Most of my found memories of the Walt Disney World College Programs are on the bus heading to work, to have fun in the parks and mainly to go shopping in Walmart.
The majority of the interns use the bus to get around as transportation. Some people do bring their cars from home, but the majority of us (the interns) use/used the buses to get around. The main reason was because there are a bunch of other interns who are from different countries. They are not able to bring their cars with them. But some international interns do manage to rent a car during their year stay there.
One of my friend who worked in the France pavilion in Epcot in 2010 (who is still working there now) rented a car during his year program. I remember him giving us rides home from work when we where waiting for the bus. Also he would also ride the bus with us home sometimes too, because he did not want to use the car all the time. I also had a roommate who had her car actually die during her program, that poor jeep was on the last leg of it's life.
Everyone basically rides the buses. It is one of the social events of the program. I remember meeting some of my best friends on the bus on the way to work. Everyone at the one location they work at is like a family, due to the bus. There is always the bus stop that everyone goes to be picked up from work or just doing other things. Riding the Walmart bus was an one hour round trip. That again where a lot of other bonding happened. During your program you can easily spot who are the newbies, easily. Because they are on there with their roommates on their first night making their first Walmart runs to get the finishing touches of stuff they need for their apartment. But there where also people who have been on the program for longer who still make friends with people on the Walmart bus.
One of the things I loved about working in Epcot was there was a designated bus stop for all of us interns. It was in the cast member parking lot, right next to the cast member services building. You got to talk to people who you work with everyday. Seeing how their day is going and etc. The Epcot bus is always an interesting bus to be on because you have these people who are from Europe or across the world. When you'd be getting off around 11 at night or around 1:30 AM someone would be calling their loved ones who lived in France, Germany, Italy or somewhere else. It was interesting to think about because calling my parents when I got off work would be a little rude because they'd be sleeping. You would always see the people who would be from Canada, Mexico or the US would be calling their loved ones on the way to work. But when I would witness someone calling home in Europe, I knew they where homesick, which made me homesick.
There where nights where we all had to stay late due to Extra Magic Hours and also holidays. So one night when it was the extra hours we where going home on the bus and some girl from Japan or China fell asleep on my shoulder. It was probably spring break when we where working 50 to 60 hour weeks. We where all very tired, and also the extended hours had doubled their days. Epcot had theirs on Tuesdays and Thursdays nights. I remember thinking, this is probably one of the oddest memories I will have on one of these buses. Another memory involving sleeping would be having to wake up one of my co-workers because he fell asleep on the bus we. We did not want him to end up go around and around and wake up and wondering where the heck he is or have the bus driver to wake him up.
The American Coach buses that Disney rents out for their interns get used a lot. So they don't have that many, they use about I want to say around 40 buses. Not sure. But I remember a bunch of times where I am riding the buses for fun, or to or from work and they broke down. Riding the buses all the time you get used to the sounds they make before they break down. I remember having a few close calls where we could tell the buses where getting worn down. I remember one breaking down and where on on the side of the highway. So we where awkwardly waiting for another one to pick us up. I remember having a little party in the back with few of the other interns I made quick friends with. Also there where times where it broke down and I was outside my workplace. We called to let management know that we where on that awkwardly broken down American Coach bus outside of Downtown Disney during my 2012 internship. About half the people I worked with where stuck on that bus with me.
Sometimes it takes forever for some buses to come to pick you up from a work location. Because you have to call and say, you are working here and you need to be picked up. That happened to us a lot when we worked at the ESPN Sports Complex. It was not a very popular spot for the College Program or other Disney Program interns to work so you had to request a bus. It was not like a park where they had buses running constantly through the day and night. So once and a bunch of my fellow co-workers had to wait for a bus to come and pick us up during our month stent at ESPN. So while we where waiting we swear, all of us to god, that there was a black panther in the bushes behind us. We ran from the bus stop benches and across into the grassy island area of the parking lot. It took a good while to calm ourselves down. We where all pretty tired at this point, we all got off at 2:30 in the morning and it was pushing three! Also the fact that some of us had to be to work the next day at an bright hour of eight in the morning. That was the strangest work schedule I ever had.
If you are interested in doing the program, or already signed up. Here is some advice for you. If you are taking a car, feel use the bus too. I am assuming you will be using the bus at sometime during your program, it will be smart on your first day to go over to the bus stop in your apartment complex and get one of the bus schedules. Those will help you out so much. Grab more than one, and post one of them in the common area of your apartment. This will help everyone greatly, even your guests who are on the internship too. Also memorize your work bus schedule, it will help you out majorly! They do change up the bus schedules every three months so keep your eyes and ears out for people talking about a new bus schedules. There also will be emails from the programs office to let you know too.
The majority of the interns use the bus to get around as transportation. Some people do bring their cars from home, but the majority of us (the interns) use/used the buses to get around. The main reason was because there are a bunch of other interns who are from different countries. They are not able to bring their cars with them. But some international interns do manage to rent a car during their year stay there.
