PrincessEeyore
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2007
"I could go running and racing and dancing and chasing and leaping and bounding. Hair flying, heart pounding, and splashing and reeling and finally feeling,
NOW'S WHEN MY LIFE BEGINS!"
NOW'S WHEN MY LIFE BEGINS!"
...so that might a little bit dramatic, my life actually began quite a few years ago - 22 to be precise - but I'm sure you get the idea. 
Hi everyone! My name is Randi and in exactly one week I'll be beginning my college program at the Walt Disney World Resort!
I have been dreaming of the chance I could call myself a Cast Member for so long and to know that in just a few days I will be able to is the most exciting and wonderful feeling. Like many of us, I owe some of my happiest memories to Walt Disney and the incredible legacy that he created - I only hope that as a Cast Member I am able to not only repay Mr. Disney for all he has given to me but also continue to spread his magic to everyone I have the opportunity to interact with.
I first found out about the college program when I was in high school and promised myself that I would pursue the opportunity to work for The Disney Company as soon as I could. I began my freshman year of college in the fall of 2010 and eagerly began researching and scheduling and figuring out when I could apply for the college program. Well, long story short, 2010 turned into 2011 which became 2012, 2013, and so on and it seemed that applying for the program wasn't going to be nearly as easy I as thought with my major. As an elementary education student, my classes were fairly planned out for me and it seemed almost foolish to go against the grain in this case. I began to think that the college program was not in the cards for me until I realized that I would be graduating a semester later than anticipated because of a second certification that I had picked up at school (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages or TESOL, if anyone is interested). So while I was completing my final semester of school and student teaching in inner-city Philadelphia, I applied for the Disney College Program with the hopes that I would be able to move to Disney World at the last possible opportunity - the semester after my college graduation.
So, to recap, my last semester looked something like this:
I'm in the middle - tailgating with two of my best people.
When I received my congratulatory email, I was ecstatic to know that I had been placed within the recreation role. Under recreation is a specific job titled Children's Activities. Within the Children's Activities role, Cast Members work at the different resort pools, outdoor areas, and indoor daycare facilities and tend to Disney World's tiniest guests. While I was not positive that I had been placed in this exact role (recreation includes other roles such as slide operators at the water parks, arcade attendants, and marina rental salespeople), my interviewer and I had talked almost exclusively about this role during our phone interview.
However, about a month or so after my acceptance, I received a call from the College Program (which at first had me thinking I was fired before I even began
) and was asked if I would consider changing my role to floral! After a very long and very inquisitive chat, I learned that this is the only the second program to offer floral roles for college participants and that people cannot apply for this specific position but rather are chosen based on their interview. While my understanding of the role is still a bit vague, the wonderfully kind woman on the phone explained that I will be responsible for creating floral arrangements and gift baskets (in addition to delivering them to the different resorts) as well as learning how to use the embroidery machines to stitch onto Mickey ears! At that point I was fairly interested in the role but it wasn't until she mentioned this next responsibility that I was hooked: I would also be working with the team that creates the different bouquets, flower arrangements, and other floral decorations for conventions, events, anddd WEDDINGS! 
Needless to say, I was sold. Luckily my program dates did not have to change with this role switch which made me incredibly happy because I already had found some wonderful roommates! So from January 19th until May 15th, I will be a florist!
So, with one week until my check-in day, I'm finally realizing that my life's dream is about to begin (hopefully now the Rapunzel reference makes a little more sense
).
Now onto the fun stuff:
Number of previous Walt Disney World Trips: Somewhere between 10 and 12 (I've sadly never been to Disneyland
).
Favorite movie: Mary Poppins holds an incredibly special place in my heart.
Favorite character: My favorites are Snow, Cinderella, and Aurora and I'm starting to love the princess duck herself, Daisy.
Favorite park: Magic Kingdom, no questions asked.
Favorite ride: I love "it's a small world" and the PeopleMover so very much.
Favorite in-park show: I haven't seen every show so I can't necessarily choose one but I could listen to the Voices of Liberty forever.
Favorite in-park parade: Spectromagic - I need it back desperately.
While I of course plan to update this trip report very, very often, I thought it might also be fun to share my Twitter and my DCP Instagram as well (because, let's face it, I'm addicted to social media like most other 20-somethings). So ya:
Twitter: xoxo_randi
DCP Instagram: randi_in_disney
Also, and this just further showcases my social media addiction, I run a Disney bucket list blog on Tumblr aptly titled aDisneyBucketList. The link to that can be found here: http://adisneybucketlist.tumblr.com/
YAY! I am so, so, so excited to begin this once in a lifetime journey and I cannot wait to share it with anyone who might be along for the ride! I'm rather chatty and love to meet new people (did I mention I'm a school teacher?) so please don't ever hesitate to pop in and say hi!
And as my [future] boss likes to say, "see ya real soon!"
Continued in next post!
Hi everyone! My name is Randi and in exactly one week I'll be beginning my college program at the Walt Disney World Resort!
I have been dreaming of the chance I could call myself a Cast Member for so long and to know that in just a few days I will be able to is the most exciting and wonderful feeling. Like many of us, I owe some of my happiest memories to Walt Disney and the incredible legacy that he created - I only hope that as a Cast Member I am able to not only repay Mr. Disney for all he has given to me but also continue to spread his magic to everyone I have the opportunity to interact with.
