Well - I’m officially moved in! I’d thought I’d walk y’all through what the first few days in the program are like! 

A week before your check-in date, you’ll receive a handy dandy email listing your complex, your check-in time, and the timeline for your first week. 

~ Check-In ~

So come 1/14 at 12:15pm, I pull up to Vista Way to check in. I heard a lot of people complain about parking, but I didn’t have any issues. There was a table outside where they checked if my arrival time was correct, and I was issued my program guide, given my official apartment number, and my key. Next, you head inside to take your housing ID photo. If you bought a parking decal, this is when it’ll be given to you. Finally, you get your ID and lanyard (not the cutest, but hold out on buying one. You’ll want a cute employee one from Company D to hold your housing and blue ID). Then - it is time to move in!

~ Casting ~

Usually, the next event you’ll have will be casting. This is basically where you will fill out paperwork for your background check. It takes about an hour with lines. You will take a photo for your blue ID (cast member ID) and get your fingerprints taken. There are Disney hints of magic everywhere, so I recommend taking time to look around while you’re there :)

~ Traditions!! ~

Traditions was, for me, the first time I really felt like I was working for Disney. You get to go to the famous Disney University. You hang out in the cafeteria until they call your time. You’ll have to arrive at DU by either 8am or 1pm depending on if you are a morning or night class. So if you have an 8:30 am time, you have to be there at 8am. If you have a 9am class, you still have to be there by 8am. From the cafeteria, your group will head to a classroom to learn all about Disney values and the four keys. I won’t spoil the surprise of the day, but wear shoes you are comfortable walking in. 

After traditions, I recommend going to Company D, which is in DU. This is where you can get fun cast member merch like a Cast Member spirit jersey. Most importantly, you can get a cast lanyard. You’ll see a lot of these during your time. You need your blue ID on display while backstage, so nearly every employee has one. They are a simple string lanyard and you can pick a character pin to attach onto it. I also recommend getting a double-slide wallet. This will hold both your blue ID and housing ID. 

You’re now free to go play in the parks and use your cast member discount! The discount takes about 48 hours to go into effect though. You can use it on non-Disney POS stores. So this can be restaurants or stores in the Springs that aren’t Disney owned. Basically anywhere you don’t need to scan the ID to get a discount, just show it. If you want to go into the parks, just tell the park greeters you don’t have your main entrance pass yet (takes about two weeks) and they’ll give you a one-day pass. 

So in summary, that will be your first week in the DCP! You this time to really bond with your roommates and make friends! Get excited for the months to come :) 

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. 

Hi friends! It is has been forever since I lasted posed! So I’ve been back at Disney for two weeks and it has been amazing being back! I didn’t realize how much I missed Disney until I came back. So far everything has been really great, my roommates are amazing and I got so lucky with these girls. I went random this time and not knowing who my roommates were going to be made me really nervous, but everything has been great and I couldn’t be happier with my roommates! 

I finally found out my work location, merchandise on Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood Studios! I wasn’t super thrilled with my location, I was really hoping to be working in Magic Kingdom again, but I’m going to make the best of my location and have fun with it. One thing I do really like about my location is that I get to watch the march of the first order everyday. So basically the march of the first order is when Captain Phasma and her storm troopers march down Hollywood Blvd. and basically tell everyone that they are watching them and they will crush the resistance. It is a lot of fun to watch and seeing the reactions of the guests is really funny! I only have one day left in training and then I’m out on my own, if you see me feel free to say hi!

One really special thing that happened since I got here was getting to celebrate my 21st birthday! I have always wanted to celebrate my birthday in Disney World and I was so excited when I got into the summer program and realized I would get to celebrate my birthday here! I had a really great day, I spent the morning in Epcot and then went to Magic Kingdom for the night. It was a great day of drinking, taking pictures, and bonding with my new roommates. 

So the new area in Animal Kingdom that just opened up, Pandora the world of Avatar, opened on my birthday! Unfortunately I was unable to go since cast members were blocked out for the first two weekends, but I did get to go the Tuesday after it opened. I went with one of my old coworkers from my last program, it was really awesome to get to hang out again, I really missed them when I left. We wandered around the area for a little while, we only stayed to take a few pictures because our fastpasses weren’t until later in the day. I was so blown away by how beautiful Pandora was, there was so much detail and everything was so well done. Later in the day we came back and rode flight of passage and HOLY SHIT it was AMAZING! I had heard from several people that it was basically Soarin on steroids and I have to say I think that was a pretty accurate description. It was an amazing ride, 10/10. If you every have a chance to go on it, do it! Try and get a fastpass for it though, no ride is worth a four hour wait.