Third Time's The Charm At The DISNEY COLLEGE PROGRAM Fall '19! (COMPLETE - 8/14)

[Jenny Sanders]

OMG Timmy! I love your pics with the rats and Marie!!! They are soooooo cute.
I'm glad you are having such a good time!
I will most likely be in HS on Sept 22nd...

 

[dolewhipdreams]

As predicted, it was Remy, Emile and Marie. They were all so much fun to meet as you can tell. Remy and Emile and I talked about cooking up some ratatouille together then all of us sharing it. I also love the photo we got with that little mouse pose. Marie was even better because you KNOW I love my sassy queen.

So glad the rumors were true! Your photos with all three are adorbs (as usual).

And wow, what a fun party. It sounds amazing! Plus any DJ who blasts some Hoedown Throwdown is a master. I had no idea they had events like that for CMs in housing. Glad you had a rockin good time!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Oh my days what cute photos!! Yay on meeting Remy, Emile and Marie (who I love soo much as well). Sounds like a hoot of a dry evening!

Thank you!! It so much fun. 10/10 would do again.

OMG Timmy! I love your pics with the rats and Marie!!! They are soooooo cute.
I'm glad you are having such a good time!
I will most likely be in HS on Sept 22nd...

Thank you! They are so adorbs.

Oh how fun! I'm starting to bounce around a bit since I'm getting deployed out of Sunset in about a week and trading elsewhere. Will keep y'all posted on where I might be in the coming months.

So glad the rumors were true! Your photos with all three are adorbs (as usual).

Thank you! It definitely worked out well on that front.

And wow, what a fun party. It sounds amazing! Plus any DJ who blasts some Hoedown Throwdown is a master. I had no idea they had events like that for CMs in housing. Glad you had a rockin good time!

Oh he definitely had his finger on what CPs like to jam out too. And yeah, they do a lot of cool events for us pretty regularly. Whether you can make it is based on work schedule but across three programs I've always made it for quite a few.

 

[missangelalexis]

Looks like such a fun event!! Great pics with the characters!

 

[cindianne320]

What a fun party! So glad you got to meet Marie and the rats! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Newsies]

OMG SIS!!!!!!!!!!! THESE PHOTOS!!!!!!! THIS LIT HOUSING EVENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm SHRIEKING at the sheer amount of fun you had... you really bring the party with you everywhere you go. Iconic.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

*Taps Wrist*
6/7/19: Traditions!

I'm sure @Newsies will be happy about this one.

IT'S TRADITIONS DAY!

For those of you who don't know, Traditions is essentially the beginning of you becoming a part of the Disney company. It's your first day of training in simplest terms, but is just a really fun and magical kick-off to working for the company. It's also super emotional. Everyone has to go through Traditions from the highest executives to lowly little CPs like myself. When I was in California, I was among these types (including a to-be Imagineer who fell asleep during it). In Florida, you're generally only with other CPs for organizational sake but that's ok it's still magical. There are also some really neat surprises but for those who are planning on doing the program I will put in a *SPOILER ALERT* before I talk about those. The class culminates in you getting your famous Disney nametags and blue IDs which means you have access to the parks so people tend to go right after so it really is a full day event (at one point in Disney history, the class was three days long actually). Enough of this brief overview, let's actually talk about my day.

So Traditions used to always be a morning event back when I first did it, now it's split so they have a morning class and an afternoon class. My roommates and I unfortunately got put in the afternoon, unfortunate because you won't be able to spend all day in the parks after but fortunate because you get to sleep in and take your time getting ready. It was also fortunate because the night before MANY of the morning class got cancelled last minute for one reason or another. It was strange, many then also got last minute calls to come in for the class in the morning or had to wait forever for a re-schedule, it was crazy. Luckily the afternoon was mostly free of that

I woke up and made a run to Walgreen's to go pick up some random essentials I realized we needed while going about my day like an umbrella, scissors and duct tape (yeah, weird, I know). After that, I took my time getting ready in our business casual and soon the roommates and I were out the door at about 1:10pm to catch the special Traditions bus they have for us on this special day.



On the way in, we spotted all the Tron construction going on outside Tomorrowland:

Click to watch!


The Traditions bus drops us off in front of Disney University where all pre on-the-job training takes place. There were a ton of busses already there and a line of CPs was moving slowly towards the entrance. There was definitely a big group of us today and even with a big group we were still all piled into the small cafeteria at DU. I've never seen it that packed before. Normally everyone can sit in there but no, my roommates and I ended up squished on the walls until seats opened up after they started calling people. We found Kat, Dal, Sonnet, Trinity and a few others while waiting. Eventually, my group was called and I ended up being in the same group as Kat and Sonnet, which was PERFECT honestly and even more perfect that we ended up in the same room.

