"There's a phone call for you. It's MICKEY." American Idols and Anniversaries! DONE!

[jenseib]

How exciting! I would love to hear about it, and what the qualifications are, and what it entails> I have two college age children...that could possibly be interested if they qualify.

 

[ZeroToHero]

Jen - The only qualifications are that you are enrolled in college when you interview (which is the semester before you would go down), that you have a certain GPA (which varies by school, but I think it's 2.5 or something like that? That's what it is for me), and that you're at least 18 when you arrive.

So you could go to school and then work for Disney if you wanted too! As long as you're over 18, you're good!


I'll post more information later, because right now I'm trying to get them to take my arrival date - I'm having issues with the drop-down menu.. it's not dropping! I had to email tech support, and am waiting for an answer.

 

[BelleBway]

Congrats! Disney is very lucky to have you. Can't wait to hear about your experiences.

 

[jenseib]

So do you go to school down there then?

 

[ZeroToHero]

You can take one or two classes down there, and I may do that, but I'm not sure... there is at least one class that I want to take though.

 

[jenseib]

So do you just do it in the summer then?

 

[ZeroToHero]

Do what? The program? I'll be there from August 30th to January 7th. I'm taking a leave of absence from school.

 

[jenseib]

Ok.

 

[ZeroToHero]

Now you have to convice Skip to come down again! :

I am really excited to go, but this arrival date thing is driving me crazy! It just took my housing payment twice, so now I have to tell them to cancel one of those transactions.... arg! And I still haven't been able to pick my date.

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

That is so amazing!!! I am so happy for you!! (and a lot jealous! DH won't talk about going back yet... )

But yay! And I am really enjoying catching up on your TR!

 

[jenseib]

You have to pay for your housing? I would think that would be included. I guess I really know nothing about it. LOL!

 

[ZeroToHero]

They subsidize it a lot, but yeah, it's around 80-90$ a week, taken straight out of your pay check.

You also have to pay a one-time fee of 100$ to pay for your badge, activities during the program, graduation stuff (like ears!), etc. It's sort of like an activities fee for college, I think?

But it went through, and I am officially booked to check in on August 30th to January 7th for the program! I am sooo excited! Besides that, all I know is that I'll be working Attractions. I would love the Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, those are my top two places.

Other than that, I don't have much more information right now. But it's still soooo cool!

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

That's so exciting! You'll arrive on our one year anniversary of being in Disney!!

 

[ZeroToHero]

Ooo. That is exciting!

I will actually be down there for my "3 months until I check in" in May, so maybe I'll see if the Crystal Palace characters will sign my book or something.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

I am officially booked to check in on August 30th to January 7th for the program!

 

[jenseib]

Thats so exciting...I want to be a student. You will have to keep me posted all everything.

 

[Goofy22]

I am sooooo Happy you finally got in!! It must be sooo exciting!
I can't wait to get back ! I really need a vaca! Did you see they are refurbing POP's rooms? They look really nice! I posted my ADRS on your facebook. You will be in the Disney College program by the time my ADR for Leceiller comes up! Maybe some of our other ones will cross.

 

[ZeroToHero]

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end, and thus, this will be the final installment of our trip report.

Today was our last day, and it was supposed to be spent from rope drop until we had to head for the Magical Express at Animal Kingdom. But things didn’t quite work out like that – not that it was a bad thing!

However, the morning was a little hectic. The night before, we had spent packing and adding up everything we bought, so that when the bill came, we would just be able to check it and make sure the prices matched up. Luckily, when we woke up at 6 am, the bill was there, and everything was right. I was very glad I saved all my receipts, otherwise I think my jaw would have dropped when I saw how much we spent and I would have thought they made a mistake, but no – Lou really did just buy a massive amount of Nightmare things.

