So, in 22 days (eek!)
I will be traveling roughly 4,235 miles around the world to work for one of the
greatest entertainment company the world has ever seen, yep you guessed it,
Walt Disney – and one particularly adorable Mouse! I will be working as an
Operations and Costuming Cast member on the Academic Exchange Program.
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On October 9th 2012, I had my first meeting and stage of
interviews for Disney. First of all, we arrived a little late because it was
absolutely throwing it down with rain and we decided to try and get a taxi.
TIP #1 - Be prepared for all weathers, this is England people!
The
lovely presenters from Yummy Jobs first gave us lengthy presentation all about
working for Disney (roles, the Disney Look, pay, living, the perks etc.) and the kind
of things we could expect to experience and what Disney would expect from us as
Cast Members. We were also told a little information on the Central Michigan University, the college who we
would be enrolled and studying with. Once this was over, we were given time
slots for our first stage group interview – I was lucky and shared my time slot
with my three closest friends. (Hi Shauna, Emma and RaCH!)
Before the group interview I was SO nervous, I just did not know
what to expect! It was one of the funniest and most relaxed interview I’ve
experienced to date. I mean you’re talking about Disney, what’s not fun about
that?
The interview was held in a 'panel' type setting, which I immediately thought would be rather intimidating but alas I was quite wrong. The interview panel was made
up of two Yummy Jobs representatives and two UCLan students that had just been
on the 12-month program themselves. They asked us questions like “what does
Disney mean to you?” “Can you give us a fun fact about yourself?” and “if you
were a Disney character who do you think you would be?” (EH? Hardest question
to answer on the spot!) They did ask a few other questions but I genuinely don’t
remember them, I just remember laughing quite a lot so that’s nice.
On the 23rd October 2012, I received an email from Yummy
Jobs inviting me to a final stage interview on Wednesday 14th
November 2012, YAY! It said that I had to dress in professional/business
attire, so I, obviously (Shauna!), had to go shopping for that!
On the Wednesday we had to be there for 9am, so we literally set off
about 30 minutes before we needed to be setting off (because of what happened during the first stage) –
apparently everyone had the same idea as we ended up sitting on the very front
row. For this presentation we had a lady from the International Casting Office
whose name I can’t remember and Dean Wallin from CMU. Between the two of them
they basically repeated what the first stage presentation told us, it was just
a little more… American. Again, we were then given time slots for our actual
one-on-one interview, my time was at 4pm – which was a little irritating as I
had a horse to see to and work at 6. I didn’t have my interview till more like
5pm, by which time panic had set as I wasn’t sure I’d make it to work, and I
was so anxious to get it over with.
TIP #2 - Do not arrange to work afterwards because it's already a stressful situation. Avoid adding on anymore unnecessary stress, it's... unnecessary!
The interviews were split into two sections (the lady and then Dean)
and we were to go in, in pairs for the Disney lady. The girl I was with,
although very lovely, liked to talk. A lot. She often spoke over the nice
American lady and had lots to say about running her own café. During this point
I literally wanted the ground to swallow me up, as I a) thought I was going to
be late for work and b) worked at a cinema and did not practically run my own business c) thought I had zero chance of
being considered, never mind accepted to work at Disney. I was asked questions such as “what factors do you think you
would have to overcome in order to complete this program?” To which I replied
“well I went to a summer camp in America last year and I didn’t really get home
sick, so I think I’ll be fine really.” DOH. She also asked me if I would be
able to deal with speaking in front an audience of large crowds (NO!!!) and why
I thought that costuming had any relevance to my course. It was that question
and answer that I think probably got me a few brownie points.
Next was Dean. What a lovely man he was! He asked me much more
personal questionnaires to do with my character – such as strengthens and
weaknesses.
TIP #3 – have an answer for this prepared! Especially the
strengths. DO NOT sit and “errrrmmmm…” for literally a good minute before
coming up with the worst answer ever. So embarrassing.
I can’t even remember
what I said for my strengths, probably something to do with how I like to chat
on to anybody and everybody, but for my weaknesses I literally pulled out my
pre-written list that was as long as my arm. I mainly focused on my anxiety/stress issues and my
self-confidence, and we had a good chat about this and how Disney will only help
me improve these. Phew! He was genuinely so lovely and made me feel very
comfortable – although I’m pretty sure he was literally scoring me with
numbers? Mm, I would say I’m definitely a solid all-round 10/10, don’t cha
think.
Once the interview was over, I literally pegged it to my car to find
that there a lovely parking ticket on my windscreen (sorry Dad if you’re
reading this because this will be the first you know of it!) I had parked in a
permit holder area, instead of about 2 metres behind me in a three-hour stay
area. Oops! I already wasn’t confident
with how the interview went (see what I mean about self-confidence?) and now a parking ticket was the just the icing on
the cake. (Side note, I was on time for work though!)
Exactly one week later on Wednesday 21st November 2012, I
received Congratulations! email from Yummy Jobs informing me that I had been
offered a place on the Walt Disney World Academic Exchange Program starting on the 15th of July 2013. I
was offered the roles of Quick Service Food
& Beverage, Operations and Costuming.
-Queue screams and tears!- Not my first pick, but that’s okay it’s Disney either way! After a change in the
program the QSFB was later dropped (not from the program, just for me) so my
official Cast Member roles will be Operations and Costuming!
Lots (and lots and lots and lots) of waiting, many payments, a new passport, a trip to London for my Visa
(which I’ll post about on a later date) and a few shopping trips later and it brings us to today! 22 days away from starting the bravest year of my life to date. I’m
about to turn 20 years old and I’m about to begin working for the mouse that
represents all things childish, it’s such a strange concept to grasp. Which is
why I decided that I really should blog it, it’ll be nice to be able to look
back and see my progression one day. I can’t promise that I’ll keep up with this blog,
I'm USELESS at trying to keep a journal but I will try my hardest to keep up with this!
So without further ado, hello! I’m Abi, I'm 19 years old from Manchester, England and this is my magical and mystical journey of becoming WDW Cast Member!
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