Check-In Day

Sorry that this is a SUPER LONG post, but a ton happened my first day at Disney! I will hopefully keep future posts shorter after the craziness of the first week. I just want to remember all the details myself! I will also try and post pictures later!!!!


Housing Meeting
So today began bright and early, well earlier than I am used to at least. I got up around 6:30ish to make sure that I had plenty of time to make myself look nice, check out of my hotel, and so I could get to the housing meeting a little early. I did my hair once, then I went outside to get some ice and my hair went crazy again. Luckily I got it to look presentable before I headed out. I wasn't very hungry and only ate a part of a muffin before heading over. I got to Vista Way around 8:15 and was lucky to get a parking spot right next to the building that we had our housing meeting in. When I got "in-line" (we were really more of a mob) I was right beyond Joey, a kid I went to high school with. It was a little awkward since I hadn't spoken to him since graduation, but it was nice to see a familiar face. We were given name tags and waited a bit longer before we were allowed to head inside. 

Once we got in we handed over our DORMS paperwork and got a housing packet (including out key) and got our picture taken for our housing IDs. We don't really use them much unless we want to go to housing events, from my understanding. This is also were I first met me roommate Amber. We had been talking on Facebook beforehand, but it was nice to meet her in person. We had a pretty quick 15-20 min talk over a few housing things, signed a sheet saying we understood the rules and we were on our way. Overall, Vista Way and the housing process was different than what I expected. I guess I had just read things from CP blogs, but it is WAY faster than I thought it would take. We also got free donuts!

Casting Check-In
So I was scheduled for a 10:15 check-in, but just decided to go straight to Casting after the housing meeting ended. I really didn't have enough time to drive Falcon and was already checked out of my hotel. I went in and no one said anything about me being early. First we passed through the doors, which have doorknobs like in Alice and Wonderland. Then you enter an atrium with tall white pillars with golden Disney characters on top. I didn't wait here long though.I then was led down this hallway were I waited some more, talked to a few people (including an Aquaculture intern named Brett) and met a managers at Liberty Inn who was super nice (she started as a CP, then did an MI, and she also managed the food trucks in DTD). Then we truly got started when we got handed a folder with two sheets of paper, one with our traditions time (I am in the morning) and the other with instructions on changing our address on the Hub once we get access. Then we signed some confidentiality agreements, went over our I9s (which we filled out before we arrived) and got fingerprinted. When I first tried to give my fingerprint on the computer thingy the guy didn't really give me instructions and I was putting my hand down too hard, but then didn't have a problem with getting my prints after that. He kept having a hard time entering y information into the computer system though. Near the end we were in a line and this lady told the guys that they were cooking dinner for the girls. I am waiting for my dinner Matt! lol. Lastly, we went over the Disney look and were sent on our way! I ended up getting out of Casting around the time I was supposed to start.

Falcon Square Apartment
After Casting I drove to check out the apartments. We actually were in the furthest building, which was actually the building my dad and I had driven by the day before. When I got upstairs Dana and her boyfriend were unpacking her stuff. We also did some creeping on our forth roommate since we only put 3 names down on the sheet. Her stuff was pretty much all set up, but there wasn't a lot of food. Therefore we thought she might have been there for a while but weren't sure. I tried taking some stuff up stairs, but it was really hot and humid and going up the 2 flights of stairs was tiring. I made it my goal to bring all of my stuff in from the main part of the car. Then I headed to Chick-Fil-A since I had only ever had it once at Cedar Point. It was super crowded and there were probably over 50 kids running around. I then headed back and had a little bit of time before we had to head to our Animal Programs meeting.

Animal Programs Meeting
Dana, Amber, and I jumped in Amber's car and drove back to casting for our Animal Programs meeting. We almost got lost, but made it just in time. We all waited in the atrium again, but it was SUPER crowded. Then all 68 Animal, Science, and Environment interns headed into a room where we confirmed our phone number at the door and were given a folder thing with a binder thing, a pen, a Disney Conservation button and a thing about the conservation fund. We were introduced to our leaders, played an icebreaker where we were supposed to organize ourselves alphabetically by last name (it didn't work and it was taking too long so we stopped), went around the room to introduce ourselves, and then split up into groups based on role to go over our training schedules. In all it probably took about an hour or so. It was fun to meet people we had been talking to on Facebook and Yammer and finally find out more about what we are doing. We were told to brush up on scientific names and I had read in the past they did an icebreaker involved them, and some people were nervous, but we didn't end up doing anything with scientific names at all.