It was originally just the three of us but we befriended a Specialty Beverage CP named Jenna who was gonna be working at Fountain View in Epcot (Starbucks). We were also eventually joined by another alum whose name I cannot remember but she was super nice and we bonded over both working in Magic Kingdom on our previous programs.

*SPOILER ALERT*
While waiting for class to start, people's names can pop up on the screens that are placed around the classroom to assist during the class. Here is one of the times my name came up.

Click to watch!


Eventually, it was time for the class to finally begin!



I'm not gonna bore you too too much with specifics of things but as I mentioned before, it's a class that basically gives you the basics of what it means to work for Disney, what the legacy you are following in and such. There's Disney history, references, etc. For some people who clearly aren't that big of Disney fans, it's brainwashing but for others, it is just pure fun. It also is run by fellow Disney Cast Members in varying positions in the company. I've had leaders facilitate my class before as well as regular front line cast members like myself. This time I had two Entertainment cast members, Chris and Ben. Both had previously been performers and now Chris was a stage manager at Hollywood Studios (where I would end up and am now currently working) while Ben is a Photopass leader. They were so much fun, it really made all those re-initiation things that I'd been through before feel fresh and exciting. First one being *SPOILER ALERT* getting your first pair of ears that you are beginning to earn (hence those "Earning Your Ears" tags you get while in training).

As you could imagine, this has resulted in me having quite the ear hat collection...



There's also the BIGGEST surprise of them all *SPOILER ALERT* which has a story to go along with it.

At one point in the class after learning about the Four Keys, the basic outline of how to act like a Disney Cast Member which consists of the Safety Key, the Courtesy Key, the Show Key and the Efficiency Key. Then, one of the facilitators ask if we want to go out and see the keys in action and we end up going into the Magic Kingdom THROUGH THE UTILIDORS, which funnily enough was something that I didn't get to do on my first Traditions.

Yup, that didn't happen for me back in 2016. Nope.

We were rained out back in Fall 2016 Traditions class and so we ended up having to do that portion in the classroom on a computer screen. It always made me sad knowing I never got to do that and it was still a thing that was done. Lucky for me, as a returning cast member, I got a chance at a re-do and omg it was lovely.

My friend, Kat, was the only person in our group who had NEVER been to Magic Kingdom. Everyone else had at least been once in their life, except Kat. She had been to the magic kingdom of Disneyland but not the FL Magic Kingdom. She was a bit upset at first about it, but when we came up backstage on Main Street and caught that first glimpse of the castle... she forgot about it and was an emotional mess. It was the cutest thing. She was so embarrassed, but Ben, the facilitator leading our group, and all of us were just living for it and crying. A moment that brought myself and I'm sure everyone else back to why we decided to drop our lives and move here to work.

We then got to walk through the hub to Fantasyland and up to Storybook Circus where we got to do our little Four Keys scavenger hunt. I should mention again that while it was Kat's first time ever, it was my first time in nearly 3 years when I worked here very often. Storybook Circus was actually my favorite place to work at Magic Kingdom so I was really in my element. It made it even more difficult not to be a MK CM know-it-all type. I could tell even at moments Ben was not having the way I posed comments, but UGH I WAS HOME LET ME LIVE!

The fun did not stop there, even with spending the rest of our time in the classroom. It's all very interactive and Disney of course. If you couldn't already tell, we still hadn't gotten our nametags and blue IDs. Minor panic attack on those since they jumped around the alphabet a bit with blue IDs but we got them. Nametags *SPOILER ALERT*, we get from the boss man who was super energized and peppy and gave hugs to lots of people. It was great. Overall, possibly the best Traditions class I've had of the three. It was a really fun group that kept the four hours from dragging on and everyone seemed equally invested. Our facilitators were fantastic. Chris even mentioned how he proposed to his husband on a Disney Cruise Line ship since that's where they met and that made my heart sore, especially during Pride month. At the end, they also said if they saw any of us, to tap our wrists to remind each other of the time spent together. Adorable. Ugh, just a perfect day so far.

It wasn't over yet though. After the class ended and we clocked out, we were walked to the front desk at DU where they gave us our complimentary tickets for the night and gave us instructions on how to use our blue ID to get into the parks before our main gate (self-admission) comes in.

