There Are No Small Roles (only Roles that Don't Take a Ton of CPs)

Are you looking for a helpful blog post (or series of posts) all about the different kinds of roles that you could have while working on the college program? Well, this is not the place to find it. This is the place to find that information. Kaela is wonderful and funny and she knows her shit. Of course, she hasn't been a CP for two years and now a lot of her blog no longer revolves around the CP like it used to but she is wonderful and if you go back in the archives, you will find a mountain of information that is really helpful and lacks any kind of cynicism. And don't think she's totally out of the loop, because after her CP she went seasonal, then moved down there and now works full time in Front Desk at Pop Century! She is really sweet and lovely! Go there! 

But that's not all I have to say. If you thought that I was posting an entire post just to promo someone else's blog, you clearly do not know me. I am too self centered and also too lazy to just promo other people (although she is a flawless person). Besides, she does not need to be promo-ed. She is kinda "tumblr famous" amongst CPs, especially Tumblr CPs. But now, here are my thoughts flowing from my head.

People are going to be painfully disappointed when they get their roles, I have decided. It happens every season. There are very glamorous "this is what I dreamed of" roles on the DCP, but there are many more roles that are so undesirable people never could have ever thought that they would end up in that role. Sometimes it is heartbreaking, and sometimes I do feel bad for a person, but more often than not, I find people who are "devastated" annoying.

So, this is what I have to say. Be realistic. (Isn't that what I always say?) For some reason, it always seems like the most sought after roles are also the roles that have the fewest slots to offer to CPs. Hundreds of kids get accepted in custodial and quick serve, but few people actually want to be in custodial or quick serve (although my sister does dream of being in quick serve, but whatevs). And there are actually a lot of people who do want custodial, because when you get past the cleaning toilets part, it is actually really awesome. There is a lot of freedom in the role. I lived with two girls who worked in custodial and they LOVED it. And one of those girls was someone you would never expect to love custodial. Kateland was a five foot nothing, hundred pound blonde cheerleader who upon looking at her you would automatically assume she was a diva (false, though. Kateland was absolutely amazing and I love her) but she was in custodial and she loved it so much. She even applied to extend in custodial (and got it) but had to turn it down in the end. But no one dreams of being in custodial. Just like no one dreams of running a cash register in a fast food joint or running an outdoor food cart (which I hear painfully sucks). But those are the most readily available roles for CPs.

The second level of readily available roles is probably merch and attractions. A lot of people get accepted into those roles. I actually second choiced merch on my first program, mostly because I wanted to get in so bad and I have three years experience at Target. And a lot of people do want to do merch, but I feel like people who want to do merch are a special kind of reasonable that you don't often find on the program. Also, A LOT of people say they want to do attractions, and they do want that role. But when they say they want attractions, what they are really saying is that there are certain attractions they want. They want things like Space Mountain or Haunted Mansion or Tower of Terror or Jungle Cruise. No one wants to be Innoventions, but alas that is where some attractions people get stuck (like me but I loved it in the end and it was amazing and Inno I love you, let me come back). No one wants Speedway. No one wants Disney Quest. No one wants Indiana Jones (unless you're a huge Swoozie fan). No one longs for a lot of things that are considered attractions that they could never imagine because a lot of times they don't even know that thing exists (like me and Inno, but Inno come back, you can blame it all one me). 

What people really want are things that only take like thirty CPs out of thousands that get accepted. People want Bibbidi Boppidi Boutique and people want to be concierge and people want to be full serve (although I'm pretty sure that everyone thinks you'll be waiting tables although they make it very clear that YOU WILL NOT. Disney has a really, really long wait list for servers because they make such good bank in tips and they would NEVER put a CP in that role). People want these roles and then when they don't get them, they are SHOCKED. Right now in the Facebook group, there is ~100 girls proclaiming that BBB is their first choice role, and those are just the girls in the group. There is no telling how many other girls are just dying for that role. On my program, there were only 35 CPs that worked BBB or Pirate's League combined (I think that's what I heard through my 'extensive' research and chatting around). And that's across the DTD, Castle, and Pirate's League locations. 35. Out of nearly ten thousand kids. Those are like lottery winner odds (small state lotteries, but lotteries nonetheless). Most people who end up in BBB have a ton of experience in day cares or salons (or children's salons? are those a thing?). 

And this will never change. Every season people are going to be dying to get these smaller roles and no one is gonna be thinking about the ones that they are statistically far more likely to get accepted into. And I get it. It's far better to dream of being a Fairy God Mother in Training or working at the front desk of the Grand Floridian instead of dealing with code Vs at Downtown Disney. I don't have a snappy ending, or a life lesson. I just have crushed hopes and dreams. I have actually sufficiently bummed myself out over this one because I really want to be concierge and now I am realizing how stupid that was for me to get my hopes up.

