Working at disney part 3. Transportation.

OK so i covered living at Disney and the basic idle of working there.
Now is one of the jewels of the Disney Program.

Transportation.

OK so let me set it up for you.
When you do the program you have three choices for getting to work. (four if you like $30 cab rides)

#1. Have a car. This can be very handy and will really cut down on your commute depending on were you work. But of coarse it cost money, and the guards can... and DO check the car when you come in and out.
#2. Have a friend who has a car. This is slightly less handy because they might or might not have work when you do. But you can make A KILLING as a cheaper then normal cab service on your day off.

#3. Take the bus. Now there are about 1600 CP's at any given time. More if a short group is in. (Large influxes of college program people doing the program for 2-4 mouths in the summer) And remember that means twice a year, because we get allot of Brazilian Summer program people in the fall.

And seance most people work 5 days a week that means on any day there are about 1143 (Rounded up) People going to and from work. And that's not counting the people just going to the park for the day as guests.

That's OVER 9000!!! (More like 3000) People a day being transported on the buses. Buses start leaving at 6:10.AM. (Zombie Bus One) And end at 4:10.AM. (Zombie bus Two)
And run about every 30 minutes.

The buses are name starting at A-Bus, and ending at the K-bus. (that's about 450 bus trips a day)

OK so stuff you should know about the buses.

#1. They are very punctual.
#2. They are very serious about there time chart. If you get there 1 second after they shut the door, you are S.O.L. my friend.
#3. A bus is meant to hold any were between 54 and 80 passengers. And it can hold ALLOT More. I have seen at least 120+ people on a bus before.
#4.Most of the drivers are ether.
A:Not native English speakers. And wile i am very good at understanding people and it is a requirement for them to speak English. Some of them DO NOT.
B:Are retired and working there to have a little extra money.
#5. Time.
Depending on were you work and were you live, your round trim can take between 30 minutes (EPCOT) And 1 Hour and 16 minutes. (Magic Kingdom)

Wile i have never been on a bus that broke down it does happen. And i have never been on a bus that had a accented, but it does happen. I have on the other hand been on a bus that ran over a wild boar. (There all over the place down there) And it did bust the tire. And i was late for work and they don't care why.
You best bet is that you have a really nice manager that will set your time chart back a hour so you don't half to be at work until a little latter.

All bus drivers fall into a couple groups of driving ability.

First you have the Import drivers who cant drive, cant speak understandable English and talk on there cell phones wile driving. (Illegal and against company policy)

Second you have the Import driver who can drive, Can talk Good English and at least use a blue tooth. (Legal but still against Company Policy)

Third you have the guy who is 60+ years old, who can kind of drive, constantly tells the "Kids" on the bus to quite down. (Something we don't have to do and are not going to do)

And then. Theirs Charles.
OK so Charles is the only bus driver i know by name because he is like the Michel Phelps of Bus Driving. Things i know about Charles from talking to / riding with him.
He is from Saint Paul Minnesota.
He is the youngest son of a family with like like.... 80 kids or something.
His family were dirt poor dirt farmers.
He is at least 65.
He can fit a 10 foot wide bus throw a 4 foot opening without damaging anything but the space time continuum.

The reason i know that Charles is at least 65 is that he flew Jets in the Vietnam war as part of Operation Rolling Thunder from day one. The operation started in 1965. And Charles had the job of attacking North Vietnamese Surface to Air Missile Sights. Witch is allot like bull fighting on the crowd is throwing rocks at you at the same time.

Now this is important to say because most people drive a tour bus like it was a boat or ship.
Charles on the other hand drove it like it was a Multi-Million Dollar Jet Fighter. He always drove the same route, the late Magic Kingdom bus.
A bus that never had less the a billion people on it, they gave Charles this job because they new that if Charles was about to have a crash he would simply Slam on the brakes pull up and let the other Vehicle fly under us before destroying it with a air to air missile.

Charles actually dressed up for the Halloween bus, wearing riding pants, a leather jacket, leather skull cap goggles and a big scarf.


