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!"
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! After seeing people print all the pages from the DCP website, I thought I'd create a handy guide that's easy to print and interactive. The guide provides info to help you with applications, what to do after you've been accepted, and even worksheets to help you through the first few weeks of the program. How can I get this download?You can get the download by joining my mailing list, you can do such at the top or bottom of any page of my site, including the end of this post. You can also visit my "Printable Guide" page for more info. As soon as you finish all the steps in subscribing to my email list (there's a confirmation email you need to open) you'll be directed to the page to download the guide and give feedback. If you ever lose it, all posts I send to my subscribers have a link to that page at the bottom.
I flew to my first DCP last spring, and it's looking like I'll be flying again this year. Last year, I did a lot of research, and figured a lot of things out. I learned more about the best way to do that while I worked at Disney, and since then I've moved across the country by plane twice, learning from my mistakes each time. I have a few tips with you to help you plan to fly to Disney for this magical experience! Tip 1: Research the best times to book and flyI highly encourage you to do some research on your own, Google and Pinterest have helped me a lot in searching for useful information about this. There are thousands of travel blogs that want to help you book the cheapest flight! If you're not going to do any of your own research, here are the two points I've found in my research: 1. Book your flight on a Tuesday 6-8 weeks before your flight, this is when they're at their cheapest. 2. Compare different times of day and days of week (if you can). Flights late at night, early in the morning, and in the middle of the week are usually the cheapest, Saturday flights are also cheaper than Friday, Sunday, or Monday flights.
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.
One of the perks of the Spring DCP is that you have Christmas right before your program. One of the hard things about that is that you end up with more stuff to try to pack. The idea of gifting experiences rather than material things is not new, but in this post, I'm going to share some ideas that are CP specific. Annual PassesWhile CPs get into Disney parks for free, Orlando has many more theme parks to offer, and many College Programmers like to visit them on their days off. Most of these parks offer annual passes for fairly affordable prices (compare to Disney). The most popular ones are Universal Orlando and SeaWorld. Gift CardsI recommend gift cards to Disney, Walmart, and Publix. If you don't like giving gift cards, like my family, there are ways to make it more personal. If you've been to central Florida, give a gift card to your favorite local restaurant, store, etc. Or, you could include a little note to ensure the recipient of your gift card is used for fun, write things like "buy something to decorate your apartment" or "use this gift card to enjoy a character breakfast" or something else like that. Another great idea is to get a $30 Disney gift card and a note saying it should be used on The Kitchen Sink Sundae at Beaches and Cream (this is something many CPs want to do).
Once you've been accepted for this highly selective program, you need to make sure the whole world knows! One way to do that is to add an acceptance banner as your Facebook cover photo. You could go with the classic cover photo, shown above, or make your own in 5 minutes with your own photos and Microsoft Word! Start by finding a photo you'd like to use, either from your own photos or by searching google for a photo you like.
After you accept your offer for the Disney College Program, you'll need to talk to your school. There are three main topics to bring up with your academic adviser: Internship Credit, School Requirements, and Financial Aid. This post will walk you through questions to ask in each of these topics. Internship & Class CreditWill I be able to get internship credit for the program?
How do I get this to count for internship credit? What extra work will I have to do to get internship credit? (ex. logging hours, blogging, review from employer, etc.) Does my major require internship credit? How much? Will I be able to get credit for any classes offered through the program? Will these classes count toward my degree? If I decide to do a professional internship later, can I get credit for that? Do I need to pay for internship credit hours? Things to Mention: DCP website for educators (disneyeducationconnection.com) ACE accreditation (learn what this means so you can tell your advisor) School's internship requirements (look them up and familiarize yourself with them before your meeting.) |
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