A Place to Call Home...For a Few Months

I will be checking in in just under 4 months. And by check-in day, I have several decisions to make, mostly related to housing. Now, for anyone who doesn't know, here's the housing situation: WDWCPs live in apartment complexes located on Disney property. Each complex features 24 hour security, and facilities including a fitness center. Every week, rent is automatically taken out of each CP's paycheck for the for the fully-furnished apartments.

Above: One of the buildings at Chatham. Pretty!

There are three housing complexes for CPs--Vista Way, Chatham Square, and Patterson Court. Vista Way is the oldest, smallest, and also has a reputation for being a bit crazy at times. This does NOT sound like the place for me. I'm not against fun, but what I am against is stepping out of my door in the morning into a big pile of sick left by one of the revelers from my neighbors' party.

Chatham and Patterson are both quite a bit newer, with Patterson being occupied for the first time just last year. This means that all of the appliances and furnishings will be newer! So no years-old gunk stuck in the can opener, and minimal stink in the microwave. Chatham's just a couple of years older, though, and the apartments are larger. Plus, Chatham has a bus stop where CPs can catch a shuttle to the parks, the grocery store, etc. Patterson residents have to walk over to Chatham to catch a bus.

When I check in on August 12th, I'll be able to state a preference for for which complex I live in. I'm planning to request Chatham. Check-in starts at 9 a.m., so I'm hoping to be there plenty early. That will help my chances for getting my choice. There are no guarantees, but I've got my fingers crossed.

"Rat Me Out to the Coppers, And I'll Do To Youse What I Did To Pluto, See?"

*Whew*. The last of my major hurdles has been jumped. I just finished paying my assessment fee, and yesterday I met with my Financial Aid advisor. So I'm all set there. Now the only thing I really need to worry about before Florida is whether or not I'm going to take classes (probably not), whether or not I'll get credit for those classes if I choose to take them, and how I'm going to fit everything I own into the trunk of my Nissan Sentra. Luckily, it's a pretty big trunk.

So, now that there's nothing more for me to write about (for now) how about some Disney fun?
I'm not usually a huge fan of those "Which ________ are you?" quizzes. Usually the answers are stupid, and the questions are easy to predict and manipulate. A great time-waster, sure, but not really all that fun or entertaining. However, I couldn't resist this quiz: "Which Disney Mobster Are You?" Turns out, I'm Goofy "the Gun".

My full quiz results:

You are Goofy "The Gun". No one was really surprised when you went postal following your unsuccessful attempt to rename Epcot Center after yourself. However, it was only after this incident that your ties to the mob were uncovered. Now, the whole world knows that you are the reason why Pluto can not talk. You just couldn't handle the competition, could you Goofy?

I played around with the answers, trying to get different results. They were all equally funny, and slightly disturbing. After all, who wants to imagine Jiminy Cricket as a high-profile member of the mob family? Oh, wait. That's right. I DO! :)

Take the quiz at http://www.quizyourprofile.com/disneyquiz.php, and put your answers in the comments section. Let's start our very own Disney mob!

She's Got the Look!

Wow! New posts two days in a row. You guys are gonna get spoiled.

For anyone who doesn't know about the "Disney Look" guidelines, please: do yourself a favor and check them out. Unless you grew up Amish, chances are your style is not conservative enough for Disney. (Actually, Amish men still aren't conservative enough. Too much facial hair.)

Some highlights of the guidelines:

• Intentional body alteration or modification for the purpose of achieving a visible, physical effect that disfigures, deforms or similarly detracts from a professional image is prohibited. Examples include, but are not limited to, visible tattoos, brands, body piercing (other than traditional ear piercing for women), tongue piercing or splitting, tooth filing, earlobe expansion, and acquiring visible, disfiguring skin implants.
• Due to close contact with guests and fellow Cast Members, the use of an anti-perspirant or deodorant is required.
• Fingernails should be kept clean. If polish is used, it should be complementary to your skin tone. This includes deeper, richer shades of polish. Polishes that are not permitted include extremely bold or bright colors such as coral, hot pink, true red, neon, multicolor, gold or silver tones...Fingernails should not exceed one-fourth of an inch (approximately 6 mm) beyond the fingertip.

The guidelines also include rules about hair coloring, glasses, contacts, makeup application, and one of my personal favorite rules: facial hair. That's right: if you want to work for Disney, you better be willing to part with the ol' soup strainer.