Needless to say if you ride the bus and see a sweet little old man, with white hair, and glasses who's name tag that said Charles. Strap in and enjoy the ride, your in good hands.

Disney college program. (Or the most magical chain gang on earth! part 2)

OK so i went over the whole getting to Disney Thing.
Now I'm going to start explaining the whole thing to you.
And I'm going to start with housing.

OK so when you get to the program, every one is on one of three programs.
#1. The Disney College Program.
This is for college student's from the U.S.A. And about 70% of the people CP's. (College Programmer's) working are on this program.

#2. Career start Program.
This is for High School Student's who just graduated.
I think this is a great idle, most every one should take a year off after high school before going to college, after all you have been in school seance you were five people. About.... 1-2% of the people doing to program are in this boat, and even if they are Career Start program partisipent's they are still called CP's.

#3. International Program Students.
Again still called CP's. These are student's from other country's who are there to work.
Again about 28%-30% of the student's are ICP's. But they are still called CP's.

_
So there are 4 apartments that house CP's. (Three the first time i did the program)
The first and most infamous is Vista Way Apartments. A.K.A. Vista Lay. It made the Top 10 list for penthouses best places to get lucky. (I'm not joking)

Basically think of a dorm with 1600+ people from all around the country / world, were some of them are aloude to drink! It's like a 27/7/364 Frat Party. (Also don't use the hot tub near the bus stop... Just trust me on this one)
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There is also Chattum square and... some other place that are basically much calmer versions of Vista. And then Finally the Commons, The commons houses nothing but International CP's.

I lived in Chattum and Vista wile there. And honestly its a mixed bag, you meet less people and do less stuff at Vista, but then again you get less sleep as Vista as well.
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The first time that i did the program i had nothing but good things to say about my experience. (That is wile talking about housing) First appartment i had went through allot of room mates because of the rotation. I roomed with a French Guy (Who was really nice) A German Guy (Who reinforced my dislike of Germany) And a guy from Wales. (Who got kicked out of the program with hitting another cast member)

But after a while the house was below 51% Occupancy so i was re-located to another apartment, In this apartment it was a gathering of American's i found this far less interesting, not because they were Americans but because they were drunk frat boy Americans. Nice guys just not that Intellectually compelling.

Finally i was moved again, this time i picked were i wanted to go, I moved in with some coworkers who i had become good friends with and this worked great. (Mainly because we all kept the same hours)


The program housing is interesting because it lets you meet people that you normally wouldn't, some times this can be a bad thing, but most the time every one gets along. I mean why not? Your all away from home, some of you for the first time. And you all are trapped (Or at least it feels that way) In this surreal world.

The Disney Program make you feel like you live on this Island Apart from the reast of the Non-Disney World. But not in a lonely way, because what ever your going throw, there are other people Right there going throw it as well.

And i guess the best part is you find out that even if every one in the apartment is from diffrent places, backgrounds and cultures. You can still all get along, and if it taught me anything its that all the problems in the world today that people say are because of Religion, Race, Ethnic Hatred and bad blood between people. And really because of stubbornness and ingrained knowledge that we get from the people before us.

In short, if some one has told you that another group of people are bad or your enemy. You have been lied to. (I have reasoning for not liking Germany, ill get into that latter) But i never really Disliked a Germany Because of that, I disliked or liked them based on other things. (Like being a Douche Nozzle)

Good job people before us, its ALL YOUR DAMN FAULT!

(OK enough story time for today kids, Ill be talking about Transportation next, so stay tuned)

Disney college program. (Or the most magical chain gang on earth! part 1.)

OK so let me set the scene for you, Its 2006 I'm a 23 year old college student who has lost basically all motivation to do... pretty much anything. So I am walking to class when i see the poster on campus, 'DISNEY COLLEGE PROGRAM!'


ok so i have nothing to do after class so I decided that it couldn't hurt to go to this thing and see what there angle was. So after a 45 minutes presentation i was sold, I did the paper work and thought nothing of it for another 2 weeks, when to my suprise i got phone interview, and then a offer from disney to work in the program. The offer was to work as a "Custodial Cast member" That's Disney speak for Janitor. (Or so people not working Custodial will tell you)

OK so normally i do my homework. (That is that i study stuff before i undertake anything) In reality i normally over plan stuff. Or at least over think stuff, but that William had been overpowered by apathy. So on April 15th I arrived in Lake Buena Vista Florida.

