Can we all just do a little jump for joy?

Because if rumors are true, we have exactly one month until Fall 2012 DCP applications open.

Allow me to direct your attention toward the shiny new ticker I have on the right hand side of this page. Convenient! Because...  One. Month.

Gotta start on my premature phone interview prep...

Relevent? Eh. But it was on my computer and it's cute.

In other unimportant news, my grades for this past semester came in...3.75! And Dean's List for the first time ever in my college career (freshman year was full of personal horibleness... that's not a word). So, while I'm completely ecstatic, I'd be way more ecstatic if I had a 3.76. Here's why...

The reason, in WDWCP Land, that I'm not applying for Fall Advantage is because I'm looking to apply for a very specific, very competitive internship for Summer 2012. If I told you what it was, it would ruin all the fun, so I'm not gonna tell you. But I'm from New York City and I want to work in television production and so everything is really local and convenient and it just makes me want it... really bad. So bad, in fact, that I'm willing to give up three extra months of living/working/learning in WDW for it. But this internship requires a very specific GPA... and as of this semester, my GPA is .02 points under par. POINT ZERO TWO POINTS. That's like... what, one fifth of a point? Two hundredths? I don't know; English major.

Anyway, I got an A- in a very subjective, very hipster-y acting class. I worked really hard in the department all semester, and I felt that I should have  received an A, but my prof was all hip and alternative and "no one gets an A because there's always room for improvement blahblahblah..." But if I had that A... I'd get another point or so on my GPA and be qualified for my super special secret selective internship. Do I contest my grade? Do I beg my professor to just, out of the goodness of her pure-blooded actor's heart, bump me up a half-letter grade? Do I forget about it and apply anyway .02 points under the requirement, and then cry hysterically for the rest of my life when I don't get it? I should be following my dreams, right? But I can't be obnoxious about it... can I?

WHAT WOULD WALT DISNEY DO?!???!!!!

Is it too early for a roommate survey?

Yeah, probably. But they're doing them on the Fall 2012 WDWCP Facebook group, so I figured I would post the one I filled out there, here. Probably not the last one I'll fill out before August (you know, if I'm accepted and everything).

In other news, the holiday season is bringing with it a load of Secret Santa drama (c'mon people, really?), a bunch of Christmas presents that I cannot seem to locate in any store in the entire New York metropolitan area, and a resume that is in desperate need of editing (that has nothing to do with the Holiday season, but rather my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and a slew of internships I am about to apply for).

 Anyway, survey. Here ya go.

1. Your name?: Emily

2. Are you legal (over 21)?: *sigh* No...

3. Male or female?: Female.

4. Gay, straight, bi (optional): Straight.

5. Where do you live?: Long Island, NY... about 20 minutes out of NYC. But I go to school in Upstate New York. Which is a different world entirely.

6. What role would you like to have at Disney?: I would LOVE to be a character performer, but... hahaha no. That'll never happen. So... BBB, Character Attendant, Attractions, Merch, etc.

7. What are your arrival/departure dates/program and are you returning alumni (fall, fall advantage, fall quarter)?: If I'm accepted, I'll go down for Fall. And this will be my first (and probably only) program.

8. Which apartment complex would you prefer to live at?: Patterson or Chatham... maybe... I don't care?

9. How many roommates/rooms would you like?: The more the merrier!

10. Do you like to party? Will you be hosting parties in your apartment?: Yes! And I'd be willing to host anything that wouldn't get me termed. That's not to say I won't go to parties, but I like to have fun and play by the rules.

11. What's your favorite food, and more importantly, can you cook well?: Italian food and I cook very well. I'm from a big Italian familyand it kinda comes with the territory.

12. If your friends could describe you in three words what would they be?: Fun-loving, ridiculous, and "the mom." That wasn't three words, but whatever.

13. What kind of music/movies do you like?: I'll listen to/watch pretty much anything. Music can range from pop to rock to indie to showtunes to oldies and everything in between. I love movies and I'll watch anything at least once. I usually tend to lean more toward dramas and romantic comedies (and of course Disney movies), but I'll literally watch anything.

14. Do you smoke, and if so, inside or outside?: I don't smoke... anything. I don't really care if you do though. As long as you don't blow smoke in my face it's cool.

15. Do you drink? (socially or alcoholic): ... but nobody drinks in college though...

16. Are you a night person or a morning person?: Absolutely a night person.

17. Are you driving or flying down?: As of right now, I'm flying and I won't have a car. Hoping that things change by August.

18. What do you do for fun?: I watch Law & Order: SVU marathons and sleep. Haha. But really though. I also watch everything else on television, write, read, shop, party, hang out with my friends and explore and get lost and be stupid. And then partake in a whole bunch of Disney activities.

