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You guys are amazing! I never thought this blog was going to be anything when I started it out. I started this blog to semi-journal my DCP experiences. Never did I think so many people would be interested in reading it. THANK YOU!!!

Dapper Day

Since Fall 2015 Dapper Day is right around the corner I decided to make a post about this past Spring Dapper Day! I am excited for the Fall Dapper Day because it should be cooler outside. The spring event was so extremely hot and miserable. I have no clue how the ladies in heels, long dresses, and wigs handled the heat.

Becky was very dedicated for Dapper Day and wore heels!

For Fall Dapper Day I have decided that I am going to do the "full out" thing and just go to the park for an hour or two. Here are some of my thoughts for outfits and hair inspiration. I can't decided if I want to go for the 1920's look or the vintage nautical style, or something totally different. 

Taylor Swift's style is also a huge inspiration for my Dapper Day attire!

Hoop Dee Doo Revue- A Review

Hoop De Dee Revue is one of the best valued things to do at disney, as a cast member. Cast members can receive up to 50% off HDDR almost all throughout the year. HDDR usually costs around $70-80 depending on where you sit. For a cast member you pay $35 (ish) and that includes: All you can eat dinner, All you can drink beer wine and sangria, and a wonderful show (gratuities are also included)! The pricing depends on what area you sit in. I don't recommend the tier 1 seating unless the budget isn't important. The performers wander throughout the entire venue and the worst seats don't seem too bad. The food at HDDR is southern home cookin' type food. They generally serve buckets of fried chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes, veggies, corn bread, salad, and strawberry shortcake for dessert! When I visited HDDR I was still only eating fish. Luckily Disney is the best at accommodating dietary restrictions. I was able to have a WONDERFUL plate of salmon on a huge bed of veggies. If you are a mac and cheese lover make sure to ask for it. The mac and cheese isn't advertised, but you can certainly order it for no charge. As a pescetarian I was given a special menu upon being seated. I informed my server that I did not eat chicken or ribs. The menu had a pasta option and a veggie plate option as well. You do not have to make any special arrangements ahead of time for the special dinners. The speciality plates are not all you can eat, but no worries the portions are HUGE and you can still devour all of the side dishes you wish!

Pre Dinner Photos- Please note the cowboys boots :)

This is a cute photo op outside of the restaurant 

Our view- Category 2 seating 

Mashed Potatoes

Bucket of fried chicken

Meat eater plate

Corn

Pescetarian Dish. AMAZING

DCP Arrivals

Yesterday I got to experience the DCP arrival process from the other side. My shift yesterday involved working the DCP check ins. It was so much fun getting to assist new CPs with their first day. It made me miss being in the DCP (take me back!). If I could give any advice to new CPs it would be to live it up! Go out , have fun, sleep later, make friends! The DCP is such a unique amazing experience, and you need to enjoy every second of it.

Also if you are checking in on Sept 8th  I will be working the event again, so please say hello! :)

DCP Housing Tour- Chatham

One of the most exciting parts of the DCP is housing. You have the opportunity to live with new people from all around the world. I was in a 3 bedroom unit in Chatham Square. There were 6 girls total. Here are some photos of our unit! Chatham is my favorite complex. I love how it is in the center of Patterson and The Commons so it makes hanging out with friends easy. I also love the social aspect of Vista Way, but the units aren't as nice. Patterson has the most updated units. The Commons has some of the best floor plans. Honestly, any complex is fine!

I put fabric around my bulletin board to make it prettier

Bed is on risers and curtains are hung with tension rod

Hung frame and jewelry with command hooks

guess which clothes are mine :-P

These storage container things are life savers!



News Flash

I always want to stay up to date on the news, but I never have time to read through multiple news info sites. However....There is a program called theSkimm. My friend Morgan got me hooked to it. theSKimm allows you to read about current news topics in quick little blurbs. The topics are not biased or based towards one specific political party as well. Want to stay informed?

theSkimm - Click Here To Sign Up!

My Role: Cast Service Center Specialist

" The Cast Member Concierge"

The easiest way to sum up my Professional Internship. I am currently a Cast Service Center Specialist based in Epcot. Originally I was going to be in a different role, but due to some changes in departments I am now in the cast service center. The Cast Service Specialist role is considered an "alumni only" role for the professional internships. If you are interested in this role you would need to complete a Disney College Program before applying.