Our group was the first to get out of that massive group in the cafeteria so we all decided to take the time to get some classic Traditions photos in front of DU. I never did this before but with all my friends in the class I thought WHY NOT. Also, Sonnet is a fabulous photographer as I've mentioned before.









It was windy and we were sure it was gonna downpour. I did have my umbrella but... you know how Florida afternoon storms are so I didn't want to chance it. We all rushed to get our photos then all ran to the busses to book it out. My original plans for the night were to go to DAK but I knew I was not gonna have time for that so I decided I'd go to MK. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea so I said I'd text once I was there. I also was texting my friend Jess that pulled out of her program to pursue other interests, but was visiting so I might end up seeing her.

The pixie dust and magical energy of the day was pulsating everywhere.

Again, it was only just the beginning.

Continue Here ​

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like such an awesome time at Traditions! Love the pics afterwards!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Looks like such a fun event!! Great pics with the characters!

It was! Thank you!

What a fun party! So glad you got to meet Marie and the rats! Can't wait to hear more!

So much fun! And so much more fun to come!

OMG SIS!!!!!!!!!!! THESE PHOTOS!!!!!!! THIS LIT HOUSING EVENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm SHRIEKING at the sheer amount of fun you had... you really bring the party with you everywhere you go. Iconic.

I do what I can, but omg it was the best. Definitely a welcome event I will not soon forget.

Sounds like such an awesome time at Traditions! Love the pics afterwards!

It was! I was really shocked by how much I enjoyed it on a third round. And thank you! They were a bit kooky but I love how they came out anyways.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Yay for Traditions!!!!

 

[TNGirlwCamera]

Sounds like a great beginning! I'm excited to read about your adventure!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Wow Traditions sounds so amazing! I love how everyone just owned their emotions, and the special touches from the leaders were so sweet! TAP THOSE WRISTS!

Also, another gold star to Sonnet for her stellar photography skills.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Sounds like a fun experience!!!

The utilidors are definitely interesting. I’ve been down there a couple times.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Sounds like a great beginning! I'm excited to read about your adventure!

It was and it just gets better! Glad to have you along!

Wow Traditions sounds so amazing! I love how everyone just owned their emotions, and the special touches from the leaders were so sweet! TAP THOSE WRISTS!

Also, another gold star to Sonnet for her stellar photography skills.

It was the Traditions I always heard about but never really experienced. I will never forget that day.

Omg Sonnet is such a photo queen. We stan.

Sounds like a fun experience!!!

The utilidors are definitely interesting. I’ve been down there a couple times.

It was! Traditions is a good time. And yeah they are. Definitely a place I think of differently than the general public for the most part.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Ooh glad traditions went well and yay on getting your name badge!

 

[Newsies]

ALL THE FEEEEEEEEELS.

I'm glad you finally got the MK Traditions you fully deserve!!!

Sounds like the most magical day ever with adorable DU pictures to boot. I can't wait to hear about this MK evening of yours!!!

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

Sounds like you had the most magical Traditions Day!! It's so fun that it was such a different experience, even though it was the third time you'd been through it!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Ooh glad traditions went well and yay on getting your name badge!

It was a really good day. Love having my famed name badge again

ALL THE FEEEEEEEEELS.

I'm glad you finally got the MK Traditions you fully deserve!!!

Sounds like the most magical day ever with adorable DU pictures to boot. I can't wait to hear about this MK evening of yours!!!

I KNOW RIGHT! Ugh, it was so great. If only you were there to make it perfect. And thank you on the "adorable DU pics" comment. Will have updates about my evening at MK soon.

Sounds like you had the most magical Traditions Day!! It's so fun that it was such a different experience, even though it was the third time you'd been through it!

It was! I think part of what makes it still magical every time you do it is the different personalities of your facilitators. They really personalize it well and then it is also updated to fit the state of the company so it's always a cool day. This one definitely stands out amongst the three I've done though.

 

[Tink2Day]

So happy you finally got the 'Traditions' of your dreams.
Can't wait for more. The grands showed me your uniforms on Insta and Twitter. So cute!!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

So happy you finally got the 'Traditions' of your dreams.
Can't wait for more. The grands showed me your uniforms on Insta and Twitter. So cute!!

It was so perfect. Such a blessed program so far. And omg ALL THE COSTUMES. By the end of this coming week, I will have worn a total of seven different costumes. Truly a merchandise life for me!