When I first learned about the Disney College Program, I thought that the apartments were literally on Walt Disney World property. In reality, the apartments sit just outside of the property lines in an area of Orlando known as Lake Buena Vista. At the border of the Walt Disney Property, on each of the main roads, there are archways welcoming guests to the wonderful and magical world of Walt Disney World. The apartments sit about 5 minutes away from the Disney Springs entrance, but depending on your route it can take 15 minutes before you go under one of the magical archways. The distinction isn’t really important, except to know that Walt Disney World obviously carefully controls everything that is on their property. Beyond the one McDonald’s restaurant and several Speedway Gas Stations, you won’t find much in the way of capitalist convenience on property. Just outside the borders though, is a wonderland of businesses thriving off guests who don’t wish to stay in one of the many Disney resorts. In the midst of the Waffle Houses and Steak ‘n Shakes of Lake Buena Vista, there is a popular outlet mall: Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets. It sits directly across from The Commons, one of the four CP housing options, making it a popular stop for CP’s without transportation. Located in this outlet mall is one of Disney’s liquidation stores, known as Character Warehouse.
Down the road near Universal, there is another outlet mall that is home to a second Character Warehouse. Both stores are official Disney stores that sell theme park merchandise at highly discounted rates. Whether it be exclusive merchandise that was sold or offered as part of a special event that Disney has leftovers of (such as runDisney’s marathon pins/patches) or just outdated merchandise (like the 2015 hats and t-shirts that were gone just before the new year), some of the best Disney finds are hidden in these little stores just outside of Walt Disney World property. Personally, I had never stepped inside either store. I was behind in my exploration of the outlet malls, being a person who isn’t really big on shopping. That is, until a shift opened up on the Hub.
Marissa and I were hanging out on the couches in my apartment’s living room, browsing through the hub to see if there were any extra shift postings. She was hesitant about picking up shifts in other locations, but we wound up finding matching shift postings for Disney’s Liquidation store for the same day, same time. We figured we’d carpool together and conquer another new location. CP transportation has routes to almost all work locations, but not the liquidation stores. While CP’s can pick up shifts at those locations, they just have to be careful to select shifts for the outlet mall across the street from the apartments if they don’t have access to a car. For me, it didn’t really matter since I drove everywhere.
A few days later Marissa realized she had made plans for that day and had to cancel the shift. I was still determined to go for it. Picking up shifts in new places so often was actually extremely healthy for my anxiety. It constantly put me in new situations that normally would have sent me over the edge. When the day wound up being fine almost every single time, I found that I was able to combat the anxious thoughts that came up frequently. And while working at one of the outlet malls was never on any list of mine, it did add a new dimension to my “working around the world” adventure.
Finding the costume was a little bit stressful. I had to ask on one of the Facebook groups for shift swaps because I had a feeling the outlet mall didn’t have a costuming building. Apparently the costumes hang around several locations but I was most familiar with the ones available at Disney Springs. Rumor is that different locations have slightly different shirts, one has an embroidery on it and one doesn’t. It doesn’t matter which one you get, both are suitable for the liquidation store. I guess one is just older than the other. In the back corner of Disney Springs’s Costuming was a rack of Character Warehouse shirts: blue collared shirts with purple lining. The costume was completed by plain khaki pants, a blue belt, and a purple cardigan for the people who got cold. In the back corner with all the liquidation shirts were the costumes for the people who worked at the airport. I vaguely remember the airport having a Disney store, and couldn’t even imagine working there with all that traffic. I picked up my costume and was ready for my shift.
Google Maps told me that my location was only about 15-20 minutes away. Because there was no backstage to navigate and I already had my costume, I wasn’t planning on leaving very early to get there. Other times I gave myself an extra 45 minutes to an hour to get everything together, but this time I actually raced out the door late. I grabbed my bag, threw it over my shoulder, raced down the stairs of my apartment, and right out the door which promptly locked behind me as all the Disney apartments do - an added safety feature to protect us from forgetful roommates. On that day, that feature was not my friend. The second it closed behind me, I realized that my keys were still sitting on my bed. My bright idea of the evening was to take the keys out of my bag before leaving for maximum efficiency. Instead, I just assumed I had them and left. I was one of the few CP’s that had a spare key, thanks to my carelessness with keys the day of check-in, but of course that was in my car that I was locked out of.
Normally, I would have just left the keys on my bed and gone to work, worrying about getting let in later by a roommate who was home. But my car key was on that same key ring and I needed it to get to work. Of course all my roommates were out for the day so I headed on over to security to ask them to let me in to my apartment. They told me that because the clubhouse was still open, I’d have to ask them for a key to borrow. I headed over there, went back to my apartment thanking the heavens that my apartment was the closest building to the entrance, let myself in, grabbed my keys, went back to the clubhouse to drop off the borrowed key, and flew to my car.
While the shift pick up didn’t bother explaining where I could get the costume, they did provide extensive details to the outlet mall. I easily found where outlet employees are supposed to park, followed a concrete path to the mall, and stopped at a directory so I could find the store. Down a row of restaurants and stores and around the corner was the Character Warehouse I’d be working in.
*Not my picture.
I walked in and asked one of the Cast Members where I could put my stuff. She pointed out large doors by the register that lead to the stock room/break room. Around the corner from the moving stock room shelves was a small break area and a few lockers. I clocked in, barely on time, and got my tour of the location. They explained to me what each work assignment meant and some of the policies that differed slightly from stores on property. Basically the return process was somewhat different because it was a liquidation store.
The store was a normal sized store with a few added Disney decorations. It wasn’t anything like the mall Disney stores with the giant TV and plush mountain towards the back. Instead the shelves were filled with neglected merchandise from the theme parks. One entire section was dedicated to 2015 snowglobes and tote bags. Hanging from the walls were the bubble guns that were banned from the parks after they decided to ban anything that remotely resembled a weapon. The spinning holders in the middle showcased a ton of neglected runDisney merchandise from the past year’s marathons. What was most surprising to me was the full table of Disneyland 60th Anniversary merchandise. Picture frames, scarfs, ears, dolls, etc., all meant for the big 60th celebration that was still technically taking place and meant for the park across the country, sat on a wobbly table in an outlet mall in Orlando at reduced prices. Most of the guests who walked in weren’t intrigued by that because they weren’t at Disneyland, they were at Walt Disney World. I made a mental note to come back and buy a few things since I never had the chance to get them when I was at Disneyland.
*Not my picture
The majority of my shift was spent walking around the store, straightening things up and looking to see what they had. I was the youngest Cast Member there by about 20 years, but they were all very sweet, helpful, and chatty. I was thankful when I was finally put on register, hoping it would make time fly by faster. The store was fairly slow with only the occasional guest coming in to shop around. Of course, after we closed and locked the doors, it seemed like everybody wanted to be out shopping.
The shift was pretty uneventful but it was fun to be able to say I worked there. The Cast Members there were all very surprised I was a CP. I imagine they don’t see very many there since transportation isn’t provided. I would have picked up a shift there again if they had needed it, just because everybody was so nice. Working at the outlet malls was a nice addition to my “working around the world” feat. All that was left was a shift at one of the resorts, and I was looking forward to it!
Got an amazing bag yesterday at Disney Character warehouse! #mickeyicon #verabradley #characterwarehouse #disneyoutlet #deal #shopaholic #ithasbeenonmywishlistforalongtime #wishlist #omg (at Character Warehouse)
