Monday & Tuesday, February 23-24, 2013
I don’t believe I’ve posted this before, but I generally have a somewhat set schedule and I seem to be scheduled off every Monday and Tuesday and then I work straight through from Wednesday to Sunday. I start off every Monday now with my Exploring Cast Engagement & HR class at 8:30am at Chatham, meaning I have to leave the house at 8am to walk over (because I don’t trust Transtar lol). I then get back home somewhere around 11am-ish. On Tuesday mornings I have been starting off with one of the Professional Development workshops at Vista and then the rest of the day has seemed to be my at home cleaning and organizing day of the week. I don’t know if it came across at all, but I was starting to get a little down about the program because I was focusing so much on educational elements and housing elements that I haven’t been getting to take much advantage of the fun aspects- going to the parks for free!
Well, these past two days off have by far been some of the best on my program thus far and have been jam packed on educational elements, but guess what, also lots of fun outings as well. My body is screaming for sleep right now, but I do not regret giving up that these past few days to fit in some fun.
So as I said above, this Monday started out just the same and I went to class. We were talking about “recruitment” actually, which made my morning completely ironic. Why?? I actually had set up and informational interview, or Meet & Greet as referred to by Disney, with Jeff Hickman, a Campus Recruitment Manager who works in the Casting building for right after class that day. But anyway, I got through class and practically ran to the Chatham bus stop in my heels so I could make the earlier F bus.
Side Note: How I Set Up My Professional Meet & Greet
For those of you looking to set up informational interviews while on your program, I figured maybe telling you how I went about setting mine up may help. I was actually referred to Jeff by my advisors at school because Jeff is an alumnus of the School of Tourism & Hospitality Management at Temple. He acts as a liaison between the school and the DCP and his contact information was given to me prior to my program. But once I got down here, I reached out to Jeff through email and introduced myself. I let him known that I was interested in trying to set up a time to meet up and just talk about Disney, his education, and the DCP in general. He actually emailed me back right away and said he was thrilled to hear from me and was so quick about setting up a meeting for the next week (meaning this past Monday).
Continuing on, I luckily made the 10:37am bus, but I had to get off at the Downtown Disney CP stop because of course Transtar wouldn’t stop at the Casting building that the BUS GOES RIGHT PAST! But it was nice out so my walk wasn’t too bad. Then once I was inside I met Andrew the receptionist and we happily talked about school and Disney, among a few other things before I met with Jeff.
I would like to preface my Meet & Greet recount by saying that my meeting was completely wonderful and I am so thankful that I got that opportunity. And I’m not just saying that to say it, I truly mean it. We got to talk about Temple, what I should take advantage of while on my program, and about what he does daily. He actually oversees all 70+ phone interviewers, the overall interview process itself, as well as extensions, so I got to talk with him a little more in-depth on those. (Let me just say that that whole part was so interesting!) He actually went above and beyond and found me another person within the company to contact and talk with, this time involved with training since I expressed a possible interest in that. Overall, I learned a lot and made a contact that wants to help professionally as well as hear about my program in general.
After that I walked across the street the Downtown Disney and made my way through to the other end to catch the bus back to The Commons so I could meet up with Deanna and got over to the Boardwalk and Hollywood Studios!
Yes, we are both 21, and not in our Wellness apartment, so this was perfectly acceptable, lol! But we grabbed frozen strawberry margaritas on the Boardwalk and sipped them as we walked through their shops and walked over to DHS. I would just like to take this opportunity to interject that for CPs, underage drinking as well as Wellness apartments are taken verrryyyy seriously in the DCP. I just read today on one of the Facebook pages that a girl was almost termed because housing found alcohol in her Wellness apartment that two of her roommates smuggled in. Even though she had nothing to do with it and didn’t know about it, she went through a lot of questioning and was almost termed and sent home. So be smart and be responsible. Throwing Disney away for a single drink is not worth it! But the end, that’s the end of that spiel for now.
Anyway, Hollywood Studios was closing earlier on Monday so we only did a few things, but I finally got to see Beauty and the Beast as well as the Indiana Jones Stunt Show! But just to backtrack a bit, right before Beauty and the Beast, Deanna and I got food from Fairfax. I got this pulled pork wedge salad with a corn tomato salsa, bacon, cheese, and jalapeno ranch dressing to top it off. If you’ve never had it in the Studios and are looking for some amazing food, you NEED to try that next!
We also attempted to find Anna while we were there because she’s Outdoor Vending at DHS, but we couldn’t find her at all. (Later we found out that she was working Fantasmic, which would explain why we couldn’t find her out on the park streets.)
After that we took the bus over the MK and met up with Rachel and more of her friends from work. We had a pretty large group this time. We managed to hit a TON of rides. We rode Splash Mountain, the Tea Cups (which were spun insanely fast!), Peter Pan’s Flight, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, and I few others that I can’t recall currently. Later on once the group had dwindled down a bit, right before the park closed, we were able to quickly meet Ariel, Anna, and Elsa! The wait times were incredibly short, which was pretty mind blowing and great.
