Survived my first day of introduction orientation! I met so many amazingly nice people that I'm so happy I get to work with. They're the kind of people you meet and you instantly feel you have been best friends your whole life. The people that just get you! Overall the day went great, but I did have some heart stopping speed bumps along the way.

The day started with me waking up and getting ready. I had my clothes all picked out and made sure I looked extra nice as we were taking our company ID photo. I headed out the door with plenty of time to spare and headed up the 5 to the casting building. I found a parking spot in the visitor lot and headed on in to the building. 

Now we were warned that we can't give away details of backstage Disney so I will just give you a general idea of what happened. The first thing we needed to do was get all our paperwork sorted. I had my passport on hand and all my papers filled out. I sat down with a very nice guy who was helping finalize my documents when he started looking funny at my passport. My heart sank and I knew what he was about to tell me: my passport was expired! It's one of those things you have so long that you never would even think to check the date but alas it had expired in January and therefor I would need to find another form of documentation by the end of the day or I wouldn't be able to be processed.

They told me to go into the orientation room and sit through the presentation and then afterwards I could figure out my paperwork. I'm a college student living away from home so I have don't really have any of those documents needed. Everyone started coming announcing the park they were working in and what day they had Traditions and there I was worrying if I would even be able to do the program.

Our morning group ended up having to wait for the afternoon group before our orientation started so I had 45 minutes to try and dig up some form of identification. They suggested I go to the social security office down the street and were even nice enough to give me a map to it. I decided that would be best to start with. However, when I got there it was packed and there were even tons of people standing around outside. 

Immediately I jumped in my car and hurried home. I knew I had my birth certificate somewhere but I have moved so many times in the past two years and have thrown away and reorganized all my school work and papers that it could be anywhere! I raced in the door and started looking. Wasn't in the first drawer so I started looking some more. FINALLY! I found it in the back of a folder with a bunch of other important papers! (Happened to be a Toy Story folder) I ran out the door and got back to casting. Round trip I got there and back in a record 15 minutes. I was finally processed and my ID photo was taken. I headed into the orientation room just in time to see all the friends I had met that morning and they were glad to see me! 

We were given a purple bag that had a bunch of different info and fun little trinkets. I found out that I am going to be working in the Disneyland park and will find out what ride when I attend Traditions next weekend. The orientation was fun and we even got to play a trivia game at the end for prizes. 

Tonight is the night before I start my internship with the Disney College Program. I am participating in the Fall 2013 Advantage program which is for locals and means I'll be working the summer in addition to the fall semester. It took me three tries but I finally was accepted!

I check in tomorrow at 10:30 am and plan on getting there plenty early. For check in we need to dress business casual as we are getting our company ID photos taken. Also, we need to bring in two sets of forms that are supposed to be filled out. Haven't done mine yet but I will soon! We also need to bring specific forms of identification. Basically, tomorrow will be a day of filling out paperwork, meeting fellow participants, getting our job assignment (I'm doing attractions so I'll find out what ride/area I'll be working at), and of course getting our name tags.

Today I went shopping with my friend, who also has an internship, for business clothing as my wardrobe mostly contains tank tops, shorts, and flip flops, the usual for a SoCal college student! I was able to get some great deals and scored some cute, Disney appropriate, dresses and a pair of heels. It was a bit difficult at first since you have to follow a super long list of guidelines. Here is a snapshot of some of the requirements, the actual list goes on for what seems like forever!

For regular in park working days, we wear the costume that pertains to the ride we are working at. However for mornings we have class and Traditions we need to be in business/professional attire. Traditions is a type of orientation that every cast member (Disney employee) goes through before they start training. It involves walking around the parks as well as attending lectures on safety and learning the background and history of the the Walt Disney Company.

Right now I'm going to focus on getting everything ready for tomorrow morning and trying get some sleep before the big day. I'll be sure to update how my first day goes tomorrow!

Sarah