WDW college program experiences

packwingfn · Post by **packwingfn** » Aug Tue 14, 2007 6:49 am

Yesterday was an interesting day. So was the 12th I suppose

Just to remind you all, I joined this livejournal community so I have been talking to a lot of people on the internet for quite some time so anytime I mention someone on here for now, It's probably one of them.

My flight took off around 1 then I was on my way to Orlando. Matt (my roomie) picked me up from the airport. It took us a bit to find each other as we met in the mall area that is inside the airport. Right away things seemed to be going fine with us which I liked, I guess talking on the phone/online for so long helps a little bit.

Then I got to see his car now in person. We barely had enough room for both of our suitcases so he dropped them off at the hotel we were staying at (Port Orleans French Quarter. Even then, we barely were able to fit my big suitcase in his trunk but we did it. Then I had to throw my backpack in there as well, my laptop was able to fit in the back somewhere while the duffell bag was placed in front of me. It was the most painful ride but we eventually made it lol.

The livejournal meeting was at 8, it went alright. Everyone was just extremely quiet, while I only felt comfortable talking with certain people due to talking to them more, like Liz & Matt.

Then the 13th began, and instead of taking 2 trips from the hotel to vista. We decided to go crazy and we put his suitcase between the middle of us. It was the most insane ride I've ever been on. I have a picture of me in his car once we arrived at Vista. We got there around 8:30 and they were already starting to check in. We ran into Patrick, Steve, Jena when filling out all the paperwork, then had to wait into a station (which had 8 altogether throughout Vista). When it came to our room situation, I went for the both of us and they actually offered us a choice. I chose Chatham, 2 bedroom (it has 2 bathrooms so YAY). Then we had to sign a lot of other waivers and s*** then made our way to the Disney Look, Background Check, our Disney HUB login and some other ones that weren't that important. Well I guess our housing ID.

After that was all done, we made it back to the room where our new roommates were already inside. Their names are Chase (Atlanta) and Luke (Texas) and they both seem real cool as their both alumni. After unpacking some more, I met Melissa. I showed her my room then we talked for awhile, she showed me around the HUB as well which was helpful. Then we decided to go to Target. She practically helped me shop to find all the cheap stuff, mainly cleaning supplies and things I would NEED as a must. I also bought some snack food and breakfast food for the time being too. So since she helped me so much, I bought her our dinner at A&W lol. mmmm corn dog nuggetts.

We ate back at the apartment then Nicole was texting me to check out Wishes which was at 10. So she picked my ass up, and we went to Polynesian since I dont have my free pass to the parks yet and watched Wishes from the beach, it was awesome and made for an awesome ending to a very long day.

Hypermommy · Post by **Hypermommy** » Aug Tue 14, 2007 7:44 am

Yay!!! I'm in on a college program thread from the start. Sorry Lion and all else... just don't have the time to read pages and pages of messages. So I'll read packwing's and that'll just be a bit at a time. Maybe one day when I get some time I can go back and analyze how everyone's experience is different.

I'm hoping my child wants to do the college program when he gets to school (at least 5 years from now as he's 13). Not only would it get me free tix

but I think it would be a wonderful job for him to learn how things really should be done in the world.

Looking forward to reading this pack.

packwingfn · Post by **packwingfn** » Aug Tue 14, 2007 10:13 am

I got my job location.....

Epcot World Showcase!

Oh there will be plenty of stories to tell i'm sure

SWHorn · Post by **SWHorn** » Aug Tue 14, 2007 11:58 am

Ooh, World Showcase! Awesome! I can't wait to hear more in the future.

I'm glad you finally made it and everything has seemingly gone well for your start.

Hypermommy · Post by **Hypermommy** » Aug Tue 14, 2007 3:48 pm

Oh how cool!!! World Showcase!!!!! What will you be doing? Are you still going to be there in December? I'm hoping to be down then introducing my mom to Disney and we'll be concentrating on WS.

packwingfn · Post by **packwingfn** » Aug Tue 14, 2007 5:31 pm

Mommy I will be there until January so be sure to look for me.

Today I went resort pool hopping, shhh don't tell anyone

Hypermommy · Post by **Hypermommy** » Aug Tue 14, 2007 6:49 pm

So where in WS are you working? Do you know if you'll be doing the same thing all the time or what?

coasterphil · Post by **coasterphil** » Aug Tue 14, 2007 10:08 pm

I'm leaving for Orlando early tomorrow morning. I'm not participating in the CP, but I am going to be studying just a few minutes away at UCF's Rosen campus. Hopefully I'll be over at casting soon to get a PT position.

