DCP Reflection

I love the Pantry, I really do. I’ve grew so close to some of the cast members. I had a lot of guests ask about the program and I gladly told them everything and how fantastic it is. I’ve learned a lot about organization, team work, independence, responsibility etc. I can take what I’ve learned here to any job I earn in the future. I enjoyed going to work. I know a lot of people thought I was goofing off, but that’s really not true. I worked my tush off, I was discovering what the world had to offer. Yes, I did have a lot of fun – is it a crime to enjoy life?

I started my class at the end of February and I loved it! A couple of finance professionals came in every week and lecture us on a topic but also give us their history and how they got to where they are in the company. I found myself eager to hear what they had to say and excited to see where I could go with my starting point. We were assigned a project of designing our own resort. The project was hard and incredibly challenging, but after two and a half hours of straight brainstorming, we got the numbers and we had something great.

I’m a campus rep now so I’m going to really promote the program on my campus. I want people to experience this – you learn a lot about you: who you want to be, what you want to do. I’m hoping to get the program known so that future participants can get credit for it or for the classes they take. I recommend it to everyone.

I feel like working for Disney really is something I want to do in the future. After I graduate I hope to participate in their professional internship and hopefully get a full time job from there. I like making people happy – working for a company that is all about tat seems great to me.

So my last day was one of the hardest days of my life – and as I type about it, it makes me want to cry. I had to say goodbye to people that changed my life. They made me want to live life to the fullest – I experienced so many new things with them – we went through ups and downs. We laughed and cried together. It’s amazing how incredibly close I got to these people. I don’t know if it’s the program and we’re thrown into this situation, or if it’s because you meet people a lot like you – that get you. I hardly felt judged, I felt welcome and accepted. It was an amazing feeling – I had so much support and encouragement. I think about everyone everyday and try to keep in touch. Everyone touched my life in some way and I will love each and every one of them forever.

Ginourmous Recap Post

After I left you, I soon started my class. The first day was an intro session talking about what to expect and how things would be run, so I was released early – which I didn’t mind since Elliott, Charlie and I had the plan to go to Universal for the day. I felt a little ashamed for going to the competition, but honestly, Universal has nothing on Disney. They try to be Disney with the name tags and pin trading, but the guest service is no where near Disney’s. We first went to Islands of Adventure and then over to the Studios for a bit. The attractions are very good, I will admit that. They all seem to have fire and water haha. Unfortunately, while at Universal, I received a call from home telling me my cat was doing incredibly worse and that it was time to put her down. When I got home I booked a flight home, and then made my first dinner – meatloaf, I needed comfort food.

The next day, I worked and then attended a college program party for the Downtown Disney CPs. It was nice to hang out with everyone and push aside my worries of my cat. It was at DisneyQuest, so there were free games and food – it was awesome. The next day, I worked then headed to airport. I was home for less than 24 hours, no one really knew I was coming home. I spent time with my cat and then said my goodbye. I got to see my grandparents and eat at the Double T Diner which I had missed, and then boarded right back on the plane. I know a lot of people think I’m crazy for going home to put my cat down, but she was my cat – I found her. It was just something I had to do. When I got back, I was surrounded by supportive friends and that was just incredibly nice.

A few days later, I managed to switch a shift so I could go to the Take Action Tour over at the House of Blues. I got off work at 5:00, quickly changed, and headed over to the West Side of DTD. Charlie had gotten the tickets early, and had special backstage passes but we had missed the meet and greet. The guy felt bad for us, so he let us into the “Pass The Line” line, which is the line that gets to go in first. That line is when you eat in the restaurant or but something at the store prior to the show. The show included five acts, and by the time the main act, Cute Is What We Aim For, came on, we were at the front bar. I had never been front row before so that was an awesome experience. The show was excellent!

This concert kicked off my series of concerts – I can’t help that Florida gets amazing acts haha. Me and four of the roomies piled in the car and drove to Tampa bright and early. We spent the day at the beach and then got all pretty for the Britney Spears concert. We all got major sunburn, I had an interesting pattern thanks to me applying sunscreen very poorly haha. I was a bit dehydrated too – I almost passed out in the crowd waiting to get to the upper level of the arena, not good. The show was amazing though. The Pussycat Dolls opened and I absolutely LOVE them, and then Britney did not disappoint! When we got back, all of our sunburn had started to show itself. The next three days we were hobbling around in pain. The next day I had stock training, I warned my trainer about my terrible sunburn, so if I winced everytime I moved, that was why. It finally went away about a month later….yeah….Sylvia always told me she liked my striped socks haha

About a week later, Janet’s parents were coming for a visit. It was her mom’s birthday, so we got up early and headed to their hotel to decorate the room. I had a blast and the end result was great, her mom was very pleasantly surprised! We all went to Magic Kingdom and hung out there before I had to head to Downtown to meet up with my Pantry folks and go to the Bowl-A-Thon which was a VoluntEARs event. We were the Pantry Pirates! ARR!! That was tons of fun, my fellow CPs were there and we just laughed all night.

