On January 8, 2014 I'm going to be moving into an apartment on Disney-owned property in Orlando, Florida to work merchandise at Walt Disney World. I'll be down there participating in the Disney College Program from January 8 until April 11.
I've mentioned the Disney College Program (DCP) a few times before on the blog but I'll give a brief overview for newbies just poking around my blog for the first time:
In a nutshell, the DCP is a program for college students to come down and get work experience by working at a Disney park. The program is available at both Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney World in Florida. The program has been around longer and is more fully developed in Florida, so most participants get assigned to work there. You can be assigned to many different 'roles' (attractions, lifeguard, custodial, etc.). The application process involves filling out an application, taking a web-based interview, a phone interview, and then being offered a position. Disney has a few different housing complexes that kids on the DCP can live in, and rent is taken out of your paycheck each week. Depending on what your major is, participating in the DCP can actually count as a formal internship. Participants of the DCP are offered college courses through Disney that, again, some schools will recognize for college credit. In my case, school courses won't count and the internship won't count either so I'm just doing it for the experience. That's the basis of the program. If you want to learn more about the program, I'll put the link at the bottom of this post so you can read about more of the nitty-gritty details :)
I learned about the DCP during my first semester of school almost two years ago. I had two different people tell me about the program, but for the life of me I can't remember who I talked to first. The wonderful Jordan was my beautiful roommate back when I was a wee little freshman and her older sister had done the DCP. Jordan and I bonded over quite a few things that semester ('Friends', Harry Potter, Dr Pepper, etc.) but our love of Disney was definitely one of them. We went to a meeting on campus about it and heard about the program from official campus reps. Jordan had nothing but good things to say about it based on when her sister had done the program, so I got really excited. Around that same time, my friend Melanie and I went out to lunch. Her older sister was down in Anaheim participating in the DCP that semester. Melanie and I both were really excited about applying and all that jazz.
I applied several times to the DCP. Most of it was half-hearted 'oh wouldn't this be fun: I'm just going to run away to Disney' and I never got accepted. Last February I actually DID get accepted for Attractions, but felt that I needed to turn down the offer (which I did).
I applied, again, in September (I'm nothing if not persistent!). After applying, I got majorly hit with Disney fever. It was insane: staying up until all hours of the night reading blog after blog after blog of different people who had done the DCP and what they experienced. I watched just about every YouTube video available. I was a full-on freak. School hadn't started up for the semester so I was still back home and I'm pretty sure that every other sentence that I said to my Mom had something to do with Disney. Once I had my phone interview I, thankfully, calmed down and was able to focus on school like a semi-normal individual.
Disney says that 2-3 weeks after your phone interview you should expect to hear SOMETHING back: congratulations, thanks but no thanks, or a 'pending'. After I hit that 2 week mark I got ridiculously hopeful every time I got an email. But I figured that no news was good news at this point, so I kept waiting.
EXACTLY on my 3-week deadline, I got my email from Disney. I teach a class of toddlers every Tues/Thurs morning and during that time we're "professionals" so our cell phones have to be put away on pain of death. I pulled out my phone to check the time RIGHT before I went into the classroom, and saw the 'Congratulations' email but didn't have time to actually read any of the details before I went into class. I was able to shoot off a text to my Mom and a few other roommates/close friends who knew that I was waiting to hear back, but that was about it.
After class, I logged onto a computer with lightning speed and opened up the email that listed my role. I couldn't read for very long, because I had to go to work (I babysit for the world's greatest family EVER).
Suddenly it was all real: I could move across the country and go work for Disney. I expected to be off-the-walls ecstatic and crying tears of joy but I was FREAKING out. I was super nervous all of the sudden. Accepting the offer would mean moving across the country. I had to move across state lines to go to college, but I was about 3 hours away from both of my grandma's house and I have an aunt and uncle that live half an hour away. I'm still familiar with this part of the United States so it didn't seem THAT intimidating.
Not only that, but I go to school in a very small Mormon bubble. Literally everyone and their dog is Mormon here. Which is great because I've been able to grow spiritually and improve my life in so many ways. I wouldn't change that in a second. But moving to Orlando...that's like the REAL WORLD. I mean... people drink and do drugs and have sex. Whoa. Stop the presses. Scandalousssss ;) Now to be fair, I've had friends do all of those three things and it's never really been an issue in my life. They know what I will and won't do, and they've never pressured me to change. But the idea of living in a place with strangers who may not understand why I'm the weirdo that I am and might want to pressure me to do some of that stuff....kind of intimidating.
I'm not big on taking risks. Ever. A very good friend of mine pointed that out in a semi-loving way. I was the kid that wouldn't ever climb a tree because the thought of falling out and getting hurt was just too much to handle. I refused to pull out ANY of my baby teeth, for crying out loud. I wiggled and wiggled and wiggled until that tooth was literally only hanging on by a thread...but I would not pull that sucker out. It would hurt too badly. THAT'S the kind of kid I was and I haven't really changed much as I've grown older.
So to move across the country to Orlando where I don't know a soul and have no one to hold my hand and support me in all of my Mormon ways of living...are you getting why I was freaking out? When I called my Mom that afternoon--the same afternoon when I had gotten the Congratulations email--the first thing she said to me was "So have you accepted it yet?" and when I said no, she laughed. That's my mother, ladies and gentleman.
To be fair though, she wasn't laughing to be mean. When I first told my parents of my interest in DCP many many moons ago, they weren't exactly thrilled. I mean... having your college-aged daughter run away to work in a theme park run by a mouse isn't exactly every parents hope and dream. I get it. But as I kept being persistent, my parents were finally shown the light. Something about 'follow your passions' or something equally dreamy that belongs on a Hallmark card. I guess they just grew to realize that while I was still getting older physically, Disney made me revert back to that little girl.
So Mama dearest was on the phone with me when I clicked the 'I accept' button. And as soon as I did, THAT"s when the excitement hit. I've had several dozen Disney dreams since then (Space Mountain on a Monday afternoon while my sisters suffer through high school? YES PLEASE!).
So that's my story. I'll be down in Disney for 4 whole months. Since accepting my offer, I've harnessed the power of social media (oh hail Zuckerburg for giving us Facebook!) to locate roommates who are also natives of my dear ol' college. We've met up for a cupcake date and I am SO excited to live with these lovely ladies who have lived here in the Mormon bubble as well. My fears about moving to Orlando have been greatly lessened.
I have 44 days until I move down to Orlando for my adventure. And I am so freaking excited for it.
http://cp.disneycareers.com/en/default/
