and one was International program. The biggest problem I had was with some of my roomies being loud and drunk, and inviting other people back to the apartment to be loud and drunk. (This was after it was discussed before the CP that one wasn't "loud and drunk", and therefore, if they roomed with me, we wouldn't have that problem.)

[deadtoaster2]

Yeah, that was my thought exactly. So it might be best for me to go with a dry apartment since I don't really care for that type of atmosphere anyways.

Has anybody lived in both wet and dry before?

[americangeiko]

Honestly, underage drinking is a big problem in general, but more so at Vista Way. So if you get the opportunity, go Chatham, as there's less of an issue there.

[Jules76126]

I lived in a dry apartment in Vista Way. There was a lot of underae drinking going on. There was none in my apartment mainly because no one wanted to get into trouble. Even if you are not drinking you are guilty by association if a roommate is caught. If you are over 21 you might want to go wet. That way you never have to worry about underage drinking instead you could probably set ground rules with your roommates. Also request an apartment with a smaller number of occupants. If you dont like a loud environment then pick chathman or patterson not Vista. I personally loved living in vista and plan to again. Just my opinion.

[shastatikipunch]

Personally I wouldn't risk it with going to a dry apartment. If underage drinking is a huge problem, and one of your underage roommates gets caught with alcohol in the dorm, they could either use you (since you're of age) as a scapegoat or security will be naturally curious, I feel it's a little too much to take a gamble on. But that's just me.

[SweaterInJune]

I was 23 when on my CP and lived in a dry 4-person apartment at Chatham. There were no problems, at least in regards to drinking. I will drink socially, but I never felt the need to do so at home and was very happy to be away from the "party" environment entirely. I avoided it, and I never encountered underage drinkers. The party atmosphere is almost entirely at Vista or Commons... Even still, when I would visit friends at Vista, I didn't notice a problem. Make smart decisions and you shouldn't have a problem.
I was happy to be in a dry apartment after living in a college town which is ranked as one of the top party schools in the nation... It was a welcome change :-)

Also, in regards to maturity....we had one roommate who was very much a socialite and cried about how she couldn't afford her $120+ appointments to have her hair dyed, etc. She complained about everything and eventually self-termed and went home. She was replaced by an amazing girl. After that we NEVER had problems at all... I loved my roomies!

[crimsontide27]

The honest trust is that it all depends on the people that become your roommates.

I know of some very mature dry apartments, and I know of a few very mature wet apartments. Just because you are allowed to have alcohol, doesnt mean you have to have it.

Let me ecco the sentiments earlier though....if you are over 21, I would certainly choose a wet apartment. Having alcohol in the apartment is no big deal there. However, if you are in a dry apartment, and one of your roommates gets stupid one night and gets drunk , or security hears there is drinking going on in there....you can kiss your college program goodbye.

The only person you can really control is yourself. I watched entire apartments get terminated due to underage drinking on a semi-daily basis. Wether the apartment is wet or dry doesnt affect the maturity of your roommates.

If I were you, I would go wet in a heartbeat, it saves you from having to worry on a daily basis that you could be terminated and have nothing to do with it.

[Nie0214]

Although this isn't the Disney program specifically, I know of an instance that occurred on my former college campus:

Two roommates, one over 21 (call her: Alice), the other under 21 (call her: Jasmine). They are in a suite where each has their own bedroom and there is a common living room/kitchen area.

Alice has a beer in the living room area while watching TV. A half hour later, she grabs another beer and continues watching her show. Jasmine comes home and sits on the couch and starts watching the show with Alice. An RA comes by and notices the two empty beer bottles on the coffee table and assumes that since Alice and Jasmine are sitting together, they each had one of the beers. Jasmine had to go to AA meetings and get a black smeer on her record because she was reported for underage drinking, even though she didn't even have a sip.

The rules were always annoying, you could have alcohol at 21, but containers couldn't be open.. so you'd have to drink the whole bottle in one sitting or get in trouble if it was found out that you had half a drink left in your fridge.