A few days later, I had a special visit! Liz was in Florida for Spring Break, so she took a day to come check out Magic Kingdom. I had to leave her after an hour because I was auditioning to extend my program in Entertainment. I had scrambled to write a performance resume and had Charlie take/edit my headshot (I was abusing his art skills haha). Turns out they didn’t want either of that. I was really nervous, but once I got in there I had a blast. I was there WAY longer then I thought I would be. I got there at 3:15, the audition started at 4, I didn’t leave until 9:30. I made it as far as any CP could go, which was: you passed the audition, we just don’t know how many roles we have to offer, you’ll find out April 13 or 14 (I’ll come back to this!). I was really really proud of myself. I was totally bummed that I couldn’t meet back up with Liz. I was hoping to see her for more than an hour, but at least I got an hour!

The next day I had an early early shift so I could participate in Goofy’s Mystery Tour. Yeah this week was hectic haha. Goofy’s Mystery Tour is when teams of 4 run around Hollywood Studios after the park has closed, receiving clues and solving puzzles in order to gain points and solve the final mystery. First was a trivia test which was INSANELY hard and then the scavenger hunt. I kind of took over Stephanie’s captainship – I was leading the way and kind of taking charge of the clues. It was hard! You have to do this all while bungeed together. It was a lot of fun - I definitely hope to do it again. WE had matching shirts and signed them – it was awesome. I was completely exhausted after my week of non-stopness.

I had a couple days to recover, before Kt arrived! I got up early, packed up my junk and headed over to meet Boo Boo at the Contemporary, which is absolutely gorgeous by the way. We had a stunning view and the beds had the most amazing pillows haha. We headed into Magic Kingdom first and started the day off with character dining at the Crystal Palace – which we had to run for! After a lovely brunch, we ran around MK meeting tons of characters and going to many attractions. By 6:00 we were pooped so we headed back to check out the room and take a lil nappy before our reservations that night at the SciFi Café. With our new found energy we hit up Tower of Terror, enjoyed a lovely meal and then the Great Movie Ride. We headed to bed and got up early for another day which we spent at Epcot. The flower and garden show had started so there’s beautiful topiary all around the park. We of course rode Figment and walked around World Showcase for a bit. I had to leave a little after lunch in order to run back to Chatham, grab some things for my class in the morning and head to work.

The next day I had class, so Katie did a Backstage Tour. After she completed her tour, we met up and went to Animal Kingdom since there were Extra Magic Hours. We stumbled into Charlie and then ran into Ashly. We got to ride Everest in the front car and then again in the back car – definitely amazing. We hit up Dinosaur and then went to Downtown Disney where Katie met a few more of my peeps from here in Florida. We then ran over to T-Rex so we could get some yum yums before it closed. After a lovely dinner we headed back to the hotel and had a midnight swim! We were the only ones in the pool so that was pretty cool. The hot tub was so relaxing.

We head to bed and once again got up early for extra magic hours over at Magic Kingdom. We ran to Space Mountain, got fast passes and also got in line. We wanted to do both tracks since it was closing soon for refurbishment. We met up with Cinderella’s step mom and step sisters and Donald in his coon-skin cap! We checked out Pirates and I was starting to get cranky thanks to my lack of coffee and food. So we had a mid-morning funnel cake – yummmmm. We ran into the Fairy Godmother as we made our way back over to Space Mountain. We saw the Country Bear Jamboree and had an amazing lunch over at Tony’s – so cute. I couldn’t help but wish Kt was a boy and not my sister…..oh well. Haha just kidding – love! We made our way over to Toon Town, but decided 70 minutes for the Fairies was not worth it. We saw the White Rabbit get off the tea cups (I KNOW, I'm so jealous of who rode with him) and had a meet and greet with him. We hit up Big Thunder and then caught a bus to Downtown Disney for some shopping.

After downtown, we headed over to the Beach Club to get the kitchen sink of ice cream. Charlie, Jared, Janet and Ashly joined us so they could meet Kt. We hard time finishing it but it was SO good. We all headed back to the Contemporary so everyone could see the room, and so I could grab somethings for class since I got moved off the waitlist for the Haunted Mansion tour at 6am the next morning.

