A Pirates Life for Me

Ahoy mates! I suppose I should update y’all on my program! 

If you did not already know, I am an attractions hostess at Pirates of the Caribbean. I absolutely love my job. The ride is definitely temperamental which makes my days quite interesting. The cast there are fantastic. I had such a close knit family back in Fantasyland, and made some great friends at the All Stars; so I was doubtful my new cast would be anywhere near as great as my past CP. I am glad to say I was proven wrong in so many ways. 

This CP is already completely different than my last. First off, I have my car! Thank goodness for that is all I can say. No more Transtar! I live in a 4 bedroom at Chatham Square, meaning there are 8 girls in this apartment. It’s definitely an adjustment for sure, but most of the kinks have been worked out which is fantastic. 

The bonds I have created with so many people have already greatly impacted my life. Some Spring Advantage CP’s just recently left. The issue is I wasn’t planning to create strong relationships with people this early and then saying goodbye to them almost immediately. I had to say goodbye to some amazing Cast Member’s and friends which is always the worst part about the College Program. But I know that they will all do great things in the future and am excited to see where their futures lead them. 

I was scheduled for my first ever PAC (Parade Control) shifts during the 3rd and 4th of July. It was definitely interesting, and I am glad that I was scheduled to them; however, I will be completely content living my life without ever doing another PAC shift. I definitely haven’t been getting the hours that I was used to in Fantasyland. I am more often than not scheduled a consistent 35-40 hours. I still haven’t decided if I am thankful for the shorter hours or want the overtime, I like money what can I say!

I will be turning 21 on this program! We already celebrated one of my roommates 21st at Crystal Palace a few weeks ago, and mine is coming up in a little under 2 weeks, exciting stuff. I’m excited to finally be 21 because I can go out to bars and what not with everyone, instead of saying oh no, I can’t I’m not old enough… Acca-awkward. 

I still love the Magic Kingdom with my whole heart. I don’t believe I will ever lose the magic that comes with walking down Main Street and seeing Cinderella Castle ahead of me. It’s weird for me not to be right behind the castle anymore, but I can still see Wishes and the parades pass by which is new and fun! 

Anyways, y’all have a lovely day and make sure you keep your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the boat at all times. We don’t want y’all to have to abandon ship!

Check-in Day

Hey everyone! Today is my 4th day of my second DCP and I wanted to update y’all on whats going on!My check-in date was June 9th and I received an email notifying me to arrive between 8-9 a.m. at Vista Way. I am lucky enough to have my car during this program so I was able to drive over to Vista which was fantastic if I do say so myself. Anyways, when I arrived I could tell that Disney Internships have definitely tried to make the check-in process easier and faster which was fantastic. I started off in a general line where you receive a name tag and your planner guide for the DCP that has all of the answers you have questions to regarding your program, housing, work, etc. Then we separated into two lines by last name; in these lines you received your work location. I will be working at Adventureland/Liberty Square Attractions, yay for Magic Kingdom! I then got in a general line where we were notified where we would be living. Before arriving I found roommates on the DCP Facebook page again. There are 6 of us and we were trying to live in a 3-bedroom at Chatham Square with no triple occupancy. We have been placed in a 4-bedroom at Chatham Square with no triple occupancy instead. Meaning there are 8 girls with 2 to a bedroom. Housing was able to keep the 6 of us together and added to girls to the mix. I have already met all 7 of my roommates and I definitely believed I lucked out with these girls. Following our housing assignments we took pictures for our housing ID’s, mine looks terrible, received apartment keys, and were given our training schedules with a Cast Member explaining to us what to expect from our schedules and what we need to do to ensure everything works out smoothly. The final steps of check-in were confirming your direct deposit for paychecks, filling out an I9 form, listening to a spiel from Internships Education, a CentraCare speech, and finally waiting to go to Casting. Everyone receives a time to attend Casting, my time was at 10:30 which was about 50 minutes later so I just hung around the Vista Way pavilion until the Casting shuttle arrived. Once I arrived at Casting several CP’s and I were ushered into a line where we received a folder with some papers/documents and were asked to verify some information we provided. I also received my lovely name tag because I won’t be attending Traditions — where you usually receive your name tag — because I am still an active Cast Member. After receiving that folder they ordered a background check. I was then led to the next step which is receiving your work training schedule, which consists of your orientation days. Since I was an active CM they had to call someone for my training schedule because it was my entire on the job training schedule instead of the first few days because I had already completed some of that training. After a little bit of seeking they found my schedule which told me my actual attraction I’ll be working. I’m excited to tell y’all that I am going to be a Pirate! I’ll be working at Pirates of the Caribbean which I am completely ecstatic about! It’s definitely on of my favorite rides and I believe it will be awesome to be part of the crew there for the next several months.Anyways, I then met with a trainer and Casting CM to confirm my I9 information and explain to me my schedule. It was pretty quick and easy. My final step was I9 submission/verification; however, mine was already on file so they didn’t have to do anything for me. I finally got back to Vista Way after a little over an hour at casting, and headed straight to Chatham Square. I got all my stuffed moved in, got my parking decal, and grocery shopped! Overall it was definitely a far smoother check-in day than my first program was. I am now living with all of lovely roommates, we headed to DTD last night for a girls night and had fun there! And I will likely start my training tomorrow as long as my drug test results come back in time. And that’s about it for now, y’all have a magical day!

