It All Starts With A Wish: A Disney College Program TR NEW 9/3

[courtneybelle]

Hi guys!! I promise I'll have some updates for you later this week, but I just wanted to welcome all the new readers and thank you all for sticking around as I adjust to my new life!!! You guys are the best, fo realz. And major shout out to my pal pkondz for welcoming everyone in my absence!!

This may come off creepy but I see you all the time!! I just started June 8th for my program as well and I definitely have seen you around frontier land! I work at Peco's and my name is Courtney too

Oh my gosh hi!!! Definitely say hi to me next time you see me, I'm doing a lot of PAC this week so I'll be out and about in Frontierland

 

[harambetheaterhobo]

Hey Courtney! Love your trip reports, and I'm officially all caught up on this one! It's SO EXCITING that you're working at Splash, that's like my DCP dream Can't wait for more!

 

[pkondz]

And major shout out to my pal pkondz for welcoming everyone in my absence!!

 

[emma212010]

I'm getting all caught up and LOVING it so far!!! It's making me soooooo excited for my program to start (like I even need another reason right ) I check in on August 31st, and time feels like it's going soooo slowwww!! I just want to get there already! But you're right, I'm going to have a really hard time leaving my family (and my boyfriend) for that long. But there's no place I'd rather be away from them than at Disney!!! That moment you get your name tag is so magical, I got goosebumps seeing your photo and thinking about how close I am to getting my own. I can't wait to read more!!!!!

 

[dj1028]

I just got all caught up...what a great adventure you're having. I hope you're having fun working at Splash Mountain. They are lucky to have you too!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Found this trip report today! Thank you for sharing your CP story with everyone here. My DD is dreaming of doing this soon. She is a Senior in High School this year, so it's on the horizon for her. She will be dancing at DTD October 30th this fall with her ballet group. I will keep a lookout for you in the parks. Again, thanks for sharing. Enjoying the chance to hear about the CP through a participants eyes.

 

[courtneybelle]

June 28, 2015-June 30, 2015: Work

These days were filled with work! My job can get very busy at times, but I am really enjoying it. The guest interactions are the best part—I love when little kids tell me how it was their first time riding and they loved it. One kid even thanked me for building the ride, which was precious. I also love telling girls dressed as Elsa not to freeze the mountain!

These days were extra exciting because I had some visitors come see me! Shayla visited one night, as well as a friend of mine from college, Meredith!​

I’ve also started going out to eat with coworkers after work. We like IHOP and Steak ‘n’ Shake.

Keep scrolling for the next update!​

 

[courtneybelle]

July 1, 2015: Magic Kingdom

Today I got to play in the Kingdom with Katie and Shayla a bit before work! They’ve banned selfie sticks in the theme parks and I couldn’t be happier!

We started by seeing the Laugh Floor in Tomorrowland. Then, we visited my favorite, the Carousel of Progress! It was Katie’s first time and she loved it, of course.

We saw that Buzz was meeting just outside CoP, so we went over to say hi! He stamped Shayla’s and my autograph books, and attempted to stamp Katie’s head since Katie didn’t have anything for him to sign.

Then, we met Shayla’s favorite character, Peter Pan, as we always seem to do when we’re in the Kingdom!

Next we headed to my home Frontierland to show Katie the Country Bear Jamboree. We also got a bite to eat at Pecos Bill and watched the Frontierland Hoedown!

Then I had to head out, but before that we stopped by to meet Tink! We told her how much we loved her pixie dust and she said that she needed to get more to share with us.

Keep scrolling for the next update!​

 

[courtneybelle]

July 2, 2015: Epcot and Via Napoli

Today Katie, Kristen, and I all had the day off, so a roommate adventure day was in order! We decided to spend our day at Epcot.

We walked in and saw Pluto meeting at the main entrance, so of course I made a beeline to see him. He was adorable and I was so happy to reunite with him! He let me rub his nose and he signed my autograph book.

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Our first attractions were The Seas and Turtle Talk! Then we got Starbucks, as we do.

We decided to head to the World Showcase next, and we stopped to see the lumberjack show in Canada. I never stop for the live acts in World Showcase but I loved this one! They had all these different contests, like who could saw through a log fastest, and who could balance on a spinning log the longest. They also plant three trees for every one they cut down to use in their show. Super cool!

My roommates and I are all really into the scavenger hunt activities they have in the parks, so today we did two of the Agent P missions in World Showcase! I love how the scavenger hunt triggers different animatronics in the park. We did missions in France and the United Kingdom.

We looked around the shop in Japan, and then we grabbed a snack—Katie and Kristen got chips and bratwurst from Germany, and I got potstickers from China. Disney potstickers are one of those weird cravings I always seem to have—I just love them.

SOON.

Then, we did another Agent P mission in Mexico, and rode the Gran Fiesta Tour! Poor Dolan.

