My Last Day

Well, this is it. Today is my last full day in Michigan. I get to say goodbye to the chilly weather, the bad roads, and all the farm land. However, I also have to say goodbye to the fall colors, the night bonfires in shorts and sweatshirts, my Detroit Tigers and Michigan Wolverines, my dog, my friends, and my family. It seems as if that list displays more cons than pros, but it'll be the adventure of a lifetime. Tomorrow my mom and I hop on a plane (or two) to Florida and start this wild ride. I can't believe it's almost August 11th already. It still hasn't hit me yet that it's that late in the year.

Disney College Program: DORMS

I JUST finished filling out everything on the DORMS website! I am so so so excited now! As promised, I will go into detail about DORMS.

DORMS is how the participants of the DCP pick their housing and flatmates. You may choose to go random or you may pick who you live with (although nothing is 100% guaranteed). To link with your roommates, you must get their roommate ID numbers that are enclosed in the two emails provided. ONE person must go into DORMS before the others. After the said leader fills out DORMS, an email will be sent to each flatmate asking to confirm the rooming arrangement. After everyone fills out their DORMS, the process is complete! It was a very simple procedure!

These lovely emails came through this morning:

The second email came in less than two seconds after the first email, however, in the email it states the second email may take several hours to arrive.

 This is what the first email looks like, it just goes over some important points about filling out DORMS. You may see "you are eligible to link with up to 5 other participants" in that third bullet point. Either there are no 4 bedroom options for our arrival date, or if you're put into a 4 bedroom, Disney may put you with randoms. I'm not sure. Usually you can link with up to 7 other people.

 

 Yay, finally linked!

This time around, DORMS is a little different. The rooming preferences now look like this:

 

These were the preferences we picked!

You rank your preferences from the top (being first choice) to the bottom (being last choice).

Each arrival date may have different housing options. These were the options available for my arrival date and they cannot be expected to be the exact same for the other arrival dates.

After finishing up everything in DORMS, you'll receive your boarding pass! PRINT THIS OUT YOU NEED IT FOR CHECK-IN!

 

So, overall, DORMS was very easy to fill out. All but one of our flatmates received our emails, but after a quick call to recruiting, she was able to get her roommate ID to link with the rest of us! 

If I hadn't made this obvious already: I'M SO EXCITED! I can say I leave for Florida NEXT WEEK. That's awesome and crazy! Check-in is in 13 days and I leave in 10 days! I'm almost in the single digits!

Meetup and More Waiting

This past Monday I met another girl who is doing the DCP! We've been talking for months now and a few weeks ago we realized we only live three hours away from each other. So we picked a town halfway between the two of us and we got to hangout for a few hours! We had a really random day but it was so fun and I'm so glad I got to meet her! She was super nice and funny and I'll definitely be hanging out with her in Florida!

More waiting. It seems like most of this program consists of waiting! The August 4th arrivals received their DORMS emails a couple of days ago and I am now anxiously awaiting mine! DORMS is the system Disney uses to pick roommates and apartment complex preferences. You're not guaranteed anything, but they certainly try their best. I'll try to remember to screenshot some things and give more info. on DORMS once I get the email. I'm the designated team leader for our group of six, so I'll be going into the system first and sending the other five girls their request. Hopefully nothing goes funky and there won't be any problems!

Three Weeks...

In exactly three weeks from today, I'll be on a plane to Florida! Today I received another DCP email - one I didn't even know we were getting!

 I started packing a couple days ago, but I didn't pack much. Since it's summer it's not like I can pack all of the clothes I would wear in Florida - because I wear them now. I've got my bedding set aside along with some warm clothes. I'm using Ziploc Space Bags for all of my clothing and bedding, which cause extreme wrinkles, so I won't be completely packed until the night before I leave. I'm stressing out about packing; I'm afraid I'll forget something!

Disney College Program Apartments

A lot of people are curious about where the College Programmers live during the DCP. Disney offers on-site living for the CP and ICP and culinary program students. There are four different apartment complexes: Vista Way, Chatham Square, The Commons, and Patterson Court. There are pros and cons to each of these complexes and they're all a bit different. On the DCP website, it gives the following information about the living portion of the program:

As part of the Disney College Program, participants live in housing complexes located near the Disneyland® Resort or the Walt Disney World® Resort. Each complex features a variety of offerings to make participants feel right at home.
Here is our list of amenities included in the housing costs for every participant:

• Fully furnished apartment
• Kitchen appliances, utensils, and dishes
• All utilities, including water, electricity, and waste disposal
• Maintenance of the apartments
• Computer labs (Walt Disney World ® Resort in Florida only)
• High-speed internet access in all apartments
• Cable ready
• Each complex and apartment layout is unique. Amenities may differ between apartments.

Alternatively, some participants may have family near the Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resorts, or are already familiar with the local area may prefer to live off-site. Please note off-site participants are unable to utilize Disney Housing sponsored transportation.
Once a participant joins housing, they agree to stay through the duration of the program. See below for information on how to request to live off-site.
Disney College Program (Florida): Participants will have the opportunity to request off-site housing after receiving their offer to participate on the program.
Disney College Program (California): Participants should discuss their interest in living off-site during their interview, as they must make this decision pre-offer.

