Arrival and Orientation

You guys are gonna get sick of me asking questions!

What can anyone tell me about what happens when you get there? Do you arrive on the date that the email said (in my case March 6) or do you get there before that? How many days are you given to get accustomed to the time change and get settled? What kind of orientation do they give you?

Thanks again everyone!

 

You arrive at vistaway after the airport, they will give you ur aptmnt and a package with ur schedule, the next cuple of days u will have meetings about housing, transportation, get your housing id, migration, etc.! U will have a day off before traditions. Saturday u will go to a class called tradition, where they will explain you about the company and the values etc. After this you are an offical disney employe! Congrats! That same day you will receive a new package where will tell you when and where to show up for work.

 

I'm assuming I'll be told which housing complex I'll be in before leaving for Florida. What is the best way of getting from the airport to the assigned housing area?
Also, will there be role specific training, or is it just on the job training? I'm going to be attractions, so will I be working with someone at first?

And just out of blatant curiosity, are days off consecutive or separate? And, prompted by the labor day weekend, do we get holiday pay if we work on stat holidays?

Thanks again!

 

You wont know where you live until u arrive to florida, their are two complexes for crp, patterson and commons... Traditions and the first two days are in the housing vomplex and disney university, once u finish this, you will start on the job training.

Usualy ur days off are together, but the first week or two might be separate, you will work holidays acording to your schedule and some holidays they lay off more, but no xmas or new year... When yo arrive to florida, in orlando, you can take a van that takes you to where you are suppose to meet.

 

You should get a voucher for Mears shuttle from Orlando Int'l Airport to Vista Way Complex before you leave At least I got one a few weeks ago, together with a few other papers (insurance, etc...). Thanks to the voucher you get a little discount, thus the ticket will cost you 16$ instead of 22, if I'm not wrong. BY taxi it should be more expensive to get to Vista Way, about 30/40$, according to what I've read so far. And we're going to find out where we'll be living only as soon as we get there (I hope Commons, I don't want to pay for washing machine and dryer ).

What can you tell me about bus routes and timetables? Are there any available, and where can I get them? I'm a bit worried about being unable to cope with buses (and starve to death because I can't get to Walmart, lol ;D).
A map of the neighbourhood would be fine too, but are there any? r shall I buy a whole map of Orlando? ???

 

Once you are there they will give you the bus schedule and routes! You will get used to it, trust me, and about wallmart, you can check the bus H, it has schedules, sometimes goes in the morning and others runs at night, it depends the day, but i dont remember tue. About the map, orlando has few public transport, so the most necesary stuff housing will provide bus. You can use goole maps this is the commons address: 8036 gabels commons dr, orlando fl, 32821

 

When you get to housing, you'll get a transport schedule (last pick up from Walmart on the H bus on Tuesdays at the moment is 6.15pm, though on other days it's after midnight).

You also get an area map with transport routes, plus there's plenty of people who will be able to point you in the right direction for places like Publix and Walgreens.

 

Thank you so much to all of you for such useful information

 

You mean they sent one to you? That would be excellent!

 

I believe they email us the voucher and we have to print it out and take it with us to use when we get to Orlando.

 

Indeed, you print out the voucher and then on arrival at Orlando International Airport, you go to the mears desk (there's instructions on how to get to it on the voucher) and just tell them you want to get to Vista Way. Sometimes you'll get transport straight away but sometimes they wait a little while to get several people together. You all get on a minibus/coach/van thing and it may do several drop off points at different locations depending on who is in the van! You'll know when you get to Vista Way, trust me. They also know so you won't just get abandoned!

As others have said, you'll get a bus timetable on arrival at housing which is super easy to use once you understand it! The H bus goes to walmart but if there's a few of you then it might be easier to get the H bus to walmart and then a taxi back and split the taxi fare (it's not that much) because you're gonna be buying LOTS of stuff on your first trip!

Don't worry about getting lost and orientation of Orlando - I never really understood where I was because I got the buses everywhere! If you venture onto public transport then it's still pretty easy (although their public transport is RUBBISH in Orlando) and taxis are easy to get if you want to go somewhere else although obviously not the cheapest option.

Hope that helps

 

i honestly took taxis EVERYWHERE!! if you get a bunch in a cab with a cabbie you know you can p cheap rates!

 

On the days when we have meetings about housing, immigration etc. and sign a ton of paperwork do we have to wear business attire? Or is that just for Traditions?

 

if i remember correctly... the first day (wed) you could wear casual clothes and then traditions, discovery day, and i wanna say one other day was business attire... but i could be waaaay off..

i know that you dont have to wear it to get your ssn though cos i def went in whatever clothes i partied in the night before.. and i am SUURE they werent disney look

cant wait to be there ! <3

 

When you first arrive at housing they give you a schedule and on it it says you should wear for the day what you need to bring and what type of clothes (comfortable clothes for lots of walking/formal). Very handy. They also tell you when to bring your own lunch or bring money to buy some. All very orderly and simple

 

Thanks guys. I was trying on "business attire" type clothes for an hour last night

"whatever clothes i partied in the night before" LMAO ;D

 

social security day is like 6am on the bus or something stupid so we just decided not to sleep and to party instead.

i would not recommend this.

 

Yes, at least in my case I was sent my voucher by International Services. I didn't have to print it, it was sent by Corinne (IS) with other papers and stuff inside a big envelope

Cool!

OMG...

 

OMG I knew it was early. Do you remember if this the Wednesday or Thursday after we arrive?

 

i think its like a week or two after we arrive..but i could be very off ...