It's been a hard days night...

Holy cow the last two days have been CRAZY. I know that word is tossed around a lot these days but I promise you that I mean it in this case. If there's one thing I've learned so far it's that The Walt Disney Company has shuttling around hundreds of college students down to a science. I think they said that 600 of us checked in yesterday and they managed to get us all processed and in our apartments over the course of 7 hours. It's quite the feat in my opinion, but I'm getting ahead of myself! Let's go back to my packing and flight first before I get into the Disney ordeal.

It took me the majority of three full days to get my bags packed. That's one 50 lb bag that gets checked, one carry-on, and one backpack. That's it, four months in Florida and I have three bags to get me through it. If it weren't for vacuum packing, there is no way I could have fit all that I needed into those bags. Even then I couldn't get everything I needed. Luckily for me there is a Walmart close by and my parents are kind enough to ship me a box I packed up of the things that I can't afford to replace.

150lbs of sheer packing maximization! 

The morning of my flight I was up, showered, shaved (Disney look and all), and out the door for Logan International Airport at 4:37am. Jetblue flight 1695 to Orlando was on time, boarded by 5:30am and in the air a little after 6am. The couple sitting next to me was awesome! They grew up in Salem and were heading to Disney for the weekend before spending some time in Port St. Lucie. They gave me gum and saved my ears for popping during both takeoff and landing, and for that they have my eternal gratitude. I slept for a little while after seven but not before enjoying a beautiful full moon. The sky after I woke back up was sweet too, and with the website in the bottom it's practically an advertisement for the flight.

That's Amoré                                         Blue skies smiling at me!

MCO is the only airport in the country that I know just as well as Logan which made getting off the plane a piece of cake. Grabbed my checked bag and met my Penn State travel buddy Mallory at the MEARS shuttle for our voyage to Vista Way. I think it was about this point that I started to get really excited. I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous leading up to this point, but meeting the few CPs (College Program-ers) that were also on the shuttle really got me excited. I'm in the happiest place on earth with group of people who are just as excited as I am to be here!

I arrived a Vista Way, the oldest of Disney's apartment complexes, just after 10:30am. According to my roommate, who was already processed and in the apartment by the time I got there, the line started forming at 6am! Thank goodness he got there early or else we never would have got the apartment that we did. I'll end the suspense: we're in a 3br apartment in Patterson Court! I've only been here for a day and I can already tell we made the right decision in terms of location. Of course, I didn't get to see it until after 5pm so lets not get ahead of ourselves...

After signing my name for the thousandth time, I had my housing ID in hand, and was ready for casting! It was noon at this point but my appointment at casting wasn't until 2pm so I had some time to kill. The group of people that I made friends with while we were in line together decided to hit up the Chick-fil-A that was right around the corner and use the coupons that were given to all the CPs. I've never eaten at that establishment before and, while it was delicious, I don't think I'll be eating there again. I feel like my sandwich and fries should have come with another coupon for bypass surgery...

An hour of socialization later, it was time to board the bus for casting. Casting at Disney is basically the entertainment company version of human resources.  Processing tax forms, background checks, and, most importantly, location assignment! Just like everything else that Disney does, the casting building was a shrine to the Disney ideals. Gold statues of the most famous characters surrounded the lobby like a Grecian temple. I tried to take a picture but it just doesn't do it justice. The building was easily the coolest office space I've ever seen, right down to the Alice in Wonderland doorknobs!

The best advice I can give anyone else that still has the casting process to go through is to follow all the instructions on the CP website. I know it sounds redundant, but you wouldn't believe the number of people I saw that didn't have the paperwork filled out right or didn't bring the right work eligibility documents. Get it all done before you go in there and you'll be in and out in no time.

The excitement came when they attached the stickers to our program guide telling us where we'd be working. And I'll be at...

The one, the only, Magic Kingdom!!!

That's right! Magic Kingdom! I'll be working on the rides in Adventureland and Liberty Square which includes some of my favorites: Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and the Jungle Cruise! A few of the other rides there are the Tiki Room (which is closed currently), Swiss Tree-house, the Riverboat, and the Hall of Presidents (UGH!). Obviously if I'm working on any of the first three I'll be thrilled, and the less time I'm at the Hall of Presidents the better, but overall I'm very excited with this assignment. I'm not sure if it could be any better honestly. Use of the secret tunnels under the property has also been a secret dream of mine so that's a little added bonus of working at the Magic Kingdom.

By the time I got back from casting and finally made it over to my apartment it was after 5pm and I was exhausted. I'd been looking forward to meeting my roommates all day, especially John who I paired up with on Facebook with to share a room. I think all of us are going to get along fine, especially John and I. As I mentioned before our place is a 3br. It's on the third floor of the building so it was a bit challenging to get all of my luggage up here, but the view is nice and we have a balcony. Each bedroom has a bathroom to match, and the kitchen is pretty solid. The only downside is that our AC was broken when we got here but we called down this morning and they already came and fixed it up.

My room

The Kitchen Area

Living space (with what I think is Derek sitting on the couch)

I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and socializing with John, Derek, and our new friend Jaclyn. We called it a night at about 2am. It was a long day and the second John turned the light out I fell asleep. For my first night in a new bed it wasn't half bad either.

Today was a day off for most of us. I cooked my first breakfast of many in my new kitchen this morning, and a healthy one at that; oatmeal with bananas and honey om nom nom! Did I mention that the weather here if PHENOMENAL? I put that in all caps to emphasize how much better 78° and sunny is than freezing and snowy. I love skiing but damn is this a better way to spend January...

I had a housing meeting at noon, signed up for my seminar class after that (Exploring Marketing at Disney) and by then it was time for the welcome fiesta! Arabian Nights at Vista Way was a pretty cool way to kick off our program. Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie, and Abu all came to welcome us into the program!

Monkey see, monkey do!

 The party was filled with family friendly fun. Line dancing, pizza, and Disney swag give-a-ways; what more could a college student want? You can really tell how awesome a group is by how willing they are to dance like no one is watching in front of a large group of strangers. I feel like this video illustrates that really well:

I fell like I've told you so much yet at the same time only touched upon the surface of all that I've experienced thus far. I've already met so many amazing people and it's only been 48 hours. I can't wait to get to Traditions tomorrow and training on Saturday. Disney truly is a magical place where dreams can come true. I know not every day I spend here will be a high, but right now I'm going to ride this wave.

Cheers,
David

Song of the day: Shake me Down by Cage the Elephant