Week 2: Hollywood Studios, Epcot & Training

Hollywood Studios on Monday!

It has been a full 40 hour work week for me, which is why I haven't blogged since Monday, but here is a recap for you all! So in the Pinocchio Village kitchen, there are several different stations that you can be assigned to throughout any given day. My training this week mostly involved learning how to work at each of these stations, which includes making salads, meatball subs, prepping pizzas, cooking pizzas, dish washing, cooking macaroni and sauces, and assembling orders. Each task is pretty simple, but having to learn all the different tasks is the hard part. Tuesday and Wednesday were my first two days of training in the kitchen - the people I work with are super friendly and entertaining, so I am thoroughly enjoying it so far! During training, we also get to try out most of the items on the menu. So far, I am a big fan of the macaroni and cheese and the mango gelato. Yummy!



Ashley and I at Club Cool in Epcot.

Yesterday I had the day off, so a group of us hit up Epcot. I rode Test Track twice, and it was amazing! I think it's my favorite attraction so far. We also went on Soarin' Over California, which was a lot more fun than I initially imagined - it is now in my top three, along side Space Mountain! Afterwards, we headed over to Germany (for those of you who don't know, Epcot is filled with tons of different areas that are based off of certain countries) and had a bite to eat in the Biergarten all-you-can-eat buffet! I had never had German food before, so I was a bit anxious about what I was getting myself into, but it was delicious! There was loads of meat and potatoes, and the desert was fantastic. Not to mention, a traditional German band played music as we ate! Once stuffed to our eating capacities, we headed out to complete Agent P's World Showcase Adventure. Basically, your group gets a cell phone that gives you clues as to where to go to complete certain tasks, all in an effort to save the world. And the entire game is based on Phineas and Ferb. Ideally, you go through each country, but it took us forever just to get through the UK, so we stopped after that and headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. We then squeezed in a late night Walmart run before heading home, which was so much fun in and of itself. I have to say, this was probably the most entertaining night I've had here thus far!


Today was my first non-training shift, which is odd considering I haven't finished my training yet... But it went well! I spent four hours mixing different kinds of cheese for the pizzas, then another three hours washing dishes. Yay (imagine me saying this feebly, with a dash of sarcasm). And right now, I'm ditching a pool party to stay here and blog in my comfy bed, because I am too tired to move even an inch. Tomorrow (Saturday) is day three of training, then I have Sunday and Monday off. Whoo hoo!!

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Day 6-8: Disney University & Training

On Saturday, I had my food and beverage class in Disney University (DU). For those of you who don't know, DU is the building where collegiate classes and seminars take place, as well as lecture-based training classes. My class didn't start until 1pm, so I was able to sleep in, which is always nice! But despite this, I was still struggling to not fall asleep as they showed us video after video about food handling, storage, and safety. After three hours of this, we went into the computer lab to complete a couple more learning modules and register for the Hub. In a nutshell, the Hub is the online information center for Disney Cast Members. Then we all got our shoes for our work locations! Hideous as they are, I am just grateful that Food & Beverage (F&B) doesn't have to pay for them like everyone else. Once we were done, I hopped on a bus, headed to Wal-Mart to pick up some food, then headed home to sleep. However, my roommates were going out to the parks, so I thought I would join them, despite the fact that I had to get up early the next day for training! We hit up Magic Kingdom, rode a few of the attractions (they were less busy since it was about 10pm and everyone was watching the firework show), and then browsed through the shops. Finally, after waiting an hour for the bus, we made it home at about 2am Sunday morning. It's safe to say that I didn't prioritize very well that night.

Yesterday, I woke up at 4:30am in order to get ready and catch my bus at 5:30. Work didn't start until 7:15, but it takes an hour to get to Magic Kingdom, and you never know when a bus is going to be late! After our leaders introduced themselves, we split into groups and got a 3 hour tour of the Magic Kingdom. Once we were nearing the end of the tour, they took us all through the fast pass line to the Haunted Mansion. Sweet! Now I can say that I got paid to go on an attraction! After this, we split up based on work role. I went with the F&B cast members to receive our training schedules, get our costumes, and complete a couple more computer-based training modules. I found out that I will first be trained in the kitchen for a few weeks before being cross-trained to work out front. That's nice because I can pick up a wider range of shifts in other locations and always work indoors in the air conditioning. My costume is super plain (black pants and a white shirt), but it's only for a few weeks! However, I have no idea what I'll be doing in the kitchen. Dishes? Cleaning? Cooking? I mean, we do have pb&j sandwiches on our menu, so that I can do!

Once I got home, I crashed at about 6pm, woke up this morning, and began to blog since I have the day off. I think I'm going to hang out here for awhile and hit up the parks in the late afternoon. Hollywood Studios, perhaps?

Day 3-5: Kitchen Sink, Traditions, & Magic Kingdom

I'm starting to understand how people begin to stop blogging once they enter the DCP. I haven't even started training and I barely have time to blog, but I am determined to make time! We all had the day off on Wednesday, so two of my roommates and I caught the bus to the monorail. From there, we visited each of the Disney resorts that the monorail stops at: Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Contemporary. I loved the Polynesian because I truly felt like I was on a Hawaiian vacation! Not to mention the Lilo and Stitch music that played throughout the hotel! Next up was the Grand Floridian. Right from the start, it was as if I was walking through the doors and onto the Titanic - I truly felt like a million bucks! Finally, we hit up the Contemporary for lunch. The coolest part about this resort is that the monorail drops you off inside the resort!

