New Hire Paperwork

This morning at 7:30am I received my log-in information to access my new hire paperwork. It was a long and tedious process filled with a lot of skimming and even some technical problems.

According to the Facebook group, it is suggested to do the new hire paperwork on Internet Explorer, however I own a MacBook so I don't have access to Internet Explorer. I was able to finish all the new hire paperwork on Safari by downloading Adobe Reader. If you're planning on going this route, you can follow the steps below to make it a little simpler.

1. Download Adobe Reader.
2. Open Adobe Reader.
3. Select Adobe Reader to be your primary PDF viewer instead of Preview.
4. Click one of the "Sign and Submit" documents under the Forms tab.
5. Right click the document when it loads and click "Open with Adobe Reader."
6. Click the "Sign and Submit" button in the Adobe Reader version of the document.
7. An "Error" message with appear.
8. Click "Okay."
9. X out of the Adobe Reader document.
10. Click "Close" on the document on the new hire website.
11. You will now notice the document is completed under your list.

Just like my acceptance email, I had been waiting with bated breath for my paperwork and got especially antsy when everyone on the Facebook page started freaking out about it. Now that I have received it, it is just one more reminder that my arrival date is quickly approaching and before I know it, I will be in Florida starting my program!

Bloglovin'

To all of you who have ever read my blog, skimmed through it, glanced at it, or even accidentally clicked on it on your way to what might be, in your opinion, a more exciting website, I highly encourage you to follow my blog on Bloglovin'. Scroll down until you see the "Follow this blog with Bloglovin'" button and click away! If you're actually interested in keeping up with my Disney College Program happenings, it will help you with this endeavor. PLUS, by following me, I will be able to see that I'm not just typing into the abyss of the internet, which I so often feel! Thanks again!

The Disney Look

Today I received an email the Disney College Recruiting and Cast Image and Appearance Team about the "Disney Look." While I'm pretty familiar with the Disney Look, I figured I would outline it for potential applicants looking to learn more information.

Guidelines for Females

• Fingernails: Fingernails should be clean. If polish is used, it should be an appropriate, neutral color. This includes deeper, richer shades of polish. Polishes that are not permitted include black, gold, silver, multicolored or neon. Charms or decals on fingernails are not permitted. Fingernails should not exceed one-fourth of an inch (approximately 6 mm) beyond the fingertip.
• Hairstyling: 
• Hair should be neatly combed and arranged in a classic, easy-to-maintain style. Extreme styles are not permitted.
• Hair below shoulder length should be confined if it falls forward over the face while working.
• Conservative braided hairstyles without beads or ornamentation are permitted.
• Hair products may be used to create a soft, natural hairstyle within these guidelines.
• Shaving of the head or any portion of the head or eyebrows is not permitted.
• Artificial hair is permitted if it looks natural and meets all of the above requirements
• Hair Coloring: The Disney Look does not permit extremes in dyeing, bleaching or coloring. If the hair color is changed, it must be natural-looking and well maintained. Subtle highlighting or frosting is permitted as long as it creates a uniform look over the whole head and meets all of the previously listed guidelines.
• Makeup: If makeup is worn, it should be applied in a blended manner and in appropriate, neutral colors.

Guidelines for Males

Facial Hair: For all male Cast Members, a fully grown in, well-maintained mustache, beard, or goatee is permitted, unless otherwise restricted by regulatory codes and standards.

• Facial hair must be neatly trimmed and may not present an unkempt appearance. Extreme styles are prohibited.
• All facial hair (beards, goatees and mustaches) must create an overall neat, polished and professional look.
• All facial hair must be fully grown in, neatly groomed and well maintained at no longer than a quarter of an inch in length. Mustaches may extend below the corners of the mouth to meet with the facial beard.
• Shaping the mustache or beard to a particular style is not permitted. Mustaches (without lower facial hair) must not extend onto or over the upper lip and must extend to the corners of the mouth, but not beyond or below the corners.
• Cast Members without a mustache, beard, or goatee are expected to be clean-shaven every day.
• For clarification on whether a mustache, beard or goatee is acceptable, please consult your area leader or contact the Cast Image and Appearance team.

Acceptable

Not Acceptable

Fingernails: Clean, presentable fingernails are a must. Fingernails should not extend beyond the tip of the finger.

