Sadly, however much I would love to say I am going to be a Disney Princess I am not.
But believe me I am so excited and feel privileged to be representing the UK and my home town of Fleet. Go Fleet!! Woop woop!
So where will I be working?
If anyone hasn't ever been to Walt Disney World in Florida there is a park called EPCOT (which stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) and within this wonderful park there is a section called the World Showcase where there are 11 different countries represented; Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, the United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom and Canada.
What will I be doing?
I will be working in the UK Pavilion as a Merchandise assistant working in all the different shops.
Each shop offers an insight into UK culture.
The shops include:
The Toy Soldier - Sells toys and memorabilia usually associated with the UK such as; The Beatles, Paddington Bear, Dr Who and Downton Abbey to name a few.
The Crown and Crest - Sells Keep Calm and Carry On Merchandise, including books, shirts, cups and mugs.
Sportsman's Shoppe - Sells football team apparel, footballs, and books. Also Guinness merchandise.
The Tea Caddy - Sells Twinings Tea, teacups, teapots, and British Sweets.
UK Cart - Sells Walt Disney World Trading Pins, lanyards, Minnie and Mickey Plush toys, shot glasses and UK shirts.
*HRC - The Historical Research Centre sells coats-of-arms, swords, and other merchandise and lets you look at the history of your last name.
Also I will at times be based at Kidcot which is located in The Toy Soldier shop for the UK (Kidcot stations can be found in each country represented at the World Showcase) - This is a place designed for young children who love to colour and collect items. A complimentary Duffy the Disney Bear will be provided for children to decorate and personalise with the supplies provided at the station and children can collect stamps as they visit each country. It is also a chance for Cast Members to share insights into their culture with their guests.
*Only HRC CRP people I believe work here but it is a shop in the UK Pavilion so I thought I would mention it even if I won't ever be working in there.
I get asked this question so much you wouldn't believe!
So I thought I would answer it on here. I will be wearing a dress, although sadly it is not a Disney Princess dress but we'll ignore that for now ;). There are two different types of dresses a UK CRP woman can wear, as there is one for the Food & Beverage role and one for Merchandise.
So here is the dress that I will be wearing in my Merchandise role!
(I chose to blur out her face as I don't know her but found this on Google images and I would be creeped out if I came across someone's blog and my face was there without my permission so yeah, that explains that...)
Just to give those interested an idea of how long this process can take I thought it might be useful to see my application timeline:
So once you have the congratulations email and followed the 'accept offer' links from Yummy Jobs and Disney, what's next?
- Program Acceptance Fee: $154.50 Which needs to paid when you accept your offer with Disney. This helps to cover the cost of housing events put on by Disney Housing.
- CRB/DBS Check: £60, which should be paid 7 days after you've accepted your offer with Yummy Jobs.
- Flights - The cost obviously varies as to when your program starts. I'm flying in peak season but managed to get a good deal with Thomas Cook Airlines.
- Medical Insurance - Depends who you go with and whether or not you want to go with Disney (who will only cover you for 8 months of the year as the first 4 months you can't be covered by them you need to be covered by someone else for that time).
- Visa Appointment - Yummy Jobs give you your documents for this 6 weeks before your flying out date so I'm not sure on the costs involved with this yet.
- Hotel in Orlando - If you choose to fly out a day or couple of days before you can check in to your Disney Housing accommodation, hotel stay will need to be sorted. My Disney flight crew and I have sorted out a 2 night stay at Radisson Lake Buena Vista costing just £34.40 each - bargain!
The result part of the CRP application process is not as straightforward as you might think. It is not a simple case of either yes or no being the only options there are in fact three! Yes 3 different result options you might receive.
1- CONGRATULATIONS your dream is coming true, you are going to WDW woohoo!!!
2 - Waitlisted, you meet the Disney standard, but there are no available dates for you at this present time.
You could be on this list from anything to a week, a month, 6months it really does vary! But don't think it is a no, my friend was on it for 2 months then had a congratulations email and told you have 6 weeks until you leave! Crazy.
3 - No, unfortunately you didn't make it this time round. Please re-apply.
The wait from the Face-To-Face interviews felt like an ETERNITY!!!! It is really hard to understand what the waiting feels like unless you have been through this process yourself. It is gruelling, dramatic I know but just trust me on this!
I found out on the 25th November after a very busy day at work that I had been accepted!!! It was music to my ears! MY DREAM WAS COMING TRUE!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I was going to work at Walt Disney World in Florida eeeek!!!!!
I was buzzing to say the least and only my sister was home at the time so after telling her I frantically tried to get hold of my mum before she went to her Pilates class, and tried to contact my Dad. I got through to my Dad and he was overjoyed and so happy for me it was lovely to hear! I had to endure an hour long wait for my Mum to get home so I passed the time with some Disney Karaoke as one does, you know perfectly normal... After telling my immediate family I had to call my Auntie and Uncle who are just as much Disney fans as I am if not more it could be argued, they too were delighted with my news, after them I called my other Auntie and then my grandparents...you get the picture haha!
Then I could break the news on Facebook after informing all the family:
Happy Days!