Next, we met Duffy!!! I was SO happy to see him. I love Duffy so much and he gave me a great hug.

Just need to stop here and say how happy I am to have these girls in my life. We get along so well and have so much fun in the park together. I definitely won the roommate lottery.

We scored a FP for Test Track, so that was our next stop! We made this beautiful car. It didn’t win, but it’s still cute.

After that we went over to Mission: Space and for the first time ever I did the orange side. It was really cool, but I felt dizzy for a little while after that, so I’ll stick to my wimpy green side from now on, I think.

To end our day, we met up with Shayla and her roommate Savannah for a dinner at Via Napoli!

I got spaghetti and meatballs and a cannoli martini, which were fantastic.

My mom is obsessed with the pizza at Via Napoli, so I took a picture of Savannah’s pizza to share.

We headed out after that, but on our way to the exit we stopped to watch the fountain show in Future World, and we were able to see some Frozen fireworks in the distance!

Keep scrolling for the next update!​

 

[courtneybelle]

July 3, 2015: Celebrate America! Fireworks

It’s Fourth of July in WDW, and because of that we had two Festival of Fantasy performances on the 3rd and 4th! I worked both of the parades on the 3rd, which was really fun.

After that I had the rest of the night off, so I met up with Katie and Kristen at MK! They were eating Nutella waffles at Sleepy Hollow, and I grabbed a soda in this fabulous souvenir cup:

Our first attraction was the Jungle Cruise! Our skipper was hilarious and told us some great Disney-themed jokes. My favorite: Why did Aladdin go into the Haunted Mansion? He was looking for a boo (Abu)!

Then we went to Princess Fairytale Hall to meet Rapunzel and Cinderella! Both of them said we were the cutest mice they had ever seen and wanted to know all about our jobs. Rapunzel left the sweetest note in my autograph book encouraging me to live my dreams.

(I'm not doing the pose here because I had my autograph book in my hand. Wish I did, though!)

Then we hit the Laugh Floor, and Kristen was thrilled because they used her joke! (Why is Cinderella bad at soccer? She’s always running away from the ball!)

Then we met up with Hayley and Gavin and got a bite to eat at Cosmic Ray’s.

The Magic Kingdom was previewing their Fourth of July fireworks tonight, so we decided to stake out a spot over an hour early. We got a great spot in the Hub and waited for the show to start! Annnnnd then it started downpouring with plenty of lightning too, meaning a delay of over an hour.

But we made the best of it! We all huddled under Kristen’s umbrella, chatted, had a sing-a-long, and did Disney trivia together. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite memories of my CP so far. The benefits of working for Disney are obvious, you get to play in the parks whenever you want! But meeting these people has been the best part of it so far. I’m very lucky to have found them and I’m not looking forward to saying goodbye to Hayley and Gavin when they leave in just a few weeks…

Finally it was safe to start the fireworks. These were spectacular! I’ll let the pictures do the talking here:

After the fireworks we booked it over to Space Mountain to see if the wait was short, but it was still pretty long, so we decided to ride Buzz!

We capped off our night with a classically American attraction, Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress.

Continued in next update​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Thanks for the update Courtney - glad to see you are doing well and are enjoying your job. Very glad to hear you are getting along with your roommates so well as I am sure having good bs bad roommates can really impact your overal DCP experience

Love the jokes - both the skippers and Kristen's

Glad you got to see the fireworks and they were only delayed, not cancelled

 

[sunnysideup3]

Great update! Polar you are having fun and meeting such great people!

 

[jandlinz]

Hi Courtney! I'm enjoying your updates! I love your firework pictures! Looks like you made some great friends!

 

[HikingBelle]

Great updates! Sounds like a wonderful 4th of July.

 

[KathyM2]

I definitely won the roommate lottery.

That is just awesome. I think the DCP would be fun no matter what but...it is a lot better if you get along well with the peopl you have to live with!!

Loving reading all about your experiences there!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Those pot stickers from China look good. I am now obsessed with pot stickers ever since having delicious ones at Yak & Yeti in April.

We'll be in the MK in the morning of Tuesday, Sept 1st and we'll look for you if you are working then.

 

[xlsm]

Glad you are having an awesome time, but more importantly, that you get along with your roomates!! That's so important!!

We looked for you on our trip last week, but alas, no Courtney sightings!

Keep having a magical time, and looking forward to more updates

 

[Disney Jon]

Thanks for the update Courtney, know it must be hard to find time when your having such a phenomenal time!

 

[Sisa]

Awesome updates, I am so glad you are enjoying yourself and lucked out with great roommates!

I love hearing about your interactions with guests, so fun!

That souvenir cup is AMAZING!!!

 

[SarahDisney]

Thanks for the update - it's great to hear you're having fun (both at work and when you're off) and meeting great people!

Those 4th of July fireworks are beautiful - thanks for sharing the pictures!