The Disney College Program totally changed my life! And now I want it to change yours too! Today I'm checking in for my second Disney College Program, and I am SOOOOOO excited! A week ago, Disney opened up applications for the Fall Disney College Program, I plan to extend through the fall, and I want you to join me! Why should you do the Disney College Program? You'll make amazing friends!I've made a lot of wonderful friends in my lifetime, but the friends I made during my Disney College Program are some of the best, and everyone I know says that! I made friends that support me in my faith, my daily life, and in my career. Often, when I move someplace new I lose touch with many of my friends, these friends are so faithful to maintain our friendship, we talk every day! You'll learn a lot about your career!When I started the Disney College Program I was an education major, but still very undecided on how I wanted to go with that, having changed the details of that degree three times. I didn't like my job experience in schools, but loved my job experience at a coffee shop where I got to talk to and take care of customers every day. I always swore I'd never pursue a business degree, but after my Disney College Program I decided to change my degree to Hospitality and Tourism. I realized that there was a job that linked my love of child-like fun and caring for people.
Today's role spotlight is a look into the life of an attractions host. Particiapants placed in attractions can be stationed at a ride area, as a park greeter (Read more about that here.), or as parade audience control. Attractions hosts work in all 4 parks as well as Disney Springs. Today's post features the experiences of 4 attractions hostesses: Megan worked Agent P's World Showcase Adventure, Sarah worked Peter Pan's Flight and It's a Small World, Molly worked Parade Audience Control on Main Street, and my sweet friend from my program, Amber-Lynn, worked Spaceship Earth. Megan: Agent P's World Showcase Adventure (Epcot) Program: Fall 2015
Other Locations: American Garden Theater Role Description: I handed out phones to secret agents so they could save the world! I also park cleared at the end of the day to make sure there were no guests left in the park. At the American Garden Theater, I helped with making sure the food and wine performances went smoothly. Training: I had a few days of on the job training and then an assessment Hours: 30/week, 6 hour shifts with 2 15 minute breaks Likes: I loved it! I really liked all of the guest interaction Dislikes: Park clearing wasn't my favorite but I loved the role anyway! Favorite Memory: My favorite stories all have to do with park clearing or New Years. I loved the crowd and doing crowd control, and many of my stories have to do with that. I have too many to pick just one! Last week I posted my "5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging" and promised you an opportunity this week. I'm looking for guest blog posts! This is a great opportunity to get more exposure for your post and mine. This opportunity will stay open all the time, but I'd love to get some of the posts in and scheduled before I start my program in 28 days. Keep reading to find out more about this cool opportunity. Who?This opportunity is open to bloggers, vloggers, and store owners. It's also open to current particiapants, as well as program hopefuls and alumni. Bloggers, just write a post like you would for your own post, and I'll make sure to include links back to your site. Vloggers, just choose one of your vlogs that you'd like to share and I'll post it, you can also include some written content or infographics if you like, or you can write a traditional blog post if you want. Store owners, just write a traditional blog post, and I'll make sure to include info linking it back to your store.
This is my sixth post in my role overview series, to read the rest click here. Housekeeping is listed as a high need in the Spring 2017 application. High need roles mean you have a high chance of getting accepted for them because they need a lot of them, it also means you will work lots of other CPs. To read more about high need roles click here. Today's Interview is with Victoria, a housekeeper at the Yacht and Beach Club resort for the Spring Advantage 2016 Program. She didn't share a picture, but in most locations, including the Yacht and Beach Club, resort custodians wear the same costumes as housekeepers, that's why you're seeing a picture of me in my costume. How would you describe your role?"I worked eight hour shifts that included me cleaning 16 rooms a day. I usually worked 40 hours a week. Working at Beach Club as a "Mousekeeper" was a love-hate, bitter-sweet experience. If you aren't aware, housekeeping is a very physical, highly active role. I think the advantages included how friendly my co-cast members and how helping they truly were. Especially, since they were so use to seeing us Disney College Programmers come and go. In a day, I would wake up between 5:30-6:00am, I would grab breakfast, meet up with my best friend then she would drop me off at my location. I'd go to costuming (which was located inside the break room) and change quickly so I could clock in at 7:45am. I'd go to "break-out" where all the Housekeepers would get there boards for the day. I'll be honest, it was the hardest job I've ever held but it was also the most rewarding, too! It couldn't be too bad because I just accepted this role to do it again! Also, I don't want to get you future "mousekeepers" too excited but there is something called ADO and it's your best friend!"
