It’s officially been one month since I’ve started (consistently) blogging. And now that I have more than three posts up, I’ve begun to notice a pattern, which is basically that I write about two things: minor life updates and various media opinions.
Well, the last two weeks have been about movies and TV, so I figured today I would give everyone a break from my Star Wars takes and instead make this a life update post. And, unlike last week, I do actually have updates now.
The main thing is that my Disney College Program is almost over. I’m planning on making a post about my complete experience on the program, so look forward to that. But for now, we’ll stick to recent events.
Now that I only have three weeks left on my program (it will be two by the time I post this), I’ve started to actually think about life post-program, which includes everything from trying to find a job to trying to fit [redacted] amount of merch in the one suitcase and one carry-on I brought with me in August.
These are both equally difficult and impossible struggles. And yet, I persevere.
In the midst of my program ending, I’m still trying to squeeze as many experiences into these last few weeks as I can. And experiences I have gotten indeed, both planned and unplanned. So, here’s a list of four things that have happened to me in the past week-ish.
- I earned my
Master’sMouseter’s 🐭
The Disney College Program is often described as a split between earning and learning. Basically, you are both working at Disney World (earning), but also have the opportunity to take a wide variety of classes (learning) that range from Disney Heritage to Improv. Through gaining a certain number of learning hours or taking certain classes/multi-week series, DCP participants are eligible for different “certificates” such as a Mouseter’s, a Daisy Degree, a Ducktorate, Goofy Graduate, all the way up to Sorcerer’s List for over 200 learning hours.
There are some people who do the DCP while also being a full-time college student. There are some who do the DCP and get over 200 learning hours from Disney. There are some that do both. I do not know how these people function.
I’ve taken a few Disney classes here and there (you may remember the Improv class), and they’ve all been great. As a storytelling company, Disney offered many classes that aligned with my interests, such as a class where we got to listen to a panel of show writers. I also signed up for a multi-week series called “The Magic of Storytelling,” and this was how I got my Mouseter’s.
Basically, I just showed up for each class and that was the only requirement, haha. But it was a really interesting class. There were many guest speakers with super cool jobs that were fascinating to hear about, and it really expanded my knowledge of the creative careers that are out there.
This series wasn’t really academic; it was more of an exploration of how Disney uses different storytelling methods in all of their media and parks. Something that I realized when I started my in program was that while I was very familiar with Disney’s storytelling in their films/the Pixar formula, I was less familiar with the storytelling in the Disney parks. In this class we learned a lot about how imagineers and storytellers use theming and forced perspective to immerse guests in each “land.” It was also interesting to hear how they translated many lands and attractions for the international parks.
So anyway, now I’m trying to figure out how to include a “Mouseter’s” degree on my resume…more to come.
Now, this class isn’t the only learning I’ve gotten to experience recently…
- I got a backstage tour of Animal Kingdom’s Kilimanjaro Safaris
Continuing on with the learning theme, another fun opportunity that the college program offers is backstage tours of almost every attraction in the parks. Sign-ups for these tours drop randomly, and they can only take 20-ish people on each one (and there’s like 10,000 DCP participants) so they’re really hard to get into. I’ve been trying since I got here in August and had basically given up on ever getting to do one, but then one day I opened the app and Kilimanajaro Safaris was open! It’s one of my favorite attractions, so I signed up immediately.
Now, this whole day was very cool but also kind of a fever dream. First of all, the bus that took us to Animal Kingdom had a barely functioning AC. Now, this was not an ideal situation for a bus ride in Florida summer, but it was really early in the morning, and the sun wasn’t at full force yet. Eventually we made it to Animal Kingdom, a little sweaty but still mostly in high spirits.
The tour was scheduled to start at 8:30 in the morning, so it was early, but not too bad. Most of these tours start at like 5:30 in the morning. Which is, like, when I go to bed sometimes.
Anyway, we showed up at 8:30am and found out that somehow, someone had messed up the times, and the tour was actually supposed to start at 7:30am. Our guide didn’t seem too concerned about it though; he ended up just giving us a more truncated version of the experience.
