Saturday, January 28, 2012

The Program is over,,, whats next?

To my College Program obsessed followers who aren't holding my hiatus from posting against me:

The most magical experience is over so what do you do next?
Well if you're like me, your heading back to school not withing working distance of the Disney Parks. :( It's sad, I know. I received some very good advice from my leaders & lots of ex-CP-ers. (yes i just coined the term "ex-cp-er") Everyone told me that you will likely have a major magic withdrawal after a few weeks of returning home (true!) and the best way to stay connected when you are far away from the parks & do not become a seasonal CM at your location, is to be a Campus Rep!

Campus Reps or formally, Disney Internships and Programs Campus Representatives, are hired as seasonal CMs by the recruiters that work each area. The recruiter is mostly likely the same guy or gal who came to your campus presentation and recruited you to the program! Each campus has a small group of Reps who work as the eyes and ears of the Recruiter on campus. Students know their campus better than anyone outside of the school, so these students work to promote the Program on campus. Using social media, official student organizations and Collateral sent by Recruiters, they create their own campus marketing plan & execute it!

So taking this excellent advice I applied at the end of my program. Its a very simple application you can fax in. The only must have pre-requisites are to have successfully completed a CP & be enrolled in a college/university. My recruiter Marcie contacted me & set up a phone interview ( just like the ones you do to get into the program).

I began my semester as a Rep in August when I met the other 4 girls that made up my Rep team at OU. Becoming a Rep was a fantastic experience. In attempting to keep updating short posts. I'll post again later this week with some fun stuff we did this semester at OU.
Thanks for reading :)
I'll leave you with an excellent video put together by one of my best Main Street East CMs Miguel! He just posted it for us! Its quite Magical!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

July & August, The end of a Magical Program

I'm finally going to catch up on the last month of my program! I'm sorry for not posting sooner, I think you will see how busy the last month was; lots of work & trying to fit in all the fun things we wanted to do. This is a LONG post but its got lots of great pics!!

 Maura, Katie & I went to Fort Wilderness (where Katie worked) for Chip & Dales campfire singalong. It was pretty rainy so they canceled the sing along but we still met Chip & Dale, made smores on the campfire & watched Beauty & the Beast on the huge out door screen! It was a really fun (&Free!!) night!




The DeMarcos came to FL for a vacation near the end of my program and luckily they could use the rest of my Maingate passes so they didn't go to waste!
While walking down Mainstreet a manager began talking to us & i got excited because I knew he was going to make a magical moment! And sure enough he asked if the whole family would be the grand marshals of the parade!! I was so so excited! In all of my years and days of being there I've never gotten to be in the parade!!! It was the most magical guest experience I ever had! We went backstage to get ready for the parade, they gave us all Mickey Ears, & a lot of characters came over to meet us before the parade started!!

When we finished the parade in Frontierland we got to stand in a roped off area & watch the rest of the parade go by, right up front without having to stake out a spot, and all of the performers were sure to wave to us as they went by!!

We had our Graduation ceremony a couple weeks before we actually left, so we had a few weeks to wear our Graduation Ears around the parks! First we got our diplomas & Ears. (At Chatham, another CP housing complex)
Some of my MSE family & roommate Katie with our diplomas!

We got to meet a lot of characters in their graduation attire!!
Daisy

Goofy

Donald

Pluto

Mickey & Minnie!

We had a buffet meal with hot dogs & hamburgers & lemonade. There was a DJ & dance floor, even some of the characters were dancing! There were lots of prizes, we got Cinderella Castle CP posters, picture frames & a lot of left over cast member appreciation prizes lol
It was a fun day spent with our friends from the program
Katie & I

Roommates!

Lizzy & I

Katie, me & Diana

MSE love, Jarrod, Lizzy & Brittney

More MSE family

After Graduation I headed to Epcot with Katie, some of her friends from work & their roommates. 

Having Margaritas (with light up ice cubes) in Mexico before watching Illuminations!

Katie & I headed out of Epcot after Graduation

In an attempt to soak up all the Disney we could before we left Maura and I spent one of our last days off at Hollywood Studios Celebrating graduation, meeting characters & having fun.











Finally August came and it was sooo hot we were... dare i say? getting ready to go home?! Yes. I was excited to get home, have a little relief from the heat and work, and see my friends and family! At the same time it was so sad to leave all my new friends & roommates!

Celebrating our last week, we were packing (giving stuff away to friends who were staying) and having some fun... 
After work our last week at iHop 

Our last sleepover in our room (had to drag Katies mattress in!)



Roy, Minnie & me on Main Street!

Last play day with the girls at MK


The last day Katie was with us we went to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes :) and then Maura & I took her to the airport!





Katie in her empty room!






I am pouting bc Katie is leaving

Now what? :(

The last morning mom dad and jenna came to the apartment with doughnuts for Maura & I! We had breakfast, took Maura to the Polynesian (took her to the airport the next day) and we went to Carribbean Beach. Mike flew in the next day and we headed back to MI!

And they all lived HAPPILY EVER AFTER