I was up late working on my project and slept about 4 hours in Chatham and then walked over to the Commons to catch the bus. Charlie was lucky enough to be able to nap before work – I on the other hand had class and a sister to entertain =P . The tour was awesome, we got to do a whole walk through and learn all the little ins and outs. I don’t want to reveal too much, so I’ll just say it truly is amazing and remains in my top attractions.

After class I met up with Boo at the Studios where we encountered some citizens of Hollywood. We checked out the animation building and met Bolt, Rhino and Mittens. We bolted (haha!) over to the Prime Time Café for our linner. We had an really awesome server who didn’t blame Kt for not finishing her veggies hahaha the opposite of what they’re supposed to do but he was honest! I did get yelled at for elbows on the table.

We shopped as we digested then used our FastPasses for Rockin Roller Coaster – we waited for front car since I think it’s the way to go. Naturally we HAD to ride Tower of Terror before heading back to the Contemporary for a Pin Trading event. Katie got an awesome Figment pin and I got a Maleficent one. I took a phone call as she was a kid in a candy store looking at all the pins she wanted.

After our first official trading event, we headed over to Epcot for EMH. Epcot at night is so peaceful! We did Spaceship Earth and then Mission Space. We decided to make a trip around the world. It was nice to stroll around world showcase and just chat, laugh and get some yum yums along the way (true Boo & Loo fashion). We left Epcot after midnight and got up bright and early yet again.

We headed to the Studios, and while on a search for the Singin in the Rain umbrella we stumbled upon the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground which brought back SO many memories. There were students filming in the Streets of America so part of it was blocked off, it was cool though to see the Studios being well a Studio.

We caught the American Idol show which I was really entertained with. I had a blast and had wished I tried it out when there was the Cast Preview – I may have won! After Idol we had to go to Pizza Planet, I mean come on – it’s Pizza Planet. After lunch we went to meet Mike and Sully. NO one was there so we had some extra fun times. Mike walked out with us – he was going to ride Tower with us! But he was yelled at and had to go back inside. I love Sully – his hugs are so safe and warm.

We stumbled upon some Toy Story friends and then took the animation class since we thought it was Dopey. Nope – it was Pooh, my Pooh looked like the Joker. I put it on my wall when I got back and it scared some people. Yeah, Kt got all those jeans. We rolled out of Studios, taking the boat over to the Boardwalk (another blast from the past) and headed to downtown where I dropped Katie off at DisneyQuest and headed to work. Ashly met up with Kt and I was jealous of their adventures.

The next morning we had a character breakfast at the Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. I enjoyed many plates of food and their delicious Jungle Juice. It started to rain so we put off the safari and hung out with Lilo & Stitch instead. We went to It’s Tough To Be A Bug which I swear got worse over the past 10 years. I really don’t have to do that again…

The rain settled a bit so we took a 2 week safari, which was a little bit longer thanks to a duck in the road, but we had a fantastic driver. We rode Everest and Dinosaur again and then made our way to Camp Minnie Mickey to find Pocahontas. I didn’t know what to say when I finally met her, I was intimidated haha. The rain really picked up so we bought ponchos, but as we were walking to catch the Epcot bus, Kt stepped in a huge puddle, so we went back the room for some dry socks.

In Epcot we did our meet and greet for being Disney Visa members and learned some info on the Kim Possible around the world adventure which we never got around to but definitely wanted to do haha. We did single rider line for Test Track and then I bounced since I had work again. While at work I got a text from Kt telling me to meet her at MK since there were Extra Magic Hours until 1am. So I took the bus back to the Contemporary and hurried over. My bag tightly packed with various pieces of clothing haha. We ran around checking out different Fantasyland attractions and then I got the popcorn I had been speaking about the whole week. We enjoyed Carousel of Progress and then headed back to do some packing since it was our last night  well we mainly left because it was 1am haha

The next morning we packed up our bags and headed out to Studios to do the Backlot Tour since it had just re-opened. I wasn’t feeling so good so I wasn’t much fun but the Journey of the Little Mermaid show made me feel better – oh I love how Disney has that effect. We went back to Magic Kingdom so Katie could get one last look at the castle and of course last minute shopping. After a tearful goodbye, I dragged my bags to work and passed out when I got back to Chatham.