One of my favorite things about the Disney Look is that, up until 2000, Walt Disney didn't even meet the guidelines. That's right: if Walt Disney himself applied to work at one of his own theme parks, he wouldn't have passed muster. I guess someone finally noticed this little discrepancy, though, because the guidelines were updated 9 years ago to allow mustaches, making them the only acceptable facial hair for Cast Members.

Above: Walt Disney sporting a very nice 'stache.

I have two concerns about the Disney Look and me. Here's my first concern, and also my deep dark secret. Promise not to tell? I have colored contacts. Yes, that's right. My gorgeous green eyes are fakes. The guidelines specifically mention that colored contacts are acceptable, if, "the resulting eye color [is] natural looking and appropriate to your skin tone." Which mine are...99% of the time. But every now and then, when the sunlight hits them just right, my eyes look a color that I like to affectionately call "glowstick green". It's a little startling. So there is the possiblity that I could get down there with a four-month supply of contacts, only to be told that I couldn't wear them, just because a manager happened to pass me just as the sun came out from behind a cloud. I just need to decide if that's a risk I'm willing to take.

My other concern is less of a concern, especially after last night. I have had a small nose ring for almost two years now. I was going to keep it at least until the end of this semester, but the rhinestone fell out of my last stud, and I really didn't want to go buy another one knowing that i would have to take it out in a few months. So, bye-bye, nostril bling!

So now I'm almost completely in compliance with the Disney Look guidelines. And with only four months to go, I guess that tooth filing, tongue splitting, and branding I wanted to do and that full beard I wanted to grow will just have to wait until next January.

Hmmm...Disney CP or All the Top Ramen I Can Eat?

A couple of days ago, I logged onto the WDWCP website to pay my $100 assessment fee, and a strange thing happened...I found myself hesitating.

This non-refundable fee is ostensibly to "[help] support the events and activities scheduled in the housing complexes throughout the program." In reality, I think this fee just acts as insurance for Disney and a guarantee that all of their workers will show. Once you’ve shelled out $100, there’s not much that will convince you to back out and lose that money. Especially if you’re a poor college student. $100 buys a lot of Top Ramen.

So I understand why they’re asking for the money.

But something about taking that final step is giving me the heebie-jeebies. I'm sure it's just that, like I said, $100 is a ton of money. And I'm still a little nervous about all of the stuff from school. I've talked to an advisor in the Career Center, double-checked about my full-time student status, and I've made an appointment with a Financial Aid advisor. So I'm getting all of my ducks in a row. But I'm still a little apprehensive about taking this last big step.

When I logged in, I realized I didn't have the right credit card with me, so I couldn't pay the fee anyway. But I have to admit that I was a little relieved not to be shelling out the money right then. I've still got a week before I absolutely have to pay the fee.

Just to be clear, my unease doesn't have anything to do with the program itself. I know I still want to do it. It's just that I'm worried about some random, unforseen something-or-other happening before the program, preventing me from going, and then I'll lose that $100, which, and stop me if I've said this before, IS A LOT OF MONEY!

The time for biting the bullet is fast approaching, though, so sooner or later I'll have to pay. At this point, I'm ready to get it over with and pay. But I do still want to wait and check on my scholarships first. Just to have my bases covered. Then I will gladly fork over the money.

The Price of Progress

Obviously, free admission to the theme parks is one of the biggest perks of the CP. I'm looking immensly forward to seeing how many times i can ride It's a Small World before I lose my mind, and riding Tower of Terror until I find enough guts to keep my hands up the entire time. I'm going to be testing the limits of human endurance.

Unfortunately, my ride count might be a little low on one of my all-time favorites. Space Mountain will be going down for a long refurbishment this month. The refurb is scheduled to last until November 2009, at which time I will still have at least a full month to get in some rides. But I would imagine that it's not unusual for a project like this to run behind schedule.

There is a bright side, I suppose : a couple of years ago, the Haunted Mansion was down for 3 months. In that time, they put in quite a few substantial updates, and changed some of the show elements. If they can do all of that in just 3 months, Space Mountain may be in for some big changes during its 7 month refurb!

But, that still doesn't change the fact that I'm bummed. One of the defining rides of WDW, and it won't even be open most of the months that I'm down there. And as you can see from the cheesy publicity photo above, this ride is tons of fun! Look how much those kids are enjoying it, with their 90's haircuts and that crazy guy in the back. I'm just going to have to find some way to work through my disappointment...hmm...maybe I can ride Its a Small World enough times to shrivel the "disappointment" compartment of my brain.