Saturday January 31, 2015

We Made It To Florida!!

 

Hey everyone!  I'm currently sitting in our hotel in Marianna, Florida and its 5:36 AM to be exact.  I'm up bright and early in order to leave at 7:00 AM to continue our drive to Orlando, Florida.  I just wanted to give you all an update as to how last night's drive went!

 

My mom planned for us to drive halfway to Marianna, Florida which is about four and a half hours from where I live in Louisiana.  It wasn't a bad drive at all!  We only ran into traffic once in Mobile, Alabama.  We left our house at 3:30 PM yesterday to go pick up my dad at work.  The day before, my brother and I drove one of our cars to my grandma's house which is close to the New Orleans International Airport in order for my dad and brother to have a way to get back home from the Southshore of the Causeway to the Northshore.  They're planning on getting a taxi to get to my grandma's house from the airport, or my grandma might end up going to pick them up, but we're not sure yet about that since they're flight may get in late Monday night.  Anyways, so we needed to go pick me dad up at work because my mom had dropped him off that morning since we had both our other van and my car.  Both cars were loaded down and we were reading for the ROAD TRIP!!

 

 

 

My dad and brother drove together in our van, while me and my mom took turns driving in my car.  I drove the first two and a half hours, while she drove the rest of the way!  It got dark around 5:30 PM, and my mom didn't really want me driving too much of the way in the dark, which I don't blame her because I don't really like it, HAHA!  She packed sandwiches for both of us and for my dad and brother.  Once we got to the other side of Mobile, my mom and I stopped to go to the bathroom and met up with my dad and brother for a little bit and then switched driving.  We stayed last night at a Comfort Inn & Suites in Marianna, Florida which was a good halfway point for us.  It's a very nice hotel!  We're about to go downstairs to get breakfast, and then around 7:00 AM, we're leaving again to drive the rest of the way to Disney World!  OMG!  I'm so excited to be there!!!

 

 

~ Krista Lauren Girod

Monday January 26, 2015

One More Week To Go!!

One week from today I will be checking into the Disney College Program!!  I can't believe this is really happening!  I've been waiting since October when I got accepted to go and it's been about FIVE months since I've applied!  Applications for Fall and Fall Advantage 2015 just dropped today.  A lot of my friends who I met through the Facebook group who sadly did not get in for the Spring applied today and I'm crossing my fingers and saying my prayers that this next season will be there time to be a part of the MAGIC!!

 

This is my last week of work at home.  I worked all day today, I'm spending tomorrow off with my mom because we are planning on packing the rest of my clothes and miscellaneous items that I want to bring, Wednesday will be my very last day of work until my winter break next semester, and then Thursday will be my day to get all my last minute things together.  LASTLY.....  FRIDAY I LEAVE!!  LIKE WHAT?! 

 

FOUR MORE DAYS GUYS!!!

 

I'm really getting into this blogging thing!  I still need to create pages for my links on my navbar, which is at the top of my blog.  I kind of forgot about them!  WHOOPS!  If I have some down time before I leave, I will try to work on those.  I plan on blogging a lot when I'm down there.  Blogging is actually a lot quicker than vlogging!  I love vlogging, but it takes a little bit more effort to edit and then uploading takes forever and a day, HAHA!!  But it's all good because no matter how long it takes, they always upload eventually!

 

I guess the next blog post I write will be all about my road trip down to Disney!  I can't wait to vlog check-in and I can't wait to find out where I'll be working and where me and my roommates will be living!  I'll let you all know as soon as I find out!! 

 

~ Krista Lauren Girod

 

Sunday January 25, 2015

Going Away Party!!

Yesterday, January 24th, was my going away party, and I had such a fun time seeing my family and friends for the last time before I leave on Friday, January 30th!  I was so excited to have a party!  Since I got accepted, my mom had been coming up with ideas for a cute, Disney-themed going away party, and yesterday, I was able to see those plans come to life.  I can't believe I'm really leaving this week!  This is all so crazy and after watching so many vlogs about what the program will be like, I can officially say that I am about to be able to experience it all on my own! 

 

For the party, my mom and I had great ideas as to what the invitations should look like, what types of food we wanted to have, and the decorations that we would use.  Y'all, if you couldn't already tell, I love PINK and Minnie Mouse is my favorite character of all time, so of course I had to have a MINNIE MOUSE party!!  We decorated the whole entire house with pink, I made a super cute banner out of Minnie heads, and all the food labels we used, as well as the invitations, all incorporated Minnie and pink! 

