Flying or Driving to the Disney College Program (How to Get There)

So I've been struggling trying to decide how to get down to Disney World for my program so I thought I'd make a blog post about it.

Last time I flew into the Orlando Airport (MCO), and took a shuttle to the Holiday Inn across from Vista Way, where we used to check in. This time I'm bringing my car, so I have lots of options to consider!!

1. This is Plan A: I will leave my car in Colorado (where I go to school), fly home for Christmas, then fly back to Colorado with Lindsey to pick up my car. We would then drive to Kansas City to stay with my family, then to Louisville, Kentucky to stay with my friends, then finally down to Orlando. We would stay in some cheap  resort then check in in the morning!
2. Same as Plan A, but if the weather is awful (because who wants to drive through Kansas in January), we will head south to Texas, stay in Texas for a night, then stay somewhere near New Orleans for the night, then stay with my friend in Pensacola, Florida for a night (Florida panhandle), then finally down to Orlando with the same plan.
3. Plan C: My family will actually be in Colorado for Christmas, so they would drive my car to Kansas City for me and Lindsey and I would fly into Kansas City to pick up my car (then the rest of Plan A). This is also dependant on weather - this is a possibility because winter has been SO mild in Colorado/Kansas thus far and we don't want to test our luck.
4. Plan D: Pay to have my car shipped down to Florida - this costs somewhere around $800 via semi-truck and I would pick up my car in Orlando after flying to Orlando. Since we wouldn't have a car right away we would probably take the Magical Express to a Disney resort (Pop Century and All Star are both $95/night for 2 people, or Fort Wilderness campground is $56/night for 2). It seems expensive but you have to think in terms of how much gas/food/mileage you're going to save. For me, it costs $80 to fly into Denver, roughly $300 in gas to drive to Orlando, 2,000 miles on my car (that already has 200,000 miles), and probably a good $100 in food. So it depends on whether or not we think it's worth it. 

Those are my options!! If you fly in, you can either book a Disney resort or local hotel/motel. We booked Holiday Inn last time and walked to Vista, but since you now check in at your apartment complex, this could be tougher for those not in Vista (they're not super close, especially if you're walking with luggage). You may need to pay for a shuttle/taxi/uber regardless but just food for thought!! Disney resorts are probably (if I remember correctly) about a 15 minute drive from the apartment complexes, so they are probably further away than other (cheaper) options. 

Hopefully this was helpful for you, or at least informative!

Disney Class Registration

I'M BACK! Only two months until I'm back home <3

So DORMS registration for classes opened up today, and I registered for the Marketing and Sales seminar. If you weren't aware, DORMS is the site that you accept your offer through, sign up for classes, and do housing preferences. Class registration opened up today, November 16, 2016 at 12pm EST. I happened to wake up at like 9:55am MT (11:55am EST), so I got on the site as soon as it hit noon EST. I tried my phone and laptop at the same time because the site kept crashing, but didn't have much luck with either haha. Luckily, everyone was having the same problem so you weren't missing out on much! It took me about 30 minutes to get through the whole thing just because it kept crashing and I would have to refresh and start over. So every couple refreshes you would get one step closer, it was great. Hahaha not really, but I got what I wanted!!

So after you log in, you click on the education portal button. You have to decide if you want to take a seminar (runs 4 weeks with no homework, 2 hours per week), a professional development class (entertainment or engineering majors only, runs 8 weeks), a distance learning (if you're taking an online class from home or something, runs 12 weeks), or a collegiate offering (4 hours per week, 12 weeks with homework). The first part will prompt you if you want to take a collegiate offering, and if you do, whether or not you're getting credit for the class.

The next page is for the exploration series, which runs 4 weeks for 2 hours per week. These are FREE! The seminars included are Disney Heritage (4 different times and days offered), Cast Engagement and HR (2 days and times available), Hospitality & Guest Services (2 days offered), Marketing & Sales (2 days offered), Leadership 101 (2 days offered), Environmentality & Sustainability: Inspiring Action (I don't think there were any days/times offered for Term A but probably Term B?), and Environmentality & Sustainability: Creating a Green Culture (2 days offered). It is currently 2 hours after classes opened, and all Heritage days are full, all Leadership 101, all Environementality & Sustainability, all Hospitality & Guest Service, and 1 Marketing & Sales. So if you're interested in any of those, definitely camp out on the site when it opens!!!

I'm taking Marketing & Sales on Wednesdays at Chatham Square from 9am-11am, February 8-March 1.

The next page is professional development programs, and these are only open to engineering (civil, industrial, mechanical, and general are listed) and entertainment majors (performing arts, theater, and show production are listed). It looks like these run February 6-March 27, and are free.

