There was once a girl who worked for a Mouse... (College Program TR) UPDATE 12/20

[MsFrazzledFro]

HELLO! WELCOME! GREETINGS!

Last winter I attempted to do a PTR and TR of sorts for my Disney College Program, which lasted from January until early August, but... that didn't go so well. I got super busy with work, school and household chores while on the program and as a result completely forgot about it! Oops

HOWEVER! Now that my current semester of school is winding down and my post-Disney depression is at an all-time high I thought I'd take the opportunity to finally talk about my experiences while on the program, and in particular talk about the two trips I participated in while there - one for when my parents came to visit me, and one for my best friend. This is gonna be a long report of sorts - and I welcome anyone's who willing to come along on this long ride!

A few things before we start out, though!

1. Since my trip wasn't necessarily your standard vacation, I won't be talking about every single day I visited a park - that would get old really fast!
2. Feel free to ask me any questions about WDW, the College Program or the role I had (PhotoPass) - however, there are some questions I cannot answer for various reasons!
3. Some of my posts will be just general observations, countdowns or the like about WDW stuff but most posts will be about a single day in particular.

With that out of the way, we can move on to the fun part: introductions!

ME

As you can tell by the image, my name is Kira! I'm a photography student in my last year of school at university in Missouri. I have been obsessed with WDW since my family's first trip there in 2006 and working there for seven months was a dream come true! Sometimes I still can't believe I actually got that opportunity. On my program I worked as a PhotoPass photographer in the Animal Kingdom and it was wonderful! I loved the cast members I worked with, they really made the experience that much better.

ASHLEY

Though I grew really close to all of my roommates over the course of the program, I definitely got closest to Ashley! We both worked in the same park (she worked as an usher over at Festival of the Lion King) and had generally the same work schedules so we were usually off work at the same time. We also both loved gaming, food and meeting characters so that was also a plus! You'll probably see her the most in upcoming posts.

KATIE

It's so hard to explain who Katie is because she is just crazy sometimes! She had a habit of climbing things in our apartment - imagine coming home and finding her sitting on top of the fridge! That being said, she was a wonderful person to hang out with on my days off and also appears quite a bit in my photos, so expect to see more of her coming up! She worked as a character attendant (the people in blue shirts with the characters) in Hollywood Studios on her program!

GISSELLE

Gisselle is such a beautiful person inside and out... and sometimes a complete goofball! She and Katie are best friends and applied for the program together - cool, huh? To this day I still turn to Gisselle whenever I need advice or just an ear to listen whenever I'm having a bad day. On her program, she worked in merchandise at the Boardwalk resort! Sooooo jealous, that place is lovely to look at!

RACHEL

I shared a room with Rachel on the program and our decor could not have been more different - I had this really flowery bedspread and hers had superheroes on it! However, we got along perfectly well. Rachel and I are both theater geeks so we bonded quite a lot over that, plus we loved meeting the characters. Rachel extended her program so she'll be in WDW until next month working in Tomorrowland attractions!

KELCI

Kelci and I always seemed to have completely opposite work schedules so I didn't usually get to hang out with her, but whenever I did I knew I could rely on her sarcastic wit and general sophistication! Kelci was the one who taught me bits about how to cook, along with Ashley, and I am SO grateful for that because otherwise I would have been completely lost in the kitchen! Kelci also extended her program so she'll be working at the Emporium in Magic Kingdom for a couple more months!



I'll be sure to introduce more people as they come along, but for now these folks are the ones you need to know about the most!

NEXT POST: What is the Disney College Program?​

 

[MsFrazzledFro]

Table of Contents:

Main Report:

What is the Disney College Program?
Arrival Day (and Settling Into the World)​

 

[MsFrazzledFro]

What is the Disney College Program?​

This was a question I got ALL THE TIME both before I started my program and during it! I understand why people would ask, though, because I didn't even know the program existed until I started college!

Essentially, the DCP is a cross between an internship and a work program. College students (of any age and from any accredited university or community college) work in one of many roles in either Disneyland or WDW for anywhere between two to seven months, and generally live in housing with other participants. They are given almost all the same benefits of a Cast Member - discounts, free admission to the parks, exclusive CM-themed merchandise and opportunities to attend special events and tours. Basically, it's a Disney-lovers' dream!

While on the program, you also have the opportunity to take special classes. Depending on your major and your university these might be taken for college credit, but you can take them just for fun if you want! According to my friends who attended classes, they were a lot of fun!

For the College Program in Florida, CPs are given housing in four different complexes - Vista Way, Chatham Square, the Commons and Patterson Court. Apartments can hold anywhere from two to eight people and have a full kitchen, living room and bedrooms. Rent is taken directly out of the weekly paycheck and includes all utilities. I lived in Patterson Court and LOVED my apartment - it was in relatively good shape, spacious and had plenty of bathrooms - three in total for the six people who lived there.

