This is my last blog post about my program. In summary, I’d say this is probably one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am so glad I decided to go out of my comfort zone and apply for the Disney World College Program. I have learned so many things while being here. I continue to grow more and more as a person while I am here growing my character. I have met so many people from all over the world and I am super grateful for that. I am going to be heart broken to leave. I love my job and my coworkers I can’t imagine life without them. Everyday at work I enjoy being around such caring and generous people. If I ever were to work for the Walt Disney Company again I would definitely want to venture out to new areas but if I worked for WDW I would want to stay at my home location. I got super super lucky with my role. Everyday is easy, rarely ever stressful, everyone is super nice, I have fun literally everyday.

At first, I wanted a role in the parks, but now I see how lucky I got. People in the parks are always in a bad mood, they are tired, they are annoyed, they payed good money to be there and if things don’t go their way they take it out on the cast members. Where I work everyone is super rich because it is the most expensive hotel on Disney property so they tend to be very nice. They always buy everything and money is never an issue. It makes me laugh when someone will buy 10 smart waters for like $40 instead of a pack of smart waters at the store for like $8. I love seeing little girls dressed as princesses come in to order food it makes me so happy. 9/10 times the guests are super friendly, of course there is a small precent of rude people but that would be anywhere really. All my coworkers are so friendly too. I have made such a great group of friends. We go to Wawa every night after our closing shift. All four of them are always there for me and make me feel so loved. I am so happy to have them in my life.

If anyone asked me if I recommend the program I would say yes. It is a toll on your body though, I work extremely hard and barely make enough money to buy groceries if I want to go out and have fun. My best advice would be to take advantage of everything they offer. I did a backstage tour of the new Star Wars Hotel and it was awesome. I wish I had signed up for more backstage tours of the rides I just never found the time, but I should have. Overall, I think the program has helped me grow more as a person than almost any other experience of my life, other than maybe me moving across country for the first time completely by myself. I am so blessed to have had this opportunity and I would encourage anyone interested to look into it and apply!! It really was the best decision I ever made.

This past week was probably one of the greatest times of my life. All my hard work led up to this. My mom hasn’t been to DisneyWorld in over 15 years. She loves Disney but was just never able to afford it. With my college program, I was able to get 4 free tickets into the park, with my own money able to buy 2 more, and with the help of a friend able to get 2 more free tickets. This gave me a total of 8 free tickets which gave us a total of 4 park days together as a family, my mom, sister and I. I also got a 50% off discount at the hotel we stayed at and was able to find a super cheap flight for them to fly all the way from Nevada to Florida.

We did everything together, I took them on every ride, I took them to my work, and we spend so much quality time together. I made so many memories with them that I will never forget. I cherished every moment with them, I hadn’t seen them since the first week of January so I missed them greatly. It was so amazing to see my moms reactions to new experiences. I got to take them both on some of my favorite rides and seeing their smile made my entire life worth living. They were so grateful for all that I did for them and I was so lucky and blessed to have been able to basically take care of half their trip. I also payed for a super nice meal at a restaurant in the parks that I would’ve never been able to afford before. It was expensive but because of my job, I had the money for it. It made me feel good being able to take care of them.

Of all people who have visited me, I think I am the most grateful for these two. Taking time off work and school to see me. It was incredibly difficult to put all this together but in the end it all worked out and I am so happy that it did. I hope someday in the future I’ll be able to take them again but next time cover everything. Not a single penny out their pocket. But for now I am so grateful for the many opportunities I have had to be able to treat my family to a wonderful vacation.

Once I got into the program I immediately asked a ton of my friends if they would want to come visit me at some point while I was in Disney since I would get free passes and discounts. I had a few friends who said they wanted to visit but we never got to planning it. Three of my friends immediately got to planning. One of them was my friend named Joanna. We went to high school together and were super close for a long time. I called her and within one night we planned the entire trip. I was so excited for her to come.

I was lucky enough to get the day off for her to visit. She brought her boyfriend with her so she wouldn’t have to travel alone. This was my first time meeting him. He was super nice and I am honestly glad that he came. I never once felt like I was third wheeling, it felt like a group vacation it was a blast. They payed for a really nice breakfast for me the first day which was really sweet. We went on every ride each day at every park. This was Joanna’s and her boyfriends first time at Disney World so I wanted to give them a memorable experience. They have both been to Disneyland many times before and I was worried they were going to like Disneyland more than World because a lot of people say that.

By the end of the trip they both agreed Disney World is way better than Land and that made me so happy. They stayed at a resort and I stayed at my apartment just so it wasn’t weird for her boyfriend since he didn’t know me all that well at first which I had no problem with. We had so much fun and ate such good food. They also payed for a really nice dinner at a super cool sci fyi restaurant in Hollywood Studios where you eat inside a car at a drive in movie. They were super grateful and honestly it felt like such a fun vacation with one of my friends I truly had an amazing time and it made me so happy to give two people a great first time experience at Disney World.