 Some of you might be wondering what exactly a cast service specialist is. We cover so many areas in our role. We are basically a concierge desk for cast members. We handle HR questions, career questions, resume assistance, benefits questions etc. The centers have resources available for cast members to rent (Books and DVDs). We also have a computer lab as well as faxing, printing, and copying services. As a cast service specialist I also get to help with events at Epcot. Yesterday we had our annual cast party (an event for all Epcot cast featuring food, entertainment, and characters) Other events I have assisted with include cultural celebrations in the World Showcase as well as hallway handouts. Another fun part of my role is that I get to go all over Disney property. Most days I am working at Epcot, but sometimes I have shifts in the other parks as well. There are cast service centers in each park (including water parks), each resort, Downtown Disney, and Espn Wide World of Sports.

If you are interested in applying to this internship feel free to send me a message or comment with any questions!!!

I Swear I Am Alive

OK so I have been horrible about keeping up with this blog. I plan to start posting at least once a week again. With my new job and moving I have just been super busy.

 My role at Epcot is in the Cast Service Center. So far I am helping in the center and also assisting with Cast Events. I get to help cast members with a variety of things (insurance, HUB, casting, etc). I also get to help with the Cast Events team and work the Cultural Celebrations in the different pavilions.

Lately I have been spending most of my time with my friends. Many of them leave within the next 2 weeks so I am trying to get every moment with them that I can.

The worst part about the college program is that most of your friends have an "expiration date". There are always some that stay in Orlando after the program, but most people do go home. It is the hardest when friends are from international destinations and you wonder if you will ever see them again.

I apologize that many of the photos from prior posts are not showing up. Once I am able to log in to my personal computer I am going to try and re upload them for you guys.

Talk to you soon!

Life Update

Ok...So much has happened over the past month or so  and I feel awful that I haven't included you guys on it! So I have made tons of amazing friends on my college program. Sadly some of them leave within the next month or so. I really hate that about the DCP. You make amazing friends, but then most of them leave to go home.

I got my professional internship and that starts mid June! I am so excited to be working at Epcot (my favorite park)!

I am moving into a new apartment, and my roommate is going to be Kate. I can't wait to finally have a real apartment and a bed bigger then a twin!

I am going to fill you in on random life events through the month in pictures :)

Dapper Day

House of Blues

St Patricks Day

My roomie- Kate

Universal Studios

23rd Birthday Party

Tutu Tango

Deployed- Pop Century

I have been deployed to a new work location. At first I was freaking out. I hate new things. I love my work location and friends, and I didn't want to be away from them. Concierge cast members are very frequently deployed. I think once you hit 60 days in your location they are able to send you where ever they'd like. Luckily another CP from Coronado was deployed with me, that made it less scary. Honestly it is going just fine though. The vibe is way different because I am used to convention guests at Coronado. I love my costume though! Yay for skirts! When you are deployed you get a 2 hour class about the new location before you start working. That was really helpful. Luckily I have stayed at Pop Century so I am pretty familiar with it as well. Look at my new costume for the next two weeks :)

My lovely costume for the week

Apparently my skirt was too short- oops!

Professional Internship - I Got It!

Ok so I had been keeping my application process a secret, but now I can officially announce that I got a Professional Internship!!!!! I will be working Epcot Operations Support starting in June. I am so beyond excited about this role. From what I have gathered I will be responsible for all cast member events at Epcot as well as assisting in the Cast Service Center. I applied late February. I had my screener and got my drop down around March 20th. Then around March 27th I had an interview with the Epcot Ops department. I was accepted April 8th! It was the best thing ever.  I was headed to Publix with my work friend Catherine. I got a call from a 407 number and freaked out. It was Randy from recruiting. I knew calls from Randy were usually a good sign, but I tried to keep composure incase it was bad news. He asked me a series of questions about Disney look, transportation etc. Then he said "I have one more question for you, would you like a PI?" I screamed so loud (poor Randy). My friend Catherine made a short video clip of me freaking out. I will post that as soon as I can figure out how to upload it. Can't wait to share all of my PI stories with you guys!!!

