Hey! I'm Gretchen, and I spent January through August of 2012 working at Epcot. Half of that was as a college program participant, and the other half was as a seasonal cast member. Some of you may remember that I had a blog that discussed aspects of working at Disney that I was encouraged to make private. This "trip report" will only consist of things that do not relate to working.
Right now I am currently also writing a Pre-Trip Report for our upcoming December trip, which is up in the air right now due to financial issues. I'm a first year graduate student at the University of Buffalo studying for my doctorate in clinical audiology. I'm 21 years old, and I love reading, Grey's Anatomy, and Harry Potter. And of course, I love Disney and answering questions about Disney. Ask me anything!
So, how did I come to be a WDWCP? Well, in November 2010, my college announced the deactivation of my department-Communicative Disorders and Sciences. While I would be allowed to finish my degree, it really put a damper on my experience. And when my mom and I went to Disney World in October 2011, I seriously considered applying for the college program. I only needed 12 elective credits in spring 2012 to graduate, and I could either get them taking useless things like Calculus and Latin, or I could get them while working at Disney. No brainer, right?
So I applied on October 17th, had my interview on October 23rd, and was accepted to the program after nearly three long weeks of waiting, on November 11th. (11-11-11!) I was accepted for Main Entrance Operations and would be checking in to the program on January 11th. Two months from acceptance to arrival.
In the meantime, I did some prep work. First my purple postcard came.
I booked flights on Southwest (needed those two free bags!) and a one night stay in a studio at Old Key West, booked through a DVC member. I ordered some guidebooks from the school library (although I basically have the UG memorized anyway, and I never actually made it over to Universal or Sea World. I bought vacuum seal bags for the first time, and they made all the difference in the world.
And finally the day came when it was time to depart!
A few days before I was supposed to leave, I fell down the stairs and hurt my knee. It was diagnosed as a sprain, and I was given painkillers and advised to rest it and ice it. But they didn't tell me I couldn't go!
January 10th came dark and early. My bags were packed and ready to go, and my mini-countdown calendar was crossed off.
Mom and I headed to the airport around 6am, stopping so I could get breakfast on the way. We parked in the long term lot, not far from the walkway to the terminal. Upon entering the airport, we found we were on the ground level near baggage claim so took the elevator upstairs and walked down to the Southwest check in counter. I printed my boarding pass and weighed my bags. My biggest suitcase was exactly 50 pounds! Then Mom and I walked towards security where I prepped to go through, then we said "See you in 30 days!" (she was coming to visit). I walked through the security queue and Mom went off to the side to watch me. There was no wait and I got right through.
Even when I have a plan I feel like an unorganized frump walking through security. I had to take my laptop out of my bag and put that in a bin, as well as my 1 quart bag of liquids. My jacket and shoes had to go through the scanner as well. Then the carry on itself. I almost forgot to take off my belt, and since it has metal grommets all the way around it that definitely would have set the detector off!
After that mess, I waved goodbye to Mom and headed for Gate 18. There weren't many people there yet so I grabbed a seat next to the window.
I tried to get myself reorganized which was quite a challenge. Then I wanted a drink and since I was traveling alone I had to take all my stuff with me. Ugh. I went across the way to Which Wich and got a bottle of apple juice. Then I came back over. I people watched, played Solitaire on my computer and listened to music. Just after 8am, we started boarding. I had boarding number A53. There were a lot of older people in wheelchairs who needed to pre-board so they took a while. Only one person was in business select (the first 15 As), so I wasn't too far back in line.
When I got on the plane I saw that the pre-boarders and the 30 or so people ahead of me had taken up a lot of the front, so I walked toward the back, and sat on the right side (facing front) window seat right on/behind the wing. The flight was completely full so I did have two other people sitting in my row. The flight was smooth and calm as always. I had a sprite and a 100 calorie pack of Honey Graham Cinnamon Roll cracker things. During the flight I listened to my iPod.
We landed about 25 minutes early, around 11. Of course, since there were so many people ahead of me I had to wait awhile to deplane. Once I got off, I called Mom and walked down the terminal before stopping in the bathroom. Then I headed towards the shuttle train and arrived in the main terminal. I had no problem finding Magical Express and when I arrived the queue was empty as usual. I've never seen it full. I was directed into line 3.
I only waited about a minute before being directed to a bus. At that point there were only three other people on the bus, two grandparents and their young grandson. We waited about 15 minutes before we left, and in that time some more people got on. The bus was about 2/3 full.
We were informed that there would be only two stops, at Old Key West and then Port Orleans French Quarter. Along the way I saw Characters in Flight.