So let's take a look at the complexes!

Vista Way

Vista is the oldest of the four complexes and is often thought to be the most run down. However, Vista has been doing renovations on the apartments and many of them are complete and the apartments look nicer. Vista also has the party reputation. With that, though, you have to remember that just because you live at Vista doesn't mean everyone parties. Vista is also the cheapest of the complexes and is the only complex without any triple occupancy rooms. Vista is situated by itself and is a short distance (by car) from the other three complexes. Its location is convenient as it's by many different stores. It also has a bus stop which all of the buses stop.

Chatham Square

Chatham seems to be the most popular complex because it has a bus stop and is a bit nicer than Vista. It's in the middle when it comes to price. Many housing events are held at Chatham and many of the classrooms are also here. Mickey's Retreat is also across from Chatham.

The Commons

The Commons, up until Spring 2014, was only available to ICP students. The thing that draws everyone to The Commons is the washer and dryer in each room. Other complexes have to use a laundry facility in the complex and pay for laundry each time. Even though having your own washer and dryer may seem like free laundry, it's really not. The Commons is more expensive because of the washer and dryer. The Commons also has a bus stop, but not all of the buses stop here.

Patterson Court

Patterson Court is the newest - and argumentatively - the nicest of the complexes. There is no bus stop here, but the stop is a <5 minute walk to Chatham. Patterson Court has the reputation of being equivalent to a nursing home because that's where the "non-partiers" live. Once again, a certain complex doesn't determine the kind of people who live there.

So now that we've went over a brief summary of the apartments, we need to know how much they cost. Keep in mind that housing prices go up every recruiting season, however, the Fall/FA 2014 ones are as follows:

 I do not have any pictures of the insides of the complexes, but if you're curious as to what the apartments look like on the inside, head on over to YouTube and search for "Vista Way Apartments Tour" (and the other three) and there are plenty of video tours available!

Magic Bands and Passport

Today I received two very exciting and important pieces of mail! If you read the title, I bet you can guess what they were...that's right, our Magic Bands and my passport! My Magic Band is green and my mom's is pink (:

Today also marked 4 weeks until check-in. That's a scary and exciting thought. I started a bit of packing yesterday but there's not much I can pack right now.

Tumblr, Packing Lists, and More...

So I decided to make a Tumblr and then added a second account onto it. My personal Tumblr is: here, and my DCP Tumblr is: here. I still don't fully understand Tumblr, but I'm doing my best! Leave me your Tumblr links and I'll do follow-for-follow!

Also, please give me links to any packing lists that are helpful! Yes, I have my own packing list, but it's always good to compare to others'!

I finally finished my NH paperwork last night! I had waited to finish the last form - the W-4 - until my dad got home to make sure I filled it out correctly. I also received an email from Southwest last night saying our trip is right around the corner! I don't get to print out boarding passes until the day before our flight, which is stressing. Hopefully I don't forget!

New Hire Paperwork

Well, a couple hours ago I received these lovely emails:

I was so excited to finally get these documents - until I started filling them out. There's a TON of paperwork you have to fill out (online). I can't post any pictures of the Portal or the documents it contains, but I did take a quick screenshot of this: 

I got really giddy when I saw that. It feels official now, I'm going to work for WALT DISNEY WORLD. Aaaaah I'm so excited!!

The New Hire paperwork is exactly what it sounds like: paperwork for new employees. These are things like a W-4, emergency contact info, company policies, etc. It's a long and tedious process filling out the paperwork; it took me about an hour to finish most of it. I'm just about done, I only have the W-4 left and I'm waiting until my dad gets home to complete that.

Less Than a Month

As of yesterday, July 8th, it is now under a month until I move to Florida! I have felt completely terrified the last week of moving. It's a lot different going from 100 days until moving to just over 30 days. I'm über nervous but I still don't regret accepting my offer. I was extremely nervous to start college and I ended up loving the independence. I know this journey is going to be hard at first, but I know I can do it. It helps knowing there's thousands of other people my age going through the same thing as I am that understand how hard it is; there will always be someone I can talk with.

Since I'm now under a month until leaving, that means I get to do what I'm dreading most: packing. I'm honestly such a procrastinator when it comes to packing, I'll probably end up starting the week before I leave and have a few panic episodes along the way... haha oops!

I should also be getting New Hire paperwork soon, so that's exciting! A lot of August 4th arrivals have completed theirs and some September arrivals said they have received theirs as well, yet I haven't heard of any people with my arrival date that have received paperwork. Ah well, it will come soon!

7 Weeks!

My countdown until check-in is now under 50 days! That's so crazy! Time is really starting to fly by now, I remember when I had 118 days left! It won't be long until I have to start packing. I'm going to apply for a passport this afternoon, so hopefully that's approved and comes in before I leave! I was talking to one of my good friends from the DCP Facebook page and we realized we only live 3 hours away from each other, so we're planning to meet up soon! I also leave for my last vacation this year on Thursday, so that's exciting! I'll be so sad when it's over, it's like my second home up there!

