D-Fam

D-Fam

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

My Disney College Program in Review (Full Year/Alumni/Attractions)

I've been meaning to make a wrap-up post about my DCP experience, but somehow have not found myself inspired to dedicate the time until today as I sit on a 3.5-hour train ride from Seattle to Portland. This post is mostly meant as an overview of my Disney College Program, but with my style of blogging, you never know where this post may go as I never plan these things out and like to wing it.

Starting from the beginning, I first completed a Disney College Program in Quick-Service Food & Beverage at Studio Catering Co. in Hollywood Studios (R.I.P.) in the fall of 2014. Honestly, from the moment that college program ended (you can read all about my first program in earlier posts in this blog!) I knew that I wanted to come back after I graduated for another program. I should probably dedicate another post entirely to the first program vs alumni program, but will touch a little bit on that here and there. This program going into application season I was pretty confident that I would get in as I had a clean record from my first program and had much more work and interviewing experience. I went into my interview wanting either Vacation Planner, Attractions, or Convention Guide, but knew Attractions was the easiest to get due to volume of applicants accepted into each of these roles. I did end up getting Attractions and was super pumped (I had also requested Journey of the Little Mermaid in Magic Kingdom). I also ended up hand-picking my roommates via Facebook and YouTube and LOVED THEM. I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, but that's the basic background for my 2017 College Program. If you are interested in anything I have to say in this post and want a more in-depth commentary, there's a 99% chance that I covered it in an earlier post.

So let's fast forward to moving day. I went into my program knowing that I was going to live in a 3-bedroom, 6-person apartment with the roommates I had requested (one of which was a roommate from my first program) in Vista Way, and I knew I was working Attractions in Magic Kingdom in Fantasyland East. Fantasyland East includes Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Journey of the Little Mermaid, Storybook Circus (Dumbo and the Barnstormer), and Enchanted Tales with Belle. We had a bit of a rough start to my program as my roommate and I got in a car accident that totaled my car the day before check-in, then I found out that I had been assigned Storybook Circus and not Mermaid like I had thought and requested, and finally my room roommate (the friend from my first program) ended up self-terming due to health problems. After those crazy first weeks however, everything turned around and I honestly had the BEST time. My four remaining roommates could not have been better, and I'm actually going to one of their weddings coming up in September where at least two of my other roommates will also attend! I also got my bedroom to myself for the better part of three months. I'm going to start throwing some photos in here so it doesn't just end up being a giant blob of text...see my adorable roommates down below!! Left to right: Brooklyn (Hollywood Studios Custodial from Utah), Mariam (Epcot Sunshine Seasons QSFB from Vermont), Alyssa (Magic Kingdom Outdoor Vending AKA ODV QSFB from Pennsylvania), Alexa (Disney Springs Tren-D/Pins/Co-Op Merchandise from Illinois), and me (Magic Kingdom Storybook Circus Attractions from Washington State).


The first few weeks of training were both exciting and overwhelming. I had worked for Disney before, so I had a good idea of what to expect in terms of company expectations and crowds and stuff, but the attractions piece and working in such a big/busy park was new to me. Attractions requires a LOT of hands-on training whereas with QSFB we had a lot of computer training AND hands-on. Attractions, especially the first few days, really felt like we were just thrown into it. Probably the scariest part was learning about the different safety things and types of stops and when to use those stops. For example if a child stands up in his seat, the type of stop you would use would just stop the vehicle in question and you could send them on their way once the child sat down. If a guest jumped the fence to get his hat because GOD FORBID he lose his favorite $10 hat and have to wait until the end of the day for us to retrieve it, then the type of stop you would use would shut the entire ride down because it's safety critical; the guest could get hit by a moving vehicle. When this happens you have to shut the whole ride down, dump the queue line, call coordinators/maintenance and wait for them, then restart the whole ride which can sometimes take as long as a few hours depending on the attraction. So when that happened it was a pain in the butt. And now you know that many times if a ride is "temporarily down" or out-of-service, it's because a guest did something stupid and the ride had to be shut down for their safety. Other times the ride will shut down due to maintenance or weather, but many times it's a guest. Ok moving on from attractions because I just went off on a mini rant.

