Disney College Program

So after making my own personal DCP bucket list (for the second time), I thought it would be a good idea to make what I think everyone should do (or at least give it the good ol’ college-program try) during their program! So without further ado, here is my Essential DCP Bucket List (no bias at all)!

Challenges:

4 Parks/1 Day

Drink Around the World (if 21+); if not, try  Dessert Around the World 

Conquer the 3 mountains

Kitchen Sink

24 Hour Challenge or a Photo Scavenger Hunt

Night Show Trifecta (Fantasmic, IllumiNations, and Wishes in 1 night)

Everything Else:

Become a wizard (visit Universal Studios)

Do at least 1 character dining experience

Get a picture on every ride that offers one

Ride every ride/see every show in all 4 parks throughout program

Visit Property Control, Cast Connections, Company D

Visit every resort on property and take a picture at each one

Get a 4 Keys Card

Give another cast member a 4 Keys Card

Buy a pair of ears and have them embroidered

Become a Galactic Hero

Get pictures at each of the park icons

Sample all the drinks at Club Cool

Have your joke read at Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

Get a passport at Epcot (or use the KidCot Duffy’s), and get it stamped at each pavilion in World Showcase

Meet every Disney princess (bonus points if you do it in one day)

Celebrate something with a button

Become a Wilderness Explorer

Take pictures in your costume! Have people visit you at work and take action shots (and do the same for them)

Do a backstage tour/ride something with the lights on

Get pixie dusted

Watch Wishes from a ride (Thunder and Mine Train are bomb)

Meet Mickey and Minnie in as many different costumes as possible

Go to Rope Drop at least once

Dapper Day

Work in as many different locations as you can 

She started like this: “I don’t know if this is going to be good news or bad news…”  I thought she was going to tell me to move to another shop for the day or that I’d been force ER’d and was being sent home early. 

“You’re being transferred”  

I thought she was kidding. I thought it was a hugely elaborate ‘end of training’ prank. I had JUST been transferred. Just added everyone on Facebook. Gone to my first Futureworld IHOP after-work adventure the night before. I couldn’t be getting TRANSFERRED. AGAIN. 

And then she held up a training schedule with my name on the top.

I looked at the paper and, still thinking she was joking, said “Nice try, that’s the Pandora costume. They’re not taking CP’s.” 

“This isn’t a joke, I’m sorry. You’re being transferred to Pandora.”  

I burst into tears. Not because I was unhappy, but because I was overwhelmed, and confused, and so shocked that I could barely process it. I was being moved to Pandora. The freshly opened, absolutely chaotic, heavily themed, “next level immersion experience” that is the World of Avatar.   

Over the course of the next week I discovered that my transfer hadn’t been at random. I had served a higher-up in Pandora at work without realising, and they had pulled me from the depths of EPCOT to be one of the first two CP’s to ever work at Pandora. 

As of right now, I have been through DAKlimation (the Animal Kingdom orientation class), Passage To Pandora (a class dedicated to training you up to work in Pandora), and 7 full days of training. 

 I can recite a banshee pledge to you, explain how we mix your DNA with the Na’vi to create your very own avatar, and am slowly learning both Na’vi and Spanish (it’s tour group season).  

I’ve also met some of the most wonderful, hilarious, vibrant cast members I’ve ever worked with, and met some of the most difficult guests Disney has to offer. 

I feel so lucky to be able to work in Pandora as part of the opening team. I’m always going to be able to say that I was the first International College Program cast member to work in Windtraders. Ever. I am always going to be in the first group of CP’s ever chosen to work in Pandora. In years to come, when it’s starting to look outdated and worn, I’ll still be proud to say I was a part of the Pandora madness. 

At the start, his eyebrows are raised and he has the slightest smile at the corner of his mouth. He’s been comforting Rapunzel. He knows she’s scared, but he is, too. And this is evident by the way his eyebrows lower and smile fades away.

He’s a wanted thief. He was headed for the gallows. And here he is, willingly standing in front of the rulers of the country, returning the Lost Princess. He doesn’t know what that means for him, only what it means for her. And so, as soon as her back is turned, the smile slips away and the worry sets in.

He clearly is a betting man. He’s spent his whole life taking unnecessary risks, because he felt the reward was worth it in the end. And here, the reward is greater than himself. This isn’t for him, it’s for her. She deserves the life and family she’s never had, and he knows she’ll find it with the king and queen.

Regardless of the cost to himself.

I got offered a position to do Photopass again in Fall 2017!  Now I have to figure out if I should accept it or not? 🤔

I ran away with the circus and I am loving it 🎪