Disney College Program Spring '11 Trip Report

[Thumper10]

I spent a lot of my first month of my CP just trying to adjust to such crazy work schedules and balance in homework time. I was still enrolled as a fulltime student at my college back home so it was chaotic trying to keep up with everything while still trying to make new friends. Disney definitely works their CPs to the max…and of course we get the most undesired shifts do to full timers and CMs with higher seniority getting to work better hours. I knew this would be the case before my CP started so I didn’t have a problem with it...it can just be exhausting working that long 10 hour evening shift six days in a row. I still found a way to squeeze in fun time, and there were some crazy nights where I would get off work late at night with my ODF friends and we would end up at IHOP until 3 am. Even though we all regretted it the next morning, I look back on those memories fondly and wish I was still doing them now.

Once I got the hang of how all of the ODF carts were run, I started doing breaker shifts at work. I basically spent 30 minutes to an hour at various carts throughout the day to let the “main” vendor take their lunch break. I loved doing breaker shifts at work…they really helped the day pass by and allowed more freedom. I can honestly say that I looked forward to going to work almost every day on my CP. I got to create some special moments for guests and really just loved being around all of my work friends. My managers were awesome about planning out-of-work events for us, like going out to dinner or bowling, which really made us a great team.

[Thumper10]

Here are some random shots that got taken on my days of playing in the parks in between work.

Hidden Mickey in Columbia Harbor House


One of my new favorite Hidden Mickeys...a CM saw me wandering the parks one day with my DWT book and Hidden Mickey book in hand and was nice enough to take me on a short walk to point this one out to me. Anyone know where it is?


Disney family crest on the castle


I love how this one turned out!


If only this darn branch wasn't in the way...

[eeyore79]

i remember seeing some horseshoe prints like that outside the haunted mansion entrance!!

[Thumper10]

i remember seeing some horseshoe prints like that outside the haunted mansion entrance!!

Yep, that's where it is! I'll see if I can find some time tonight to update again.

[HauntedGabe]

Time for More!!!!


PS: I love the castle picture too.
Re: Disney College Program Spring '11 Trip Report
Here are some random shots that got taken on my days of playing in the parks in between work.

Hidden Mickey in Columbia Harbor House


One of my new favorite Hidden Mickeys...a CM saw me wandering the parks one day with my DWT book and Hidden Mickey book in hand and was nice enough to take me on a short walk to point this one out to me. Anyone know where it is?


Disney family crest on the castle


I love how this one turned out!

[Thumper10]

March 2011

March was a great month for me during my CP. My best friend and her sister visited me about two weeks in and then at the very end of the month, my family visited...so I had a lot to look forward to. It was also in March that I mentioned to one of my work managers that vending at the ODF carts was becoming pretty routine to me and I was interested in seeing if I would be able to be a stocker for the ODF department. Stockers…as the name clearly states…were the people who kept all ODF carts stocked up on anything and everything all day long. My manager seemed totally shocked when I had brought this us to him, and when I asked why, he said that he didn’t picture me as “stocker material.” I asked him what he meant by that and he told me that he had always thought I was a “diva” and wouldn’t want to do such “heavy work.” Iyiyiyi. I told him he couldn’t be farther off and that I’ve been a tomboy my entire life. He told me that he’d have a meeting with the other managers about it and see what they thought and get back to me. At first I kind of thought that he was going to just forget that I had asked, seeing by his initial reaction that he really didn’t think I was capable of doing the work. We had somewhere about 60-70 people employed in the ODF dept., a very, very small handful of them were stocker trained, and the majority of them were boys, so I didn’t get my hopes up that this would happen for me. I was super excited when two of my managers got back to me and said they had talked about it and decided to give me a chance because I had been a hard worker so far, but I would have to wait til the end of the month when they had time for someone to train me. And until that end of the month came…they loved to tease me about how the diva was not going to want to stock carts once I was actually trained!

[Thumper10]

All these pics were taken on a day that I ran over to the MK to pick up matching tshirts for my family for when they'd be visiting. As I waited for them to call me back with the info on what color shirts everyone wanted, I got distracted and ended up wandering all over MK. It was one of only a small handful of times that I went to a park on my own, but I really enjoyed doing everything on my own time.

