Meet&Greets plus my 'purple' folder!

Since the last time I updated heaps of things have happened.

I've been to not one, but two Aussie Cast Member meets, one for my uni, and once for all the kids from Melbourne. I've also received my 'purple' folder, although as you can see by the picture, the international folder is actually blue.

The meet and greets were great. Most of the people I met I already 'knew' through the form of good old Facebook, but it was good to speak to them in person and get excited with them about it. The Disney Recruiter was at the second greet with everyone from Melbourne, and told us heaps of really cool information, including information on the Disney Cruises! I am totally going to do one!

The most exciting that that happened, is that my folder finally arrived yesterday! This means heaps of exciting things.

It means I can go about getting my US Visa, which I need or they won't let me do the program, and once I get my Visa that means that I can FINALLY book my flights from Beautiful Aus, all the way to Sunny Florida!

Mostly, this is what there is:

All visa information and important forms.
The Disney Look Book!
Information pages about Living, Earning and Learning.
A parent information page.
A welcome letter from Disney.
A letter from Student Travel Bureau.

My visa interview is booked for the end of this month, and as soon as that is approved, all I have to do is book flights, sit my exams and enjoy the hot Summer and Christmas with my family, and before I know it I'll be on a plane on my way to Disney!

I can't wait!

Until next time I update and let you know about the Visa Interview:

Have a magical day!

What Playboy.com calls one of the sexiest internships to participate in...

Mousecatraz

So, it arrived... Special thanks to Amazon.com who are amazingly incompetent and sent me 13 thousand emails about it being delayed only to have it arrive at the time they first estimated anyway.

The thing I thought would be so great about this book, is that it isn't in anyway endorsed by Disney, so it is the actual facts that have not first been through Disney's Magical Wash.

Unfortunately this might be part of it's downfall. It tries to be shocking in it's sexually explicit stories and it's tales of CPers stunts, however if you are anything like me, and have friends who are 21 year old boys and/or have spent any time living in student accommodation, these stories will actually be tame in comparison to the things that you experience on your typical uni night at the pub.

The book is split into 3 sections: Living, Earning and Learning.

Living covers the apartment and room-mate aspects. It's good to hear about what life at the apartment blocks are like, especially at the infamous Vista Way where many of the internationals are placed. Whether or not the many stories of the shenanigans that take place there are true or not I don't know, but if it's anything like me experiances of student living I'm sure the stories within are only the tip of the iceberg.

Earning concentrates on the different jobs you can have and the work aspect. During my research of the program I have learnt that the jobs can often be long and tedious, but tales of customer interaction and 'Magic Moments' certainly make it seem as though with the bad comes lots of good x 10.

Learning is a section I skimmed through since personally I will not be taking any of he courses that the Disney College offers. From my understanding the Disney College runs classes exactly the same way as a regular University, with lectures and assignments, however they are not real degrees that count in the real world. At the end you can either get your Mousters (Masters) or your Ducktorate (Doctorate). While you can put them on your resume they are not to the same level as an actual Uni degree, and very few Uni's will give you credits for undertaking these courses.

Tip: The term 'screw-off' is used several time throughout the book. I assume this is the Americanized version of 'fuck off' because I have been told American's don't swear. They may possibly have a heart attack when they hear the words that come out of my mouth if this is actually the case.

Hope this helped you Chickens. To be honest unless you are an International CPer I wouldn't bother buying it, and even then it doesn't give you that much extra info, you can find out all the same things from forums and blogs.

My next post will be very soon as on Friday I have a meet and greet with other Melbourne 2010 CPers as well as a meeting with my Uni to go through all the Visa process so I will update within the next few weeks filling you in on that.

Until next time, have a magical day!

The Application Process

Jackie + Sleepy (of 'Snow White' fame)

So I'm updating, which means that I now know my official Disney arrival and departure dates!

I am due to arrive on the 23rd of January, 2010
AND
will have officially completed my period of employment at the happiest place on earth, on the 7th of January, 2011.

To (hopefully) make this easier to follow, I'm going to post, step by step, the things that I went through to get to being officially accepted into the program, and then afterwards list how you can go about it if you have decided you want to.

1) Trusty old facebook informed me that my uni was advertising Disney Internships through the form of a friend's status update. She is also a Disney fan and so was as equally as excited as I was (however, sadly, decided against applying for the program this time around).

2) I searched the online noticeboard of my university to find this advertisment and was informed that there would be a presentation in the following weeks. It also directed me to this website:

www.stbaustralia.com.au

I went to this website and sent in the required information.
PLEASE NOTE: This turned out to be a waste of time, as I had to resubmit everything anyway (but will NOT be a waste of time if the recruiters are NOT coming to your uni).

