Monday night, I got an email from Disney inviting me to pre-register for housing. DORMS is a process that Disney Programs came up with and started using in the Fall 2013 Semester. Before DORMS you had to get to check in at early hours in the morning (hours before check in starts at 7:00 am) with all of your roommates to make sure you got the apartment you wanted! DORMS just makes life easier, and makes the check in process go by faster as well.
There is a short few day period to fill your information out, so don't forget to fill your paperwork out. :)
My roommates and I all live in different time zones, so it was hard to decide the best time to do the DORMS process together, so around 11:00 my time (Eastern) we all got on google chat and started the process.
But most importantly… What exactly is DORMS?
DORMS stands for Disney Onsite Resident Management System, not actually dorms like in college. This is a site where you can request your roommates, but your apartment size and complex preferences, and put your vehicle information in, if you decide to bring a car!
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You will receive two emails back to back, and the first email you get is your temporary access code, which I am not going to post that email, but this is the official email that they send you.
Be sure to add disney.housing.no-reply@disneyparks.com to your address book to ensure delivery of your invitation to pre-register.
When getting this email, it tells you your temporary access code, and you roommate ID number, which you have to have in order to link your roommates together! One person has to be the leader and start the process first, and then link everyone together, so they need to know your roommate ID. I didn't have to input anyones roommate ID's because one of my roommates went ahead and did it for it, and it automatically synced to my list.
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First off, we are going to start with the first thing you do in the DORMS Process. The first part of the DORMS process is the Participant Profile Page.
In the Participant Profile Page you will be asked to put in you permanent address, your cell phone number, listing an emergency contact, and you will select yes or no to: opting out of Disney housing, If ADA Housing is required to you, Married/Same Gender Domestic Partnership Housing Requested, and if over 21 if you would like to opt into alcohol prohibited housing, and lastly if you are bringing a vehicle. If you are bringing a vehicle, please have all your information with you!
For those bringing a vehicle (like me!) you also had to fill this out!
They ask for this now, so you can have your parking sticker issued to you during check-in. You must bring your car's registration, proof of insurance, and your U.S. Drivers Licence to get your parking sticker.
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The second part of of the DORMS Process is the Forms Pages. This is dedicated to completing all of the housing paperwork. Below is an excerpt from the Disney DORMS site saying what forms are filled out and a description of them.
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Next, the real important stuff. This part of the process is ROOMMATE PREFERENCES.
You are able to link up to 7 roommates, with my arrival date some people who had a group of 8 people were unable to stick together, I don't know if it is just for my arrival, or all arrivals.
"If you are choosing to select roommates, please select one person in your group to login and register for housing first. This person will need to know each person(s) roommate number (found in their registration email) as well as the complex and unit size preferences."
"Once the first person logs in and registers for housing, each linked person will receive a confirmation email to login and either complete their own registration by accepting the roommate match and housing preferences or break the match and reset their housing preferences."
The information below is VERY IMPORTANT:
"If someone selects to break the match, they will not be able to link to that same person(s) again. However, they will be able to link to other eligible participants from their arrival date."
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Next, almost just as important as Roommates, is Housing Preferences.
All the prices are listed above, for each complex and unit size. Not all apartments have certain unit sizes.
For example:
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After you have filled everything out, this page will pop up!
This is your on boarding pass, which needs to be printed, along with the other forms as well. To print the other forms you need to exit out of DORMS, and renter the site. On the top right corner there will a tab that says "Print All Forms" and then you print. I had trouble with this because mine kept printing blank pages, so I emailed DORMS Technical Support and they sent my forms to me in a PDF File!
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Now you are officially done with your housing registration! All you have to do is bring your printed paperwork, your I-9 Documents, and your car information (if bringing a car) to check-in and you are good to go!
For more information on DORMS you can visit the Disney Internships & Programs Blog Post on DORMS here.
I hope you have a magical day and I will see ya' real soon! :)