World's Worst Blogger

If World's Worst Blogger was an award I would have won it 4 times by now. I have been super busy hanging out with all of my work friends. I went to the beach yesterday with the Coronado Crew. Dapper Day was a few days ago. I felt very basic compared to the other Dapper kids. I wore a sundress and a big floppy hat, but people had on outfits that were clearly handmade etc. Today is my Monday and I am pretty tired thinking about that. I am going to head to bed now,but I promise I will post pictures from Dapper Day and other things soon! <3

On The Job Concierge Training

I am ALMOST finally done with alll of my training!!! I will officially "Earn my Ears" in concierge on Monday. I can't believe it has taken almost two months to be fully trained. I really enjoyed my on the job concierge training. My trainer basically let me dive right in. I love how at the concierge desk every situation is different. You aren't doing the same tasks over and over. I love it when people ask for dining and fast pass recommendations. I love being able to share my Disney knowledge with Guests.


I have been so busy outside of work. Brayton's family came to town last weekend and we spent the day in Universal in the POURING rain. I was freezing all day long. The new Harry Potter attraction is AMAZING though. We rode it 3 times, and we rode the new train 4 times. I upgraded my ticket to a season pass because I knew I would want to go back. After Universal we went to Ohanas for an amazing dinner!

Gringott's Bank

I went to Magic Kingdom with Emily a few days ago. We thought it would be funny to go to the Be Our Guest registration counter to try and get a reservation. They said there was nothing available, I wasn't giving up then! I got on the My Disney Experience app and kept refreshing. We were able to get a reservation for 3 DAY OF! I am going to include my review of Be our Guest in my next post! Tyler joined us for dinner and we went and met characters afterwards!

Magic Kingdom has this new frass (fake grass) area where you can use a fastpass for Wishes viewing. During the day anyone can hang out in the grassy area. Me and Emily got ice cream and hung out there for a while! Its so relaxing!

Artsy Grass Selfie-ha

Check out my newest vlog from Universal!

DCP Q&A Survey

Hi Everyone!
For those of you curious about specific DCP roles I am going to make a Q&A vlog! I am going to compile a list of questions from you guys (and common questions I hear alot) into Q&A videos with current people working in those roles. I have made a google doc where you can add as many questions about the roles as you'd like!

 The roles I have interviewing are:

BBB

Concierge

Floral

Entertainment

Merch

Special Events Tour Guide

You can add your username or name to the questions or post them as anon. Feel free to add as many as you'd like!

Thanks!

GOOGLE DOCUMENT SURVEY LINK: CLICK HERE

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zZ4hm8RAiTHX3NF5yRk8pUoIDqrFxvWqzqwJG-7ESvc/edit?usp=sharing

Destination Concierge

Today I finished the Disney University portion of my concierge training! I had 4 days of classes. The classes included lots of information about tickets, dining plans (which made the whole class so hungry), My Disney Experience,  and general Disney knowledge. I start my on the job training at Coronado on Monday! I work at Coronado tomorrow as a front desk cashier, then I am off Fri-Sun. Brayton will be in town Friday evening so it worked out perfect that I got the weekend off!



Yesterday I went to Hollywood Studios after class and met Mr Incredible.

 Then I went to Toy Story Mania with Emily. Emily has a bad history of getting stuck on attractions....and guess what....we got stuck! They actually had to evacuate us off the ride. It was pretty cool to be able to walk through the attraction. It would have been more fun to get stuck on an intense ride like Tower of Terror though.

The plague/black lung has come to Disney! All of my roomies have had some sort of cough/sniffles situations going on. Luckily I have avoided it so far, but I feel like my turn will be next. I bought Lysol spray and doused the whole apartment. Emily was convinced that I was going to attack her with the Lysol bottle in her sleep. Becky (voluntarily) went onto the porch "quarantine zone" when she was really sick the other day.

My friend Joe from my last DCP was in town this week! I got to hang out with him in Magic Kingdom along with his boyfriend. I am so upset that I didn't get a picture with Joe. I did however manage to take a photo of my first Disney Starbucks. I asked them to put my name as Mary Poppins (of course I did..) and they still managed to spell it wrong. Oh Starbucks...

