WDW college program experiences

[js3901]

Maybe we can switch the topic of this post to College Program Stories or something. I hope this board is still up when I attend in the Fall of 2007

Ask and ye shall receive.

[FlatlandMounty]

why switch this post? Why don't you start a new post? This post is already 17 pages long. Perhaps a fresh start for a new topic is best.

[rudekick]

This post is way too long for me to get up to speed, but my brother did the CP last year and I could help share info and stories from his experience. If there are multiple specific posts rather than on ginormous one it might be helpful

[js3901]

why switch this post? Why don't you start a new post? This post is already 17 pages long. Perhaps a fresh start for a new topic is best.

We really don't need more than one thread per topic. If Sub thinks it's ok to start a second thread, then we'll do it. But for now, just the one.

[Lion Sleeps Tonight]

Aww, thanks for totally invading my thread. Dude, it was only going to last for another month, then someone could start another one. I mean, not to sound posessive or rude, but this was my thread to post my experiences and not other people's. They could chime in if they so wished, but yeah.. four months, people.

What's wrong with having two threads? We can have a general topic for college programs. Just leave mine alone! Well whatever the mods want.

Anyways today was my first day back to work. Everyone is tired and totally burned out because of Spring Break. A co-worker is going to work 11 days straight, and another one will work for 12 days. That is so crazy. All of us CPs get the closing shifts at the parks with only one day off for this and last week. Even my roommate has to work until 2:45am.

Today I had Front Set restrooms and I prefer that to Backset. Because in Backset, you have to wait until the restaurants close to close the restrooms out. So it's pretty much busy until almost clocking-out time. But for Front Set, you only have to worry about Backlot Express to close and Icon and Shed are pretty empty for the rest of the night because all the shows are over. So no radio, and a cool co-worker to work with made my day pretty cool.

Btw, our Icon Showkeepers have gone 90+ days without an on-the-job accident. So far we got free pizza, ice cream, and now we have movie tickets. Safety begins with me!

So whenever you get those 6 hr shifts, be sure to enjoy them! Drink a lot of water, and have lots and lots of patience due to stupid guests and lazy co-workers.

[rudekick]

Hey Lion,

Sorry, but I don't have the time to read the whole thread. I see you are doing custodial at MGM though. My brother had a friend who worked that and liked it. How are you likeing it? My brother lucked out big time. He worked the front desk at the Contemporary, with a "deployment" to the Grand Floridian for a couple weeks. He loved it and is a Trainer at the Disneyland Hotel now, and he plans on doing the Advanced Internship in a year or two. Do you have any plans on staying with the company, or is this just a fun college thing?

[packwingfn]

Aww, thanks for totally invading my thread. Dude, it was only going to last for another month, then someone could start another one. I mean, not to sound posessive or rude, but this was my thread to post my experiences and not other people's. They could chime in if they so wished, but yeah.. four months, people.

What's wrong with having two threads? We can have a general topic for college programs. Just leave mine alone! Well whatever the mods want.

Sorry man, I did NOT want to start any trouble. Please forgive me, I just thought it would be easier. My opinion is that I like to have one thread for the same thing than have multiple threads that involve the same questions being asked over and over again. It's just not organized.

I did not mean to offend you, It was just an idea.

Maybe we should make this thread a Sticky or whatever it's called so it always stays at the top of the board.

Anyways, Lori Martin called me today, We have scheduled a meeting for Next Tuesday the 25th. I will let you know how that goes in a week.

[Lion Sleeps Tonight]

I think it just got all jumbled up, but it's cool. I understand that a lot of people have questions and are curious about the college program. No worries, Packwingfn.

I realize that I've been just using this thread as a personal journal, and a public forum was probably not the best place to do it.

Good to see Lori Martin taking your request seriously. I hope all goes well with your meeting. I'm interested to find out what she has to offer or say to you about the Internship.

