It’s Here! What is? Check-in and Casting!!!!

“I have often dreamed,

of a far off place.

Where a great, warm welcome will be waiting for me.

And the crowds will cheer, when they see my face.

And a voice keeps saying, this is where I’m meant to be…..”

– Hercules (Go the Distance)

 

I’m going to DISNEY WORLD!! Just kidding… I’m already here! The past couple of days have been beyond exciting and tiring!! But, in all honesty… I haven’t laughed this much in years! So much has happened that I needed to divide this blog post up into many sections. Here’s the first…

On August 4th, I had a check-in time from 8-9 a.m. However, three of my roommates and I decided to get in the line at 7:30. That was probably the best decision we’ve ever made. There was NO LINE at 7:30 a.m. and they let us move on super quick. When watching past videos of check-in, the lines seemed really long and would have to make several swerves throughout the line. The lines probably do look like that. But, we didn’t get to experience that madness since we arrived early!

At check-in, I found out right away that I would be working at Animal Kingdom Asia. The lady up there told me that, more than likely, I would be placed at Expedition Everest. Usually, all Attractions members won’t find out their actual attraction until after traditions on the 4th day. However, Animal Kingdom’s training schedule got extremely weird for this semester. I will have to do training before I get park oriented at “DAKlimation.” With that being said… I got to know what my ride was early on. And it’s…………………. The Kali River Rapids!!!!!

I seriously think that this is going to be one of the best rides!!! EVERY SINGLE CAST MEMBER that I tell where I’m working at, keeps telling me how jealous they are of me and how fun it is to work there! My top choice when applying was recreation. This specific attraction seems to combine my first choice with what my second choice was (attractions). Disney… You did a great job arranging that. Thanks! ☺

At 9 a.m the same day, I had Casting. At Casting I got to go through the “magical doors” which consist of the doorknobs in Alice in Wonderland. At Casting, I got finger printed and had to fill out paperwork. Overall, the experience only lasted 2 hours.

 
So to end my magical day, I got to hangout with my five other roomies! We live at Patterson Court, which was our first choice! In all honesty, Patterson is the nicest apartment complex out of the four provided (Vista, Chatham, The Commons). It feels like we’re living in a nice country club. But the best thing of all…. We can see fireworks from our apartment EVERY NIGHT! Say What!

To see my experiences from Check-in and Casting live, you can click this link: http://youtu.be/chOYVl92Se0?list=UUOI_jdPI5iDp5rc0eN-TMYw

Tomorrow, I’ll post my experiences with the Kitchen Sink, and then I will follow that with my experiences from Traditions and beyond. But until then, Have a Magical Day!

No Need to Wait for Tomorrow

“I can finally see it,

Now I have to believe.

All those precious stories,

All the world is made of faith, and trust

And pixie dust…”

– Peter Pan: Return to Neverland (I’ll Try)

 

Tomorrow. That one word alone can mean so much. Some hold off on things to do “tomorrow.” Things that could refer to one being lazy about something today, as in, “I’ll do it tomorrow.” Yet, for me… tomorrow can’t come soon enough. Tomorrow is Sunday, August 3^rd. Or, better known to me as the “day before check-in.” Tomorrow at 5:30a.m, I will have all my stuff loaded into my car and will be on the road to Florida for my ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE at Disney!

Everything is all set-in-stone. I’ve signed up for educational opportunities at Disney University. When I’m down there I’m taking two classes in Disney’s Exploration Series: Exploring Marketing and Exploring Cast Engagement. The best thing about these classes is that they take you inside Disney. Sometimes to the parks, or sometimes in other areas of Disney relating to that specific class. I was going to take some of Disney’s collegiate courses while I’m down there. However, my school doesn’t accept credit for these classes. The classes are also much longer and they do not take you INSIDE Disney. If you want to get a better look at how Disney operates, then the Exploration Series is the way to go.

I’ve also filed out DORMS, which is Disney’s residential apartments website. I’ve already found my potential roommates through the Disney College Program unofficial Facebook group. I signed up with them through DORMS, but I won’t 100% know if I end up with them until Monday. But if I do, my roommates are: Amber, Morgan, Danielle, Bri, and Jami. If I do get an apartment with them, then I’ll talk more about them in a future post. Yet, we requested Patterson Court as our Apartment first choice, followed by The Commons. I hope everything works out because, these five girls have been so much fun to talk to via text messages and google hangouts for the past five months!