So then some people at home posted in the group message that someone was in our apartment earlier and they didn’t know who it was. We went home and everyone looked around to make sure nothing was stolen- which nothing was. There wasn’t a note anywhere that inspections had happened either. What was the weirdest part were the things in the apartment that were touched. My bed was moved away from the wall and the side charger bag that hangs down from the side of my mattress was on the floor. Audrey’s Disney plushes were touched, and Deanna’s mattress protector was taken off her bed. BUT, her bed had then been remade without it and the mattress cover placed on top of her newly made bed. I also believe that Hayley’s pillows and such had been moved around to. So we called security and at 1:30am we had to go down to the front to write out statements. Needless to say, it was not an ideal situation. And what’s more, when I lay in bed to finally go to sleep, my bed didn’t squeak anymore! At first I thought I had finally mastered the art of strategically climbing into bed in such a way that the squeaking in minimized, but when I turned over and there wasn’t a sound I was completely freaked out. Now, one would think that this was a great thing, but my bed was super loud before. I’ve never heard such terrible creaks and squeaks before in my life! I go up immediately and got Rachel who was still in the living room to come in and listen to my now silent bed. It was by far a terribly discomforting and confusing situation to go to sleep to. But the next morning someone from Disney Housing (I believe) called Audrey and said that they were in here fixing our box springs and we should have gotten an email about it…which we DID NOT. Even though we weren’t happy about not receiving a notice, we were real relived to find out it was just them in our apartment.
Aside from finding out that it was just Disney in our apartment, Hayley and I went to the Networking 101 workshop in the morning. Normally when I go, David Horvath is the facilitator, who is my favorite, but today it wasn’t which definitely put a damper on the workshop. But the real story lies in the girl that walked in late looking like a complete mess that of course had to sit at our table. She continuously interrupted Ryan, our facilitator, because she couldn’t find her name on the list, when her phone went off very loudly, and a few other times. She also continuously was talking to us about how she was homesick, she went to the wrong complex for the workshop and had to take the bus today instead of using her car which her roommate borrowed, and who knows what else (because I was trying to ignore her and pay attention). She even FELL ASLEEP in the session and the girl sitting to our left at our table work her up and told her she should probably go home if she’s really that tired. True. She was a complete mess and I was so speechless. Also, bless that girl to our right that finally gave in to driving her back to her complex instead of making her take the bus like so many others do everyday. Seeing her so scattered made me realize that no matter how confused I am and unsure of where I’m going next in my life, as least I’ve got a little more put together and figured out than she seems to. It was reassuring in the most odd way possible.
Then we ran by Chick-Fil-A and got lunch for the apartment and as we were sitting at home eating around our living room table instead of the kitchen table all together (for the first time in forever!), half of the apartment still in pajamas, there was a knock on the door. We all just stared at each other for way longer than we should of and then we all got up so quickly and started running around things cleaning and adjusting and trying to fix whatever we could because we knew that is was inspections! Finally someone opened the door and the group walked right in and got to inspecting our apartment right away! Deanna was actually in the middle of cooking when this was all happening so she stayed in the kitchen and was cleaning the pots and pans while they were here so they could see that that was all there because she was currently using it and not because we had previously just left it all there. We hadn’t taken out the trash yet either (which was on the agenda for later actually) so I was trying to nonchalantly push it down farther in the can while the main lady was talking to someone else. And somehow after all of that she turns around and tells us all that she’s giving up a WHITE GLOVE AWARD! Mom, I hope you’re proud of us! (: They took a picture of the disheveled 6 of us for the front desk and then sent us down that way to pick up our prize: cookies!
We also took this time to check out The Commons new convenience store presented by Sodexo: The Grid. It has some of the same items that the cafeteria at work has (The Mouseketeria or The Mouse) and then a couple necessities such as milk and canned foods as well (except NO break, what!?!). Even though it isn’t the greatest convenience store ever to be created, it’s great to at least having something small and so close now that you don’t need to rely on Transtar to get you to!
As the day went on, our group dwindled down to three of us- me, Rachel, and Hayley- so we decided to head to see The Grand Floridian because Hayley and Rachel had never seen the inside and we also wanted to look at some of the shops they had. Once we got there we first went to The Wedding Pavilion so we could take some pictures in while there was still some sun out and then we walked inside, listened to their live music, and walked through some stores.
We then headed to the Fort Wilderness Lodge for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue! We had made reservations for the 3 of us early even though we didn’t know what it was so we were walking into this experience blindly. There are certain times, such as the 8:30pm showing that we were going to, that offer 50% off CM discounts! We just had to get there 40 minutes early so we could pick up our tickets, check-in, and wait to finally be seated. Once inside, pictures consumed the rest of our night because everything was amazing. The place is adorable, the show is as corny and great as can be, and the food is to die for. First you start off with corn bread and this amazing sweet maple butter along with salad that comes in a metal pale. (Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that it’s served family style and all you care to enjoy!) Then for the entrees, you had fall off the bone ribs, fried chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, and beans. Then your finish up with strawberry shortcake! Aside from dinner being mouthwateringly wonderful, our server was great! He made fun of us the entire time and tapped our heads with straws when we were laughing too much, made Hayley a bow out of a napkin that she got to keep, and even gave us an extra loaf of cornbread to take home, which isn’t the norm for this style of restaurant. It was originally $34 per person after our discount but we left our server an extra tip so the discount didn’t jip him because he was awesome. And if you didn’t catch my drift, GO to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue at least once in your life because you will not regret it one bit. (: