At 7:30 this morning, my roommate and her dad picked me up from my hotel and we drove to Vista Way for check-in. By the time we got there, the line was already stretching around the building. After waiting in the heat for about two hours, we made it inside. There, we found out where we will be living, got our housing ID, registered vehicles, found out where we will be working, filled out I-9 paperwork, and got our itineraries. Going through all that took another hour or so. But...I'm living in Patterson Court, 3 bed/3 bath, and will be working in the Magic Kingdom at Pinocchio Village! And lucky for me, the costumes there are not entirely tacky like some of the other locations.
After check-in, we had a couple hours to kill before we needed to catch a bus to go to casting, so we took our bags to our apartment and unpacked. (This apartment is so big! I'm digging the walk in closets.) When the time came, we boarded the bus and went on our merry way. The casting building is so cool, and is the only building to feature Alice in Wonderland door handles! There, we filled out more paperwork, found out our schedules for the rest of the week, and got fingerprinted for background checks.
We then went back to our apartment, unpacked some more, then headed over to Wal-Mart with a couple friends to pick up stuff we needed, like food! It was nearly 5pm and I was starving! I strongly advise packing a couple snacks in your bag for check-in. But this hunger was resolved as we all made spaghetti and had a nice, sit-down dinner.
For those of you who are interested, here is my schedule for the week!
Monday: Check-in, Casting
Tuesday: Housing Welcome Meeting
Wednesday: Day off
Thursday: Traditions (orientation)
Friday: Going to the parks!!
Saturday: Training Day 1 @ Disney University
Sunday: Training Day 2 @ Magic Kingdom Tunnel
OK, here are some dumb questions from a dad of a daughter that starts in August. 1) Did you parents go down with you? and 2) When your friend's dad drove you to Vista Way, did he just drop you and go? and 2.1) Is the drop off at Vista Way the last time anyone sees their parents (until they come for a visit)?
ReplyDeleteThose are really good questions, actually! 1) No, my parents did not come down with me, as they live on the west coast. It was a bit far to travel for them! But there were a lot of parents who came with their kids to drop them off. 2) He dropped us off and let us go through the check in process. That took a couple hours. Afterwards, he came back and helped us move into our apartment and took us out for lunch. He left once we had to go to our scheduled casting time around late afternoon. 2.1) Like I mentioned, her dad hung out after check in at Vista Way. Some parents leave after we helping us unpack and move in, but I know other parents who stayed a few days in a Disney resort while they were down there so they could spend some extra time with their kids before leaving. It all depends!
DeleteThanks, Kendra! I have a 13 year old son, too, so taking Jessie down to Orlando is going to be our summer vacation too. The week before, we'll probably hit the Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon and maybe the (real) beach and hold off on the parks until after she gets her Main Gate passes. I figured we'd stay an extra day to make sure that she is settled, but after that, she is going to be too busy to hang with us.
DeleteThat sounds like a fun vacation! I hope you all enjoy yourselves! Just keep in mind that she wont receive her main gate and park passes until 2-3 days after check-in.
DeleteI know. We'll come back to use them, hopefully for either the Halloween or the Christmas celebrations (when the dates aren't blocked out). Was your family able to visit and use the passes?
DeleteThat's good, all of the holiday parties are tons of fun! No, my family wasn't able to visit since I was so far away.
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