Is this still a good time to talk?

Sorry for the delay on posting but it’s been a busy week. I was out of town all weekend visiting my little brother at college.

So you’ve made it past the web interview. It wasn’t too tough right? If you haven’t already called to schedule your phone interview make sure to give yourself a generous amount of time. Your not going to want to feel pressured right before your interview. They suggest using a home phone because it will have better service but if your house is anything like mine, you have multiple extensions and run the risk of having someone else pick up the phone while your on it. I used my cell phone and just sat in the backyard.

Preparing For the Phone Interview

There is a lot that you can do to make your phone interview go smoothly. The links I posted earlier all have sections involving questions that are asked during the interview. When I was preparing I found all the questions I could and wrote out answers for each question.

• Here is a link to an extremely helpful post on micechat.com. Look for post #1009. http://micechat.com/forums/walt-disney-world-resort/10779-college-program-68.html

• Here is another link with some more interview questions http://www.facebook.com/#!/topic.php?uid=272325548167&topic=16498

A few minutes before your call I’d head to a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted and try to relax a bit. I was sooooo nervous before the phone call. My stomach was a mess but once I got on the phone and got going I completely relaxed. Make sure to have any notes you took handy along with your role checklist and a pen. There will be time to ask questions if you have any so have those prepared and ready to go.

The Actual Phone Interview

The phone calls are usually on time. There have been a few people who have had late phone calls. The call might come up as an unknown number so be prepared for that. The biggest tip I can give is to answer your phone with a smile in place. They want an outgoing happy person. When they call they will confirm that this is a good time to talk. The interview is generally around 20 minutes, sometimes it’s a bit more. Mine was 25 minutes. During the interview they will have you select your top 3 roles and confirm some information. The questions they ask during the interview will usually center around those roles with a few other questions about some of the other roles that you selected. They will ask if you are interested in doing Quick Service Food and Beverage if you didn’t pick it. It’s not a big deal to say no. I just said that there are so many other areas I’m interested in I’d prefer to be in one of those. They will take notes during the question section. Feel free to make conversation with the person who interviews you. I spent maybe 5 minutes or so during the course of my interview just talking with her. I made an effort to give the woman a snapshot of who I am and found a way to show we had something in common. I wanted the woman to get off the phone and remember me later. Overall just relax and have fun with it, try to make it a conversation versus an interview, and most of all smile and be friendly!

Step by Step Application

So you’ve decided to apply. Congrats! It’s a scary and exciting step your about to take but don’t worry there is so much information out there you’ll be fine if you just take the time to prepare. Here is the step by step process for applying.

Step 1. Watch web presentation or go to school presentation.
Step 2. Take Web Interview
Step 3. Do role checklist
Step 4. Phone Interview
Step 5. The dreaded wait.

Step 1. I did the web presentation because I wanted to apply right away. I watched the web presentation and did the web interview on August 18th – the very first day possible. I found Tara, the girl who shows you around, extremely irritating. I watched it 2 months ago so I don’t remember everything but I also don’t think it was very helpful. I still had tons of questions that I didn’t get answered. I turned to blogs, vlogs, and discussion boards for real answers.

• I also went to my school’s presentation on Sept. 29th. I was already in at that point but it was really really helpful! Even if you’ve applied or are already in the program I’d suggest going to your school’s presentation. There were former CPers there to talk to about their experiences. My school offers credit so that was talked about as well. Also the videos they show are way better and Tara wasn’t in them!

Step 2. The web interview is really easy. Some people do fail but just take your time, answer honestly and you’ll be fine. The format is the same all the way through just kinda long. For example the question might be “You are frequently late” and you can choose “strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree”. There might be a neutral in that but I can’t remember. Earlier I said answer honestly and I do believe that you should but I fibbed a bit. In my personal life I am frequently late but when it comes to work I’m on time and work hard. Some people say that Disney prefers the “strongly” answers but who really knows on that. I tried to put mostly “strongly” responses but I also didn’t want to exaggerate it. They will repeat questions later in different ways so make sure you read each questions carefully!

Step 3. The role checklist, one of the hardest parts to me, so many choices! Read the role descriptions carefully and make sure to check off only roles you want to do. You can check off as many or as few as you want. The mores roles you check the greater your chance of getting in. Checking off quick Service Food and Beverage will greatly increase your chances of getting in. Just don’t forget if you check it they can give it to you so don't check a role unless you really want it.

• I was confused on when we rank what our top 3 roles are. You do that during the phone interview. I thought we did that here for the longest time so when I was checking off roles I was a bit worried.

Step 4 and 5 will have their own blog because this is getting a bit long! Feel free to leave me a comment if you have any questions!

To CP or not to CP…

Is that your question? I know many people debate over participating in the program. I can really only tell you why I decided to do it. I love Disney. I really enjoy spending time at the parks and have always found the history as well as the behind the scenes aspects of the company interesting. I don’t think that there is any feeling in the world like walking under the train and coming out on Main Street and seeing the castle for the first time. I’ve made amazing memories and found out some very bad news in the Parks. Disney has been a part of my life for a long time and I want to make those kinds of memories for others. I used to play a game in the park with my friends. We would walk around and say “if I worked at the park I’d want to…” The end was usually whatever we had just done. Though my answers were mostly “work at the Haunted Mansion” or “plan weddings”. As to how I went from loving Disney to planning my move is very simple. I was walking around campus one day and saw a flyer for the CP. It made me think. I love Disney World. I love Fl. It would be hella fun. I have tons of friends in FL. I could make a bunch more friends. Oh and it would look great on my resumé. After that I spent hours on different sites reading all about the program and people who have done it. I asked someone I knew who had done it and they loved it. When I was in WDW in June I actually talked to someone who was doing a Summer Alumni program. She loved it too. Some people believe they got their current jobs because of their CP. Having a company like Disney on your resumé makes people take notice. The level of service and quality of training that Disney gives stays with their employees. Furthermore I want to do the wedding planning Professional Internship and I have to do the CP first.