Crystal Palace




While I was on the railroad I realized I've never taken any pictures while on it...so I started snapping.




Here is the lovely view of Toontown from the train

[Thumper10]

Within the first few days of March, Nate and I headed over to Epcot to check out the Flower and Garden fest...something that I had been dying to see for the first time. I took waaaaaay to many pics to post them all here, but here are some. We had a great time checkin' everything out

I had been watching this sand sculpture get carved while I was at work, but I finally had the chance to get nice and close to it.






I had grown fond of looking at these floating flower pots in the lake while I was at work everyday over the span of two months..I remember coming in one day and being sad when I noticed they were gone.




















Funny story about this pic- I was driving down the road one day when a truck pulled up next to me with a giant Minnie topiary on the back of it. When I came to work the next day, I saw her sitting right here! I have to say, she looked MUCH bigger on the back of the truck though!

[Thumper10]

I was excited when I saw that Max was out doing meet and greets so I made Nate stop (I have about 6 shots of this photo and Nate's eyes are closed in all of them-it was super sunny out).


In Bambi's Butterfly House

[HauntedGabe]

Yay! More.

I'd be sad too if the flowers were gone from that odd body of water. The sand lions are so cool. Don't you just hate when supervisors make up assumptions about you. Diva, Really. You've been around here for a while now, Diva would not be a description I'd label you as. How unfair. Geesh.
Glad the rest thought to give you an opportunity!

As I said before, when my son was a CP in 2007-8 he had a plum role. So many of his friends enjoyed their time, but lets face it, you can only flip so many burgers or load so many boats before you wanta scream. While Disney is getting a good crop of employee's partially through or done with their college education, the CP employees are way over qualified for those positions, even if they are in the Happiest place on earth.

Looking forward to more...........

[Thumper10]

The second week of March my best friend Keri and her sister Lisa arrived for a visit. I was happy to see them and even happier that I somehow managed to to get 4 days off in a row so that I could spend their whole vacation with them! Since I booked their stay at Coronado Spring using my CM discount, I got to stay with them, which was a treat for me since it was my first time staying there. It's a very pretty resort, super big though. We stayed in the Casitas I believe and our room was close to the main lobby and food court, which was convenient.

Keri and Lisa only had four full days in Florida, one of which Keri wanted to spend in St. Augustine to check out a school. So they chose to spend their remaining three days at DHS, Epcot, and MK. Day one was our DHS day, which didn't go quite according to plan, but still turned out great.

We planned to wake up early for DHS and be there by park opening. However, when we woke up it was pouring rain out so we decided to hang out in the room for awhile until it let up. By 11:00 the rain was still going strong and we figured there was no point in wasting a day of park tickets, so out in the rain we went. I called Nate who picked us up from CS and dropped us off at the park before he headed to work. We were in the park a little before noon and I had planned to run over and grab FPs for TSM then head down Sunset Blvd. Unfortunately the person in line for FPs literally right in front of us managed to grab the last ones...so we decided to wait in the hour line for TSM instead. I would normally never wait this long for an attraction, but I really didn't want Ker and Lisa to miss out on it, plus it provided some safety from the rain. I'm also not at all used to seeing a crowded park during the rain so that was surprising, but it was spring break time so I guess that's why. My family always vacations during value season so I was kind of frustrated dealing with the crowds throughout the week, but Keri and Lisa didn't know any better so it wasn't bad. Anyway, the hour wait for TSM went by pretty quickly and they loved the ride. I actually think Lisa said it was her favorite the whole trip. And we were so happy to see that the rain had finally quit by the time we were done!



After TSM, we grabbed a snack since we hadn't eaten all day. I got a super yummy giant chocolate chip and peanut butter muffin.


We took a walk down sunstet Blvd and grab FPs for RnRC, then turned right back around and headed towards the Streets of America.



We stopped to see LMA and did the Backlot tour, both of which were a lot of fun. Ker has been my best friend over half my life and Lisa has grown to be like an older sister to me, so it was great to be together again and act like our goofy selves.

