Wednesday, May 18. [edited 5/26/2011]
The check-in at Vista Way supposedly started at 9:00 am. The line outside, we were told, started assembling at 6:30 am, the check-in actually opened an hour early. Therefore, by the time we reached the apartment-choice kiosk thing, the two choices Ricky and I had were gone; of the three apartment complexes, Vista Way, Patterson Court, and Chattham Square, only Vista Way had 2 three-bedroom apartments with all our requirements. It turns out the lady in charge or Ricky and me was nice enough to place us on the same floor (second) of one apartment building (#3). So that was one positive thing.
The check-in at Vista Way supposedly started at 9:00 am. The line outside, we were told, started assembling at 6:30 am, the check-in actually opened an hour early. Therefore, by the time we reached the apartment-choice kiosk thing, the two choices Ricky and I had were gone; of the three apartment complexes, Vista Way, Patterson Court, and Chattham Square, only Vista Way had 2 three-bedroom apartments with all our requirements. It turns out the lady in charge or Ricky and me was nice enough to place us on the same floor (second) of one apartment building (#3). So that was one positive thing.
 |
| Building #3, apartment #308 |
The temperature by 10:00 was already pretty high up there, we were sweaty, tired from traveling, not showered, etc. and they took our picture for the property ID we have to carry when walking into the Vista Way... community? So yeah, I look gorgeous on THAT image, let me tell you. Ricky is shaved and without glasses so he looks super, super young =D
I'll save you from the boring details, we filled out paperwork, signed our lives and ideas over to Disney World and basically accepted to work for the best company ever. By the time we were done at the Welcome Pavilion we had 15 minutes to grab our suitcase (2 in my case) and run over to find our apartments before running off to another registration. I entered apartment 308 and found it completely empty and decided not to pick a room right away since I'd been told that four of the roommates knew each other. The apartment has three bedrooms, one right next to the front door with an attached bathroom, the other two are at the other end of the apartment with a small bathroom shared between the two. A large living/dining room joins into the kitchen which contains a microwave, fridge, stove/oven, and a dishwasher.
I'll save you from the boring details, we filled out paperwork, signed our lives and ideas over to Disney World and basically accepted to work for the best company ever. By the time we were done at the Welcome Pavilion we had 15 minutes to grab our suitcase (2 in my case) and run over to find our apartments before running off to another registration. I entered apartment 308 and found it completely empty and decided not to pick a room right away since I'd been told that four of the roommates knew each other. The apartment has three bedrooms, one right next to the front door with an attached bathroom, the other two are at the other end of the apartment with a small bathroom shared between the two. A large living/dining room joins into the kitchen which contains a microwave, fridge, stove/oven, and a dishwasher.
 |
| View from the center of the Vista Way complex |
After a very quick tour of the apartment, I ran back out to meet up with Ricky and we ran over to catch a bus over to mysterious places. We ended up a bit of time later at Disney's Casting Building facing Downtown Disney where they lead us into a labyrinth of more paper signing, fingerprinting, picture taking, etc. Pretty crazy. We were looking everywhere, trying to figure things out, with the whirlwind of new information they gave us we were all a little giddy. About two hours later they brought us back to Vista Way where we had an hour to breath before leaving for a "Welcome Session". When I got back to my apartment my roommates had moved in but they were still nowhere to be found, I made my bed (with my head in a corner of windows) and went back out to the bus an hour later to go from the Vista Way apartments to what is called "The Commons", a residence for international students that work for Disney over a year.
We ended up being in a super-cold room, yay for air conditioning! They told us a hundred times that safety safety safety was the most important thing and that offering alcohol to under-21s was the best way to be terminated. All in all, that was it. It was still pretty magical, free stuff was thrown out into the crowd - the usual: pens, pins, ID-holders.
MAGIC, it's all about magic.
But yeah, by the time this was over I believe it was about 6:00pm, we made it back to our apartments where I finally met my roommates and Ricky met some of his. I live in a 3 bedroom/6 people apartment, my room-roommate is Lynn, she's a College Program alumni, so she's already been through this and is super awesome. The other four are: Laura, Jessica, Erin, and Cristina (from Puerto Rico). Five of us drove over to Wal-Mart to pick up stuff like boards and lamps, and some food to fill up our fridge. Having kitchen utensils already in the apartment made our shopping trip a bit cheaper. We still ended up with a FULL car! The three of us in the back (Jessica, Cristina and me) had laundry soap between us and pillows stacked on our knees, I've never had better airbags in the back seat.
After that trip I finished unpacking my suitcases, setting up my room and if I'm not mistaking went to try out Chick-Fil-A with Ricky, it was delicious.
We were invited to a small get together that night, Cristina was not interested in staying very late so I went with the rest of the roommates to walk back with her. It turned out that the "partiers" were from Puerto Rico so Cristina ended up chatting with them for a while, it was pretty entertaining to listen to, they speak super fast.
That ends my first Wednesday in Florida =D
We ended up being in a super-cold room, yay for air conditioning! They told us a hundred times that safety safety safety was the most important thing and that offering alcohol to under-21s was the best way to be terminated. All in all, that was it. It was still pretty magical, free stuff was thrown out into the crowd - the usual: pens, pins, ID-holders.
MAGIC, it's all about magic.
But yeah, by the time this was over I believe it was about 6:00pm, we made it back to our apartments where I finally met my roommates and Ricky met some of his. I live in a 3 bedroom/6 people apartment, my room-roommate is Lynn, she's a College Program alumni, so she's already been through this and is super awesome. The other four are: Laura, Jessica, Erin, and Cristina (from Puerto Rico). Five of us drove over to Wal-Mart to pick up stuff like boards and lamps, and some food to fill up our fridge. Having kitchen utensils already in the apartment made our shopping trip a bit cheaper. We still ended up with a FULL car! The three of us in the back (Jessica, Cristina and me) had laundry soap between us and pillows stacked on our knees, I've never had better airbags in the back seat.
After that trip I finished unpacking my suitcases, setting up my room and if I'm not mistaking went to try out Chick-Fil-A with Ricky, it was delicious.
We were invited to a small get together that night, Cristina was not interested in staying very late so I went with the rest of the roommates to walk back with her. It turned out that the "partiers" were from Puerto Rico so Cristina ended up chatting with them for a while, it was pretty entertaining to listen to, they speak super fast.
That ends my first Wednesday in Florida =D
No comments:
Post a Comment