First Day!... and following days....

Hi everyone, I was surfing on this forum trying to find something about the first few days in Orlando Fl...

I have read in different topics different kind of information about those days but finally I decided to create one new in order to get some help because I still have some doubts, and maybe someone else has it also...

Well, I think it would be nice if someone tell us how his/her first day was, some tips and thing we must not forget...

I knew we need a formal clothing on those days but how much formal do we need to be??... For men is that ok a shirt and formal pants or is it needed a formal suit with tie and all that...

I would like to know also what kind of activities do we perfome...

Where and at what time is it recomended to arrive, this to plan if it is better arriving one or two days before the start date...

Finally what type of bedding do we need, like sheet, blanket, etc etc etc....

Ok people thanks for your help

 

My first day was insanely chaotic, yet mundane at the same time. They asked my arrival group not to get there before noon, so I was there at noon (haha!) and checked in with only two other people. They go through a small presentation & then you get assigned all your info. The Walmart is open 24 hours on arrival days & the cast member bus that goes to Walmart runs extra/all night on arrival days, so that you can go and get bedding and food and such. You literally get nothing but furniture, so bring $$$ to get what you need. I'd reccommend arriving as close to noon as possible so you have lots of time to go get everything. My roommate got there at about 3pm (coming from the UK) and napped for a few hours to help with the time change before heading to Walmart.
You need formal formal dress clothes. If I can find my look book, I'll post on here the rules, but you need a shirt and jacket and tie and such. It's incredibly restricted, what you can and cannot wear. You'll need a dress outfit for traditions & then a dress outfit for your training classes. The training classes don't have to be AS dressy as traditions. Traditions is the big one - you go through a screening process before going in & they have extra shirts/jackets/blouses/pants/etc in case you don't meet the look. You'll get your look book in the mail and it will outline all the rules.
So the day you get there there's no classes, the next four days will be Traditions & training classes and then your on the job training will start!

 

Okay a rough guide - this is kinda how it went for me

day 1 (Tues)- you arrive settle in do ya shopping etc
day 2 - fun form filling time - basically u are up mega early like 6/7 to go to the club house and start completing all the reams of paper work that needs to be done
day 3 - much the same as day 2 - more paper work
day 4 - usually a day off but you wont have your id yet so wont be able to go to disney parks
day 5 - usually traditions - full day of presentations and some fun activities at Disney University - formal attire required - first paid day of work and the day when you get your disney ID so generally after traditions most people head to MK to wader and watch wishes and feel like real cast members
day 6 - Epcot discovery day - like traditions but for epcot
day 7 - computer based learning day *yawn* basically sit in front of a computer screen for majority of the day learning disney stuff and work location stuff e.g. for f&b disney standards
day 8 mega early start to go get ya social security number - tip here is to arrive early at buses and get on first bus at the front - get off and be as near to the front of the queue as possible to be seen. reason being theres 4/5 bus loads of people going - they start sending the first batches of people back after they are done so less time spent hanging around so u get back sooer
day 9 - first day properly working - doing ya onjob training at where ever u will be working

it may have changed since i was there and none of the days for things to be done are set in stone altho traditions is generally on a saturday and u will always have an early start day after u arrive to complete all the paper work etc

 

Yeah, it's basically the same. The week is always pretty overwhelming, with all the paperwork, early starts and orientation.
I was lame and kept EVERYTHING from Disney, and it's just in my desk, so i thought these might be helpful, maybe? lol
I was too lazy to scan them, so i just took some pictures of them. You'll meet your training coordinator. It used to be D.J for ages.. but he was replaced right as i was finishing my program, so i don't know who the new one is. But when they're the one who will be conducting your discovery day and all your orientations/classes at Epcot. This is what is was like when i was there.

day 1 (Tues)- Arrive, check in at Vista (no earlier then noon i believe) Then they take you to your new apartment in the commons/patterson
day 2 - From what i can remember you have to be at the clubhouse by 8am where you'll be greeted by a couple cast members from your pavillion (this has nothing to do with disney, just the people in your pavillion making you feel welcome. AND i only know for sure this happens for UK & Canada) you'll have your orientation in the commons clubhouse. The orientations are really boring to be honest. They just go over all the rules, policies of housing and such. I think that's it for that day.

day 3 - Typically day 3 is an early ish start too.. you break for lunch and then after lunch you have a sort of orientation at vista. This is when you get your Housing ID's. and fill our some immigration paper work. They put you in a bunch of stations and just work through it all. I think it lasts a couple hours if not less.. and then you're free.

day 4 -It's Friday by now, and you ALWAYS get this day off unless you're from South Africa because they have a whole different schedule. Most people that i know went to Water Parks (and paid) or went to Universal on this day. It's not a bad idea.. and you usually end up spending it with your arrival group.

day 5 - The dreaded Traditions class. This class is held at Disney University and starts at 8am i believe. It's an 8 and a half hour class i believe. A bus will be there to pick you up and take you there, you'll meet in the lower foye' i believe and some cast members will greet you and take you upstairs to your room. When i say dreaded, i don't mean it's bad. But if you ask anyone who's done the program they will usually say it's long and boring. You're usually exhausted by this point in the week, and you had to be on a bus by 6am outside. So a lot of people are just really tired. It's long and your instructor will tell you about the company, what they value and you'll put together a time frame. During this class you'll get your name tag, and your Cast I.D. This is also your first paid work from Disney. Traditions can be really fun depending on your spirits and your instructor. What they started doing after my arrival group is taking the class up to Magic Kingdom and you have this ear piece and can wonder around main street while the instructor is talking into this mic and you listen talks about the parks and probably thins you're supposed to do as a cast member.
After this class you're free. A lot of people go to Magic Kingdom or another park to enjoy them at last.