I am behind in my blog posts but I am going to still continue to write them in chronological order. This story is going to be from the second to last week of February.

My grandpa, his girlfriend, and my two cousins had plans to go to DisneyWorld that just so happen to be during my program. My grandpa knowing this wanted me to be involved in the entire trip. I was lucky enough to get four days off to spend that time with them. It felt like I was on vacation. Even though I live at Disney, it is just 100 times more fun when I am there with family because they are a part of making the memories. I was on cloud nine. I was so happy. We did all the rides, my grandpa bought us the fast passes so we were able to do everything and I truly enjoyed my time with them. I got to stay at a super nice resort with them called Animal Kingdom Lodge which was so beautiful. It was nice to get out of my apartment and feel like I was on a trip with my family, even though I live there.

On the third day of the trip my grandpa realized that my cousins didn’t have to go back to school for another two days so he extended their trip by an extra day. He moved their flights, got a new hotel, and bought tickets to universal studios. He asked if I wanted to join them which of course I did. It took a long time for me to get my shift covered but luckily I did. It was literally the day before Universal that I had to Uber to the resort that I work at, go into the office, fill out the paper for someone to cover my shift, then I took a bus to Hollywood Studios to meet up with my family. Thank goodness for the guy who covered my shift or else I would’ve had to go from Universal and Uber to work which would’ve not been as fun. I was so grateful to get the day off so I had a stress free time with my family there. It was blast and we had so much fun. My grandpa got us the express VIP pass so we walked onto every single ride which was amazing. We didn’t wait in a single line. We ate such good food and made so many memories. I was really sad when they left but it was great having that time with some familiar faces as I haven’t seen any of my family in months.

When I first got into the program I had a really rough time making new friends. I felt like there were not a lot of opportunities offered to go out and meet people. Or maybe there was and I just didn’t take them. I was shy for some reason since I am normally an outgoing person, and it was difficult for me to talk to people other than my roommates. Once I started work I immediately made new friends. It was going great, we would hang out all the time, go to the parks before our shift, talk during work, and overall just spend lots of time together.

For whatever reason I decided to become best friends with the CP’s who were ending their program a month into mine. Meaning, I have just recently had to say goodbye to so many people that I was so close too. Some of them from the US but a few of them were from other countries like Brazil and Mexico. It is sad because it is likely I won’t ever see them again or if I do, it won’t be for a long long time.

This was sad for me and I am not sure why I decided to spend my time and invest in people who were just going to leave anyway. I am grateful for my time with them and I miss them greatly but now I am stuck with the same problem I had in the beginning. I have good coworker friends who I talk to at work all the time but I truly don’t have a single person I think I could go to if I wanted to go to the parks with someone. All those people have left. I am trying to build stronger bonds with my coworkers in hopes to have what I had with my previous friends but it is very hard. It is tiring having to put in all the effort into making new friends again when I just did that less than a month ago.

I am working on pushing myself out there more than I normally do so hopefully I can make some closer friends that I can hang out with outside of work. I think I will be able too it just might take sometime. I have to be patient and know that it is going to take work, but I am willing to do it.

My first month with Disney has honestly been incredible. I have learned a lot and I am grateful for all the experiences I have had. I love my job and I love my coworkers. There are only a few sort of “complaints” I would have but they are really and truly only small and minor things. I overall am so grateful for my role. I work at a small quick service restaurant in the nicest hotel on Disney Property. While it can get busy, most of the guests are very nice and rarely ever do I come across rude people. I have friends in other work locations who tell me other wise.

People who work in attractions say they get rude people all the time and I am so glad I don’t have that. I have only felt overwhelmed twice since I have been at this job which is big for me to say since when I worked at Chick Fil A for two years I would I was probably overwhelmed three times a week. At Disney everyone is super understanding and kind and helpful.

I feel bad sometimes because I always have questions on dumb things but my leaders are always there to help me. They never put me down for not knowing something and constantly tell me how proud they are of me. I get recognized a lot for going above and beyond which feels great. All my coworkers are super fun and it really feels like they have welcomed me into their family. I can’t wait to spend more time making friends and bonding and getting to know the team at Gasparilla Grill.

Going in chronological order, when I last wrote on here, I had mentioned I had a few days off. Those two days I went to two of the different parks. I had a blast and made a few new friends each of those days. I went with one friend who is very outgoing and she ended up finding random people on the bus who were also in the college program to go to the parks with us. Almost all the friends I have made, other than coworkers, have been found on the bus. CPs are always going to the parks alone and it’s fun to find someone to hang out with and talk too. There are so many different types of people I have meet which has been super interesting! I have started to make a lot of friends with my coworkers as well. I am sad though because most of the friends I have made at work are ending their program in the next two weeks. They are from the groups that started in the fall.