So suddenly we realized we had no idea how we were going to get our bags from our room to the main building to have them hold them – usually we just have to walk down a few hallways, and we’re there, but in this case, we had no idea where we were. So I called the bellhop people, and asked if we could get our bags picked up. “Sure thing,” they said, “when would you like that?” I felt really bad, but I was like “Uhm, now would be awesome… I didn’t quite realize how this all worked.” So sure enough, 15 minutes later, we were all set to go, and loaded everything into the tram, heading over to the Airline Check-In Desk. It was then that we found out we had to pre-pay for our checked bags – ugh! So we had to run into the lobby area, sit in the kiddie area, and call up Delta to pay for the bags. Then everything was set, so we went, got in line again, and had our bags put aside for us.

Finally, it was off to Animal Kingdom! I think we may have been a little late, because my pictures don’t start until about half-past nine. And of course, they were of birds. So I think Lou had the camera again. I’ll spare you the photos this time.

We headed over to Kilimanjaro Safaris, pausing first for this picture, which I think is really nice:

Then it was off to stop some poachers again – you would really think they’d fix the gates on the reservation!

I love going in the morning though – you get great shots of the animals moving around.

However, not everyone is a morning person….

After this, we grabbed a snack to eat (I think it we got pretzels?) and sat at the Harambe School for a while – I don’t ever remember this from before, but I’m sure I just missed it.

We then decided to head over to go on Expedition Everest – but on our way there – we ran into King Louie! He was loping around, and I don’t remember seeing a Character Attendent with him anywhere, but he was hilarious! Just walking down the path, being silly – I wish I had stopped to get a photo of Lou and Lou, but it was a good thing we didn’t – there was NO line for Everest when we got there.

And after riding it, we looked, and there was still no line… so we got in line again! We asked for the front row, and after waiting in a pretty short line for that, we got to go in the front – and I took pictures! (I also took pictures the first time, so the following shots are a mix)

After that ride… the line was still short! So we went on again. But after that time, it started picking up (and I started feeling sick), so we stopped and headed over to Dinosaur. We rode that once, and then decided to get lunch at Yak & Yeti before leaving. Lou wanted to head over to Hollywood Studios to get that book he wanted – little did he know that I had called and found out that was the only place in the whole resort to get it (and of course, it’s now available on Amazon, but that’s okay.)

Lou got the Honey Chicken (which looked really good) and let me have a bite – it was delicious, and now we’re planning on going back to the actual Table Service restaurant when we go back in May.

Our our way out, we stopped to look at some of the exhibits in the Oasis (including the birds), and then said goodbye to the park… Lou was pretty sad, but he kept a brave front.

We grabbed a bus from Animal Kingdom to Hollywood Studios (I didn’t know they had buses that went from park to park..) and got there around 12:30. We only had until 3 or so to be at the park, so we didn’t have much time. Lou said he wanted to get the book, but I said I wasn’t feeling well, and that he should get one more thing for his brother, and I’d be right back. He agreed, since he still had to get him something else, and with that lie, I ran off to the Tower of Terror gift shop to get him the book. Apparently I took a while, because he called me, and I told him to meet me on the street to the Tower of Terror. When we met, I handed him the bag, and he took it without looking in, saying “Alright, let’s go get my book!” Arg! Haha. He finally looked in the bag, and was surprised that I had gotten in for him. Hey, what can I say? I’m great.

Since we still had a while before we had to leave, and I hadn’t eaten, we stopped by Pizza Planet, where I finally, for the first time the whole trip, found Sweet Tea. Every other restaurant had been out or didn’t have it! I was sooo happy, and since Pizza Planet is just great anyway, it was a good lunch.

After that, we decided to ride Tower of Terror and Rock n’ Roller Coaster one last time each. Although we didn’t see Mike on the Tower of Terror, we saw something else hilarious.

After we got off the elevator, in that dark hallway between the unloading area and the picture area, were these two guys in bellhop uniforms. One was sitting on a box, frozen, with a “Ring Bell for Service” sign, and was holding a bell. The other was just standing there. We walked past them, and then did a double-take… but kept moving.
I totally thought they were mannequins at first – they were so still. Then we realized, and turned around, just in time to see a teenage girl ding the bell, at which point both guys made sudden movements. Needless to say, she started screaming, and we burst into laughter. It was so funny, but I’m sure I would have screamed too if it was me.

