After the first few days of training, we were able to access all the parks including the water parks. In my free time, I enjoyed the benefits of being a Disney Employee. I rode every ride I could, and ate everything I could afford. My Disney experience as a cast member was something I will never forget. Would I ever come back and do the college program again? Yes and no, I loved my experience however, if I were to come back to Disney again, this time I would apply for the professional internship. Professional internships are very competitive and give college graduates training in the areas they hope to work in the future. The professional intern we had at our work location was responsible for everything the other managers were responsible for. A good percentage of professional interns at Disney are later given jobs in the work location they interned for or other locations throughout Disney property.

The first week or my program was hectic, I attended two trainings in the first few days. The first was Disney traditions, which consisted of everything and anything Disney related, the second day was food and safety training. After these first two training days, I received my nametag! I spent the rest of my time moving in, running to the grocery store, and learning more about my roommates. We were living in a three-bed room apartment, each room had a bathroom and a walk in closet attached. They were very nice and came furnished with just about everything we would need. Our building is located right next to the pool, workout center, and laundry facilities, which my roommates and I were excited about. My next day of training was located at the Grand Floridian, which was an orientation day, followed by the introduction to my workplace.

My job at 1900 Park Fare is a seater and greeter. My job consists of checking guests in at the podium and confirming information such as party size, party mix, ages of guests in the party, and if they are staying at a Disney Resort. My other possible jobs I may have to do include seating guests at the appropriate tables, or folding napkins and stuffing silverware for the following morning shift.  My job is relatively easy; I do work with a lot of other college program students from throughout the world as well as several from within the United States, which was an awesome learning experience.

My first day of the Disney College Program consisted of thousands of college students waiting in a line. Everyone seemed just as confused and excited as the next person in line did. The information they gave us was very limited but made me excited to find out more. I wanted to know where I was working, where I was living, when I started, whom I was living with and I had so many other questions.

The first worker gave us a planner with our work location on the back; I was going to be working at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. I was ecstatic; I was working for such an amazing company and was going to have the privilege at working at their flagship resort.  The planner also said I would be living in Patterson Court with five other girls. Five other girls, I was nervous that it would be hard to get along with so many other people all the time.  The rest of the day was a blur; we were given instructions about training and an itinerary for the following days.