It took a few months for me to truly get comfortable with my rides, but once I did I was glad I got Storybook Circus. It was busy enough that time went by fast, but slow enough that I wasn't super overwhelmed all the time. In the peak seasons we did have some crazy wait times and cranky guests, but even in those peak times our wait would drop at night and in the morning for a bit of a reprieve. I also absolutely LOVED my coworkers and became super close with them. On my first program I had a harder time connecting with my coworkers, and I think that's because in my QSFB location there were many more middle-aged and retired folks who had families, and while they were lovely to work with, we never really hung out outside of work or anything. In my Attractions role and location there were more CPs than my QSFB location, and our part and full-timers were closer to my age and wanted to hangout. I found a great balance between hanging out with my roomies and hanging out with my coworkers, and here I am months after my program ended still talking to some of my old coworkers literally every day. People honestly can make or break your program and my people I found MADE my program. I also met some really awesome people in Traditions that I stayed friends with!! My friend Corey (below) who worked in Animal Kingdom at Kilimanjaro Safari is moving to New York and I actually have plans to go visit him this fall!


So spring kind of comes and goes and I ended up applying and being accepted for a summer extension in the same role and same location (I requested a new location because I love change but got the same and that's ok) and a ton of my CP coworkers did the same which was GREAT. Summer was super fun because like we almost died everyday due to humidity and heat, but it also wasn't as busy as we anticipated and we got to shut down for like an hour everyday due to thunderstorms! I also started getting outside of my comfort zone and Disney bubble and started exploring more of Florida which I HIGHLY recommend. I went to some springs with friends (those would be most of the mermaid pics, the waters were crystal clear!), spent a "weekend" in the Florida keys with two of my wonderful coworkers, checked out the Disney water parks for the first time ever, went to a few different beaches, did the Wild Africa Trek (COOLEST THING EVER), and did some smaller trips like going to the mall or checking out some local restaurants. I'll insert some of those adventures down below with captions of what they are beneath the photos!


Fort DeSoto (Gulf Coast)


Florida Keys - snorkeling out of Key Largo


Key West with Cassie (midde) and Jenna (right)


Somewhere in the middle Keys with Jenna and Cassie


Blue Spring with Jenna and Michaelene 


Kayaking at Blue Spring with Michaelene


Cocoa Beach with Michaelene


Typhoon Lagoon (I think. It might be Blizzard Beach) with fall roommates Martia (right) and Jani (center)


Wild Africa Trek


Wild Africa Trek with Jenna


Devil's Den


Devil's Den


Devil's Den with (left to right) Martia, me, Kasia, Jenna, and Michelle

With the end of summer I got another new batch of roommates. My summer roommates and I got along fine but we weren't super close. We had all extended our programs and lived in a 3-bedroom, 6-person apartment in Chatham. I had one roomie at MouseGear in Epcot, Blizzard Beach lifeguard, Magic Kingdom Speedway, Magic Kingdom Buzz complex (Buzz Lightyear, PeopleMover, and Astro Orbiter), and DisneyQuest then ESPN after DisneyQuest closed. When fall rolled around we had three move out and three new ones move in (three of us extended and stayed together in the same apartment). Our new roommates worked at MouseGear, the Contemporary at the Wave as a seater, and Magic Kingdom Casey's Corner. Also, my roomie that had worked at DisneyQuest/ESPN got Festival of the Lion King for her fall extension. I don't know if you care about all these fine details but I'm just throwing out everything that pops into my head haha. So anyway I got a new room roommate for the fall and she was GREAT. Martia is the one who worked at the Contemporary and was our only roommate of the six of us that wasn't an extendee but a fresh CP. So that was a lovely change :) I extended my program again (obviously) and got same role same location yet again.

