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Disney Dream Job Trip Report
by Ricky Brigante
Day One: An Ordinary Day at Disneyland - June 8th, 2007
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Before we start Day One, let me fill in the gap between the prologue and actually leaving for the trip. We'll start back when I had just found out I was a finalist in the Disney Dream Job contest.
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| Our destination: Disneyland Resort, Anaheim |
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Many of the Disney Dream Job finalists gathered on a YouTube discussion board to promote their videos, support each other, and try to dig up details about the entire contest.
Once the winners were announced, a special "winners only" section was created. YouTube's message board system went down shortly thereafter, so I stepped in and set up a super-secret forum for the 25 Disney Dream Job winners only.
It was there that we would all spend the next few weeks speculating about what each of our trips would entail.
I think most of us approached the trip with fairly low expectations of what we'd be receiving as prizes. We knew from the official contest rules that we'd be getting 4-day, 3-night round trips to Disneyland, a $250 gift card,
some kind of gift basket, and the opportunity to work our dream jobs. We didn't know any more specifics about what actually working our dream jobs meant.
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| UPS Envelope with Pre-Trip Information |
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After weeks of guessing and bugging our contacts at Disney and Career Builder, we finally received tentative itineraries via UPS, just a couple of days before we were to leave. We were shocked to find out that we would be doing
so much more than simply working a couple of hours. Instead, we came to find out that we'd actually be occupied almost the entire weekend. Between orientation, training, Submarine Voyage-related events and parties, and the actual Dream Jobs,
we were going to have next to no free time to enjoy the parks!
Obviously, winning so much more than just a couple of hours working in costume was a pleasant surprise, but it also meant making some changes to our travel plans. My family and I decided that we should fly in one day early, on Friday instead
of Saturday, so we could have one full day together in the parks, doing whatever we wanted.
We got up at around 4:30am on Day One (Friday) to get ready and head to Orlando International Airport. Our flight was due to leave at 7am. Each winner was allowed 3 guests on the trip, so I brought my wife (Michelle), mom (Carol), and aunt (Debbie).
We all made it onto the flight with no problems and were on our way to Disneyland.
My wife and I decided that we wanted to rent a car for the first day, rather than using the provided Disney bus transportation. I came to find out later that some of the winners got black SUVs and others got limo rides. Oh well. The rental car enabled us
to ride at our own pace.
We arrived at the Disneyland Hotel at around 10:30am and checked in by 11am. Upon checkin, I received a packet that included the finalized itinerary for the weekend. We found out that our room was ready right away, so we headed over to the Sierra tower to room 2153, dropped off our bags, and sifted through the itinerary.
It turned out that the Dream Job events didnt start until 6:15pm the next day, so we actually had one and a half days of freedom in the parks! It was time to head in...
My wife, aunt, and I had all been to Disneyland before. My mom had not, so we used it as an opportunity to show her all the sights. She, of course, was amazed by the small size of Sleeping Beauty castle, compared to Cinderella Castle in Florida.
By the time we reached the park, it was noon, though we were still used to Eastern time and felt like it was 3pm. Lunch was long overdue. We headed to the Blue Bayou and had a fantastic meal.
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Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
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I was surprised to hear that the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage was open for previews that day, so after lunch we headed that way and, after a short wait, got to experience the new attraction. That ride made coming a day early worthwhile, as I wouldn't have another chance to ride the subs again during the day.
Following the subs, we hit a few major attractions: Matterhorn Bobsleds, Space Mountain, and The Haunted Mansion. We then took a break from the parks as my mom and aunt went to check in to their hotel on Harbor Blvd. My wife and I went back and relaxed in our room for a while.
An hour or so later, we all reunited at Disney's California Adventure. We rode the Tower of Terror, Monsters Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue, and California Screamin'. We stayed for the Main Street Electrical parade (I don't care if it's not on Main Street... I'm still going to call it that) and then headed back to Disneyland.
We capped off the night with a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean and dinner at Coke Corner. While not as good as Casey's in Florida, Coke Corner is still a great place to relax at the end of the day.
It was around 11pm by the time we exited the park, but it felt like 2am due to the time change, and was definitely time for bed. There were no Dream Job events scheduled until much later on Day Two, so we
had a chance to get a good night's sleep before hitting the parks again.
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As to Disney properties/artwork: ©Disney
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