A List Of Questions - Help/Advice Needed

Hey,

I have some questions about the Disney Graduate Program, got my Disney information pack, but i still have some question that I think can be answered on here.


About The Program

The program start date is Sunday 5th October...
- When do we actually start our job at disney?
- When does training/induction begin?

College
- How do we actually pay the tuition fee ($2100)? Cash? I have money in an account - but i don't think they will transfer it? Cheque? I don't really want to put it onto my credit card.
- When does classes begin?

Apartment/Living
- Do we get to choose which apartment we get to live in? And how much we get to pay for the accommodation.
- When will we be given the chance to go shopping (ie. for linens, towels, blankets, pillows) as well as Groceries?
- International travelers - do we really need to bring linens, towels, blanket and pillows? That's going to be a whole case on its own?
-Does the apartments have wifi access? If not, how do I connect my laptop to the internet to stay in contact with people back home.
- I have a monthly contract phone with 02 (in the uk), and was wondering will it work out in Orlando?

Flights Back to UK
- Can anyone give me a rough idea of prices for one-way flights back home?
- Would you suggest a return flight or one way?

 

I cannot answer all of your questions but....

About The Program

The program start date is Sunday 5th October...
- When do we actually start our job at disney?
- When does training/induction begin?

you will begin training on that day. Attending classes, etc.
You would start your job once the training is completed.

Apartment/Living
- Do we get to choose which apartment we get to live in? And how much we get to pay for the accommodation.

No, it completelydepends on what is free when you arrive. You are able to move to somewhere you want if there is a room opening. I do believe there is a $50 fee.

- When will we be given the chance to go shopping (ie. for linens, towels, blankets, pillows) as well as Groceries?

the first evening or the next day.

- International travelers - do we really need to bring linens, towels, blanket and pillows? That's going to be a whole case on its own?

no, you're the same as everyone else. You will need these things so if you don't believe you will be able to get out to pick these things up right away just pack a blanket with you.

-Does the apartments have wifi access?  If not, how do I connect my laptop to the internet to stay in contact with people back home.

Yes they all have a wired internet access. depending on who was there before you or if you are put in a house with people already living in it. They may have a router. I purchased a wireless router to take with me anyway.

- I have a monthly contract phone with 02 (in the uk), and was wondering will it work out in Orlando?

Yes, but you would be paying long distance fees like crazy. You would be best to just get a pay as you go phone in the states.


Flights Back to UK
- Can anyone give me a rough idea of prices for one-way flights back home?

virgin is apparently a great cheap airline from the uk. Just do your research!!

 

Thanks for the quick reply.... greatly appreciated.

you will begin training on that day. Attending classes, etc.
You would start your job once the training is completed.

I'll begin training on the day I arrive, but the flight that i've been looking at doesn't get into orlando international airport until 4.17pm - that maybe a problem... its the only flight I can get to arrive on the day the program begins, and the day we were told to arrive on.

No, it completelydepends on what is free when you arrive. You are able to move to somewhere you want if there is a room opening. I do believe there is a $50 fee.

That's seems ok about the apartment thing, just didn't know how it worked. I thought you had to fill out a form and say you're willing to pay $xx.00 amount and they're put you in the appropriate place.

the first evening or the next day.

no, you're the same as everyone else. You will need these things so if you don't believe you will be able to get out to pick these things up right away just pack a blanket with you.


That seems fair about shopping as soon as that... I probably will just pack a blanket and a couple of towels. As for proper linens and blankets i'm not bringing them over from the uk... too much luggage.

Yes they all have a wired internet access. depending on who was there before you or if you are put in a house with people already living in it. They may have a router. I purchased a wireless router to take with me anyway.

That's cool about being wired, I have all the right cables for my Mac... but it would be great to be wireless... If there's not one there, i'm sure I (or we could all put money towards one -those with laptops) could buy a cheap one out there that will do the job.

Yes, but you would be paying long distance fees like crazy. You would be best to just get a pay as you go phone in the states.