Some people are worried about being homesick. I’m something of an expert on that. I moved to South FL right out of high school for college. I knew not a single person. It was an amazing experience. You get to reinvent yourself. You can become anyone you want. Of course I missed my family but I found ways to deal with it. I usually locked myself in my bedroom for an afternoon and watched Christmas movies. I know it sounds weird but Christmas has always been a constant when it comes to my family. If your afraid of being away from family just remember they are always a phone call away and eventually you’ll find something that brings home to you. Besides you’ll be surrounded by friends who will make you smile when you feel down. If that doesn’t work how about a spin on your favorite ride or a hug from a mouse? It’s a chance to spread your wings in a safe place. Believe me nothing is more freeing than taking that leap of faith.

If your looking for some more information to help make your decision. Here are a couple of links.

Micechat has a massively long forum all about the College Program. It's a long read but once your finally done your head will be full of great info.
http://micechat.com/forums/walt-disney-world-resort/10779-college-program.html

Disboards is another site like Micechat. Tons of info and worth the time to read.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2034882

And for a something a bit more fun a legend in the Disney College Program Vlog World
http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnWDWCP#p/u/50/M1okcjfTiE8

Photo Fun

I was going to post about how I decided to do the CP but I decided to just post a couple of my favorite Disney Photos and one outside of Disney photo. I thought I'd try to post some out of Disney photos to give you readers an view of my everyday life. Every picture I put here I took unless I otherwise specify.

This first one is from St. Patrick's day in St. Paul. I lived in St. Paul for a year and I absolutely loved it!


This one is a favorite from the Parks. I absolutely love this attraction and had to wait around for a bit before the sign lit up.


I LOVE LOVE LOVE SpectroMagic. While I am excited to have Main Street Eletrical Parade while I'm in the CP I'll always like Spectro more.

Move In date

Well I’ve done an awful job of posting like I said I was. In all fairness I have tons of schoolwork.

I picked my move in date. This was a tough decision for 1 reason only. I know it’s going to sound crazy but Les Miserables is playing in Ft. Lauderdale. It starts on the 18th and goes until the 30th. I have seen Les Mis before, like 5 times, but that doesn’t matter. It is one of those plays that no matter how many times I see it if I have the chance I’m all over it. Also it’s only been playing in London for years and isn’t playing all over the US so this is a rare opportunity.

Anyways you guys get the point I’m dying to see Les Mis but my dates conflict. I ended up picking January 19th - Aug. 5th for 2 reasons.

1. I want to live in Chatham 3 bedroom and I think the sooner I move in the better.
2. I found a kick ass roommate!

#2 is the main reason. We did these roommate questionnaire and her response to the “Are you tidy/messy” question was “I am messy but not dirty, if that makes sense but I will respect your space and do my best to keep picked up.” DING DING DING!! We have a winner! I’m not tidy. I’m messy but not dirty and everyone else was saying they were “tidy” and I knew that wasn’t going to work too well. So I snagged the honest person and we’ll be messy together.

I totally like picking my roommate in advance. It gives me a chance to get to know her and we’ve found out we actually have a lot in common. I think it’s a great idea to at least get your roommate picked out in advance. This gives you a chance to get to know at least 1 person before move in date.

Welcome!!

Yes my official welcome post is going to be my second post but the truth is I wouldn’t have done a blog if I hadn’t gotten into the College Program. Time for a little background about myself. I’m a 25 year old native Chicagoan. After graduating high school I went to school at Florida Atlantic University for 3 years. I was a marine biology major there and after 3 years decided that life in a lab wasn’t for me. So I discontinued school and moved to Washington State to work on a ranch for a year. After that I moved back to Chicago for a couple of months before moving to Minnesota for a year. Once my year in MN was done I moved back to Chicago and started school again in Spring 2010. I’m currently attending College of DuPage and am planning to transfer once my semester at WDW is done.

I’m a big photography nut so I’m sure I’ll post some pictures up here. I love to read, listen to music, go to museums, and do anything outdoors. I am a full-fledged Disney nut. When my phone rings Disney music plays and my room is filled with Disney stuff. My personal motto is “Let’s live today”. That might not make much sense to most people but an old friend woke me up one morning and told me “Kat, let’s live today.” So we went all Ferris Bueller and just had an amazing day of doing all the things we always said we would. I still try to “live” as much as possible and I think Walt Disney World will be a most excellent place to do that.

I wanted to give you guys my own personal Disney Shorten Vocabulary List. Learn it well my readers for there will be random quizzes through the blog. Mostly because I am too lazy to actually write out all the worlds all the time.

Disney Shorten Vocabulary List

Walt Disney World – WDW
College Program – CP
Merchandise – Merch
Haunted Mansion – HM
Splash Mountain – SM
Space Mountain – SpaM
Rockin Roller Coaster – RnR
Toy Story Midway mania – TSMM
Main Street Electrical Parage – MSEP
Magic Kingdom – MK
Animal Kingdom – AK
Disney’s Hollywood Studios – MGM… just kidding DHS

That’s all I can think of for now but if I use anymore I’ll add to the list.

Well I’m off to a family party but now that I’m in the groove I’ll try to add something everyday even if it’s just a quote, picture, or fun link.