OK so now i need to explain the entire Disney college program thing.
Here is the jest, you come to Florida, stay in a apartment complex much like the gated community that are all over Florida.
They pay you Minimum wage for Florida, and charge you a very reasonable amount of rent. (When you consider, it has free utility, cable, internet) And Transportation. (I will get to that latter)

OK so i get to Florida and jump throw all the hoops to check in, then i get places into my "household" now on a note i picked to live in a "wellness" apartment, this is a apartment were people can't have alcohol, I was 23, and I'm not that uptight, the thing is i had experience with drunk dorm mates from college.

Now the household are in reality 1 to 4 room apartments that hold 2 to 8 room mates. They are OK apartments, the heating / AC work (Most of the time) And they give you everything you will need to stay there for 4-12 months.

Then you go to work after a introduction to Disney called Traditions. I won't go into this, lets just say it's allot like the process that you go throw to join the Army, just with more pixie dust.

So i worked on Main Street USA, In Magic Kingdom, As a custodial. Now just for a good idle of what that means, that means on a AVERAGE day, i had to clean up after 30'000 people, 1-3 parades and fireworks.
And the thing is, I (and the VAST majority of the people i worked with) LOVED IT.
Because the thing is, 10% of your time is spent cleaning, and then 10% is spent looking for stuff to clean. And 80% of your time is spent talking or helping guests.

(Well that's long enough for right now, I will put part two of this out at some point)

The Generally crappy state of my life.

OK so lets lay a little ground work.
I think you all need to know why i am a cranky little man.

First i would like to say its not all that bad, it could always be worse. "It could be worse, you could be on fire":Grahm Locke.

I have a few good family members. Mixed in with the criminals and the low life's.
I have a few good friends, And i mean really good friends. Despite there failings.

OK so to understand my plight a short history is in order.

#1. I started college at 17, and managed to fail every class with the exception of orientation.
#2. After returning to college two years latter i did alright.
#3. In 2006, I ran away to work at the circus. (The Disney college program) And this still stands as one of the greatest things i have ever done.
#4. I came back and......... Well i don't remember much from this period in time. I think I might have blacked out.
#5. In 2008 I returned to the mouse and did the College program again, but this time i had a plan.
#6. In 2009 I got shingles the week before I was suppose to join the army.
#7. In 2010 I got a waiver for the shingles and joined the army... And got shingles again wile at basic... And that was the end of my army experience...  This is one of the great disappointments of my life. But I Enjoyed it wile I was there, I did my best and I made some good friends.
#8. In 2012 In went over seas to Japan to teach english for a year. Enjoyed it very much and now am back home. (Hope to do it again if nothing else comes up)
#9. Worked at a call center helping people sing up to the Affordable care act. Which was supprisingly rewarding... Until I got laid off.

So now.

I have constant pain for the Shingles. (Post herpetic Neuralgia) And RamseHunt Syndrome.
In pain, and were a eye patch, (Which is pretty bad ass)
Unemployed.
Can't pay for college.
Owe about 40k in school loans.


And at this point shit started to go south.

OK so i get home, go throw M.E.P.S. (That's the proccess you go throw to join the army)
And the week before i ship to basic training, i get Shingles. (Herpes Zroster) Which is nasty shit.



And for people who don't know what Shingles are. Google it.
I have in on the face. And the doctor basically put it this way.
"It's like having a Second-degree burns over the right side of your face and eye... But it's going to last for much longer, maybe the rest of your life"

So any ways, that the general reason i am cranky. But don't get me wrong, I was cranky before that and will be cranky far after/if the shingles fade.
_
As a up side I should start CDL training latter this August.