One of my friend who worked in the France pavilion in Epcot in 2010 (who is still working there now) rented a car during his year program. I remember him giving us rides home from work when we where waiting for the bus. Also he would also ride the bus with us home sometimes too, because he did not want to use the car all the time. I also had a roommate who had her car actually die during her program, that poor jeep was on the last leg of it's life.
Silly times in 2012, when riding the bus. Two of
some of my good friends from France.
Everyone basically rides the buses. It is one of the social events of the program. I remember meeting some of my best friends on the bus on the way to work. Everyone at the one location they work at is like a family, due to the bus. There is always the bus stop that everyone goes to be picked up from work or just doing other things. Riding the Walmart bus was an one hour round trip. That again where a lot of other bonding happened. During your program you can easily spot who are the newbies, easily. Because they are on there with their roommates on their first night making their first Walmart runs to get the finishing touches of stuff they need for their apartment. But there where also people who have been on the program for longer who still make friends with people on the Walmart bus.
One of the things I loved about working in Epcot was there was a designated bus stop for all of us interns. It was in the cast member parking lot, right next to the cast member services building. You got to talk to people who you work with everyday. Seeing how their day is going and etc. The Epcot bus is always an interesting bus to be on because you have these people who are from Europe or across the world. When you'd be getting off around 11 at night or around 1:30 AM someone would be calling their loved ones who lived in France, Germany, Italy or somewhere else. It was interesting to think about because calling my parents when I got off work would be a little rude because they'd be sleeping. You would always see the people who would be from Canada, Mexico or the US would be calling their loved ones on the way to work. But when I would witness someone calling home in Europe, I knew they where homesick, which made me homesick.
There where nights where we all had to stay late due to Extra Magic Hours and also holidays. So one night when it was the extra hours we where going home on the bus and some girl from Japan or China fell asleep on my shoulder. It was probably spring break when we where working 50 to 60 hour weeks. We where all very tired, and also the extended hours had doubled their days. Epcot had theirs on Tuesdays and Thursdays nights. I remember thinking, this is probably one of the oddest memories I will have on one of these buses. Another memory involving sleeping would be having to wake up one of my co-workers because he fell asleep on the bus we. We did not want him to end up go around and around and wake up and wondering where the heck he is or have the bus driver to wake him up.
This was my last month of the program. Everyone's was
coming to an end. So the girl in the gray shirt whose the thrid
to the left we spent our day off saying goodbye to her and others.
It was a very very very fun day that I will never forget. (2010)
The American Coach buses that Disney rents out for their interns get used a lot. So they don't have that many, they use about I want to say around 40 buses. Not sure. But I remember a bunch of times where I am riding the buses for fun, or to or from work and they broke down. Riding the buses all the time you get used to the sounds they make before they break down. I remember having a few close calls where we could tell the buses where getting worn down. I remember one breaking down and where on on the side of the highway. So we where awkwardly waiting for another one to pick us up. I remember having a little party in the back with few of the other interns I made quick friends with. Also there where times where it broke down and I was outside my workplace. We called to let management know that we where on that awkwardly broken down American Coach bus outside of Downtown Disney during my 2012 internship. About half the people I worked with where stuck on that bus with me.
Sometimes it takes forever for some buses to come to pick you up from a work location. Because you have to call and say, you are working here and you need to be picked up. That happened to us a lot when we worked at the ESPN Sports Complex. It was not a very popular spot for the College Program or other Disney Program interns to work so you had to request a bus. It was not like a park where they had buses running constantly through the day and night. So once and a bunch of my fellow co-workers had to wait for a bus to come and pick us up during our month stent at ESPN. So while we where waiting we swear, all of us to god, that there was a black panther in the bushes behind us. We ran from the bus stop benches and across into the grassy island area of the parking lot. It took a good while to calm ourselves down. We where all pretty tired at this point, we all got off at 2:30 in the morning and it was pushing three! Also the fact that some of us had to be to work the next day at an bright hour of eight in the morning. That was the strangest work schedule I ever had.
If you are interested in doing the program, or already signed up. Here is some advice for you. If you are taking a car, feel use the bus too. I am assuming you will be using the bus at sometime during your program, it will be smart on your first day to go over to the bus stop in your apartment complex and get one of the bus schedules. Those will help you out so much. Grab more than one, and post one of them in the common area of your apartment. This will help everyone greatly, even your guests who are on the internship too. Also memorize your work bus schedule, it will help you out majorly! They do change up the bus schedules every three months so keep your eyes and ears out for people talking about a new bus schedules. There also will be emails from the programs office to let you know too.
Brandon from Canada, the Epcot Bus King!
"Don't open that!" I remember the bus driver yelling.
"It's not open.." I remember Brandon replying.
We all had a good laugh about that. (2010)
No comments:
Post a Comment