I worked the next night and had two days off! I went into work to say goodbye to Lansy and Carine for they were returning home, it was so sad! I then made my way over to Animal Kingdom to say hi to those I hadn’t seen in awhile since I was running around with Boo. Ashly and I rode the bus home and of course snuggled haha

Janet and I did some shopping the next day and then headed over to Vista to watch the Volleyball game. That weekend I had dinner with Mr. & Mrs. Cassidy which was so amazing. I hadn’t seen them in years and I loved being able to sit and chat with them. I missed them so much!!!

The next day I worked a few extra hours for Bette, but I was still energized and ready for the night. We were going to the House of Blues for Janet’s birthday. While we were getting ready, a group of British men knocked on our door saying they had just arrived – a couple of them were our new neighbors. So we invited them along! They came out with us despite having only been in the states for 7 hours and had to go to a meeting bright and early the next day. They were good company even if we had to babysit them and help them find the buses at 3:00am. It was definitely an adventure.

The Lady Gaga concert was that Monday – so Ashly and I took the day, did some shopping and got all dolled up for a FABULOUS show. It was absolutely amazing, though afterwards we were exhausted. We got back around 1 and went immediately to bed. I don’t think we said hi or even changed. We were pooped!! I worked Tuesday then had my normal Wednesday off. I woke up feeling a bit under the weather but pushed it aside and went to Epcot to check out the butterfly garden which was not as good as I expected, though I still enjoyed it since I do love butterflies.

That Saturday, I got off work at 4, quickly changed and headed over to Epcot to catch Herman’s Hermits who were performing for the Flower and Garden Show. I arrive EXACTLY on time – got a snow-cone in Japan and enjoyed the show in America. I was the youngest one there who actually wanted to be there haha I do love oldies. I enjoyed the view of World Showcase before heading back to Chatham.

Easter was the next day – so we had an Easter breakfast in 13302 with eggs, pancakes, toast – the works!! A few of us went to Magic Kingdom for some shopping before we all had to work. We caught part of the Easter parade – Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny are quite cute! The next day I had a 10-4pm shift so I made my way over to Animal Kingdom and found my love Ashly. We ate at Pizzafari and watched the Festival of the Lion King show and enjoyed the evening. Of course we harassed our custodial buddies too ;-)

I of course had another concert this week – it was my month of concerts! We spent the day at Universal and then headed to the House of Blues for the Bamboozle Road Show. It was packed thanks to it being spring break, but I still enjoyed the show.

The next week I had really had it with all the excuses on why I hadn’t found out about my extension. Everyone was telling me the Entertainment side had needed more time so it was taking longer. I called and discovered there was in fact no room for me to extend. Of course, I called before work. Bad move. I was working and asked my manager if I could talk to him when he had time. I was outside with Sylvia. She immediately tells him to take me inside because she knew I’d start crying again. I insisted I was fine, but of course the tears came. He made some calls and told me he would work more on it the next day when the College Recruiting office was open.

The next day Janet, Ashly and I embarked on the adventure of dress shopping. I had my phone close by for any news from my favorite manager Chris haha 7 hours later, and 400 dresses later we all finally had one. The formal was just a week away so we had to get this done! After a long day of shopping, Janet passed out but the rest of us got dolled up, hit up the Boardwalk and then went over to Epcot. We had a grand ole time with Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore! We walked half way around the world, enjoyed Illuminations and then headed back to the apartment. We were surprised by a few visitors, we all just hung out and had a good time

The next day I had my presentation for class and I caught wind of someone turning down their extension in the store across the way from me. So I ran over to the office, and was placed on the phone with a very mean lady who told me I was S.O.L. I told Chris about my phone call and he told me he was handing it off to another manager since he would be gone for a week. I put my worries aside since it was another concert night! This time Charlie and I had to venture over to UCF to see Hey Monday, All Time Low, Cobra Starship and Fall Out Boy. With bad bus adventures, traffic caused by rush hour and a bus catching fire (yeah, scary stuff) we finally arrived 20 minutes before show time thanks to Janet Banet – she saved us! The show was good – I let loose and forgot about all the stresses of where I would be a month from then.

During that next week of work Ashley (another manager) did everything she could and got the real scoop for me. I couldn’t extend since it was first come first serve and I waited awhile to put in my extension since I waited until after my audition. So it was official, I was going home. My final weeks were hard – I wanted to do everything, spend as much time with everyone. I fell in love with the program, everyone in it, everything to do with it.

