WDWCP: Vista Way Life

We Oregonians didn't understand
the thick, crunchy Florida grass.

Living. Learning. Earning. The three things you are signing up for when you join the Walt Disney World College Program. When I did my second program it didn't seem that there was as much focus on Learning with seminars like I there was in 1997. I'm very happy I had the chance to do a lot of Learning! Earning? Well, that's up for debate. I mean you can sure work a lot - but you're not bringing home a big paycheck. BUT you are getting paid to do your college internship in the greatest place on Earth, so can you really complain? Nah. But the biggest thing you experience every single day is the Living. With strangers that become friends who turn into family. And in 1997 if you were a CP, you were living at Vista Way! 

This post may end up photo heavy, with random stories of life inside of our gated community. Gated doesn't even fully describe it. It is surrounded by solid walls! To get in you have to show your ID, and if you are a guest, getting in requires paperwork done by the resident, and then matching ID to be shown by the guest coming in. A pain in the butt! And to get in you had to be over 18 as well.

The pool is where we spent a lot of time. Pool #1 seemed to be the unofficial "International" pool where the Epcot cast stayed, so we were almost always at Pool #2. That was fine, it was closer to our apartment anyway, and right by the bus stop. The days at the pool were pretty quiet, since most of us would probably be at work or playing around in a park or the beach. At night, that was a different story!

It seemed like many friendships were created at the pool in the night. People I never saw any other time or place, but we'd all end up hanging out together to finish off our evening. And no, Danielle was NOT a lifeguard, she only accidentally dressed the part!

Perhaps the most infamous thing of Vista Way is the HOT TUB. Oh my gosh, we loved that thing!! It was next to Pool #2 and quite large, enough to fit a big group of us. Close to the pool, but apparently far enough away for an unsuspecting couple in the pool to not care that we were there and they continued about their .... um... shenanigans. And the hot tub got the bad rap?? We only saw dirty business happen in the pool!

Tragedy struck when we grabbed our towels, went to the hot tub and it was closed!! WHAT??? Sure, the water was all foamy and weird, but closed?? For DAYS we had no hot tub. How did we survive?? 

Say Hello to Benji, another friend from Puerto Rico!

Sarah had selfie game
before "selfies" were even a thing!

On nights when we weren't in the water we would wander around the entirety of Vista Way. We seemed to pop into occasional parties for a few minutes here and there. I always felt so awkward, but Danielle didn't have a shy bone in her body, so I just let her lead the way and tried to not embarrass her by my presence.

In our apartment we were totally NOT cool! Like I said before, we pretty much watched the Weather Channel.  A lot. The main gal was pregnant, so we watched her baby bump grow during our internship. Seriously, we are not cool!!

Looking back at photos, I was reminded how we were never in our own beds either. Most of the time if you see a picture of someone in a bed, it wasn't theirs. In this post alone you'll see me on Danielle's bed and in Marcy's. We just kind of rotated wherever we felt like going, and nobody ever cared!

THE Vista Way hot tub! Benji, girl who I forgot, Marcy, Quame, and myself

Our apartment wasn't always butterflies and rainbows and unconditional love. Oh no!!! We were nearly the site of WWIII at one point! Marcy and I were in our room, with our door shut, when it started. By the time it was done we had our door LOCKED and our ears plastered to the walls to try to hear everything going on. Tension had been building between Sarah and Danielle, which isn't good since they were in a room together and only half way through our program. I don't remember the details of the fight, but it was BIG!! There was yelling, arguing, everything. I imagine part of it involved Danielle's lack of helping keep the apartment clean. ONE time she helped. She sort of vacuumed. You'll see that photo below. Yeah, it was such a rarity, so we had to capture that moment! Oh my, I almost forgot... Operation Toilet Paper!!! Danielle would never buy toilet paper for our bathroom, so I think we started hiding it in our lockers and taking in the roll with us when needed, leaving her with nothing. That is cracking me up right now. But it did work, and I think that may have bee part of the WWIII argument!

Zaira ALWAYS hid from the camera. This is Marcy's side of our room.

