Ok everyone, welcome to my blog! I've always wanted to do a blog but never had a legitimate reason until now. If you are reading this you probably already know I've been accepted to the Spring session of the Walt Disney World College Program! I check in on January 10th, and am set to depart on May 13th, unless I attempt to extend my stay or move over to a full time position, which is a major possibility if I can't get a "real job" by then...but I'll talk more about that later. Right now I want to go back to the beginning and go through the whole process.
First let me explain a little lingo. Disney pretty much has it's own language; they are also big on acronyms, and the College Program is no exception. This way I can use a few shortcuts when I type, and everyone reading this will still understand what I'm talking about.
WDW--Walt Disney World...my favorite place in the universe, and the most magical.
CP--College Program...an internship program for college students, pretty self explanatory.
CM--Cast Member...Disney always uses a "stage theme," so employees are referred to as Cast Members instead of workers.
On stage--once again following the stage theme, anytime a cast member is in costume or in view of guests, they are "on stage."
Backstage--if a cast member is behind the scenes or in an Employees only area, they are backstage.
MK--Magic Kingdom
AK--Animal Kingdom (also sometimes call Disney's Animal Kingdom, or DAK)
DHS--Disney's Hollywood Studios. Previously Disney's MGM Studios, the contract with MGM ran out in January 2008 and the name was consequently changed.
FT--Full time. If I can't get a real job in this economy, I'd love to switch over to a FT office job or something like that.
OT--Overtime. What I hope to be working A LOT of while I'm there!
Disney Look--the appearance guidelines all CMs must follow. No visible tattoos, no abnormal hair colors, natural looking makeup, etc.
Termed--"terminated." It is VERY easy to get termed on the CP. Being late to work, being caught with alcohol in a wellness apartment, not following the Disney Look, being inappropriate while "on stage," etc.
Wellness/Non-wellness--Wellness apartments for the CPers are no alcohol allowed. These are for all under 21 students as well as 21+ students who don't want alcohol in their apartment. Non-wellness are for 21+ students who are okay having alcohol in their apartment.
Hopefully I covered most of the commonly used terms. Moving on! I first heard of the College Program when I was a freshman in college. Now, being that Disney is the second love of my life, I was immediately intrigued (if you don't know who my One True Love/Obsession is...her name starts with "C" and ends with "fabulous!"). Although the CP remained in the back of my mind, I kept having to put it off for various reasons. At first I didn't want to spend a semester away from A&M, for some pretty stupid reasons...but I grew up and got over that. Next I couldn't leave because of my obligations as an executive member of AOLP (Aggie Orientation Leader Program). It was so difficult to choose between applying for the CP and applying for Exec, but I made the right choice, because AOLP is my favorite organization at A&M and the most rewarding thing I've ever done (visit the AOLP website for more information). Then I decided my resume would probably look better if I graduated a semester early and went on to an internship, as opposed to leaving A&M for a semester then graduating on time along with everyone else. While waiting my entire college career to apply for the internship kind of sucked, I'm glad I did because I have literally had years to research and prepare for the experience. I meant to discuss the application, interview, and acceptance processes in this first post, but as usual I am far too verbose for my own good, so I'll get to that later. No one wants to read a novel here, and I don't particularly want to write one. So I'll leave you with a picture that is pretty much the essence of me and my feelings for Disney. This is also a good excuse to practice uploading pictures to this thing, as I am not sure how to do it and I want to be fully prepared come January. There is an awesome story behind this picture, as well...
Disney went around to various big cities and had events promoting their theme of 2009: "What Will You Celebrate?" I was obsessed with these commercials and I wanted an envelope and a balloon entirely too much, especially considering I was a 20 year old college student at the time. So I begged my mom to go to the event in Phoenix. My mom, being the best mother in the world (I'm sorry if you were under the mistaken impression that your mom is the best mom in the world or that there might be moms in Portugal or Wisconsin that come close...that's not the case), went, got me a balloon and an envelope, and mailed them to me in a huge box (with the balloon still inflated), so that when I opened the box the Mickey Mouse balloon floated out the top. Best Disney moment ever! And with that, I'll leave you for now.
Have a magical day!
