Internship at the Polynesian

[JustPlainBill]

I'm not sure if this is the place to post this, but my niece is leaving this morning for WDW, she should be in the air now.
She is starting her internship this week that will last until May 2008.
She has never been to WDW before so she hasn't been able to answer much of my questions regarding her internship. She's going down blind and that makes my wife and I quite nervous for her, though God bless her, she doesn't seem to be affected in the least other than being very excited. What she has told us was that she is assigned to work in a "bakery" at the Polynesian resort. She finished her schooling at the Culinary Instiute in Chicago after high school and got her internship through them somehow. My question is what bakery is she talking about? Is there a central bakery or is does each restaurant at the resort have it's own. Her specialty is french pastery so I don't know if that is what she will be doing or will she be working in one of the restaurants as a chef preparing all types of food? I wasn't aware that there was a "bakery" at the Poly? If anyone here sees her, say hello, she's a good kid, her name is Michelle.

 

[JustPlainBill]

My niece arrived safely and she checks into her disney provided apartment today. She is also attending the "Traditions" class as well before she starts. She provided us with some of the answers to our questions now that she's down there, I thought I would post them in case anyone was interested. She told us that there are only 4 "bakeries" located at WDW. One is at Fort Wilderness Campground another is at the Poly, the third one is at the Grand Floridian, I don't know where the forth one was. She said these four do all the baking for the WDW. She said they start you off with simple stuff like baking cookies than after you mastered them they move you to a more difficult item. She told us that everything she will be doing, she has done in school already so she's confident that she will do good. She has a friend from culinary school who is also in the internship, she is at the bakery at FW. She told me that the Poly bakery is the most coveted location. I don't know if these facts will be disputed, unless she's being misguided. We have already planned to go to WDW in July/August 2008, we made our reservations before we knew that our niece was going to be in the internship program. She said there was a possibility that she could extend her internship for another six months, so we could wind up meeting her there which would be great. I told her that this was a great opportunity for her and it's cool to have someone on the "inside" now giving us another perspective to WDW.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Exciting news. As so much of Disney staff is in the same age group, and I'm sure there will be a lot of opportunities for interaction with the cooking staffs, I'm sure she will fit in quickly and have a lot of support. Not a whole lot of difference from shipping off to college.

I look forward to updates as she gets herself established.

 

[JustPlainBill]

Thanks,
She's a real hard worker, she impressed us when she was just able to swing the Culinary school. We live about 70 miles northwest of Chicago. A daily commute would have been too much for her so she had to set up shared living arrangements with other classmates in the city. We were nervous then, because we're from a relatively rural area so she was never really exposed to the big city before. My wife and have both lived in the city at one time and know the dangers quite well. While most people would call my wife and I worry warts, we like to think of ourselves as overly precautious. We asked her if she would be able to work there permenantly, she said she would have the opportunity to apply, but doesn't know much about it at this time. If I had it all to do over again, I would consider doing what she's doing now. I think she was very smart getting into this program, and a little lucky too.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

I believe we make our own luck, and it appears she has.

As for an internship or even a "post doc", exposure to Disney chef's and practices has to be a coup for any resume. Just thinking of the quality of the staff, the skill sets present is a truly unique opportunity. The ordinary creations available throughout the parks is impressive, but you add in catering for special events, the whole Disney Weddings industry, Disney as a regular "contributor" to the food network, a restaurant like Victoria and Albert's. True artists!

Like I said before, be sure to keep us posted once she gets settled, and begins her adventures.

 

[JustPlainBill]

I really appreciate your feedback, it helps us to know more about what she's getting into. She has a great heart and really works hard, she worked part time at a local country club to help support herself. Her mother was/is a single parent and wasn't able to provide a lot (material-wise) for her. My Mother and Father-in-law have done a lot to help and we kick in what we can to help as well. In fact her Grandparents paid for her plane trip down as well as the first nights hotel stay, meals and such too. We told her that she needs to keep in contact with us, to send us her new address because we want to support her and send her care packages. After all she's not going to be home for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, she'll be working through them now, were going to miss her. We always have thanksgiving at our house and she's always been there since she was born every year but this one. The one thing that I see that can get to her is homesickness. When she was going to school in Chicago, she at least would be back home on the weekends and holidays. If the support is there, like you say than that will be half the battle, she sure has the support from home. I will post more info as I get it as to how she's doing, thanks for your interest.