On August 3, I arrived at Orlando International Airport, where one of my roommates, Holly, picked me up. We spent the day walking around the Boardwalk at Disney and some of the more touristy (but non-Disney) sections of Orlando.
The next morning was our check-in date for the DCP. We arrived bright and early at about 8:30 AM, to wait in what was to become the first of many lines for that day. During check-in we received our program guides, and temporary name tags, and then got to find out where we were living and working. Holly and I ended up rooming with Paulina and Lexie, the girls we met on Facebook and planned on living with, and we also got our first choice of a 4 bedroom 2 person apartment in Vista Way. We were all very happy with our work locations as well. Paulina is working at Under the Sea, the Little Mermaid Ride in the Magic Kingdom, Holly is a Jungle Cruise skipper, and Lexie works at Spaceship Earth. I got my first choice of merchandise in Animal Kingdom, though I'll be in Dinoland which was slightly unexpected, but I was still pretty excited about it.
After check-in we went to Casting, where I met up with Lexie for the first time. Casting was essentially a series of different lines and meetings. We needed to be background checked, which included being finger printed, and we had a lot of paperwork to go over. We also received our schedules for the next couple of days. Once Casting was over, Lexie and I went back to our apartment to start unpacking. A few minutes after we got there, Paulina came in, and all 4 of us were together for the first time.
We went to Walmart later that day, and managed to fill Paulina's car with food, cleaning supplies, and furniture for the 4 of us, and we stopped for takeout, because there was no way we were going to cook that night.
The first day was extremely hectic and exhausting. I would compare it to moving into college as a freshman, but worse.
The next few days were filled with classes at Disney University (aka training) and tours of some of the theme parks. Every Disney Cast Member needs to go through Traditions, which is a program that introduces new Cast Members to the company and its core values. For me, I needed to attend DAKlimations, since I would be working in Animal Kingdom. I really enjoyed the guided tours we got of the parks, however it was really uncomfortable to be wearing business attire during it. By the end of DAKlimations my feet were killing me from walking around in dress shoes, and I really wish we could have just worn sneakers, or something, instead.
Part of DAKlimations included getting our costumes, which was an experience in itself. My first time at the costuming building during DAKlimations was hugely overwhelming. There were just racks upon racks upon racks of costumes, with all of the accessories in different parts of the building, and everyone was scrambling to find the right sizes and try everything on, and it was just a total mess. Disney's sizes are also terrible-- the rule of thumb for Disney costuming is to take your regular pants size and double it. So if you're a size 10 for instance, and you want to work for Disney, be prepared to wear pants that are labeled as a size 20. The Cast Members working at costuming told us that we should stock up on the winter gear now (hats, gloves, coats...) as it tends to go quickly once the weather cools down, but I was so done dealing with anything inside that building, and I was overheated from rushing around, so putting on a winter coat was the last thing I wanted. Hopefully there will be some left if I do actually need them, but it wasn't much of a priority for me.
When DAKlimations was over, I was able to begin training. The only class I had left to take was Merchantainment, which is a class specifically for Merchandise Cast Members. This class covers all of the basics of working retail, as well as tips for handling different situations, and ways to entertain our guests while working in Merchandise. (Get it? Merchantaining?) This class was kind of amusing to me because we all went to a classroom with a bunch of cash registers to learn how to use them. It was just really funny, seeing a classroom full of cash registers, you would have thought it was much more difficult than it actually is by the way the room looked.
My on the job training was interesting. For whatever reason (that I honestly don't quite understand) The trainers for my area were not necessarily Cast Members from that area. They were Cast Members who had become trainers, but they were not necessarily from Dinoland. It was also weird because I had 3 trainers, and each day I was by myself. Other Dinoland CPs were trained in small groups, and while I liked being alone because I probably got a more customized experience, it was kind of annoying that I was held up from meeting new people for a couple of days. The training schedule was also weird to me. There are certain things that you only do in training that you don't regularly do, so the first couple of days on my own were a little bit confusing because of this.
Oh, and of course, once we went to Traditions (on the first Thursday we arrived), we've been able to go to the parks for free, so that's where most of my free time has gone! Up next, more details of Dinoland training, and apartment info!
Thanks for reading! :)
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