After posting, I was reading through my contract and i can't cancel until November/December, but by that time I'm already out in the USA... I'll call them to see what the international charges are going to be like.... ALSO... you mentioned about buying a pay-as-you go out there, but wouldn't i also be paying long distance fees like crazy to contact home?

virgin is apparently a great cheap airline from the uk. Just do your research!!

Yeah Virgin is a fantastic Airline, but I'm not willing to pay their prices for flights. STA Travel - recommended by Yummy Jobs came in second expensive - but they deal with most paperwork... the cheapest I could find was £574.30 Return - October 5th - May 3rd, Going Glasgow - Gatwick - Newark - Orlando and then reversed for going home.

 

To be honest, I'm from Canada so I have no idea what flights are like.
Yes you would have to pay for a package for long distance.
If you bring your current phone you will be charged roaming charges which are worse then long distant fees.

Basically your phone is connected and programmed to a satalite where ever you are from. So if you use your phone in the states it has to connect to another service provider and satalite. Like when I used my phone in the states it connected to "T-Mobile" where I am under "Rogers" in Canada.

You're better off just letting your parents have your phone while your gone or even try to sell it to someone and for them to take over your payments.

If you don't want to pay the long distant fees you could just use "Skype" and purchase a headset.

 

Your arrival day is the 5th - but you won't have to do anything that day as people arrive at different times - i didn't arrive until 8.30pm, had to wait in the airport until nearly 11pm before getting to the complex's just before midnight.

I'm on the Graduate program that came out in April at the min and it went like this:

- those that arrived early enough on the arrival date went to walmart for food/bedding etc - but via taxi as you won't have a pass for the transportation system until 2 days in.

Your housing is randomly assigned, you have no choice as to how many people, or where you live, this is shown on your arrival envelope on a sticker on the back - VW (visa way) CS (Chatham Square) PC (Patterson Court) etc and an apartment number.
You can request a change for a $50 fee.

the 6th: meetings at the commons in the morning, go over rules and regs, then back to housing complex to go through registration, get housing pass, checked for disney look etc. rest of afternoon to yourself

7th: more meetings at the commons, will give you chance to open a US bank account and then back to housing complex and find out where you are working

8th: Traditions - get your WDW ID so if you have a morning session can go into the parks in the afternoon

work can begin any day after this - depening on where you work and your training schedual - i had a couple of days off before we started training, but I know people that started working straight away.

Regarding UCF - you will have an orientation day - for us this was three weeks after we arrived and we had a welcome session and payed on this day - can pay be cheque, travellers cheque or bank transfer before you get there - you will get all this info in the post before your due to leave. The classes started the week after the orientation for us.

Phones: all i can suggest is getting a cheap pay as you go from walmart for keeping in touch with people over here and use skype to call home. I have a O2 contract and i got them to put it on hold until i go home as it would have been too expensive to use over here, but didn't want to lose my number.

Flights - keep looking around, the flights for your return may not have been released yet as its over a year away. I paid £318 return for my, with a months travelling at the end and flying home from NY.

I've got a blog about the whole experience at www.thedisneyadventure.moonfruit.com which will probably be able to answer any other questions you have!

 

Hi Swantje,

Did you already book your flight to orlando?
Where did you book? and did you direktly book to Orlando or is it to Miami and from Miami to Orlando?

I know you are from germany (like me) which Airport (Airline) did you chose? And when do you fly?

A lot of questions? But I thought, that we have to wait for our visa. and shouldn`t book before that?

Regards!

 

Generally the longer you wait to book flights the more expensive they get. Even if you don't know when you will return I would suggest deciding where you want to return from and book it anyway.

It's a lot cheaper to pay the 50 pound fee to change your return date rather than buy a ticket at the last minute.

 

I`ve alreade booked my flieghts, too. They are at the moment on an acceptable price, and I do not want to pay like 1000 euro for a flight.
Now, I will fly on the 4th from Paris/NYC/Orlando. And on the 3rd may from Orlando/NYC/Frankfurt. But I defenitely think, that I will change my return flight.
I`ve payed 650 euro. I think that`s due to the actual situation with the whole branche, a fair price.

