Down to Earth (aka Disney)

The journey begins...

Train cars that got to carry our cars.

     So your arrival is going to begin, as far as I’m concerned, about 5 days before your check in day when you receive the email with your arrival time. I received mine on Thursday, August 27^th and my arrival time is 7:30-8:30 AM. Early, yes, but in my opinion, likely well worth it. From everything I have been told, the earlier your arrival time, the faster check-in and casting go and the quicker you have the opportunity to get fully moved into your apartment. So waking up that early is a small price to pay to enjoy the benefits that (should) come along with it.

     Last night I made sure my car was (for the most part) completely packed, minus the carry-on bags I would be taking on the train with me. I tried to be as minimalist as possible but that is because my car is pretty small, so the less stuffed in it the better. I brought a backpack with my laptop, chargers and a few mags to read. With that I have a duffle bag with my changes of clothes for the next two days rather than trying to dig through my car to get to my suitcase…just much easier.

     A few immediate recommendations if you choose the Auto Train, its hot, but bring sweatpants, a hoody and a pillow. The train can be a bit chilly at first, and especially overnight, I was frozen and it was no fun. Also consider bringing a change of comfortable clothes to wear on the train, it will make your trip much less miserable. Lastly, reach out on Facebook to see who else is taking the Auto Train, trust me, you’ll be happy you did.

     From the area of Jersey I am from, it took me about 5 hours to get to the Lorton, VA Auto Train Station with minimal traffic and a few rest stops. Overall pretty painless, I left at 8AM and arrived in VA at 1PM giving me about an hour and change until they began boarding the train that departed at 4:30PM. As I sit on the train typing this, I just wrapped a glorious game of Apples to Apples with 7 other CPs….beauty of this mode of transportation, I can almost guarantee other CPs will be with you because we all want our cars and this is an easy option if you are from the Northeast. 

The next morning....

     Sitting in the station in Sanford feels fantastic right now. If you take the Auto Train and ride coach, sleeping will be horrible, just is what it is. We got here at around 9:30 and they are unloading the cars as I type this so myself and a few other CPs are just sitting, waiting, anticipating the greatest shower of our lives when we get to our respective hotels.
     All in all it wasn't a terrible experience, sleeping was tough but when you connect with other CPs you are no longer alone and the trip is much more enjoyable. I'm now less than 24 hours away from check-in and it is still surreal!

30 days out....10 days out....

And we're less than 2 weeks away...

     By now you have your packing list finalized, done everything you can to find roommates, signed up for classes and then you got another e-mail about your New Hire Paperwork and everything just becomes more and more real. Now the New Hire Paperwork may be a bit underwhelming when you go to complete it, but it makes you realize that your arrival date will be here before you know it and you are officially going to be working for Disney.

     The paperwork is pretty generic, asking for all your general info, sign off on a bunch of policies and other things and include information for direct deposit. Shouldn't take you more than about 20 to 30 minutes to fully complete. But, don't be a rebel and try to be cool and complete the paperwork on a browser other than one that they recommend. I use Google Chrome and thought I was a hot shot doing it on here but could not sign any of the policies. So use Internet Explorer of Firefox or whatever Disney tells you to, otherwise it will not work.

     Disney tells you that you will receive the e-mail about housing 10 days out....THEY LIE. You will get it two weeks before your arrival date and you have to complete it (as well as the New Hire Paperwork) by the date 10 days before your arrival date. So for me, I arrive August 31st, my housing e-mail came in on August 17th, and the housing paperwork and my New Hire Paperwork is due August 20th.

     So the housing paperwork can be a little more exciting because you and your roommates will finally be able to link with each other officially and place your preferences for where you would like to live. The first few pages are just general information and information for your car if you are bringing one. Following this, you will come to a page to link with your potential roommates (keep in mind these are preferences and Disney does not guarantee you will be with them). Now as much as I'd love to give every detail on how to link with your roommates, my roommates and I are still having issues figuring it out as I write this, so I will go into more detail at a later date when we have all the details. The most I can say for now is you can only link with 2 other people, a pain in the butt I know, but it is what it is.

     Once you link with your roommates, you are given the chance to put your preferences in order of most desired to least desired. And much to my surprise, you reorder all 16 housing options across all 4 apartment complexes. So you and your roommates may want to figure this out before you complete the paperwork so you can go through it without any major speed bumps.

     So my arrival date is rapidly approaching, I leave in a little over a week and I'm getting PUMPED, can't wait to start my journey through the Disney College Program!

It's Not About the Money, Money, Money

Seriously though, the DCP isn't about the money

    In reality, its about the experience and although I am still yet to participate in it, I am taking my classmates word for it as well as my own thoughts on what to expect. We are the bottom of the barrel, usually working the most hours and getting paid the lowest wage, so our earnings are not going to be great to begin with. Next, we factor in the weekly rent that will be withdrawn which, although small in comparison to most, is still a significant amount of money to lose on a weekly basis. Then there is necessity number two, FOOD. We all need it and we are all gonna be buying it, more often than not from restaurants or somewhere in the park rather than cooking. Even as someone who cooked as many meals as possible for myself during my time at college, I want to spend as much time outside my apartment as possible during my DCP so I see myself eating out a significant amount, which I've come to accept. Lastly, its Disney, we're Disney fans and we will be surrounded by Disney merch...we are going to end up buying some if not a ton of it!

    The most proactive action we can take leading up to the DCP is to work and save that money so we are able to support ourselves financially throughout our program. As of now, I just completed a ten week internship and saved as much money from that as possible, as well as the money I saved working during this past school year, so I'm thankful to a have a fair amount saved up. The last thing I want restricting my ability to have a good time in Disney is money, and I am doing everything I can to thwart that.

    And let's be honest, everyone keeps telling us how AMAZING Disney looks on a resume. I have heard it from everyone...from classmates to co workers, everyone raves about how great Disney will look on my resume for future job applications. So in my mind, making money is just a perk on top of being able to learn from the greatest hospitality company on the planet. Having the opportunity to make a guest's day magical is all the incentive I needed to want to participate.