A Very General Update

It's been way too long since my last post to try and go through the daily events that have happened to me, so instead I'll just hit the major ones.

I've gotten to do a few fun events since the last time I posted, including riding Space Mountain with the lights on, a backstage tour of Tower of Terror, and a tour of Walt's apartment.

Space Mountain isn't nearly as fun with the lights on, but I suppose it was pretty cool to see what the track looked like.

The Tower of Terror tour was pretty interesting, but really short. I get the feeling it wasn't planned very well, since our tour guides didn't really know what to talk about. I did get to walk on both of the floors that the elevator stops at though, which was pretty cool (they even played the scene out with us standing there). I also got to ride it with the lights on and realized it's much scarier that way, since you have no clue when you're going to drop.

Last but not least, Walt's apartment was another fairly cool tour. Although, I expected it to be bigger than it actually was.

As for my job, I currently have 3 locations I'm trained in within the Vacation Planning role.

The main location is the Ticket Booths, which are any of the eight booths located at the entrance to the parks. This is definitely my least favorite location as the booths are really cramped and not fun to sit in all day.

The other location I'm normally in a few times a week is Toy Story parking lot. This is definitely my favorite location, since the tickets we sell here are much simpler. We roll out carts in the morning with computers on them and try and save people from waiting in the ticket booth lines (which can get long) by selling them there tickets in the parking lot. The only difference is we only take debit/credit and don't sell any annual passes, which makes my job MUCH easier. There's also more guest interaction in this location since we also get sent out to "ambassador" by informing guests that they can purchase their tickets before they arrive at the parks.

The most recent location I've been trained in is the AP centers. There's one located in both of the parks, and essentially we take pictures for annual passes. Other than that, it's pretty much the same as the booths (although we only handle annual pass related concerns) except it's inside the parks and isn't nearly as cramped.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting to update on, but that's for another day since I have to get going!

A Lot To Cover!

Forgive me for not updating my blog in a while. Obviously I've been much more busy since I started working and today has been one of the few days that I haven't had anything to do. I'm going to be covering the last few weeks here, so I may gloss over a few things since they aren't really fresh in my mind.

8/21/10

This was my first day of training, called "Traditions". Essentially it was an 8-hour presentation designed to get you excited about working for Disney. They talked about the past, present, and future of the company. A lot of people complained about it being boring, but I don't think those people are truly "Disney people". I enjoyed it very much and so did everyone I came with. It didn't really discuss any job specifics, since everyone in the auditorium had different roles. It was more designed to show that every role is equally important and everyone has the opportunity to create magic for the guests. This was also they day that I received my cast member ID, which meant free admission into the parks!

8/22/10

On my second day of training, everyone was split up into smaller groups related to their roles. I had Park Operations, which included Vacation Planners, Attractions, Custodial and a few other areas related to the operation of both parks. This day was a little less exciting that Traditions, since it got into the more boring yet necessary aspects of our jobs such as safety. Luckily, we also got to go on a tour of Disneyland towards the end of the day. Park Operations was the only group that got to ride an attraction (Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blaster) since we had the Attraction cast members in our group. It was a pretty interesting tour and I definitely learned a few things I didn't know before.

Sadly I have to leave for work now, but I promise I'll fill in the rest of the days soon. I've started posting all of my pictures from the program in a single album (able to be seen by anyone) so that they're easier to find. You can check it out here.

Check-In and Orientation

Today appears to be my only day off for a while, so I figured I'd give a quick update as to what I've been doing since I arrived in Anaheim.

Wednesday was check-in. I got there around 7:15am for my 8am check-in and there was already a decently long line. After checking-in at the front of the apartments, we moved up to a patio section on the second story to complete the move-in process. There we figured out how we were going to pay for the program (I paid in advance so I didn't have to worry about this). Then we filled out forms confirming we were eligible to work and got our parking passes as well as free bus passes. After that we were free to move into our apartments. The entire time I was going through the check-in process I had people telling me how great my room was. Apparently it's one of the biggest apartments in the complex and after visiting other people's apartments I definitely believe them. Overall it's a really nice place, even if the area surrounding it isn't all that nice. I also got the second closest parking structure, which isn't all that far compared to the third. Later on I met my roommates who are all great (one already lived here and was sleeping when I arrived) and attended a housing meeting (they discussed a few things about the apartments and the program in general). The only thing I did after that was go grocery shopping and take my dad back to his hotel.

Thursday was Orientation. It was a 3-hour presentation about what to expect from the program. We also got to sign up for our classes, as well as choose our preferred days off (we get two a week). After Orientation there was an info fair. Most of it was spent waiting in line (I didn't even get to all the stations), but I did receive some free stuff so I guess in the end it was worth it. After that I was able to meet up with some people I knew from facebook and pretty much spent the entire night hanging out.

Today is the Welcome Party in front of the building and tomorrow I have my first paid day of training called Traditions (I'll write more about that tomorrow). Overall the program is going great and I'm definitely looking forward to starting my job as a Vacation Planner (aka Ticket Seller)!

Here's some links to pictures I took of various things:

-The road trip down

-Universal Studios Hollywood (I went there with my dad a few days before check-in)

-My apartment

Roommate Notification

With my arrival date fast approaching, I figured I'd give you guys an update on what's been happening the past few weeks.

First of all, I finished my spring classes. That means that I won't be going back to school until January 2011. It's weird to think about.

I've also gotten multiple e-mails from Disney pertaining to the college program. Most of these are about what I need to do before I arrive in California. So far I've gotten e-mails about the "The Disney Look", parking (we have to park in lots separate from our apartments), housing payments, and renter's insurance. I also received an e-mail a few days ago with the name of one of my roommates. Surprisingly enough, he is actually part of the "Disneyland College Program Fall 2010" facebook group and we had talked a few days before. We haven't really talked much since, but it seems like we shouldn't have too much trouble getting along.

Only 44 days left until I move to California!

Formspring

Here's a quick formspring update. I haven't gotten many questions, but I figured I need to post something during this long stretch of time before my arrival date.

Your left... no right side GOD ANDREW I LOVE YOU,....ONLY IN DISNEY LAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD

Thanks ;-)

when is the next vlog

I probably won't be posting another vlog until closer to my arrival date (August 18th). There won't be much to talk about before then, so I'll do one right before I leave and hopefully I'll have time to post more regularly while I'm in Disneyland.

This blog will likely be pretty lifeless for the next few months. I'm done with the winter semester (I've moved on to spring classes) and haven't heard anything from Disney since being accepted. If I get any kind of news worth sharing I'll definitely post it, but don't expect much until at least August.

Credit Update

I recently got in contact with my financial aid office about my scholarship, since I was really worried about having to balance online classes with work in Disneyland. Luckily I found out that I'd be able to keep my scholarship in the fall without taking 12 credits. Rather than taking 12 at one time, I'll be taking 7 in the spring (may-june) and 6 in the fall. They'll split my scholarship up so that I receive half in the spring and half in the fall, so I'll still get the full amount.

This means that I can focus purely on working and taking a few classes offered by Disney while I'm in California. This is definitely a relief since I feel like I will have much more time to have fun and not be stressed out all the time. I will also be taking a semester off from my Japanese studies while I'm down there, so hopefully the smaller load will give me more time to review so that I don't forget everything by the time I start full-time again in the Winter.

Credit

Since I haven't posted in a while, I figured I'd update you guys on a meeting I had with my advisor recently about what kind of credit I can get on the program.

First of all, I'm only getting three credits for the working part of the program. The reason why it's not more is because I'm doing the program as a co-op (required of my major) which is only 3 credit hours. It requires 600 hours of work experience, so unless I work more than 1200 hours I won't be getting anymore than 3.

Luckily I can get some credit for the classes they offer, but it may not be exactly what you think. My program doesn't really differentiate between the different classes offered, so collegiate courses are worth no more than the lecture series. My advisor said I could receive 3 credits of Independent Study if I take 2 classes while I'm down there. She said it doesn't matter which ones I take, as long I bring back my "Ducktorate" to show her (to prove I actually attended and passed). I'll probably be taking the easiest classes I can, mainly because...

I'll be taking two online classes while I'm down there. I haven't mentioned this yet, but I have a small scholarship at my school and I have to remain a full-time student to maintain it. That means I need to take at least 12 credit hours every semester. I get six from the program itself, so that leaves at least 6 to fill up with online credits. The two classes I plan on taking are a writing class required for my major and a science class which gets rid of the final gen ed required for me to graduate. These definitely wouldn't be my first choices for online classes, but because I'm almost finished with all of my general requirements and my major refuses to offer much in terms of online credits I don't really have much of a choice. I'm hoping these classes won't take up too much of my time, so that I can have the opportunity to at least have a little fun.

I'm kind of bummed that I couldn't just get 12 credits for doing the program, but I also feel lucky since I know some people have schools that don't recognize the program at all (leaving them with no choice but to take 12 credits worth of online classes). I've heard that 2 online classes is manageable on the program, so I'm trying not to let that get me down too much. The only thing I'm worried about is that these classes may be too hard, since I don't really have any "fluff" classes left to take. Nonetheless, I'm still super excited about the program which is approaching very slowly (although with summer coming up, hopefully it will get here faster).

What do you guys think, is two online classes (along with work and two disney classes) too much? Has anyone done the program and taken online classes at the same time? If so, was it hard? I'd love to hear your guy's opinions on the matter.