Finally we were approaching the arch! And thanks to the fact that the grandpa ahead of me moved his head, I was able to get the best picture of it I've ever taken.
Just a few minutes later, I saw this sign.
As we pulled into the resort I was thinking how pretty the buildings were. Approaching the Port Cochere, there was an ambulance at the drop off point and some EMTs with a family checking out a lady's leg. A CM came running up to us and asked if the driver could just drop us off quickly in the first loop where the normal buses stop, so he did. I received my carry on and headed to check in and start the next phase of my life that would change me forever.
I walked into the lobby and approached the online check in counter. Anthony from Puerto Rico greeted me enthusiastically. He was very excited when he found out I was doing the college program and said that he had done it himself and never left. He was just "earning his ears" in his new resort role. My room was not ready yet and he wasn't sure exactly what number it would be, but that it was on the second floor of building 11. This was the top floor and close to the Hospitality House so both of my room requests had been met! There was only one minor snafu when he said I didn't have a credit card attached to my room key, but I know I had put one in during online check in.
After that, I walked outside and took out my shorts, bathing suit, and some other items and put them in my small backpack. I walked a short way to Bell Services and gave them my carry on, then headed off to find a locker room. There was one attached to the fitness center...with no keys for the locks, and I didn't find anyone to ask about it. So I just changed and left my stuff in the locker, taking important things with me. Now it was a little after noon and I was kind of hungry, so I went over to Olivia's. I explained that I had a lunch reservation for 2pm, but if they had availability I'd like to be seated now.
It was no problem and I was seated right away. My server was J'nette.
I was trying to keep costs down for this meal so ordered water to drink (plus I was really thirsty). I knew pretty much right away what I wanted to order, and chose the Traditional Club Sandwich - Layers of Smoked Turkey, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, and Mayonnaise, served with Honey-Lime Fruit Salad for $11.99. It arrived a short while later.
It was a pretty average sandwich. I thought the bread would be toasted but it wasn't. The fruit salad was good but tasted simply of honeydew and cantaloupe, not really any honey or lime flavors that I could detect. It was a very large sandwich so I ate only half and a few bites of the other half. I did finish all the fruit salad.
Several minutes passed before J'nette came out to see if I was through and when she did she admitted that she had been "chatting in the back" and then worried that I was waiting for her.
I decided to try the famed Key Lime Tart-with mango and raspberry sauces ($5.49). for dessert. I expected either a slice of key lime pie or something like the Sunshine Seasons key lime tart, but this is what I got instead:
I ate half of the crust, which was very good, then dug out the middle key lime filling. I ate a couple bites of the meringue but scooped most of it off-nothing against the meringue there as it's not something I care for in general.
Overall the meal did fill me up and I was pleased but I wasn't wowed. Both the service and the food were just average. I would recommend it if you are staying at the resort, but wouldn't say you should make a special trip over there just for the restaurant. I'm in no great hurry to go back.
While I was eating I got a text saying that Villa 1123 was ready for me-only about 20 minutes after I had checked in! So after lunch (which I paid for with a $25 Disney gift card that Mom had snuck in my purse) I went off to the locker room to pick up my stuff and then went off to building 11.
The building is kind of confusing because the upper walkways don't connect and I went up the wrong set of stairs at first. There were only 10 villas in the building. So I found my room and open the door to see this:
My jaw hit the floor as I realized I had been upgraded to a one bedroom! I was almost crying with excitement and immediately called Mom to tell her!
After I hung up with her, I went down to the front desk to ask about my box that I had shipped down ahead of time. They didn't have a note of it but were able to find it in the back room. Phat from Vietnam (I think) brought that and my carry on over to my room.
The door to the right goes to the living room, and straight ahead is the bedroom access.
After all that excitement I settled down to take a nap, since I had slept maybe 4 hours total in the previous two nights. I set my alarm for 4:15pm to allow me time to go to the pool and get ready to go to Downtown Disney.
After I woke up from my nap, I stepped out onto the balcony to see if it was warm enough to go swimming. It seemed a little cool but humid, so I decided not to go swimming but walk around the resort instead. I put my jeans back on and added a sweatshirt and headed out. This is the directional sign for building 11.
And this is looking at Building 11. I was in the green section on the left, but outside of the picture.
Then I just walked around the resort. I walked down to Turtle Pond and walked about halfway down that road then turned around. Here are a bunch of shots from that walk.