Rudekick- Well I am preparing myself to leave, and it's a little sad. Doing custodial is so easy when you do it right. At the beginning it seemed very overwhelming because I didn't know the park and didn't know certain locations and how to do..pretty much everything. But with time, it got easier. Ya just gotta find your own way of doing things that work out for you.

Sounds like your brother did luck out, and good luck to him in the future. My roommate works at the front desk for Polynesian and has just started the "deployment" thing so yeah my roommates been working at Pop Century and the All Star resorts so far. Very different kind of service amenities and guests from Polynesian.

I have really no desire to stay for the summer. For me, the CP was just for fun. I love Disney, and I needed a break from school. Maybe in the future I might do the advance internship. But I knew coming in that I was only going to do the Spring program and nothing else. I'm preparing to leave, and that's that. It was a fun time in my life, but yeah I'm ready to move on, but there's an open road ahead and I wouldn't mind some kind of career at Disney(just not custodial).

Okay, today I cleaned waaaay too many ice cream spills. Dinosaur Gerties Ice Cream of Extinction or whatever place was supposed to close at 5, but it was opened until 7pm. And for some reason today, no one could keep their ice cream in their cones or cups. Is it that hard? Everytime Epic ended, huge amounts of guests would rush to the dinosaur for an ice cream. Well those things do get pretty high and they melt fast, especially in the hot hot heat.

Oh, and if you see a custodial at a garbage can doing something- don't be a punk and walk over and put trash in the can. Chances are, the custodial is going to add bags to it. And there's probably another can at least 10ft away. And don't stuff trash into an already overflowing can. It's gross and those bags are darn heavy.

Speaking of Summer- some new CPs have arrived! We already have one new girl, and she's of course hating it right now. But I'm sure she'll get used to it and find a stride. It's like the circle of life or something like that. I honestly feel that it's "out with the old and in with the new" right now. I remember just starting out and all the Fall/Winter CPs were just about leaving. I know how they feel now.

Well tomorrow is not too too long, and I think I'm in Streets. Night all.

[Esmeralda]

This thread is huge already and it really did become Lion's journal of exciting experiences while in the college program. If anyone else joins the college program they can have their own thread for their personal adventures. It's not a huge deal, but this is Lion's thread, I say change it back.

[packwingfn]

I love the comments about what to expect as a Custodial since I will beone in a year and 1/2. I need to know what to expect lol. What do you use exactly to clean up an ice cream spill? And do you push around a bin to collect all the trash cans?

Expect a few more questions from me before next Tuesday so I can become prepared for my meeting with Lori Martin.

Thanks

[Lion Sleeps Tonight]

It's not really a big deal. But yeah, thanks for understanding, Esmeralda.

Haha, yeah you'll definitely have your own adventures as custodial. For an ice cream spill use towels and APC(all purpose cleaner). There's a spill bucket available in all the zones for convenience. We push the banana boat(the huge gray trash cart) to pull bags in the liners, and to replace. MK is where they push that huge bin thing to replace cans. There is supposed to be 4 bags in every can, no matter what. As a custodial- towels are your best friend.

Well today wasn't too interesting, just felt a bit long. It was really humid, but didn't rain... I worked in zone 3 which includes Star Tours, Muppets and everything around that. So yeah, I see padowans walking around all day long.

This morning a mother comes up to me, and she's clearly upset. She tells me that her daughter walked away from her as they were heading up to Commissary Lane from New York Street. So I'm trying to be calm and ask her where she last saw her, and what she looks like and her name. I didn't have a radio, and was just about to walk over to the Disney Vacation Planning booth to call the Lost Child number. But luckily, some helpful guests found the daughter who was crying. Both mother and daughter were in tears, and I ask if everything is all right. They nod, and we talk for a bit, then I leave.

Nothing like that has ever happened to me, and I was upset about it. Not angry, but just sort of shaken. Because I was trying to imagine what it must be like to be a parent, or just a guardian-losing their charge in the blink of an eye. I mean those crowds are just crazy and families get separated. Just those few minutes must be totally horrifying. I had to walk backstage and sit down for a minute or two, then I went back out there.

So yeah, always carry around your telecast because that little pocket book can make a total difference. All the numbers you need to know, show times, character greeting times, all theme park, water park and downtown disney hours are listed. It also lists restaurant hours and tells you where specialty food items are located.

Anyways, I gotta work from 2:30-2am tomorrow. Nite all.

[Cheshire Cat]

I remember I got seperated from my family at Animal Kingdom when I was about nine on the way to the train, so I went to one of the CMs. They had a radio and made sure the train didn't leave until we found my family. I don't remember how I felt though...I think I was mad at them

[Lion Sleeps Tonight]

Yeah, some kids know to go to the cast members, some just stand there and cry...which can help too, I guess.

Yesterday during my lunch break I sat in our cafeteria and was chatting with a security guard. She told me she was walking around by Backlot Express when two little girls about 6-7yrs old came up to her and asked where they could buy hotdogs. The two girls had their money, but weren't accompanied by adults. So the security guard talks to them and walks them back to their parents who are all the way back sitting at the bar near the Studio Catering Company. She tells the parents that children must be accompanied at all times.

When the security guard told me this story, I was just surprised. She mentioned that the family wasn't from the U.S. So perhaps the area the family is from is safer. But not here. Always watch your children and your belongings! Don't leave them in your stroller.

Well yesterday it finally gave us some heavy rain. I mean it drizzled in the morning the other day, and a bit in the afternoon(but I wasn't working). I worked on Sunset Blvd for the third time in zone 1 which is basically all of street until that ice cream cart and the Monument restroom. So all day I was pretty much walking up and down the street looking for popcorn and going crazy.

Around 4:30ish, i had to do a trash run in Theater of the Stars, and right as I crossed the street to enter the theater, the bottom fell out and I got soaked. Water got into my shoes and my socks and pretty much everywhere else. I would have gotten my rain gear, but it was all the way back at Star Tours(where my locker room is). So I basically suck it up and do this trash in heavy rain. Then of course like typical florida weather, it lightens up 10 minutes later and it's hot again.

Then during my break I make it all the way to Star Tours to get my rain gear, and of course the weather remains bright and beautiful for the rest of the day.

So the last time I was at Sunset, the CPs were totally nice to me, and I had a good time there. This time, I hardly talked to anyone. They put me with a whole bunch of full-timers who pretty much do their own thing and just stay in their little cliques while they hide from the managers. There were only two other CPs working last night, but they were up at Fantasmic!

Oh and the closing manager isn't one of my favorites to work with. He seriously needs to lighten up. I mean, at 11:15- there was no one on Sunset, the street is virtually spotless, and he refused to give anyone an ER(early release) for the night. Oh welll, that was a rather mind-numbing night at Sunset. At least I got to listen to Fantasmic! and saw some other cast members whom I haven't seen for a long time.

Today is going to be a long day. I work from 2:30 to 9:30, then from then on I'm going back over to Sunset for a convention until 2am. And guess what kind of convention it is? Oh yeah. Glitter. Pom-poms. Short skirts.Estrogen. Clown Make-up.

<---when I'm done.

[Mr.ToadWildRider]

A cheerleading convention? If they were college cheerleaders I think I'd be very happy I could've worked at WDW for my college co-op but I didn't think it'd really benefit me other than actually being close to the magic for 6 months. Although when you become a CM I'm sure some of the magic fades, atleast it probaby would for me

[packwingfn]

Ok my meeting with Lori Martin is tomorrow(tuesday) at Noon. Any last thoughts from anyone that I should say to Lori about the program to get her convinced about the project.

I plan on explaining to her on WHY i wanna do it ------ Take a semester off from school and leave home for 6 months for the experience

How it could relate to school-----I wont be taking any classes but see if there is a way I can get at least some elective credits during my time working at disney

What I need to have ready before I leave----leave of absense papers and stuff.

I will probably print out some of the stuff from the program website that I would like to comment on.

Any other comments from here will be appreciated!