CHARACTER M&G

CHARACTER MEET & GREETS: I thought I would compile all of my character M&Gs. If you are curious as to where I met them, let me know!

MICKEY MOUSE

College Program Living

Some of you may or may not know but during the Disney College Program you are required to live in their housing. It is fully furnished and is actually a pretty nice apartment! I took a few pictures (I meant to take more after inspections but it never happened) so you can get a some ideas on what your apartment may look like. Just a nice disclaimer, all of the rooms are different. For example, I had a huge living room but a smaller bedroom, other rooms are completely opposite. Here's just a tiny example of what it could be!

So here it is! Good ol' Carnegie Plaza! It is located in downtown Anaheim about 10-15 mins away from Disneyland. It's in a pretty nice area. I mean, Anaheim in general isn't the safest place, but it is what it is. So one of my favorite parts of Carnegie Plaza is that a lot of things are in walking distance or a very short car ride away. Across the street is a nice coffee shop and a street away there is a Vons (uhh Safeway), CVS, Starbucks, and a lot of other little stores. Right down the street there's a place called Good Food. Trust me, it is really good food. The Mexican place and the place all the way to the right is sooo delicious. I'd go way too much to each place. But one of the best things ever is the Farmers Market right outside your window every Thursday. Seriously. The corn at the Farmers Market is the best. Please go eat it. For me, eat that corn!

So now let's get into the actual apartment. Carnegie is made up of many different apartment configurations. There are one, two, and I believe studio apartments. I was in a two bedroom apartment with five girls total. This means one room had a bed and a bunk bed (I was the lucky one on the top bunk) and then the other room had two beds. The photo to the right was my bedroom. The beautifully made bed on the top bunk was mine. I eventually moved the stairs to where they were supposed to be because I couldn't stand bringing my legs over that stupid bar. I believe our bedroom was one of the smaller ones with the three beds, but we did have a walk in closest so you have to pick and choose those battles.

Our room had a pretty large living room. A lot larger than most. I don't understand why our bedroom couldn't take up a little bit of the living room, but I guess we managed. In this picture it looks extremely empty. It mostly stayed like this the whole time. The apartment comes with a couch, chair, coffee table, dining table and chairs, a side table, and lamp. Pretty much all the necessities of a living room. Seriously though, we could've held a gymnastics tournament in our living room it was so dang spacious. I guess it was nice though. It was a nice place to sit and watch TV since most of the time I was way too lazy to climb all the way to the top bunk to relax.


Everything else in the apartment was pretty standard. There is a kitchen with all the basic appliances like a oven/stove, microwave, dish washer, and refrigerator. The bathroom was also standard. There was one in the living area (pretty much right behind where I took the living room picture) that was my bathroom that I shared with my actual roommates and the other bathroom was in the bedroom of my other roommates. There was also a stacked washer and dryer in the room. In the beginning the program people tell you it will take 8 hours to wash and dry your clothes. That's a big fat lie. It was a normal like two hours to wash and dry.

That's pretty much what Carnegie is all about. There's also a patio and small gym on the second floor with the program's office being on the third. If you have any questions about the living situation, please ask!

Front Desk Training

I guess the best time to describe my training is after the program is over... I am finally going to tell you how training is specifically as a front desk cast member at the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa.

For a Front Desk Cast Member the training is a lot different from other roles. In total we have three weeks of training while other roles only have a couple of days. It first starts with in classroom training and then goes to on the job training for two weeks. During these three weeks I had a test on the different room types, two knowledge assessments, and one performance assessment.

The first day of training I was completely overwhelmed. I was so nervous since I had never worked at a hotel before and especially at a four diamond hotel. The next four days were in a classroom learning the system and all the little things that went with it. We learned how to check in/out, charge people, find rooms, and many other tasks.

In classroom training was a lot of fun but a lot of work. Each day we'd be in a classroom for eight hours starring at this ugly system and trying to figure out everything. It is a lot to take in and is key to realize that you will NOT know everything after these four days. You learn the basics so you are able to move on to on the job training. Luckily, I passed my knowledge assessment so it was on to on the job training!

For the next two weeks I had on the job training. I had a trainer who guided me through the two weeks and taught me everything I would be dealing with during my program. These two weeks were probably the most nerve racking. At the front desk, especially at the Grand, you deal with thousands of dollars a day. I mean our standard room can be anywhere from $400-$500 a night. So when I check people in or deal with a guest concern, I can be dealing with a lot of money. 

The first couple of days my trainer really eased me into the front desk. He'd let me use the program while he spoke the spiel or vice versa. The scariest part for me was actually interacting with guests. I was scared someone would be upset with something and I wouldn't know what to do. I put too much pressure on myself because obviously there were going to be some things I didn't know. Hello, I just started. These two weeks were just the right amount of time to really understand what I needed to know for my performance assessment. On the 10th day, I passed my performance assessment! I could finally rip that earning my ears sticker off of my name tag. I was finally on my own! I spread my wings and asked questions every second once I was alone. By the way, isn't my costume so fashionable? I felt like I was part of an Amish community.