Today marks one year since my first blog post on this blog (You can read it by clicking the link below). I had a few blogs before this one, but this is the only one that's grown and the only one I've really stuck with. Because of this blog, I've learned a lot about blogging, and that it's something I really love doing, it also relaxes me a lot. Looking back to my older blogs, my first posts on this blog, and mostly how much I've learned the last 5 months of blogging, there's a lot of things I wish I'd known since the beginning. I wanted to share those things with you today. 1. There are good and bad ways to find photos to use.You have to be very careful when you use photos on your blog, especially when they're not yours. You can get in a lot of trouble for using photos that belong to other people. Here are some things you can do to avoid this issue without having to buy photos.
Lifeguard is one of the most common roles for CPs and on the newest version of the DCP application it's listed as a "high need" role. (Read more about high need roles here.) Two Spring 2016 alumni, both named Morgan, shared their experiences for you! Morgan: Typhoon Lagoon and Caribbean Beach Resort Where did you work?
Typhoon Lagoon and Caribbean Beach Resort How would you describe your role? Overall, it's a ton of walking and standing in the sun. Not a lot of guest interaction but there is some. There is also a lot of yelling at guests because they can't follow simple rules (I enjoyed this because I have little patience for stupidity lol probably shouldn't have worked at Disney because of that). Working in a resort and at park are two completely different worlds. At the resort I jumped in nearly once a day while at typhoon it varied from no jumps for days to multiple jumps a day. What did your training look like? 3 days of Ellis training then 2 days of location training. Ellis training makes guarding seem a lot more dramatic than it is. How many hours you were scheduled per week? It varied because hours changed with the season and the location. At CBR my hours ranged from 8hr-12 and if there was in service it could be longer. At typhoon the hours were typically around 8 but if there was an event it could be up to 12 or as low as 4. One day though I would like 16 hours. Per week, at CBR it was always under 40. At typhoon it was understaffed so it was always between 40 - 60 hours. A lot of overtime was nice money wise but I had no free time. How long were your shifts? 30 min - 15 min What did you like about your role and locations? The people were nice and the bus ride was short. What did you dislike about your role and locations? Parents don't watch their kids who can't swim so a lot of the times you jump in and the parents have no idea. Creepy guys ask for mouth to mouth all the time. During my Disney College Program last spring I lived in a 6 person 2 bedroom apartment in Chatham for the first 3 months and a 3 person 1 bedroom in Chatham for the last month. Both those apartments are triple occupancy, which means there are 3 people in one or more bedroom. Other triple occupancy apartments include commons 3 person 1 bedroom, commons 5 person 2 bedroom, patterson 3 person 1 bedroom, and patterson 5 person 2 bedroom. Vista Way has no triple occupancy apartments. The thing most poeple dislike about triple occupancy apartments is that they have a bunk bed, each room with 3 people in it has one single bed and one bunk bed (five person apartments have one triple occupancy room and a regular double occupancy room with two single beds). I loved my triple occupancy apartments, and I wanted to share some reasons why so that you can consider them too! 1. The Price Is RightDifferent size apartmetns in different complexes are all different prices, and triple occupancy apartments are the cheaptest! That was my main reason for wanting a triple occupancy apartment last year. The 6 person, 2 bedroom apartment in Chatham is the only apartment still under $100/week! A year ago, I had declined my first Disney College Program. It was a long and hard decision to get there, but I'm thankful for the journey, and I'm thankful for the decision I ended up making. A lot of people ask me why I declined the program, so I wanted to share the full story with you, including my magical moment at the end. I was accepted for my first Disney College Program the first week of October 2015, only a week after my phone interview. I found out while waiting for the bus home from Target, and called my sister right away! I quickly found the Facebook groups and started a countdown poster.
I want to start by saying, there are Zootopia spoilers in this post! If you've not seen it yet, go watch it now instead! (What are you doing with your life? It's been in Netflix for almost two months already!) Now that business is taken care of, I LOVE Zootopia! (I'm actually watching it right now, as I write this.) It came out during my first Disney College Program, Spring 2016. Everywhere I went, I heard Try Everything, saw previews, and heard all the hype about the characters in the parks. So, of course, the movie reminds me of my CP. I didn't get to see the movie until it was released on Netflix this fall, when I realized it was a perfect description of my life as a Disney College Program participant. Thinking about my second Disney College Program, Park Greeter, which is a sub-part of attractions (you'll be accepted as attractions and placed as a park greeter once you arrive and check in). Here's what Kelsey has to say about her experience as park greeter! When did you do your program?
Spring 2014 What was your home location? Hollywood Studios Did you work any other locations? No How would you explain your role? Park greeters are stationed at the entrance of each park, guarding the touch points that the guests use to enter the park. Our job was to "be the gate" and only let in guests who had valid ticket admission. It was also our responsibility to verify resort reservations for entrance into extra magic hours, and to make sure that guests didn't leave the park with alcohol or our rented strollers/ecv's. When I was there, our roles also included doing "finales" at the end of the night, in which we would clear the park at the end of the night, but I've heard that park greeters at DHS no longer have that responsibility. |
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