In the first part of this post you heard about the four high need roles, in this post you'll hear about four more roles: the high volume roles. Even though these aren't high need roles, they are roles that a lot or moderate amount of CPs are accepted for so you have a good or moderate chance of being accepted into these roles. AttractionsAttractions cast members are responsible for running attractions and parade audience control, you can also be placed as a park greeter who scans tickets and finger prints. Working attractions includes running the control panel, fastpass and standby merge points, loading people into rides, greeting at the front of the queue and scanning fastpasses, and more. You'll also likely have to spiel which can include reciting the rules or reciting a full script for the duration of the ride on attractions like The Great Movie Ride or Jungle Cruise. During your shift you will rotate between positions at the ride and possibly at other rides, attractions, or character meet and greets. You can also be asked to help with stroller parking and attending the fastpass kiosks.
Hours: My friends were usually scheduled 36-40 hours, 6-8 hour shifts, they also had very active facebook groups for trading, picking up, and giving away shifts. Locations: Parks, Water Parks, and Disney Springs Pros: This is a super fun job! The coworkers are usually cool, you're right in the middle of the action and a part of the heart and soul of the theme parks Cons: You can only pick up shifts at your location, some of the tasks like running the control panel can become redundant, sometimes parents and guest can become hostile because of the wait time, height requirements, or when a ride goes down, hearing a que line rope fall to the ground will make you NUTTY! Resources: courtskingdom.wordpress.com https://jagerdoesdisney.wordpress.com/ http://livingthatdisneydream.tumblr.com/ http://maddieinwdw.tumblr.com/ This post comes as a request from a reader, and is in three parts. As you think about applying and what roles you want to list as your top roles, or even which to put as high, medium, or low interest, it's important to know what each role entails. I'm here to help! I want to provide you with descriptions, details, and links to other resources for each role! These posts only includes roles offered at Walt Disney World, since that's where I have experience and where most people are accepted. This post will include descriptions of all the roles listed as "high need" on the application, the next will include roles that hire a lot or moderate amount of CPs, the final post will include the rest of the roles. To read the official role descriptions from the DCP website, click here. On the new application (It's different from both times I applied before), they first ask for your interest in the "high need roles" which are custodial, housekeeping, lifeguard, and quick service. These are the roles they need CPs for the most so you are most likely to be accepted for these roles. CustodialObviously Custodial is the best role out there! Custodians are responsible for keeping the parks and resorts clean. This includes emptying trash cans, spot sweeping, general cleaning, and cleaning bathrooms. Resort custodians are scheduled for bathrooms and general cleaning each shift but park custodians are scheduled for either bathrooms or general cleaning each shift. In many locations custodians also get to answer a lot of guest question, pin trade, and give out stickers. Custodial is often titled "the best kept secret" or "the hidden gem" of the college program because of those fun perks and the flexibility and freedom the role offers since you're not always right next to your supervisor and coworkers. You can make magic by pin trading, giving out stickers, or giving out no strings attached forms. Hours: As a resort custodian I was usually only scheduled for 32 hours, but many of my friends who worked in parks were scheduled 40-50 hours with many opportunities for overtime. You can trade shifts with people at other parks (if you're at a park) or resorts (if you're at a resort). Locations: Resorts, Parks, Water Parks, Disney Springs, ESPN Pros: Lots of freedom! Lots of experience for guest service, not too busy, if you work in parks you get to watch parades and fireworks, lots of opportunities to make magical moments Cons: You need to be familiar with the area you work so you might not feel comfortable picking up shifts, resort custodians can't pick up parks shifts usually and vice versa. It's all cleaning! Resources: My blog, thedcplife.blogspot.com As I begin to think about potentially returning to Disney, I've thought of a few things I want to try to improve my roommate situation. During my last program I had a lot of struggles with roommates. A lot of the issue was that I didn't have time to pick my roommates but mostly that I avoided confrontation. Looking ahead I want to avoid that this time. First of all I want to pick roommates, carefully. After that, I have some creative ideas to help foster a more encouraging and kind environment. Many of these ideas come from a little over a year ago when I participated in the Navigators' Summer Training Program (STP) in Colorado. I had the chance to live with my bible study leader and the two other girls in my bible study. It was the best roommate situation I've ever been in, and there were four of us in one room!
As I was preparing for my program a year ago, one of the questions I needed answered was "how will I grow in my faith at Disney?" As a Christian this is I question I try (though sometimes fail) to ask about every new situation I walk into. Here are some of the things I found helpful while I was at Disney. Cru at WDWCru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) is a Christian ministry commonly found on college campuses. Cru headquarters is located in Orlando so they have a special group just for the DCP! I met my best friends through Cru. These are the friends that have done the best of continuing to stay in touch after we went our different ways. While I was there they offered many different events and activities to participate in. The main even is pizza night (with homemade pizza!) every Wednesday night. One of my favorite things was the bible studies which were held at a few different times during the week. I'd really love to lead a bible study during my next program. On Tuesdays we had Prayer & Pastries which was a fun event to pray and learn how to pray for the people around us. Another fun event was GO Day, we would go out and try to share the gospel and the love of Christ. Sometimes there were special women's and men's events too. Throughout the semester there were cool events like an epic Easter party and a beach trip! Most of all, the best part was all #crumunity. We would spontaneously go to the parks after prayer and pastries, watch movies until the wee hours of the morning after bible study, or go to Alehouse after church. To learn more about Cru at WDW like the Facebook page or join the Facebook group. As you know from previous posts, I didn't have a car during my college program which limited my grocery store options to Walmart or Publix. At the beginning of my program I usually went to Walmart, but later I learned to shop at Publix. I recommend only going to Walmart for your initial trip and about once a month after that. Walmart has a few good deals and most of their prices are lower but Publix has weekly deals and specials that will save you more money if you shop correctly! Here are my tips for grocery shopping. First Trip to WalmartWalmart is helpful for buying non-grocery items as well as stocking up on things you'll use the entire time like spices (Walmart has 99 cent spices). Mostly use this trip to get things like a coffee pot, brownie pan, and things like that.