DORMS

It is a DCP update! My second program starts June 9th, which means in 11 days I will be a CP again! I am not nearly as nervous as I was for my last program, which is really nice. I feel far more prepared for the program this time around. And since my College Program is almost here, Disney sent me an email regarding housing!

Disney utilizes a format called DORMS (Disney Onsite Resident Management System) to speed up the check-in process. This is the first time I have used DORMS in its full format. For my first DCP in Spring 2013 everything was done on check-in day, and when I extended my program I had a quick form to fill out in DORMS regarding where I wanted to be placed in regards to my new apartment. However, this time it was far more detailed.

I received my DORMS email on May 27th but didn’t fill it out until today, May 29th, because not all of my roommates had received their emails regarding housing and their housing ID’s. This was important because we all wanted to room together we had to wait until everyone had their roommate ID’s so that Disney and Lincoln Properties will hopefully room us all together.

Anyways, once I logged into DORMS I filled out info regarding whether I was planning on living in Disney housing, if I needed an ADA accessible apartment, if I was bringing a car, and other basic questions. Since I will have my car this program (THANK GOODNESS) I filled out some extra info regarding my vehicle. After that I signed and submitted some housing forms, including: housing rules, alcohol policies, rent prices, and vehicle rules. 

Following the forms I was asked if I was ok with the roommates that had been selected for me. DORMS asks that every roommate group has one roommate link every roommate up together on their form with each persons housing ID’s and then select preferred housing arrangements afterwards. Once one person finishes this DORMS will send every roommate who had been linked to the apartment an email stating they had been connected to these people: [insert roommate names here]. Every participant also has the option of going random in terms of roommates or unlinking themselves from their roommates (this will remove you from your roommates who you had grouped up with). Following my confirmation of my roommates DORMS displayed the preferences our group made in terms of housing. For complexes, in order: 1. Chatham Square, 2. Patterson, 3. The Commons; and for apartments: 1. 3 bedroom, 2. 4 bedroom, 3. 2 bedroom. There are 6 of us at the moment and we are hoping to avoid triple occupancy so cross your fingers for us, and I’ll let y’all know where we are placed!

Anyways thanks for reading guys I’ll update y’all again when the days get closer and my second CP starts!

Fall Advantage Here I Come!

Well, I have some exciting news for y’all! I was accepted for another College Program! I will be participating in the 2014 Fall Advantage program in Attractions. I am so excited to be placed in this role again and receiving the opportunity to be able to create more magic at the Most Magical Place on Earth! 

Anyways, my arrival date is June 9th, 2014. I am actually officially moving to Florida this Sunday! So I’ll be living in Tampa until my arrival date and then I’ll be staying in Disney once I complete my program. 

Hopefully I can keep y’all updated on my progress with this CP and all the new and exciting things that are happening back at WDW! 

Everything Disney Blog!

Hello everyone! I am hoping to keep you all updated on my future with the Disney company soon! I am excited to announce that I will be officially moving down to Florida March 2nd. I am so excited to begin this new journey in my life.
In other news, I would really appreciate it if y'all would visit my blog that I created with my best friend! It's all things Disney and we hope y'all really love it! Feel free to click here to head on over!
I'll talk to y'all soon, but until then much love.
Kelsey