Anyway, I'd go for "wet" because then you don't have to worry about things like the above. Just because people have the right to drink, doesn't mean they will. In fact, of my 4 years of college, the most obscene drinking stories/issues/events/etc. I came across were in my freshmen/sophomore years when the people were underage.

[deadtoaster2]

So if you are over 21, and are living in a dry apartment, and one of your roomies gets caught drinking, even though you ARE over 21 you will still get termed? I am sorry, that does not make any sense what so ever.

Now if it was you who brought it in (regardless of whether you were 21 or not that is a different story) but the whole guilty by association thing doesnt make any sense to me.

So basically what you have to do is if you dont want to get introuble for what your roomies are doing, you essencially have to snitch on them whether you are under or over 21 and are living in dry. What about the people who are under 21 and simply want to have a good time. Their experience can be ruined by what one of their roomies does? wow that is so messed up.

Thanks for the advise. It is still kinda mixed though seems that some never had any problems with it while others did. I will have to continue to think about the decision.... I will be attending the California program so I do not know if the different complexes there compare to the WDW program like Vista (party) and Patterson (calmer) or whatever.

If anybody else has any other advise please post.

Thanks :)

[SweaterInJune]

Just because people have the right to drink, doesn't mean they will. In fact, of my 4 years of college, the most obscene drinking stories/issues/events/etc. I came across were in my freshmen/sophomore years when the people were underage.

I'd have to agree on that, or at least they almost always involved underage drinkers. Once people can drink whenever they want the apparent need to binge drink usually goes out the window. Drinking is no longer "exciting"...it's just this thing you can do...

Eh...I have never understood the drinking to get drunk idea anyhow... :confused3 Guess that's not really my scene...not to say that I haven't been, but not intentionally and I can't say I enjoy feeling that way...

I thought the risk was high at first in going dry, but as I said, we had no problems and no one I knew had problems with underage drinkers. It's all up to your preferences. If I can't trust a roomie not to drink in a dry apartment, then I can't really trust them to be in an apartment with my personal property either. If anything, my roomies may have worried I would bring alcohol in, considering I could purchase it. That would never happen though, and if I did have a drink it was always out...Epcot, HOB, Raglan Road, etc.

At the end of the day, it's your call, but there is legitimate merit to every angle of this decision...

[SweaterInJune]

I would hope people are good-natured enough to fess-up and accept all blame without letting the rest of the apartment hang, but this isn't always the case and sometimes it will make no difference. If the housing authorities can prove, or suspect under any logical thinking that you knew of the present contraband, then you are equally at fault.

It's not a good situation, but with thousands of cp's they don't have time to investigate it all... everyone is warned of the consequences at the very beginning of the program.

There are similar circumstances in your work location too... The CP is basically a "Zero Tolerance Zone"... One person may do the crime, but you all pay the time.

[Joanna71985]

I will not stay in a Wellness anymore, now that I am over 21. I am too afraid that one of my roomies will try to bring in alcohol. I would rather just live in a non-wellness, and hope that my roomies are not big party people. So far, all of my roomies have been pretty good (for the most part). Hopefully I will be as lucky when I apply for FA 2009.

[fmrcp06]

When you sign your contract for a wellness apt., you are agreeing (even if you are 21+) that you will not bring any alcohol at all into the apt. So, if you are 21, and you think you are going to drink - DO NOT put yourself into a wellness apt.

[deadtoaster2]

I will not stay in a Wellness anymore, now that I am over 21. I am too afraid that one of my roomies will try to bring in alcohol.
But what is to say that they wouldn't bring it in even if you were under 21?

It seems that the bottom line is this....

If you are under 21 watch out, not just for yourself but for what all of your roomies are doing as well.

And with someone who is over 21 there are two choices. Go into a dry and watch what your roomies are doing OR go into wet and hope that your apartment doesn't turn into party central.

