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Role Overview: Attractions

1/5/2017

 
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. 
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​​Megan: Agent P's World Showcase Adventure (Epcot)

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​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!

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Role Overview: Housekeeping

12/29/2016

 
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. 
High Need Roles
Role Overviews
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. 
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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!"

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5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging

12/26/2016

 
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.
First Post
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​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.
  • You can use photos you find on google but include the link to them somewhere, I like to include the link either as a caption of the photo or set it so when you click the photo it links back to the site (this is my preferred method because it looks cleaner).
  • You can use free public domain photos from Pixabay.com, I discovered the site this week, and it's very helpful although there can be limited options.
  • Use your own photos, once you get to Disney you can take your own photos for your blog, this is definitely the best option becasue you own the photos and you can take a photo that is exactly what you need.
  • You can ask people for photos, it's prefereable to give them credit in the caption if you do this, just say "Photo Cedit: Mickey Mouse". This is a good option if you have friends sharing photos from Disney, or if you crowdsource info for posts (like with my role overview posts) and ask for photos to be submitted voluntarily.
Start doing this as soon as possible, this is the biggest way to get in a tricky situation with your blog, and to have other people get mad at you, and if you wait until 50 posts in, it's a huge task to go through and fix them all! (That's what I'm stuck with right now!)

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Banks and Bucks

12/19/2016

 
A question I commonly see on the Facebook groups is "what bank should I switch to?" as well as questions about direct deposit, what banks are nearby, and more. In this post I will address which banks are nearby, alternatives to using physical ATMs and bank branches, and what you'll need to do to get direct deposit. 
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What banks are nearby?

If you're limited to the bus route, there aren't a lof of options for banks, only two actually. Chase bank has a partnership with Disney so there are many of them in the area, and it's probably the best solution for you. Also, Disney has it's own credit union called Partners, and they have branches in backstage areas, so that makes them very easy to use. If you happen to have a car, there is also a Bank of America nearby. I don't think you need to have one of these banks, though, there are other alternatives to having a physical branch location, or even ATM nearby. 

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Role Overview: Lifeguard

12/14/2016

 
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!
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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.

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Printable DCP Guide

12/5/2016

 
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. 
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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. 
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Printable Guide

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Role Overview: Quick Service Food & Beverage

11/2/2016

 
Quick Service Food and Beverage is probably the most common role among College Program participants. The application lists custodial, housekeeping, lifeguards, and quick service as high need roles. Out of these, Disney in general hires more quick service hosts than the other roles, so they hire the most CPs in this position. That's a huge perk for this job as well, you'll likely be working with other CPs and it makes it a lot easier to pick up, trade, and give away shifts. As a Quick Service host you could be placed in Outdoor Vending (food carts and stands),  a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR), or in a resort food court; however you can pick up shifts in any of them even if that's not the place you usually work. Four alumni have partnered with me to be able to provide you more info on the role. 
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All images used with owner's permission
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Who They Are:

Lyndsie: ODV, Epcot World Showcase, Spring Advantage 2015
Kaitlin: QSR, Pinocchio Village Haus, Spring 2015
Sami: QSR, Sunset Ranch Market, Spring 2016
Taylor: Resorts, Saratoga Springs, Spring 2015

Role Description

"Every day that I worked I was either on the register, filling orders by filling drinks, making ice cream, croissant doughnuts, hot dogs, or chicken nuggets & fries, or I was cooking. At the end of the day we had to clean everything as well." (ODV, Lyndsie)
"I was trained in seven different quick service locations in Hollywood Studios, serving anything from barbecue to pizza to ice cream. It was split up into two different locations on my schedule, Sunset Market and Sunset Boulevard - if you were scheduled for Market, you'd go back and forth between two locations (or just stay at one location), and if you were scheduled for Boulevard, there were five quick service locations I could have been at, though it wasn't likely I'd be at all five throughout a shift, more like one to three a day. Though some quick service locations only allow you at the front or the back, I did everything from cooking hamburgers in the oven to being at the register to bussing tables to doing the drink orders to giving out the trays of food to guests." (QSR, Sami)

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What to Wear to Traditions, Training, and Classes

10/26/2016

 
A couple days after check in, usually Friday or Saturday, you'll have Traditions. Traditions is your welcome to the company orientation. After traditions you'll have welcome to operations, location orientation, and one or two role training classes. All these classes require business casual or business professional attire. What does that mean? 
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Layering for a Perfect Look

Layering helps by minimizing the number of pieces you need to buy while maximizing your outfits. It also helps with whether and cold classrooms. I used ten pieces to make five outfits with bottoms, tops, and a coat, that can also be mixed and matched with accessories for infinitely more outfits, which is helpful if you're taking a class since classes also require business casual dress. 

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Cast Member Discounts

10/5/2016

 
Now that you've been accepted you're probably thinking about all the fun you'll be having, and the most inexpensive way to have all that fun! In addition to the complimentary tickets you'll receive (you can learn more about those here), there are lots more discounts to take advantage of as a cast member.
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Food Discounts

You can find discounts on food if you know where to look. You receive cast member discounts from many local restaurants, always ask when you go out to eat. My favorite outside vendor discounts are 20% off at Ghirardeli, $2 Wetzel's Pretzels, and $4.99 buffet at Cici's pizza. Most dining locations in Disney springs offer cast member discounts. You can also find discounts at some Disney operated dining locations:
40% off at:
ESPN Club at The Boardwalk Resort (lunch only, Monday - Friday)
Grand Floridian Cafe at the Grand Floridian (lunch only)
Olivia's Cafe at The Old Key West Resort (Breakfast and Lunch)
Sanaa at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas (Lunch)
Captain's Grille at The Yacht Club (lunch only)
Trail's End Restaurant at Fort Wilderness Resort (breakfast and lunch, this is my favorite!)
Trattoria al Forno at the Boardwalk (breakfast only)
The Wave at the Contemporary Resort (Breakfast and lunch)
Wispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge (Lunch only)

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Best DCP Pinterest Finds

10/2/2016

 
As I wait anxiously for the next 120 days to pass before I arrive at Disney, I pass my time pinning ideas for my apartment and roommate gifts. I've collected some of my favorite pins for you! 

Display Your Ears

During your program you'll assemble quite a collection of ears! You'll get one pair at traditions and one at graduation, and you'll probably buy more to wear in the parks. I have 4 sets of Minnie ears and my two ear hats. I've spent a lot of time trying to come up with the best way to display them, and this is the cutest! Pin it!
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  • Home
  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Bucket List
  • Topics
    • Post-Application Timeline
    • Applications
    • Roles
    • Perks & Discounts
    • Housing
    • Christians
    • Guide
  • Resources