The Face to Face Interview!

Well... I am rather tired, my feet hurt and I'm developing a sore throat BUT today was amazing!

It all started at the ungodly hour of 5am when I got out of bed. I'd been tossing and turning for the short time I was actually in bed (didn't get there til gone midnight) and really didn't get much decent sleep. So, got up and got ready, made sure I had all my documents and then prepared to leave... I left the house at 6am and drove to Bristol Parkway - I swear I didn't see another car on the road the whole way there! The weather was reasonably warm and sunny so no worries there either! The train arrived on time at 6.30am and it was pretty empty all the way to London so I got two seats to myself which was nice.

It was once I was on the train that the nerves really kicked in! I don't know why I was that much more nervous for this Disney interview than any of my others - I'm guessing because it's been such a long time coming and you really only get one shot at it! I didn't feel like eating because of the nerves but did manage to have a cereal bar and some water which was better than nothing. As we approached Reading, I heard the train manager saying something over the intercom... so after turning down the Lady Gaga blasting in my ears, I heard him say that there were potentially some delays due to vandalism overnight. I had a slight panic, looked it up on my phone and it said online that there were up to 30 minute delays!! Luckily, as it turned out, I was only delayed by about 10 minutes... but I did see that pretty much all the trains after mine were cancelled until later in the morning! I am so glad mine wasn't!! Thank you God!!

So, got to Paddington at about 8.20am and headed to find a taxi. There were signs pointing in opposite directions for the taxi rank which was rediculous so I just headed out of the exit that I knew and luckily a taxi driver saw me and so I jumped in. The charge was only about £13.50 and that was well worth the stress I saved getting to Hammersmith! There were three out of four tube lines down for engineering today which I would have used to get to Hammersmith so it was a lot less hassle and more comfortable getting a London Cab!

He dropped me off literally right outside Disney HQ and instantly I saw people dressed in suits, looking a little lost and confused! We all immediately established that we were together for the Disney interviews so that was easy. Suddenly a whole load of people arrived who had been at Costa so now there was about 20 of us standing around in buisnesswear on a Saturday morning - haha! Someone I knew through Hayley (one of my managers at Disney Store) arrived at that point so we all walked around to the back entrance and went in through there. Got our passes and headed up to the waiting room.

Upon meeting Jason from Yummy Jobs I got a "I've met you before!" comment which made me a little bit excited (hehe) and I checked in. We stood around chatting to people for about 20 minutes before being taken into the cinema room which is lush! We had a NEW video to watch which included interviews with other college program cast members.... this included none other than a former roomate of mine from last year! SMALL WORLD! So... then Jill did the presentation, we had some trivia questions (I got the cruise ship one right again, same as last year!!) and we watched the infamous Valerie video which was as wonderfully annoying as usual! The presentation was funny and enjoyable - it lasted about an hour. Jeff also did some talking during the presentation and then they put up a sheet on the screen of everyone's interview times which was good. I was shocked to see that mine was at 11.50am! That was only just over an hour from the end of the presentation!

So, me and a few others went to Starbucks around the corner as I was rather peckish by that point... I got a bacon roll and a chocolate Frappuchino which I instantly regretted. As amazing as it was - it made me feel sick again! I think it was mainly the nerves but I haven't had a chocolate frappuchino for a few years (probably since Sixth Form days!) so I was amazed at the cream overload it contains! Anyway, headed back to HQ at about 11.20am and Jason went through my paperwork with me. It was good that due to the online form, we didn't have to sit around filling out any forms this time... you only filled out a form if you wanted to apply for the HRC (Historical Research Centre - not really my cup of tea!) Me and Jason had a brief chat about the fact I'd done two ICPs and Star Tours of course (it is the ride of the moment y'know!) and then I sat down with the others who were waiting around.

Then I met Linzi who was the girl I was interviewed with. She was also a Disney Store cast member so we had quite a bit in common which was really nice! Soon the interview rolled round and it was time to meet Jill - again! She interviewed me for the 2010 ICP so it was nice to see her again! The interview was so uninterviewey.... it was much more of a chat! She asked vague "questions" like why I wanted to do the program, how I would use my previous experience to help me and of course, how would I feel about living with people from other cultures but mostly we just chatted and I'm sure she got interview answers out of me through that which was amazing. I mentioned the UK and how I talked about it so much at Star Tours as well as my experiences at Disney Store and Clarks... Linzi came up with some great comments too and I felt we bounced off each other which was really nice. I hope that we both get through! All too soon, the interview was over!

So, I was done and dusted by 12.30 - probably the quickest out of my three Disney interviews! After saying goodbye and thanking the Yummy Jobs guys, I headed back to Starbucks where we sat around for a little longer until others had to leave for their interviews. I texted Maria and arranged to meet her at Charing Cross so we could go check out the new Oxford St store!!

At about 1.45pm I met Maria, we went to the new Imagination Disney Store and it was amaaaaaazing! I loved it! I bought a London Mickey bag and four of the limited edition pins for other cast members that requested them yesterday! (Including one for myself of course!) We then headed up Oxford St (via getting a bit lost on a bus that went the wrong direction!) to try and get to Marks and Spencers at Marble Arch so Maria could check out a sofa she wanted to buy for her new house. I grabbed some lunch in the cafe in M&S and then we headed outside to the corner of Hyde Park to chill in the shade. The weather, as the day had progressed, got hotter and hotter - the sun was shining and I was melting in my full interview gear! I made sure we stopped in at H&M and I bought a thin t-shirt top which I put on straight away and that was a little better. My feet are still recovering from the hell I've put them through in the last 24 hours tho....! (It started yesterday by wearing new jelly shoes = blisters and then the heels all morning today!)

At about 5pm I headed back to Paddington and got the train home. And that's where I am now! Yummy informed us that we'd know "by" the 15th June - next Wednesday! I have a sneaky feeling it will either be Thurs/Fri this week or Mon/Tues next week but who knows! In the mean time, I will try and complete the 30 day Disney challenge post that I've been working on and post that up!