Orlandooooooo!

Today I kissed my life in West Palm Beach behind and finally made my three hour journey to Orlando! 

The trip here actually went by quite quickly. We couldn't check in to our hotel yet so we spent some time at the Loop, browsing stores and such. We also made a stop at target and then had lunch at chick-fil-a. Orlando chick-fil-a tastes way better than WPB chick-fil-a, just saying.

After lunch I texted Danica and she said she was free until 1:30 when she had to leave for traditions. So, Adam and I headed over to her apartment in Chatham! It was amazing to finally see the complexes in person. I absolutely cannot wait to live in mine. We hung out and talked to Danica, Mariola, & their housemates- Emily and Teresa! It was so exciting to finally meet Mariola after six whole months of talking. A while after we got there Amy and their other housemate Kris got home from Traditions and it was so exciting to meet them as well! They told us all about their check-in process and we just had quite a few fantastic conversations. 

Eventually, after Teresa baked some cookies and Danica changed up her outfit a few times, they all headed out to their traditions. Kris left to go to the park with her parents, leaving Amy, Emily, Adam and I to chat. We talked about character palooza and how we need to go a bunch of times to meet as many rare characters as possible. We talked about our excitement for heritage. Amy and I talked jonas, one direction, ed sheeran, and demi. Also, she's the sweetest because she brought me a playbill from Nick's run in H2$ on Broadway! 

Emily and Amy decided to head over to the Up themed welcome party and invited Adam and me to tag along. We walked over to the field with them but we saw a long line and a security person so we figured they might be checking for IDs and left instead of risking anyone getting in trouble. Amy texted me later and informed me that we totally could have stayed, they never checked IDs. Ugh, why am I always so cautious?

Adam and I came to our hotel and checked in. We relaxed for a bit and then ordered pizza and we're spending the night just hanging out in the room.

Words can't describe how ecstatic I am to be here and how ready I am to begin this journey. I can already tell that this program is one of the biggest blessings I've been given in life. I know I'm going to grow as a person - I'm more social than I've ever been and I just got here, so that's a start. This is the beginning of many changes in my life for the better. 

Only three days 'til check-in!

Tomorrow's the day!

I can't believe that today is my last day in South Florida. I've spent the majority of my life here and it's so strange to think of starting over again somewhere new, but I couldn't be more excited. So many opportunities and adventures are ahead and I can't wait to get started.

I spent most of last night skyping with Veronica. She and I had never talked just the two of us before (except for when she called to check on some things for DORMS but that hardly counts), so it was really nice to finally have that time to get to know her outside of our usual group conversation settings. Once Cami got home, we made it into a google hangout and all three of us talked for quite a while. It was the most chaotic group chat ever because the computer kept freezing Cami & I and Veronica's microphone didn't work for the entire duration of the conversation, so she mostly communicated through body language. When she had something lengthy to say she typed it in the text box to the side of the screen, but Cami's computer wouldn't let her see that, so I ended up reading all of Veronica's comments for her. Haha. I'm really excited to finally be living with them and Jessica. I feel like we've all known each other for forever at this point.

I'm also really excited because Adam and I are probably meeting up with Amy, Danica, and Mariola for lunch or dinner or something one of the days before check-in! I absolutely can't wait to meet them! Amy's pretty much free until Tuesday she said so we'll hopefully/probably meet up in the parks or something as well. :)

And Kelly also messaged me saying we should meet up if I was going to be in the parks this weekend, so I'm basically meeting all of my favorite people in the next five days, considering breakfast with all of Adam's roommates and my roommates on Monday morning!

I've been pretty much done packing for nearly a week now. Everything is even in my car except my suitcase. I just need to do some last minute laundry and pack up bathroom stuff and I am all set and ready to go.

I'm getting rather nervous about finding out my work location. I saw a merch CP from the facebook group got Wide World of Sports and while I'd still be excited about working in Disney, that's legitimately the last place on Disney property I'd want to work (unless we're counting the Downtown Disney area "not Disney" hotels and cast member exclusive stores). If I get any of the theme parks, Grand Floridian, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Pop Century, or Port Orleans, you'll probably see me doing cartwheels at check-in. If it's Magic Kingdom, my squeals probably won't be containable.

I'm confident that this program is going to be the best time of my life so far. I just want to get started already.

It's January 13th!

Only one week until I check-in! I can't even believe it.

Some of the greatest CP friends I've been blessed to know are checking-in today and I'm so excited for them to begin their Disney adventure. I absolutely cannot wait to meet and hug all of them next week after months and months of talking.