Next is collegiate courses. These cost from $15-$36 depending on the course. Courses included are Advanced Studies in Hospitality Management, Corporate Analysis, Corporate Communication, Human Resource Management, Creativity & Innovation, and Organizational Leadership. These classes run early February to early May, and are 4 hours per week, 1 day per week, but with homework.

Distance Learning comes next, and includes a time set aside each week for homework and exams for your online class, if you're taking one. You have to have documentation proving enrollment to be able to sign up for these time blocks. It's 4 hours set aside on one day per week (such as 8:30-12:30 on Mondays) for 12 weeks that you can't be scheduled for work on. These are also free.

EDIT: Later that day we got a message saying that all seminars/professional development series were full but the exact some ones would be available on the second half of our program (except Environmentality & Sustainability which switches to the other one).

That's it! Confirmation comes next. I highly recommend signing up for at least a seminar, they are a blast and you learn SO much about the company! I think all my roommates signed up for seminars too - marketing & sales, environmentality & sustainability, and cast engagement & HR.

That's all I got for you!! Next post I'm sure will probably be about housing preferences :) CAN'T WAIT!!!

I FOUND MY ROOMMATES!!! (And How You Can Find Yours)

I've been trying to think about what I can post about right now while waiting but am coming up short of ideas. So who knows, maybe the next blog post will be packing or something! BUT exciting news....I FOUND MY ROOMMATES! Lindsey and I put our roomie YouTube video on our DCP arrival Facebook page and one girl, Jessica, found us through that and had three girls she was already talking to! Our 6th roommate actually emailed me because she found my YouTube video and doesn't have a Facebook!! So we have 6 girls, all 21+, and all basically non-drinkers. We've already decided that we want an (almost) dry apartment with very minimal alcohol and absolutely no parties and coming home sloppy drunk (which is no problem for any of us haha).

So Lindsey and I are from Snohomish, Washington, Mariam is from Essex, Vermont, Jessica is from Georgetown, Indiana, Alyssa is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Alexa is from Naperville, Illinois! We are hoping for a 6 person, 3 bedroom in basically anything but Patterson :) All 6 of us are 10000% with food and may have already made dinner reservations for Ohana...oops. Lindsey and I are both attractions, Alexa is merchandise, Alyssa and Mariam are both QSFB, and Jessica is bell services dispatch/greeter!! So we are very excited, everyone is so down to earth and easy going!!

My advice regarding how to find your own roommates is as follows:

• Be honest about everything on your roommate survey - trust me, you'll appreciate this in the long run!
• If something is very important to you (such as no drinking/smoking, cleaning dishes, no boyfriends/girlfriends over, whatever) make sure you make that clear ahead of time.
• When you post your roommate survey, make it stand out!!! Basically every survey says this: "I'm clean, easy going, and want to adventure in the parks", so make yours different. Try making it a different format, making a video blog instead of written post, including a picture of yourself, etc. 
• Don't be afraid to be picky, and don't settle! If someone seems like an OKAY fit, you might want to reconsider whether or not they should room with you! Even though you're frantic trying to find roommates, you won't appreciate those decisions to settle when you get down to Disney!
• If you really want international roommates, you're more likely to get them by going random! A lot of internationals aren't on the Facebook page, so if you go random you have a better chance of having a more wordly apartment ;)
• Talk to them and get to know them before committing to be roommates.
• If you can't find roommates, it's not the end of the world. Some people have better luck going random then hand picking!! 
• Focus more on finding your room roommate than the entire apartment. As long as you get along with the person you're sharing a room with, you'll have a much easier time!
• It's okay if you're not all best friends, as long as you can live together, you'll have a great program. Your coworkers will likely become some of your closest friends and Disney fam.
• Finally, DON'T STRESS! I promise you'll only all be home at the same time MAYBE like 5 times the entire program. Luckily, you also have plenty of opportunities to avoid the apartment as well if it comes down to it.

That's what I got for you! If you can find roommates through Facebook or another source, great, but if not I promise it will be okay. There are plenty of people on Facebook choosing to go random because it's so much easier and after a while, everyone kind of blends together. Best of luck to everyone waiting to hear back!! Applications are closed, and all decisions will be made by November 18th. ALSO, class registration opens up on Wednesday, November 16th. I think I'm going to sign up for the marketing or HR seminar, leaning toward HR. I can NOT believe it's already November (it's still like 70 degrees here in Colorado?!) but that means....I'LL BE IN DISNEY IN 2.5 MONTHS!