Hello!
It's hard to believe that I'm already 2 months into my program. I have had some unbelievable experiences so far and I can't wait to share them! It's been difficult to regularly blog about everything during my DCP as I don't have a computer with me down here (my hard drive crashed literally a week before the program started and I wasn't able to get a new one). So I've been mentally making notes of everything that I've experienced down here so that I could make some big posts when I have the opportunity. This post is definitely going to be a lengthy one, because I'm going to get you all caught up on everything down here in Orlando.. so to begin, let's go all the way back to August...
On the morning of August 11, my mom and I left Long Island and began our road trip down to Orlando, FL. We made a pit stop in DC so that I could load up my car with a few more items from home and then continued south. We made it down to the border of South Carolina where we spent the night. Then, we were up early the next morning so that we could make it to the 2018 Coastal Living Design House in Beaufort, SC (which was one of the main reasons my mother agreed to drive down to Orlando with me.) The house was utterly beautiful, and my mom probably took 6,000 photos of every inch of the house That night we made it to Orlando, where we met my new roommate Sam for dinner at Disney Springs.
Moving In
August 13: MOVE IN DAY!
On the morning of August 13, I made my way over to my new housing complex, The Commons, where I had a 9am move in time. My roommate Sam had an earlier move in time, and chose a room for the two of us with a beautiful bay window on one wall. Our room had 2 beds, 2 dressers, 2 night stand tables, 1 walk in closet, and a bathroom. We spent the morning unpacking, grocery shopping, and decorating what I think turned out to be the most beautiful room of all time.
Roommates
As I may have mentioned, I met all 5 of my roommates online on a DCP Facebook group. We had all filled out personality questionnaires to see if our lifestyles would be compatible living together. Personally, I think I won the roommate jackpot, and I found 5 of the nicest and sweetest girls I have ever met. We all get along incredibly well and have a lot in common, aside from our love of Disney. We had all been chatting for months prior to meeting that first day and were already very familiar with each other. We had all planned on getting roommate gifts for each other when we first met, and were able to exchange gifts that day.
Weeks earlier, we had all decided to do a special dinner that first night of moving in before our friends and family left after helping us move in. So prior to our move in day, I had made reservations at Senior Frogs, a fun Mexican themed restaurant. Everyone spent that first day running errands (I think 5 separate trips to Walmart were made that day) until we all came together and exchanged roommate gifts before dinner. Then we all headed to Senior Frogs for a fun dinner together with our friends and family. My mom was still with us along with Lexsie's mom & boyfriend, Lindsay's boyfriend, and Danielle's mom. After dinner, I took my mom to the Orlando Airport so she could catch her flight back home... and so began my journey at Disney!
First Days
The first few days were a whirlwind and were jam packed with events. Though we had started our program, we hadn't attended any of the orientation events, which is where we officially get our Walt Disney Company IDs and subsequently our Main Entrance passes (which allows us to have free entrance into the Disney parks). Because we didn't have access to the parks yet, but we wanted to go exploring, we went Resort Hopping, which is a fun & popular thing to do in Disney property. The wonderful thing about Disney is that each of the 25 resorts on property are uniquely themed and lots of fun to walk around. So, that first day after moving in, Lindsay, Sam, Amber and I went resort hopping. We visited the Yacht & Beach Club Resorts and the Swan & Dolphin Hotels, all of which are along Disney's Boardwalk.
The following day we wanted to explore some more resorts so Lexsie, Lindsay, Amber and I hopped over to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We ended up arriving at a perfect time in the afternoon because every afternoon around 4-5pm Animal Kingdom Lodge has s'mores for guests around the resort. We each roasted some marshmallows while watching some giraffes and zebras that were roaming around mere feet from us. It was loads of fun and very delicious. We continued our resort hopping adventure by visiting the Polynesian and Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. We all had drinks at the Polynesian and watched the sun set over the Seven Seas Lagoon across from the Magic Kingdom.
One of my favorite lesser known shows at Disney is the Electrical Water Pageant, which occurs every night on the Seven Seas Lagoon and travels around to the various Magic Kingdom Resorts (Polynesian, Contemporary, Fort Wilderness, and Grand Floridian). It is a water parade show of lights that my mother enjoyed during her first visits to Disney in the 70s, and has remained the same since then, so it is always something my family tries to see whenever we are at Disney. The Grand Floridian was beautiful as well and we were even able to sample some products from the spa, which left our hands feeling smooth and moisturized.
