Pre checkin & Day 2- Day 8 Catch up

Just wanted to catch up on our trip down here & the first week of the CP, since I've been to busy/tired to keep updated more often.

Mom, dad, Mike & i left home around 6am on the 4th. Mom & I drove first and we ate at Panera in Perrysburg OH. the drive was pretty decent for awhile but then it rained for about 9 hours straight, and at some points it was a full-out downpour!! It made the day pretty miserable. Luckily we made it all the way to Valdosta, GA and we all went straight to sleep. We did see some cool places that would be fun to stop at sometime, like the Colonel Sanders Museum haha Since we made it to Valdosta on Friday, we only had a few hours to go on Saturday! Yay! So we stopped at the FL welcome center for a few pics. When we got to the hotel Mike & I took the boat to Downtown Disney to eat at Earl of Sandwich, mom & dad went to Epcot to set up their annual passes. Then we checked in while mom & dad went exploring Mike and I went swimming!
The next morning we went to the Polynesian for breakfast -  mike & I had PINEAPPLE MACADAMIA NUT PANCAKES! delicioussss! Then we took the monorail to MK since it was drizzling all morning there was nobody there! It was pretty empty and we walked on everything. So after we did some big stuff like Space Mtn, big thunder, Haunted Mansion etc.. and headed over to AK to do Expedition Everest before our dinner reservation at Yak & Yeti. Dinner was very good! I had honey chicken and it was definately a good choice.
So skipping passed check in day:
Tuesday (1:30-5:30) I went to my first C&I class and it was really cool. Its at Patterson & I drove myself there & Everything. I just learned im not very creative person! Uh oh! I have had training everyday.

Wednesday was Traditions class and that was really fun we got our first peek at the utilidors under Magic Kingdom.

Thursday (9:30-6)was a class at Disney University called Merchandise Tier 1, we did another tour and had 2 really cool leaders for that.

Friday (My birthday) (8:00-3)I had the Merchantainment class at DU. We got to play on real registers (that obviously are not hooked to the system theyre just for practice) After class I went to dinner with mom & dad at Crystal Palace on Main Street for dinner, it was a delicious buffet and we met pooh, tigger, eyore & piglet! It was really fun & we got to walk around MK at night! We caught a little bit of wishes & The magic, the memories & you show- which was awesome! My roommates also bought me a cake, happy birthday mouse ears & really cool mickey mug AND peanut m & ms! It was so fuN! And they sang to me in English & Spanish!

Saturday (7:15-12:15)I had to be at training @ 715 which was rough after having fun all night on Friday. This class was all walking around MK and learning history & stuff which was super interesting but it was really chilly! We got in to MK before it opened and there was NO ONE on main street. It was so cool!
Sunday (10:00-6:30) was my first day of actually working in the park. I’m still training/earning my ears but it was really fun myself and Arielle took turns using the register and our trainer took us to the different locations we would be working at and we rotated around all day. Its all beginning to make sense and I don’t feel like I will be lost in the utilidor forever! (if I get lost now I’m pretty sure I could eventually find my way out!)
After work we went to the House of Blues in Downtown Disney, and it was pretty fun.. just a DJ but it was pretty cool.

Today Monday the 14^th – I have to train again but today in the confectionary (1:30-9:30) I get to learn to make cotton candy! ( I think or maybe that’s Wednesday… I forget)
I was supposed to finish training on Tuesday… but I have class… so I don’t have to work Tuesday now.
Wednesday I have specialty training (11:00-7:30)

Hopefully I will remember to print out my schedule for next week after work today!

In other news Mike has a plane ticket to come here in April!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im excited!

Day 1

"Sleep with that mouse and get that princess castle" --Dan

That was the first note I pulled out of my box today from my favorite brother! All of my new roommates got a kick out of it and therefore made it one of our "house rules" lol

Mom & I picked up Maura from her hotel (double tree) on hotel plaza blvd. around 715 this morning. I had already walked mike out and got some breakfast (bagels & muffins) with mom at Port Orleans. We got to vista and the line for check in was much shorter than we had anticipated! 