It seems there are pros and cons to both sides. I really wouldn't want my apartment to turn into one of the big party hangouts, but as long as the roomies are respectful I don't really care either way whether they would drink or not.

All of this ultimately comes about because my family has a history with alcohol which leaves me with a much higher chance that if I ever got involved too deeply, it could turn bad fast. If it wasn't for that I probably wouldn't have even considered going into dry.

If anybody else cares to chime in it would be appreciated. Still looking for the best route here.

Thanks

[Joanna71985]

But what is to say that they wouldn't bring it in even if you were under 21?

It seems that the bottom line is this....

If you are under 21 watch out, not just for yourself but for what all of your roomies are doing as well.

And with someone who is over 21 there are two choices. Go into a dry and watch what your roomies are doing OR go into wet and hope that your apartment doesn't turn into party central.

It seems there are pros and cons to both sides. I really wouldn't want my apartment to turn into one of the big party hangouts, but as long as the roomies are respectful I don't really care either way whether they would drink or not.

All of this ultimately comes about because my family has a history with alcohol which leaves me with a much higher chance that if I ever got involved too deeply, it could turn bad fast. If it wasn't for that I probably wouldn't have even considered going into dry.

If anybody else cares to chime in it would be appreciated. Still looking for the best route here.

Thanks

If you are under 21, you couldn't be the one automatically assumed to have brought it in. Of course, you still have a risk. But if I was under 21, I would start right out by saying "if there is any alcohol whatsoever, I would be going to security". That's one reason why I am happy to be over 21- I don't have to worry about it anymore.

[americangeiko]

If you go Wet, but don't want to worry about "loud" roomies, I'd suggest finding someone who's like many on this thread:

a) Paranoid about underage drinking
b) Not a partier/Not really a drinker

It's best if you can find someone that doesn't drink at all.

[crimsontide27]

So if you are over 21, and are living in a dry apartment, and one of your roomies gets caught drinking, even though you ARE over 21 you will still get termed? I am sorry, that does not make any sense what so ever.

Now if it was you who brought it in (regardless of whether you were 21 or not that is a different story) but the whole guilty by association thing doesnt make any sense to me.

So basically what you have to do is if you dont want to get introuble for what your roomies are doing, you essencially have to snitch on them whether you are under or over 21 and are living in dry. What about the people who are under 21 and simply want to have a good time. Their experience can be ruined by what one of their roomies does? wow that is so messed up.

Thanks for the advise. It is still kinda mixed though seems that some never had any problems with it while others did. I will have to continue to think about the decision.... I will be attending the California program so I do not know if the different complexes there compare to the WDW program like Vista (party) and Patterson (calmer) or whatever.

If anybody else has any other advise please post.

Thanks :)

Just because you are allowed to have alcohol in an apartment doesnt make it liek a Girls Gone Wild video, you have to understand that. I was in wet apartment where the roomamtes were 34, 28, 24, and 22. There was alcohol present, but at no time was it a "party zone"

And yes, if you are in an apartment that does not allow alcohol, and they do security checks, someone rats someone out in your room, 1 of your roomies get caught drinking in the apartment......every last one of you can and probably will be termed. You will have 24 hours to pack your bags, turn in your ID and leave.

I watched it happen numerous times. One roommate got stupid, 5 others college program ended abruptly.

Huge risk if you are 21 and decide to stay in a wellness apartment. Just from my experiences, those are the worst to be in because one person does something stupid, you can kiss your program goodbye.

[SweaterInJune]

I think the CP's must have been on tranquilizers while I was there... Even Vista wasn't what I was expecting it to be. I didn't hear of anyone termed for alcohol! Tardiness, fights(self-defense), accidents, etc. but not alcohol...