I greatly apologize for not posting yesterday! I got very sick from eating something with corn in it. See, I'm corn intolerant, which impacts just about everything. One of my favorite things about Disney is how inclusive they are of food allergies! A corn intolerance is especially difficult to deal with since FDA doesn't require corn and corn products to be listed on allergy notices on foods. Disney doesn't do that, Disney considers corn a common allergy and is always prepared to deal with my allergy. Disney considers gluten or wheat, lactose or milk, peanuts and tree nuts, shellfish, soy, fish, eggs, and corn common food allergies although they can accommodate any food allergy or intolerance and well as special dietary lifestyles such as Kosher or Vegan diets. Many places offer allergy menus if you just ask one of the cast members, you can also always ask to talk to the chef. All that being said the hardest part of it is not being able to eat some of the really special Disney foods, I'm actually allergic to Mickey Pretzels, Dole Whips, and Premium Ice Cream Bars among other things. The trick is knowing what you can eat, or if you're like me and only intolerant you might try just eating a little bit of it once in a while....or just deal with the consequences which I don't recommend but do all the time. If you want to find out more about Disney's food allergy policies check out these links: For a Disney Parks Blog post about allergy friendly menus click here. For Disney's list of dietary accommodations click here. For a sample allergy menu click here. If you have any more questions about dealing with dietary needs at Disney ask me in the comments! If not, what is your favorite Disney snack?
During my college program, Spring 2016 at Walt Disney World, I didn't have a car, I didn't even have a driver's license (but that's another story for another day). When current applicants hear this they usually ask me "how do you do it?" First of all, it's not as hard as you think it is. Second of all, if you're going to do it, Disney World (as opposed to Disneyland) is the place to do it. In this blog I'm going to let you know how I got around to everything and give you some tips for managing Transtar. What is Transtar? You've probably heard or read about Transtar on the Facebook groups or other blogs. You never hear anything good about Transtar, as you can tell by this photo. I have a few complaints about Transtar myself but it was a huge blessing and lifesaver while I was at Disney. Despite all the complaints, some people really appreciate Transtar, all my first roommates had their own cars but some chose to take Transtar to work sometimes just so they could sleep, no one wants to drive at 5am! During my 2016 college program I conquered fears that have been haunting me my entire life. When I started my program I was terrified of rides that go high, spin, get wet, go fast, and definitely those that go upside down! My favorite ride was Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I refused to go on Splash Mountain, the Teacups, the Tower of Terror, and certainly any and all roller coasters. My dear friends Robert and Sarah took me to Magic Kingdom for the first time the day after my Traditions class. After riding Pirates of the Caribbean they talked me into riding Splash Mountain (and tricked me about when the big drop many many times) and I loved it! After a snack I let them talk me into Big Thunder Mountain. While waiting in the line I got more and more scared I became but I didn't chicken out! I was not such as much a fan of this ride. I was eager to try riding it again but not for a long while.
So you've been accepted and now you're thinking about where you'll live? Or maybe you're just really excited and thinking ahead. The first thing I want you to know is that roommates matter far more than which complex you end up in. That being said, first I will share a general overview of the complexes and then I'll compare them by price, transportation, and the people you commonly find in them.
So, you passed your WBI and were offered a phone interview, woohoo!! Now ensures the panic! Everyone seems to spiral into a frenzy over the phone interview. Today I'm going to give you some tips to help you avoid this seeming inevitable panic. 1. Stop Panicking, it's not going to help you to panic and only going to make you more nervous which doesn't help you on your interview. 2. Set up a Mock Interview, You can do this with a friend or family member, I'm even willing to help you if you want, just contact me here or on Facebook and I'd love to help you. Here's a list of potential questions to help you out. Practice the general questions as well as questions related to your top choice roles and questions related to the high need roles (custodial, housekeeping, lifeguard, and quick service for the spring 2017 recruiting season). 3. Make ONE Page of Notes, more than one page of notes will be overwhelming, confusing, and ultimately not helpful because you'll spend just as much time searching for the answer as you would thinking of the answer. As you go through your mock interview mark the questions you can't answer quickly and make notes for those. For me those are the example questions such as "Describe a situation where you have had to work with a difficult person, boss, or teacher." Also include your list of your top 5 roles in order (just so you're prepared for if they ask for any number of top roles) and a space to write down your interviewer's name. 4. Repeat Step One, stop panicking, take five deep breaths, get a good night sleep, listen to some Disney music to prepare yourself. Do whatever will calm you down. 5. Prepare for your Interview, Set out your notes and a pencil or pen, find a quiet place where you get good phone signal, review your answers, smile, and be ready for the call. Be ready 15 minutes before your interview. Be prepared that your interviewer may call you 15 minutes early or late. Before I finish, I want to again extend the offer to contact me for help preparing for your PI. I want to remind you again to check out the potential interview questions. Finally, if you have any questions I can answer please submit them below or comment on this post.
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