 

So both of your programs started on a tuesday?
Mine is starting on a Saturday.. kinda weird. I wonder if traditions will be the following saturday since you guys said its generally on a Saturday..
Sounds boring and tiring.. but I'm still super excited!

 

There are traditions classes happening almost every day of the week. Almost all CRPs arrive on a Tuesday and have their Traditions the following Saturday. You're doing a J-1, aren't you? I suspect the time-scales will be very similar, although I can't say for certain.

Both pinkspider and morrs have days 1 through 5 the same as what they are now. Day 6 and 7 are also the same as what pinkspider said for the UK, although can vary depending on your country. DJ is still the coordinator for UK and Canada food and bev, although there are massive changes going on with Canada at the moment, so I'm not sure how much longer he'll be doing both.

Your social security day is now scheduled for a week or so after your arrival date. Mine was a Thursday morning, although it does vary. It is a 6am start, but I only had 1 bus load of people, so it made no difference whether you were there early or not. Again, this does vary depending on the size of your arrival group.

Personally, I adored traditions. But I'm weird and love that kind of stuff. Don't get me wrong, I was tired, and there were moments where I nodded off slightly, but overall, I LOVED it so much.

If you want my personal full run down of the first couple of weeks, please do check out my blog... I went through each and every day quite extensively. www.mydisneyjourney.co.uk and look at November (when I arrived).

 

Agreed. I have never heard of a CRP arriving on a different day unless their's a flight issue, but then it's the next day. I do remember seeing buses full of ICP's/CP's going on different days when i had classes there through out my year.

About Canada, yess.. big changes that i'm so excited to experience! The signature dining should be amazing. I've been in touch with my managers about some of the changes and heard various rumors from my friends still there. Will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I swear my manager said DJ was leaving and going to a different location, but what do i know.
Are you there right now VikkiLillyBee?

About Traditions, i feel a little bad about how i explained it. I don't think i enjoyed it as much because i was so tired. (actually the only time in my life was at most of the disney classes/orientations that i actually remember not being able to keep my eyes open, and wanting to fall asleep every second). But i think it's a lot more interesting now with going up to Magic Kingdom, and i would for sure enjoy it a lot more now.. knowing most of the answers and stuff like that. It is a really cool class. And EVERYONE at Disney .. on the Cruise Lines.. Adventures by Disney.. there isn't a single person that works for Disney that hasn't done Traditions.

 

I may be the only cast member ever to say this...but I loved Traditions! Yes there were some tedious moments, but you're doing Disney trivia, learning about the company, getting your nametag (Which I thought was super exciting) and at the end of your day you get your Disney ID aka your free admission into the parks, your discounts everything! It's an early morning, and a lot of talking, but not so awful! promise

 

Wow!.. Thank you.. Nobody could explain it better than you with those experiences that btw I will live haha....

 

Ahh there´s another question I am wondering rigth now... When you arrive at the orlando's airport which transportation did you take to where we have to be??.... Nowadays I do't know where do I have to be the arriving date, but I've read in many topics it is at Vista Way Welcome Center, (I believe the directions are in our congratulations package)... is it easy to arrive there from the airport??.. I think I will arrive on my start date.... From Mexico I have a good schedule on the flight... so I am arriving at noon I think...

 

When I got my welcome pack or whatever it`s called I received a coupon for mears taxi. Probably the cheapest route as I think it cost me about $20 versus any other cab is going to run you about $50.

 

And traditions for me was amazing, way less boring then the computer learning day hahaha i fell asleep constantly... I can`t wait to do it again!

 

Hear hear! I second that one!
The computer morning with DJ, I was going through them reasonable fast (I good at computer stuff), and I finished all of them including the horribly boring robots talking about seniority and scheduling and other nonsense. And then DJ told the others to just skip through that one as they didn't really need to actually know what was in it!!!! I was rather annoyed about that! It really was a LONG boring thing.

Morrs, I am indeed out here now. I arrived Nov 2nd, will be here until Oct 28th 2011. UK Pavillion, F&B. Currently podium, should be starting assigner training in 2 weeks

 

Ohh really? Totally off topic, but who's your current managers right now?

And i do agree.. Traditions is a lot more interesting then the computer stuff. I remember stressing about RVP to the extreme, and there was a thing on how to learn about The Hub. Yeah traditions is reallly interesting. lol

And javmejia, the best way to get from the airport to Vista Way is through the Mears Shuttle. They have them on every exit, and i think like 4 or 5 of them too. They're used to seeing us, so they know what's going on. It's $20.00 one way, and you do get a coupon for 5$ off from YummyJobs. They know what they're doing.

 

I loved traditions too - all the quizzes and info I went to disney for disney cos I love it so for me traditions was awesome. It sounds even better now tho getting to go into MK for some of traditios qwould be amazing

 

I know, right? I thought going to Mouseketeria in the tunnels was amazing, and even better they take them up now.

 

Christina is area manager of UK and Canada, we pretty much never see her what with Canada's changes and her pregnancy.
Janice is pretty much moving over to Canada. I don't think we'll see her in the UK any more.
Yelitza, Jack, Ashley and Marco (who's just moved to us from Germany) are still here, and still doing their jobs!

GTs... we have Mr B, Janet, Kista and Jason. We have a new lady coming over from the American Adventure next week, but we don't know who she is yet.

 

That's really cool! It's good to hear there's still some familiar names in there. ;D
I've been trying really hard to find out who the new area manager.. any word through the grapevine?

 

We probably won't find out until Christina actually leaves on maternity leave. And I've no idea when that's likely to be.

 

Darnnn! Ohh well. All in good time i guess.