I first found out about the college program when I was in high school and promised myself that I would pursue the opportunity to work for The Disney Company as soon as I could. I began my freshman year of college in the fall of 2010 and eagerly began researching and scheduling and figuring out when I could apply for the college program. Well, long story short, 2010 turned into 2011 which became 2012, 2013, and so on and it seemed that applying for the program wasn't going to be nearly as easy I as thought with my major. As an elementary education student, my classes were fairly planned out for me and it seemed almost foolish to go against the grain in this case. I began to think that the college program was not in the cards for me until I realized that I would be graduating a semester later than anticipated because of a second certification that I had picked up at school (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages or TESOL, if anyone is interested). So while I was completing my final semester of school and student teaching in inner-city Philadelphia, I applied for the Disney College Program with the hopes that I would be able to move to Disney World at the last possible opportunity - the semester after my college graduation.
So, to recap, my last semester looked something like this:
- August 20th: Completed the initial online application
- August 21st: Completed the web-based interview
- August 26th: Completed the phone interview
- September 1st: Moved to Philadelphia to begin student-teaching
- September 2nd: First day of in-school workshops
- September 4th: Celebrated my 22nd birthday
- September 5th: Received the most wonderful email welcoming me to the Disney College Program
- September 8th: Welcomed my 4th graders to their first day of school
- December 12th: Finished student-teaching
- December 20th: Graduated from my most favorite place (besides Disney World, of course), Penn State
I'm in the middle - tailgating with two of my best people.
When I received my congratulatory email, I was ecstatic to know that I had been placed within the recreation role. Under recreation is a specific job titled Children's Activities. Within the Children's Activities role, Cast Members work at the different resort pools, outdoor areas, and indoor daycare facilities and tend to Disney World's tiniest guests. While I was not positive that I had been placed in this exact role (recreation includes other roles such as slide operators at the water parks, arcade attendants, and marina rental salespeople), my interviewer and I had talked almost exclusively about this role during our phone interview.
However, about a month or so after my acceptance, I received a call from the College Program (which at first had me thinking I was fired before I even began
) and was asked if I would consider changing my role to floral! After a very long and very inquisitive chat, I learned that this is the only the second program to offer floral roles for college participants and that people cannot apply for this specific position but rather are chosen based on their interview. While my understanding of the role is still a bit vague, the wonderfully kind woman on the phone explained that I will be responsible for creating floral arrangements and gift baskets (in addition to delivering them to the different resorts) as well as learning how to use the embroidery machines to stitch onto Mickey ears! At that point I was fairly interested in the role but it wasn't until she mentioned this next responsibility that I was hooked: I would also be working with the team that creates the different bouquets, flower arrangements, and other floral decorations for conventions, events, anddd WEDDINGS! Needless to say, I was sold. Luckily my program dates did not have to change with this role switch which made me incredibly happy because I already had found some wonderful roommates! So from January 19th until May 15th, I will be a florist!
So, with one week until my check-in day, I'm finally realizing that my life's dream is about to begin (hopefully now the Rapunzel reference makes a little more sense
). Now onto the fun stuff:
Number of previous Walt Disney World Trips: Somewhere between 10 and 12 (I've sadly never been to Disneyland
).Favorite movie: Mary Poppins holds an incredibly special place in my heart.
Favorite character: My favorites are Snow, Cinderella, and Aurora and I'm starting to love the princess duck herself, Daisy.
Favorite park: Magic Kingdom, no questions asked.
Favorite ride: I love "it's a small world" and the PeopleMover so very much.
Favorite in-park show: I haven't seen every show so I can't necessarily choose one but I could listen to the Voices of Liberty forever.
Favorite in-park parade: Spectromagic - I need it back desperately.
While I of course plan to update this trip report very, very often, I thought it might also be fun to share my Twitter and my DCP Instagram as well (because, let's face it, I'm addicted to social media like most other 20-somethings). So ya:
Twitter: xoxo_randi
DCP Instagram: randi_in_disney
Also, and this just further showcases my social media addiction, I run a Disney bucket list blog on Tumblr aptly titled aDisneyBucketList. The link to that can be found here: http://adisneybucketlist.tumblr.com/
YAY! I am so, so, so excited to begin this once in a lifetime journey and I cannot wait to share it with anyone who might be along for the ride! I'm rather chatty and love to meet new people (did I mention I'm a school teacher?) so please don't ever hesitate to pop in and say hi!
And as my [future] boss likes to say, "see ya real soon!"
Continued in next post!
after my own heart, Randi!!! I can't wait to hear about your experiences at my home away from home!! 
but I know that you'll nail it!! 
We stopped at a Chick-fil-A in North Carolina for lunch around 2:00 and my gosh, I just fell in love with all of the accents I heard. I also fell in love with the waffle fries but really, who doesn't? 
) with all of my friends: 
), Becky and I arrived at our Orlando hotel. Now, I'm not naïve and I understand that Orlando-area hotels aren't necessarily the nicest in certain price ranges but when we walked into our hotel room, it did not smell pleasant. At all. After quite a few moments of deliberation, Becky and I walked back to the office and politely informed the woman at the front desk. She was wonderful - she went right to the room, agreed that it smelt rather illegal, and changed our room (she also upgraded it at no cost which was incredibly kind of her). As soon as I walked into the new room, all of my worries disappeared. 