Time is ticking away and before I know it, the view out my window will be much more magical. :)

12 days from check-in!

I cannot believe that so much time has passed since my last entry and that I'm less than two weeks away from checking-in to my program! Time went by so much faster than I thought it would. The past couple of months have been incredibly busy, but in a way I'm happy that there were so many distractions, because it made time go by faster.

November was rather uneventful after my birthday. Adam and I went and saw Frozen Thanksgiving day. Clearly I loved it, though I don't believe it lives up to "the best film since the Lion King" title that it's been given. I worked close to 40 hours Thanksgiving week because of Black Friday (including a dreadful 7pm-4am shift). My dad, Adam, and I also moved the weekend following Thanksgiving, which added even more chaos into the mix.

I took all of my finals the first week of December. It was a relief to not have to worry about assignments anymore, because I had more free time to focus on DCP related excitement. I continued working almost 40 hours a week through the end of December. Adam and I saw Saving Mr. Banks opening weekend and I cried so many times during it. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to help continue the legacy of Walt Disney. This program is everything that I've ever wanted and all of those emotions hit me during the film.

My last day at work was the Sunday before Christmas. I've spent the past year and a half at SuperTarget Starbucks, so it was weird to say goodbye for good, but needless to say I was thrilled about it. I did lots of Christmas shopping, because I wanted to try and makeup for all the presents that my mom would have bought if she were still alive. Christmas was such a big deal to her and celebrating it without her was absolutely heartbreaking. I spent the 23rd and 24th with my Grandma and some of my other family members. All of my presents had something to do with Disney or my new apartment (including my new bedding that I adore). Christmas Eve night Adam, my dad, and I went to church. Afterwards, Adam and I made cookies for Santa. My dad got me a new TV, a curling wand, Tangled and This Is Us on DVD and some other miscellaneous things. Adam ordered a really cute scrapbook for me. He and I also cooked dinner and it came out amazing. I was pretty proud of us.

New Year's Eve was spent with our best friend Paige and her family. We played lots of Disney board games and tried our hardest to bring up topics of conversation other than our move. We won't see them again until they come visit us on the program, which Adam and I are both already looking forward to.

This past weekend we went camping near Gainesville with a group of our other friends. It was freezing cold for Florida and it was my first time ever camping. I enjoyed the experience, but I don't think I'm really cut out for camping- unless it's at Fort Wilderness, that is.

My dad is more than ready for Adam and I to move, so we made the decision this weekend that we're going to stay in a cheaper hotel before check-in and leave a few days early. This means that we're now leaving in a week and I feel like there's so much left to do.

Last night I made plans with my best friend since middle school, Kourtney. We're going to go to dinner Friday night and that'll be the last time I see her until she decides to come visit me. It's going to be sad to say goodbye to her, because even though we don't get to spend as much time together as we'd like to, she was my closest friend during my teenage years and knowing that chapter is coming to a close is pretty rough. I made plans with Jalen for this weekend as well.

I still have some last minute shopping to do, though Adam and I did most of our shopping the day after Christmas (there were amazing sales). I just finished filling out DORMS, so all that's left to do with that is printing. My grandma and I are going to get my car fixed and shop tomorrow. My roommates and I have plans to have dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings the night before check-in with their families. All of my packing is done except for my clothes. Everything is all coming together and it's becoming so real. I cannot believe how close I am to meeting all of these amazing people that I've spent countless hours talking to over the past few months. Soon I'll be settled into my apartment, with my three incredible roommates. Jessica and I will have our perfect Little Mermaid themed bathroom all set up. I'll finally know where I'm working. All of my dreams are coming true in less than two weeks!

Happy birthday to me!

I was in Disney World this past weekend for my birthday with one of my best friends, Mckayla, and my boyfriend, Adam. We had the most amazing time and it was one of my favorite trips for sure.

We left super early Friday morning and went straight to Magic Kingdom. We went on Jungle Cruise for the first time in forever, because our past couple trips it had been closed for refurb, so that was awesome. We missed it so much when it was closed. We had a really exciting train on Thunder Mountain (lots of fellow screamers) and as always, we requested back row, making it the perfect ride. Since Mckayla was with us I got to ride teacups, which I hadn't been on in a year, so that was awesome! All in all it was a great morning, followed by lunch at Moe's and checking into our hotel. We stayed offsite, which clearly wasn't my preference, but it was actually a really nice hotel.

