Post Disney Depression

It's No Joke

     It's real, it's no myth, everyone leaving Disney will feel it, experience it and loathe it. We just spent 4-6 months living in a literal fantasyland. Minimal responsibilities, a livable wage for the DCP lifestyle and free access to a place where people spend thousands of dollars, travel thousands of miles, make major sacrifices just to visit. We all just lived the dream and took advantage of every second of it, and then it's all gone in the blink of an eye. It didn't fully hit me that it was all over until I pulled into my driveway and saw my house and had to unpack and realized I'm back in reality. Starting a full time job, moving to a new state again, building my own life and starting to take on real responsibilities. In relation to the DCP it sucks...bad. I have never had more fun, made better friends or been a happier human being than I was doing my DCP and now I'm on my own, all my friends back to their native states or extending their programs. The negatives of this time in our lives will greatly outweigh the positives, at least they did for me, but we all will find ways to combat that.

     Personally, I will never be shameful of where I came from and how much I love it, cherish it and value it. I go to my job everyday with a Mickey Mouse backpack with my Port Orleans Riverside key chain, my car keys have a Mickey Mouse key chain on them,  I will wear Disney World shirts to work and wear my Animal Kingdom hoody whenever the weather is right. I drink my coffee and eat my breakfast out of Disney mugs, I have a Simba sticker on my water bottle at work and my phone will forever have a wallpaper of my DCP family. I keep the photos from my DCP on my phone and reminisce when I've had a bad day at work on the train ride home. Call what I do what you want, but Disney asked so little of me and gave me so much in return I refuse to let anyone tell me I'm childish, immature or irrational. My co workers don't need to understand it, my family doesn't need to understand it, the people who understand are the ones I spent 4 months with...working, living and playing...forging the most real, legitimate friendships I have ever had in my lifetime. The early years of my life never gave me this, college gave me little of this, Disney is where I met real people who I really care about and feel the same way about me. I'd do anything for these people no matter the circumstances, they are more meaningful to me than they will ever know. For as long as I am connected to them through social media and have ways to contact them I will never lose touch, they are irreplaceable friends who saw me for who I was, both at work as a professional and outside of work as a 21 year old child. They ask me to jump, I'll ask how high.

     I think we will all go into our DCP expecting to have a ton of fun, and we do. But I don't think anyone expects the impact and value it will have on our personal lives, from the relationships forged, the life lessons we learn, this is a time to not take for granted. We will all hit rough patches, times where we're down and want to crawl into hole, even in Disney, but those are outnumbered by the moments of euphoric joy experienced during our DCP.

     During those final days, those waning hours of your DCP, spend them with the ones you know you will miss the most and do what everyone will enjoy. For me, this was my Port Fam, we forged a bond that you can't break. As time went on and drew shorter, we became closer and closer until by the final week of our program we wondered why we hadn't been hanging out outside of work the past 4 months, but rather than look back and regret...look forward and plan. Plan to see each other again, plan to do that Disney Vacation together, never lose touch. We all went back to our homes into completely different stages of life, back to college, into the real world, where ever life had us going next. But we never lose sight of where we met and came from.

     After all of this, a rant about my feelings towards my DCP, not a day goes by I don't sit back and smile and remember why I love it all so much. Whether it be from a Snapchat, a Facebook or Insta post, or just looking back at the photos of the good times I had, as sad as it is we are no longer there, I will never be happier I got there and did it all, met the friends I did and made the memories I have. Now I look forward to the next times I'll talk to my DCP family and when we can plan to see each other again and we can all reminisce together on one of the most valuable times of our lives.

     To my Port Fam, my roommates, my neighbors and anyone who I had the pleasure of spending time with during my DCP....you have all had an impact on my life I cannot express, no one is ever forgotten in my memory and I will never take our time spent together for granted.

Breaking the CP Stigma

You're a CP...and everyone knows it

     It's just a fact, at the start of your CP it's gonna be a little uncomfortable going into your new workplace that will most likely be temporary while you are surrounded by people who do it full time. It took me weeks to feel fully comfortable and accepted in my role at Disney. No one was super talkative toward me, my role did not have a ton of other CPs and I felt alone. But it did not last forever and it shouldn't for you either.

     Don't be lazy, prove you are trying and doing your best to learn. At the end of the day that's all anyone wants or cares about, it's when you slack off and show you don't care...then your fellow cast members will never accept you. Also be social with them, no matter their age you share a role at Disney with them. I had cast members my age and ones twice my age and managed to become great friends with all of them.

     The stigma that comes along with being a CP is not permanent. If you work hard and prove your there to learn and enjoy work, they will accept you. Some of the best people I met in Disney were the full time or part time cast members at Port Orleans.

Being a Bell Service Dispatch/Greeter

How y'all doing welcome to Port Orleans!

     And welcome to being a Bell Service Dispatch/Greeter at a Moderate Resort at Disney. This role is genuinely what you make it, you have a fair amount of freedom without management or guests constantly watching your every move. That being said when managers are around, you never get stressed about if your doing it right or not because it's so simple. And when guests enter and exit the property, you simply interact with them as you see fit, just always say hello and have fun!

     For my resort, being a moderate, we had a few different positions you could have for a shift...luggage greeter, lane greeter, dispatch and transfers. Each nearly as easy as the last. During a luggage greeter shift, your primary responsibilities are to greet guests coming off the Disney Magical Express (DME) from the airport or returning from the parks, wish them well as they depart the resort for the airport or head to the parks, answer any questions they have and store their luggage when necessary. Lane greeter is essentially the same, but rather than store luggage you are more responsible for keeping the lane where cars pull in and out clear and making sure no one parks there. Transfer shifts were some of my favorite and you'll realize you are literally "making the magic" for guests. So....when guests change resorts during their stay, they can have us move their bags from resort to resort for them rather than taking them themselves. That's where the transfer shift comes in, you drive the big 'ol transfer van full of luggage to the resorts that guests are moving to. Each day your trip length will vary, I've been done in 30 minutes while other days I'd be gone 5 hours. Once your done with the transfer shift, you'll return to your resort and do a normal luggage greeter shift until your 8 hours are up. 

     Lastly you have dispatch, this is where your job can get stressful but not to the point where you'll break down. You'll be in front of the computer answering phones and putting in work orders for bellmen to deliver bags to rooms. It took nearly a month and a half before I got trained for this part of my role because it requires you to take a class at DU but it's not terrible. The system you'll use is super simple and once you understand it you can do it in your sleep.

     And there you have the Bell Service Dispatch/Greeter role at a moderate resort. If you end up at a Deluxe Resort, basically eliminate the greeter roles. You'll only be doing dispatch, transfers and luggage room, where you stand at the bell service desk and get luggage from the luggage room when guests need it.

     At the end of the day I loved my role and the people I got to work with. I had a ton of fun at work once I got comfortable there and the fellow cast members became some of my best friends!