Cynicism

I am trying so hard to write a second post to make me seem less like a curmudgeonly asshole old lady, which is how I feel I came off in my first post from earlier today. That is the only reason why I want to post a second post. I want to assure THE WORLD (hah, no one) that I am not as bitter as that sounded. But as I keep drafting my defense, I start on some terrible rant about how terrible the college program actually is. But it's not! If it really was that bad, I wouldn't be doing a second one! Maybe I am just in a bad mood today and that is why I am struggling at being polite.

In other news, I have a phone interview tomorrow for my CP application and a phone interview on Friday for my professional internship application. I would say "Wish me Luck" but that would imply that someone is actually reading this. Okay, now off to my real world that consists of work and not talking to myself on the internet. 

A Brief History of Me

Hi there,

I find blogging sort of insufferable. In a time of Youtube, it has quickly fallen out of favor. Reading blogs has become something stay at home moms do so they don't feel so alone when they spend their long days stuck in a house with a screaming infant and a needy toddler. Teenagers and young adults don't care. If the emerging prevalence of "listicles" are any indication, even reading for information has gotten too much. If there is no accompanying silly gif to help put a point across, is there even a point at all? And with Tumblr being so popular, it's a place where you can blog but mostly it's just quotes from your favorite John Green book occasionally punctuated by a text post about how no one "gets" you or how the boy you like (but have never actually spoken to) has a girlfriend and OHMYGODEVERYTHINGSUCKSMYLIFEISOVER. I know, I spent five long years on Tumblr.

But I like blogs sometimes. They can be incredibly personal. They are like reading someone's diary. Although most people don't get that personal on blogs anymore. They've become an industry where you post recipes that are interspersed with cute little family anecdotes or tips on getting your three month old to sleep through the night, although I am not entirely sure three month olds sleep through the night. I don't know. I don't have kids, I am just a college student who likes to read herself think. 

As I begin my adventure on applying for another Disney College Program, I have discovered that I need a place to rant. Not to my friends who just keep telling me not to do another one, not to my sister who is also applying (but for her first) so I do not want to freak her out. Just a place in general where no one is gonna actually read it, or hear it, or think about it. I need to get these thoughts out, though, because otherwise I just think the same thing over and over again until I drive myself reasonably insane. 

So here is what you might need to know about me provided that you think reading a blog about a girl in the process of applying for another DCP (and professional internships) interesting. Or a hilarious spectacle of a millennial living in a "look-at-me" world who is starving for attention. First and foremost, my name is Natalie. I am currently a senior in college, graduating in May with a degree I regret (psychology) and a minor I love (English). I am wholly unemployable and am probably doomed to live out my days working as a teller at a bank (which is what I do now). 

My Disney story is not unique, not special, not amazing. I did my cp (college program for those not in the loop, which is hilarious that I think this might be a problem considering there is probably literally no one reading this) during from January 2014- August 2014, Spring Advantage program. I worked at Innoventions in Epcot, which even the most seasoned Disney goers have a tendency to have never visited. It's an "edu-tainment" facility full of interactive learning experiences. I was a presenter which means that I "presented" shows that taught people about really exciting things like "green living" and "healthy habits." If you have only ever been to Disneyland and went to their Innoventions there, do not compare them. Their Innoventions (from what I hear) is actually amazing fun. It has Marvel exhibits and meet and greets with Super Heroes. That sounds Great. Innoventions at Epcot just teaches you how to make sure your home can stand up against hurricanes, which isn't even relevant to half the world's population (that is an uneducated assumption). 

I was not "pixie dusted" when the program started because, in general, I am a realist. But by the end of the program, I was the completely opposite of "pixie dusted." I wasn't even a realist. I was cynical and depressed. I literally thought more about killing myself than most other things in my life. I had great personal tragedies on the program, some of which still inflict me today. I suffered a lot during the last couple of months of my program to the point where I, to this day, am surprised I am still alive, let alone didn't just flat out self-term (quit). 

And why do I want to go back? That's what my "home" friends ask me all the time. They want to know why I want to go back somewhere that sent me spiraling into this darkness that they could only see a fraction of. But what they don't understand is that I would have had these problems at home too. Yes, being in Florida did not help the issues that I was suffering but I have had depression my entire life, and it just got bad down there. It could have easily gotten bad here too. Also, there is something about Disney that is addicting. Even though I wasn't a straight up obsessed "Dis-nerd" at all throughout the entire length of my program, and still don't think I am, I still find myself thinking about Disney all the time. I still think about going back. I miss it every single day.

And so I am applying again. I want to go back to the first place where I ever felt truly at home. I want to go home.