Danielle was running a little late as we stayed much closer to Vista than she did. Check in was supposed to start at nine but they let us in about 830. We got name tags (unofficial paper ones) and then we got in a line to fill out paperwork. We waited for danielle several times to see if she could  catch up to us. We heard that if you have a group that wants to live together you have to be in line together. Well, Maura and danielle were already roommate matched in Disney's system. So in that case they did not need to be next to each other. Go figure. but no one told us. So at the next part of the line Maura went to the left and took care of picking out our room and i waited in a separate area. In the meantime Danielle (Maura Danielle and I had picked each other out of fbook) had found a 4th roomie for our (what we were hoping) for 4 person/2 bedroom apt, Katie. 

Turns out we wanted at 2 bedroom in Chatham and all that was left were 3 bedrooms in Vista Way or Patterson Court. AH we didnt have a plan B!!! ( Go figure bc we've been planning all kinds of little details for months) anyways we have a 3 bedroom in vista. Maura, Danielle, Katie & I. Plus Kelsie and Jules (who were previously matched) were also put with us. 

We were then assigned a time to take a bus to Casting and a time for Housing meeting. We took the 930 bus to casting, where we were told our role placements. I am Merchandise(which I already knew) in Magic Kingdom on Main Street East. Which I didn't know ahhhhh so exciting! We went thru several stations where we were finger printed, did background checks and turned in forms. We also got a few booklets on transportation, disney look, and we did our payroll. Since I don't have checks to void for direct deposit it was easiest to just get the payroll card. Which is like a Visa debit card we get paid on.

  Then we borded the bus back to Vista and had about an hour to carry things in to the apartment. We are on the first floor which is nice for moving in, but wierd bc i never want to leave my blinds open bc ppl are walking by! At 215 we had to catch a bus to The Commons (International program housing complex) for the housing meeting. 2ish hours later we took a bus back to vista and our first plan of action was to make a shopping list and second was to get FOOD. We went to the chick-fil-a just down the road bc we got coupons in our free tote bags we got today! WOOHOOO it was delish! Then we( maura, danielle, katie & I) went to Walmart and spent lots of money on odds and ends we didnt have room to pack as well as a huge dry erase board and bullitin boards bc thats all we are allowed to put on our walls! it was an adventure getting all of it back home since we all had driven in my car!

So we have been hangin out havin fun all night but i am exhausted now, just wanted to give a q uick update! goodnite!!!

I'm taking a vote!

SO, mom had this great idea that we need to get Mike some Mickey Mouse ears when we get there! YAY
But Mike thinks that he doesn't want to wear them. (I told him he only has to wear them in front of the castle and other important things for pictures hehehe) So to help us settle this, leave a comment on this post voting for me (mickey ears) or Mike no mickey ears!
hahaha thanks :)

Roadtrip begins .... TOMORROW!

This is one of the latest emails I have received. Aren't they so exciting?! Anyways here is a quick update:

1. Everything major is packed!!! There is just a few bags left to go in the back seat, mostly things that we dont want to freeze. But we also didn't want to drive around all week with tons of stuff in our car. We'd really be in trouble if something happened to one of our cars this week.

2. Pretty much all I have to do today is clean out the inside of my car, pack a bag for 2 days of driving, a day at the parks & check-in day and pick Mike up from his apartment.

3. Update on my C& I class- I received an email saying the book required for the class is really expensive and hard to find & to hold off on getting the book until they decide what to do.  I just received another email that says the book is available in the Education Office for $13 deducted from your paycheck! $13 for a book?! This is already the best class I've ever taken lol

4. I now have an account created for me that puts me into this Disney education portal. I dont really know what all it can do or what I use it for. So far I can see it has a calendar and lists of students and instructors. I'm assuming its somewhat like our Moodle. Something where you can see  all your info about classes and communicate with ppl in your class. I'm sure I'll be learning more about this in a few days, but its cool to have access to something new!

5. Had a "going away dinner" at Grandma Jackie's last night and it was DELICIOUS, ham dinner with mashed taters, cheesy taters, sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash, corn, beans, applesauce, rolls, 3 kinds of cheesecake, and strawberry shortcake! YUM
My brother Dan came over to have some leftover desert haha and I'm just starting to realize I'm not going to be seeing everyone for a very longgg time eek!