Does anybody else fly from Praris?

 

Q: How far is the Florida Mall from where the Disney apartments are? and How easy is it to get there and back? I'm wanting a new Apple Laptop, and the only Apple Store is in the Florida Mall... I'm selling my current one here in the UK and buying one over there because it'll save me about £700.00

Oh, does anyone know, if you can take an external hard-drive in your luggage? Will it be okay? Just that it has most of my music, movie, and data files on it.

Stupid question I know... but they need to be asked.

 

When I did the J1A program Disney paid for my flight out, so we had the problem of getting a return flight. As we all now, one way flights are sooooooo expensive, so we booked a return with Virgin Atlantic. Obviously we took the Orlando to LGW as the first leg and then booked LGW to Orlando as the return. Once I got home we cancelled the return flight and was refunded the money! I will always be cheaper to book a return flight and then just not use the return...that way there's still some hope of getting money back! Thats the only problem with these programs, in that you can't book flights more than a year in advance (I did a Virgin Atlantic Ticketing and Airfares course... it was extremely interesting!).

 

The Apple store is actually at the mall of millenia. And it's about a 15-20minute ride from the commons. But if you use the public busses it'll take a little over an hour... But I don't think the public buss stops too close to that mall.

 

Thanks for letting me know. When you say its "a 15-20min ride from the commons" is that with their (disney) transport or is that with someone who has a car? Just that you then say that public busses take an hour. But anyway, hopefully I'll be able to get there ASAP to get a laptop, so i can stay in touch with home...

Will i get education discount that Apple offers since I'll be a student on the programme?

 

There is an Apple Store in the Florida Mall and it is bigger than the one at Millenia.

There are some good taxi drivers around - we found one thats cheap and reliable and he charged us $23 each way to the Mall at Millenia

Your best bet for public transport to the malls are the Lynx busses which have stops right outside both malls, and although may take nearer to 40-50mins, they only cost $1-$1.50.
All the Lynx busses and I-ride trolleys ($1 to anywhere on I-Drive) all stop at the other side of the Premium Outlets - about 5/10 mins walk from Chatham, and opposite the Commons.

Program transport also provides a bus to the Florida Mall on certain days which is free - but all depends on your days off.

Not sure about that student discount tho..

 

Even better you can use the apple website and get the laptop posted to you. If you access the site through the hub (you'll get access to that within your first few days of arriving) you even get a cast member discount because Disney has some kind of partnership with Apple. I think you get 20% off.

 

Just a reminder as I noticed it above, but as cast members we can get 75% off the single fare on the I-Ride Trolley, meaning we pay $0.25, not $1 for a single fare on the I-Ride, making the transport to places like Sea World or Universal Orlando resort very economical - 14p for a 35min drive to Universal isn't bad!

 

Are you serious? That's cool! I might need a new computer soon, so that would be great. I've never tried a mac before though, so I'm not sure if I will get one...

 

swwwooooooon Mac's are awesome.
I cannot wait to get one.

 

If they're still as resistant against viruses as I've heard, then there's a big possibility I'll get one. My computer just got infected with a trojan horse virus and I don't know how to get rid of it :'(

 

Hey,

How did you get 02 to put your contract on hold? I called to see if they would do this for me and they said that there's no such procedure?

I'm due an upgrade from September 30th, but I leave on the 5th October... I still want to keep my number and i'm not bothered about the upgrade until i come back... so how did you get them to put your contract on hold? How are into your contract are you?

Thanks for any information.

 

Helix - I rang and said I wanted to cancel my contract, they told me i couldn't, an argument began and within 24 hours of me saying that I was going to go with a different company a member of the sales team contracted me told me they could cancel the remainder of the contract I was on and put me on a £5 a month contract which they would then credit my account with £75 so it wouldn't cost me anything to have my phone switched off over here for 7 months and I could keep my number and then adjust my contract again when I got home.

I suppose its all in how you deal with them.

I'd been with the company for over 5 years with the same number and I didn't want to lose it.