 

Here are a couple of pictures from the party so you can get an idea of what we did!!

 

Dessert Table

Mickey/Minnie Shaped Cookies

I was a "little" EXCITED!!

My and my brother, Kaleb

My two best friends and I

Me and Allison

 

Me and Makayla

 

Food Ideas

 

Minnie's Magical Wishes Cupcakes

Donald's Dogs

Goofy's "Gawrsh" Candy

Mickey's Macaroni and Cheese

Walt Disney's Worldwide Famous Chili

Daisy's Garden Vegetables

Tink's Pixie Treats

Cinderella's Royal Finger Sandwiches

Belle and the Beast's Buns

Chip's Chips

Dale's Dip

Ariel's Fruit Grotto

Pinocchio's Pickles

Olaf's Okra

Mike Wazowski's One-Eyed Olives

Delicious Disney Desserts

 

I had such a fun time with everyone!  I loved talking about the program with all my family and friends, since a lot of them had questions about it, but everyone was so happy for me which makes me happy knowing that I have a ton of support going into this and that everyone is excited to hear about all my adventures! 

 

I only have five days left until I leave!!  FIVE DAYS!!  Today, my mom and dad are going to help me pack and organize a lot of things that I have and hopefully I will get a chance to go through my clothes today too and figure out what types of clothes I'm going to bring!  I'm definitely going to be over packing! HAHA!  I did film my going away party, so I will hopefully have a vlog up related to that at some point this week!  Hope you all have a magical day and I will post again very soon! 

~ Krista Lauren Girod

Tuesday January 20, 2015

Registering for Housing - DORMS

So, today marks 13 days until I check-in at Disney and I'm so so excited!!  I say this is just about all my blog posts, vlogs, and to everyone I talk to about the program because there really isn't a better way to describe how I'm feeling about this whole experience!  I actually worked all day today, and I had a feeling that today might be the day that me and my roommates could finally register for housing.  The past two arrival dates received their DORMS - Disney Onsite Resident Management System - paperwork about 13 days before they arrived, so it made sense that it would be sent out within the same time frame as my arrival date of February 2nd.  Of course, it would be sent out the day I was working, but that's okay! 

 

This morning, I received my Disney Housing Registration email that contained my roommate ID and the link to access the DORMS forms and paperwork.  Your roommate ID is very important when registering for housing, so make sure that you make a note of it and send it to all your roommates who you are hoping to room with, most importantly, the one roommate who plans on filling the paperwork out first.  The whole DORMS process is a little confusing, but just take the time to read exactly what it says to do and you will be fine.  The email was sent to me at 9:55 AM CST.  While I was working, I had a feeling it might've come, so I went to the bathroom and checked my phone in the locker room at my work and I had 38 MESSAGES from my roommates, and I just knew that it had come.  I frantically opened my email and quickly texted my roommate ID to my future roommates.  My lovely roommate Kristen decided to go ahead and be the LEADER of our group and she linked all my other roommates and I together.  This is also very important!!  The leader of your roommate group is the one to login and complete their DORMS registration first.  When they login first, it's very important that everyone else waits until the leader is done completing their paperwork for you to go ahead and complete yours.  ONLY the leader has the opportunity to link all the other roommates together, and ONLY they can rank the housing preferences for everyone in the group.  Once they receive their ONBOARDING PASS for check-in, then everyone who was linked by the leader will receive an email saying "DISNEY HOUSING YOU'VE BEEN LINKED!"  Once you receive this email, then you are able to complete your DORMS paperwork. 

 

I know this may sounds super confusing right now, but it definitely makes more sense when you are actually doing it yourself.  Luckily, we were able to link all 6 of us together and rank The Commons 3 Bedroom as our first choice.  We then ranked Patterson 3 Bedroom, Chatham 3 Bedroom, Commons 4 Bedroom, Chatham 4 Bedroom, Vista Way 3 Bedroom, and Chatham 2 Bedroom as our preferences.  Hopefully, we will all be able to be together no matter where we are located.  Of course I'm secretly hoping that we are placed in one of our first choices of housing, but I think no matter where we live, we're still going to have an amazing time!! 

