Hello from Orlando! Since moving in, I’ve been super busy but wanted to sum up my experiences here in the DCP so far. Keep reading to hear all about my road trip to Florida and the first week in my DCP!
Saturday 1/19:
I began my road trip to Florida! My mom and I planned to leave the following day, but due to some winter weather coming (which actually never did lol), we left a day early! Our trip began in the late morning and we drove 7.5 hours to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where we stayed overnight to break up our drive.
Sunday 1/20:
The next day, our plan was to arrive in Orlando in the evening, which was just what we did! We stopped for lunch in Savannah, Georgia, and explored the town a bit! We both loved Savannah and definitely need to go back to spend more time there. From there, we only made one more stop...at the Florida welcome sign of course! The rest of the drive was tricky due to construction and lots of zig-zagged highways….we both said it felt like we were already in Disney World riding Test Track! We then finally made it to the hotel and settled in for the night.
Monday 1/21:
My first official day in Orlando before my program! The majority of Monday was spent running errands, but for dinner we went to Disney Springs and ate at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ Kitchen. It was some good southern comfort food and I can’t wait to go there more while living here! In the later evening, we also met up with some of my roomies and their parents at Disney Springs! It was so much fun finally getting to meet them and see Marie again whom I had met at the character performer audition back in September!
Tuesday 1/22:
Arrival day!!! The day I had been waiting for was finally here. I checked in at Chatham Square around 10am where my housing ID photo was taken and I was given some important info, such as where my apartment was located. My roomies and I also found out we would be living in a 2-bedroom 6-person apartment, meaning we would have two more roomies and bunk beds plus a single bed in each room. In order of our housing preferences, this was our very last choice haha…..but it actually worked out really well! Our apartment still has plenty of storage and our two other roomies whom we met that day are super sweet.
After moving in and setting up the basics, I went to my Casting appointment in the early afternoon to complete some tasks and job paperwork. My mom and I did a Walmart-run and grabbed dinner in the evening before she headed back to her hotel. I spent the night getting to know and hanging out with my roomies in our apartment!
Wednesday 1/23:
I wanted to start exploring the apartment complex, so I began my morning with a run! I really love where I am living because everything is conveniently close by….and being a 15 minute drive to Disney isn’t so bad either! Later that morning, I took a trip to urgent care to try and get rid of a cold/sinus infection I’d had since the week before….not fun but I am feeling much better now. In the evening, my roommates and I went to eat at D-Luxe Burger at Disney Springs then resort hopped! Even though we wouldn’t have park access until Traditions later in the week, we still wanted to explore Disney. We took the monorail to Grand Floridian, Magic Kingdom (sadly couldn’t get into the park yet), Contemporary, and Polynesian where we ended the night on the beach watching the Happily Ever After fireworks. We also got to meet a DCP vlogger, Kyle, which Marie and I were especially excited about! It was such a fun and magical way to end the day!
Thursday 1/24:
Thursday was my mom’s last day in Orlando before flying home, so I spent the morning with her grabbing breakfast and running some more errands before saying "see ya real soon". (Special shoutout to her for making the drive with me to Florida, and for her going above and beyond to make sure I was all settled in here! Love you, mama!) When getting back, I decorated my room some more and explored more of the apartment complex with my roomies. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the pool and the apartment.
Friday 1/25:
Most of Friday consisted of more shopping and then the DCP housing welcome event! Madeline and Marie needed to get some shoes and clothes for Traditions, so we went to the Premium Outlets and a few other places. Later that evening was the housing event! The theme was “A Whole New World” with a DJ, character meet-and-greet, sword swallower, belly dancers, photo ops, and more! My roommates and I met the characters (Jafar, Genie, and Abu), grabbed some dinner, and danced the night away. We had the best time and props to DCP Housing for really going all out with this event!
Saturday 1/26:
Traditions day! For those who don’t know, Traditions is a class that introduces soon-to-be cast members about what it’s like to work at WDW plus the company’s heritage, values, and expectations. My Traditions was scheduled for 8:40am and I had to catch the bus at 7:15am, so it was definitely an early start to the day! We got to Disney University (building that houses WDW training/learning classrooms) and waited for our time to be called, and then headed up to the classrooms for our class!
Simply put, Traditions was magical. It’s like nothing I’ve experienced at WDW before and I feel so fortunate to begin working for this incredible company. During the 4.5 hour class, I felt like I fell in love with the company all over again and was exactly where I should be. There’s not really a lot I can reveal about the class itself (and I wouldn’t want to spoil anything if you’re reading this and do the DCP in the future), but I can say there’s nothing quite like becoming an official cast member at the end of it!
Becoming an official cast member also meant that my park access, discounts, and other perks also started on this day! I headed back to my apartment to regroup and then spent time at Magic Kingdom. It was a fun day that included being serenaded by the Dapper Dans on Main Street, riding the People Mover, seeing the Move It! Shake It! MousekeDance It! Street Party, and meeting Tinkerbell! Because of the Pro-Bowl this weekend, I met and saw lots of NFL players around which was pretty cool! (Sadly, none of them were Eagles though.) My friends and I also met a Disney blogger, Danielle, who is super sweet and loves WDW just as much as we do!
What’s next?
Today (Sunday), I had my first official day of training very early this morning and have more training this week! Despite having busy days, more blog posts are still on their way (I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it lol). I cannot wait for some of the blog content I have planned for the future, so be on the lookout for that and thanks for reading all about my first week in the DCP!
See ya real soon,
Maddi