Everyone at my job is so nice and understanding! I have gone out a couple times with some girls after a closing shift to get Wawa which has been really fun. I also went to Animal kingdom one day before work with a friend of a friend which was really exciting. It is so baffling to me that I can just go to the parks before work. Every time I think about it my mind is blown. Like truly, I can go whenever I want. The advice many CPs have given me is to not go everyday because then 1) I’ll be super exhausted and 2) I will get tired of them and I won’t enjoy them as much. So I’ve decided to only go to the parks whenever people invite me or if I really am in the mood to go. I won’t go every single day even though I technically can.

I also started working at a new location!!! For my job we have two locations, our main restaurant and our pool bar. I started at the pool bar around the last week of January. It is definitely my favorite one because it is so easy and fun to work at. They always give us free food there and my leaders are much more relaxed. I feel it is much more of a stress free environment. It has been super slow at the pool bar location but I know it will pick up the hotter it gets outside because more people will be going to the pool. I also had a friend from stetson tell me they were in Orlando and asked if I wanted to hang out. It was perfect because it was my only day off that week so I was able to go out in Orlando with her for the day.

The next day at work I was almost late because the bus was 5 minutes behind schedule. This may not seem like a big deal but I literally had to run from the bus stop to clock in and I made it exactly on time thank goodness but still I was in a rush. I have had a super difficult time with the buses lately. The next day the bus was also running late so I was 1 minute late. Disney takes being late, even if it is just by a minute, as a very big deal. If you are late three times in 30 days you get a half a point. If you get 3 points you get marked down I forget what they call it but if you get 3 of those then you get terminated. The next day was my friends birthday so we went out to Epcot to celebrate with a group of friends. They all had the day off so they all stayed out but I left early. I took the monorail over to Magic Kingdom. I had gotten there about 2 hours early and didn’t want to just wait at the hotel so I went into Magic Kingdom. I saw a parade which was super nice and I should have left it at that. Instead I pushed it and I went on a ride. The line got longer when I was in it or else I probably wouldn’t have gotten on in the first place. I was so sure I was going to make it in perfect timing but I was wrong. It was mostly because I had to monorail back to the resort I work at and my resort is the last stop on the monorail. I ended up being 8 minutes late. I was so disappointed in myself that day. I took full ownership and apologized as it was no one fault other than my own that I was late. They were pretty nice about it but I just felt super bad because I should’ve planned my timing better. If I had just not gotten on the ride I would’ve been on time. That day at work was super hard. It was one of those days where one bad thing after another happens, I messed up about 7 times on small little things but adding them all together made me feel horrible. My leaders were super nice and forgiving but I still felt bad myself. It was my second day ever being completely alone so I wasn’t 100% what I was doing.

The next day I went to Hollywood studios before work with some coworkers who started 15 minutes before me and had a car so I knew I wasn’t going to be late. We had a blast there and we all got out paycheck that morning so we were able to buy food at the parks! Yesterday I just woke up and got ready for work I didn’t do anything before or after. It was a much better day. I got put on my two favorite positions, got an hour break during a 9 hour shift, and I had a really good day overall.

Today is my only day off for the week so my best friend is driving from Stetson to see me! We are going to go out to Orlando and maybe do some shopping. I am very much enjoying my program so far. I have had good days and I have had bad but overall I am very grateful for what experiences I’ve had so far!

Since my last post there have been a lot of major events! I earned my ears which was amazing! They had a bunch of us in a big room and went over safety and all of Disney’s important rules with us. Then they gave us a pair of mickey ears and our name tag. It was so incredible to see my name and Stetson University on a Walt Disney World name tag. It was truly a dream come true. Also mickey mouse came into the room for a bit which was super awesome.

After that, I had a few days off before I went straight to work so I spent some time doing school work, relaxing, hanging out with my roommate, and other things. We didn’t have our park entrances yet so I couldn’t go to the parks. My first day at the Grand Floridian was very good. We had an orientation where we went over the language Disney uses, the safety tips, and other important rules for us to follow.

I’ve noticed how important and serious Disney takes certain things that other companies don’t emphasize as much as Disney does. For example, Disney is very adamant about keeping all the areas clean. Everything is being cleaning constantly and every night at closing things I didn’t even think needed to be cleaned are cleaned very thoroughly. It honestly shocked me how many times we clean everyday things that I truly hadn’t even considered cleaning before. We even cleaned the cleaning supplies which was a surprise for me. I worked at Chick Fil A for two years and while a lot of things between these two companies are similar, I have to admit Disney does everything Chick Fil A does but like triples it.

