Finley's DCP Blog!

This is my WDW College Program blog! SP16 Attractions (Kali River & Innoventions), SU17 Merchandise, & SP18 Attractions!

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I finish my phone interview about 14 days, but my dashboard said Status: Interview. Anyone know why??

Honestly the career site dashboard is a mystery to everyone

As long as you’ve done your interview you’re just in the same waiting game as you were before. I don’t know if there’s a post-interview “we’re still deciding” type message - it might stay “interview” until you’re either accepted or NLIC.

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Would you say that the DCP is very cliquey?

That depends on your location and the rest of your CP class more than anything else. Some places get cliquey, some don’t, some groups are cliquey and some aren’t. 

By nature you’re most likely to be close to the people who start in with you, but personalities define how inclusive you are when new people come in and things like that. My Mansion class was pretty tight, but the new kids were incorporated into that pretty easily when the FA and Summer people came. 

I know some people have the impression that the CP is very cliquey but I think that, like anywhere else, it’s all about the people you’re there with.

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Working PAC

Aaaaaaaaand now a big old Thoughts About A Disney Thing Post.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve lost my proficiencies (ability to pick up/work) at my Liberty Square attractions. Because of this, I’ve been thinking a lot about what made working in Liberty Square special for me for the last two months. I feel like I don’t have to say too much about what makes the Haunted Mansion a special place to work, if the number of people who go ‘oh my GOD I want to work in the haunted mansion!!!’ when I tell them where I transferred from is any indication.

BUT. I feel like a lot of people don’t really get PAC. PAC is Parade Audience Control, and it’s the best thing ever. If you’re looking into the CP you’ve probably heard about picking up fireworks PAC shifts - that’s not what I’m talking about. I mean real PAC, at the 3pm (or 2pm, right now) parade.

From my perspective, PAC is one of the coolest and most Disney things that you can do while working here. It’s really something special. Parade is a great big balancing act between several lines of business - Entertainment, Operations/Attractions, Merchandise, and sometimes even Food & Beverage! We’re all moving around each other, managing updates to what’s going on, and trying not to interfere with each other while trying to make the guests’ experience as great as possible.

It’s highly interactive. We spend an hour and a half to two hours on average out on the parade route, and the best way to get people to do what you need them to do is to talk to them. 

Sometimes we had to work around Great Moments in American History with the Muppets, too, which was such a cool neighbor to have but came with its own problems (like the fact that everybody blocks up the walkway) that we had to manage. We’d also sometimes run into some Country Bears while we were setting up!

At the end of the day, Parade is often one of the highlights of the day for the guests, and at PAC you get to be a part of that. You get to work with incredible people at an awesome event - and where else do you get to see a parade every day?

(I say ‘see a parade’ instead of ‘watch a parade’ because when you’re working your eyes just kind of glide across it while you’re looking at the guests on your side or across from you, but the parade is there and that’s really cool)

People are (generally) happy at parade. Even in the rain it’s happy.

So if you’re on CP somewhere that does PAC: embrace it. PAC is such a fun adventure to be on. It’s hot, it’s sweaty, you’ll get rained on, and you’ll love it.

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It’s been a while!

My CP ended in July, and I transferred part-time to Fantasyland East attractions in the Storybook Circus!

I also lost my proficiency in Liberty Square, which was a very dramatic situation. Anyway here I am, two months later, and I realized I haven’t posted anything on this blog in ages.

So there’s my life update - I also got engaged on Main Street like three days ago!

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Fire-breathing dragon catches fire at Disney World parade (Vid: IG - hollyer)

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In case anyone was wondering what my last post on this blog was about. This was terrifying.

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Well, that definitely happened.

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Just a small life update:

I got offered a summer extension, which I’m taking barring getting an offer from one of the other positions I’ve applied for/am applying for. 

I also had the super cool opportunity to meet with a Disney show director one-on-one this week (she spoke to the entertainment PDS a few weeks back, but it took a little while to set up the meeting). She was able to answer some of my burning questions about her job and the way some of what Disney does works, as well as give me some tips for getting where I want to go professionally. She’s generally just a really awesome connection to have, so it was pretty great all around. 

