College Program Questions Thread Pt 2

[csaribay]

thanks again chris. hope im not bothering u with all my questions

You're very welcome! Feel free to keep asking questions - there are many of us here who are glad to answer anything we can.

I have heard that the completed apartments in Patterson Court are currently full, can anyone confirm that?

They could be right now, but that won't matter much going forward. Several buildings are still under construction and will be opening sooner rather than later, and there are a series of departure dates in August that likely affect a significant number of the 280 participants who are on the CP Spring Advantage Program, Summer Extensions, and Summer Alumni who are currently housed there.

By the way, I noticed your title on the boards- right now, most of the participants living at Patterson Court are those on the Disney College, CareerStart and International College Program. As a World Showcase Cast Member participating on the Cultural Representative program, you will most likely be housed at The Commons; other Disney Housing complexes house CRs typically when The Commons is at maximum occupancy. It's possible that you could be housed elsewhere, but in all likelihood, you will be housed at The Commons.

 

[hogwartsdropout]

The majority of the Cultural Representatives who went in June have been housed permanantly in Patterson, so that's the reason I was also hoping for Patterson rather than the Commons. There are a lot leaving from the Commons in the coming weeks so I suppose I will end up there.

 

[aly024]

so i was just thinking, and u know what would be awesome? if there were a search engine for the threads. like if u wanted to know something about Chatham Square or a role or whatever, u could just type it into the search engine and it would pull up all the messages with those words in them. random, but cool nonetheless

 

[CelticBelle]

so i was just thinking, and u know what would be awesome? if there were a search engine for the threads. like if u wanted to know something about Chatham Square or a role or whatever, u could just type it into the search engine and it would pull up all the messages with those words in them. random, but cool nonetheless

there is. In tread tools you can search the thread, but the search engine for the site doesnt work that well, so its mostly like its not there

You can try googling the info and adding in dis or disboards. Usually you get a thread or part of a thread as your results.

 

[Sehsun]

so i was just thinking, and u know what would be awesome? if there were a search engine for the threads. like if u wanted to know something about Chatham Square or a role or whatever, u could just type it into the search engine and it would pull up all the messages with those words in them. random, but cool nonetheless

Hi Aly,
Actually, there is something like that at DISboards and on many (if not all) online message boards - if you go to the top, there are a bunch of links in the bar that starts with "User CP.....Chat....News....BLOG" and so on. The third to last link says "Search" and you can type a specific word or words you are looking for.

I hope this is what you were looking for! I love the "Search" options on message boards.

 

[deadtoaster2]

Anyone else's college never heard of the Disney CP before you talked to them about it?

I emailed today to find out how the college felt about the program, if they would offer credit for classes I took there, etc.

After 3 emails I was finally able to link them to the CP website and they said they had never heard of it before but that they had forwarded the info onto the appropriate people at the school to find out if they could offer credit for the program.

Anyone else have a similar experience? Has the program not been around very long or something? I find if hard to believe that I am the first person to enquire about it at my school, then again, they don't do presentations at my school either, even though we are only a few miles away from another school who does have presentations in the same city.

 

[aly024]

lol. wow. i cant believe i missed that up there. it probably would have saved me a alot of time

 

[CelticBelle]

Anyone else's college never heard of the Disney CP before you talked to them about it?

I emailed today to find out how the college felt about the program, if they would offer credit for classes I took there, etc.

After 3 emails I was finally able to link them to the CP website and they said they had never heard of it before but that they had forwarded the info onto the appropriate people at the school to find out if they could offer credit for the program.

Anyone else have a similar experience? Has the program not been around very long or something? I find if hard to believe that I am the first person to enquire about it at my school, then again, they don't do presentations at my school either, even though we are only a few miles away from another school who does have presentations in the same city.

I had the same problem. I have a feeling that the only people who inquire about it and know about it are disney fans. My school is full of science people and not many entertainment sort of majors, so it really didnt surprise me that no one had heard of it.

 

[Berlioz70]

Anyone else's college never heard of the Disney CP before you talked to them about it?

The program has been around since the 80s, but that's strange no one has even heard of it if there is another school in your same city that does have presentations. Several institutions do not accept credit and those who may have heard of it still may not support it. It varies a lot based on what type of major you have or what kind of college you're at.

The down side to that other school in your city is that Disney will probably never come to yours. They try to limit their stops in different areas of the state - so in most cases they won't do two schools that are within 30-45 minutes of each other.

 

[csaribay]

Anyone else have a similar experience? Has the program not been around very long or something? I find if hard to believe that I am the first person to enquire about it at my school, then again, they don't do presentations at my school either, even though we are only a few miles away from another school who does have presentations in the same city.

The College Program has been around for more than 25 years, believe it or not! There's still some schools out there that haven't had participants, and the reaction you got probably isn't too uncommon when that's the case.

For those seeking credit, a helpful tool to have your academic advisors take a look at is the Credit Acceptance Benchmark Report. This report covers the amount of credit awarded for collegiate courses and for the program experience itself, by a large number of colleges and universities who have reported this info to Disney. If your school isn't willing to award credit for either, you do have some options. You can earn credit via other participating schools, and have those transfered in, or you could also discuss the possibility of a directed study program that will allow you to gain credit.

