Disney: The Awesome Place I Now Work!
I am now one of 62,000 cast members working at Walt Disney World! Woohoo! I spent all day yesterday checking in and moving into my apartment at Disney. It was a looong day:
I left campus at about 7:20, my car was extremely full of all of my stuff. And there is still a bunch of my stuff in storage. I seriously need to start getting rid of stuff.
When I got there, there was a awesome welcome center with a HUGE line. I thought I was early but apparently when they say check-in starts at 9 they really mean that it starts when people get there since someone told me that by the time I had arrived, they had already checked in 200 people. But it wasn't a big deal, this is Disney, you expect to wait in lines.
The total amount of time that I spent at this building was about an hour and a half. Most of that was waiting but in-between I got a lot of information. First, I got a spiel about housing rules and I signed my housing agreement again. I also received my program guide when basically is becoming my life line. They kept sticking stickers on the back of it with information I need to know, and people would take it from me and know everything about me instantly. It was a good system. The first sticker I got told me that my housing meeting is on Tuesday at 3 pm.
The next step was when I actually got to go into the building. Inside I received my housing assignment. They didn't have my key and told me that I would need to stop at the club house of my apartments to get it. I also signed the housing payment form, took my housing ID picture, and received my ID.
Lake Compounce nerd moment: They had this awesome card printers that they were printing the ID cards on. It was so fast that the cards came out hot. It was awesome!
After I got my ID I went back out and did my paperwork to register my car and get my decal so that I can park. I got another sticker that told me that I had to be on a bus at 1:30 to go to casting. Then, I got another spiel about what is going to be happening the next few days.
Finally, I got a goodie bag with a bus schedule, an orange, a first aid kit, and some laundry detergent.
It was now 10:00 and I had three and a half hours to kill before I needed to be back to catch the bus. So, I drove over to my apartment to start moving in. I got my key and found it easily. If you want to send me mail, my address is:
8136 Chatham Manor Blvd
Apt #24104
Orlando, FL 32821
I left campus at about 7:20, my car was extremely full of all of my stuff. And there is still a bunch of my stuff in storage. I seriously need to start getting rid of stuff.
When I got there, there was a awesome welcome center with a HUGE line. I thought I was early but apparently when they say check-in starts at 9 they really mean that it starts when people get there since someone told me that by the time I had arrived, they had already checked in 200 people. But it wasn't a big deal, this is Disney, you expect to wait in lines.
The next step was when I actually got to go into the building. Inside I received my housing assignment. They didn't have my key and told me that I would need to stop at the club house of my apartments to get it. I also signed the housing payment form, took my housing ID picture, and received my ID.
Lake Compounce nerd moment: They had this awesome card printers that they were printing the ID cards on. It was so fast that the cards came out hot. It was awesome!
After I got my ID I went back out and did my paperwork to register my car and get my decal so that I can park. I got another sticker that told me that I had to be on a bus at 1:30 to go to casting. Then, I got another spiel about what is going to be happening the next few days.
Finally, I got a goodie bag with a bus schedule, an orange, a first aid kit, and some laundry detergent.
It was now 10:00 and I had three and a half hours to kill before I needed to be back to catch the bus. So, I drove over to my apartment to start moving in. I got my key and found it easily. If you want to send me mail, my address is:
8136 Chatham Manor Blvd
Apt #24104
Orlando, FL 32821
Building 24 room 104! Its a pretty good spot, the gym and pool are close. And the closest building with laundry is right across the street. Our view our the back window is of a lake and woods, not too exciting, but we do have a balcony, and the kitchen is really nice. The rooms themselves are small, another reason why I need to get rid of stuff.
It definitely needed some love, which I have given it, but I am not done yet, so I will post some finished pictures later. My roommate showed up eventually, and brought her stuff in. She is AWESOME! I can tell that we are going to have so much fun this fall together.
We were both starving so we only did a little unpacking and then went and got lunch at Panera Bread. It was delicious. On the way we discovered a gas station that I am NEVER going to.
Apparently the Shell station are tourist traps, they all have jacked up prices. I will now only be getting gas at the shell stations.
After lunch it was time to catch my 1:30 bus to casting. This was the longest part of the day. I spent 4 hours in that building, and the majority of it was waiting again. The first thing I did was get my next sticker, which had where I was working on it.
Magic Kingdom!! Woohoo!! Tomorrowland!! Woohoo!! I'm happy, and excited.
I then checked my payroll and made sure that my direct deposit was set up correctly, it was. Then, I went to back ground check where four different people all asked me the same three questions about the same piece of paper. "Is this a permanent address, is this phone number correct and can it receive text messages, and is your social correct?" But the last person I was like, 'the paper hasn't changed!! It is correct!' But I am glad that they are so thorough.
Then I got my fingerprints taken, which was intense! I have never done that before. Then, I got talked to about the education opportunities, which I am already signed up for so that wasn't anything new. Although I did learn about some interesting seminars that I will probably go to.
Then I got a spiel about The Disney Look, which has now been drilled into my brain a gazillion times. I probably could tell you the whole thing by heart. The funniest thing about it is that every time I was told The Disney Look guidelines it came from a guy. And each guy, when talking about the woman would say things like peep-toe, and sling back, and then follow up with "I don't know what that means so hopefully you do." Hilarious.
Next, I got my Traditions class time and my training schedule. Traditions is the very first time I am going to be working, it is a class everyone takes on the Disney history, and during it I will receive my name tag and Disney ID. That is on Thursday at 2. I start training on Friday, starting at 9:30 in the morning at the Magic Kingdom Costume Shop.
Finally, I had to go complete my I-9 paperwork. This took forever. A guy sorted us into different lines, at the entrance to different offices all down a long hallway. We were standing there forever because they seemed to have a computer problem. A women kept coming and saying that it was called in and would hopefully be fixed soon. It wasn't fixed soon. Eventually she came and told them to just save it to a drive and the line finally got moving again.
But, while we were waiting they brought us snacks and the guy that was sorting us got all of us to do the wave.
Uh... Disney is awesome.
After I was done with my I-9 I went into another room and had my I-9 verified. THEN I was done. I got home at 5:30. It was the longest day but also a very enjoyable one. Angie, my roommate, and I got Panera again for dinner and then we went home and unpacked some more.
Today is going to consist of grocery shopping, and going to my housing meeting. Wednesday is my only free day and while I would totally go into a park, we don't get our ID until thursday so I will probably go to the pool. Then comes work.
This has been a wondrous first day of my semester long adventure. I am super nervous for training, but also looking forward to the oodles of fun I am going to have. Let the magic begin.