We went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that night and I hadn't been in years, but it was so much fun! The first thing we did was get seats for the Villains Mix n Mingle. The show is fantastic and we ended up meeting Maleficent and Frollo. Frollo is actually one of my favorite villains, so I was super excited we were able to meet him. There was barely anyone in his line and we were the last ones, so he actually took quite a bit of time with us and we all ended up taking selfies with him, since he was the only one without a photopass photographer. We were having a really hard time with the lighting in his spot, so he even walked across the meet and greet area to go to a place with better lighting for us. Pretty sweet for such a terrible villain, yeah? 

After meeting him, we got a pretty perfect spot for the Boo To You parade, which I had never seen before. It's now officially my favorite Disney parade- so many fantastic floats and street performers. I'm so happy we made time to sit and watch it. The highlights for me were: Christopher Robin dancing down the street and an entire float devoted to Winnie the Pooh characters, the Jolly Roger float, the graveyard guy and his dog (from Haunted Mansion), and the hyenas from the Lion King. It was so great.

Then we saw the second performance of Villains Mix n Mingle, solely so we could get in line for a picture with the Evil Queen, considering Adam and I were dressed as the Prince & Snow White. Our meet & greet with her was fantastic. I ran up to her and greeted her with a cheerful "Hi Stepmom!" She gave me the most irritated, disgusted look and maintained that expression when I asked if I could take a selfie with her.

Then we made our way down Main Street and found the perfect spot for Celebrate the Magic/Hallowishes. I was sort of disappointed by Hallowishes, because I've heard from so many people that it's the best fireworks show at Disney and after watching it I couldn't disagree more. I'm very spoiled by normal Wishes, so I guess nothing else will ever compare to it for me. It was still a pretty awesome fireworks show, it just didn't give me goosebumps or anything.

We started hitting up the trick-or-treat trails after that. We all three had a full bag of candy by the time we left, so that was fantastic. Oh, we also saw Sulley jamming out at the Monsters, Inc. dance party in Tomorrowland. That was super cute. :)

We saw all seven dwarfs while walking through Fantasyland, but the line to meet them was closed at that point. I guess we'll just have to meet them next year. But, we did manage to meet all four princesses and their princes that were in Fairytale Hall that evening: Cinderella & Charming, Aurora & Phillip, Rapunzel & Flynn, and Snow & Prince. <3 I had never met a prince before, so that was undoubtedly one of the best parts of the trip for me. The three of us had such a lengthy conversation with Rapunzel and Flynn that Snow and Prince actually walked over to sort of hurry us along, haha. But, it was a really great time. Flynn showed us what was inside his satchel, which included a mini frying pan (just in case), Rapunzel's tiara, and most importantly, a Snickers bar that he had picked up on the floor after a small child dropped it. Hahaha!

  

The next morning we woke up to head to Animal Kingdom and it started drizzling. By the time we made it to Animal Kingdom's parking lot though, it was 65 degrees and POURING. We decided we'd make a run for the trams anyways, but only got about twenty feet from the car before we decided it was much too cold and rainy right then. So, we went to McDonald's and had lunch and waited for it to calm down a bit before heading back. It still drizzled off and on most of the day, but the downpour was over, thankfully. We caught part of Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade from a completely deserted bridge and when Timon walked by I made a heart with my hands and he made one back and it was so cute!

We headed to Hollywood Studios for the evening and went straight to Star Tours! Guess what? I was the rebel spy! Yay! I also saw Will, a cast member friend of mine that I met last year. He was so excited to see me and I got to tell him that I was accepted for dcp so he'll be seeing a lot more of me! The manager for that area was standing there as well, so the three of us started talking to her about how she became a manager and about her college program. She made me even more excited, if possible, to start my program! Oh, and a super nice QSFB cast member at ABC Commissary gave me a chocolate mousse cup (one of my favorite Disney foods) for free for my birthday! 

We got our seats for Fantasmic after that and Adam bought glow with the show ears. They all look so awesome in the crowd! I hope they get more popular over time so that the crowd is more filled with them. Also, the new LED lights on the princess floats look spectacular! 

Magic Kingdom was open until 1AM, so we went there after seeing Fantasmic. We started in Tomorrowland and worked our way around. We worked it out so that I would be on Thunder Mountain (my all time favorite attraction) at exactly midnight, the beginning of my twentieth birthday. The CP who was working the fastpass/standby merge point let us sit in the corner by her until it was the right time to finish the line and board. We sat with her for about twenty minutes and we talked about her experience. She's staying in Vista and she said it was their last choice, but it's really not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. She has five roommates and all but the one in QSFB love the program too. She's even planning on extending. I absolutely adore talking to cast members, especially CPs. She even gave us special "use for any attraction" fastpasses as a birthday gift! Anyways, we ended up going down the first drop at exactly midnight and we were all screaming and Adam and Mckayla were both yelling "Happy birthday!" and it was just one of the most magical moments of my life.

