My 7 Month Vacation as a WDW Intern: MINI UPDATE 12/10

[jenny613]

Hi Megan!!
So I randomly came across your post, and I am so glad I did because I am also doing the Education Presenter Internship at the Animal Kingdom starting on June 20th! My name is Jenny and I am 22 years old and I just graduated from college with a major in Biology and a minor in Secondary Education. I'm also postponing my teaching career in order to fulfill one of my dreams....working for Disney! I think I read in your post that you have already made living arrangements. I decided to go with the Disney housing. I was wondering if you had heard any positive/negative reviews of the Disney affiliated housing?? Anyways, we should chat sometime!! I would love to hear about your experience at Disney with the college program. Also, it would be great to have a friend going into this (I'm sooooo scared moving to Florida and not knowing anyone)! If you would ever like to talk, my AIM screen name is pjsparkls6. And maybe we can exchange e-mails in the future
Otherwise, I'll see you in a few weeks!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Can't wait to see the calendars you made!

They are finished and I'm in the process of loading pics. It is sooo much harder with a desk top bc I have to find the cord and load the pics and ugh its a pain! They are coming tho I promise!

What an awesome Dad you have and I bet he's a closet Disney freak, he just doesn't want to admit it ! (it's just too bad he's a Steelers fan. J/K, but my hubby's a Browns fan , so I have to rib a little) Have fun with those calendars...can't wait to see them!

Haha. Well my dad grew up in the Youngstown area so he was raised a Browns fan, but it wasn't till he took at job at my college that he became a Steelers fan bc that is where their training camp is located so he had to be involved not only on but off the field and during the camp and before the camp..you get my drift I'm sure!! Secretly he hopes Cowher goes to the Browns haha.

We'll be there in June and it would be fun to meet you in AK. My kids would be so impressed I knew a CM

Yay! I can't wait to go back too!

glad to see (read) you again !!! I look forward to more because u are such a fun read! Keep it up, we will look for u in Nov.

Yay more visitors to come see me! Happy planning!

I can't wait to see your projects when you finish them. They sound really neat.

I also agree that your dad is great for what he said to you. This is a great opportunity and you should just live it up. It is great that he gave you permission to do so.

When do you leave again?

I leave on June 17 to fly back so 17 days as we speak. I'm already getting excited but getting on that plane will be very tough. When I left for my CP my parents already had airline tix to see me in feb and they are still playing around with months and dates so who knows. It will be very hard on my mom, but I know once I get back there and back to my car and into my element again I'll be fine!

joining you for this report. Still kicking myself that I did not know about the CP when I was in college or just out of college. Too late now...I will just have to settle for Disney trips and brainwash my kids into Disney so they can do a CP someday.

Edited to add: F&W festival is awesome...though we did not really enjoy much food because we ate at Le Celliar before hand so we were not hungry...just took part of the drinks of the world...pretty cool!

Ooh thanks for the advice! I can't wait to cross some things off my list!

It is, thank you.

Definitely!!



Great list! I have a list of my own for this summer. And seeing Cirque before June ends, and staying at AKL (I am in Aug) are on the list.

I guess I will have to see Cirque within a few days of going back bc I won't get my new ID till I dunno when? Maybe the 22nd or 23rd and the discount only goes to the 28 so I'll be rushing it and hopefully it works!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Hi Megan!!
So I randomly came across your post, and I am so glad I did because I am also doing the Education Presenter Internship at the Animal Kingdom starting on June 20th! My name is Jenny and I am 22 years old and I just graduated from college with a major in Biology and a minor in Secondary Education. I'm also postponing my teaching career in order to fulfill one of my dreams....working for Disney! I think I read in your post that you have already made living arrangements. I decided to go with the Disney housing. I was wondering if you had heard any positive/negative reviews of the Disney affiliated housing?? Anyways, we should chat sometime!! I would love to hear about your experience at Disney with the college program. Also, it would be great to have a friend going into this (I'm sooooo scared moving to Florida and not knowing anyone)! If you would ever like to talk, my AIM screen name is pjsparkls6. And maybe we can exchange e-mails in the future
Otherwise, I'll see you in a few weeks!!

Hi Jenny!!!!

Thanks for reading. I'll have to give you my link for my CP page although after I moved it it was very hard to post bc I would come home so beat or end up going out to eat or out to PI or some place and lose track of time lol.

