Hello that is so exciting! I will answer your questions as best I can!
1. I am unsure of the religion aspect but I believe if you express your need to your leaders and scheduling they should be ok with accommodating!
2. I would go to the parks in the morning if i had a late shifts or later in the day if i had an early shift! Days off are the best days for park trips bc you get the whole day! I was sometimes too tired to go to the park but I was never tired of going to the park if that makes sense! Just make sure you sleep and keep in good health and you will have an amazing time! I went out a lot at night which prevented me going out early!
3. I loved going to the parks by myself! I would often find myself going alone because my schedule just happened to work where my friends who worked in different locations worked when I was off and vice versa! I would set days when I would go with a group of people especially when going to the halloween party and villians and christmas parties, etc. But on a regular day if I wanted to just go and do my own thing I just did and i never felt weird!
4. I do believe they will open hollywood in the near future idk if it will be right away but it will definitely happen! They said when the boarding groups disappear they will alow cast members back in but we will see! I hope they get rid of boarding groups bc they are so hard and annoying (sorry not sorry). I worked in DHS and boarding groups were the worst but i think it will open soon! They actually have let me ride Rise of the Resistance and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway once during my shift while we were blocked out! So if you work in DHS you probs will too!
5. I had enough time between move in and traditions to go to Universal and get my annual pass! My traditions was Friday after move in on tuesday so I had plenty of time to meet people and go to the parks! My parents bought me some extra tickets so I could go to the park before traditions so I did! But yes you cannot get free entrance till you get your self admission pass which comes about a week after traditions! But the day of traditions you have 1 free entrance pass for that day only and most people will watch Happily Ever After as a group and cry tears of joy!
6. As a cast member you can still get fast-passes if you link your self admission to your My Disney Experience app! I did this and you can get a fast pass 1 week ahead of time so a lot of good rides are gone but granted you are there for 4 months so its worth waiting sometimes!
7. The application is hit or miss really. I was lucky and got in first try and these are my tips. If you get past the first round (the resume and role selection section) you have a 60% chance from there so most people get cut there! I recommend talking about how people loving you are and how much you are willing to keep the magic alive and how your other job experiences can help you in Disney. If you know the 4 keys use them. ONE BIG THING do not pick a role you do not want. If you don't want Custodial DO NOT pick it! You will get it! Custodial, Quick service, and lifeguard are the most common roles to get so if you pick that you will be that role and you have a high chance getting in if you pick these but they are less desired roles bc they can be outside the parks. The more roles you pick the more chance you have of getting in but again only pick what you want. I only picked 4 (attractions - i got, bibbidi bobbidi, merch, and character attendant). The second part of the application is a web based interview (WBI) and you just answer questions about yourself with either strongly disagree, disagree, neither, agree, or strongly agree. Some questions will be like "If a child dropped their ice cream would you give them a new one?" and you select from the 5 choices. Pretty easy. The 3th and final part is the phone interview (PI) and this seems to be the section that scares people the most but its actually not as bad as you think. They just want to get to know you and hear your kind voice. I recommend smiling while on the phone bc they can tell that you sound happy! You want to be happy bc thats what Disney is. Telling them how much you love the company and want to keep the magic alive for generations to come is great! You will be asked a few questions baout your roles you picked so be ready for that! I was asked for attractions "If a child was too short for your attraction what would you do?" and i had to come up with an answer! There are a bunch of articles with questions they ask for each role. I recommend finding those bc I was actually asked some of them! I also recommend waiting a week or two to apply because if you apply right away you will get stuck in the funnel and may have to wait weeks for the next round while it took me a total of 5 days to apply and find out i was in! If you have more questions about this part let me know! Good luck!!
8. For me personally my dad drove my car from NY to Florida and I flew down with my mom and met him at the airport. I had my car packed with my stuff. I then drove my car to the housing complex and checked in that day! I recommend a car if you have one bc the busses are a bit unreliable but if you dont its totally fine! Ubers are good or if you rent a car to get there that works too!
9. By other cast members I am assuming you mean non-DCP/ PT or FT cast members! Yes I made some of my best friends who were PT/FT at my location! I also made great friends with my DCP friends! I had work friends and then other friends that lived in Vista Way with me! It was great and we all became so close bc we saw each other almost everyday for hours and hours a day! Some of my favorite people were my coordinators! I had the best coords in the world. Coordinators are your shift managers and mine were super young and fun and made work so fun! If a guest was mad at me and started to yell my coords would step in and protect us and sided with us always! Ugh i miss them all so much! I didn't however make friends with other people at other locations bc I never went there. The only time i saw people from other places was at vista way or the events they had at the housing complexes or at bars. My friends who i met before hand worked at other places and i met people thru them and they are my besties now and im going to one of their weddings soon!
10. Self terming isn't great but it isn't bad either. It does not ruin your chances of being with the company again but it also doesn't look super great on your resume because you technically quit. However if it is for medical or mental health reasons it is totally understandable. I had a friend leave for depression reasons and she was let go on good terms so the company forgave her. I wouldn't plan on terming bc it should be a last resort. Some people term bc they don't feel it is what they signed up for. Some people think its a paid vacation to Disney for 4 months but its not it is a lot of work but it is so fun too! It is hard in the beginning bc you don't know what you're doing but you get the hang of it so fast! Disney World is easies to get into so thats a good one to apply for but you can always try for both! You may be able to request an early departure and have forgiveness for leaving! Definitely talk to your leaders after you get in! It hsould be okay if you leave at the last second! I had a lot of friends term after we found out about coronavirus and they were all forgiven! It should not affect you in the eyes of the company bc you did pretty much the whole thing!
11. This is correct! As long as you are at least a second semester freshman all the way through 1 full year of graduating you can do the program! This includes graduate school and further too! I've had people I knew doing it for a second time all the way up to a 4th time! THey were obvs very behind in school work but its a good way to get involved in a company you may want to stay with forever! I liked how open they were to offering jobs after the program! It is super easy to go PT after DCP! I was considering but I had to go back and start grad school! I would like to return and try for parade auditions but we will see!