Thursday was Traditions, which is basically an orientation of the Disney company. We watched some informational videos, got a short tour of the tunnels under Magic Kingdom, and received our nametags. Not to mention the fact that Mickey made a surprise visit to our class - it was amazing! And because this was our official first day of work, we received our cast member IDs that get us into the parks for free! Later that night, we met up with a group of friends and headed to Beaches & Cream in the Beach Club resort to take on the world famous kitchen sink! It was a huge bowl filled with eight scoops of ice cream, all the toppings, and an entire can of whipped cream! We ordered three kitchen sinks between the 18 of us, and finished them all in under 15 minutes! Then we walked around the boardwalk before catching the bus and heading home.

Today, we had the day off again and took advantage of our free admission into the parks! I didn't get to the park until a bit after noon, but I was able to ride the Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Roller coasters are definitely my thing, so Space Mountain is currently my favorite attraction. I was also able to experience the infamous jumbo turkey leg and pineapple dole whip. I wasn't able to finish the turkey leg, but I'm sure the caloric intake was still ridiculous. After I got home and took a nap, we headed over to the Patterson pool to meet up with some friends. Unfortunately, the swimming was cut short as the lightning and thunder started up after about an hour, but we were still able to hang out for another hour before going home.

And tomorrow is my first day of training, so wish me luck!

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Day 2: Housing Welcome Meeting & DTD

Today was very chill, especially compared to check-in. I was scheduled for a housing welcome meeting at 3pm, so of course I slept in, ate breakfast, and then slept some more. My exhaustion from yesterday seems to have carried over, because I am practically falling asleep at my keyboard.

One of my roommates and I had the same meeting session, so we walked down to the Commons, which is the apartments where it was held. Once we waited in line for about ten minutes, they informed us that they were filled to capacity and that we needed to come back at 4:30pm. Naturally, we were a little annoyed, but then they gave us free DCP beach towels, so I suppose it was ok! Also, when we did come back, our meeting only consisted of about 30 college participants (CPs), as opposed to the hundred or so that it usually contains. To be honest, I thought it was going to be really boring because we go over the community codes, and things of that nature, but our speaker was hilarious, so that made it a lot more entertaining!

After this, we hung out at our apartment for a little while before heading to Downtown Disney. It was a lot bigger than I expected, and I had a blast! Although none of us bought anything because we don't start getting our employee discounts until Thursday... We started off the night will my five roommates and I, and by the time we hopped on a bus around midnight to go back to our apartments, the group had grown to about 14 CPs - it was great to get to know more people. And what are the odds that one of them was from the Seattle area as well! Not to mention the fact that two of my roommates are also from Washington, one just graduated from my university, and two attend it's sister school, BYU-Idaho! Just to be clear, that last sentence singles out three of my five roommates - I didn't know how to phrase it to make that obvious, haha!

And I have tomorrow off, which means I get to sleep in! I may blog tomorrow, or just wait until after traditions on Thursday, I'll decide later. But its nearly 3am, so I'm going to go pass out now.

Day One: Check-in & Casting

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

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I Made It To Orlando!!

I made it to Orlando! I'm staying in the Lake Buena Vista Marriott Courtyard, and it's so nice! My room has a flat screen TV, king size bed, balcony that overlooks the pool, and bath tub with jets! I am so excited and can't believe that this is all finally happening. It's just starting to phase me that I'm on the completely opposite side of the country - just typing that sounds so surreal!

After my flight landed, I boarded the shuttle that took me right to my hotel. It was so difficult to carry all my bags from the car to the lobby, despite the fact that it was less than thirty feet away. That's what happens when you have four bags, so here's a shout out to that random guy who carried my bags inside! Once I got settled in and went out to grab some pizza, I went on a walk to see if I could find the Vista Way apartments, which is where check-in is tomorrow morning (or this morning, technically speaking). I'm pretty sure I went to the wrong place, but the humidity was getting to me, so I turned around and headed back to the hotel. And on the subject of humidity, I've never been in anything like this! I feel like I'm practically eating the air, not breathing it! But on the bright side, I saw my very first real-life palm tree!

But seeing as it's nearly two in the morning, and I'm leaving at seven, I should probably get some sleep in my ridiculously gigantic bed! I'm just hoping I have time to blog this week!

Disney Onsite Resident Management System

Well it has been a very stressful week when it comes to my DCP housing situation. First off, my roommate that I originally planned to stay with told me she is no longer doing the program. By this time, DORMS emails were already being sent out, so I was afraid I wouldn't find another roommate in time! I posted on the August 12th arrivals Facebook page, and luckily I had a response. However, when we tried putting each others roommate ID numbers into the corresponding part of the form, it said that it was invalid. I come to find out that we have different departure dates, so we couldn't be roommates. Come to think of it, everyone that I've heard of has a different departure date as me. They all leave January 3rd, and I am January 2nd. Seriously, am I the only one like this?

With only about four hours left to submit the DORMS paperwork, and after a short phone call to the DCP, I had to accept the fact that I could only do random roommate selection. This past year of college, I did this as well, and it worked out great - hopefully I have the same luck! Really, I'm just hoping for someone who doesn't mind that I sleep a lot and that I'm not the tidiest of people when it comes to my bedroom... But I do like doing dishes, so that's a plus!

I requested Vista Way as my first choice, mostly because it is the cheapest and I have low expectations for housing conditions. My college dorms were built in 1953 for crying out loud! Also, I believe I did 2-bedroom as my first preference, 3-bedroom second. It was a pretty simple process other than the whole roommate thing, so I hope check-in goes just as smoothly!

Update - I had emailed Disney about the DORMS situation prior to calling them, but did not expect them to reply in time. Several hours after writing the above blog post, I received a response saying that they would make an exception and link my roommate and I together despite our different departure dates! I'm so excited!

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