I'm living with 3 girls in a townhouse at Coral Cay (one from my CP apt, one that was a CP but in Vista, and one from CT we haven't met yet). I did not want Disney housing because it is very far away and with gas being so expensive, I would be working to pay for gas I LOVE the area around where our house and former apt was and I knew that I had to remain in that area because there is so much to do and lots of places to go.
On a personal note, I did not want Disney housing bc I lived in dorms all my college and had roommates (one for 2 yrs i ended up hating, and my last 2 yrs with my best friend which was great). The CP apt rooms were big but I'm 23 now and need my own space so that was strike number 1 against Disney housing. We're going to be paying the same per week as disney and it will be about 15/20 mins closer and I'll have my own room so right there it was worth it. If you think you really don't want disney housing now, you can always go on facebook and there is a roomies/apt group that was started, maybe there are others that need roomies still??

I have your sn saved on my buddy list so I hope to talk to you soon!! Happy packing! I know it's a scary thought leaving but I had a wonderful CP experience and I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm not gonna lie and say there weren't nites I didn't cry myself to sleep over an issue with roomies or work but I had more amazing moments than I had horrible moments so that is really why I'm staying plus I know FL in general has a purpose for me..I'm hoping to find that out within the next 7 months!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Here is the like for my CP page if you have not read it and watned to read it. I will admit that once I got down to FL it became harder and harder to post because I'm sure a bunch of you can agree that I would rather be out playin in the parks for free than sit at home on my computer!!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1581326

 

[betsywdw]

Hi Megan! I enjoyed your last TR and plan to follow along again! We are from Pittsburgh in the South Hills! Just curious what amusement park you worked at...was it Kennywood?

We'll be at Disney in September and I hope to see you and say hello

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Hi Megan! I enjoyed your last TR and plan to follow along again! We are from Pittsburgh in the South Hills! Just curious what amusement park you worked at...was it Kennywood?

We'll be at Disney in September and I hope to see you and say hello

no..I worked at Idlewild & Soak Zone. I got into Sandcastle and Kennywood for free when i worked at I&SZ but I never made it to SC and I went to KW all the time bc my college roommate lived in West Homestead which is 10 mins from KW. She worked at KW and I&SZ one summer and I worked at I&SZ for 2 summers so it was being able to go to KW and then staying at her house 10 mins away.

I love south hills village mall. My cousin is a Lancome rep at Macys so I've been to that mall to see her a few times but we are only about 25 mins from Ross Park so I tend to go there a lot!

WL must be a popular Pittsburgh thing bc my fam LOVES staying there and we have gotten other family friends to stay there and they also love it!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

16 days to go!!!!!

As you can tell from my title, I'm not too thrilled about having to give up my perfect Mary-Janes (crocs) for brown ugly hiking boots

I guess you could say that if you had to choose between me being a girly girl or a tomboy, you could classify me as a girly girl lol. I LOVE to play and watch sports and walk outside but I also LOVE to dress up, shop, and do every girly thing that is known.


Although my CP was and is now over, it was hard to throw away my beloved crocs that were COVERED in pixie dust. I'm not sure if I ended up posting my nightmares of trying to find the perfect Mary-Jane shoes but it was a nightmare!!! Disney does not tell you what shoes you need to buy until a day before you begin training. Well thankfully enough with my PI they told me what to get...AND...sent a picture..way to go PI!!! My Mary-Janes were a nightmare. I had NO idea what kind to get that I could wear for 13 hour shifts that I would not totally be dead (I was just kidding myself..who's feet aren't dead after 13 hours?) I had bought shoes in PA but returned them and thought I'd wait till FL. On our walking tour of MK, I noticed that most BBB girls had on sketcher shoes which I then went out and purchased that night after going to 2 malls and finally a shoe store to get. After a month I took them back and got a full refund complaining the well pretty much suxed and the velcro would always come loose. I ended up with black Mary-Jane crocs and even though I wanted to throw them against my locker after 13 hour shifts, they seemed to hold up for shorter shifts!!!


After one shoe nightmare..another had to begin..ugh! My first thought when reading the PI email was WHY can't I be at Epcot..Epcot wears plain white tennis shoes (yes I'm from South/Western PA lol)...but NOOOO I had to wear the ugly hiking boots..ugh.
So the other night I went on a mission, a mission to find hiking boots where in PA is starting sandal season which is HARD to find boots when you can only wear sandals in PA for about 4 or 5 months so needless to say I was stuck looking at mens boots

After 3 different stores (not bad I must say!) I FINALLY found a pair at Shoe Sensation. All the other stores had mens boots but none small enough for my feet but at Shoe Sensation they had 2 styles left and I finally found my boots!!!! I just PRAY to the heavens above that they are the right style and type lol. It seems like I'm doing this whole season thing backwards. In Jan when I needed mary-janes, all I could find were boots and tennis shoes and now that I need boots, all I see are mary-janes and sandals lol.

