Disney College Program: Orientation

Over the next couple of days, I had my operations orientation and Magic Kingdom orientation. The operations orientation--"Welcome to Operations"--was a lot of learning at Disney University, including a lot of safety information and details about the different roles involved in operations.

What impressed me most was the training about guests with disabilities. Every single cast member is trained how to appropriately interact with and support guests with disabilities and there are so many services available to give guests with disabilities the best possible experience.

The Magic Kingdom orientation--"Once Upon a Time...is Now"--was a walk-through of Magic Kingdom, where we got a brief descriptions of every shop, restaurant, and attraction in each land and how they tie into the story of the parks and land. We got to ride on Haunted Mansion, which was great because I hadn't gone on any attractions since starting here--I haven't had a day off since getting access to the parks. The coolest thing was being in Magic Kingdom before the park opened; I've never seen it that empty.

Basically empty Main Street

After park orientation, we met up with a greeter who brought my fellow vacation planners and me on an overview of the TTC. We traveled via ferry, so I got an in-person look at the DVC construction on the Polynesian beaches.

DVC villa construction at the Polynesian

We picked up our costumes, which are not super flattering, but it's pretty sweet that we don't have to worry about sweating or rain or anything--air conditioned booths, baby!

After a brief adventure trying to find my car in the parking lot, my fellow vacation planners and I went to check out the discount stores available for cast members.

Tomorrow I have a day off, which I plan on spending in Epcot with my friends from training. Monday, more classroom training!