Disney College Program: Day One

(I'm posting this today, but I wrote it last night)

Hey, Howdy, Hey! Well, today was crazy! Let me start from the beginning.

I was scheduled to arrive at the Vista Way Welcome Center at 11 a.m. and was instructed not to get there any sooner. Due to the fact that my car might not make it, I left early and safely arrived at around 10:15 only to be told by the smiling, friendly Cast Member to U-turn and come back later. After waiting it out at the nearby Walgreens, I was finally cleared to enter (“Follow the purple signs!”). My previous studies of the DCP check in days on YouTube had shown me infinitely long lines of people sweating in the Florida sun. According to everybody, these were the first friends you would make and the people you would first explore the parks with. What I saw when I arrived was long sections of partitions set up to form a line, but nobody in them. As I approached the building, I began searching for where I was supposed to go and noticed another freshly shaven male doing the same. This was our conversation:

ME:

(pointing)

Hey man, I think we go in over there.

SMOOTH CHEEKED MALE:

(follows)

ME:

So, where are you arriving from?

SMOOTH CHEEKED MALE:

Arizona.

ME:

Wow! Did you fly or drive??

SMOOTH CHEEKED MALE:

Drive.

ME:

Dang, I bet you’re glad to be here!

SMOOTH CHEEKS:

Ya.

ME:

Cool, well I actually just came from Orlando

so it was only like 40 mins…

CHEEKS:

Cool.

So, as you probably already guessed, it didn’t seem like Arizona really wanted a new friend. We arrived at the door, were given temporary nametag stickers (fashioned in the recognizable Disney nametag design) and were ushered inside. Things were just getting started.

I approached a table and a Cast Member asked for my name. BAM! “Patrick, you’re at Animal Kingdom. Stroller rentals,” the CM responded as she slammed a sticker onto my new Program Guide. A role assignment already? I was barely inside! It was interesting to watch this process happen to other CP’s after me, their four month fate being forcefully thrust onto them in the blink of an eye by a Cast Member whose life was completely unaffected by the action. After this shocking moment, I was shooed down the line to where a CM checked me out to make sure I had abided by the Disney Look (Full beards only! Only moustaches that connect! Wait, didn’t Walt only have a little stache?) and was then sent to a table where another shock was thrown my way. BAM! “Vista Way. 3 bedrooms.” Vista Way? My top three (I had ranked my housing preferences before arriving) had included every housing complex BUT Vista Way. Before I could even think about this second fateful decision locking into place, I was again whooshed down the line to another CM who gave me 0.56 seconds to smile for a photo. I again followed the line to a row of…coffee machines?? I was told by this new CM that they were in fact printing out our photo, not forcing us to drink caffeine like many before me had also thought. I had a laugh about this with another new CP in front of me and thought, “This is it. This is the new friend. We are about to swap names, roles, stories, shoe sizes and soon enough we’ll be exploring Epcot together. ‘Remember that time when we met in line,’ he’ll ask me later in our program. ‘Of course’ I’ll giggle as we plummet backwards down the falls of Maelstrom, barely escaping the trolls.” But then our potential friendship was severed in the next destination, an outside patio, as we were each sent separate ways. I joined a table of six females as a CM explained to us that we were to head to Casting at 3:30 later that day. After a couple more room changes like this, I was finally coughed back out into the street, a free tote bag in my hand, and not one friend more than when I had started. This was such an interesting process and a great example of how Disney can work as a well-oiled machine, but sometimes felt like a cold, impersonal journey that could make someone feel like another number in the computer.  

Since I had a couple of hours to kill before Casting, I headed to my new Vista Way apartment. I surprisingly lucked out with a building that sits on a lake (think retention pond with ducks) and is also near the Clubhouse (main hangout spot). I walked in to find two of my new roommates, Ray and Scott, sitting on the couch. After exchanging a couple words with them, they seemed relieved to know that I was “pretty normal”. The apartment has a kitchen, 2 refrigerators, a living room, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. I soon moved in with Yuri and snagged a bed with a nice “lake” view. After meeting the rest of the roommates (Josh and Ben) we all took a break from unpacking to grab some lunch.

A couple hours later and I was ready for Casting! Ben and I headed out after discovering we had the same time. The bus that we took (buses are the main form of transportation to everywhere!) was led by an ever-smiling CM whose dream, it seemed, was to be a Jungle Cruise skipper due to his many sarcastic jokes that were nothing more than Jungle Cruise joke rip-offs. After the traditional “Everybody scream when we pass through the Disney entrance” we arrived at the Casting Center, an awesome looking building that I had seen many times from I-4. For the first time, I learned that its design was modeled after the Argyle socks that Walt Disney used to wear. Now we’re talking. After spotting the amazing doorknobs that were an exact replica of the Alice in Wonderland doorknob, we were sent into the main Atrium, a beautifully designed room with golden statues of various Disney characters. What followed was very similar to the Welcome Center, being thrust around from room to room getting this and that signed, getting my fingerprints taken, and being assigned for training. I was scheduled for Traditions (the magical orientation that every Disney Cast Member must go through) on Thursday and training on Friday. So, two days of free time (and no I can’t get into the parks yet). Bummer. I was ready to jump into things!

I returned back from Casting exhausted to find all of the roommates hanging out. We decided to go to Downtown Disney for dinner, but I won’t bore you with the details of that. Luckily, I’ve been placed with a great group of guys, and by the end of the day it was as if we had been friends for a long time.

And with that, my first day of the DCP came to an end. It was an exciting day, but one where you are only briefly introduced to that magic that lies ahead and instead find out that your sink already doesn’t work. It was extremely similar to the first day of college. All around you, people are asking, “What role are you?” and making connections through their hometowns. Things are definitely already looking up and I’m really looking forward to getting started.

Until Traditions, see ya.

P.W.