71 days to go!

So I haven't posted on here for almost a month - good restraint by myself I feel! Things are actually moving on now - I recieved my official visa petition on the Walt Disney World Resort headed letterpaper and I've booked my visa appointment at the Embassy which is on 1st September - 2 months to the day until I start working for the Mouse again!

This meant I had the joy of filling out the online form again. Last year, this took many hours and lots of swearing as the website persistantly crashed and I had to use photoshop to get my picture to the exact measurements. However, to my pleasant surprise, the website has improved and comes with a photo tool which makes the aforementioned uploading of a photo much more easy. I even managed to get my mum to take the photo first time without bursting into laughter which is always so tempting when it's supposed to be a non-smiling photo! So, the website didn't crash and it meant I was done within an hour - it still takes a fair while to fill it all out even without technical problems so I advise you don't try to do the form if you're in a rush or have places to go!

Other tips I have for filling out the form include making sure you have your passport to hand, the dates of your last five visits to the USA (if applicable) and your address history in case you need that as well. Other than that, it's a reasonably straightforward form really.

The visa appointment is at 8.30am and after asking the lovely Scottish man on the phone whether I could go any later, it transpires that 8.30am is the usual time for Q visa appointments so the answer was no. Therefore, be warned that the visa appointment may end up costing you a fair bit of money in addition to the $150 for the visa and the £10 for the phone call (£1.20 a minute!). I'm going to go up the night before and stay with a friend but there's talk of a mini CRP meet up in the afternoon which sounds like fun before I have to head back to Bristol at some point. It's quite exciting to be getting a Q visa though, it makes me feel a little bit special as the Q visa is pretty much just for Disney Cast Members :) It's official name is "cultural exchange visitor" I think but I don't think there's too many of those jobs in America!

My next blog post will probably be after my visa interview so until then - farewell!

100 days!

Okay, so I'm a day late with this post but I had a day from hell yesterday due to work and just had to sleep at the end of it! But yes, 100 DAYS 'til I'm back working for the Mouse in the sunshine state! I can't wait! It's a milestone and I'm gonna try to keep track of the days without obsessing over it but excitingly I get to hand my notice in for one of my jobs this week... I have to give 6 weeks notice so that means I'll be leaving in early September. As for my job at the Disney Store, I will probably keep working there right up to when I leave - all those extra pennies needed for my trips to ihop remember!

I also went onto the Virgin website and chose my seat which was rather exciting. I've opted to go for a normal meal this time - usually I choose the veggie option even though I'm not vegetarian because I used to be a super fussy eater. But now, I'm not so bad! Therefore, normal option it is.

The only other piece of notable news is that I finally got my Disney Pack!! Whilst most of the information in it is pretty standard stuff that I've had for my previous programs... I got my offer letter which is ALWAYS exciting to receive! It lists my pay rate as $8.05/hr for QS F&B so that's pretty good really as it converts to £4.91! Well, better than the £3(ish) per hour I got on my first program anyway! Thank you exchange rate!

I also want to say a big hello to Samantha, Clare and Sophie who also all start on November 1st! Whilst I don't think we'll be travelling together, I'm super excited to meet up before we check in at Vista and hopefully have some fun the night before! :)

Flight booked!

Quick update to say that I've booked my flight! Exciting times! I am leaving London Gatwick on 29th October 2011, on the 1pm flight with Virgin Atlantic. This means that I can drive up with my parents in the morning and be in Orlando at 5pm local time to meet Nick and find some fast food! Let's face it, the reason I'm going three days before my program start date is so that I can hit up the fast food joints and indulge in ihop, chick-fil-a, wendy's, olive garden, zaxby's.....!

I also booked my insurance at the same time as I got a 10% discount by booking them both through STA Travel. I have to say that they've been great value for money - the flight cost me £325 (one-way!) and the insurance was approximately £160 including a excess waiver (that's a vital thing to check you've got or you could end up having to pay £75-100 per claim should you need to use your insurance...). The flight is even changeable - it's £85 per change which isn't too bad if it's necessary. I can also phone them to extend my insurance if I want to continue it for the whole year after the first 4 months so it's all very flexible.