Here we are on the backlot.





It was time to head back over to RnRC, but on the way we made a quick stop to meet some friends.

And, yes, we argued like little kids about who got to stand next to Mater. I got lucky and won that battle.

[Thumper10]

We had a great ride on RnRC then hopped in line for ToT, even though it said it was a 40 minute wait. Luckily it only ended up being about 25.

Here's our scared faced before boarding the elevator. Even though I've been on ToT countless times, it still completely terrifies me every single time. I have no idea why I ride it over and over.


We're in the top right corner here. You can see me grabbing on to Keri for dear life while the two of us scream our heads off. Lisa looks like she's having a great time though!


I ended up surviving the ToT. Next we stopped to catch the Beauty and the Beast show, which I'm sure I ended up humming for the rest of the day, then we headed over to the Art of Animation to kill some time before Fantasmic.

We got to meet the Incredibles.


And then Lotso. I told him I didn't think he was very nice...and after that he didn't like me very much.


We decided to do the animation academy..here's me and Keri waiting.


We drew Pooh bear! Lisa's is on top..we teased her a bit Mine is in the middle and Ker's is on bottom.


Then we went to wait in line for Fantasmic! where we got a little slap happy.


My roommates Rei and Luzie came to meet us in line for Fantasmic too.


The show was great as always...I never get tired of it. Definitely one of my favorite things to do in Disney.


After a great day in the park, we piled into Luzie's car, where her and Rei dropped Keri, Lisa, and I off at Planet Hollywood for a very late dinner. We were all starved since we had barely eaten at all that day. I always enjoy Planet Hollywood...yummy every time, plus a very fun atmosphere.

Lisa insisted we all have a fun fruity drink. We couldn't decide whose was tastiest.

Finally after a long, but fun day, I called Nate who came to pick us up from Planet Hollywood. We made a quick stop back at Chatham so Ker and Lisa could check out where we lived and so I could pick up a few extra things. Then we piled back in the car where Nate dropped the 3 of us back off at CS for the night. We were asleep in no time.

[Thumper10]

Up next: our great day in St. Augustine!

[Thumper10]

On Friday Nate picked the three of us up from CS and we all hit the road bound for St. Augustine. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive. It was jacket weather, but not too bad. Just not ideal conditions for visiting the beach, which was the very first thing we did. This was Nate's first time seeing the ocean, and I hadn't been since I was 8, so it was nice that we stopped.

We all just goofed off and took some pictures for a bit before we continued on.


I really love this one


My mom took this same picture of my on my first ocean trip, so I had to do it again.




We had fun watchin' the surfer dude..it was pretty cold to be out there!














Next we drove over to the St. Augustine lighthouse...supposedly one of the most haunted light houses in the country. It was a loooot of stairs to the top of that light house, and it sure felt high once we were up there. It was windy out so I felt like I was going to blow away...I was definitely feeling afraid of heights while I was up there.

Top of the light house












I sent this pic back home to my family who I knew was buried in snow at the time.




Here we are being goofy on a random boat we found laying around.






Next we dropped Keri off at the university she wanted to see so she could attend their open house. The rest of us headed into the little village area of St. Augustine which was super super cute. It's a really old town, the streets are even still made of brick. The downtown area is lined with old little shops of all different sorts. Lots of chocolate shops and other yummy places for treats. Definitely worth checking out. We had a great time.

Some neat little historic places to see too, such as this.



There was a lot that we missed out on simply because of lack of time, but Nate and I both decided we'd like to go again one day. For those of you who don't know, St. Augustine was thought to be where the Fountain of Youth was at and was discovered by Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon in the 1500s, so there is definitely a lot of history to it.

Next we went to pick up Keri and headed back into town for some dinner. We asked some different locals about where good places to eat were, and it seemed everyone had something different to say. We were recommended Greek, Italian, Irish, and finally settled on a Mexican place, which turned out to be very tasty.

This was our view from the restaurant.


After dinner we decided to call it a day and made the drive back to Orlando.

[HauntedGabe]

Wow! How pretty that place is. Neuqua! Were you a valley girl???