3) I got up bright and early on presentation day and dressed in smart, job interview style clothes. I took a copy of my resume with me as well as photo ID.

4) Sat through the presentation. It was really fun and interesting. They also asked Disney related questions and handed out prizes for correct answers. The videos we watched showed the parks in general, housing, and also a brief overview of the kinds of jobs that you can have if you are accepted.

To watch the same presentation, go here: disneyinternationalepresentation.com/j1a

5) Straight after the presentation they were beginning interviews, so I signed up for an interview later that afternoon and recieved some forms that needed to be filled out.

6) I got to the interview location about 10 minutes early, they checked my forms, photocopied my photo ID, then I waited.

7) The interview took place with 2 other people, and the recruiter took it in turn to ask us questions. The questions were generally something you would find in most job interviews, although there were question relating to how you think you would cope living away from home, and in a group apartment. The best question was 'What's your favourite Disney movie?'

Of course I answered: Beauty and the Beast. (The very first thing I plan to buy at Disney is a Beast toy).

8) I wait....

7) as above

8) as above

9) as above

10) Exactly three weeks later I get an email saying that I am accepted! Yipppeeee! Celebrate good times! This email needs me to fill out several forms. These include an acceptance form, a proof of student status form, a police check form and provide a copy of my passport. I do all this.

11) I recieve an email saying my spot is officially confirmed!

12) A couple of weeks later I learn my official Disney dates.

And that brings us to the present.

It's probaby important to note that I was lucky to attend a university in which the Disney recruiters actually came. If they don't come to your uni you can still apply, and the process will be similar, however your interview will be over the phone.

There are still heaps of things I need to do, but can't do too much yet. The main thing is getting my visa, but I have been informed that I will not have my interview for that until at least August. They do not want you to purchase airline tickets until you have had your visa approved as this can really hinder the process and may result in them not giving one to you.

The visa that you get allowed 30 days of travel at the end of the program, so I am excitedly planning different trips I will do afterwards.

That's all for now. I don't think I will have much more to write about for the next few months, at least until my visa interview, but I have ordered a book from Amazon called Mousecatraz, which is about the college program, so I will do a review of it once it arrives and I have finished it.

You can order it and read reviews here:

www.amazon.com/Mousecatraz-Wesley-Jones/dp/1847281877

Until next time, have a magical day!

The Background Stuff

This is me.

This is the guy who just hired me.
















And in 6 months time, this will be my new home. Far, far away from Australia where I have lived for my entire life.












On the 22nd of May, 2009, I got accepted into the Walt Disney World International College Program (which will, from here on in, be referred to as WDWICP).

Since that date I have been trawling the internet searching for all the information I can about the program, specifically, blogs and vlogs of people who are there, or have been there recently, who can answer my questions and tell me what it's all about.

My searches have proved (mainly) fruitless. There are a lot of blogs out there on the program, but a lot of them don't provide much information, are really old, or are not regularly updated. Many of the vlogs are really, really boring (no offense guys), and there are hardly any that are made by international college programmers.

On that note, I decided to create my own blog, ranging from acceptance to my homecoming, that includes photos, stories and resources, and gives readers a chance to ask questions. In short, I want to make this the resource that I could not find, as well as being an outlet to keep up with my friends and family and brag about the awesome time that I'm going to be having!

Due to the fact that I have not actually left yet (I leave in Jan, 2010), posts may be few and far between until I actually arrive in sunny Florida, however I will do some posts on the application process and what to expect once you have been accepted.

While I wait anxiously for more information and my specific arrival date, I have been killing time by watching these two users on youtube:

JohnWDWCP - An amazingly funny vlogger who has just, I believe, ended his college program experience. He's an American so some of the information in his initial vlogs don't exactly apply to me or other internationals, but most of the stuff he talks about is the same stuff we will be experiencing. His vlog is really addictive, I watched all of them in 2 nights (and did no homework in the process), so make sure you have a lot of time when you sit down and watch.

AND

kevkc - This blog is great for other internationals, because Kevin is from Ireland and so goes through a similar process that we do when it comes to applying and getting ready to depart. He is also very funny and has some great tips (I especially recommend watching his video 'Kevin's Top Seven').

If you are going (or even just considering applying) I highly recommenced you watch some, if not all, the vlogs by these guys, I started watching them while i was just considering applying, and they definitely gave me a lot of the information I needed to make my final decision.

Next blog I will write about the steps I had to take for the application process, provide the link for all other Aussies and New Zealanders who want to apply, and answer any questions if I happen to already have some, which I doubt.

If you do have a question, just comment below!

Until next time, have a magical day!