Let The Memories Begin!

I AM HERE!!! What a crazy week, too. The day before check in I met up with all of my roommates in downtown disney and we decided to go to check in at 5AM to secure the apartment we wanted. I was first to get to the apartment, a 2 bedroom at chatham, and was pleasantly surprised at the size. I was expecting it to be MUCH smaller, but our bathroom is a decent size and our closet seems to be enough space. However, the kitchen supplies they provide are...not the best. We ended up having more pots, pans, and dishes either through somebody bringing them or buying them, but was we were given was extremely limited and/or poor quality.

Check In

We had my Mom drop us off at vista way at the security gate so we didn't have to waste time parking across the street. The only other people there were a group of 3 girls, so we were basically second, which was perfect. Security had us wait where they are stationed until it was time to go back to the welcome pavillion. Once their security tent filled up they began lining people up outside of the security gate, so we got there at an ideal time. Around 8AM they let us go in and we still were second in line. Everything went so smoothly! We got the apartment we wanted, no problems with the paperwork, we were done before noon. Essentially check in consists of signing contracts, agreements, etc., getting your apartment and housing ID, parking decal if you brought a car, your work location (liberty square at MK REPRESENT), setting up a paycard or direct deposit, 1-9 form, turning in your on boarding paperwork, and background check. I think it definitely helps to get there early, I heard chatham and patterson filled up very quickly. After check in you could go to your apartment and most people had a housing meeting later in the day (or the next day if you were in the back of the line)

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Traditions

I don't know if traditions is supposed to be a really fun thing, but I think I was a bit mislead. We learned a bit about the history of disney and some key disney ideals they want the cast members to embrace in their time with the company. I won't sugar-coat the fact that having early morning traditions and being sleep deprived due to excitement doesn't make long presentations like these very thrilling. Not to mention they don't feed you so you walk out starved (or maybe that was just me...) We did do a walking tour which was kind of exciting, especially where we saw parts of the fantasyland that they are reimagining and it looks amazing! Oh, did I forget to mention we got that little ID that let's us get into the parks for free? YES WE DID. Totally hit up Magic kingdom afterwards, although it started pouring rain so it was kind of a fail.

Orientation

Today was my Magic Kingdom orientation, aka "Once Upon A Time...Is Now". This was a hundred times more exciting than traditions. Granted, it was FREEZING cold and I had to get up super early, but going into Magic Kingdom before the park is open is kind of awesome, right? Our guides told us some inside information, and little known facts about the parks which was really interesting. We even got to go on rides!! After the tour we were divided up by roles and sent to costuming to get our costumes. Unfortunately, they didn't have my size so they have to make some alterations to a dress that I will have to pick up tomorrow before work (really looking forward to that...).

My week is full of training and stuff so hopefully I will be able to squeeze in another post somewhere!

Less than 2 weeks!

It seems so unreal that in just 11 days I'll be leaving for disney. My Mom and I are making the near 20 hour drive down from Michigan, breaking it up into 2 days so it's bearable. I started packing about a week or so ago and it's been really tough to determine what to bring and what should stay home. My car is tiny so I don't have a ton of space, but it's still better than flying. The best advice I can give to anyone flying is bring the absolute essentials! You don't need to bring your entire wardrobe, or your whole DVD collection. If you can afford to leave your bedding at home and buy some there it will definitely help! Also consider how bringing toiletries/beauty products can really add up. I started packing up lotions, hair products, etc. and these little things really added up in space. You can always pack things up in boxes to have a family membership to you once you are in your apartment. Space saver bags will be your new best friend when it comes to packing.

For those of you that are driving though, I have uploaded a more generalized version of my packing list if you are interested here (excel speadsheet). I added a few things to it I will probably buy once I get down there, but it might help somebody else in their packing process.

I've gotten a few tips from CP alumni about things you may want to consider getting for the apartment. For example, the mugs they provide are those really dinky so you may want to bring/invest in some larger mugs if you are like me and drink a lot. Also, i've heard the can opener is not the greatest one in the world, and they provide you with just a few pots and pans so if you are really into cooking, that's something to consider. Some people ended up buying more trashcans, because the one they provide is small or they want one in their bedroom.

I hope this helps some people out with their packing!