First Day at the Disney College Program

It’s over, finally. “It” being my Disney College program orientation. It’s a day I’ve been looking forward to since I was accepted to the program last year. Then the day finally came, throwing me into a nervous flurry, and a couple of weeks prior to the big day, I just wanted it to be over with. When I got to the Vista Way apartments, saw the line, and that feeling increased tenfold. Lucky for me, that was only one of many lines I would have to wait in during my near eight-hour day.

Patterson, where I live

First, I got to meet my room mate, Livingston Denegre-Vaught, who was kind enough to give me, and another DCP Cast member, Darius, whom I met in the lobby of my hotel a ride to Vista way. All three of us had packed as much as possible, and Livingston and his mother had rented a compact Kia. The luggage was packed so tight, seat belts would have been redundant.

Then we arrived at Vista, and got to wait in line and meet some more DCP members, all of which lived in either Texas or to the East of it. Not many people from the West coast here, I guess they all went with the familiar. Not me, I want to learn as much about the domestic Disney parks as possible.

Then we got to the front of the line, signed some papers, then signed some more papers, then some more. We got to choose where we lived, and Livingston and I chose the newest apartment complex, Patterson, in a three room apartment, so we have four other room mates. Well we should have four others, but one never got here, so the first person Livingston and I met, Jacob from Louisiana, gets to have the room to himself, for now. Lucky him.

It was back to the busses it was back to Vista at 12:30, so in between we ate lunch and unpacked, which consisted of putting our bags in our rooms and taking off.

We got on a bus and it was off to the casting building, where I learned that I will be working outdoor quick service food and beverage at the big kahuna, The Magic Kingdom. Our fingerprints were taken, we got instructions for the next couple of days, and finally got a PhotoPass picture taken to commemorate the busy, monumental day.

The casting building, where I spend a good portion of the day

We were wiped out, me having only gotten 5 hours of sleep due to my West Coast time zone state of mind and general excitement about the day. We had to go shopping at Walmart for some of the essentials, then came back to meet our other room mates, Cameron from Texas and Sean from Detroit. To celebrate the end of the day and the meeting of new friends, we headed over to Downtown Disney and had some grub at the House of Blues, where I polished off everyones’ plates that didn’t finish. Now it’s 12:51 a.m., I’m writing this and about to go to bed. Then I have to wake up in time to get to the 9:45 housing meeting.

It’s been busy, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been exciting, even with the monotony. The day after tomorrow, I get to participate in Traditions, where I will get my Disney ID and name tag. Then, on Saturday, training starts and the whole thing gets rolling!