Disney College Program. What Is It? Part 2: Housing and Roommates

Thanks for coming to read Part 2!

What kind of Housing does the DCP offer at WDW?

The DCP offers 4 different Housing complexes. Vista Way (VW), Chatham Square (CS), The Commons (TC) and Patterson Court (PC). Once accepted into the DCP you will have to find roommates (which I briefly explained in part 1) and decide which housing complex you would like to preference first. You do have to pay rent each week and that rent can vary based on how many roommates you have and what complex you live in. All Complexes have pools, computer labs w/ printers, laundry,mailboxes and front desk areas to check out various cleaning items or to pick up packages.

Vista Way

   VW is known as the "party" complex. Don't let that scare you though. VW is actually a very nice complex. It is the oldest complex but the cheapest to live in. So the appliances can be outdated, and the buildings look a little old, but VW is the main hub for all the bus transportation and the Clubhouse sits on the VW property as well. The Clubhouse offers different services and also offers book and movie rentals for free! It is also close to a main street that has restaurants and shops. It is also

Chatham Square

CS is the next cheapest complex to live in, and in my opinion the best complex to live in. I lived in CS for my program and honestly there wasn't much wrong with it. Price wasn't too bad (I'll explain more about it later) and all the buses stopped here as well. The DCP also have Housing Parties which are held at CS, so it was nice just to walk over. So for the most part there weren't really many cons.

The Commons

 For a long time, The Commons were only for the International College Programmers or (ICP's) But they changed it, so all CP's can choose to live there. TC is a very nice complex. It's the only complex that has a small convince store and the only complex that has washer and dryers in each apartment. In the other complexes you have to walk to small laundry buildings. This is also the only place where they have a big meeting room, where they sometimes have parties, or grocery bingo. One of the cons about living here, is that not all bussing is available here. If there is a certain bus you have to take, a lot of times you would have to walk to CS and catch it there.

Patterson Court

Patterson Court is the most expensive housing to live in, but it is the newest, cleanest and quietest complex. It is a very nice complex, The only con about this is that NO bussing comes here. So if you do decide to preference living here, I would recommend having a car, otherwise you have to walk to CS to catch the buses.

How do I know what roommates I will be with?

You don't truly know until your check-in day. But before you go to do have to fill out a roommate/housing preference form that will be emailed to you. Once you find your roommates on Facebook, you all have to fill out the preference form the same to get a good chance of rooming together. So you all must collaborate and know how you want to fill it out ahead of time.

Ex. Chatham Square, 8 Person, 4 room
       Vista Way, 6 Person, 2 room

The list goes on.

So I ended up getting an 8 person, 4 room apartment in Chatham Square which is what I wanted. To me, having more roommates meant more people likely to be off of work when I was, so we could go to the parks together. It worked out really well. 6 out of the 8 people I had met on Facebook ended up in our group and we got 2 random people, who actually turned out to be really cool.

Read part 3 for Transportation!

Thanks
-S