We are finally getting so close to leaving that it is starting to feel REAL :) I got an email about my classes a few days ago:

So I'll be starting my C&I class my second day there!!!

Today I'm trying to put a big dent in my packing. I just put a bunch of bedding and towels in a big Space bag Gramma Sue gave us.  Mom & Gramma Jackie are helping me wash alll the clothes that are going down there so we can put them in the big drawers today ( the big drawers have to be packed in the trunks first)

 Gotta get back to packing!!!

And then there was one.....

Today is the first day of OU classes. All of my roomies have a tuesday 1:00 and they all just filed out the door and now its just me and a very unusually quiet apartment. Normally I would be going to a class right now too... I should be packing but i think im gonna watch wall-e and take a nap -- I best not be getting sick! :O

38 days seems so close yet so far away!

I have not posted in awhile since it has seemed to me that nothing has majorly progressed in my prep for Disney. I also thought my list of "To Do" things was pretty much under control but the more attention I pay to it... the longer it seems to grow! So here is what I have been working on and a list of things I need to get working on.

I got an email before Christmas from Disney that said my arrival date (2/7) has been selected as a trial run for pre-registering online for Disney classes, usually you do that on check in day! So this morning I pre-registered for Creativity & Innovation (C&I) and also an Exploration Series called Exploring Marketing.

A note if you are going to do a College Program (CP) and want to take a class for credit or no credit: It can be very complicated so the earlier you begin talking to advisors the better! I have worked out probably 10 different scenarios for finishing my last semester and I only have 3 classes to finish up! But there are definitely differences in the classes OU will allow for credit and those that I want to take.

A little background on my credit situation for C&I:
Next fall I will actually fufill all of my requirements for my degree but I will be 1 credit short of my graduation credit requirement. (I was actually 5 credits short but I took SOC 100 this fall for 4 credits) I had a REL 170 class scheduled online at OU for 4 credits to fulfill my 1 credit requirement. When I met with the OU Career Services DCP advisor she gave me 3 classes OU approves for School of Business Administration (SBA) credit. The only class I need to take I have just taken this semester. The other two were HR courses that would be OK but there were several other classes that sounded more interesting. So I emailed an SBA academic advisor who in turn talked to the head of Marketing & Management department who agreed to let me take C&I (which was reccommended as an excellent choice by the advisor at Career Services) to fufill my random 1 credit! YAY! I also can now drop REL 170. I still havent figured out if I have to register for the OU's ENT 305 (considered equivalent to C&I for my case) or if I just transfer the credit from Disney later? This email is on my "To Do" list.

Exploring Marketing

Click here to get the details on the Exploring Marketing series

I also have gotten an email "offering" the chance to change start dates to 2/21 which I 1. don't want to do because it will cut into my Disney time (end date is the same 8/12) 2. You don't have the option to take a class due to the date 3.We have travel all ready to go, Dad will be going to Kansas the second week of Feb and Mike already has a plane ticket.  Mom heard they can and have just changed peoples dates. But hopefully since I am pre-registered in a class they won't do that.

We had a send off meeting at school on December 1st and they told us that we will get our Maingate passes via mail. Since currently disney has my address as my school address I need to change that. When I move out of my apartment at OU they likely wont forward anything home and it would be terrible if they threw out my Maingate passes!!!! So i need to email recruiting. Idk how else to get it changed. Add that to the "to do".

Mom has a good start on packing for me upstairs.. cleaning supplies, towels, organizers etc...  But it is hard to start packing when I still haven't moved out of my apartment and I'm still using my stuff! My blankets I need to pack and bedspread are still at school. We are going to Target tomorrow to get some things like socks ( have to be covering the ankle) and sheets (need new regular twin ones) and I also need an ethernet cord (never needed one at OU bc we have wireless there).


Well I apparently had more to catch up on than I thought! Sorry for the long post.. until theres more to report - I'll be playing Epic Mickey with Dad, Have a Magical Day!