Carrie Underwood Fans

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I'm Heading To Walt Disney World (Disney College Program)!

carrietakethewheel

Active member
Hello lovelies! I know it's been forever since I posted here, but now something wonderful has come up that will keep me busy, busy, busy! On February 19th, I got accepted into the Walt Disney World college program! :D For those of you who don't know what it is, it's an internship you can do during a college semester where you work on the Disney property for 6-8 months (with an option of an extension, if one wanted to do so), and it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'm so happy and proud I've been selected to do this; to work Walt Disney's dream. My role there will be Quick-Service Food & Beverage. I don't know where I'll going to be placed (I won't find out until check-in). My dates are August 24th, 2015-January 4th, 2016. So, if you happen to be vacationing there while I'm there, feel free to say hi! I've created a blog dedicated to my program (which you can find here). I'll be updating it as things progress. I'm so excited! 130 days left! D:
I just wanted to share this wonderful news with you all.

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~Ashley
 

thaifood

Active member
Hey Congrats & if I might I have a few words of wisdom for you.

I worked for Disney in Orlando for 13 years & filled many roles. I originally hired on a a Merchandise Cast Member at what was then Disney's MGM Studios. They have since changed the name & with Disney's purchase of Lucas & The Star Wars franchise, & the Marvel characters, it has been "slipped" that they will be changing the name once again & that the studio will take on a much more Star Wars & Marvel slant that it is now....anyway, that wasn't what I started out to say.

I originally worked at Mickey's Of Hollywood, which is the largest gift shop in the studio & then a few months later, the company opened 2 new resort hotels & I was chosen to be part of the opening crew in the merchandise shop at The Yacht Club Resort. From there I transferred to many different jobs in many different locations until I finally, after 4 years, made my way to the job I really wanted & the area which was my background. I ended up doing Logistics for the company & got involved in many really cool projects. There are always so many off the wall things you can get involved with once you have been there for a while & find your way around.

The whole point of this is that I just wanted to say there are tons of opportunities for you if you take advantage of them. If you really want to put forth & work for a great company,then Disney just can't be beat.

I grew up in So. Cal. & began going to Disneyland way to many years ago. Disneyland has always been my favorite park because it was the only park that Walt ever set foot in. He was around to buy the land & get the Florida project off the ground, but he passed away before the place opened to the public. The Florida project was completed by his brother Roy & it was really the final act of his life as well. As I said, I really prefered Disneyland, but after 13 years in Lake Buena VIsta, I can say there is really no place on earth quite like it.

You will be there for the best time of the year & I am talking about the Christmas season. Right after Thanksgiving the decorations go up & the place, the ENTIRE property, transforms into a holiday spectacular. Every place on property is all decked out & it really is something special to see. I have had guests in town where we would spend an entire day doing nothing but checking out all the hotels, they are all different & they are all spectacular. As part of my logistics duties I worked with the Imagineering team for the construction of the Animal Kingdom Lodge. They purchased all the furniture for the place form all over the world to go with the Animal Kingdom theme, it was my job to get that furniture from the vendors, onto ships, through customs & delivered in time for the opening dates. Those are the cool types of things that happen that really very few people even think about.

Sorry for rambling, but I really loved working there & I hope you do to. Congrats again & please do yourself a favor & learn all you can about what else is offered & how you can go about achieving your goals. There are always a few of the college program folks that decide to stick around & they all seem to do pretty well. When I was there they had 55,000 Cast Members & 1,100 different job titles, but they are now at 74,000 Cast Members & probably closer to 1,500 different jobs.

PS: I have a lot if interesting stories if you feel compelled to hear them.
 

carrietakethewheel

Active member
Hi thaifood!

Thank you for your stories. I've been to Walt Disney World twice (1997 and 2012), so this will be my third time going. I went during the Holidays the first time and it is gorgeous. I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with my Disney family (although I'm going to miss my Mom and Grandpa). I can't wait to go! :)
 

cassie2

Staff member
Moderator
Congratulations Ashley! I'm smiling thinking about how wonderful this is for you. Keep us posted please!
 

thaifood

Active member
You will find out that one thing Disney is good about is holding major Press Events. They have them every now & then & lump a bunch of highlighted projects together & invite the world wide press to come & check it out. So, here's my story about the first one I was involved with.

I had been working for the company maybe two months, was still working at Mickey's Of Hollywood, when one afternoon I was getting a drink of water by the water cooler. The shop manager saw me & said come with me. I thought perhaps I had done something wrong when she led me into he office & said "You are to report to The Carribean Beach Club Monday afternoon for a briefing on an upcoming press event. You have been chosen to participate."

So off I went & when I got there I found out that the next week Disney would be holding a week long event & they would be introducing the press to a bunch of different new rides, attractions, a couple of brand new hotels (The Swan & The Dolphin) & this would be the week of the worldwide premiere of their new movie Dick Tracy starring Madonna & Warren Beatty. The premiere was going to be on a Friday night at The Pleasure Island 10 (it has since been increased to 24 screens) & the company was throwing a big old week long party.

My part of this thing I soon found out was to be a driver & a tour giuide for Monty Hall & his family. You may or may not remember Monty as the original host of the game show Let's Make A Deal. Well at the Disney MGM Studios one of the things they were introducing to the press this week was a new Let's Make A Deal attraction with Monty as the executive producer. So, he & his family (wife, two kinds & four grand kids) were invited to come down for the week & enjoy all that Disney had to offer. They were given rooms at The Polynesian Resort & me as a driver. I was to be available to them 24hrs. a day for the length of time they were going to be there.

Anyway, I would pick them up in the morning, take them to press events if necessary or just to one of the parks if they felt like playing around for a few hours. The entire week ended in the big red carpet party for Dick Tracy, so I drove the family to the premier so they could walk the red carpet & enjoy the movie (we didn't get to watch the movie) & then there was a huge premier party & parade at the Studios after the movie. That party, I did get to attend.

I met most of the people in the movie, or at least got close up to them, (Al Pacino & Dustin Hoffman are both pretty small guys) with the exception of Madonna who decided not to attend for some reason. But, it was a cool week, I met some nice people, got in a lot of overtime, & made some great memories.

By the way, that week was also the premier of a movie called Betsy's Wedding starring Alan Alda & Molly Ringwald who were both there that weekend & I just missed out on meeting Alan when I took Monty & his family to The Living Seas in EPCOT for a dinner reservation & Alan had just left.

So I reckon sometimes it pays to waste a few minutes at the water cooler, it worked out for me anyway!
 

Kizmet311

Active member
That sounds so exciting, congrats! And Ron, sounds like you had a wonderful experience working there.
 

carrietakethewheel

Active member
Hi everybody! Just wanted to let you all know that my experience at WDW was absolutely wonderful. I got to extend my program in 2016, working in Attractions in Animal Kingdom. I worked QSFB in Hollywood Studios. I'll actually be having the opportunity to work with Disney again next year during the ALADDIN tour! ^___^
 

carrieismy1idol

Active member
Hi everybody! Just wanted to let you all know that my experience at WDW was absolutely wonderful. I got to extend my program in 2016, working in Attractions in Animal Kingdom. I worked QSFB in Hollywood Studios. I'll actually be having the opportunity to work with Disney again next year during the ALADDIN tour! ^___^
Glad You Had A Wonderful Experience I Love Disney
 
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