DISNEY COLLEGE PROGRAM - A Spring 2013 Adventure! *COMPLETE* 11/20

[beachphotog]

hahahahaha I thought the exact same thing! DCP at 30 years old??? Why not!!!!

Hahaha! I feel that same exact way! Seriously, Disney should start something for people who want to switch careers!

 

[Lovedisney77]

glad you are doing a report on your CP. Good luck I am sure you will have a great time

 

[Harper210]

I'm so glad you're doing a report to tell everyone about your CP! Before finding the DISboards I didn't even know a program like that existed - I wish I'd known when I was in college! Sorry to hear you have to be away from Preston for so long though - my husband and I had to spend 3 years in separate states when he started a new job and I was finishing graduate school, so I know how hard it is. The two of you obviously have a great relationship, so I'm sure you'll get through it!

(Also, I'm glad you mentioned your twitter account! I sent you a message over there (I'm eldareth) about following you - it would be really fun to get day-to-day updates on your DCP to cheer me up at my more boring job!)

 

[Nermel9]

Hahaha! I feel that same exact way! Seriously, Disney should start something for people who want to switch careers!

They should!!! I bet it would be super popular!

Seriously though, if I ever get my act together and decide to get my masters, I would look into Florida schools and consider doing the DCP! I'm going to be a CM someday, no matter how I have to go about it!!

 

[beachphotog]

They should!!! I bet it would be super popular!

Seriously though, if I ever get my act together and decide to get my masters, I would look into Florida schools and consider doing the DCP! I'm going to be a CM someday, no matter how I have to go about it!!

Same! I really want to work in a professional capacity there... Now, to figure out how to do it...

 

[kmd1974]

Hey Jess. We will be at CSR in Feb, 9th-16th. I will look you up if you are there to say HI! If not I hope you have a great time during the CP. I know you will be great at what you will do. You seem like a VERY fun woman and enjoy having a great time. Good Luck again.

 

[librarymouse]

Hahaha! I feel that same exact way! Seriously, Disney should start something for people who want to switch careers!

that would be great!! I so regret not knowing about/doing the dcp when I was in college! They need an "escape from reality" program lol.

 

[JessicaFaye508]

January 24th, 2013 - Apartment Pictures/Splitsville!

I woke up and Mom was packing up her stuff to leave. She was so sad, poor Mommy. But she will be back in 18 days so its all good! Its just hard to see her little girl move.

Mom and I went to Pepper Market for breakfast!

She got some oatmeal:

I got some Cinnamon French toast. It was REALLY good. It was so soft and it was absolutely delicious. That was some high quality French toast, let me tell you.

We went back to Concierge after and Mom had to get some magical express stuff figured out. Her bus was leaving very soon so we had to rush to the bus stop!

I waited with Mom for a little bit, but then it was time to say goodbye. We didn't drag out the goodbye too much because we knew she was coming back down in less than a month! We were both sad though. I'm going to miss her.

I left and drove to get gas. Driving around here in the sun just made me so happy. I NEED to live in Florida. There is nowhere else I want to live when I'm older.

I got back to Patterson and went to my room. I put stuff away and FINALLY took pictures of my apartment to show you guys!

This is my room! I'm on the left side with the Ariel comforter, and my roommate, Maria, has the Rapunzel comforter on the right.

We are actually lacking bulletin boards. Maria doesn't even have one and mine fell off the wall the other day. (thankfully I was NOT in my bed. That could've been bad! )

I'm kind of in love with my comforter.

Here is our bathroom! Every bedroom has a bathroom so you only have to share it with one other person. It's wonderful.

This is our closet that we share too! Maria's stuff is on the left and mine is along the back wall.

Then this is our common area! Two of the bedrooms are connected to this part of the apartment. You can see we have a little dining room back there too, and the kitchen is right to the left.

Lindsay (from Utah) and Sammy Jo (from South Carolina) live in the room on the left, and Maria and I live in the room on the right.

Then here is the kitchen! The third bedroom is connected to the kitchen. It's probably a good thing I don't live in that room - too close to the fridge! Jana and Liz (the girls from Michigan) live in that room.

ALRIGHT! So I hope you enjoyed the little tour of the apartment.

Mark and his roommates came back from the pool area where they were playing ping-pong about 20 minutes after I got back. I went over to his apartment.

I was on the Disney dining website and found a Chef Mickey's reservation on March 2nd (the night Preston flies in) for 8:45 pm. His plane lands at 5:15 pm so that actually would work out perfectly!!! I called the WDW DINE line and got one all booked! I also found a Crystal Palace one for our first morning!

I'm telling you, I literally have the best line-up of reservations in the entire world for this trip.