August 16 was our last day before official orientation & training began, so naturally we were still trying to explore the grounds and have fun before starting work. That afternoon there was a housing party for all the new College Programers (or CPs). The housing event was Alice in Wonderland themed and we knew there would be characters from the movie at the event, so we all decided to go.
We stayed at the housing event for a few hours. We met the Queen of Hearts & the White Rabbit, had some pizza, and tried some special themed treats from the event. After the event, we all wanted to see the Happily
Ever After fireworks show. So we all ventured to the Contemporary Resort, which has a viewing balcony that overlooks Magic Kingdom and watched the fireworks from there. It's kind of like a right of passage for new Cast Members to go into Magic Kingdom on the night of their orientation class and watch Happily Ever After for the first time as a new Cast Member. Because of this, we didn't want to hear the soundtrack to the fireworks which was synced in to the Contemporary sound system, so we opted to stay inside the resort and watch the fireworks through the giant glass windows. That way we could see some of the fireworks without officially seeing the full show, because we wanted to wait until the night of Traditions.
Traditions
On August 18, I finally got to attend my Traditions class. For those that don't know, Traditions is the official orientation class at Disney University for all new Cast Members, regardless of whether or not they are doing the college program. Essentially, anyone who works for Disney must first take the Traditions class. It's a compilation of learning about the history of the company as well as the future. You learn the values of the company and what it truly means to be a Disney Cast Member. It's an incredibly long and detailed class, but very engaging and entertaining. Everyone else in the class is just as equally excited as you to become a Cast Member and the energy is simply magical. I can't reveal too many specifics as to what goes on in Traditions as it is meant to be a surprise for any new or returning Cast Members, as well as confidential to the Walt Disney Company. But, what I will say is that it is a magical journey where you officially become part of the Walt Disney World family.
I was the last one of my roommates to officially go through Traditions, and they all patiently waited for me to have my class before going to Magic Kingdom to watch the fireworks. That night, me and my 5 roommates all stood with hundreds of other guests and watched Happily Ever After for the first time as brand new Cast Members. It's truly an experience unlike any other and I loved every second of it. A few tears were definitely shed as the surreal-ness of it all hit us. Disney was officially our home and the parks were our playground.
In the days following I began my training. As I mentioned, my official assignment for my program was Epcot Festival Merchandise. Initially I had basic merchandising classes at Disney University with other merchandise Cast Members at various locations on property (such as parks, water parks, and resorts). Since the festival didn't start until August 22, I had a full week and a half before the festival would even begin. Because of this, I was trained at a different location: World of Disney at Disney Springs. For those that don't know, World of Disney is the largest Disney store in the world and was in the process of being redone. So, I was gradually trained on the register and learned various ways to interact and entertain guests during their experiences at the store. I was given a pin lanyard for pin trading, which is a very popular activity on Disney property where Cast Members and guests alike have a variety of pins and they are able to exchange and trade pins as they please. I trained at World of Disney for about 3 days before my official deployment to the festivals team. Then I had an entirely new set of training with Epcot where I became familiar with the park as well as all the Food & Wine related merchandise we would be selling throughout the festival. The festival would be 75 days running from August 22 - November 12, and I would be a member of the team throughout the duration of the festival. I will be creating another blog post about the Food & Wine Festival itself once the festival is over.
Ultimately, there is a collection of merchandise that is exclusive only to the Food & Wine Festival and Cast Members must be specially trained in order to sell it. The best part about my job is that the festival merchandise is sold in a variety of locations around the park, and I can be assigned to any of those locations. We currently sell festival merchandise at kiosks in Germany, Japan, America, Canada and the Festival Center at Epcot, so I have had the opportunity to work in all of these locations, which has been extremely fun. I get to work the register, assist with wine tastings, help guests find products, assist with special events and bottle signings, and best of all: help create magic for guests.
I hope this was informative and a bit of an insight as to what I do every day at Disney. As with any job, there are good days and bad days, but the most important thing that I try to remember is that I have been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to help create magic for others everyday and I am truly blessed to be able to do that. More to come soon!
Stay magical & stay tuned...
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