19. What is your favorite quote?: "All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." From my main man Walter, of course.

20. Why are you most excited about in being in the WDWCP?: Legitimately, GETTING MY LITTLE OVAL NAMETAG. I've wanted to be a cast member since I knew what a cast member was. And the second they hand me my nametag, I know I'll hyperventilate/put it on and never take it off.

21. Favorite things to do when not working: When I'm down there, I'm planning on being in the parks constantly... Or going to Harry Potter World, or going down to Canaveral to see the cruise ships... but I'm a realist and I know that might turn into sleeping whenever I can/doing nothing in my apartment by like October.

22. Name one good quality about yourself: I try to make the best out of every situation. I try.

23. Name one bad quality about yourself: I plan things way too much and I'm always really disappointed when life doesn't turn out exactly how I want it to.

24: Your college: Binghamton University

25: Your major: English with concentrations in creative writing and global culture and a minor in theatre.

26. Any medical conditions (optional): Nope.

27. Are you messy/tidy?: Tidy. Organized to the point where I'm insane. You don't have to be though, but I have to be. I'll probably clean the rest of the apartment for you. This is an area in which you want me as your roommate.

28. Biggest pet peeve: Ignorant people. But I deal.

29. Favorite Disney movie?: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

30. How many times have you been to Disney?: Four times to WDW, once to Disneyland, and once to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen (and I count that even though I shouldn't because it's not Disney... it's just Disney's inspiration... blahblah). But my "thing" is Disney Cruise Line. I'll have been on ten cruises by the time the program starts.

31. Favorite theme park?: Magic Kingdom always.

32. Favorite ride?: Thunder Mountain always.

33. Favorite show?: Can DCL count? Because if so, definitely the Pirate's IN the Caribbean Deck Party/Fireworks. If not, Illuminations.

34. Favorite resort?: Tied between Boardwalk and Wilderness Lodge.

35. Favorite dining?: Chefs de France in Epcot.

36. Favorite characters?: BELLE! and Minnie.

37. I prefer to sleep in a room that is...?: Whatever. I'm adaptable. I like to have background noise but I've been learning to live without it, and colder is always better.

38. I like to go to bed around: Whenever I can't be awake anymore (usually after midnight, probably after 1).

39. Heavy or light sleeper: Heavy.

40. I am easy to wake up in the morning: I'll probably snooze the alarm once or twice.

41. I would prefer guests: Guests are perfectly fine by me, as long as they're respectful of my space and belongings and stuff. If they're not, I won't be afraid to speak my mind about it. For overnight guests, just give me a heads up.

42. I absolutely could not live with a roommate that is...: Clinically insane. And also dumb. Been there, done that, not doing it again. It's a good story, actually. But I'm sure none of you are those things, so...

43. Do you snore?: No I do not!

44. On your day off, what time would you wake up: It depends on how late I was up the night before. I never like to sleep past noon at the latest... just because I'll feel like I was wasting the day.

45. Anything else you'd like to say...?: I CANNOT WAIT TO APPLY. I CANNOT WAIT TO POTENTIALLY BE ACCEPTED. I CANNOT WAIT TO LIVE IN FLORIDA FOR A SEMESTER. I CANNOT WAIT TO BE A CAST MEMBER. I CANNOT WAIT TO MEET YOU ALL. I REALLY LIKE USING CAPS LOCK. I'M FUN. GET TO KNOW ME.

30 Rock is on. Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holiday Thoughts...

I don't have many. I've been home for about a week, and I've accomplished approximately nothing. But we're five days out from Christmas and that's always good! My family keeps talking about spending next Thanksgiving and Christmas in WDW, visiting me on the CP... crossing my fingers and hoping that's true! We're only about a month out from applications now! I'm also about 100 days out from the maiden voyage of the Disney Fantasy! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! I can't wait! I can't wait! I can't wait!

Anyway, in the spirit of a mind-numbingly lazy college student who has only managed to literally hang her Christmas tree on the wall because it would not stop falling down decorate her Christmas tree, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Everyotherholiday! Soak it up and enjoy it. May you get many, many presents and stuff.

Replacing the urge to smack someone with a maniacal smile! :)

I’ve been in the library for about 75% of my day. Amount of work accomplished: None. But I did discover that the author of the Bridget Jones series (the brilliant Helen Fielding) has been tweeting in Bridget’s voice. That let me to finding out that there is currently a third book and movie in production. Then I was watching videos of Collin Firth as Mr. Darcy (both Fitzwilliam and Mark) on YouTube for a couple of hours. So, obviously we know where all of my free time has been going.

I did manage to get to my advising appointment this morning which was, conveniently, all about the WDWCP. I made the appointment at the beginning of the month after my advisor referred me to this other dude who apparently knew all there was to know about the college program. Great! Woo! We’re getting somewhere!

So this morning, I sit down in his office and tell Advisor Dude what I want to talk to him about and he looks at me as if I have forty heads. Then he goes and grabs his WDWCP file, blows off the dust, and shows me that the last entry in it was FROM 2002. SERIOUSLY?!

“Our students just don’t… do this much.” He was all scrutinizing and judgmental, as if wanting to get an internship with the freaking Walt Disney Company was some kind of academic suicide. UM, WHAT?

But then he was all, “Yes, yes, yes… this can probably be done… you might have to do it through the community college,” Again, nose upturned, “But we’ll work something out.” And then he looked a little further in his magic folder and found some instructions for exactly what he was supposed to be telling me. Then he made me leave, and told me to e-mail him with the link to the website I was getting “all this information” from – AKA, the WDWCP website – because apparently, he is incapable of doing a Google search.

In classic future CP fashion, I plastered a smile on my face, thanked him politely and held back any eye-rolling or snide remarks that I would normally be tempted to erupt with. I AM SUCH A NATURAL CAST MEMBER!

Just hoping to have the whole bureaucratic side of this done by the time I go home for winter break, just in case – by some miraculous act of God – applications open before next semester. I’d like to know if I’m getting credit/if I’ll need to pay tuition, etc. But that would require a few more people than me having their acts together, so…

Whatever. Have a magical day and stuff.

Instead of studying for our finals...

... my roommate decided to turn me into a Disney Princess.
(And it's all very, very accurate.)

Cranberry Sauce and Cryogenics

Happy Thanksgiving, world! I hope everyone ate themselves into oblivion and thought about what they’re thankful for and whatever.

This month has been absolutely ridiculous. Actually, this entire semester’s been ridiculous. But since the month of November began, I’ve worked relentlessly on the crews of two separate plays (and auditioned for one… eek. Later, comfort zone.), read about six books (not for fun), wrote an unknown number of papers, and got far too little sleep. So, I’m pretty thankful for these few precious days off from school.

It occurred to me today that if all goes as I’ve planned (fingers crossed!), I’ll be spending next Thanksgiving in Disney World as a CP. I approached the subject with my family today and they’re more excited than I am, if that’s even possible. They plan to fly down for Thanksgiving and Christmas next year if I’m accepted to the program. My mother says it’s because she couldn’t possibly imagine leaving me alone on a holiday, but I’m pretty sure they just want to hang out in WDW. But either way, on the subject, I’m extremely thankful for having a family that is so supportive.

So on the Disney theme of the day, tonight, I was sitting, petting my favorite cousin as he sat in my lap ( he’s my aunt’s precious cat, for the record… we’re not that kinda family), and I saw that The Man Behind the Myth was on TV and I obviously had to watch it. For those who don’t know, it’s a biographical special produced by… CNBC, I think… about the life of Walt Disney. I’d never caught the whole thing before, and in doing it now, it solidified every reason why I want to work for this company. To think that one man with a dream and a pencil, someone who just wanted to please his family and bring people together, started everything that the Walt Disney Company was and is and has become on a whim and with an idea… well, it’s mind-blowing. It’s heartwarming. It is pure magic, and I believe in it. You can achieve everything you’d ever dreamed possible if you work for what you want.

It got my mother and me talking. First we got into an argument over what happened to Walt after his death. My mother swore backward and forward that his body was frozen. I said no, he was cremated. When the documentary finally revealed that he was, in fact, cremated the topic of conversation turned to: “Well, if he was frozen and then they unfroze him and woke him up, what do you think he’d think of what his company turned into?”

First of all, we’re obviously very twisted people. Second, this was interesting to me. My mother says he’d totally freak out; his tiny little family-oriented company turned into this massive empire that was extremely capitalist and money-driven and not really family-oriented anymore.

So then I sat there with my mouth opened for a little while, and instead of yelling at her about not knowing what she was talking about, I politely and civilly begged to differ. While the Walt Disney Company owns half of the entertainment industry and is a huge financial empire (which is amazing in itself), I personally think that the company has never diverted from its path. I think it’s more in tune with Disney’s vision than ever. I think he’d be proud. The new industry that they’ve uncovered, the films that have reached out to every walk of life, the fact that multiple generations can bond over the same stories and places, setting the social standard in hospitality and service, having theme parks on three continents… I think… and I hope… that this is exactly what he would have wanted. At its roots, the Walt Disney Company is still bringing people together. And yeah, I’m thankful for that.

After that was over, the special on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter came on, and I realized that I am – hopefully -- roughly nine months away from getting a day off and going to Universal and hanging out in Hogsmeade. So, thankful for Orlando.

Then I turned on A Very Gaga Thanksgiving… and I cannot even begin to decipher my opinions on that one. Now The Big Bang Theory is on. I watch way too much TV. I’m really thankful for TV.

So anyway, go back into your tryptophan comas. 

“I don’t know if I’m the new Picasso, but I’m certainly twisted like many of his paintings.” – Lady Gaga

Please Stand Clear of the Doors...

Hello world! Welcome to the magically bumpy, dramatic, and probably quite eccentric ride I am about to take you on through my Walt Disney World College Program application process (and hopefully, if the world works in all the ways that I want it to, my program). My name is Emily and I will be your tour guide. Please let it be known right now that I am completely ridiculous. I tend to ramble on and write too much and provide far too much detail for the human imagination to comprehend. Click ‘back’ on your browser now if this intimidates you. You’ve been warned.

So, anyway, about me? I’m nineteen years old; I’m sophomore at a decently large, relatively prestigious university in Bumblefuck Upstate New York. I’m from the suburbs of New York City, and I don’t care what anyone says; it is the most fantastic place on the planet Earth and if you do not live there, you are very much missing out, my friend. This WDWCP thing? I’m doing it on a total whim. I’m the kind of [totally neurotic] person who has her life completely planned out in an Excel spreadsheet. The college program most definitely was not on the grid. I didn’t think it fit into the road of academia I had laid out before me. But then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And then one day I just said, “Well, why not?” So here I am now.  By the way, this is supposed to be a WDWCP blog. If you’ve somehow stumbled upon this looking for something else, have no fear. I’m going to be spewing anecdotes about the rest of my life here too eventually… just because I have no filter and I don’t know when to stop… ever.

I’m an English/Creative Writing/Global Culture major with a minor in Theatre. I like television far too much for the average person, and I want to work in television production someday. Ideally as a writer, but we’ll see how that goes. Anyway, I figured that this could be incredibly beneficial to my career aspirations. I’m also obsessed with Disney, but that’s another story entirely.

Actually, no it’s not. I love Disney. I’m a princess. No really, I am. So it’s only natural for me to be obsessive about this sort of stuff. I believe in fairytales and magic and true love and pixie dust, and I think everyone should because it just makes life better. And I believe in following your dreams to ensure that they really do come true. And I also believe in entertainment monopolies, so… yeah. Everyone is obsessive about Disney and the Disney brand though, so I’m not exactly special. My I do have one relatively unique attribute going for me: my childhood wasn’t peppered with yearly trips to Disney World (although, trips to WDW did exist!), but yearly Disney Cruises. The Disney Magic is my second home. My ultimate Disney career ambition – before deciding on the CP – was doing a contract on DCL in cruise staff or youth activities after graduation. I’m still holding to that.

More than just fun memories, lifelong friendships, and family bonding time… DCL has essentially taken me to everywhere I’ve been in the world. Most vacations I’ve been on, most cultural experiences I have… they all have a black, red, and yellow ship in the background somewhere. The Disney Magic has delivered me to Italy, France, Monaco, Spain, England, Germany, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and let’s not forget all of the pretty places in the Caribbean. I think that speaks volumes about my attachment.

So, on top of being a place of joy and wonder and amusement, a bonding point for my family, a source of cultural stimulation, a fountain of childhood (and… okay, adolescent) memories, and an inspiration to go after what I want in life and what I believe in, Disney has been a way of life. And that, finally, leads me back to the CP.

I’m applying for Fall 2012! Yay! Not Fall Advantage because I’m hoping to spend my summer doing an internship at home, but more on that later. I want to go for fall because of the holidays and the Fantasyland expansion and just… the general awesomeness of WDW in the fall. Role choices? I’ll apply for BBB (because, let’s face it… DREAM JOB), Character Attendant, Attractions, Merchandise, and… something else that I haven’t quite decided on yet. If I had a little more grace, I would totally go out for character performer auditions. But I don’t, so let’s just leave it at that.

I am really, really excited about the prospect of going down to Orlando next August. I’m really excited for this whole application process, and I’m REALLY excited to start getting to know fellow (hopefully) future CPs! If I haven’t scared you off, go ahead and introduce yourself! I promise that I don’t bite!

I’ll post more when I’m not delirious and it’s not 1 a.m. and I don’t have a paper due tomorrow.

Until next time…

Emily