So after that, I just hung out in Marks room. His roommates were watching the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

We all left the room around 4 pm and headed over to DTD! The boys took the bus and Maria, Mark, and I drove over.

We walked to Downtown Disney and got to Splitsville! We were afraid there would be a line, but there was hardly anybody there! So we just wandered around for a bit while we waited for people to get there.

CHARACTERS IN FLIGHT IS ON OUR BUCKET LIST. Or to quote the queen, "it's a must-do!"

The boys showed up around 4:30 pm and we were still waiting for my roommates. Marks roommates are Shane, Russell, Raymond, and Sergio. They're all really cool!

So we just took a walk over to the Marketplace while we waited. I traded for a chip pin and a transportation pin that I've been looking for forever! I was so excited!!

We made our way to Ghiradelli and they had the free chocolate samples! And they had CARAMEL today. Ahh my favorite kind. We got them and they tasted so good.

Then we went back to Splitsville and everybody was there! We went in and got 2 lanes up on the second floor. We all ordered food and had an hour and a half to bowl!

I got the California Roll. YUM. I randomly sometimes like sushi. It used to scare me and now I just think it's REALLY good. The only thing is that I wish they were colder, but its because I'm used to the overly refrigerated ones at Wegmans.

Mark got the Chicken Parmesan. It had grilled chicken, instead of fried, and he said it was really good! Mark is loving all of this Disney food.

None of us can really bowl well at all. Its quite humorous, actually. I did alright though - I got three strikes!!

After Splitsville, we went back to Ghiradelli because everyone wanted chocolate. Mark and I decided to get ice cream.

I got a 1 scoop strawberry cone in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. YUM.

Mark got the brownie sundae! DELICIOUS!

We drove back to Patterson and went back to our room. The girls decided to make some "about me" pages for our bulletin board! So we sat around and made our little signs. It was such a cute bonding activity because we haven't had a lot of time to spend together since our schedules have been so busy.

After that was over, Lindsay and I just stayed back and started talking Disney. I swear, she is my red head TWIN. We LOVE Disney, love theatre, she watches Once Upon a Time, and SHE USED TO PLAY VMK. Oh my God. I don't think that could have worked out better.

Also, I showed the girls Magical Ribbons and they all FLIPPED OUT. The site was open tonight for the last night this month, so we all put our orders in! I ordered Spaceship Earth, Ever After Rapunzel, and Steamboat Willie. SO CUTE.

Then I went back to Mark's room and I finished writing my trip report update!

I have Traditions early tomorrow morning! So I better get to bed soon! Sweet dreams!

Continued in Next Post​

 

[LifeIsDis]

I think Stacey—well the dude that sings her song—should do a rendition of Livin’ it up. Frumpin’ it up just sounds amazing.

I can’t believe there were already like 100 people waiting already! That’s crazy!

That is awesome that you’ll be working at Coronado!

CAST MEMBER THURSDAYS AT CHICK FIL A. OMG. I am going to become FAT when I do my DCP because I’ll be there 24/7. And then you add all of the Disney food on top of that… awesome!

THOSE DOORKNOBS. Love.

WOW. The food at Kona looks amazing!

I am just a little jealous you love in Florida. This morning the temp was -10…just like it has been for the past week. UGH I HATE IT.

I’m craving Disney pizza right now and that picture didn’t help. Noms.

That is AWESOME Preston is coming to visit you!!!!! SO happy for you!

Your comforter is perfect. And so is Maria’s.

Your apartment looks really nice!

I’m glad you got the ADR for Chef Mickey’s! The ADR site is awful lately! They need to do something about it.

The California Rolls looks so good. I have had the ones at Wegmans before and they are awesome.

 

[Mickeefan]

I'm subscribing!

I wish I had known about the college program when I was in college, lo, these many years ago...

I do have a friend that went on the CP in 2009 and is still there working. He started as a character performer and now he's a stiltwalker in the FoLK show.

Thanks for taking the time to tell us all about it. Looking forward to more.

 

[JessicaFaye508]

January 25th, 2013 (Part 1) - Traditions

This morning I heard the strumming ringtone on my iPhone at 5 am. It was still dark out but it was TIME TO GET UP!

I posted on twitter:
I have an easier time getting up at absurd hours of the morning rather than like 7, 8, or 9 am.

Now time to get dressed and look like a business person! #traditions #dcp

I took a shower, got in my business casual garb, and headed down to the bus stop! Two of my roommates and three of Marks roommates had the early traditions time, so we met up at 6:30 am and caught the 6:45 am bus.

We walked over to Chatham (because Patterson doesn
t have a bus stop) and caught our Traditions bus. I sat with Marks immediate roommate, Russell, on the bus. We just chatted Disney the whole time and before we knew it we were passing under the Magic Kingdom gates!