 

Once I got home from work, I was finally able to complete my DORMS paperwork.  Let me just say that I've been looking forward to doing this for some time now!  I can't believe I'm going to be living just a few short minutes away from Disney!  The first form they ask you to fill out just regards your personal information like your name, cell phone number, home address, emergency contact, email address, and vehicle information.  You'll need to have your license plate number and know the make, model, year, and color of your car, also.  Next, there's a set of four documents that are pretty short and interesting (in my opinion) about the rules of Disney housing.  These forms were the Community Codes form, Payroll Housing Deductions Authorization form, Alcohol Prohibited form, and the Housing Program Vehicle Decal Agreement.  At the end of each document, the website prompts you to select the check-off box saying that you abide by the rules and then sign with your birthdate which Disney should have on record for you.  Once I finished the entire process, the last thing I received was my ONBOARDING PASS to check-in.  In the email that Disney sends after you finish, they tell you to print out the email with your onboarding pass, as well as your vehicle registration form, so that you can bring it to check-in.  I went ahead and printed everything out just in case I needed it. 

 

I think this should be the last step that I need to take before I check in THIRTEEN DAYS from now!!!  I'm beyond ready and so excited to get down there!!  I know all my roommates are too and we're hoping to meet up the Sunday before check-in!  It's going to be so much fun!  Now I just have to wait until next Friday until I can pack up my car and head on over to the MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH!!!

 

~ Krista Lauren Girod

 

 

Tuesday January 13, 2015

Three Weeks Till Disney

Well guys, it's officially arrival time for all the new Spring 2015 CP's (College Programer's).  Yesterday was the very first check-in date for the current season and some friends that I know are already there and look like they're having a blast!!  I'm very jealous that they are there right now, but I'll be leaving so soon it's crazy!!  I still have so much to do and get ready before I move down to Florida.  With work, it's been hard trying to find time to take care of things, but I have a lot going on, so I'm currently making a to-do list of everything that I need to do before I leave!

 

This Friday I'm actually going back to my college to turn in my Nursing School application!!  OH MY GOSH I can't believe I'm already applying for this!  I feel like this is such a big girl move, and I'm really excited to be applying and hoping for the best!  I should find out around my Spring Break in March whether I will be accepted or not so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and praying very hard for good news to come!!

 

I'm actually having a GOING AWAY PARTY Saturday January 24th for any family and friends who can make it.  My mom and I have been planning lots of cute ideas for that, which you will most likely see in an upcoming vlog!  My friends just started their Spring semester at school and it feels really weird not being there with them, but hopefully some of them can come to my party if they are able to!!  I just sent out invitations today and my mom and I have been deciding on food ideas because we want to be creative with everything, so here are some of our ideas so far...

 

Minnie's Magical Wishes Cupcakes

Mickey's Macaroni and Cheese

Chip's Chips and Dale's Dip

Pluto's Punch

Lilo's Lemonade

AND MANY MORE!!

 

Also, I'm going to have to start packing all my clothes and all my things very soon which is crazy!!  I'm so ready to be there you all have no idea!  Disney's DORMS System should be sending out emails soon to everyone with February 2nd arrival dates which will be fun to fill out and do, although I'm a little nervous and apprehensive about everything working out.  If you do not know what DORMS is, it actually stands for Disney Onsite Resident Management System.  Basically, it's a system for those participating in the Disney College Program to fill out their requests for roommates and housing complex preferences.  I know what we choose for housing - as far as our complex preference and roommate requests - are not guaranteed, which makes me very nervous, but I'm trying to stay positive about the whole thing and hopefully all the girls I've been talking to since November will be able to room together.  We've been going back and forth on choosing our first choice for Patterson Court or The Commons, but as of right now, The Commons is our first choice, Patterson Court is our second, Chatham Square is our third, and we are hoping to place Vista Way last.  I know it's possible to receive our last choice for housing, but honestly, I'm more worried about being split up from my roommates or something crazy like that because I really believe that your roommates definitely make your program more enjoyable!  But there's nothing I can do about that, so we will just have to see what happens with that when we fill out the forms and see what we get at check-in!

 

I received this very special email from Disney on Sunday and when I read it, I couldn't stop SMILING!  Actually, the email never popped up in my inbox, but I noticed some other people that I've met through Facebook who are arriving the same day as me post a picture of the same email on Instagram, so I went to check mine but it wasn't there.  I waited a while thinking it would come, but it never did.  I decided to check my DASHBOARD because if you don't know already, some of the Disney emails - except those related to DORMS and Class Registration - appear as links on your DASHBOARD, and sure enough, there was a link to that email so that's how I ended up getting it.  I'm not sure why I never got it in my email inbox since I've received all the others.  It makes me a little nervous because I'm worried that maybe something's wrong with the email they have for me, which would be strange since nothing's changed and I have received other emails besides this one.  I just hope the DORMS emails will be sent to me!  AHH!  I'll let you guys know about that! 