There was tension with Zaira as well. She was always bundled up in her winter clothes. But we lived in Florida. It wasn't exactly cold there like I was used to in Oregon. Well, Zaira would get hot - seeing as she was in sweaters and socks and leggings all the time, so she'd crank on the air conditioning. Disney doesn't exactly provide you with a ton of bedding. Basically a fitted sheet, a normal sheet and a thin blanket. I had an airline blanket from flying to Florida that I would use to try to get another layer. I'd end up sleeping in full pajama pants and long sleeved shirts and sometimes even socks, because it was the Arctic Tundra in 3101. Well, that came to a stop after another late night fight when the four of us on our half of the apartment couldn't take it anymore. I'm sure Danielle or Sarah fixed it - since I am excellent at avoiding confrontation and would rather suffer than say anything.

Cleaning!!!! If you look on the wall behind my shoulder in the background, that is our House of Blues tablecloth we decorated during dinner!

Really, aside from those two instances, I think life in 3101 at Vista Way was pretty darn happy! It drove Zaira nuts that I ate breakfast standing up. I hardly ever ate, but when it was breakfast time I'd just fix toast while getting ready and eat it standing up. I still do that to this day. She was the mom of our apartment though, and wanted us to sit at the table. Nah, not gonna happen! Oh man, and we were so poor and didn't have all the resources you would in your own home, so we improved. Sarah taught me to make grilled cheese by toasting my bread in our toaster, and then sticking the cheese slices in between and melting it in the microwave. Bland, but it did the job!

When Halloween came around we decorated our apartment. You may notice the decorations in the photo above of Sarah and I at our apartment door. Security and Vista Way rules won, and we were forced to take them down. Seriously? Look at those decorations. Harmless and not damaging anything at all.

Here's our kitchen, and this photo shows almost all of it! We never had food in it because to get food you'd have to sign up for a ride to the Super Walmart in Kissimmee (we lived in Lake Buena Vista), or get the shuttle to Goodings, which is so overpriced. So I would just walk to Walgreens on the corner and get my food - hence why I never ate. Frosted oatmeal cookies for a dollar? Sure, I can afford that. Crackers? Okay, I can pay $1 for those, too.

This photo below is funny to me because I have so many like this in my album. Me on Danielle's bed, Sarah on hers. What you can't see is her pants are probably undone - because she had just gotten her belly button pierced when the rest of us got tattoos. So she was in recovery - so many recovery photos I ended up with!

Danielle and I spent a lot of apartment time together. She worked nights, and I pretty much worked all damn day when I was scheduled. But if I had a day off, she and I were together. On the day of the photo to the right she decided to give me a make over. So enjoy -- young Ronda in make up with curled hair. Actually, I really like my hair in that photo now that I look at it. I wonder how she did it and can I do it myself? I'm NOT skilled with hair, which goes without saying. You have eyes. You can see!

We had a lot of fun that day though. She and I ended up going to Downtown Disney to walk around and shop. And it was either Juan or Alejandro that did a double take when he saw me. That made my day right there! (They were super cute, fyi.) This was the day I forgot my laundry in the dryer outside of our apartment. I think Sarah had a dress stolen from the dryers, so I was in panic mode not wanting to lose clothes. HAAAAA -- nobody would want to take my clothes, okay??!! I wouldn't even want to take most of my clothes. I ended up using the house phone at Planet Hollywood to call my apartment, and one of the roomies saved the day for me! I got a new dress (below), that I LOVED! And so of course Danielle and I made it another night out to Pleasure Island and the Rock'n'Roll Beach Club with my new, temporary, look!

The interns these days mock Vista Way (i.e. Vista LAY) and don't want to live there. Disney has multiple locations now for the interns to live, so of course others are newer. But for us Vista Way was fabulous. I had never seen apartments so nice before and it was far better than my tiny dorm at college!

I danced and sang a lot in our apartment - mood lighting and my own solo productions of Starlight Express. Danielle and I had all kinds of crazy girls only conversations that I didn't write about and won't speak about! We had nice family time with all of us - and Maria and Luis, plus visitors from other apartments. Sure we had a tiny bathroom area to share, but it was all part of the experience. I absolutely loved it and while I was excited to see my family, I was sad when I had to pack up my things to go home. I knew I'd be back, but I knew it wouldn't be the same.

I did spend a lot of time in Vista Way when I moved back and did a second internship, but I lived in my own off-property apartment. It was fun, but not the same, because I didn't have MY roommates and our crazy dynamic. Basically, WDWCP Fall 1997 was the BEST and don't you dare try to argue it with me!!

See ya real soon!  °o°

You can see Vista Way marked with the red dot. Epcot and the former Downtown Disney, now Disney Springs, is visible here - to give you a frame of reference as to where we lived.