Well I am hitting the sack early tonight. I have to be at Coronado at 8am, and I need to finallly get a good nights sleep!

Wild Side

Today I spent my day off at Animal Kingdom with my roommate Julia. We were able to ride quite a few things even though the park was very busy. We did Expedition Everest 2 times in a row on the single rider, and we never waited more than 10-15 minutes.

Please note the vlogging while riding

 Then we took our fast passes and rode Primeval Whirl. That ride is such a jerky adventure. We were placed in a ride vehicle with 2 boys that were about 8 and 11 and they said the ride was for babies. We were screaming like the ride was the scariest thing ever, I am sure the boys got a kick out of us.

Then we used another fast pass for It's Tough to be a Bug. I hate when 3D rides spit and shoot stuff at you, and this ride seems to only do that. Definitely not a favorite. Then we ventured to The Conservation Station. I had a field day here! There is a petting zoo and a live animal show that I have never been before. It was the cutest thing ever. There were pigs, a skunk,an owl, and even rats.

We then ventured to the Safari (another favorite). This was a great safari because the lions and cheetahs were very active. I am sad we missed the Giraffes, but all of the other animals were very active.

I was craving shrimp alfredo all day long. After Animal Kingdom we went to Publix and I got everything I needed to create my epic dish!!

Box Runner

Yesterday I logged 5 miles at work and I never even left the lobby. Basically I was responsible for delivering magic bands to guests all day. We had a group checking in that was about 1000 people. Because that is so much larger then a normal check in day we had 6 girls "box running". Normally when you check a guest in you get their magic band box yourself from the back, but having the box runners expedited the check in time. My feet were killing me at the end of my shift because my tennis shoes I wore weren't mine (I borrowed some since it was a 1 day thing). 

Lovely box runner costume

My feet hurt so badly

After work I went and got Mexican food with Julia. The place we went is such a hidden gem in Orlando. There was hardly a crowd, but the food and prices were great! It is called La Finca, and it is right by the Caribe Royal.

I have today and Tue Wed off this week! I am going to spend most of today doing chores... laundry, grocery shopping, going to the cast member discount store before it closes etc...

I just posted the youtube video of Brayton's visit (part 1) Check it out!

For Valentine's Day Brayton had chocolate covered strawberries mailed to me. OMG they are the best chocolate covered strawberries I have ever had. I am sad that I only have 1 left. I could eat them every day haha. 

Been So Busy

I have been so busy the past few days that I have forgotten to blog. I know, I am an awful blogger! In the past few days let me think what has happened...I had 3 days off in a row (wahoo!) I spent one whole day (basically) sleeping. This was after my shift that lasted till 2am. The 2am shift wasn't too horrible because it was a busy day at the resort. I have been doing some outlet mall shopping lately, which is getting dangerous for my bank account. But when the deals are that good you have to take them!

I have a shift coming up as a "Box runner" not sure what exactly this means, but I will fill you guys in on that later. I have about 1 more week solo on front desk and then I move to concierge. It will be weird to transition away from the front desk. I love everyone that is on the desk with me so it will be sad to relocate (across the lobby)

So far I have really enjoyed front desk. Everyone (for the most part) is super cheerful when checking in. I really enjoy when a guest comes up to me and thinks their request has no way of being filled and I am able to make it happen! It can get frustrating when a guest is given wrong information from another source, and because of this has a less then magical experience. We always try and accommodate as much as possible but sometimes there is truly nothing we can do. I hate that for the guests when that happens.

I have the best boyfriend ever. He sent me flowers today just because, I thought they were Valentine's day flowers but I was wrong. He said I have another package arriving tomorrow for my Valentine. <3

I have work 11-7 on Valentines day. I was going to go to MK after work, but I hear the princes aren't going to be meeting with the princesses anyways, so we shall see..


Goodnight!!

Park Fun With Brayton

Ok so Brayton's surprise didn't quite go as planned, but it is a funny story.

So I was taking my time thinking I had all the time in the world, and Brayton calls and says he is about 15 minutes from the resort. I freaked out and loaded up my car as fast as possible. He pulled into the resort about the same time as me. So I told him to wait in the check in parking. I had to run to the room to set up his surprise. I got him birthday balloons and a birthday banner to hang in the room for him.