Hairstyling: Following are the Disney Look guidelines for hairstyles:

• Hair must be neatly cut on the back and sides, forming a smooth, symmetrical appearance so that it does not extend beyond or cover any part of the ears or the shirt collar. The overall style must be neat, natural and balanced proportionally.
• A shaved head is permitted, as well as a very short military-style cut. Shaving of the eyebrows is not permitted.
• Conservative braided hairstyles for men without beads or ornamentation are permitted. They must be styled above the ears and cut above the collar and be neatly braided close to the scalp in straight rows.
• Tucking hair behind the ears, or pinning or tucking it under a hat to conceal an unacceptable hairstyle will not be permitted.
• Extreme or bi-level styles are not permitted.
• Hair products may be used to create a soft, natural hairstyle within these guidelines.
• Artificial hair is permitted if it looks natural and meets all of the above requirements.

Acceptable

Not Acceptable

Hair Coloring: The Disney Look does not permit extremes in dyeing, bleaching or coloring. If hair color is changed, it must be natural-looking and well maintained. Subtle highlighting or frosting is permitted as long as it creates a uniform look over the whole head and meets all of the previously listed guidelines.

Sideburns: Sideburns should be neatly trimmed, straight and even in width, and are permitted to extend to the bottom of the earlobe. They should blend naturally from the hairline and from the length of hair on the head. Flares or muttonchops are not permitted.

For a more in depth look at the Disney Look click here!

Roommates

So I have officially found all my roommates! We are hoping to live in a 3 bedroom in the Patterson Court apartments, so there will be six of us total. It all worked out really well and I couldn't be happier! I originally only wanted a two bedroom, but I figured...the more the merrier! Plus I can't imagine doing this program without diving in head first, which to me means having lots of roommates! I lived with 54 women in my sorority house my sophomore year of high school, so I can definitely manage 5! I can't wait to meet them all in person finally and enjoy the program with them by my side!

Disney Tag

Here is my ever cliché Disney Tag video. I was tagged by Jenny, you can view her blog here.

Finally Got My Postcard

To follow the trend of all my other interactions with the Disney College Program, I figured I'd just go check the mail today and low and behold, I got my postcard today! I'm super surprised because some people have been waiting MONTHS to get their's and here I am getting mine in eleven days! Thanks for pulling through Disney!

I'm sure I've said it before, but I'll say it again, it does NOT seem real that I will be moving to Florida in 65 days. I guess this postcard just makes it a little more real.

 

The DCP Facebook Page

I've read somewhere in regards to the Disney College Program Facebook Page: "use it to find your roommates and then get out." 

I didn't quite understand this because, what would be wrong with staying in a group of all your fellow DCPers? I have to admit, I wouldn't have known when to register for classes for if it wasn't for the group. But now I finally understand what was meant by the previous statement. Our Disney College Program Spring/Spring Advantage 2014 group is basically imploding on itself as people are getting more and more angry at others for what people decide to post on the page.

I will admit, there are some pretty personal posts on there and some inappropriate rants. I also will admit that it's pretty entertaining at times. But most of all I'll admit that I agree with the statement I read a while ago, and I extend the advice to potential future applicants of the Disney College Program:

Use the Disney College Program Facebook group(s) to find your roommates and then leave the group(s).

Mission Timekeeper

So the only thing I can really update you on now during the long, long wait until check-in is Mission Timekeeper. It's basically Disney's interactive game that helps you learn about Disney's roots, the company's branches, etc. in a fun way.

It takes a HOT MINUTE to be able to log into it after you accept your offer with the Disney College Program, I assume because they are processing your information. But when you finally are able to log in, you'll log in with your email address as your username and your candidate ID (given to you buy Disney in your "Welcome to the Team!" email) as your password.

From there you are brought into the world of Mission Timekeeper to save the "Disney galaxy" from this evil fellow and you do that by learning bits and pieces of Disney heritage, located on nine different planets, and answering questions about what you've learned.

I finished the game in a couple days and it was a good time killer, and to be honest I'll probably play it at least one more time over Christmas break before I go to Disney because then I'll definitely be dying over the wait. Monday marks nine weeks until check-in and I can't believe we're in the single digits of weeks left. I know it will go by so fast, just like everything seems to do in life, but it makes things hard to focus on!

Post Course Registration

Here I am four hours later and I was finally able to register for classes! The system was down for what felt like forever and finally at around 2:45am my time (that's Arizona time people) the system was up and I was able to get into both classes that I wanted: Exploring Disney Heritage and Exploring Marketing.

I will be taking Exploring Disney Heritage Tuesday's 4-6pm and Exploring Marketing Thursday's 8:30-10:30am. I am very, very, very excited to be learning from this company! 

Pre-Course Registration

This evening has been quite a frenzy! Course registration opens tonight at 12:01pm, but it was unclear what time zone that was under. All of us on the Facebook group assumed it would be Eastern time considering that's what our interviews were based under and everything else up to this point had revolved around Eastern time. So at 10:01pm my time the frenzy began. After clicking the "register" button everyone was faced with the same spinning orange circle soon considered "the orange circle of death" on the Facebook page. It wasn't until a couple more refreshes and about thirty minutes later that people began assuming something wasn't quite right.