 

[meederman]

Hey I got a quick questions.

I an thinking about bringing my 32 inch LCD tv in, do the apartments have tv stand or sothing stand it on or do I have to get one myself?

How are water parks that are close by there?

 

[aly024]

what is the best way to get ur supplies u need like paper towel, plates, toilet paper, and all that kind of stuff down there? i mean like is it best to buy some stuff ahead of time then bring it down or buy everything there? im bringing a car so space isnt an issue. i thought about getting one of every item (detergent, soap, as well as packs of stuff like i mentioned earlier, etc.) down there that i would accumulate here at home slowly so that later on i wouldnt have to spend a big chunk of money. plus im worried that there wont be much of anything at walmart after its been picked over by all the other cps who opted to wait til they got down there to buy stuff. but then i was like, well maybe i should wait and decide til after i talk to my roommate if i do the roommate notification thing or if i find someone on the boards or facebook groups to room with. any thoughts on this would be appreciated

 

[csaribay]

Hey I got a quick questions.

I an thinking about bringing my 32 inch LCD tv in, do the apartments have tv stand or sothing stand it on or do I have to get one myself?

How are water parks that are close by there?

Could use an end table, but otherwise you'll need to get your own furniture to setup your TV on.

I don't have a ton of experience with the central Florida water parks, so I'll leave that for someone else to answer.

what is the best way to get ur supplies u need like paper towel, plates, toilet paper, and all that kind of stuff down there? i mean like is it best to buy some stuff ahead of time then bring it down or buy everything there? im bringing a car so space isnt an issue. i thought about getting one of every item (detergent, soap, as well as packs of stuff like i mentioned earlier, etc.) down there that i would accumulate here at home slowly so that later on i wouldnt have to spend a big chunk of money. plus im worried that there wont be much of anything at walmart after its been picked over by all the other cps who opted to wait til they got down there to buy stuff. but then i was like, well maybe i should wait and decide til after i talk to my roommate if i do the roommate notification thing or if i find someone on the boards or facebook groups to room with. any thoughts on this would be appreciated

If you're bringing a car, I suppose you could buy things ahead of time and save yourself further trips to Walmart/other area merchants. Many of the common items you mentioned you'll need to buy more than once (or have a large supply of), so even if your roommates bring/buy them, you'll still be able to use everything - in time.

Then again, it'd be just as easy to wait. Walmart typically isn't too picked over, usually it's just a run on hangers and mattress toppers. Even if the Kissimmee Walmart is picked bare (which is the Walmart served by CP busses), there are a number of Walmarts and Targets within a short drive of housing.

It's a personal decision, shouldn't make too much of a difference either way.

 

[MKandy]

Speaking of tvs. How many cable outlets are there in the apartments? Where are they?

 

[csaribay]

Speaking of tvs. How many cable outlets are there in the apartments? Where are they?

Vista Way is kind of spotty- the two bedroom I was in originally had the living room wired. There were blank faceplates in the walls of the bedrooms, and I took one off and discovered that there were coaxial (cable) connections present behind the blank faceplates. One bedroom's connection worked, the other didn't.

Chatham Square has outlets in the living room and each bedroom, and I'd assume that it's the same for Patterson Court and The Commons.

 

[Joanna71985]

I plan on doing Spring '09. And if I choose to extend from the normal program. Are there certain dates that I must choose from? I cannot stay for a whole year, but would consider staying into the summer. Is there a way to do a Spring program and stay into the summer? (I do realize that there is the Spring Advantage program as well...but I was asking about the regular Spring program

If you extend, you are given a check-out date (there aren't any choices).

 

[seastars]

Has anyone asked for time off down there and been denied? If so, when did you ask? I want to be almost positive I can get some of the time off when my parents are coming down - October 16th through the 20th.

 

[CelticBelle]

Has anyone asked for time off down there and been denied? If so, when did you ask? I want to be almost positive I can get some of the time off when my parents are coming down - October 16th through the 20th.

Id like to know the same thing. I want to have the time off when my guy is visiting me.

 

[glendalais]

Specific time off isn't guranteed, and is based on resort and area business needs.

You do have two days off a week, referred to as RDOs, which you can request on specific days - whether or not you get them on those specific days again depends on whether they can accomodate it.

You can also request ADOs - Additional/Authorized Days Off.

You can request Additional Days Off thorugh the Labor Service Center like you would an RDO, these are approved by Labor Operations based on business needs. This is for when you want days off in addition to your two RDOs

If you want to be certain of getting a day off, or if you need a day off on a schedule that's already been released, you ask your manager for an Authorized Day Off.

I don't know how you go about this at WDW since I'm not sure they use paper scheduling forms anymore. Here at the DLR, though, we just fill out the paper version of the day off form (there's no way to do it through our version of Labor Service Center, as far as I know) and have our managers sign it if it's for a schedule that hasn't been released; or, if it's already out, they just mark it on the scheduling sheets and update it in the system later.

 

[Sehsun]

I asked for January 1st off a couple months in advance and was denied. Also from mid-December and on till the end, I was denied for any days off, due to the holiday season.

I would say that as long as you ask about it about a month in advance (or even before the next schedule drops?), you should be okay. Also as long as it is not during a big holiday season.