Although this means I'm parting with £480-ish pounds in one go, I'm also glad it's a big chunk of the spending over and done with. Apart from the visa and housing fee, it's all about saving from now on!

Also, a little plug on this post - I just checked out Dan's blog (click here to see it) which he's updated now he's got a date for the CRP to go in March 2012! He put up a picture which I'm going to steal and post up now which shows the change in visitor numbers throughout the year at WDW:

 

It's very exciting that I'm going to be able to see the changes all through the year at the WDW Resort - to be able to see Christmas and Thanksgiving properly will be amazing as well as the EPCOT festivals - food & wine and flower & garden! It also occurred to me that it will be strange to do traditions and orientation of the park wearing our professional attire and NOT be melting from the heat as it will be November this time!

Here's my picture of the post from Simple Disney Things:

116 Days To Go...

Well, it's been over two weeks since I posted so time for another update! Haha! I just can't resist it. So, I got my CRB form through and completed that - paid the £60 to prove I'm not a criminal... again. I think it's the third CRB I've done this year! Nevertheless, it has to be done so there we go.

We also had a very strange experience about a week ago in the form of a Skype conference call with Yummy Jobs! Kristen added us all to Skype and then we had a 7-way audio call which was both very cool and very weird at the same time, especially as she kept referring to me during the call as I was the only one who'd done a program before and also because I was the first out of everyone in the call to be going to Florida. It was a great chance for Kristen to tell us key information and for us to ask any questions we may have. In other news - I've found two other girls starting on the same date as me from the UK and another from Canada so that will be nice! I don't think the other UK'ers are flying on the same day as me though but I'm sure we'll meet up before we check in at Vista on the 1st Nov! :)

I haven't had my Disney Pack yet - I'm expecting it to arrive in the next couple of weeks I'd imagine - very exciting! Despite knowing what's going to be inside it, it's still super exciting for me because it makes it that little bit more real! I am getting a quote from STA Travel for my flight and insurance tomorrow (they left me a voicemail today but I was at work) and probably booking that in the next few days... that's the most expensive chunk so I think it's best to get it over and done with! I'm hoping to fly on the 29th October which is the Saturday, my program start date is on the Tuesday. I'll be meeting up with Nick and doing the Walmart trip and sorting out my phone - all sorts of exciting things like that.... in reality, we may just stuff our faces with food for the whole weekend - missing American junk right now!!

I've been doing more Vlogs - I've covered the phone interview, the face to face interview and the roles of merchandise and attractions so far. If anyone has anything they'd like to ask then leave me a comment and I'll try to answer it next time! I'm hoping to do more about the living circumstances, pin trading, visas, packing and fun stuff like that! :)

Also, a little shoutout to Gabriela as she said she's been reading my blog - HI! She was a fellow Cast Member at the Emporium on my 2008 ICP :) Also, CONGRATULATIONS to all the other CRPs who got dates in the last few dates who were at the June interview dates!!

Lastly, I'm in love with the website http://simpledisneythings.tumblr.com and I'm going to post some of my favourite Disney things on these pre-CRP posts... :) Here we go:

I can't wait to see the EPCOT 4th July fireworks in 2012!

Blog Update!

Quick post just to say that I'm experimenting with vlogging on You Tube! Now whilst this is quite funny for me to watch myself back - the point of them is to tell people who have no idea about the college program all about the applications process and the preparation for the program. If I am so inclined, I will keep them going whilst I'm in Florida but I'm not committing to that yet!

So, my point is that they're not aimed to be a video where I get to enjoy the sound of my own voice (I really don't!), they're supposed to be informative :) So, enjoy! The links are down the right hand side of this page, along with links to my previous ICP blogs and my personal blog that originated when I had to write it for Uni.