We spent the entire day at Magic Kingdom on Sunday. We rode Thunder Mountain three more times, making the grand total on my birthday five! It was such a great day and I'm so happy that I was able to spend my birthday in my favorite place for a third year in a row, with two of my absolute favorite people. Thank you so much to everyone who made it such a special day/weekend- from Cast members, to all of you who sent birthday wishes, to the two people I spent it with. <3 Now it's only 363 days until I'm 21! And more importantly, only 75 days until DCP Check-in! 

Hello!

Hi everyone! My name is Jessica. I'm a sophomore in college, majoring in communications. I'm so excited to share that I was recently accepted into the Walt Disney World college program for merchandise, spring advantage 2014. I already have a tumblr that I've been posting about my journey on so far, but I wanted a more organized place to talk about all the exciting things that are coming up once I move to Orlando, without my random posts about various fandoms and such mixed in.

I was blessed enough to live 45 minutes away from Disney World until I was ten. On one of my Grandma and my many day trips, we encountered a CP who was working at the Magic of Disney Animation attraction. My Grandma noticed that her name tag said a college instead of a city beneath her name and asked her why. She told us the whole story of her college program experience and how much she loved it. Ever since then I've kept it in mind and dreamed of working at Disney.

I moved to South Florida shortly after that and I've lived here ever since. It's only three hours south of WDW though, so I still visit every few months or so. Disney is my favorite place and I'm happier there than anywhere else. When I'm there I feel like I'm home. Over the past year that I've been eligible to apply, I've talked to every CP I came in contact with about their experience and their overall opinions on the program. With every story I became more and more obsessed with being able to participate. 

My application process was kind of insane. I applied the day applications came out (September 5th). More than anything, I was terrified that I wouldn't make it past the WBI, because I had heard so many horror stories about it being difficult to pass. So, when I saw that I was moving on to the phone interview, I couldn't believe it. My PI was on September 8th at 7:30 PM. I felt so prepared for my interview, but my interviewer rushed me and didn't seem very into our conversation. I was terrified that I blew it, especially once I saw that my interview only lasted 17 minutes! My boyfriend had his interview exactly an hour after mine and his went so wonderfully; I knew he was going to get it. And he did! On September 24th, he received his acceptance email! His role is attractions, which I called from the beginning, even though his top role was custodial. I was so happy for him, because he had doubted himself since day one, but I knew all along how much he deserved it. 

Every day that passed after that was increasingly difficult, because I became even more worried that I wouldn't get in. I cried a lot and was actually really irrational, but I just couldn't help it. Especially when my third week was up and I still hadn't heard anything at all! I emailed Disney around 11pm on my 22nd day of waiting. I got an email back the following morning saying "thank you for notifying us, please keep checking your dash." At work that day, I had a long talk with God. I decided maybe all I needed to do was have legitimate faith that I was going to get accepted and that my email was going to be in my inbox when I got off work. And it was! I found out at the end of my shift in the bathroom of Old Navy, of all places! I ran out of work and jumped in my car to drive to Target, where Adam works, because he wanted to be the first to know. 

I walked to the electronics department and found him, trying to stay as calm as possible so I wouldn't give it away. I asked for his assistance finding the Little Mermaid DVDs, because it's my favorite movie and it had just re-released that day. He pointed to the huge display devoted to my favorite princess. I made him walk over to it with me and said "you know, the really cool thing about this DVD is that I'll probably be selling many just like it in the store I work in as a merchandise cp." And it took him a minute to get what I said and then he hugged me super tight and it was just such a great moment.

So, October 1st, on my 23rd day of waiting, I WAS ACCEPTED. I think it's a pretty cool day to have been accepted, because it was also Magic Kingdom and Epcot's birthday. And not only was I accepted, but I was somehow blessed enough to get one of my top three roles. God is so amazing and I'm so thankful dcp is part of His plan for me. 

Over the past 24 days, I've found it massively difficult to concentrate on school. All I want to do is talk to my roommates & other cp friends and watch vlogs and Disney films. I've never been so distracted from my studies in my life, but I absolutely cannot wait to move. This is all I've ever wanted and in 86 days it's all going to be real.