Living On Property vs. Living at Home

[Woodskeeper]

Hello all! I was just accepted in Merchandise Fall Advantage! I'm still in it for a few PIs, but will more than likely accept the CP for a back up so I can apply for more PIs next spring if I don't get any this year. My question is concerning housing. Now, I've read all the threads about the different complexes, but I'm still trying to decide.

I could live at home (a 15 min drive away from Disney) for free, or I could pay the ~$400 a month to live on Disney property. It seems like a simple choice, but with gas prices the way they are these days (yikes!!!) I think it might be a better choice to stay on Disney property. Not to mention if I stayed at home I'd still be living with my parents

What do you guys think?

 

[WDW_lover_in_SC]

I think it you're on fence about which one you should do you should stay on Disney property! It's a lot more fun than living with your parents. Like you said you can save money on gas even though you have to pay rent. But if it were me I would be on Disney property!

 

[Berlioz70]

Just a quick note... the CP apartments are not on Disney property, they are very close however. In fact, they are not even owned/operated by Disney, it's a third party company.

But... I agree with PP, if you have the option I would stay in the housing. A big part of my CP came from the relationships with my roommates. I only lived in the housing for two months and once I moved out I didn't really feel like a CP. More like a regular FT CM, without the benefits, and with less pay.

 

[WDW_lover_in_SC]

Just a quick note... the CP apartments are not on Disney property, they are very close however. In fact, they are not even owned/operated by Disney, it's a third party company.

But... I agree with PP, if you have the option I would stay in the housing. A big part of my CP came from the relationships with my roommates. I only lived in the housing for two months and once I moved out I didn't really feel like a CP. More like a regular FT CM, without the benefits, and with less pay.

Yeah true I was just calling it that for added magic!

 

[disneymegs]

The apartments are a few miles outside of disney property. Depending on your work location, it could be a 15 minute drive to work anyway. I lived off property and loved it. It's so much better than to be placed with people you may or not get along with when you could be living free where you're already comfortable. It's so nice to just get away and go HOME when you're working a full time schedule. I heard about SO much drama from people in the housing. Just saying

 

[piratechick]

In my opinion, I think first time cps should live on property, just so they can have the full experience of being a CP. To me, living off site just seems to me that you are missing out on half the CP experience. Half of the CP experience comes from working at Disney, but the other half comes from Disney housing. I met a lot of cps who lived off site and they all told me basically the same thing: they did not felt like a CP during their program. They just felt like any other regular full time cast member. You would miss out on making amazing friends (besides work friends), going to other people's apartments and having movie nights, housing events like grocery bingo, pool parties, the Winter Formal, beach trips, and so much more. Yeah, you can still go to these events, but I heard for people living off site that it's extremely awkward. They said that when they tried to go to some of the events, the cps around them are hanging out with other cps who they met through housing and all they seem to talk about is what happens at housing. If you still live with your parents, living on site would be a great learning experience on living on your own and being responsible for groceries and taking care of yourself instead of depending on others. It's nice to go out til the late hours hanging out with my roommates and not have to worry about mom and dad asking you all sorts of questions (I still live with my parents too). And the person above who said that its better to go home and not have to deal with roomies. Not true in most of the case. The apartment always felt like home to me after a long day of work. And it was nice to come home to see my roomies watching a movie or just hanging out talking after a long day at work. It's nice to have someone my age to talk to about my day at work and just relax chatting with them. It's so nice to go visit the parks or go to downtown Disney or even go to a simple restaurant with my roomies. Also, you might get some roomies that you like or don't like but I think that's part of the experience of growing up. When you get roomies you don't like, you can learn how to deal with them and use those skills you learned to deal with people you come to dislike later in life.

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to share a little of my opinion. I say to live on site! At least for a month and if you don't like it, you can always talk to the housing people and ask if you can move back home and still be a CP. But, try it! You will have so much fun, meet a lot of amazing people as well as learn a lot of life experinces, especially learning how to deal with living on your own, learning how to handle money and looking after yourself without depending on someone else.

 

[Woodskeeper]

In my opinion, I think first time cps should live on property, just so they can have the full experience of being a CP. To me, living off site just seems to me that you are missing out on half the CP experience. Half of the CP experience comes from working at Disney, but the other half comes from Disney housing. I met a lot of cps who lived off site and they all told me basically the same thing: they did not felt like a CP during their program. They just felt like any other regular full time cast member. You would miss out on making amazing friends (besides work friends), going to other people's apartments and having movie nights, housing events like grocery bingo, pool parties, the Winter Formal, beach trips, and so much more. Yeah, you can still go to these events, but I heard for people living off site that it's extremely awkward. They said that when they tried to go to some of the events, the cps around them are hanging out with other cps who they met through housing and all they seem to talk about is what happens at housing. If you still live with your parents, living on site would be a great learning experience on living on your own and being responsible for groceries and taking care of yourself instead of depending on others. It's nice to go out til the late hours hanging out with my roommates and not have to worry about mom and dad asking you all sorts of questions (I still live with my parents too). And the person above who said that its better to go home and not have to deal with roomies. Not true in most of the case. The apartment always felt like home to me after a long day of work. And it was nice to come home to see my roomies watching a movie or just hanging out talking after a long day at work. It's nice to have someone my age to talk to about my day at work and just relax chatting with them. It's so nice to go visit the parks or go to downtown Disney or even go to a simple restaurant with my roomies. Also, you might get some roomies that you like or don't like but I think that's part of the experience of growing up. When you get roomies you don't like, you can learn how to deal with them and use those skills you learned to deal with people you come to dislike later in life.

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to share a little of my opinion. I say to live on site! At least for a month and if you don't like it, you can always talk to the housing people and ask if you can move back home and still be a CP. But, try it! You will have so much fun, meet a lot of amazing people as well as learn a lot of life experinces, especially learning how to deal with living on your own, learning how to handle money and looking after yourself without depending on someone else.

Haha thanks for the opinion! Actually, I probably should give a little bit of background...

I'm graduating this year from the University of Florida in Gainesville, which is 2 hours away from my parent's home in Orlando. I have an apartment up here in Gainesville and already pay the rent, pay for my own groceries, etc. I think I've got learning responsibility down I worked seasonal over the summer with several other seasonal CMs as well as CPs and I'm still friends with most of them. So, in that respect, I already know how it is being a usual cast member.

Thanks for all the opinions though! I'm really interested to see what everyone thinks!