Post - Course Registration

I just finished registering for my classes! Let me tell you, it was CRAZY. The webpage opened up right at 00:00 (midnight), only we were faced with a problem...the dreaded orange circle. What is this orange circle, you may ask? It's the loading screen, and it stayed like that for a good 10 minutes. We overloaded the site! We all went a little crazy...

 

That's just a SMALL portion of what went on. And is still going on, on the DCP Facebook page! It's CRAZY. 

 So, what did I get?? Drum roll, please...

 

YAY! I got the two classes I wanted!! I knew I had to take Exploring Marketing, but I decided to try for Exploring Leadership as well on a spur of the moment decision this morning. Luckily, you can drop the Exploring Series classes without penalty if need be. I'm also in classes with my some of my roommates! I have a couple in one and a couple in the other! How cool! 

After all of the worrying about what classes we were all going to get, I think I can safely say we're all now feeling like this:

Pre - Course Registration

Right now it's June 22nd, 02:07 (Military time!!) which means course registration opens in about 22 hours. I absolutely need to sign up for Exploring Marketing because I'm undecided on major and this will be how I will choose whether or not I will go into business! I've thought about taking Exploring Disney Heritage as well, but I would really like a 100% free day without work or class. I honestly think I'll just skip out on EDH so someone who really wants it can take that spot.

Wish me luck!!

Instagram

I just made a new Instagram solely for the DCP, so if you have an Insta, go follow it!! @HannahsDCP

Progress!

There's been a couple more steps leading towards my DCP this week! On Wednesday I received this lovely email:

Yay for finally getting more emails!

And today we FINALLY bought plane tickets! I checked the airline website this morning and discovered the flight I wanted had filled up and all of the prices went up. I had a small panic attack and immediately called my mom and told her we need to get tickets today! So after some bickering and one mental breakdown later (on my part), our flights are booked! Unfortunately the airline we picked did not offer any non-stop flight options, so we have a connecting flight in Chicago. I haven't been to Chicago in a few years, so I'll be excited to stop there, even if it's just in the airport for an hour!

My mom and I have also decided that her, my brother, and I need to invest in a passport for the each of us. My dad does international travel with his job and if there were ever a reason for us to need to get to him, a passport would certainly be helpful. Plus, we really don't want to take my social security card to Florida!

Pre-DCP Mondays Challenge

If you have seen this picture floating around,

you may have been wondering what it is. Well, I made this challenge a few weeks ago for us Fall participants, to help pass the time! The directions are exactly what the title says, it's a challenge for Mondays! We check-in on a Monday, so I thought that would be a good day to make the challenge for. I started it at 12 weeks because that's how many weeks I had left until check-in. You start at 12 weeks and countdown until check-in! Yes, I came up with this idea, it is original and my own, so please do not take credit for it. If you want to follow my challenge, my username on Instagram is @ConnorHannah . I also track this challenge with the hashtag #PreDCPChallenge ! I look through it and like and follow a lot of people! I'll be on 9 weeks on Monday!

Vacation!

I may not post for a week or so, because like the title of this post says, I'm going on vacation! I'm going up north for the next week! There's usually little to no internet, so I tend to just disappear online for a week. I'm so excited to be on the beach again! I'll also get to see my roommate from college as where we're going is where us two met! But first, we have to make the five hour drive up there!

10 Weeks! (Actually, 9 Weeks and 6 Days...)

I'm so close to being in the single digits of weeks counting down! The time is starting to feel like it's passing by faster. While that is exciting, it's scary also. I get to go on vacation for a week starting Saturday, though! That's always a nice break (even though I have done absolutely nothing all summer...)! I'm looking forward to getting to use my new camera more. The sunsets up north are always so pretty, I must have at least 100 pictures of them throughout the years!

After we get home from vacation in two weeks, my mom said we can finally start getting things set with the plane tickets and rental car and all that fun stuff! Yay! I brought up possibly getting a passport to my mom as well because I don't want to bring down my social security card, so hopefully I'll be getting one soon! I also get to look forward to getting a new phone before I leave because our contract with Sprint needs to be renewed soon, so that's fun! I don't know whether to get the gold iPhone or the silver one...I'm leaning towards silver... But other than that, nothing has been going on, really.

My flatmates and I still have to get things sorted out about our housing situation, but a few of us had another Google Hangout recently and that was really fun! Well, besides the part when a spider decided to crawl up my arm towards the end...

I'll be seeing this beautiful sunset again in four days!

11 weeks!

As the number of days dwindle before my check-in date, the nerves grow. Last night the nerves really set in for me. I'm moving 1,400 miles away from home for half a year. I'm going to work at Disney World for a semester. I'm spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year away from home and my family. While I'm nervous, I know this will be good for me. I need to gain some independence and learn some life experiences. Coming from a small town and even smaller high school, there weren't many life lessons to be learned. I know it's going to be hard at first, but I also know it's best that I do this for myself. I know I won't regret going.

I found a great survival guide from a different blog.  That's definitely something worth checking out if you're participating or interested in the DCP.