For this extension I had the opportunity to cross-train which was great because I was starting to get bored/feel a little stuck in my current location. Some locations will give you the option to cross-train if you extend, usually for the fall or spring extension but sometimes also the summer extension. Cross-training differs by location, but it usually means training at another establishment within your same role and same area. So in this case if you work in Fantasyland East Attractions you can put in to cross-train at any of those attractions (again, it's Storybook Circus, Mine Train, Belle, and Mermaid). I requested Mermaid but they had so many ICPs working there (we'll come back to that) that my manager said I had to pick between Belle and Mine Train and I picked the Mine Train. Belle is a role that requires lots of spieling and interaction and I'm the type of person that doesn't really like the type of spieling Belle requires (theater kids love this attraction because it's that acting/spieling type of shindig). So back to the ICP thing then I'll talk about Mine Train. ICPs are International College Program participants who are basically the international version of the DCP. They are college-aged people from different countries who live in the same apartments and works similar roles as American CPs, but have more restrictions and different timeframes due to visa requirements and other factors. One of the restrictions with ICPs is that they can only work certain attractions and I've been told the reason for this is one of a few things (or a combo). I've heard that they can't work rollercoasters/more safety critical rides due to their visas and I've also heard the same thing but due to the importance of spieling and many ICPs have strong accents. Which is weird because plenty of Americans also have strong accents? I don't know if either of those are true but regardless, in Fantasyland East, Mermaid is the only attractions that ICPs can work at so they rarely accept American CPs (unless they've changed their numbers by now). Anyway long paragraph over, lets throw in some photos of me in costume. Fantasyland East Attractions only has two costumes - circus and forest. Circus costume is Storybook Circus, Forest is everything else. Forest is also used in Fantasyland West at Winnie the Pooh and Teacups (fun fact).






Okay back to the Mine Train! I was really glad that I had rollercoaster experience already because tons of information carried over between the two and I had an easy time picking it up. If I had just been thrown into Mine Train I would have been super overwhelmed. I've actually heard that they don't assign newbies to Test Track (speaking of overwhelming) because of the complexity, and will only send CPs there if they are extending but not sure how accurate that is either. So anyway Mine Train, I had a really fun time working Mine Train, the fast pace made everything go by quickly and the ride itself is much smarter than the Barnstormer (by smarter I mean that if something breaks down there's a screen that tells you almost immediately what the problem is and where it occurred). So between like September and January I switched between working circus and mine, but mostly worked at the mine. I ended up liking the mine better because of the pace, but there were a few positions I LOATHED and DREADED including merge (that person that ratios/merges the standby and FastPass lines) and the FastPass greeter. Here's what FastPass at the Mine Train looks like:

me: "hi there, please scan your FP"
*guest scans three FP tickets/Magic Bands and none of them have a FP*
me: "looks like you don't have a FP, did you make a reservation?"
guest: "OH MY GOD THIS SYSTEM IS RIDICULOUS CAN YOU JUST LET US THROUGH THE WAIT TIME IS 300 MINUTES"
me: "no ma'am, we can't allow guests through FP without valid media, it isn't fair to the people waiting in the standby queue"
guest: "WHAT'S YOUR NAME, I'M REPORTING YOU FOR RUINING OUR VACATION"
me: "I apologize for doing my job correctly" (actually I never said that last line but I thought it)

So yeah you can see why I hated that position hahaha. It was at least 50% people with no FastPass or people who are like four hours early or seven hours late or come up to you with some sob story and basically try to scam themselves in. So you're always the bad guy and when you make the decision to accommodate someone, they almost never thank you. So yeah. A real joy. Aside from that though, Mine Train was a lot of fun :)

Also in the late summer (backing up a few months I know) I got to visit home for some weddings and family time which was really nice! I only went home two times in the year, but it was nice to get some family time in :) If you're someone who gets really homesick I wouldn't recommend visiting home because then you get REALLY homesick and want to leave (I had a homesick roomie visit home and was THIS CLOSE to self-terming on her return. So glad she decided to stick it out!!). If you plan on being in Florida for a year though, it's nice to get that visit in.