 

 

I know the email looks a little different than the other one's I've posted on here, but that's because it was how it appeared once I clicked on the link and accessed it that way.  Anyways, I just wanted to check back in with all of you and thank you so so much for reading and watching my vlogs!!!!  I just checked and I'm already at 132 subscribers!!  That's almost 30 new subscribers since hitting 100 around New Years!!  I seriously cannot thank you enough for wanting to follow me on this journey and I'm loving all of y'alls vlogs and Instagram posts so much too!!!  Until next time..

 

 

~ Krista Lauren Girod

 



 

Thursday January 1, 2015

100 Subscribers!!

It's officially a new year!  Last year, so many incredible memories were made and it was a really great year!  My family and I started off the year in Disney World.  We went over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in January and my brother got to celebrate his seventeenth birthday there!  I had a great Easter holiday with my family and one of my best friends, Casey, came home with me to visit and explore New Orleans.  I finished my first full year of college in May 2014 and after my spring semester was over, I immediately started a two week mini session course for the summer.  That was the first of two classes that I enrolled in to take in the summer as a way for me to get ahead in my classes for the DCP.  Those two weeks were really rough for me.  The class wasn't difficult at all, but I was living in a new dorm for what they called break housing.  I was the only one along with one other girl living on the same hall.  It was so quiet, and I hated it.  I love having my alone time at times and being by myself every once in a while, but being that I was at school an hour and a half from my home with none of my friends because it was the summer, it was really hard on me.  On top of that, the dorms were not as nice as the ones I had been living in all year and on one of the days, the community showers were only running cold water which was so uncomfortable.  I really missed home and seeing familiar faces on campus.  Anyways, I got through it and the next week when the class was over, I went to Arizona and Las Vegas with my family!  I was so excited about this trip because I've never seen anything like the scenery in Arizona.  It was one of the best vacations we've ever taken.  We got to take a jeep ride through the red rocks in Sedona, visit the gorgeous city of Scottsdale,  see lots of cacti and rabbits, overlook the Grand Canyon on a bus tour from Las Vegas, and of course, go shopping and visit most of the hotels on the Vegas strip.  We had a really nice time.  I turned nineteen in June and in July, my mom had a bunch of days off at once.  Unfortunately, my dad didn't, but she thought it would be fun to take a spontaneous trip to Disney for just three days.  We got park hopper tickets so that we could visit all four parks.  We stayed at the Coronado Springs (our favorite resort!) and went to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios the first day and Epcot and Animal Kingdom the second day.  My brother and I actually went back to Hollywood Studios to ride Tower of Terror the second night before we left the next morning.  I had been working about two or three days each week during the summer to keep myself busy and to make a little bit of money, also.  Then at the end of July/early August, we went to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.  My parents love the mountains so we stayed a week in a cabin and I really enjoyed it.  We went to the Apple Barn, Dollywood, went fishing in North Carolina, visited the Titanic Museum, drove through Cade's Cove, and had lots of picnics!  We love to travel!  HAHA!  In August, I headed back to Mississippi to start my sophomore year of college.  I was selected back in April to be a Golden Eagle Welcome Week leader for the freshman at my school, so I participated in that the first week before classes started.  I was able to assist a group of freshman who were all nursing majors like myself with another girl and it was one of the greatest memories I'll always have from my college experience.  Then, school started on August 20th and here starts my Disney College Program journey...

 

Applied:  Thursday August 21st

Web Based Interview:  Thursday August 21st

Phone Interview:  Friday August 29th

Pended:  Wednesday September 24th

Accepted: Thursday October 23rd

 



So many great things are happening in my life right now that I'm just so grateful for.  I never imagined applying for the Disney College Program as a little girl and it's crazy seeing how far I've come with this journey.  With only one more month until check-in, I can't wait for everything that is to come.  This opportunity is going to be life-changing and I'm so excited to be a part of the Disney company.

 

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's followed my journey so far!  I can't believe I've already reached 100 subscribers on my YouTube channel.  I just happened to look a few minutes ago and I noticed I was already at 101 subscribers.  I just had to write another blog entry.  I never expected to reach that many.  After watching so many other DCPer's vlog their experience, I knew it was something I also wanted to do, not just for my family and friends and for everyone else, but for me.  I wanted to have something to look back on and to remind myself of this amazing experience.  I've received so many great comments and responses and I'm truly thankful for everyone who has been watching.  I'm so happy to film more videos and excited to actually film when I'm there!  I hope you all keep watching!  I love you guys and thanks so much again!

 

~ Krista Lauren Girod