That Wednesday was a day of free meals. I had my final class in Epcot in Seimen’s VIP Lounge. They provided breakfast and lunch and talked about their partnership with Disney. We got our Mouseters and got to ride Spaceship Earth. A couple friends from class and I hit up Test Track and then headed back to Chatham for it was formal day! Stephi did everyone’s hair – so sweet of her! After hours of primping we were ready to go! The formal was at Coronado Springs and was so much fun. I didn’t get to meet the characters since the line was outrageous – I spent my time mingling and dancing. After we got back, we visited our neighbors who couldn’t go. We changed and dug into some ice cream while starting the movie Bedtime Stories. I woke up a couple hours later to Ashly saying “Mia….do you want to move?” she fell asleep on the floor and I on the couch haha.

The next morning I was half awake when I heard my phone go off somewhere in the next room. I really debated on getting up to read the text haha I eventually decided to get up since it was 10:40 – and it was from Charlie saying I better be getting ready. I knew there had been talks of Universal but I wasn’t sure, plus I thought him and Janet had class until noon. Well about 5 minutes later in walk Janet and Charlie while I am still half asleep haha. I quickly got ready and had a fun filled day at Universal. That night a couple of us got ice cream at Planet Hollywood and met up with a ton of people for the midnight showing of Wolverine.

Stephanie, my wife at the Pantry, and I had a date night in Magic Kingdom. We were on a character hunt but of course hit up rides like Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain and Astro Orbiters (which I had never done!). We watched Spectro-Magic and Wishes and then called it a night. It was a lovely date!!

Cinco De Mayo was a fun day – a few of us piled in the car, again, and went to Daytona Beach. On the way we stopped at the Harley Davidson shop and other interesting stores haha I learned my lesson about sunscreen in Tampa haha so I did not burn! You can actually drive on the beach which was awesome. We enjoyed just chillin on the beach and then walked around the shops a bit. We headed back to Orlando for it was out dinner at Ohana! We met up with Laura, who I learned won a car on The Price is Right, how cool?! The food was great, the company was amazing. When we got back, we pulled our mattresses out and had a slumber party in the living room – this lasted until we left. So it was a 10 day slumber party, it was the best!

The next day I had my campus rep interview – 10 minutes after my phone rang, I was officially a campus rep!!! I was so excited, I squealed haha. This meant I got to keep my cast membership and recruit kids for the program. After my interview all of the graduates in 13302 headed over to graduation where we got our ears and certificates. Again there was free food and characters along with prizes! Stephi won a caricature drawing which was quite awesome. We had a blast – we stuck around til the very end and danced with the characters, it was definitely a memory I will never forget.

The next day I didn’t feel so hot, but I went to work anyway since I felt a lot better after taking tons of medicine. After the medicine wore off, I felt pretty bad and luckily Mari let me go home an hour early. I said welcome back to Jared and went straight to bed. Sleeping was hard, not because of the ongoing slumber party but because I was pretty sick. I woke up with a huge fever, so I immediately called in to work before I could change my mind haha. I called my doctor at home and he called in a prescription for me. It was no the swine! I was not coughing! Ashly went with me to pick up my medicine and other sick people essentials. We watched Disney movies all day and ended up falling asleep a lot haha. Everyone stopped in before heading over to Jared’s but Ashly, Carlos and Janet stayed behind. Carlos made cinnamon rolls – Ecuadorian style haha. I moved my mattress back for the night so they wouldn’t have to worry about waking me.

The next morning I felt so much better. I took it easy so I would over do it, though I did go to the concert I had tickets for haha. This time it was Alkaline Trio – a good show and we were front row for all of it!! The next day they thought I called in, but it was all due to a typo from labor services (I later learned it was my friend Ariel who called in – her personnel number is only one digit off from mine, small world!). The next day a few of us went to Wishes for one last time. It was really nice to watch it dead center of Main Street, it was a moment again I won’t forget.

I had planned the next day to go to Studios but my running around was catching up with me, so I slept until work haha. It was my going away party – Peggy cooked meatball subs and a delicious cake! Sylvia brought this amazing chicken salad. They pitched in and bought be a cook book and gave me cards that brought me to tears. Rhonda gave me a guest service fanatic – my first one! I was really proud. This day was really hard for me, it was the last time I’d see Bette. I got really close to her so this sent me into tears (I know, I cried a lot haha).

Jared had a gathering for all of us leaving that week. It was really bittersweet – it was hard to say goodbyes but it was fun hanging out with everyone. The next day was my very last day of work. I almost cried but they wouldn’t let me. I said all my goodbyes and headed back to Chatham. I should have packed but I enjoyed everyone’s company and then packed…until 4:30am….then got up 3 hours later.

The next day was my last. I’ll save my meaningful goodbyes for my reflection post. The morning was hectic with shipping stuff home and check out. Ashly and I went to the airport together so that made things a bit easier. I was back in Maryland at 4:30pm.