Anyhow, I chose my immediate roommate ahead of time and she was under 21, so it was a choice I made. The other girls in my apartment didn't drink. In fact none of my under-21 friends really drank while down there... and the few isolated times I noticed it, it never happened anywhere near property. I lived in Chatham, also to help avoid the "party-stigma" that surrounds Vista, but also because I heard the apartments were nicer and it was recommended for me by prior CP friends. I had been in Vista before visiting friends and knew it wasn't a total dump, so that wasn't really a concern--while I was there, they refurbished all the apartments too. A major improvement!

Anyhow, yes, there's a risk, but at the same time, most people don't want to be termed... Try to pick a roommate off the boards as your immediate roommate. You can try to pick more people than that as long as you request in pairs and all wait in line together. If you are in a wellness though, know that only one over-21 is allowed in an apartment. You may even luck-out and find a group for a non-wellness who don't care to drink much...

[khancock]

Honestly, underage drinking is a big problem in general, but more so at Vista Way. So if you get the opportunity, go Chatham, as there's less of an issue there.

Really? The apartment complex in which someone is assigned causes someone to drink underage or not?

Gang, individuals make their own decisions. Where you live has nothing to do with it.

People get termed for underage drinking at all of the complexes.

[Jules76126]

I lived in Vista and there were a lot of parties you just had to know where to look. Also I know quite a few people that got termed for drinking. My roommate was termed. She was out drinking off property and came back and passed out on our doorstep. My next door neighbor found her and called 911. She had tobe rushed to the hopsital. Since she was the only one home at the time and the door to the apartment was open and you could see that no alcohol was present she was the only one that was termed. I was out for the night. I guess I picked a good night not to come home lol. But seriously there is drinking everywhere. I had friends that lived in Chatham that drank also. Chatham is just more spread out and tends to be on the quieter side but I am not saying everyone that lives there is perfect.

[SweaterInJune]

Hmmm...well, I didn't go out looking for them, wasn't disturbed by any, and I never had any problems, so I guess it was a win, win situation :thumbsup2

I think if you make smart decisions you'll generally be fine no matter where you live or what kind of apartment you choose... Granted that's not foolproof because you may get irresponsible roommates. Such is life and such is the CP lifestyle...

[WhateverLolaWants]

I personally would not risk getting involved with underage drinkers. I believe entire apartments have been termed if they were home when someone was drinking. You're basically not going to know what you're going to get into until you meet your roommates. We drank in our apartment only once and all the other times we were just drinking at the bars. Just set ground rules - go to the party spots, not be the party spot. As long as you're not the type of person who looks down on people who want a beer or two to unwind, then I think you'll be just fine.

[deadtoaster2]

I personally would not risk getting involved with underage drinkers. I believe entire apartments have been termed if they were home when someone was drinking. You're basically not going to know what you're going to get into until you meet your roommates. We drank in our apartment only once and all the other times we were just drinking at the bars. Just set ground rules - go to the party spots, not be the party spot. As long as you're not the type of person who looks down on people who want a beer or two to unwind, then I think you'll be just fine.

After thinking about all that has been said here in the past few days I think this is the best idea. Ill just go in and hope for the best.

Thanks for all of the input guys, it has really helped.

[_frazzle]

Wow I hope I don't get crazy people as roomies (I'm 18 so it'll be dry). I've never had a sip of alcohol in my life and I'd have a fit if someone elses stupidity caused me to get terminated especially since I want to do the PI and eventually work at Disney.

[SweaterInJune]

Also of note to anyone in non-wellness: the rule works both ways... Underage CP's are not to be present while you're drinking(legally in your apartment). It is possible that people will be termed. All the authorities need is suspicion of underage drinking... Details are often unimportant... It's a sad fact.

I think I would have actually hurt someone if they had ruined my chances with the company... I'm extremely non-violent, but that would have been a deathwish on their part ;)

[Jules76126]

Wow I hope I don't get crazy people as roomies (I'm 18 so it'll be dry). I've never had a sip of alcohol in my life and I'd have a fit if someone elses stupidity caused me to get terminated especially since I want to do the PI and eventually work at Disney.

