Today, I'll be going into depth about Off-Site housing. Now, not many CP's choose this option. This is usually for people who already live in the Florida area, are bringing a spouse or boyfriend along, or who plan on staying afterwards. Off-Site Housing means you will opt out of living in the Disney housing complexes, and instead pay rent to some other individual or apartment complex in the Orlando area.
If you do decide to go this route, make sure you have transportation. You will not be allowed to utilize the CP buses and they won't make accommodations for you if you can't get around. I have done Off-Site housing for both of my programs, and I have loved it. You make friends very easily when you have a car (;
Since I've done this a few times, I thought I would give my recommendations on cities/apartments that would work great for a Disney employee. This is just my personal opinion, and what I've heard from my coworkers, so feel free to do a little research on your own.
Recommended Apartments:
Abaco Key
Sabal Palms
Camden World Gateway
Buena Vista Point
Doctor Phillips
Ashton Chase
The Carrington
Recommended Cities:
Davenport
Four Corners
Doctor Phillips
Windermere
Celebration
Kissimmee
Clermont
On my first College Program, I lived in Kissimmee, right off of Highway 192, after Celebration. It was about a 30 minute drive to the Magic Kingdom, but a perfect location in regards to safety, shopping, dining, and work. You'll find that a large number of WDW employees reside in Kissimmee. (PS, thats kiss-IM-me, not KISS-immee...trust me, I'm saving you from looking like a tourist!)
In order to file for Off-Site housing, you'll need to email WDW.Housing.Yield.Management@disney.com with the following items: your name, your candidate ID number (found in several emails sent to you), your role, whether you'll be at WDW or DLR, the date you paid your program fees, your chosen program dates, the address you will be living at, a contact phone number, and the reason you would like to live Off-Site.
You have almost until the start of your program to send them this email. You may also have to opt out of housing on the Disney DORMS site that will be emailed to you. After they receive this message, you will get a reply from a housing cast member. Although you already paid the housing program fee, this will return to your card 30 days after you begin work.
If you have any more questions about Off-Site Housing, let me know! My next few posts will be as quick as possible (still don't have internet set up at my house yet, so here's looking at you, McDonald's WiFi) and all about What to Pack!
Katie
