Check In Countdown, 60's!

We have officially reached the 60s in my countdown to my second Disney Culinary/College Program!

I was accepted again this March (March 11th to be exact, not that I've been keeping track or anything...) and wake up in Florida on July 8th to head on over to Vista Way to star the check in process all over again!

I remember my first check in my dad had flown down with me and we stayed at the Holiday Inn across from Vista the night before. We ate at the Applebee's in the hotel and my dad just kept saying "You did good" or "This is a big step for you Meg" and trying to give me all these little pep talks but I don't even think I life coach could have untangled the knots in my stomach. We walked over to take a sneak peek into the Vista Way complex and I kept looking at everyone and telling myself that that's going to be me soon, no, that's going to be me tomorrow. We woke up bright and early the next morning and I hardly touched my food. This was it, it was happening. In a few hours I would find out where I would be living and who with, I would officially get my location, I would have to say goodbye to my dad, I was starting today.

Check In is a rather busy day for any CP. If you're checking in with the regular College Program you can be grouped with 500+ interns, and you thought the line for Toy Story Mania was long! For the Culinary Program however we had about 64 interns from various culinary schools like our 4 JWU campuses, the CIA, Art Institutes, Le Cordon Bleu, all here with our knife kits ready to work for the Mouse.

Your first step of Check In is to turn in your on boarding paperwork (you know how they say you should do it ahead of time? do it) and you get your Program Guide that basically becomes your bible filled with every contact, every in and every out of the program. and my personal favorite, quotes form Walt Disney :) Then you move on to get your housing assignment, I will have a whole post-several actually-on that area in the future, don't worry! You get the bus schedule, your photo ID and your time to head over to the Casting Offices. I don't want my posts to bee super wordy since I tend to go off on my own tangents so I will explain all about the Casting Offices and what to expect in a new post shortly!

What I love about Blogger is it keeps all my labels in one place. On my other blog you have to dig and dig and I often end up answering the same questions multiple times because my answers always get hidden. But here you can see everything all in one place. If it relates to check in or housing they will have designated tags so that way you can read any posts relating to that in one click. I hope it makes it easier for you and you find it useful!

Don't forget to leave comments! You can ask questions and I will address them as a post so I can tag the appropriate tags and even have a Q&A tag. This blog is for you!

Take the Dream with You, Wherever You May Go

I guess a good introduction into this blog would be how did I get here? Why am I doing what I am? Why am I ready to not only pack up my suitcase in the present but pack up my life in the future and move to Central Florida? Well, just like how all of this was started by a man and a mouse, mine was started by a wish and a dream.

I'm a baker, I'm a perfectionist. I can bake a cake and decorate it to look all nice and get compliments on it but there is always something wrong with it to me, something I can do better. I pay attention to detail, I love things with themes and symbolism, and who does symbolism better than Disney? You walk down Main Street and see the shop windows dedicated to Disney legends, the layout of the park so that way a cowboy from Frontierland isn't walking through Tomorrowland, the costumes, the hidden Mickey's, everything in Disney is placed with a purpose and stands for something whether it be as blatantly obvious or something only a diehard Disnerd would know.

 Almost 3 years ago my two best friends and I were fortunate enough to spend a week together in WDW after graduating high school (has it really been 3 years?!) The last time I had gone was when I was 6 so in a way, this was almost like going again for the first time. Needless to say I got wrapped up in it all and the outside world disappeared leaving my friends and I to play in a kingdom I had only seen in movies, Disney movies.

One of the shows that we saw was the Dream Along With Mickey that takes place outside of Cinderella Castle, it is magical and makes me cry every single time without fail.  People often come back to me and tell me Disney is childish or that I love it too much for an adult. Why? Is there an age limit to believe in the power of a dream? This show shows how everyone has  dream and the power to make them come true, and as Mickey says, when you find the dream inside your heart-anything is possible. In the show, they ask you to shout your dream real loud. If they had this show when I was 6 I probably would have shouted that I wanted to be a princess, but I distinctly remember shouting 'I want to be a baker in Disney World!' and from that moment on that became my dream. And if Mickey says it can come true, who's to stop me?

Little did I know that a few years later it would come true. I'll touch on how in another post but in my sophomore year of college I boarded a plane to bake for Disney, a dream come true. I worked with an 'ohana', I had a castle in my backyard, I could go see zebras anytime I wanted or fall 13 stories just for kicks, I was living a dream come true. Without Walt's dream, I wouldn't have mine and I don't know where I would be today. My dream isn't over, like Rapunzel I had to find a new dream. It's my dream to leave an impact on a company that has had such an impact on my life. Whether it be by being the best baker I can be or being a Disney trainer who trains people who are like me, I want to be great. I want people to come to my  location because they know Meg works there, I want people to see my name on a schedule and know that because I am there they have someone to turn to or that we will get everything done. I want that when I retire (if I ever do, I mean let's be honest) I leave knowing I left my mark, that what Walt gave me was in turn given back to the company he built of some loose change in his pocket and a sketch pad.

So to conclude this post I give you an assignment, go dream. Go come up with something incredible that you would like to do. It doesn't have to be something you have to do now, but make dreams for yourself and a plan to reach them. Dreaming and an imagination aren't limited to a 6 year old wanting to be a princess, they are for everyone for in our dreams we find ourselves, and you are never too old for that.

To all who come to this happy blog, welcome.

I have been blogging for a while but have decided to take the plunge and put out a professional blog, so here we are!

You may know me from Tumblr where I started blogging about my first Disney Culinary Program under my blog, disneybakerdcp. I invite you to go follow it if you like, however it is not solely Disney. In the world of Tumblr it is a 'multi-fandom' blog so it gets a bit messy, hence why I need a blog to collectively gather my thoughts. I created my blog to help educate others on the program since when I was looking for information well, it wasn't easy. I interact with my almost 1,100 followers daily posting information and answering questions and hope to do the same here on blogger. Posts here will be more organized and searchable by tags and categories, and only Disney. Sorry Doctor and 1D!

So what will this blog bring? In the coming months I am going to posts overviews on what it is like in the Disney Culinary Program in regards to living, earning and learning in Walt Disney World. Last Spring I was a Pastry Cook II at the Polynesian Resort through an internship with my school, Johnson & Wales University. The coming posts will mostly be reflective and informational, so now would be a great time to ask questions! Come July however, I will be liveblogging my experience again as I become a Pastry Cook II again for the Epcot Central Bakery and for the Epcot Food & Wine Festival.

I invite you to join me in my magical adventure as we take a sneak peak into the life of not only a baker, but a Disney baker. As always, feel free to leave comments with any questions that I can address, this is a blog for YOU. I have loved helping my followers over the last year and a half and hope to do the same in our new home.

Have A Magical Day!