The Beginning of a Magical Journey: Check-In Week Part 1!

Now that check-in week is wrapping up, I wanted to write a summary of the first part of my DCP check-in week! This week has been so much fun but very busy at the same time. I honestly feel like I haven't stopped moving since last Monday. So buckle up everyone, this is going to be a lengthy post!

Let's start at the very beginning...my mom and I left on Friday, January 10 to start the 14 hour drive to Orlando. My car was completely packed, but thank goodness for space bags and the help of my parents helping organize the car to make it all barely fit! I had to say bye to my dad and brother that morning, which was hard, but I was also so ready to begin my new adventure. We left at 10 am and drove through the rain pretty much all day.

That night, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in McDonough, Georgia, which was a little past Atlanta. Then we left the next morning to finish the rest of our drive, and finally arrived at the Clarion Inn Buena Vista at 5 pm Saturday. It was a relief to finally get to Florida and be in the warm weather, because it had rained for pretty much the whole drive! To celebrate getting there, we ate dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and did some shopping at the outlet mall which were very close to the hotel, before getting some much needed sleep!

On Sunday morning, we went to the Catholic church nearby, Mary Queen of the Universe Basilica. After that, we drove over to see my apartment complex, Chatham Square; it's less than 5 minutes from the church, which makes it super convenient for me.

We then left to go Disney resort hopping! We started off at Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we ate lunch at the quick-service restaurant called The Mara and tried the zebra domes dessert. They were delicious! It was cool seeing this resort, since it's one of the few we had never visited before.

From there, we took a bus over to Hollywood Studios and boarded the Disney Skyliner, the new gondola transportation system. It was such a fun, relaxing ride and an easy way to get around to Epcot, where we stopped next. We then got off the Skyliner and boarded the bus at the Boardwalk to go to the Contemporary. After exploring there, we got on the monorail to see the Grand Floridian before riding to our last stop of the night, the Polynesian resort. This resort is so beautiful, and we decided that it would be fun to end the night here watching the fireworks on the beach. We got some pulled pork nachos from Captain Cook's (which were life changing!!) and a fun limited edition Blue Hawaiian Dole whip float that was only offered that weekend since the marathon was going on. It had lime dole whip, tropical juice, rum, and blue raspberry Pop Rocks. It was yummy, but almost too cute to eat! It was heavenly sitting on the beach with our snacks and then listening to the fireworks music piped into the beach while seeing the castle and fireworks in the distance from Magic Kingdom. Then we went back to the hotel, where I met up with some other DCP participants who were staying at the Clarion Inn, before going back to the room to get ready for check in day the next morning!

  

Monday was the big day - my check-in time wasn't until 12 though, so the morning was full of anticipation! I could barely eat any lunch because I was full of nerves about where I'd be placed and who all my roommates would be.  I arrived to Chatham Square a little before 12, and drove inside to the check in building. Courtney, my roommate I had linked with arrived too and we walked up to officially check in! By the way, we had met through the DCP Facebook group and it was truly fate because we had never met before even though she only lives 15 minutes away from my town!

Check-in consisted of getting our program guidebook, picture taken for our housing ID card, and of course getting our room assignment and key. I was one of the last check-in times for the day, but my friend Hannah, who I had also met through the Facebook group because she is from a town just about an hour away, had texted me that morning saying she got checked in and telling me what room she got. All throughout the DCP process, we had thought it would be so cool if Courtney and I could room together with her and her friend Audrey, but sadly you can now only link with 1 other person. But...to our huge surprise and excitement, we ended up somehow getting the same apartment! I totally freaked out when I realized our number we got assigned was the same. I walked in and shocked both Hannah and Audrey, who had already moved in! Although getting this room setup of 2 bedroom 6 person wasn't one of our top choices, because that meant that Courtney and I had to be in separate rooms, it ended up working out well! It was a huge relief to find out I'd be living with a great group of girls, including our 2 other roommates, Bri and Ellie, who we met soon after getting to the apartment. Oddly enough, everyone is from Illinois, except for Bri, who is from Ohio. So we're just one big happy Midwestern family!

After getting somewhat settled into my room, it was time for my Casting appointment. My mom, myself, Courtney, and her mom all drove over together to the Casting building, because I had a 1:30 appointment and hers was at 1:45. This was such a cool building to see, and it was just about a 30 minute process of going through paperwork, getting another picture taken for our blue ID cast member card, getting fingerprinted, and basically just going over all the important hiring details. There were lots of fun details throughout the Casting building which I enjoyed seeing!