Participants on the program are expected to work a full-time schedule, though this depends on your role. As PhotoPass I usually didn't get more than 35 hours a week but sometimes would only get assigned about 25 for some weird reason.

What's one of the greatest things about being a CP? We get tons of cool events to go to! Sometimes they were simple things like Grocery Bingo, but sometimes they were huge events (we had a pool party in Typhoon Lagoon after the park closed for the day back in May - super cool!).

Anyway, that's a basic overview of the DCP. I'll answer any further questions if you have them, but for now it's time to move onto something even more exciting - ARRIVING IN DISNEY WORLD! Whoo!

NEXT POST: Arrival Day (and settling into the World)​

 

[amberg93]

This is so exciting! I've been reading along to Jess' CP TR but it'll be nice to get a different perspective of it as well! Subbing I can't wait to read along!

 

[JulieODC]

Subbing! Sounds like a fun report!

 

[MsFrazzledFro]

Arrival Day (and settling into the World)

(This post will be a bit text-heavy because I didn't take too many photos the first couple of days - apologies in advance!)

The day my most awesome of Disney adventures began was January 6th, 2013 - and what a day it was! I live in the Midwest so unless I wanted to be on the road for days on end - by myself - I was gonna have to fly. But that's okay, I ADORE flying. Don't ask me why, I just have ever since the first time I got on a plane.

I said goodbye to my parents and sister, which was even harder than I thought it would be (my parents came to visit me in June but I didn't see my sister again until I came back home in August). Tears were definitely shed and I didn't want to leave them!

When waiting for my connecting flight in Atlanta, I snapped this image of my ticket (the destination was causing me so much excitement!):

WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT SO LONG FOR MY FLIGHT? Ahhhh!

Well, finally my connecting flight came and deposited me in my new home for the next seven months, Orlando! I then had to contend with one of the worst things known to man (or at least Disney vacationers)...

MEARS TRANSPORTATION.

I opted for their shuttle because I was traveling alone, it was cheap and... yeah, that's pretty much it. I was totally NOT prepared for how long it would take though! Not only was the worker controlling the shuttles really rude, my shuttle driver tried to drop me off at the wrong hotel TWICE! Ugh. Their taxis might be more reliable, but I'm definitely not taking their shuttle ever again. Warning! It's just not a good idea.

However, all was well! I was finally with my future roommates and we settled in for our... can you believe it... TWO hours of sleep! We decided we would wake up super early in order to get in line and compete for the housing we wanted because it was very popular!

DCP Tip: They don't run housing like this anymore! Now you can pretty much reserve your housing ahead of time, much like arranging for a college dorm room.

You think lines at Disney can get bad? Try this line on for size!

However, all was well! Though my roommates and I technically knew each other since September (except for Katie and Gisselle, who have been friends much longer), we had a lot to talk about and catch up on with everyone. Plus, as you'll see in future posts, we all became friends very quickly!

DCP Tip: There is a LOT of paperwork to fill out on your arrival day! Make sure you bring all documents and other stuff you need with you and be prepared to wait a bunch!

Before sorting out housing and such, we all got our work assignments! Kelci got Main Street, which is exactly what she wanted, and Ashley and I got assignments in Animal Kingdom - which we didn't really want, at least at first. (Don't worry, our attitude definitely changed once we started working - AK is an awesome place to work!) Then came applying for housing (we got a three-bedroom apartment in Patterson Court, unit 5015), registering cars (in Katie's case), and working out when our housing orientation would be. THEN we were all shipped off to the Casting building to fill out our job paperwork!

It's very bad of me... but I didn't take any photos of this beautiful building. I didn't even think about it! I was already so tired at that point that just standing in line was exhausting me. Pure Disney excitement kept me going, most likely!

Once we were all done, it was time to finally see our apartment for the first time and start unpacking. Gisselle's family was in town so we had a lot of help taking our stuff over there and going grocery shopping for the first time. I snapped a few photos on our way there...

I see a sign! We must be almost there!

Ah, the entrance to my new home! I can't believe we're finally here!

Wow, what a beautiful building! Can't believe I get to live here!

We settled into our rooms relatively quickly - Rachel and I in one, Katie and Gisselle in another, and Ashley and Kelci in the final one. When I finally got most of my stuff unpacked, my side of the bedroom looked something like this:

DCP Tip: I have a poster up in my photo but you are actually NOT allowed to hang stuff on the walls! However, if it's lightweight and won't cause any damage you can usually get away with it - just take everything down for inspections!

The most important thing for any apartment full of young adults - and especially one who's still taking college classes (me) - WiFi!

After talking a bunch about various things, we all turned in to finally get a good night's sleep - although we had already made plans for a our very first day in the World!

NEXT POST: First Day in the World - and We Can't See the Boss Yet!​