Finally, I’m going to share this picture of my bat Arlo with an Arlo pin I was given yesterday!

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Had a very special visitor at work the other day!

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Honestly, the mansion is so ridiculously cool to work.

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I've been thinking about doing the Disney college program and was wondering, how does your regular college work and classes fit in?

For my semester long programs, I’ve not been in classes, so I can’t speak from personal experience on that front exactly. Beyond, I suppose, that it’s easier to just take the time off school and not stress yourself out too much.

But if you really wanted to do classes, I know it’s possible. You have to do them online, obviously, for flexibility and also travel reasons, but if you’re really committed I’ve seen people make it work with a full course load on top of their CP. 

Do I recommend it? Not really! But if you’re really determined both to do the program and finish school on time, or if your financial aid relies on not having any gaps in your education, it’s definitely possible.

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Hi! This might seem like a weird question, but what are the cash registers at Disney like? I was just wondering if it tells you the exact change to give back or if you have to do it in your head since that's a possible question for the phone interview. Thanks so much! I hope you're having a wonderful time!

Honestly, the cash registers at Disney are so easy. It does tell you what change you need to give (although obviously how to break that down into specific bills and coins is on you), and everything is really well labeled. Tragically, I’ve lost my merchandise proficiencies, but given the opportunity I’d definitely still be able to operate a Disney register even though I haven’t in months.

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hey! so i've always wanted to do the dcp, but my future job is in the health field and has absolutely nothing to do with tourism/communications/preforming, etc. do you know anyone else like that? it seems like everything i see is people who will really benefit more from it in the long run and a lot of them are trying to get their foot in the door. i was just wondering if you thought it would be worth it for me and if disney would even accept me into the program? thanks so much!

From my perspective, no matter what field you’re going into, you’re going to have to deal with people.

And if there is one thing you learn how to do while you are working for Disney, it’s deal with people. You deal with difficult people and people who do not want to talk to you and people who are outright ignoring you (and occasionally people who are an absolute dream), and you make it work. 

And as for whether they’d accept you - major is entirely irrelevant to getting into the CP, it’s all about your attitude. Ultimately it’s up to you whether you think the college program is right for you, but if getting out into the world and doing something different is appealing to you, go for it!

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I've wanted to do the program for so long now, but I have social anxiety and I'm afraid that if I do get accepted I won't make any friends/that people will only be my friend out of pity, that I'll get extremely homesick, that I won't be happy. Do you have anxiety or know anyone who was in the program with anxiety that had a really positive experience?

Apologies for leaving this so long, I was trying to come up with a really good answer. I don’t know anyone who has anxiety who’s here, at least as far as I know, but I can tell you this:

You will make friends. Seriously, you kind of don’t have a choice, it’s impossible to be isolated here. Even if none of them are best friends for life, you will have friends when you’re here. You will have coworkers and roommates and people you encounter at random and find something in common with. You might not get on with everyone you meet, but you won’t be alone.

As for homesickness, I can’t predict that for you. What I can tell you is that you will be very busy most of the time, and that will at least distract you from it. I get homesick while I’m here sometimes, but it comes in waves. Most of the time I’m fine, or I’m too busy to think about it.

I can’t guarantee that you’ll be happy. All I can tell you is that if you go into it expecting to have a bad time, it will color your perception of your experience, whether that experience is actually good or bad on the whole. For a lot of people, attitude shapes their experience here. But if you come down and it really doesn’t work for you, you aren’t trapped here - you could leave if that was what felt right for you.

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The first Entertainment PDS class was today and it was so cool, I am super pumped for the next seven weeks!

And, by sheer luck, I’ve encountered some of the friends I made going into the Chicago audition in the fall  - one’s even working with me at the Mansion! It’s been really cool to see people and reconnect. :)

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So beyond excited to start my on the job training this week! 

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Went to a housing event with my roommates tonight! We waited about 2 hours, which is longer than I’d usually wait to do a m/g, but I’ve never met Kristoff before and it was fun to just hang out and chat with my new roomies before we all get too busy to do anything together.

Kristoff was super tall, it’s hard to tell but in this picture I’m literally leaning back away from him so I can make eye contact.

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All checked in!

Just waiting on my drug test at 3 then it’s off to the store!