When we finished up at Casting, we were all pretty hungry, so we headed to Disney Springs to eat at Raglan Road, which is an Irish themed restaurant that has delicious fish and chips. We then went back to the apartment and worked a little more on putting away everything in my room and decorating, but the day passed by quickly! That night we were exhausted, so Mom and I just picked up some Chick Fil A to take back to the hotel and watched the Bachelor. Can't miss Bachelor Mondays, even on check in day! :)

Tuesday we woke up and went to Publix to stock up on groceries for me to have at the apartment, since we ran out of time the day before. Then we ate lunch at Flippers Pizzeria, which was so good! I'm lucky that there are a good amount of restaurants and stores within close driving distance of my housing complex. Not long after lunch, it was the sad time to say goodbye to my mom, as she headed off to airport to catch her flight home. I'm thankful she was able to drive down with me and help so much with moving in.

It was then back to Chatham to get ready for a meetup with a group of girls I had been talking to from meeting on the Facebook group. We were all part of the Christian girls DCP chat and had become close friends from chatting over the course of a few months. It was amazing being able to finally meet them, and I can't wait to meet others who are coming in future weeks! Words can't describe how happy I was that night to be surrounded by my friends and everyone just clicked in person and felt comfortable talking, just as we had been doing through texts for months. My heart was so full from knowing I had a wonderful community of friends already!

The group of 10 of us all went together to the Good vs. Evil Welcome Event that night. Each week when new DCP participants arrive, there is a welcome event for everyone to attend and ours was themed after Fantasmic, a show at Hollywood Studios. We partied all evening, starting off the night with meeting Sorcerer Mickey and the old hag from Snow White, then taking pictures in a photo booth, eating all the great food, and dancing out on the Chatham Square field with hundreds of other DCP participants.

The night wasn't over yet, though. We found a lizard in Hannah, Audrey, and I's room when we got back and were determined to catch it. It was definitely pretty entertaining to see us try to capture it, from us cornering it, to Ellie moving it out of the room while it was trapped under a container, to finally Bri being able to grab it and put it outside! Gotta love Florida with the lizards everywhere.

Wednesday I slept in and got caught up a little on rest, but I really didn't have any set plans until Mary Grace, one of my friends I had met the night before, invited me to go along with her and her roommates to go resort hopping that afternoon. We rode around on the Skyliner gondolas, ate at Caribbean Beach resort, visited the new Riviera resort with its gorgeous mosaics, and looked around the Art of Animation resort. Seeing the sunset and walking around on a beautiful night was so much fun! We topped the night off with watching fireworks from the Polynesian beach and eating pineapple Dole whips. It was so great meeting some new friends!

On Thursday, I had plans to go spend the day at Disney Springs with my friend Shelby, who I had never met in person but had become an online Disney friend through Instagram. We had messaged about how much we had in common, with her also being a nursing major and just having a lot of the same interests. She was so sweet and I can't wait to hang out with her more during the program! We had a terrific day walking around seeing lots of the shops at Disney Springs and trying out the Chicken Guy restaurant. We even found some adorable walls, so of course we had to have a little photoshoot!

 After getting back to Chatham, I talked to Hannah and Audrey and we decided to go to the Boardwalk resort that night and get ice cream from Ample Hills Creamery. We invited Shelby to go along so they could also meet her, and the four of us had a blast trying the unique ice cream flavors and then riding the Skyliner. At the end of the night, we all got to watch the Epcot fireworks from the bridge connecting the Boardwalk and Beach Club, which was such a pretty view!

At the end of the night, we went back to Chatham and I had to get ready for Traditions, my Disney orientation, which was going to be the next morning. But..since this post is so long already, I've decided to write a separate blog post with part 2 of my check-in week, starting with Traditions and going through the rest of that exciting weekend!

I have to say, it's still hard to believe I'm actually here, living just a few minutes from the Disney parks and resorts. God has already provided me with so many amazing friends and a wonderful group of roommates. It honestly is a dream come true! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect week, and if this shows how the rest of my program is going to go, I am going to have an incredible experience. Thanks for reading, and be watching for my next blog about Traditions and my second week as a cast member that will be coming soon!