The resort really was beautiful. I would definitely stay there again. It was around 5:15 at this point and actually more humid than it seemed so I went back to the room to put my shorts back on and get out of my sweatshirt. When I opened the door, my luggage had been delivered from Magical Express. Up to that point, it was the longest my luggage had ever taken to be delivered-nearly five hours.
I changed and put on some make up and then walked down to the boat dock. It arrived within a few minutes.
The driver took a short break and we were on our way at 5:40. The ride was relaxing. There were some giant birds (herrings? cranes?) on the side of the canal by Saratoga Springs but they left us alone, thankfully. I hadn't realized that the boat was only going to stop at Pleasure Island, so I got off and walked over to the Marketplace.
My roommate, Casey, and I were meeting at Earl of Sandwich for dinner. She got there first and was waiting outside. She greeted me with a big hug and was so excited to be there. Casey had never been to EoS before so I was pleased I got to introduce her to it. I ordered the Veggie sandwich and she had the All American.
We hung around for a bit and chatted and then walked toward the bus stop to head for our next destination.
I had never been to Downtown Disney at night before, so I was really surprised to see the twinkling lights in the trees. Our next stop was the Polynesian, so we walked over to the bus stop. The bus stops at the Marketplace are very confusing because they are double sided. We were at Bus Stop 3, for Polynesian & Contemporary, plus a separate bus for Saratoga Springs. It was a bit of a wait and then a bus flashing Polynesian and Contemporary pulled up...to bus stop 4. We walked over to get on and the driver asked if we were going to Ft. Wilderness/Wilderness Lodge...Um, no? We told him the sign on the bus was wrong and he was very confused, so he got out to check, and sure enough it was wrong.
So we walked back over to our stop and it wasn't too much longer before the correct bus came. One thing that drives me crazy about the buses is that they are always freezing. We had to stop at Pleasure Island, and then took a really long ride to the Contemporary before driving over to the Polynesian. An amazing surprise was that the Christmas lights were still up on Cinderella's Castle!
Inside Captain Cook's we each got a Pineapple Dole Whip. So good.
Casey had heard that the Wishes music was piped onto the beach by the Hawaii building, so we tried to find that, getting lost a couple of time. Lilo and Stitch was playing on a blow up screen along the beach. Finally we found a map that directed us the right way. We went to the beach by Hawaii and found some lounge chairs and took a seat. We had a great view, and saw a bit of "The Magic, The Memories, and You", albeit from a distance. That's Casey's favorite show.
Finally Wishes started and the music did indeed come over the speakers! It was a bit funny because the sound from the fireworks was delayed but then echoed so it wasn't completely in sync. My pictures aren't great, but here are a couple (my fireworks pictures greatly improve from here on out).
The show was amazing and I had forgotten how much I liked it. I decided to stop in at Captain Cook's again to pick up something for breakfast the next morning and decided on a yogurt parfait. After cashing out, Casey and I set out to get the monorail to Epcot. We got a little lost looking for the TTC but eventually found it and caught Monorail Yellow seconds before the doors closed. We did have to stand, but the trip was not long at all. Another great surprise was that the Epcot Christmas tree was still up! I don't have any pictures of that though either.
We disembarked the monorail and headed for the bus stops, finding that Casey was at stop 12 for Pop Century, and Old Key West was stop 9. I saw that my bus was there, so we said goodbye and I jogged over. The bus was almost full, but there were a few empty seats. I sat up front and most other people were in the back. The bus ride back to OKW was not long, but once we got to the resort, the bus made 4 or 5 stops before Hospitality House, so that added about 25 minutes to the trip. I was the last one off and the only one for my stop; it would have been faster to get off at the first stop (Peninsular Road) and walk back to my building.
When I finally arrived back I called Mom again at her request and then worked on some reviews for allears. I soaked for a little bit in the Jacuzzi tub-it took forever to fill. I also called to schedule a wake up call for 5:30am, a bell services pick up for 6am, and a taxi pick up at 6:15am. I was so tired that I fell right asleep and didn't wake up until the phone rang the next morning.
What a great TR so far ... I also worked at Epcot for a year as a CRP in the Canadian pavillion, so I'm really looking forward to reading about your experience!
What a great TR so far ... I also worked at Epcot for a year as a CRP in the Canadian pavillion, so I'm really looking forward to reading about your experience!
I picked up a few Audience Control shifts for the Sounds Like Summer and met some really cool Canadian CRs doing that. And you're also a neighbor to the North!
I didn't even need to use the bathtub but I forced myself to so it wouldn't be wasted! Really though, so much of that villa was wasted because it was one person for one night.
