New Hire Paperwork | Spring 2017

My new hire paperwork came today! There will be a link in the email for new users and for returning users. I thought I was a returning user, but my information wasn't recognized so I switched to new user and created a password (username is listed in the email). What the new hire paperwork basically is, is electronically signing a bunch of documents. You have to create an electronic signature which will turn out dreadfully, then allow that to be your signature for all documents. You simply press a button confirming you're signing.

These documents include information about costume rental/return, the Disney Look, confidentiality, safety, policy, bloodborne pathogens, tax information, the W-4 form, bank information if using direct deposit, and some other stuff. In total there are roughly 25 different documents you will need to either sign or fill out. If you're using direct deposit, have your checkbook nearby so you can easily find your account number and routing number. You'll also need your social security card if you don't have your SSN memorized (you should probably make an effort to memorize it).

That's pretty much it!! Really not very exciting, but necessary :) I officially leave in 13 days, and will check in at my apartment complex in 19 days! SO excited. Also, I should find out what apartment complex I'm living in around the same time Lindsey and I leave!! If this is news to you, the check in process has changed! Disney will now give you your itinerary ahead of time, including what apartment complex to check in to/you will be living in. You find this out about a week ahead of time, and now find out your work location at casting instead of check in!!

Next up will likely be an OFFICIAL packing blog! Or a detailed timeline blog. LET THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUE.

Dealing With DORMS: Housing | Spring 2017

HELLO HUMANS! So soon after my last post :) Our housing email came today for us to put in our housing requests! Kind of weird it came before the new hire paperwork email, but whatever.

So the email basically said housing registration is now open, and will be open from January 2, 2017 at 10:00 EST - January 5, 2017 at 12:00 EST. It includes a registration link and a "roommate number" which is also your Perner (employee ID number). You'll click on the link and that will take you to DORMS where you'll login with your password you should have created for class registration and program acceptance. After logging in you will click on the housing tab, and it takes you to a page to input basic information.

This page asks for name, address, emergency contact, etc. It will also ask you whether or not you want to opt out of Disney housing, if you require ADA housing (handicap), if you're requesting married housing, if you're requesting an alcohol-prohibited apartment (I'm 21+), and if you're bringing a car. I'm bringing a car, so clicking yes caused a menu to drop down and I filled in car info like make/model/license plate, but nothing about insurance. I assume if you chose yes on other tabs there would be a dropdown menu for those as well. 

Next is three forms you need to electronically sign. The first is community codes, so housing rules and stuff. The second is the payroll form which basically states that Disney will take rent out of your paycheck, and nothing is prorated. Finally, I had the vehicle agreement form which says you'll follow the rules regarding getting into the apartments and putting your decal in the correct placement. 

After this is the fun stuff!! You can choose to be adventurous and go random with roommates, or put in your own roommate preferences. For my program we were able to link up with FIVE other people. So if you had seven picked out for a 4-bedroom apartment, you're out of luck. This differs per arrival date I believe, there was one arrival date last year that could only link with three. To link with your chosen roommates you need to appoint a "leader" (me in the case of my roommates), and everyone gives them their roommate IDs. You type in all roommate IDs and verify they all have the same arrival/departure dates then you can choose what apartment you want to live in. DORMS will automatically provide a list of all apartment that could accommodate your chosen number of roommates OR MORE. So we were given all the six AND eight person apartment options. You rank all of your options, so you can't take any out.

We ranked like so:

1. Commons 3-bedroom, 6-person
2. Chatham 3-bedroom, 6-person
3.  Patterson 3-bedroom, 6-person
4. Vista Way 3-bedroom, 6-person
5. Chatham 2-bedroom, 6-person
6. Commons 4-bedroom, 8-person
7. Chatham 4-bedroom, 8-person

The prices for spring 2017 are listed below:

A guy screenshotted his DORMS page but mine looked the exact same. 

And that's it!! There will be a review page, then you'll click "submit." I'm pretty sure you can go back and change stuff at any time through the 5th. Next up should be new hire paperwork. You get two emails for the new hire stuff, and I have one of them. So maybe tomorrow I'll get the other one! We'll see. I LEAVE TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW, CAN NOT WAIT AHHHHHHH!!!!

01/09/2017 UPDATE: The January 30th arrivals can only link up with TWO other people. I believe the January 9th and January 17th arrivals could link up with seven others, January 23rd could link up with five others, and January 30th can link up with two others. 

Plane AND Car Packing: DCP Edition!

Okay I thought I was going to do a paperwork blog post, but just remembered I could do one on packing! So I'm flying from Seattle to Denver, then driving from Denver to Orlando. So I need to pack for both plane AND car. I already have my car packed up because I did that back in December when I was moving out of my house in Colorado. I just packed everything I wouldn't need at home, and left it in my car!! So here's roughly what I have packed, and what I still need to pack.

