Hey everyone. Name is James and I shall be posting and keeping you updated as I go on my journey to Disney for a year :D
Firstly I would like to tell you about my interview and the process I had to go through before I was offered a place...
It was a dark stormy night long long ago in 2006 lol. We were actually at Tower Of Terror at the newly named Disney Studios in Orlando. My mum got talking to the girl working in the exit shop and found out that she was from a town just down the road from our home town. She told us about the programme which she was on and how to apply for it. We had to contact Yummy Jobs (http://www.yummyjobs.com/) with a CV and Cover Letter. As I was 17 I had to wait until I was 18 to apply.
I then became a member of http://www.wdwip.com/ and left a few messages on the forums. I found loads of great information on here to do with the work, living, and the Disney experience. As well as the programmes that I was eligible to take part in. The only one that I was really interested in was The Cultural Representative programme. In this I would be working at EPCOT in the UK Pavilion of the World Showcase, in Food and Beverage or Merchandise. As well as making magic for guests I would be expected to tell people about my home town and (as it says on the tin) my culture. I figured I wanted to do Merchandise the most as I worked in a restaurant before and just felt that it wasn't for me, but if it came to it I always expressed that I would do absolutely anything to work with The Walt Disney Company.
After sending my CV and Cover Letter to Yummy Jobs, I received an email within a week or so asking me to confirm a date and time to arrange a phone call interview. This was a short way of checking that I wasn't a complete lunatic or something I guess :op but even so I had to work my hardest and be well prepared for it. My interviewer was a lovely woman called Michele, and I felt really comfortable talking with her. I also got tipped to write down some mock questions and answers on a piece of paper and have it with me by the phone. This paid off as I got an email a week later saying I was to attend the final stage of the interview process at The Disney Attractions Office in Hammersmith, London.
Before I went to this I had another family holiday to Disney World :D I thought it would be very useful to look more at the working side of Disney and spoke to many people already taking part in the programme to try and find out their views on it (which I got some really great tips and information).
And so Wednesday the 26th of September 2007 (my interview date) grew closer. We (my mum and I) booked our train tickets and accommodation for the Tuesday night (as my interview was at 9a.m.). On the morning of the 25th I woke up stone cold nervous about my interview I was physically unable to move because I didn't know what to expect.
We arrived at Darlington train station to find out that our train was cancelled and we should board an earlier train. We jumped on our new train and sat in someone else's seats for as long as possible, but I knew that with the train getting even more crowded that we should find some seats that hadn't been reserved. I only had to walk one cabin to find our seat to Kings Cross. When we arrived there was police everywhere and I thought that there was a bomb or something, however there was not. They weren't letting people into Kings Cross underground station so we walked along to the next station to get to Turnham Green (where our B and B was). Having our train being canceled and not being able to get into Kings Cross, we thought that we were getting weird signs about the trip. But never the less we checked into our B and B (which was a room no bigger than a cupboard (not literally)) and went into London for and adventure. We were looking for a MnS to get some crisps and dip (which is now a ritual when we visit London). We came out of an underground station to find the shop closed... or at least we thought lol. Well actually... Mum thought. It was wide open so we went in and got some food. :o) We then found a nice chinese take away place which I had the best noodles that I've had so far...
As you can see...
Nice huh? :op anyways we got back to our B and B and went to sleep. Well Mum went to sleep. I was far to nervous and couldn't sleep with Mum's SNORING!!! Grrr! Finally, around 2ish I nodded off.
I awoke the next morning took a quick snap shot of our dump... *cough* Erm... I mean B and B, and we hit the road.
We got to Hammersmith station around half 8, with me feeling even more nervous, and went into McDonald's to pass the time. We also visited the Disney store which was pretty cool.
Finally I arrived at the Disney attractions office.
To find that I was in the wrong place lol. I needed to be at phase B, which was at the other side of the building, so I quickly got my stuff over there.
I walked in to see a giant Mickey statue with a silver studs all around. I got escorted up to waiting suite, filled out my application form, met some of my friends from the WDWIP forum, and went into the presentation room. We were shown a short presentation about the working, living, and learning experience whilst on the programme and had a short question and answer session (which included me getting an international programmes pin for forgetting the names of Happy and Grumpy when asked who could name all seven dwarfs, which I still can't get over). I then got my interview time and decided to go and have some dinner with Mum.
I returned half an hour before my interview time as the Yummy Jobs people wanted to go over our application forms before we went in. I was to be interviewed with a very cheerful guy, who really settled me down before I was interviewed. He had already taken part in the International Summer Programme last year and shared my enthusiasm for Disney. In my interview, I expressed my passion for The Walt Disney Company, spoke briefly about my home town and culture, where I had travelled to, and my previous work experience. The guy who interviewed us said that what the company is looking for is people who are passionate about what they do, and that he enjoyed the interview and would really look forwards to seeing us again. I thought I knew what this meant... But I didn't want to get my hopes up. I then returned home and started the wait to hear the outcome.
One week later everyone was going crazy on the boards saying they had been accepted and many people got advised to ring Yummy Jobs to find out... So I did.
The woman who I rang said that she was just getting round to ringing me and said she could proudly say that I had been accepted. I would be working in Merchandise and will be starting in September... Well obviously my emotions got the better of me as she arranged to call me back within the next few days. I immediately phoned my Mum and through tears of joy told her that I had been accepted.
Over all I think that the interview process was a long series of waiting. And now I have just another looooong wait to go lol. I shall update this blog closer to the date that I fly and will close this post off with a few pictures from London.