January 11th started way early at 5:30 and was a long day consisting of checking into the program:
Picking roommates (we did this ahead of time), getting an apartment (we got my first choice, our collective second choice of a 3BR in Patterson Court). Lots of paperwork. Off to casting for more paperwork, getting assignments, them not having my assignment, confusion ensuing, more paperwork, and finally a photopass pictures.
Then it was time to move into our apartment, get that all organized, go to long boring housing meeting, learn the hard way that you ABSOLUTELY MUST have your housing ID on you at all times. We went to dinner at Golden Corral, which was yummy and cheap. I believe we also went to WalMart that night, and called it a night pretty early.
On January 12th, we hung around the apartment, then Marissa, Jessica, and I went to Target. (BTW, my roommates were Casey, Marissa, Jessica, Courtney, and Christina.) When we got back, Courtney and Christina were in the living room with five of the guys from next door. We all decided to go out to dinner, so we piled into cars and headed for Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney. It was really busy so we kind of ate in shifts. We put four tables and eleven tables together on the patio, then Casey, Chrisiina, Marissa, A.J., Will, and I went in to order. The line moved fairly quickly. I chose my old standby of "The Original 1762", plus grabbed a triple chocolate brownie (I wanted a brownie cream sandwich, but I didn't see them until it was too late. I also took a chance on the Earl's Grey Lemonade. I was a little disappointed in it. I prefer mixed iced tea and lemonade. This was like legitimate tea that had been chilled and mixed with lemonade, and the tea flavor was very strong.
It was so nice to just sit and chat while listening to the Disney music being piped in, watching and listening to the carousel, and admiring the twinkling trees. I came to really admire Downtown Disney after dark this evening.
After we finished eating we began walking around. We wandered through the Marketplace and I took a picture of my favorite new Lego sculpture. It;s the dwarfs at their mine!
We also continued through Pleasure Island and caught bits of all the live music that was happening. So much fun to just dance and sing while walking along with the crowds!Near Raglan Road there was an Irish dancer who had invited a little girl up to dance with her. Continuing on we wandered through the West Side and stopped in the Candy Cauldron and the Cirque du Soleil Store, where Zack and John tried to juggle and play with the spinning disks. Not terribly successful. Heading back the way we came, the ladies made a bathroom stop and came out to a live band playing "DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again" so we sang and danced our way from that to T-Rex where we looked in the store.
Hahaha to that last one. Final stop was World of Disney. We encountered a CP who was almost done with her program and she took our picture.
Front: Courtney
Middle: A.J., Me, John, Jessica, Marissa
Top: Justin, Will, Zack, Casey, Christina
We explored the store and of course kind of got separated, but eventually caught up to each other. We came back and hung out for a little bit and discovered that while several of us had the morning traditions class, Jessica and I were going to be in the same one because we had the same "code" on our stickers. Good thing about having it in the morning class is that we were free to go to the parks in the afternoon. Sadly enough, we never really hung out with those boys again.
Courtney, Jessica, and I had Traditions in the morning and we were planning to go to MK that afternoon now that we were Cast Members! Well, there were these girls across the hall and the boys next door. Only one of the boys had gone to Traditions that morning, everyone else was in the afternoon. So these girls and this boy decide they're leaving right now so we hurried to finish getting ready and meet them at the bus stop. The bus came, dropped us off in the TTC parking lot and I led the way to the express monorail. Before we knew it, Monorail Peach pulled up and we were on our way.
Upon entering the turnstiles there was some confusion with our CM IDs, because they had just been issued that morning so they weren't working yet. We showed them additional photo ID and went on our way. So, this was one of the other girls' first time to MK. That's all fine and dandy, but they wanted to stop and dawdle and take pictures of everything. Jessica and I were a little frustrated, so we suggested going to get FPs for Space Mountain. After a few more pictures they agreed.
We managed to get them over to Space and get FPs for 5:40pm-6:40pm. I suggested Buzz Lightyear next, so we walked over there. It was a 35 minute wait, and I go to get in line only to find that they've all stopped at 5 feet behind me because "the line is too long". So Jessica suggests the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. I'd never been there before, so I agreed. It was really pretty cute, even if the jokes were terrible. The people chosen by the camera really hammed it up!
After Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, we backtracked to Buzz. It said the wait was 25 minutes but we got in line anyway. As we walked in the line really moved pretty quickly and it was not a 25 minute wait at all. I rode with Jessica, and she won.
Upon exiting Buzz, the other girls kind of wandered into line to meet Buzz Lightyear, so Jessica and I said our goodbyes for now and headed for Splash Mountain. As we walked over we saw the closed Big Thunder Mountain and I said something about it. A mom overheard me and was glad she did, as that's where they were headed and would have been really disappointed when they got there.
