Day One- Check In, Casting, and Drug Testing!

Ahhhh! Guys, we're actually here! How is this even possible?! I've been dreaming of this for 7+ years and I'm finally here! I am so over the moon and I'm so excited to get to share my experiences with you! First of all I am so sorry that it's been so long. I know I said by Thursday, but life happens. They weren't lying when they said you'll be crazy busy your first few weeks. I have been constantly moving since I got here last Sunday, and my feet are actually killing me. (What good are epsom salts doing sitting on my dresser when I haven't used them...?)

My schedule I received at check in. Please be careful of any information you post online. This document originally had my PERNER on it until I fixed it. That is not information you want to share with anyone.

So, let's start with check-in day! Last Wednesday night I got my 8-9 AM check-in for 1/11. We realized pretty quickly that those of us who had the earliest check in were also the people who would have to go through drug testing. YAY! I got to Vista at 7:30 (I have a time thing, shhhh) and there were already a few people lined up, but not many at all. They didn't let us in right away, but that was fine because there were parking spots across the street from Vista, so we walked from there. By the time two of my other roommates had arrived and we walked over, they were letting people in, only about 15 minutes early. We were able to walk right back and begin checking in. WOO HOO!

We went through the line so crazy quick it was almost a blur. We walked in and went right to get our picture taken for our housing ID's. One of my roommates had a necklace on and they made her take it off for the photo, even though it didn't show. My bangs fell onto my forehead, not in my face, and they made me push it back. It was a lot like taking a picture for your drivers license, only you have to be in the Disney look from the shoulders up. Morale of the story? Be prepared to follow what they want! From there we went and stood in a "line" that lasted less than 5 minutes. I went through first and she told me I had been able to link to my roommates and that we had been placed in the Commons! (Our first choice, but more on that latter!) She did let me know that, if you are able to successfully link with your roommates, you are almost guaranteed to be put together (unless something goes really wrong). We also found out where we would be working, but for all of the lifeguards it just said "To Be Determined". One of my roommates is working Concierge at Animal Kingdom Lodge, one is working Main Entrance Opps at Hollywood Studios, and one is working Attractions in Adventureland/Liberty Square (She found out latter she is going to be a skipper!) Its' a sold mix of locations. The rest of us are all lifeguards though, so we had to wait...

Not the best picture I've ever taken but still excited!

From there we went and picked up our housing ID's and our short term schedule. This schedule had casting, drug test, language test, our housing meeting, and traditions on it. People who had check in yesterday received this schedule in an email before hand, which is super convenient and lovely, so I hope they continue for the rest of you.  Then we went to a door where they asked us if we had an tattoos or piercings. Those who did went to the right to fill out some paperwork, those of us who didn't went to the left for the last part of the check in process. We went and spoke with a gentleman who went over the Disney Look with us once again (because come on guys, it's not that hard) and then instructed us on where to go for the casting bus. Two of my roommates and I had casting immediately (8:30AM) while Alexa, my other roommate, didn't have it until the afternoon.

Left to right: Lexie, Elyssa, and I

From there we hoped on a bus to Casting, which was so fun! The girl who was "running' it was super sweet and nice, and we just barely made the bus, which was a relief! Casting was pretty straight forward. We got split into two groups, route A and route B to help the time go faster. I was with route B, so we headed into a hallway where we were emailed our schedule for our first "3" days. As a lifeguard, I was emailed a blanket form that all lifeguards will be getting, saying my test was Wednesday at 6PM, with all sorts of useful information on it (I'll write a post about my test later). From there we went to a room where they went over our schedule and the Disney Look with us again, which was so short, I'm not sure what the point was. Then we headed over to verify and sign off on our background checks! While there, one of the girls in line behind me realized that if you flip the paper over, your work location is on there! For most people, you'll already know, but it's super convenient for lifeguards! So I found out I'm going to be working at Animal Kingdom Lodge and Coronado Spring! I love both of those resorts, and my sister did her CP extension at Coranado, which is cool! I also have a roommate who is guarding at the Contemporary, and one who is at Typhoon Lagoon, deployed to Pop and Art until it opens! We're all so excited, and I'm pretty sure we have the safest apartment in Disney with 3 lifeguards...

Immediately after that we headed to get finger printed. Some people (like me) went through really quickly and were easy to finger print, some people had a harder time. My only suggestion is to just let them move your fingers. Don't try to move your hand where they want, just keep it loose and go with the flow! Then we headed over to the slightly longer line where we waited to talk to someone to really do our I-9. This takes a while longer, because plenty of people mess it up or just flat out don't do it. Once that was done I was home free! My roommate had already been to our apatment and grabbed our bedroom, so I was so excited to unload! Casting took about 2 hours and I had a drug test pretty soon after, so we went home (HOME!) and unloaded ALL of my stuff from my car (you guy saw the massive pile of stuff I brought, right?) I got it unloaded and got a started unpacking and setting up my room!

My roommate Sami is wonderful and lovely, and everything good. She picked our room for us while I was at casting, so we're in the room with the bay window! It's got a slightly smaller closet and bathroom, but we've made it work. Our room is so cute and colorful and bright, I love it! Since we ended up having a smaller closet, so I got a cube thinger magig to hold some of my clothes and such. It was a little bit more than what I had originally wanted to spend, but not significantly so. I'm happy with how our room turned out, even if it took a while to get there! The Commons was our first choice, and it's my favorite complex! That being said, not a lot of people got their first choice of housing this week, so we consider ourselves very lucky! (Thank you Lord for in home laundry...)

At 1 PM I had a drug test, as did three of my other roommates. We headed back to Vista, but got a bit confused at first. Drug testing is done in one of the apartments in the building before the welcome pavilion instead of in there. They were very strict on not letting us in early, even though they were in there and let the groups after us in early. It was all a little sketchy, but  we got in and out quickly enough. None of us were actually worried (unlike other people standing in line with us...) and we assume we all passed since we didn't get a call telling us to come back!

After that we spent the day figuring out what we needed to do in the apartment, what we needed, and making it start to look like home! Trips to Aldi, WalMart, Sam's Club, and goodness knows where else have been made multiple times this week! Life has been crazy busy, but we're finally starting to settle into a routine! I have today (Tuesday) off, so I'm going to try and get a few posts written before I head to the Parks so I can schedule them over the next week or so! I broke my toe earlier this week (more on that latter) so I'm going to try and rest as much as possible today! I hope everyone who checked in with me or yesterday is having a magical time!As for the rest of you. I'll see ya real soon!