Besides that, at orientation we did a walking tour of the whole property which was awesome. I’ve stayed at the Grand before so I knew were mostly everything was but it was nice to get an extra look into it. We also got to see inside a room of the Disney Vacation Club members. The Grand has the most expensive rooms on property other than the new Star Wars resort that was just recently built.

The next day I did some other training on the computers as we had a lot of information we needed to learn. Things such a food safety, the rules for alcohol servings, language, and many other important Disney guidelines. Also, we got to try free food which was super good! Then the day after was our first real day of hands on training. I worked super early in the morning. I woke up at 3:45AM to get to my 6AM shift. I will most likely never have to do that again considering they mostly have DCP kids working at night. The breakfast was good, mostly just waffles and other basic breakfast items. I learned how to make many different types of coffee and waffles. I was very exhausted by the end of that day but then I made a new friend. Her and I went to Disney Springs, I had never been before!! It is just like a shopping center but with all Disney stuff. We get a 40% off discount so I bought a lot of things. Then the next day I worked a 4 to closing shift. We also got free food this night which was amazing. I learned how to bag the food, do general stocking, and clean the dining room. The firework show at Magic Kingdom is at a park range of distance from our resort so guests always go outside the restaurant I work at to go watch it! Since it was our first night, we got to watch it as well with them!! It made me honestly so happy. Then I closed which was definitely a new experience because I’ve never closed anywhere before.

The next day we did some more training making chicken nuggets and frys in the fryer, which I have never done before, and other ways we clean our area. I made more friends and a few of them drove me home so I wouldn’t have to take the bus at 1AM. We stopped at Wawa too which was fun! I am really liking my job the more comfortable I get. I still have three more days of training, two at this location, and then one at the location that is like a little hut outside the pool called “Beaches” so I am excited to learn there as well!!

People don’t joke around when they talk about how organized but also intense the Disney training process is. I am enjoying it a lot but I am also very exhausted. Luckly, the next two days, after today, I get off so I will be going to Magic kingdom and Hollywood Studios with a friend on those two days. We finally got our free park admission so now I can go to the parks whenever I want which is amazing!!! I hope to make more friends so I have lots of people to go with!!

Today I have another closing shift and I think I am training on the register so that should be interesting. More to come but so far have had a wonderful experience with the company!!

On January 9th, I officially started the Disney College Program. It was a very interesting experience. I did it all on my own, no parents, friends, or anyone I knew. I took an Uber from my hotel to the apartment complex. I checked in with my ID and gave them my luggage.

Once I did that, I went on a bus and went to the other apartment complex. I followed a line of other people who also visibly were brand new like me and we went onto a grassy field. We then all filled out a form on our phone and had someone check that we completed it. From there we went into a room for a 15 minute presentation talking about the general rules for the program. Basic things like don’t have drugs in your room, don’t have guests past 1AM, paying your electricity bill, etc. It was very helpful and answered many of my questions. After that they took our photo for our ID and then we left. At first I was honestly a bit lost and confused as it only took up about 3 hours of the day. I had nothing else planned to do that day. I understand a lot of people had their parents there so they all went out with their families but I was completely alone so I just walked to my apartment.

Right when I walked in there was one of my roommates in the living room. I have 3 roommates, 2 live on one side of the apartment and the other 1 lives a door away from me and we share a bathroom together. The roommate I met was 1 of the 2 from the other side. She’s been in the program since November and is leaving in February. She works at Animal Kingdom and she has really enjoyed the program. Both the other two roommates from the other side are from Brazil which is super cool! I then walked into my room which I loved!!!!! It is my own private room with a big window, a perfect size closet with mirror doors, a queen bed, and a dresser. It is the perfect room I am so happy and I can’t wait to decorate it more!!! Then you walk out the room into my shared bathroom with my roommate. It is two sinks with a huge mirror and lots of under cabinet space. There is also another door connecting to the bathroom with a toilet and shower. I also forgot to mention there is a full kitchen and living room!!!!! The kitchen has everything you could think of and the living room is perfect. It is a major upgrade from my dorm room!! I love the space so much and I couldn’t be more grateful.

I spent a lot of time enjoying this brand new addition to my life then I started to unpack. I realized I needed a few more things so I walked 15 minutes to the target across the street. I got bed sheets and some groceries. I felt like a grown up getting my own groceries for my apartment. Then I came back, took a nap, then did some more unpacking. My roommate came in later that night and she was so nice!! Her and I have gotten along very well. The first day, while being a bit stressful, was overall a super fun and great experience.

The next day went by extremely quick. I woke up, got background checked/finger printed, did my online class, then I went to a welcome event, got boba with my roommate, and went back to the apartment. It wasn’t super eventful but still a good day.

Today as I am writing this blog post it is my third day. All I’ve done today is get up and do some online work. I have an important event in about 2 hours that I am going too. I will write more about that later.

So far this experience has been really interesting as I am learning so much more and more about what it is like to be alone in the real world. More to come!