Cast Member Charlotte (Disney's CEP 2018!) Move In Day...

[EvilQueen1937]

I'm kind of late posting today's updates as it's been so hectic! It's nearly 9pm and I have just made myself some pasta so here goes...

For breakfast at the AofA I decided to be adventurous and try a "chocolate dipped strawberry cheesecake". Can I just say, if you are ever tempted by one of these in a Disney hotel, don't go there. It was awful. It was literally just cream cheese with pink colouring inside a cheap chocolate shell... yuck!

Anyway, we checked out at 10 to head to our cast member accommodation! For those of you who don't know, cast members, particularly international college program participants, can stay in special CM accommodation just outside of Disney. Each of the four have their own benefits and drawbacks - but I literally went for the cheapest room I could find out of the four of them because I want more money to spend in Disney! I'm used to living with a lot of people (12 in first year of uni, 10 in second year) and the maximum here is 8 in a house, so to be honest after my experience of university housing, I decided I could handle anything!

It was a bit of a trauma getting there, as for some reason my Uber app doesn't like my Revolut card when I try to order a taxi, but feels fine to randomly charge me $6 for no reason!

When we got to Chatham Square, my CM accommodation for the next 2 months, we had to pull our cases all the way to the other side from the entrance. This was really hard work especially in the heat, but when we reached the Onboarding station we were rewarded with our Program guides and our ICP lanyards! I was rather startled to find they took our photo for our IDs straight away - mine is awful! I was covered in sweat from pulling my suitcase and my hair was all frizzy 😂

This is my building in Chatham. I was over the moon when I saw which one it was, as it's right next to the entrance and the bus stop. Chatham is huge, so this means I won't have to walk far to get the bus to and from work!

I initially struggled to open the door as my key was dodgy (it has since been replaced) and there didn't seem to be anyone home to let me in. After 10 minutes an American girl called Joyce let me in - turns out she is one of four of my new roommates that are from the US ! They have already been here a month, but were all at work when I arrived.

I found this plate of Brownies that they had made on the counter, along with their names, the states they are from and what time they finished work. I thought this was such a lovely gesture and it really made me feel welcome!

Joyce showed me around the house, and I'm actually really pleased! I thought it would be a bit dingy since I literally chose the cheapest, but it's massive and absolutely spotless. There are 6 of us altogether, 4 from the US, one girl from Paris who arrived after me, then me of course!

So this is my bedroom, I chose the bed on the right since I was there before the French girl and I had first choice! There is tonnes of storage and we have a walk in wardrobe with lockers. According to the other girls, the person who is on the bottom bunk rarely stays here as she has a boyfriend who lives on his own house nearby. That means me and Delphine, the girl from France, pretty much have the room to ourselves!

Here's our bathroom, it's nice and big! I've found that the showers in the US are really powerful, which is a nice change from the dribble that I get from the showers at uni...

The dining room...

And the kitchen! This is the bit I'm probably most impressed with. There's SO MUCH SPACE! At uni I only get a single shelf in the fridge and freezer, and the fridges are tiny. Here, they are absolutely massive and I can pretty much have as much space as I want. We also have a dishwasher, which is a loooovely change from hand washing dishes at university!

Here is part of the living room, my housemates decorated the wall with gorgeous patterned Mickey shapes and I love it!

My housemates are all lovely. When everyone was home we all sat around and talked about ourselves and where we are from. We had a huge debate about what a 'biscuit' is. Of course, to the Americans, it's those weird dumpling/scone things, yet to us they are custard creams, digestives and ginger snaps! Apparently they call those kind of snacks 'cookies', whilst I argued that a cookie is a very specific type of biscuit! It was hilarious, and this debate went on for a good while before we moved on to the definition of a pudding!

Anyway, at 3pm I had to go and sort out my arrival documents. It didn't take very long, then a few of us decided it was time for the dreaded trip to Walmart. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and was starving but had no food, and I didn't yet have bedding to sleep on.

The buses outside Chatham are pretty regular, but the problem was that because it's move-in day, absolutely everyone wanted to go to Walmart! We missed two or three before giving up and jumping in a taxi.

I was literally horrified by Walmart and I never want to go there again if I can help it. It was absolutely massive to start with, and I didn't know where to start. I grabbed some bedding and some towels before starting my food shop. Everything was packaged and processed, and even the healthy stuff looked unhealthy. I was hoping to make corned beef hash for my American room mates but there wasn't any gravy! I decided I was going to live off pasta and got three massive jars of sauce instead. The shop cost me about $90 in total and my bags were so heavy! I waddled to the bus stop and we managed to get one pretty quickly. It took quite a while to get back because we stopped at Publix as well as the other three cm accommodation, (Vista Way, the Commons and Patterson Court). No one was around when I got back to my house, so I made pasta and decided to chill for the night! I think a lot of CMs have gone to the pool tonight but I really don't have the energy! Plus, two of the American girls have guest passes to the Disney parks and have offered me them, so I'm planning an afternoon in the Magic Kingdom tomorrow! I'm very lucky, as we don't get our passes until Thursday at Disney Traditions so most people have to wait until then! I'll be missing a pool party at Chatham but I think it's a price worth paying for the Happily Ever After fire works!

Anyway I'm going to call it a night! Thank you for everyone who has been commenting and following my adventures, I'm exhausted and still suffering from jetlag but steadily plodding along, running on Disney magic of course! Tomorrow I plan to have a gentle morning before a CM meeting at 1, then spend the afternoon and evening in the Magic Kingdom... yay!

Night night!

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New Photo Added by EvilQueen1937 - 19 Jun 18 2:32 AM.

[Disneycraft]

So excited for ,thank you for sharing this adventure

[Jake71]

An exciting day moving into your new home. Looks fab for the cheapest accommodation. I love a wander around Walmart but I can understand that it could be overwhelming if you’ve not been before. A bonus trip to Magic Kingdom how amazing for you, have fun.

[kansaskitty]

Your accommodation looks great and your roomies are soooooo sweet to make brownies! Thank you for taking the time to share all this with us, I’m loving reading along and I think you’re so brave!

[disneypars]

Great start. Accommodation looks pretty good. If you've never been to Walmart it can be daunting and makes a huge dent in your finances especially with their large trollies. Wait until you go to Target.

[mick]

Your accommodation looks great and as you say much better than you had at uni.

Enjoy MK

Joan

[margyloveswdw]

That accommodation looks lovely! Hope you have a good time at MK (but then who wouldn't?!?!?!)

[Melvin Pearce]

We are glad you are happy with your digs.

Love that you discussed about biscuits

Ok you can get gravy in a sachet, so look out for that, and recommend you also try Publix for shopping, they do a good cooked chicken pieces which are cooked on site.

Looking forward to your other reports.

Melvin and Lesley

[SmilingSammie]

Just found your posts today and i'm loving reading about your adventures and hope you have time to keep them coming - also followed you on Instagram!