WARNING: HUGE LIST

In my car already:

• All of my cute shorts/jean shorts (I think 4 pairs?)
• 8ish tank tops (both cute and athletic)
• 1 sweatshirt
• 2 long sleeve shirts
• Socks
• Lamp
• Mattress pad
• Bedding
• 2 pillows
• 1 decorative pillow
• Lounge chair
• 2 towels
• 2 wash clothes
• 1 hand towel
• Makeup and nail polish I use, but didn't need at home
• My kitchen utensils
• Garlic press
• Can opener
• Wine key
• 4-5 mugs 
• Water bottle
• 3 wine glasses
• 1 glass microwavable dish/lid
• Muffin tins
• Shampoo/conditioner/body wash
• 3 pairs skinny jeans 
• Hair straightener
• Hairspray
• My leftover pantry goods
• Quinoa
• White rice
• Canned goods like beans
• Ramen
• Mac n cheese
• Tea
• Hot chocolate
• Jello
• Noodles
• 3 bottles of wine
• Spices/extracts
• 1 pair cowboy boots
• 1 pair Chacos sandals
• 1 pair Teva flip flops
• 1 pair Sperry boat shoes
• 1 pair gladiator sandals
• 1 pair brown wedges
• 1 pair black flats
• 3 pair spandex
• 2 recipe books
• 2 swimsuits
• 1 pair pajama pants
• 2 pair pajama shorts
• 1 pajama shirt
• Random storage units like plastic drawers - may recycle/give away once in Florida
• Electric toothbrush
• Pillow pet
• Car insurance 
• Jewelry box
• Disney Starbucks tumbler
• Seahawks travel mug
• 2 pairs athletic shorts
• Sunscreen 
• Catch Phrase
• Fuzzy throw blanket
• Nutribullet blender
• 5 cotton t-shirts 
• 1 pair slacks
• 4-5 nice shirts

To be packed for plane:

• 1 long sleeve shirt
• 1 sweatshirt
• 10 pairs of socks
• Hair curler
• New hair straightener
• Underwear
• Bras
• DVDs
• Laptop
• Kindle
• Camera(s)
• Chargers
• FitBit
• Bible
• Phone
• 4 pairs leggings
• 2 pairs capri leggings
• 1 pair tennis shoes
• 1 pair black boots
• 1 pair Birkenstocks sandals
• 1 pair black wedges
• 4 dresses
• Notebook/journal
• Pens
• 3 skirts
• 5ish tank tops (both cute and athletic)
• 2 swimsuits
• 1 pajama shirt
• 1 pillow
• 1 pair joggers
• Makeup
• Deodorant 
• 1 pair bootcut jeans
• 3 pairs athletic shorts
• 3 necklaces 
• Seahawks jersey
• External hard drive
• Glasses
• Contacts and contact solution
• Prescriptions 
• Wallet
• Passport 
• Northface vest
• 1 hat
• 4-5 belts
• Face wash
• 1 flannel shirt

Okay so I know this list is kind of enormous, but it's a lot of little things. I plan on fitting all the plane stuff in one suitcase and one carry on. The car is pretty full right now, but will easily fit another four suitcases or so. Also, a lot of this is stuff like food, bedding, furniture, etc. and not clothes. I'm trying really hard not to overpack on clothes again, but it's SO hard not to!! I think I covered just about everything, but I'll go back and add some stuff if I think of it. Or take away. I probably don't need to bring that many skirts and dresses, and some other clothes, so I'll probably try cut back when I actually start packing for the plane. 

Counting Down The Days...Random Updates!

FINALLY THE DCP IS IN SIGHT! I'll be heading to Denver to pick up my car two weeks from this Tuesday, then drive down for my second college program!! We fly out January 17th, and check in January 23rd, and could not be more excited. I've honestly been counting down the days since I knew I was accepted (actually since I left my first program in 2015, let's be real) and it's finally in range.

I should be getting my new hire paperwork any day now, and was waiting on that for my next blog post, but I'm impatient. So I'm just waiting on my new hire paperwork email, then my DORMS email for housing preferences, then we're in the home stretch!!! Usually new hires get their paperwork 2-3 weeks before their arrival date, so that email could truly come any day now, but I would guess it'll come Monday or Tuesday since this weekend is New Years. Our housing email should come roughly 10 days before our arrival, so maybe next weekend!

Speaking of housing...we have a new roommate! One of our roommates, Jessica, was offered a full time position at her current job, so she has chosen to forgo the Disney College Program to focus on building her career. We'll miss you Jessica!! Our new roommate was found by Lindsey through the Facebook page, and her name is Brooklyn. She's going to be custodial, and is also 21 so we can stick to non-wellness! In case you haven't read my blog post about roommates, there are six of us and we are all 21 and 22, but none of us drink much.

Our current housing preference is a Commons or Chatham 6 person, 3 bedroom apartment. None of us are picky though, we just want to avoid triple occupancy at all costs haha. ALSO I got an email from housing stating that they have a new apartment this year! A 3 bedroom, 3 person apartment at Patterson for a mere TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS per week. Wut. That's absurd. Also as a side note, one of our roommates, Alyssa, just went to Disney with her boyfriend and he proposed!! So exciting :)

So that pretty much sums up the updates. There's not much I have to say right now, because nothing has really happened. I can't wait for these next two weeks to pass so I can be back home <3 Also can NOT wait to find out where I work!! Oh, and I've been looking at annual passes for Universal Studios. They have four different options for Florida residents (you can get the Florida resident discount, you just have to have housing print off a paper saying you're a DCP participant) and they're tiered by price and perks. I'm looking at the preferred pass, the second most expensive at $350, but it includes no blockout dates, and free parking. I think it pays for itself in less than four visits, and since I plan on being there for a year, it's definitely worth it. You can also pay one lump sum, or make monthly payments of $17/month with one $185 down payment.

Okay now I think that's it. Next post should be my new hire paperwork! HOPE Y'ALL ARE HAVING A MAGICAL HOLIDAY SEASON!

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!