 I am an idiot and never took a picture of this though. Sorry about that!

After he arrived we went and had dinner in Celebration, and the place was really good! It was called Celebration Harbor (or something along those lines). After dinner we went back to the room and went to bed early for our park day.

Our park day started out sooo disastrous. I was getting ready and realized I hadn't packed my tennis shoes in my over night bag, and there was no way I could last a 14 hour park day in flip flops. So as we were leaving to run to my apartment to grab the shoes I forgot my car keys. I then had to run all the way back to the room to get my keys. When I did this I left my magic band in the room. LUCKILY I thought to pack my main gate cast entrance pass in my purse. When we arrived at the park I realized I had no magic band and almost freaked out. That would have just been the frosting on the cake had I left my main entrance pass at home too.

We FINALLY made it into EPCOT, our plan to be at rope drop at 9am turned into a 930am arrival. Which wasn't too bad considering all of our mishaps. We were able to walk onto Soarin with only a 15 minute wait, which was very exciting! After Soarin we did single rider on Test Track (walked right on), then we went over to Mission Space and walked right on that one as well.  Then we rode the Sum of All Thrills in innovations. This is a pretty cool hidden gem. You get to design your own roller coaster track, then ride it in a simulator. We waited about 30 minutes for this (our longest Epcot wait), but it was so worth it!

Next, we headed over to World Showcase. It was about 11:15am at this point, and the showcase had just opened. It was really nice because the crowds were so slim this time of day. We walked right up to Mulan.

After Mulan we had lunch in Germany. Brayton had the brats, and I had mac and cheese with sauerkraut (ha quite the combo)

I have never really spent time watching the shows throughout the World Showcase, but it seemed like our timing was perfect for each show. We caught some of the Italian flag dancing, the Japanese drum show, and the Canadian log cutting show.  We also watched the Voices of Liberty. This was my first time watching them, and let me tell you, they were AMAZING! If you are in Epcot go check them out!

We stopped to get a picture with Mary Poppins (my fav!) in The UK pavilion.

After we finished the World Showcase we decided to ride Figment, The Land, and Nemo. Then we left EPCOT to drive back to the resort for a quick nap. At this point I had already logged about 8 miles of walking on my health app, so my feet were killing me.

At 5:15 I made reservations for the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show (this was part of Brayton's bday gift) I am going to do a separate review post about dinner. But briefly, it was great! However, I do prefer the Hoop De Doo Review still..

After dinner we went to Magic Kingdom. At this point it was getting sooo cold outside. Ha, I say cold and it was maybe 55 degrees.

We had fast passes for Space Mtn, Pirates of the Carribean, and Big Thunder Mountain. We were also able to walk right on to Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, and the Teacups. The longest wait we had all day was for Jungle Cruise (about 30-40 minutes). Even the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train only took us 25 minutes. Buzz lightyear was about a 20 minute wait as well.

Overall the crowds weren't too bad at all. The park was open till 2am for resort guests, but we left around midnight because it was cold, we were tired, and we had ridden everything we wanted to. I am not sure how Brayton made it after dinner to Magic Kingdom, he ate enough food at dinner for a small village (lol).

Talk to Yall Soon!

Brayton's Coming To Town

Today is the day! Brayton will be here in about 7 hours!!! I am SOOO excited :) I have some surprises for him, but I won't say what just incase he sees this (somehow..).. We are celebrating his birthday while he is in town (about 3 days early). I can't wait to show you guys the surprises!


 I finally have days off. I got Friday and Saturday off this weekend, and next week I even have three days off! I have officially earned my ears on the front desk at Coronado Springs. I will begin concierge training around Feb 23rd, but until then I am working the front desk.

Yesterday I got to shadow the bell service team. The bellmen work so hard, so make sure you always tip them! Tip your housekeepers too! I had a lovely costume yesterday. It was so awful that it made me appreciate the green pant suit.

The epic green pant suit

Isn't it fabulous! Hehe.

Last night we went to the Goofy welcome event. We got free pizza and danced a little bit by the stage. It was interesting to see everyone dancing...some people were REALLY getting into it, lol. 

Talk To Yall Soon!