Honestly it really depends on your roommates. Mine were fine we all agreed that the program was too valuable for one night of fun. I even told one of my roomates that I would call security on her if she continued to break the rules (she was having someone stay past 1 am). I wasnt getting termed for her dumb moves. Most of the times you can ask roommates to party elsewhere or if it really becomes a problem to go to security and place a complaint letting them know that illegal drinking is happening in your apartment and that you are not involved. That way if they get caught you wont be guilty by association unless of course you are sitting with them when theya re drinking. It is a gamble but most of the time its not too bad.

[WhateverLolaWants]

Wow I hope I don't get crazy people as roomies (I'm 18 so it'll be dry). I've never had a sip of alcohol in my life and I'd have a fit if someone elses stupidity caused me to get terminated especially since I want to do the PI and eventually work at Disney.

I'm a brutally honest person, so one of the first things out of my mouth when I met my roommates was "None of you are ruining my experience, so if I see you doing something wrong, I'm tattling." Just set boundaries in the apartment and you will be fine. Also, most troublemakers get themselves termed early on with call ins and whatnot so you won't have to deal with them for the entire program.

[onelostsockie]

No matter what type of apartment you live in, there are always risks. Just be sure to take care of yourself first. Nobody has your back but you.

I was 19 when I did my internship and my 2nd immediate roommate was a drinker. She kept her drinks in the trunk of her car and would go to the 21+ neighbors and get drunk. Heck, people would sit outside, on the 1st floor in between the wet and dry apartments and drink. My roommate ended up being fired and later I found out she stored liquor in my locker which I didn't ever lock or use. Stupid me didn't even think to look in there!
My apartment in Vista was pretty quiet otherwise. No partys or extra guests stayed there often. We had some nice girls who didn't drink, and the 2 that did would stay somewhere else overnight.

What bothered me is that I've seen security break up big parties twice and never check IDs of the people they kicked out. But then other people get fired for small reasons.

Warning: it is your word against your roommates if anything ever goes to those security and/or the people at the housing office. It doesn't matter what type of apartment, the key is to know the rules not to get caught doing something that is not allowed.

Whether they are more mature is up to the roommates!

[disneychickforever]

I was onelostsockie's first roommate (not the one sneaking drinks in her locker mind you), and I missed the whole term thing with our other roomie, and honestly I'm glad.

Like she said, you are going to get rule breakers wherever you stay. The drinking isn't the only one. They inforce the after 1am one pretty strictly also. Just be sure to watch your own back, and don't feel bad for telling on a roommate. A true friend wouldn't put your program in danger like that, in my opinion.

[YouJustBideYourTime!]

I don't think you can tell-unfortunately-until you get there and live with these people.

For example, at some of the wet apartments it was nonstop partying but of course some were more mature and some aren't partiers :confused3

Now on the other hand- a friend of mine requested a dry apartment even though she was over 21 cuz she doesn't drink much and she didn't want to get stuck in a partying apartment (I can understand why you wouldn't want to-for example noise and everything like that so don't feel like you sound like a grump. I like to party but I would like my quiet time when i want it and if your roommates aren't respectful of that it can be a problem!) and she just happened to recieve a roommate who was an underage drinker:scared1: so basically this girl was hiding alcohol in the underage apartment... If she had been caught you know who would have gotten in trouble right? The over-21 of course...

So that kinda sucked and is the only reason i might say just go for an over-21 apartment and hopefully you can switch if you get people who want a lot more action around the apartment than you do.

[havie35]

I would definitely go for the 21 and over apartment. It just gets rid of the worries of getting caught because of a roommate. Also, if you come home after a long day and want to have the occasional beer or drink, why would you want to have that worry in the back of your mind? I was a partier in my CP, so thats just my opinion. Other people might think differently. Most of the people living in Chatham are not big partiers anyway, so if you live there I do not think you will have too big of a problem. I lived in Vista Way for my CP and the partiers who lived in Chatham came over to Vista for the party life.