Anyways I ended up with an Eastland brand...if anyone knows if thats a good brand or not let me know. My mom insisted on paying for them but I think they were around $50-60 so I hope they are a good brand!

As I am adding picture after picture, I finally finished my calendars and door tags:

Continue to Next Post....

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

As you can tell I have been busy working on my calendars and door tags.

If anyone was wondering, most if not all my supplies I get at Michaels. They had these wonderful stamps at Michaels. They were 10 bucks for I think 6 different stamps and then I had to buy ink pads that were 2 bucks each. I Love all the stickers they have there and the quote ones as well that you have seen in my CP minnies.

Today was a busy day for me. I planned on staying home and just relaxing but thought how stupid when its the weekend and I have a car since my parents won't be working.

I ended up going to a mall near Pittsburgh with my best friend, her 3 yr old daughter, and husband and I spent tons of money. Our Disney Stores in the area are closing so there were huge sales. I ended up with 2 tanks, sleep shorts (which I didn't try on and they don't fit ), sleep pants, and tinkerbell slippers. I took pics of the tank tops bc they are just too cute!!!

I figured they will be cute to wear around the parks in the heat of the summer! They are on the website too if you are interested in them.

I also got tons of soaps and wall flowers at Bath & Body Works only to discover a little slip of paper in my bag that said all those things will be on sale within the next few days so those will be going back and I will be buying them on sale!!

I also went to Old Navy and got some tank tops that were on sale and kept adding things onto my credit card lol.

We had a BLAST shopping. We had a nice dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse (if you ask me, I'd stil take Texas Roadhouse over it any day but I didn't pay ) And I drove them all home and drove home to catch the end of the poor Pens game and here I am!


I'm starting to gather things to pack up. It's so funny to see brown carpet bc with my CP I had stuff EVERYWHERE...remember..

I still dunno how it all fit in my car? haha. Here it is today...2 suitcases is all I get when you fly..and I had to pay $25 bucks for my 2nd bag!

I found this little door hanger at the dollar store a while back so I'm taking it with me for my new door

Here is my recently completed scrapbook from my trip last May. I can't wait to get back to start my CP one...

And I thought I would leave you with these. These are upclose views of my CP certificates. One is from the CP in general and the other is from MK

I still need to get frames for them. I need to hang my diploma from college. I figure I have 2 weeks to get this all done!


I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I can't believe how fast time is flying. I leave in 16 days! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I'm sure I'll be back soon with updates!!!

*~Megan~*

 

[Hedy]

Glad you got the shoes already.

 

[MossyCastle]

16 days to go!!!!!

Anyways I ended up with an Eastland brand...if anyone knows if thats a good brand or not let me know. My mom insisted on paying for them but I think they were around $50-60 so I hope they are a good brand!

I have been enjoying your TRs. It is nice to see you are pursuing your dreams. Don't Stop!!!!!!


You may want to seriously want to consider some mid high hiking boots (not backpacking boots, yes there is a difference) I would recommend you look into Merrell or Vasque boots. Yes they cost a bit more, but the support for your feet on long shifts will be better than an off brand.

Check out REI. No, I do not work for REI


I have a pair of Merrell's and I love them for walking around WDW they get a little warm. Also make sure you pay attention to the socks you wear with them. Socks will make a big difference with how comtrable ant hiking boots will be.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your second round.

Mossy

 

[betsywdw]

no..I worked at Idlewild & Soak Zone. I got into Sandcastle and Kennywood for free when i worked at I&SZ but I never made it to SC and I went to KW all the time bc my college roommate lived in West Homestead which is 10 mins from KW. She worked at KW and I&SZ one summer and I worked at I&SZ for 2 summers so it was being able to go to KW and then staying at her house 10 mins away.

I love south hills village mall. My cousin is a Lancome rep at Macys so I've been to that mall to see her a few times but we are only about 25 mins from Ross Park so I tend to go there a lot!

WL must be a popular Pittsburgh thing bc my fam LOVES staying there and we have gotten other family friends to stay there and they also love it!

We are going to Idlewild in a few weeks! DD is 2 and I think she will really enjoy it now! That's great you were able to get into KW and SC. I haven't been to SC in years!