Other than that, there isn’t too much to explain about before I leave. I won’t find out my work location until Monday as well. Also, I haven’t posted anything until now because I had to make sure I got enough stuff together. I promise to post more, now that I’m officialy heading down to Disney. My next post will be about my Check-in and Casting experience. But during my hiatus, I’ve also created a YouTube “vlog” channel to document my experiences live as they happen. I’ll still post stuff on here, but I wanted to capture some of my events to show other people. Also, I think it’s a great way for me to look back on my experiences and to see the things that I did again. You can check out my channel at: http://www.youtube.com/tadasherz.

And with that…. I wish you a magical weekend and I’ll check back in with y’all next week.

Have a Magical Day!

♡ Tadasherz (Ashley)

Guess who’s going to Disney World…? THIS GIRL!

“Have faith in your dreams and someday,

your rainbow will come smiling through,

No matter how your heart is grieving,

if you keep on believing,

the dream that you wish will come true.”

 –Cinderella (A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes)

THE ADVENTURE IS YET TO BEGIN!  After countless days checking my email and dashboard, I was accepted into the Disney College Program for Fall 2014 Attractions!  I first heard about DCP in high school by spotting a flyer when I was visiting a college campus. Later, during my freshman year of college, I attended an on-campus presentation and knew that someday I wanted to participate. After talking once again to campus representatives this year as a sophomore, I came to the conclusion to apply for this upcoming fall.

THE APPLICATION PROCESS

The application process, however, was an adventure in itself….This year, applications came out on Thursday, February 6^th and I immediately applied. On the application you fill out basic information about past work and volunteer experience. There were other questions that I honestly can’t remember.  But, it was similar to an average job application. On it you also rate all of the provided roles from Low-to-High Interest. I thought that was during the web interview instead, but oh well… I had my interests prepared.

I found out an hour later that I moved on to the WEB-BASED INTERVIEW.  I was particularly nervous for this, because you find out right after if you move on or not. So, I completed it the next day after all my classes were over. The best advice I have for someone completing this is to be consistent and to answer the questions honestly! Some questions consisted of words that I didn’t know; so make sure you have a dictionary available just in case. Also, I advise you to have a strong opinion on your answers and to make sure you find a quite place! They say to do this during the phone interview, but make sure to do it during the WBI as well. I though I did when I completed mine in my dorm room. But I forgot to take in the fact that the dorm walls are paper-thin. During my WBI the people above me were cavorting around by having some kind of dance party. I got so distracted that I accidentally missed a few questions. But it was all okay, BECAUSE….. (Drumroll please )…. I found out that I moved on to the Phone Interview! I scheduled it to be the next Wednesday the 12^th.  I asked my Mom to drive me home for the interview since my car is not on campus (I live 15 minutes away). She would come at 1pm and I would chill out at my house until my phone interview at 6:45pm. No distractions. No loud noises. No talking over what sounded like a conga line…

1pm came on Wednesday. Then, the unexpected happened. QUEEN ELSA ARRIVED….

Literally. The snow came out of nowhere. The sky was clear at 12:30. Then when my mom came at 1… it was like Antarctica outside. Snow everywhere and the roads were awful. We still drove home, but we drifted off the road several times. Once, we got so stuck that a group of 3 random guys had to come help push us.  At times, we were almost one of the hundreds of abandoned cars that were on the road. What should have been a 15 minute drive ended up being over 5 hours. When 6pm crept up on me, I climbed into the backseat to get my notes ready to do my interview in the car. Some may call it a miracle, some Disney Magic. But, I made it home for my interview about 10 minutes before Disney called me at 6:46pm.

My phone interview lasted 36 minutes. My top three roles being: Recreation, Attractions, and Hospitality. I found out on February 27^th, that I got accepted as an Attractions Cast member! I guess this makes sense, because my interviewer was extremely impressed in my public speaking experiences and abilities. My hope is to get a spiel role: Great Movie Ride, Jungle Cruise, Enchanted Tales with Belle, Haunted Mansion, Kilimanjaro Safaris…. I won’t find out until Check-in day though which attraction or park I will get.

Wow, this post is long. If you’ve read all this so far I wish I could offer you an award. But to me, you deserve a high honor.  If you’d like to follow my experience, click the follow button or type in your email in the sidebar. For those of you who will follow me, thanks for reading about my dream becoming a reality. Only 143 Days until check-in!

Have a Magical Day!

♡ Tadasherz (Ashley)