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Character Dining

Character Dining. It's a great chance to get some good food and meet some of your favorite characters for a semi okay price! Now, during my time there, I actually was able to go to every character dining (yay, holiday coupons!). I am here to tell you the ones I recommend, best characters, and best food. I hope I can help all of your character dining needs!

Plaza Inn

Disneyland

Breakfast

Buffet

$$ ($15 - $29.99)
Plaza Inn is located right at the end of Main Street on the right side next to Tomorrowland. It is a fantastic restaurant to go for character dining or just go for dinner (their fried chicken is the best food in Disneyland).

Food: I really enjoyed the food! Most of the character breakfasts have the same general food, eggs, bacon, Mickey waffles, omelets, all the basic breakfast foods. There isn't much that's original about this place. 

Characters: I think this dining has the best characters. I was able to meet Chip, Dale, Minnie, Tigger, Eeyore, Captain Hook, and the Fairy Godmother.

Overall: I would definitely recommend. The food and characters were great! If you are going to character dining for both the characters and quality of food, I would definitely say Plaza Inn is the place to be! I had a such a great time and found it very convenient that we could go straight to a (calm and not too dizzying) ride since we were already in the park. It is also nice to have the option to eat inside (near the food and to keep warm) or eat outside and people watch or enjoy a warm morning.  

DCP Update!

Hello Everyone! Here I am, finally making a blog post! I realize I never kept up with this but I honestly never had time. I work 40 hours a week and try to go explore as much as I can. I just wanted to update on a few things and let everyone know where I stand with the College Program!

I have have less than three weeks left of my college program. It is so bittersweet. I have loved most of my time here. I'll miss Disneyland, I'll miss the friends I've made, I'll miss the Grand (sometimes), but I am so ready to go back home. Never thought I could miss a city so much. I'm on my couch starting to pack, cleaning up a bit, and it's so sad to think it's almost over. It went by so fast but I regret nothing. I'm glad I did the program and can't wait to start my journey out in the real world.

I plan on posting a little bit more about everything. A couple of topics that should be posted soon (or eventually):
- Do I recommend the college program?
- Front Desk overview
- Character Dining (I've been to too many...)
- Training for Front Desk
- What to do when you aren't working


Hopefully I will actually keep up with posting. I want to let people who are interested in Front Desk know exactly what it is. I know when I first started researching the program I  had no clue what Front Desk was because no one wrote anything about it. Let's hope I can help at least one person out!

Anaheim, CA Living!

I am finally here! I am all moved in to my apartment in Anaheim, CA! I can't believe I can finally say I am here and starting the Disney College Program! The move started on Monday with my boyfriend and I leaving San Francisco at 5 in the morning. This meant saying goodbye to my family the night before and heading off to Southern California in the darkness of the early morning. The two days before my check in day we decided to impulse buy a one-day ticket to Disneyland on Monday and then go to Universal on Tuesday. I had so much fun those two days, but I could not wait until I could move in on Wednesday. 

Move In Day: On Wednesday I left the hotel at 10 AM to get to Carnegie Plaza for move in! When I got there I waited in line for a bit and then started filling out paperwork. When we were in line for paperwork we found out our location for the semester. I am so, so, so excited to say that I am going to be a Front Desk Cast Member at the Grand Californian! (AHHH!) After all of that was done I started to move in all of my belongings. I live on the second floor, so I was very lucky that I didn't have to take the elevator. It was a struggle to hold so much stuff walking up the stairs, but it was way better than waiting in line for the elevator.

When I got to my apartment I finally met my roommates! They are the sweetest and I am so happy I found such great roomies! Once I said my hellos, I realized I was the lucky one to get the top bunk. Now I haven't been in a bunk bed since I was like ten. I was a little iffy about being on the top but I've gotten used to it these past two days. I'm learning how to not shake the whole entire bed and finding the best ways to not kill myself when getting down.

After, we had a meeting at 1:30 PM to attend where I learned some basics of the program and housing. I then hung out with my boyfriend for a bit and then headed to Downtown Disney with my roommates to eat dinner and spend time together. It was so magical to know that Disney would be my home for the next semester. Once I told my roommates I had actually never stepped foot into the Grand Californian, we decided to go inside the main lobby. And all I can say is WOW. What a beautiful hotel. It made me even more excited and nervous to work there. We then decided to go home and get rested for the next day! 

Day 2: The second day I had a couple of meetings and a welcome party to attend! In the morning we had to drive to a meeting that lasted about an hour and a half. We learned more about the program and how much of an impact this program is going to make on our lives. After that mandatory meeting my actual room roommates and I decided to go to the optional meetings that housing held in our courtyard. I actually learned a lot about where I'm living and how to make the best out of it.

Later that night was the welcome party! It was a great way to meet some people and have fun. There was a DJ, a photo booth, and free pizza! It was fun to see who else is doing the program and getting to know different people.

Day 3: Today I have a day off. YAY! I am taking advantage of this nothingness and just relaxing. Tomorrow I have traditions! (AHHHHH!) So I cannot wait until then!

I will keep updating you guys this whole program! One of my next posts will definitely be a room tour. I may even film it to get a better look but we will see. I need to clean my room first so you don't think I'm a complete mess! haha.

"All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney