The GREAT Check-In Explanation

D-Day. 

Saturday afternoon, my mother, my aunt, and I flew down to Florida. My suitcases were, collectively, over 50 pounds overweight and $100 later, we were on the plane. We arrived and my mom rented the ugliest Crown Victoria ever created and I felt like a cop, but it was fine because the trunk was the biggest I have ever seen and my thousand pounds of luggage had found their home for the next few days.

The big stuff (and the stuff we bought in Florida) stayed in the trunk until I moved in. I packed a smaller bag to take up to the hotel room with me for the first few days. I recommend doing that. It’s easier than carting all your stuff everywhere.

The first night, we ate and passed out. Sunday was reserved for buying everything I couldn’t ship down (ie: towels, hangers, a mattress pad, toiletries) and when that was over (about 11 a.m.), we had the rest of the day to do essentially nothing. We ended up at Downtown Disney for like five minutes and then… I have no idea.

I had dinner with my roommates that night, and we agreed to meet at 7 the next morning in front of Vista, because – essentially – we no longer cared where we lived. Initially, I wanted a three bedroom in Chatham, but the more I thought about it (and saw it once I arrived), I kind of wanted to live in Vista.  

Vista has the reputation of being the “party” complex, but I think – more so – it’s the outgoing, social complex in which parties are easier to find. I’m pretty sure there isn’t any vodka leaking through the ceilings and no one is passed out and vomiting on the stairs. But if you want to find a party, Vista is probably the easiest place to find it.

Vista, as a complex, is only about 300 feet off the main rood (St Rd 535), within walking distance to a Walgreens, a Starbucks, and a TON of restaurants. (It's also, we discovered, right next door to the Sheraton Vistana Resort, which is coincidentally and oh-so-sentimentally, the place where my family stayed on my first ever Disney vacation back in '97.) Chatham and Patterson (and The Commons) are about a mile away from 535 and pretty much walking distance from nothing but each other and Mickey’s Retreat, the cast recreation complex.

I like noise and action and being social, so Vista was fine by me. But my roommates still wanted Chatham, so I could’ve gone either way.

Anyway, here it is… the great check-in day post, step by step.

Three of my four roommates met up at the Holiday Inn Lake Buena Vista and went over to Vista together (the fourth met us there). We got there at 7, because we were too lazy to wake up any earlier, basically. There were about 300 people on line before us. Many around us were annoyed because it clearly says on the Disney website (and it does) that you cannot line up before 7. That’s false. People started lining up at about 3 a.m.. A cast member on a PI told me later in the day that for an arrival date last week, someone got there at 11:30 the night before and camped out in the Vista parking lot… which is completely ridiculous. Don’t do that.

Bottom line, unless you want a one bedroom in Patterson, you can pretty much be there between the hours of 6-8 and be okay. Patterson ran out later in the day, but I don’t think that was until about 8:30. Apparently, three bedroom apartments in Chatham were hard to come by early on.

Two of my top tips for check-in: 1) Be in line with the people you want to live with!!!!!  And 2) Have a State photo ID (drivers’ license, learner’s permit, something) and your social security card or birth certificate OR your passport with you… at ALL times.

The line opened at around 7:30 and we were moving pretty quickly. They let you in, and you follow the purple signs (and everyone else) to the back of the Vista complex. IF you have luggage, there is a tent where you can bring it to store it (I somehow got stuck carrying the 80 lb. bag of the woman in front of me… I still don’t know how it happened). IF your parents are with you, there is a parents’ area where they can go wait it out.

My mother stayed at the hotel with my luggage until I called her to come get me and bring me over to the apartment. I recommend that. Let your parents rest if you can; there is no need for them to be there while you’re checking in.

Anyway, you go to the back of the complex and wait on line a bit more. Someone will come around and give you a temporary name tag sticker. You’ll be called up to the first table, where a cast member will look your name up and make sure you’re on the list. Then there’s more waiting. You get your program guide (your bible for the next few days) and then sign a housing contract, basically promising that you won’t drink if you’re under 21 and you won’t give people booze if you’re over 21, and that you won’t put any holes in the wall, and acknowledging that you can get fired for breathing if you’re doing it the wrong way. Then you wait a little longer, sign your name a few times, give a few people your ID, and do some more waiting.

Then you wait on line to talk to the property management company, who will place you in an apartment. After some changes, our three bedroom in Chatham arrangements with six girls turned into a three bedroom in Chatham arrangement with four girls. We would have preferred a three bedroom because the cost would be less, but somewhere, it was decided that a two bedroom would be less hassle. The property control woman asked us immediately if we would like a two bedroom in Chatham and we just went for it.  We weren’t aware at the time that there were actually no three bedroom apartments in Chatham available. Our options would have been a two bedroom in Chatham or a two or three bedroom in Vista, but we didn’t even consider our options.

We were placed in Chatham, building three, apartment 3202. A two bedroom, and it’s worked out fine thus far. I think we’re going to be paying $93 a week. Your first two weeks’ rent is part of your housing deposit when you first accept your role in the program, as during training, you won’t be making enough to cover your rent and your living expenses.

After you are given your apartment, you wait on line to get your keys, and then you wait to sign another housing contract for your individual apartment. Then, you take your housing ID picture. You have to be in Disney Look from the shoulders up for this. That means ultra conservative, shoulders covered, etc. I was asked to take off my necklace. A guy in line behind us was given a razor and told to go shave in the bathroom. He also had to put on a blazer. Disney doesn’t play.

