Check In Day!

Can somebody pinch me?! Because I swear today wasn't real...  

I guess the best place to start is the beginning, so here goes: I got up this morning and got ready in a sort of trance. I kept re-playing this scenario in my head that I was gonna show up at check-in and they were just gonna laugh at me and say "Psych, we were just kidding!" Not a calming way to start the day. But up to this point the Disney experience seemed so far off and not reality that I couldn't believe today was actually the day it would begin! So I checked out of my hotel and put the address in my GPS and, thankfully, didn't get lost on my way to check-in. When I arrived though, I thought I was in the wrong place. It was an apartment complex which didn't make sense to me. But I saw a whole bunch of cars pulling in and decided I'd better check it out. The mean security guard told me to pull foward and follow the purple signs (he was not particularly excited or magical). The signs were purple and said "Disney Internships and Programs" and had pixie dust on them, which was very magical. I knew I was in the right place and I started to get really excited, although the anxiety was still there. I found myself a parking spot and walked up to the building. It was covered in Disney posters and signs with the characters on it and one sign said "Your journey begins here!" and it was so exciting! I got to the front of the line and the lady called me up and my stomach was in knots: this was it. She was about to tell me that it was a joke. I told her my name and braced myself: she told me to grab a program book and continue into the line.

Say what?! This wasn't a joke? It was suddenly real to me: I work for Walt Disney World. And I was thrilled about it!!! So, I went through to stand in line and tried to make some friends. The first girl I tried to talk to though, I guess she didn't like gingers becuase she did not want to be my friend. I got nervous again. I really wanted to make some friends and have good roommates. Then we moved forward in a group of ten to a table where this young girl who was an intern explained our housing contract to us. She had us all say our names, where we were from, what our job would be and where we were working at. Lots of the girls were attractions or quick-service food and I was really excited about my costuming role. Then we moved forward in line and waited. We got to this table and they checked our ID's to see if we were old enough to live in an alcohol apartment. Then we got back into line and waited. We waited for a long while. It gave us all a lot of time to talk to each other though. I made friends with the girls around me and we all talked about what our jobs were and what we thought we would be doing. They all had a pretty good idea of thier jobs except me, because I still do not have an official job "description" for my job. It just says "costume department." When we finally got to the front of the line we went to individual desks and talked to someone about where we wanted to live. I went up there with a girl from line right next to me because we wanted to be roommates. I was extremely excited that I had found someone I wanted to be friends with and live with. It was a huge relief. From that part of the line, we started moving faster. We went straight to get keys to our apartment, sign another paper about housing, fill out car registration, and get pictures and ID's made. After all that was done, we waited in line again for a while. At the front of the line we talked to a lady for about ten minutes about what to wear on Friday to Traditions class (where they teach us all about Disney's traditions--obviously--and the general history of the parks) and then an education lady spoke to us for about five minutes and then we were dismissed. It was generally a lot of excitedly hurrying up and waiting. But it was a pretty well oiled machine, which was impressive.

My apartment is in the same complex that check-in was in so I didn't have to go far to find it. There is six girls in here total and, thankfully, all of them are really cool! I was the second to arrive so every time a new girl arrived I had to scout them out and decide if we were going to be friends or not. I've decided all of us are, except maybe one of them. I was glad none of them are super Disney nerds becuase it's too hard to make friends with those kids. I learned that in line. The best people I have met so far are just very real and genuine, not super peppy or fakely magical. Which makes me glad that Disney knew what they were doing, and hired a bunch of real people.

We all unpacked for a couple hours, grabbed some lunch, then were off to the casting office. All the people had specific times to catch the bus for casting that they gave us in our packet at the beginning of the day. The ride to the casting office was really fun because we had this self-proclaimed "tour guide/game show host/new friend" who was talking to us the whole time. Now, she WAS really peppy but it wasn't the annoying barbie peppy. She was really genuine but was just really hyper and made incredible jokes. Me and her were definitely friends. She explained to us what anything "background Disney" is, which basically means anything/anywhere that guests are not allowed to go is considered background Disney. We are not allowed to take any pictures of background Disney and especially not allowed to put it online on Instagram or Twitter or anything. I thought that was a good relatable way to explain it to us so that Disney keeps its facade and guests don't know all the secrets. It's all about keeping the magic alive. 

I rode the bus with another girl I had met in line from earlier that day and we have become friends. When we arrived at casting, we lined up and they sent us through a series of stops to have things done like background checks, fingerprints, and I-9's. To be sure they hadn't hired any crazies. Once again I was really impressed with the organization of the process: everyone knew your next stop and what you needed to have out and where for you to stand. It was seriously organized. It reminded me of an obstacle course. We were all basically traveling along one winding path with about a dozen stops along the way. When I finally reached the end, I was exhausted. The bus took me back to my apartment and I collapsed. It was exhausting being so excited all day to wait in a line and fill out forms. However, as soon as I got tired of being in line, I remembered what it was for and got excited all over again. I mean, I'm working for Walt Disney World!! It's pretty exciting stuff.

Tomorrow I have one meeting in the afternoon and then I'm off until Friday for Traditions class. On Sunday I have my first day of training. It's an Entertainment Class and goes from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. I'm so excited to finally learn what I'm doing!! However, that is going to be one long day.

That about sums today up! I know this was a long post, but I want to be sure I don't forget anything!! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I want to have proof of all the magical things that happen to me! (Even though some of them might not be so glamorous once I start work.) Not everyone will get this experience, and I want to be sure I take advantage of every aspect and make the most of it. Everyone has been telling us to network while we're here and make tons of memories and that is exactly what I plan to do. I want to leave here knowing that I did every single thing that I could and wanted to do. This could benefit me so much in the future with the contacts it will give me and what I will learn, not only in my field of work, but life lessons as well. I really want this to be a life changing experience because I know that it has the potential to be!