We ran over to Rock n’ Roller Coaster, squeezed in one last ride, and had a blast. Did you know those glass doors with all the stones in them move? You can run your hand along the stones and they’ll swivel!

Sadly, it was now time to leave… we grabbed a bus back to Saratoga, and realized we still had one lunch credit left, and about an hour to spare. We used our credit on a sandwich and a “worms in dirt” dessert (sandwich for Lou, dessert for me!), and then Lou decided he wanted a brownie, so we got one of those too.

As we were leaving the Artist’s Palette to get our bags and wait for the bus, we saw this stagecoach sort of thing right outside the doors. It looked like you were allowed to get in it (there weren’t ropes around it or anything, so I hope we were allowed to!), so we took some photos in that before leaving, since I had realized we never really took any photos of the resort.

We finally got our bags and were waiting for the bus… and waiting… and waiting… and waiting. It was not coming, and we were getting really worried. Finally, I think an hour later, they sent a Disney Cruise Line bus for us. That was fun, with the giant portholes – even though we had to wait a while, I think everyone made their flights. I see now why they want you at the airport 3 hours early. We were about 1-2 hours early with the delay, enough time to explore all the Disney stores in MCO, and take a picture with Snow White. What do you think? Do you see a resemblance?

As we were waiting for the plane, I called home. Remember how at the very beginning of this, I said my boss had messed up my schedule? And how he did it again? Well, it turns out he thought I was coming into work today, so apparently work called my house, wanting to know where I was – when my mother told them I was in an airport in Orlando, they were like “Oh.” Arg! I specifically had left multiple notes and told a whole bunch of people that I was not going to be in that whole week, but oh well.

And it was at this point that it started POURING. We were worried that we wouldn’t be able to fly out, or we would get stuck in Atlanta, but it was all okay, for us at least. Apparently we got out just in time though, because it rained for the next few days straight in Disney.

When we got to Atlanta, the lady next to me on the plane explained how the airport was set up, and how we should check the schedule screens, just in case our flight gate had been switched – it was a good thing we did that, because at first, we were going to have to take the shuttle (Atlanta has an underground train-like shuttle, because its terminals are in a straight line, with A being a mile away from E) to E. Turns out that we only had to go one terminal though, because they had indeed switched our gate. I’m very glad she told us that, because otherwise it would have been realllyyyy tight making the flight.

The flight home was uneventful, and getting home was sad, but we had an amazing time, and can’t wait go back.



I just want to thank everyone for sticking out with me for more than 6 months – but now it’s all over! I would like to do one of these again, but I hope it doesn’t take this long to write it.

I also wanted to put up a picture of me with my purple folder for the College Program – I’m so excited for that! (If I don't look excited, it's because it was about 2 am when I took that photo.. )

So thank you again everyone, and if I decide to start a pre-trip report for May, I’ll let you all know here, if you’re interested in staying updated on our next trip!

 

[joy13]

First off congrats on the CP! I'm so happy and excited for you! I hope you can keep us all updated while you are down there - a college program report!!

Seems like you had a really nice last day - it was really nice that you got some park time in before leaving.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

I like your EE pics! I want to do that for sure next trip. You rode three times! Mental note...that honey chicken looks very yummy. Wait, Yak & Yeti is counter service too? Did I know that?


Pizza Planet lunch too? Sounds like us too. Never fails, we always have credits left over to quickly use up before we go. I think on our last trip we left with four or five counter services still to use. A new goal for next trip.... make better use of our dining plan credits.


Very nice pic of you and Lou in the buggy at the resort and I think you and Snow White are long lost sisters..... new movie plot!


Your trip is over. You got there after I did and I'm still wrapping up mine. Well, at least I'm on my last day. I hope you get a May PTR going and yes, I think a College Program Report (CPR!) is a great idea!