#onsitehousing

CONs: People think that Patterson is perfect, but it did have a few cons to be aware of. 1. No Bus Stop The first thing that people think of with this apartment is that there’s no bus stop. Patterson is incredibly close to Chatham which does have a bus stop, but Patterson itself doesn’t have one. This is considered a major con for those who rely on the bus transportation heavily. Especially for things like late night shifts and grocery store trips. The good news is, so many people are off late at night that you’ll never be walking the pathway alone. You can also request that someone from Chatham security escorts you to Patterson. As for the groceries, the front desk at Patterson allows you to rent out wagons so you can wheel your groceries from the bus stop to your front door. They try to make it as convenient as possible for you, but buses will not stop here. You’ll have to walk to Chatham to catch one. 2. Limited parking Because there is no bus stop, the people that typically request this apartment are usually people with cars. Personally, I observed more cars here than at any other apartment, making parking sometimes difficult. If you got back from work at a decent hour, parking right outside your building was typically available. That being said, I had to park in the back of the complex and walk to my building at the front of the complex on several occasions because there wasn’t adequate parking towards the end of the night. I know my roommate who worked late hours had a similar experience with this. 3. Terrible Cell Phone Reception I’m not sure if it’s because we lived on the first floor or what, but we hardly EVER got good cell phone reception. All of us constantly had calls dropping on us. We either had to stand outside in the humidity to make a call or press ourselves up against our bedroom windows. I didn’t have this problem in any other complex, even when I was on the first floor. It was definitely a nuisance though. 4. No Neighbors Patterson is really quiet and is known as the retirement home of the four complexes. This can be really nice when you’re the type who likes to unwind by yourself, but it means you never see or talk to your neighbors. Everybody just goes back into their apartment and does their own thing. I literally have zero idea who lived next to us and we were neighbors for 6 months. In fact, I’m not even totally convinced we HAD neighbors. 5. It doesn’t always feel like a CP apartment complex I’m not sure if it’s because there isn’t a bus stop so you don’t really see as many people walking around in costumes, or because there’s never any housing events hosted at Patterson, or maybe it’s because there’s little indication that it’s Disney related (except for a Safety Begins with Me sign at the entrance of the complex), but this complex definitely felt the LEAST “college program-esque”. It felt more like a temporary living assignment while I worked at Disney, and I was kind of glad that the second part of my program required me to move to a different complex. 6. It’s more expensive It’s one of the more expensive complexes you can choose. In fact, during my program it was only a few dollars cheaper than Commons, which was the most expensive complex. There’s really not a huge reason for this either, beyond it being a little newer.

PROs: Like I said before, I absolutely adored Patterson and here’s why. 1. It’s the newest Now that doesn’t mean we didn’t have our fair share of run-down furniture and appliances. We had a stove that always set off our smoke alarm and one of our couches was missing a leg for a good month. But it is the newest and it still definitely shows. Even the outside is charming and well taken care of. It’s just a pretty apartment and felt really home-y. 2. Laundry Rooms There was one laundry room per every few buildings and it was pretty nice. It had plenty of washers and dryers. There was never a time where I felt like I couldn’t do my laundry because there weren’t enough washers/dryers. The room had a card reader where you could select which washer/dryer you were about to use and pay for it. What was nice about this was that you could also select how long you wanted your clothes to dry, which meant you could make your dryer cycle cheaper. This wasn’t an option at Vista Way but even though it only saved a few cents, it was nice. It also meant that if you were in a really big hurry you could still throw it in the dryer for a little bit and then hang dry anything that didn’t dry all the way. 3. Carpet The apartment complexes all had carpet in their living room/bedrooms. While it meant it was a little more difficult to clean, it also meant there was less general dust. Whatever the floors were made of in Commons and Vista Way (some sort of fake wood) lent itself to consistently dirty floors. The carpet in Patterson meant we could go an entire week before we had to vacuum. 4. Quiet Despite not knowing my neighbors at all, I did love that this was a quieter complex. Because of the lack of bus stops, party buses rarely stopped here. We didn’t have the noise of bus traffic nor the noise from the party buses. The buildings also all faced different directions so you didn’t necessarily hear other people leaving or coming home. In fact, we lived right next to the pool and we still rarely had noise troubles. 5. Layout of the bedrooms is fairly equal In my experience, Patterson units are all pretty standard. The size of the rooms and bathrooms are all fairly equal, with all the bedrooms having similar layouts. Vista Way, Chatham, and Commons were not like this at all. Vista Way had one bedroom that had their own bathroom and the other two bedrooms had to share a bathroom. Chatham had a few different layouts, I only ever saw two of them but I remember one layout being very strange. Commons had all different bedroom layouts. One bedroom’s bathroom was tiny with a small window, another bedroom had three huge windows bringing in tons of natural light, and the last bedroom had a giant bathroom but the closet was attached to the bathroom so you had to go through that bathroom to get to your closet. Patterson’s layout was definitely my favorite layout. I also liked that the sink was separated from the actual bathroom, so if somebody was showering you could still brush your teeth and get ready for work. 6. Car Washing Station Patterson is one of the two complexes that offers a space to wash your car. If you’re looking, it’s near the clubhouse. You have to provide your own soap and sponges, but it’s got all the hose hookups you need, which is nice. I never used this as it rains so much in Florida that I never really saw the point, but it’s nicer than trying to find a decent local car washing place. Two cars can fit in the washing station at once and personally, I never saw anybody using it. But I recommend taking advantage of it. (Again, this is something people from any complex can use, but it’s more convenient if it’s in your actual complex.) 7. Walking Distance to Chatham Commons is also technically within walking distance, but honestly it’s still a bit of a walk. Patterson is definitely the closest complex to Chatham, which can be nice because all of the housing parties are hosted at Chatham. Parking can be a nightmare over there on those nights, so it’s nice to be able to leave the cars back at Patterson, avoid the buses, and walk on over to the party. 8. Parking spaces Like most of the complexes, Patterson offers regular parking spaces. Some of the parking in Chatham is parallel parking. My state doesn’t require that to be part of the driving test, so I never actually learned how to parallel park. It was nice to be in a complex that had plenty of regular parking so I never had to attempt to parallel park. (Although I really should learn! Haha)

A few other things to keep in mind: 1. Housing events are rarely held at Patterson. If it’s an indoor activity (like grocery bingo, movie nights, or game nights) it’ll probably be at the Commons. If it’s an outdoor party (that’s not Formal or Starlit Splash) it’ll be on the Chatham field. If it’s a sporting event, it’ll be at Vista Way (most likely). This is nice when you don’t want to attend the event and you don’t want the noise bothering you, but it’s also sad that it’s the only complex that never really gets outside visitors. 2. There are some classrooms at Patterson. If you plan on taking a Disney course, your classes can be held in either Chatham or Patterson. Living in one of these two complexes while taking classes is an excellent idea so you don’t have to worry about transportation! 3. Yes there are wild cats. Everywhere. The appear to hang out mostly in Patterson. Don’t feed them or try to take them in. Housing is aware of these cats and you can get in trouble if you get caught messing with them.