Exploring
After we got done with casting, we decided to figure out how to get to Animal Kingdom and time how long it took to get back to our apartments. It was fun to drive around property. We went to the Animal Kingdom guest gate and met the CP I had talked to the day before and she said we could drive around the parking lot, so we did. She gave us some other instructions we didn't understand and ended up driving around the parking lot in circles. We decided to park and get a picture in front of the Animal Kingdom sign. It was funny that Amber and Dana had to get their bags checked, but we walked right back out 5 minutes later. We then exited the parking and tried to find the cast parking. Instead of turning where we were supposed to, we went straight and ended up at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. So we decided to park and explore the hotel a little. I loved it! I would love to be able to stay there someday. It was fun to just walk around and see animals so close. I really want to go back to explore the grounds, animal watch, and get a picture in front of the sign.

The rest of the night
Lastly, we timed our way home and drove to Publix to get some food. We found it to be super expensive so we decided t hold off on buying a lot. We finally headed home for the night and met our last roommate Lexi. She is an engineering intern from Texas who started a summer internship in May but will be extending till December. She said she might leave Falcon Square at the end of the summer. She was really nice even though we have barely seen her yet. She had also done a Project Management internship last fall and stayed at Falcon Square than as well. We all finally settled in. At this point I was past hungry and didn't feel like eating dinner. Lexi went to a friends to drink and invited us, but we all decided to stay and unpack some. 

It is amazing how much we did our first day and it was definitely better than the day before!!!!

Supplemental Applications

At some point after you submit your application you might be contacted to submit additional materials or fill out a supplemental application. Some positions that do this are graphic design, journalist, etc internships that ask to submit a portfolio. Obviously if you have read my other posts you know that I didn't apply to those internships, so I will briefly talk about the Animal Programs and Agriculture Sciences Supplemental Applications. I got both of these shortly after I submitted my application. 

Animal Programs The Animal Programs limits that a person can only apply to 3, so people on the Facebook page that applied to more had to say which 3 they wanted to stay in consideration for through this email. I already knew this, so I had only applied to 3 (Education Conservation Presenter, Chemistry, and Reproductive Biology). The Animal Programs application had a set of standardized questions for each of the positions that I applied for through their department. The questionnaires for each position pretty much wanted to know that I did in fact have the qualifications list, list experiences and such. I then had to email those back and a cover letter that covered all 3 positions. They also ended up asking me for another copy of my transcript since they had had difficulty opening the one I had uploaded on my dashboard.

Agricultural Sciences The Agricultural Sciences one (for the Biotechnology position I applied for) asked for a cover letter, transcript, and letter of recommendation. They didn't have any extra questions. I, however, decided to withdraw my application for this position at this point in time.



OTHER UPDATES: 1 week until I leave for Florida! Oh, and how can I forget?!?! One week from today I will be leaving for Florida (well hopefully by this time we will be in Georgia for the night). I can't believe it is getting so close! I felt like I was doing well on packing, but now I feel like I have so much to do and no time to do it in! Tomorrow I am heading over to my college to finish up my work there and then Wednesday I have 2 doctors appointments and my family is going to the Tigers game for my dad's/sister's birthdays, so I will pretty much have zero time to get stuff organized. Also, with my OCDness I pretty much planned my sister's college class list today so she will be ready to register tomorrow. Well, off to make sure I have everything ready for my day trip tomorrow! 

Screening Interview

One thing that is pretty common across Professional Internships is a screening interview. However, since I only applied to Science Positions (Animals, Science and Environment and EPCOT Agricultural Science) I did not have to undergo a screening interview. As far as I know, pretty much everyone besides people only applying to Animal Programs or Agriculture internships undergo the screening interview. I think that pretty much everyone that isn't automatically NLIC gets a screening interview.

From my understanding it is a lot like the College Program Interviews. They ask things like why are you applying to do a Professional Internship, make sure you are eligible, which are your top choices, your experience, and various other situational and position specific questions. If you are applying to Management Internships they will ask you leadership type questions, as well. Like I said, since I didn't do one of these interviews, I am not the direct source of this information, but this is what I have come across on other blogs and Facebook. I might apply for some other non-Animal Programs internships for next spring and if I do I will have to have a screening interview for that.