I was just at South Hills Village Macy's yesterday getting perfume samples! It's a small world! I go to Ross Park if I need Pottery Barn or H&M. By the way...the Disney Store at South Hills is staying open!!! So when you are home and need a Disney fix you can get it

It does seem the WL is a popular Pittsburgh thing! It is defininitely our favorite resort with Poly running a close second!

We will be back to WDW in September so hopefully I can say a quick hello to you at the AK.

Sounds like you have your hands full with the shoe situation. I can totally understand not being able to find boots here! I needed to find a new bathing suit for DD in February to go to WDW and I ended up buying it there because there were none to be found here!

Take care and keep on updating us!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Love your calendars/decorations...very cute!! Where did you get all those Disney stamps? I am into scrapbooking too and I love those!

Our Disney Store is closing too I'm going to have to try to get out to the mall sometime before it closes to see if there's anything good.

16 days, that is soooo soon!

 

[O_Jr71]

Hi! I found your cp tr and i read the whole thing through in like 3 days. Now im moving on to this one. Congratulations on getting the PI. That's really exciting. Me and my family are going down in August so if i see you i'll definitely sat hi!

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Megan, you may want to see if you can get a discount for a short Disney cruise. It's a whole other side of Disney that I am sure you would enjoy. Very magical. It may be nearly impossible to get 3 days off in a row, but I thought I'd mention it for your list of Disney-to-do's.

Congratulations on the new job. From reading, I think you will be successful in whatever you undertake.

 

[Disneymusicgirl]

Your calendars and door tags are a great idea and sooo cute! Sounds like the disney shoe sitch is a pain, but I'm glad you were able to get yours ahead of time for your PI!

 

[moparop]

I love the new purchases Megan! Those boots look like they will hold up pretty well and I love the crafty stuff!

We're going to be at WDW Aug. 9-15. I hope we get a chnace to meet you!

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Oh, and I think your shoes are cute.

 

[jellyd]

Megan,

Just wanted to thank you for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon reading through your CP report. It was nice to live through your experience and your reports were great. I am now subscribed for this one and look forward to hearing about the internship. I have a college age son and will be secretly trying to nudge to do the CP. He is a Physics/Chem double major. Do you think he would get anything out of the experience? Did you meet any fellow CPers that had hard science majors?

Keep up the great report,
Rick

 

[CPer'sMom]

I have a college age son and will be secretly trying to nudge to do the CP. He is a Physics/Chem double major. Do you think he would get anything out of the experience? Did you meet any fellow CPers that had hard science majors?

My DD did the college program and she was a Health Sciences major so she didn't do the program because it might be related in some way to her major (although one of her minors was 'Substance Abuse' so she did get to apply that every once in a while!) But she got so much from the program ~ far more than she might have ever imagined! It was a wonderful experience and she made some great friends, both fellow CPs and 'regulars'. Three of the CPs from her area are now working for Disney full-time - 2 in management and one as an engineer.

Do encourage your son to look into the program if he's even slightly interested. It's a unique experience

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Megan,

Just wanted to thank you for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon reading through your CP report. It was nice to live through your experience and your reports were great. I am now subscribed for this one and look forward to hearing about the internship. I have a college age son and will be secretly trying to nudge to do the CP. He is a Physics/Chem double major. Do you think he would get anything out of the experience? Did you meet any fellow CPers that had hard science majors?

Keep up the great report,
Rick

there really isn't a specific job dealing with your sons major as a CP. As a CP..I hate to say it, but you are basically at the bottom of the food chain. Unless you're really lucky to get some of the higher up jobs (like BBB bc we were highest paid and got tips) you will prolly be running a ride, working fast food, in a store, lifeguard if you get certified, etc.

After you do your CP or if you are lucky enough first time around and apply for a PI that is when they get more specific and deal more with your major.

As a CP I was lucky enough to get into BBB where I go to spend one on one time with girls and boys for longer periods of time than loading them on a ride for example.

As a PI I will be actually in the field "teaching" things that I would be presenting in a classroom which would lead more into my teaching degree from college.

PIs are more "detailed" as I would describe them. For example, my one roommate is business and she got a PI as DTD manager at a store. Another roommate of mine was voice/music teaching major and she audtioned for different performing groups throughout the parks. Another roomie is going into some sort of hospitality field and got guest services at MK. As you can see they are more "higher up" jobs than just what a normal CP does. There were a few higher up CP jobs..one of them being BBB and maybe character drawing or something like that related.

If your son feels like he would want some that would apply more to his major as opposed to starting out at the bottom like I did, have him take a look at the PI website..just google Disney Professional Internships and it will be the first link or so.

Thanks for reading!