It was still really cool! We got to learn a lot about the history of the Africa section of Animal Kingdom and found all of the hidden Mickeys, of course. After that, we got to go on the safari trucks and get a look at the backstage areas of the safari, including a giant field where all of the food for the animals is grown. It is bigger than the entirety of the Magic Kingdom.
And of course we got to see the animals as well.
Now, once the tour was over, we all headed back to the bus stop. And lo and behold, what bus was waiting for us but the same one we had taken in the morning. Except now, it was almost noon. The sun was fully out, and it was 90-something degrees.
As the bus pulled up, a bunch of sweaty cast members piled out. One guy said something along the lines of: “I opened all the windows for you guys; it’s terrible in there.”
Sure enough, we walked onto the bus, and there was no AC at all.
The bus ride home was hot. I don’t think I’ve ever been more uncomfortable in my life. If the windows hadn’t been opened, I don’t think we would have made it back.
But we did, and as soon as I got into my apartment I collapsed onto the couch and stayed horizontal for many hours, until I left for my shift later that evening.
That night, I didn’t get back to my apartment until after midnight, and ended up sleeping until 2pm the next day.
Good times.
- I got a new identity
Which is just a clickbait-y way of saying I lost my name tag. And unfortunately, I was not wise enough to listen to the advice of the seasoned cast members who told me to get more than one name tag at the beginning of my program. In my defense, my one name tag survived to almost the end of my program!
I had to go and get a loaner tag, and so now I have a new identity for the next week:
The funny thing about wearing a name tag that does not have your real name on it is that most of the time, you aren’t thinking about it at all, until a guest says, “Thanks Chris!” after you check them out at the register.
And then you get to have a whole identity crisis because now there are real people walking around in the real world thinking they just interacted with someone named Chris. And you don’t feel like a Chris but that person seemed to accept that your name was Chris, no questions asked. And so you go about the rest of your day, catching glimpses of yourself in windows and mirrors with “Chris” pinned right above your heart…some people would lose their head if it wasn’t attached; I would apparently lose my identity if it wasn’t pinned to my shirt.
Anyway, my new name tag comes in a week–just in time for the end of my program–and thank goodness because any longer and I might have had to write a post about names and identity, and that just sounds like a lot of work and research.
And it would’ve probably given me flashbacks to certain EU chapels…
- Everything AND the kitchen sink
As my program comes to an end, I’ve been trying to check a bunch of “bucket list” items off my list. It’s mostly different foods, and I finally got the orange milkshake I’ve been eyeing for the last few weeks:
It’s the most orangest orange thing I’ve ever had (those who know me know I can’t describe flavors). And it is perfection. My favorite milkshake in the parks used to be the chocolate shake at Auntie Gravity’s in Magic Kingdom, but this is the new #1.
This shake was part of my last visit to EPCOT’s Flower and Garden festival, which was also on my bucket list. I think out of all the festivals, it ranks 3rd. Food and Wine is 2nd, and Festival of the Arts is officially my favorite. But I’m definitely not biased from working there or anything…
Anyway, Flower and Garden is also cool. They definitely have better food than FOTA, for what it’s worth. Besides the orange shake, I also tried a mango bubble tea and poke bowl that were both delicious.
And, in the midst of all the resort hopping, park days, (and mostly food sampling), I also conquered one more bucket list item:
My roommates and I went to Beaches and Cream and got the famous “Kitchen Sink.” Eight scoops of ice cream, every topping, and a whole can of whipped cream.
Just an FYI, when you do this, they turn on siren lights in the restaurant and then the cast members loudly announce that you have decided to try to eat the entire kitchen sink.
And I am pleased to report: we did, in fact, finish the whole thing 💪
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little life update! I’ve had a lot of fun during these last weeks of my program, but it has also been very chaotic. Re: the procrastination, my time spent on this blog is starting to look like one of those vague graphs with a scary downward slope:
Maybe one day I’ll have more free time, but for now, you’ll have to make do with the ramblings of a sleep-deprived Disney College Program cast member. Lucky you 🙂
P.S. One more last-minute non-update: I saw a bunch of people posting those Spotify “party of the years” things, so I decided to check it out. Big mistake. If anyone wants to know what the first song I ever streamed was–too bad. I’m going to the grave with that information.
If you really want to know, the lowest offer I’ll accept is coincidentally the same number as the remainder of my student loans.