Back on track now, the fall brings many fun Disney things like Epcot Food & Wine Festival and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! Oh and also Hurricane Irma. Luckily Orlando didn't get hit too bad, but we did close down for two days because of the hurricane. Also I got to work a few treat shifts which was AWESOME. Treat shifts are shifts you can pick up or get scheduled (we got scheduled because treats were in our area of MK) to hand out candy at the Halloween parties!!! I'll include photos of all these things down below (except Irma), but treats were so fun because for once I wasn't getting yelled at! Except by a few people (GROWN ADULTS) that wanted more candy (eye roll). Also we got to wear these cute costumes. Honestly I love Disney in the fall/winter because it's super festive and you can find a lot of slower times to go enjoy the parks :) AND COOLER WEATHER! Also I got my first #castcompliment which is a way of recognizing cast members on Twitter for exceptional customer service!


The circus crew all on a treat shift!






I'm on the left! Wooooo!

Now we're coming into November and this was one of my favorite times because MY FAMILY CAME TO VISIT!!! They had planned this trip back in the spring knowing I was planning on staying for the fall, and I requested the dates off as soon as I knew they were coming. Now one of the nice things about staying in your same location for extensions is that if you request time off that far ahead of time there's a good chance you'll get the time off and I did!! SUPER nice because I got every day off that my family was here which I think was like seven days in a row. So we did all the Disney parks and Universal and honestly had the best time. Also we got to eat at Victoria & Alberts which is honestly like a life highlight. Photos coming at you below!! ALSO my friend Kasia's program ended at the end of November so we had a little staycation at a Saratoga Springs treehouse to celebrate her and also celebrate some circus birthdays :)








ALSO in the late fall some fun things happened! I got on the recognition board (AKA laminated gems on the break room fridge) for being efficient at the Mine Train YAY (and at one of the more stressful positions!), ran into my manager at Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue (would also recommend), and a friend from home came to visit! See, I told you the fall was full of festivities!! I also got the sweetest letter from a guest saying that I gave them a really positive experience and my manager printed the letter out and gave it to me along with a Four Keys Card, so that was a great way to end my program :') Side note: Four Keys Cards are Disney's recognition program where you get a physical card and notation on your record saying you did something really well and you can be recognized by guests, cast, managers, etc. On this program I think I got upwards of 15? Something like that. So it's a nice little thing to strive for!! Also I got some weird stomach flu thing and couldn't eat for like five days.




And now finally coming up on the end of my program :( I ended my program by spending a ton of time in the parks with my best friends and Fantasyland family, went on a Bahamas cruise with my awesome roomie, and bawled my eyes out saying goodbye to all of them (inserting photos now minus me bawling my eyes out).








I chose not to try go part or full-time because I was pretty done with customer service (joke's on me because I'm currently working a customer service job) and wanted to move back to the Northwest. Some days I regret that decision as I truly did have the most magical year full of awesome friendships, countless adventures, and lots and lots of Disney chicken nuggets. I wouldn't trade any of it for the world and that year means SO much to me. I still sometimes think about moving back and then try to remind myself of the reasons I didn't want to stay. To be honest, at least 75% of the reason I sometimes consider moving back is to be around those amazing people that turned out to be some of my best friends and chosen family. I've already gone back to visit once and plan to continue doing so (but honestly who knows maybe I'll be back ;)). This year was filled with many many highs and a few lows, but to anyone who wants my opinion on a Disney College Program: DO IT. Prepare to work hard and feel overwhelmed and have days that absolutely suck but if you go in with an open mind and willing attitude you will make the GREATEST MEMORIES regardless of your role or location. Your College Program is what you make it. So that's kind of my sappy wrap-up and year in review. I have so memories and ideas and advice and things to write down, but for now I'll stick with what I have above. If you made it all the way to this point then you are incredibly patient and I appreciate you. Signing off until next time, have a magical day!

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