We arrived at Traditions!

We sat at our table and watched a video of other people's Disney stories. A lot of the little tidbits were about their experience, what advice they would give to newcomers, etc. I was tearing up during the ENTIRE thing. It was so amazing to see so many people really dedicate themselves to this company. It further showed me the amazing opportunity I have in front of me right now.

I don't want to give too much away, but during Traditions we went on a field trip, learned a lot about the company and the "traditions," (hah! what a clever name!) and we even had a special visitor!

I posted on twitter:
I have been close to tears this entire time.

I'M WHERE I'M MEANT TO BE. THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.

Oh my God. It's just a lot to take in.

For answering trivia questions, we got little critters! I ended up getting FOUR! (which is a lot haha. I answered everything. My enthusiasm level this morning was nuts.) I got Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, and Pluto!

Traditions lasted from 8 am 12:30 pm. I have to say that it was literally THE most inspiring 4 and a half hours of my entire life. I was sitting there the entire time close to tears. Everything they were saying and everything that was being presented to me was EXACTLY what I have been waiting for my entire life. I KNOW that I am in the right place. I KNOW this is where I want to spend the rest of my life. I have complete faith in this company and their success really proves to me that, even though the world can be a very dark place, Disney will still try to make everyone happy that walks through their gates.

As Walt said, "to all who come to this happy place, welcome. Disneyland is your land."

At the end of Traditions, we got to get up and go get our name tags. It is my honor to say that I am now officially part of the Disney family.

(I blocked out my school on my name tag for security reasons. I'm sure you all understand. I have a big following here and I don't want my personal information to get into the wrong hands!)

I'M SO OFFICIAL!!!!!

From here my journey only begins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I posted on twitter:
Traditions was the most incredible experience of my life.

Being part of the Disney family is the biggest honor in the world!!!

January 25th, 2013 is officially the day that my life is beginning!

Continued in Next Post​

 

[KPaul]

Jess,

Congratulations on everything and thank you for all of your great trip reports. I have loved reading them as I've planned family trips. Your enthusiasm for all things Disney is contagious and I'm so glad that they saw that in you during your interview process and put you in Concierge.

I'm not sure if you've addressed this b/c I haven't read through all of the comments on this thread - but please make sure that you talk to one of your mentors in DCP about this thread. You are now writing about YOUR EMPLOYER and they may have some very specific opinions about what you should or should not write.

As much as I want to see you continue this thread, I would hate for you to get in trouble over it.

Take care and have fun!

 

[DMGeurts]

What an amazing update... I just check every time I log on to see if there's another update!

This last one - I just had tears in my eyes too - I can't imagine how many feelings must have been going through your mind... Amazing, just amazing.

D~

 

[JessicaFaye508]

Jess,

Congratulations on everything and thank you for all of your great trip reports. I have loved reading them as I've planned family trips. Your enthusiasm for all things Disney is contagious and I'm so glad that they saw that in you during your interview process and put you in Concierge.

I'm not sure if you've addressed this b/c I haven't read through all of the comments on this thread - but please make sure that you talk to one of your mentors in DCP about this thread. You are now writing about YOUR EMPLOYER and they may have some very specific opinions about what you should or should not write.

As much as I want to see you continue this thread, I would hate for you to get in trouble over it.

Take care and have fun!

This trip report is about my personal experience, not about my employer. It is a diary to keep track of my adventures as a college program participant.​

 

[heathsf]

BEST update EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[RachelNinja]

OMG, I would lose my ENTIRE paycheck if I had the opportunity to shop at CM stores. I don't know that I'd be able to have the self-control! What fun! Disney gifts for all family and friends, haha.

Aww, I'm super happy that you still get to see your mom again so soon. I love your relationship with each other

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Wow- just wow!

 

[Disneymad1993]

Wow!! I honestly cannot wait for Traditions now It sounds amazing!! I love the CM only Disney pins! I hope you enjoy using your CM ID for park entry as well lol
Hopefully you can keep up the amazing updates

 

[miramargaret]

im cast toooo!

 

[partyof2]

Jess no-one deserve their place on the CP more than you. It is a pleasure sharing it with you. I am so, so excited for you. It is so weird seeing someone's dream come true. I bet you feel like you're going to wake up from a dream at any moment.

You are so perfect for concierge. I've only just discovered how difficult a role it is to get! You're going to have a blast.

Your apartment looks fantastic. It's great that you only have to share a bathroom with your roommate.

So excited to see you getting your badge.

Can't wait to see your pin collection explode now that you LIVE AT DISNEY.