We approached Splash and saw that the wait was only five minutes. We rushed over, me putting my poncho on along the way, and walked on the ride. The logs were really backed up at points which was kind of annoying, and they made an announcement about it like every three minutes. Thankfully, the water sprays were turned down since it was so cold, so we didn't get terribly wet.
After our fall through the Briar Patch, I decided I wanted a Mickey pretzel from Frontierland. I did manage to find the stand, and then experienced some major sticker shock when the total was $8.50 for the pretzel, some cheese sauce, and a Sprite. The pretzel was very good but the cheese sauce was just okay.
I saw this shirt next to the pretzel stand and since turkey legs were a running joke between me and my housemates during Fall 2011 I had to take a picture.
Continuing on to Liberty Square, our next destination was the Haunted Mansion. I had to finish my pretzel first, so we sat on a wall by Columbia Harbour House and Jessica called her Mom. We agreed to meet up with our "friends" again at 6pm and got in line. Once again, we virtually walked on, only waiting one stretch room cycle. The hitch-hiking ghost part was the best one yet, taking my face and putting it on Jessica's head and vice versa.
We decided not to make final arrangements at the end of the tour, so we headed out. We got a text saying that our friends had just gotten in line for the Haunted Mansion, so Jessica and I browsed in some shops by the castle, then stopped so Jessica could get coffee at Cheshire Cafe. Finally we headed back to Tomorrowland and waited for the other people to come over. When they showed up, we entered the FP line and once again barely waited for it. I don't understand why more people don't use FP.
Space was fun for about a minute and then it just spiraled too fast for me and I was getting pushed down in my seat. My phone actually got pushed out of my pocket-thankfully not out of the rocket. When we got off I felt a little nauseous. Definitely worse than I remember (and I remember it being bad) and I wasn't going to try again anytime soon. This is a pretty good redneck ride photo. I knew the picture was coming, so I made sure to smile.
We all walked outside and Courtney mentioned to the other girls that a request was made for food (by Jess). We said something about going to Adventureland...but the girls started to wander towards Fantasyland. The following conversation took place:
Me: Where are they going?!
Jess: I don't know. Where are you going?
Girl: To Fantasyland.
Jess:For what?
Girl: To ride the rides.
Jess: What rides?
Girl: I don't know.
Yeah, that was pretty much our night. We convinced them to come to Adventureland with us, and on the way across the Hub I took some pictures of the castle and Main Street.
Finally we made it to Jungle Cruise and walked right on. We had a new skipper, probably a CP, "earning his ears". There were about 5 other CMs in the boat as well, observing him.
Next we wanted to go on Pirates so we went over there. The wait said 10 minutes so we went on in, and yet again, there was pretty much no wait! One of the girls legitimately thought the Audio-Animatronic Jack Sparrow was an actual person. Jess and I were crashing fast-we had been up since 5am or so with pretty much no break. We made the decision to head out around 7:15, since the fireworks were at 8 and we had to go back to the TTC. But first we made a stop at the Main Street Confectionery. I got a piece of chocolate fudge with M&Ms and nuts, and Jess got an M&M Mickey rice crispie on a stick. I also saw these awesome goodies:
Yes, that's right folks, rice crispies decorated like turkey legs.
We walked out shortly after 7:30 and took the resort monorail (Monorail Gold) since the express monorail had just left. Thankfully there were seats available. There was the cutest little girl, maybe a year old, in a stroller in our car and she waved and pointed and gurgled at us for the whole ride. Once we got off the monorail we had to find our way back to the bus.We didn't have a schedule, didn't know exactly where to wait, only that it would pick us up at slot 47 in the bus parking lot. But wait, there's a bus information booth! The CM working there told us to go wait by the orange cones in the parking lot. As it turns out, this is the waiting area for all the buses in that lot, but our bus pulled up only minutes after we arrived.
After the TTC stop, the bus heads backstage to pick up CMs getting off work. We picked up one girl who extended her program and switched from Custodial to Merchandise. She was really nice and we had a nice chat. Much to our surprise and delight, Wishes started going just after we got on the bus and we had an awesome view-since we were backstage, the fireworks were literally right over us. It was amazing.
45 minutes later we arrived back at Chatham and walked back to Patterson. I took a picture of my fudge.
We went to bed around 11:30 which was kind of bad since I had to get up at 5:30 again the next morning, and my roommate had to get up at 4:45 or so. The next morning I had training!
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