Finally someone graciously discovered from a current CPer (College Programer) that registration was actually Pacific time. So it looks like I'll be up for a little while longer. Let me reiterate for future Disney College Program applicants:

COURSE REGISTRATION BEGINS AT 12:01PM PACIFIC TIME!

To kill some time, I figure I'd talk a little bit about the courses during the Disney College Program. The "non-Advantage" programers allow you to take up to two courses while the Advantage programs allow you to take up to four (only two at a time). There are two types of courses that are offered-Collegiate Courses are similar to normal college courses. They cost the price of course materials ($10-$30) and they can often be transferred for credit at your university. Because my university doesn't accept these credits I will be registering for two of the second type of courses offered: Disney Exploration Series. 

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The courses that I hope to get registered for are Exploring Disney Heritage and Exploring Marketing. Below are the descriptions for the two classes.

Exploring Disney Heritage

Take a journey back in time discovering the roots of Disney. Learn about Walt's vision through exploring historical milestones.

Exploring Marketing

Gain a deeper understanding of how we maintain customer loyalty by both staying true to our brand and marketing our new Guest experiences.

The Disney Heritage class is supposedly very popular and always in high demand so is pretty tough to get into. So I'm hoping I get lucky!

During the summer I had a phone call with an alumni of my sorority who worked for Disney for ten years and started as a DCPer. I told her about my aspirations of working for the Disney Company long term and she recommended that I take classes during the Disney College Program so that I prove to my manager that I'm serious about the program as a whole. According to her, a good recommendation from your manager can take you a long way within the company. Aside from that incentive  I'm really very excited to take these courses and learn from what is, in my opinion, the greatest company ever. 

I have about an hour left before registration ACTUALLY opens, so wish me luck!

Officially Accepted!

I can't tell you how long I've dreamed of writing this blog! I just felt in my heart that I was going to find out today. Today I kept my Dashboard open on another tab and in between study breaks I would refresh it, with no new news. Finally I decided to stop checking for a while so I could get my study on. A while later I thought, "what the heck," and I refreshed my Dashboard again. Where I normally saw "Thank you for applying," I saw "Congratulations!"

I, of course, freaked out and immediately went to my email and found this beauty waiting for me!

At 1:39pm the email I had been long awaiting for had finally arrived! Like the girl I am I immediately started crying. I couldn't believe it. I was accepted. The email I received took me to further documentation where I found out my role: merchandise. I have to admit, I am not upset, however I'm not exactly thrilled, I really wanted concierge for some reason. However, my first job when I was fifteen was in retail so I know I'll be able to handle myself. Plus, I did put merchandise as "High Interest" on my application for that very reason. I know that no matter what I do, I'm going to have an amazing time! I can't wait to find out what park I'm in!

Excited as ever, I quickly paid my program fees, a whopping $304.50 (thanks Mom!) and picked my arrival/departure dates: January 20th-May 16th. I had met this girl Sydney via Facebook before I got accepted and we talked about being potential roommates if I got accepted and if I ended up getting the same dates as her. Luckily we have the same dates so I found my future roommate. Now we just have to find two more because we'd love to live in a Patterson two bedroom.

After I followed all the steps that were required, I received a couple more emails and now it's officially official! In a little over two months I will be in Florida, living there! Obviously it still hasn't hit me yet, everyone was right when they said it's a pretty surreal feeling.

Well now that I've been I plan to start a vlog in addition to this blog (I didn't want to start it earlier just in case), I know it can sometimes be boring to read lengthy posts, so look forward to that! Until then I need to focus on school so I can come out of this semester with my 4.0 goal. I'll update you with anything DCP if it comes my way!

Everything Happens For A Reason

In a previous post I mentioned how I had another offer I would find out about on Sunday (tonight) and I was worried what would happen if I got it and still had not heard back from Disney. Well tonight I found out that I didn't receive that other offer. While I'm sad that I didn't receive the other offer I can't help but hope that it's because somewhere in the near future I will receive an offer from Disney. I am a firm believe in the whole cliche, "everything happens for a reason."

I was really stressed out about who I would have to let down if I received both offers and now I get to focus only on Disney. While I'm nervous that applying so late will hurt my chances, it's nice knowing that I will find out in at least 12 days, if not sooner! I've heard that some people during this application process had to wait seven weeks!!!! I would die if that was the case. Hoping for the best and constantly checking my email!