July already???

It's July 1st!!! Yay! I love July!

I know I was going to write a post on Half-Way Done Day, but alas... um, yeah, I don't remember what my excuse was. It was too long ago. But at least I'm writing one now!

I've only got 6 weeks and 1 1/2 days left! How crazy is that! If that doesn't sound short, get this: I only have 2 weeks (from Sunday to Sunday) where I will have no visitors from home! That's gonna make time go by way fast! Tomorrow my Aunt and Uncle are flying over from California to come visit for the weekend, so I'm excited to see them! Then there's a regular week, then the next weekend my parents are coming to visit! After they leave, I'll have about two weeks left of my program! How crazy is that!?!

So anyways, I'm not going to write just about how crazy fast time seems to be going. I suppose since I didn't write a Half-Way Done Day post I could write my feelings about the Disney College Program thus far.

Basically, I love the Disney College Program. Like, really and truly. I know that there are a lot of CP's (College Programmers) who completely and whole-heartedly disagree, but I think they're ridiculous. Here's the thing about CP's who complain about the program: they don't seem to understand that they are in control of their own happiness.

A lot of people do this program with expectations. I don't understand where they get them, because we are told everything to expect in the presentation we went to to sign up for the program in the first place. But a lot of people come to Disney thinking it's just a paid vacation. It's true that you get to go to the parks for free when you're a Cast Member, but first and foremost, the Disney College Program is a job. You're hired by the company, you are given a schedule, and you are expected to work at the company's standards. When you live on Disney property, you are expected to follow the rules. That shouldn't be that hard to swallow. You sign a contract, and it's assumed by the company that you actually read it for pity sakes.

So people shouldn't complain when they get paid $7.25 an hour, even if that's not what regular cast members get paid, because we were told in the contract that that is what we should expect. People shouldn't complain that they hate their job and that they wanted to be doing attractions instead of food and beverage, because you were offered food and beverage and you accepted it before you came. So don't complain! You can't change what you're doing, so make the best of it instead of making yourself miserable!

The most common trend for people to do on the Disney College Program is to self-terminate and leave early. I understand if people leave for an unforeseen family trajedy or something like that, but if people are just homesick or just want to be done? Please. This is a job! You signed a contract! Just because everyone else chooses to have on their resume that they quit Disney (a big mistake- they'll regret that the next time they have a job interview) doesn't mean that it's the cool thing to do and that there won't be any consequences for it. Goodness. This isn't a vacation- it's a job. Don't blame your homesickness and your pansy-ness on Disney because they told you everything to expect before you accepted the position.


The only other thing I don't like is how some CM's treat the guests. This isn't just College Programmers though. And it's actually one of my biggest pet peeves when CM's treat the guests like they're stupid or something. I know sometimes they word questions like the infamous "When's the 3 o'clock parade?" but please, if they only wanted to know the time, they wouldn't have asked. Plus, it's annoying for people to talk about guests, and that question in particular, offstage. EVERYONE has a guest who has asked that question to them. We KNOW what they mean. And I don't know, when people care more about their own comfort rather than a guest's while they're working bothers me too. Like this one time I was on door duty after the restaurant closed. Tons of people were waiting outside for the fireworks to start. They kept getting delayed because of the bad rain and lightning storm going on. And there was this family, I think they were from India, and they were right outside. One of their party came up to me and asked if they could pull chairs outside so an older woman in their party didn't have to sit on the wet porch floor. Since we couldn't let them do that, I let a couple people from their party sit inside to wait. A Cast Member came up to me about 20 minutes later (the fireworks still hadn't started) and frustratingly rolled their eyes and said that we couldn't even come from off-stage to sit at the tables to roll the rest of the silverware (a closing chore) because they were the last guests in the restaurant and everyone had to wait for them to be gone and she was upset because we couldn't tell them to leave. I don't know, just the way she said it made me mad.

Goodness, they were from outside the United States, and this was there first time to Walt Disney World! Do you know how expensive WDW is?? They probably paid an arm, a leg, and a goat to get there whole family here! The least we could do is let their older family members sit in chairs instead of on the wet ground outside! And the CM was complaining that they have to stand up in the back of the restaurant to roll silverware?? Please, we are being paid to be here. C'mon now.

Anyways, that's the end of my ranting. I think the Disney College Program is a terrifically amazing experience, because besides the fact that it's a guaranteed full-time job (a huge plus in this economy) and that there is a world of networking possibilities available to you (everybody knows somebody who knows somebody, for sure), it is super fun! I mean, on days off, you can go to Walt Disney World for. free. How cooool is that?!?

And I have the greatest job in the world! I get to make people happy in so many ways: by escorting them inside because it's time for them to eat, or just by letting them come into the air conditioning, informing them of the FOUR characters they are going to meet (Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore), by acknowledging whatever they are celebrating during their trip (they have a button for every occasion), by surprising them by "magically" knowing their name (personalized Mickey Mouse ears come in quite handy for this- people tend to forget that their name is on it), or just by calling every little girl a princess. Sure my face literally does really hurt at the end of a long shift from smiling, but it's worth it.

We were told in Traditions (the first training course CM's take) that the mission of the company and our number one job as Cast Members is explained in the following statement:

"We create happiness by providing the finest of entertainment to people of all ages everywhere."

I create happiness. And I'm being paid to? Sounds like a dream come true to me :)