Disney College Program Spring '11 Trip Report

[HauntedGabe]

Do they not have WiFi?

[Chrissy&Tayen]

congrats amanda!!! thats awesome.. i wish i could be a cast member

[Thumper10]

Nope no WiFi, we had to supply our own routers if we didn't use that little hallway space. There was supposedly WiFi at the pool, but I never used it.

Thanks Chrissy I'm super excited!

[joanna71985]

Congrats! Campus Rep is a lot of fun. I did it for 4 semesters, and had a blast

[Thumper10]

Well after a super long delay, I've decided to continue my TR!

[Thumper10]

Jan 2011 continued:

Traditions was also something we had to attend within our first few days. I was super excited to go behind the MK to Disney University. Traditions is a mandatory class for new CMs where we go over the basics of Disney history and what it means to be a CM. I thought it was a lot of fun. During Traditions we went on a “field trip” where our instructors took out of the classroom and on a short bus ride. Before I knew it we were exploring the utilidors of the MK…something I’d been dying to do forever!! I don’t want to go into detail about them so as not to ruin the magic, but I thought it was an awesome experience and I loved all of the opportunities I had to explore them during my CP. A few days after Traditions I had my Discovery Day, something that every Epcot CM has to go through. Each park has their own sort of “orientation” for their new CMs. It was another day that was full of fun and surprises, which I don’t want to spoil for any future CMs who may be reading.

[Thumper10]

Here are some photos of my first few days of fun during my CP.









I had never noticed Cinderella's dress before...I thought it was a neat find.


Here is my first roomie photo..taken the day after we moved in...we were on IaSW


And I found my picture of the doorknob at casting

[Thumper10]

February 2011

Finally after my first few days of new adventures, it was time for work to set in. During my first few days at Epcot I was in total awe of seeing how things looked and were run backstage. I also thought costuming was quite a sight to see!! Soooooooooooo many costumes in one space. I met my new managers and coworkers, all of whom were very helpful and I ended up loving. The first week while I was “earning my ears” was pretty intimidating just because you don’t realize all of the health, safety, cleanliness, and other requirements that go into working one little outdoor foods cart. I definitely have a new respect for all of the ice cream and pretzel vendors!! I was so scared that I wouldn’t remember how to properly do the opening or closing procedures of the carts, like cleaning out the popcorn machine at the end of the night (now that is some tedious work) or correctly assembling the complicated soft serve ice cream machine in the morning. Fortunately, I had the greatest trainer EVER, and she taught me so much in my first week before I was sent off on my own. Outdoor foods can be crazy especially when lines get long and you have grumpy guests tired of standing in the heat, but overall I loved loved loved my job while I was there and wouldn’t have traded it for the world. I had assumed I would be working just one ODF cart during the duration of my CP, but I was wrong and learned that we work at all of the ODF stands, minus inside the countries in WS. I quickly learned what carts were most desired and most loathed by everyone in my department…lol. Ice cream carts were most desired by everyone due to earlier close times and super easy cleanup at the end of the day! There are definitely some super long shifts involved at a lot of those ODF carts!

[Thumper10]

Here I am during one of my first days at work, vending at an ice cream cart near Mission Space. My roomies Luzie and Rei decided to pay me a visit (Don't you just love my stylish costume?!)


That was one of three costumes that I had: one for Future world, one for World Showcase, and one that was universal (you could enter any area of the park while wearing it) which was used for CMs who got to be breakers for the carts...a job that quickly became my favorite once I was introduced to it.

[Thumper10]

One of the greatest parts of my CP was that I had so much time to try new things at Disney…which ended up including a LOT of new restaurants. The first new on I got to try was Tony’s on Main Street. Nate made reservations for us there on Valentine’s day and we ended up having a great night at the MK. Before we went into Tony’s we of course had to check out Lady and the Tramp’s “signatures” in the pavement outside the restaurant. When we got seated inside I was thrilled because our table was right next to the window where we could see Lady and the Tramp sharing their spaghetti outside. We had a really great time and our waiter was super. Nate and I both ordered the chicken parmisian, which was tasty. We decided to split the tiramisu for dessert, which ended up being delicious, and we were both excited when we saw how it was presented to us.

[Thumper10]

Dinner at Tony's






Our delicious dessert! Lady and the Tramp were drawn out of chocolate

[HauntedGabe]

Thanks for continuing your CP trip report, I am enjoying it. Perfect photo's. From what I've seen, you could have been wearing stranger costumes. I'd love to just see a employee bus unload behind the MK!

[eeyore79]

loving the report and pics!

[Thumper10]

Thanks for continuing your CP trip report, I am enjoying it. Perfect photo's. From what I've seen, you could have been wearing stranger costumes. I'd love to just see a employee bus unload behind the MK!

Thanks! You're right, there are definitely some MUCH stranger costumes out there..I don't think I would've ever noticed though if I were just a regular guest. I learned that AK is notorious among CMs for the worst ones...one of my ODF friends got transferred over to Chester and Hester's Dinorama and a few of us visited there one day just to sneak a few pics of him in his new costume lol.

loving the report and pics!

Thank you! I am enjoying yours too!

[Thumper10]

After dinner, we slowly wandered around the MK just taking in the atmosphere. We headed into Tomorrowland and rode Space Mountain (Nate’s favorite) twice in a row. The park wasn’t too crowded at all. After that we did the TTA and then wandered into Frontierland. We decided to do BTMR, and once we boarded we had quite the surprise. Wishes started just as our train took off, so we got to watch fireworks from BTMR. It was definitely a new perspective and a fun surprise for us, since we didn’t realize it was fireworks time! We then headed for Fantasyland and did the carousel and Mickey's Philharmagic before the park closed.

Getting ready to board Big Thunder


Riding Big Thunder!


Wishes from BTMR!


Nate's first time on the carousel