Erin7886 · Post by **Erin7886** » Aug Thu 16, 2007 1:24 am

I had an AMAZING college program experience! I would do it again if I got the chance! I went during Spring 2007 from January 15th-May 25th.

I was a safari driver at the Animal Kingdom! I loved it, and I loved all the wonderful people that I met there. I also loved the fact that Safaris never really stayed open past 7pm, which meant going to the parks with friends every night!!!

Hypermommy · Post by **Hypermommy** » Aug Thu 16, 2007 4:43 am

Good luck, coaster!!!!

So with this college program... is it an internship (i.e., not paid) or do you get paid? How does one apply to be a part of the college program? i'm presuming (hoping) it'll still be there when my kids go to college. I think working at Disney would be a marvelous experience for them. I know their first jobs will be McDonald's and such, but I would love them to work for Disney for a while so they can learn -- before they get a "real" job -- how things are supposed to be done... how customer service matters in absolutely every walk of life and how to do it right.

karenj2 · Post by **karenj2** » Aug Thu 16, 2007 8:46 am

packwingfn wrote:Mommy I will be there until January so be sure to look for me.

So where are you going to be working? And what? I'll be coming down Aug 25-Sept. 1, and we're planning on being in Epcot on Monday the 26th!

Even if I miss you, have a great time working down there... I wanted to do the college program when I was in school, but I got the flu the day they were in our area for Casting Calls, so I missed out.

Post by **acp** » Aug Thu 16, 2007 9:47 am

Hypermommy wrote:Good luck, coaster!!!!

So with this college program... is it an internship (i.e., not paid) or do you get paid? How does one apply to be a part of the college program? i'm presuming (hoping) it'll still be there when my kids go to college. I think working at Disney would be a marvelous experience for them. I know their first jobs will be McDonald's and such, but I would love them to work for Disney for a while so they can learn -- before they get a "real" job -- how things are supposed to be done... how customer service matters in absolutely every walk of life and how to do it right.

You do get paid, not much, but you do. You can find out more here:

Programs at WDW: http://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com/
Programs at DLR: http://www.dlrcollegeprogram.com/
General WDW career info: http://www.wdwcareers.com/
And for completeness, International Programs: http://www.disneyinternationalprograms.com/

Andy.

Hypermommy · Post by **Hypermommy** » Aug Thu 16, 2007 12:30 pm

Too cool! I'll definitely have to keep that info in mind whenever my kids get a bit older. Too bad I couldn't see the epresentation right now. I was hoping it was some kind of video. I'm just starved for Disney videos. Think I'll head over to YouTube. Thanks again!

Post by **acp** » Aug Thu 16, 2007 12:41 pm

You can see it somewhere.. I saw a link for it the other day..

Here we are.

http://wdwcollegeinternationalepresentations.com/

That's looks to be the same presentation I saw when I went for an interview with them earlier in the year.

Andy.

packwingfn · Post by **packwingfn** » Aug Thu 16, 2007 11:47 pm

Yesterday was traditions. It's where you learn the history of Disney and what makes Disney....Disney. It was 4 hours long and real good but at the same time, I knew everything that they told me. They played some trivia games, one was to name any disney animated character in 1 minute. Our table got 28 characters, 2nd place. There was some other ones that I got right, I felt like such a dork.

After Traditions, I came back to the room to change to my street clothes so I could hit the park for the first time as a cast member. I went with my friend Melissa who works at Test Track. She showed me all of backstage EPCOT which was pretty neat to learn it all from her. We came out by the Odyssey since I wanted to experience World Showcase one last time before I start work on On the Job Training on Sunday. We went and saw British Invasion before catching Off Kilter (my favorite band, i have all their cds!). Then I went on Grand Fiesta Tour for the first time, It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I guess I'm just disappointed that it's all videos, what about a Donald Animatronic?

Then Illuminations was delayed for 30 minutes

but it made up for it as It is the best night time show of all the parks. During the song, I put my arm around Matt and Melissa and swayed to the song lol.

(I'm a day late as this is what happened Wednesday) Today I had my Custodial Core Class, I'll talk more about that later!