5 months in the Most Magical Place on Earth...my College Program TR

[spiroff.natasha]

Like the title says, I was lucky enough to spend 5 MONTHS in the Most Magical Place on Earth while participating in the Disney College Program last year

I thought it would be fun to write about my experiences as a CP since I had a weird obsession with reading as much as I could about the program before I left Hopefully this will help answer questions for prospective CP applicants/participants and regardless if you are planning on doing the CP or not, I hope you enjoy reading!​

 

[spiroff.natasha]

For your viewing pleasure, I will have links here to each installment ​

Intro​

Chapter 1: Applying​

Chapter 2: Leavin' on a Jet Plane​

Chapter 3: Pop Century​

Chapter 4: Cast of Characters​

Chapter 5: Epcot with "Mickey"​

Chapter 6: Facebook Meet-up​

Chapter 7: Check-in​

Chapter 8: Casting​

Chapter 9: Moving In​

Chapter 10: Celebration and Dole Whips​

Chapter 11: Traditions​

Chapter 12: Adios to the madre/playing in the park​

Chapter 13: Chatham 2-bedroom apartment tour​

Chapter 14: Babies go to the parks...​

Chapter 15: Once Upon a Time is Now​

Chapter 16: Costuming​

Chapter 17: Training at CRT​

Chapter 18: The Byrdman Comes to Visit!​

Chapter 19: Ladies of 23102​

Chapter 20: Give Kids the World VoluntEARing​

Chapter 21: Slaving away in the castle all day​

Chapter 22: Mommy is here!​

Chapter 23: Justin Bieber, Hollywood Studios, and THE KITCHEN SINK​

Chapter 24: The one where we try on costumes​

Chapter 25: You mean I have to go to class?​

Chapter 26: Fantasmic, FINALLY!​

[/COLOR][/CENTER][/URL]

Chapter 27: Tom Sawyer Island, and part of the castle suite!​

Chapter 28: CRT goes to Steak and Shake​

 

[spiroff.natasha]

Hello there!
My name is Natasha and I will be your host throughout this trip report because really, nobody can tell the story of my CP better than me right?



Like many of you here, I am a self-proclaimed Disney fanatic. The hospital room that I was born in overlooked the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, CA {also the hospital where Walt passed away } so I think that I was destined to love Disney

Here are the details about my CP...

Arrival Date: January 10th, 2011
Departure Date: May 13th, 2011
Role: Full Service Food & Beverage {aka FSFB}
Location: Cinderella's Royal Table
Housing Complex: Chatham Square
​

 

[spiroff.natasha]

Doing the CP had been a dream of mine for a long time. Because I switched majors halfway through college (from Biology to Communications) I wasn't able to take a semester off for the program so I was convinced that I would never be able to do the program BUT thanks to the wonderful people here on the disboards I learned that you only had to be registered for one class at the time of application to be eligible!! After I danced around my apartment in happiness I sat down and made my plans to apply for the Spring program. I ended up enrolling in an online class at a local community college (since I had graduated from my university in May) to make sure that I was eligible for the program.

Applications came out towards the end of August. I applied on the first day, had my phone interview the day after that and then came the wait. I can honestly say that waiting to hear if I had been accepted or not was the hardest wait of my life! I became obsessed with reading blogs, watching vlogs and stalking the facebook group to see if other people had gotten their acceptance emails. FINALLY exactly 3 weeks after my interview (3 weeks doesn't sound long know..but trust me...it was) I received the glorious email saying I was accepted for Spring 2011 in a Full Service Food and Beverage roll!

To help with the wait, my mom and I took a weekend trip to the world a few days after my phone intervew! My mom is a big Disney nerd just like me and we have so much fun together in our happy place This trip was really last minute and we were on a budget so we skipped the parks and the ADRs and just spent time exploring the resorts,lounging at the pool and trading vinylmations. It was great to be in "our" place, especially with all my excitement and anxiousness about the program! We played a lot of "what if you worked here" and talked to a lot of CMs about the CP too Here are some of the photos from that trip...

FSFB wasn't my first choice but definitely sounded like a fun roll...and really at this point I didn't care...I WAS GOING TO LIVE IN DISNEYWORLD!!!

The obsession over blogs/vlogs/etc didn't stop after being accepted {and still hasn't really haha} Everyday I was reading about the program and preparing myself for my upcoming adventure. Even though I felt that I had done all the research that could possibly be done on the program -- my actual experience was A MILLION times better than I could have ever imagined. ​

 

[mauigal]

I'm in!!!

 

[jenseib]

You know I am too...Of course several pages will be of our special meeting...right?

 

[partyof2]

This is going to be a great read, I'm most definitely in!

 

[TotalDreamer]

Awesome! Im a CP hopeful and can't wait to read.

 

[maryr1oz]

I can't wait to hear more about your time on the College Program - how exciting!!

 

[AimKo]

My 9 yr old is already talking about her future CP. We'll be reading together!

 

[15isto2]

I am coming allong for the ride

 

[Mini Minnie :)]

I'm in! This sounds like such an awesome idea! Can't wait to hear about all your magical experiences!

 

[mauigal]

Will this TR be full of lots n' lots of pictures and stories of pixi dust?

 

[spiroff.natasha]

Fast forward to early January.
My excitement continued to build as my check-in date got closer but so did my sadness {yes..SADNESS..even though I was going to WDW }. I had just gotten engaged to my college sweetheart in November and it was really hard to accept that we were about to say "see you later" for a few months. But, he is amazingly supportive of me and knew how much the program meant so he encouraged me to go! I am so thankful that I have somebody like that in my life...he's the best

The night before I left we went to dinner at one of my favorite places in LA...sooo yummy.

The sad looking one is Alex, in the middle is my brother Trey and the right is my stepdad.

We had pork dumplings, shrimp dumplings, shrimp fried rice and garlic green beans. Now, I know it's not Disney food...but food is food {and I love food!} so I'm going to show you are pictures of this

YUM!

My mom lives closer to the airport than we do so we spent the night at her house because we had an early flight the next morning. Morning came way too early, I was really excited to go but pretty bummed at the same time! We said our "see you laters" at the airport and my mom and I hopped on our flight. After my tears had dried, I realized that this was it...I was finally on my way to live out one of my dreams...HOW EXCITING!!!

We landed in MCO and rode the monorail to the main terminal. We love the feeling you get when you first arrive in Orlando...don't you?! The narrators voice on the monorail was welcoming the tourists to Orlando and welcoming residents home...even though I wasn't "technically" a resident this still made me really excited!!

Please excuse the tired look I have going on...it was a long flight!

All of my bags arrived {woo hoo!} so we were on our way to the POP!

​

 

[jenseib]

that would be so hard to pack for several months.

 

[spiroff.natasha]

I'm in!!!

Welcome!

 

[spiroff.natasha]

You know I am too...Of course several pages will be of our special meeting...right?

Of course! Glad you are here!​

 

[spiroff.natasha]

This is going to be a great read, I'm most definitely in!

Welcome! I hope you enjoy ​

 

[spiroff.natasha]

Awesome! Im a CP hopeful and can't wait to read.

How cool! I have nothing but great things to say about the CP. ​

 

[spiroff.natasha]

I can't wait to hear more about your time on the College Program - how exciting!!

Welcome!! One of my friends on the CP is from Australia too...you'll learn more about her later ​