You get your ID printed out (you’re going to need it for everything… don’t lose it. It’s a $50 fee), and then you wait on some more lines. If you have your car with you, you’ll have to go present your license, your insurance card, and your registration and get a parking decal. If not, more waiting.

You’ll get a sticker with your casting bus time at this point. If you get to Vista early enough (read, 5 a.m.), you’ll go straight to casting after you finish all your paperwork at the complex. But since we were about 300^th in line, we had to wait a bit longer. They stagger out the buses every half hour. We were finished with check-in by around 9:15 and given an 11:30 bus time, so we had time to kill.

I called my mom and she came and took my apartmentmates and I over to Chatham to check out where we would be living for the next few months. Chatham is a really gorgeous, Caribbean-looking complex with pretty buildings and plenty of parking. It has its own bus stop in front of the Chatham Clubhouse, and is directly across the street from Mickey’s Retreat.

Chatham Building 3 is right near the laundry room, a short walk from the clubhouse and the bus stop, and a little bit longer of a walk to the pool and the gym and the tennis courts and such. Our apartment is on the second floor. It’s big and spacious and cute, all things considered. The carpet is like puke green and worn from years of use. The walls are this weird white stucco thing. The chair and sofa are upholstered with the weirdest fabric I have ever seen. The countertops are a steel-grey Formica, and the cabinets are white.

But there is plenty of cabinet space and counter space, a pantry in the kitchen, a double sink with a garbage disposal, a stove, a microwave, a refrigerator, and a dishwasher. We have a big hall closet and a desk with an internet hook up (provide your own router). Each of the two bedrooms has its own walk-in closet and full bathroom. In the bedrooms, there is a dresser with a big vanity-style mirror (you’ll have to share it with your roommate, three drawers for each of you), two beds, and two night stands with two drawers in them each, and two bulletin boards on the walls. The bulletin boards are the only things that are allowed to be on the walls, so make good use of them. (The ones in the bedrooms are about 2 ft. x 3 ft. There is also a bulletin board in your living room/dining room area that is about 3.5 ft. x 3 ft.)

My closet is huge and right off the bathroom and it is gorgeous. The other room is set up a little differently (there are two entrances to the bathroom, one in the bedroom and one in the front hallway), and the closet is a separate room altogether (it is a bit smaller than the other one), but it is still really functional space.

I’d recommend buying an over-the-door hanger for your towels and stuff and a bath mat or rug for your bathroom, because the floors get slippery after you get out of the shower and you may or may not slip and fall and die.

We surveyed the apartment and checked our inventory on kitchen supplies. The vast majority of our stuff was missing, so we had to take the report to the clubhouse to get our things. The faucet on my apartmentmates’ shower was also mysteriously missing, so we had to put in a maintenance order for that. Whoever lived here before us obviously had a good time.

My only beef with the apartment is our balcony situation. It seems like every other apartment in Chatham has a nice, pretty balcony that overlooks all the pretty buildings and trees. We here in 3202 have no balcony, but a place where the balcony should be… that is enclosed by walls and carpet and stuff and I cannot figure out why they couldn’t just knock out the wall. Like, I want a balcony. I NEED a balcony. I may take a sledge hammer to the stucco before January. Would I get termed for that?

Anyway, have taken to referring to the weird little space as our balcony, sentimentally and longingly and ironically and bitterly.

But back to check-in day. We made it back to Vista by 11:15 in order to jump on the Casting bus. It took us over to the casting building (themed after Walt Disney’s argyle socks… which is cute but weird). Everyone always told me that the casting building was so gorgeous and special and amazing. And I mean, it’s cool… the door handles are themed after Alice in Wonderland and there is a cute little rotunda, but after you step out of the rotunda, it's pretty much an office building. And you’re pretty much doing regular office building stuff.

You get your work location while you’re waiting in the rotunda. I’m working as a character attendant in… drumroll please….

 EPCOT!

I’m excited about it. It’s my second favorite park behind Magic Kingdom, and while I would love to work in MK, I’m happy that I won’t be there often enough to get sick of it.

You wait on some more lines and get separated to go through the stations in smaller groups, so my roommates and I were split up at that point. I went into a room to go over the Disney Look for the millionth time, and then we went to go over our I-9 forms and provide our identification documents, and then we got our schedule for Traditions and our first few days of training. We were taken to go do a payroll check (basically, if you signed up for direct deposit online, you’re good to go), and then you go complete your background check paperwork.

They ask you if there is anything you would like to disclose, they ask you about forty times if your name and address and SSN and phone number are correct on their paperwork, they ask you about your SSN some more, and then they send you to be fingerprinted. Background check info is sent to your individual states, I’ve been told for everything to be scanned and processed. Some people have a longer time getting approved than others. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong, but if it takes too long, your Traditions and training may be pushed back.

You go over education requirements and get some more forms and stuff, and then you’re basically freed. But it takes about two hours, so prepare to be there for a while.

After that, you’re done for the day. I had lunch with my family and then went back to the apartment to start unpacking. I stayed in the hotel with my family that night, only because it was their last real night in town and I wanted to spend time with them. It was my last real downtime before the madness started.

The next few days are filled with meetings, more paperwork, training, and best of all – PARK PASSES. No more rest for the wicked.