I'm not a very good blogger

It's been a while since I wrote here. Part of that is because I've been busy with school, went out of town for spring break, and to be honest, I've also been a bit lazy. That's really one of the first things you learn about me. I'm lazy. I wish it wasn't always true but alas, it is. What can you do? And really, I'm not sure what to write about now, the CP being quite a ways off still. Anyway, I figured since I'm already procrastinating studying for my Organizational Behavior exam tomorrow , why not update the old blog? So here I am.

Like I mentioned in my last entry, I spent spring break in Disney World with my parents. It was wonderful being able to enjoy some gorgeous weather for a week. Disney World was as enjoyable as always only this time it was quite a weird sensation knowing that the next time I'll be there it won't be as a guest but as an actual Cast Member. That thought still blows my mind. I also sort of started scoping out various places that I may enjoy working. There are two main components of QSFB. You can either be placed in one of their restaurants or outside at the carts that sell water/soda, ice cream, popcorn, etc. I've decided that I'd definitely prefer to work outside at one of the carts. Since I've worked in a fast food restaurant before, even if the role is basically the same, being outside at a cart will provide a different experience than my time at Culvers. Plus, if there aren't any guests around, you can just people watch which is one of my favorite parts about being in Disney World. I actually sent an email to Disney College Recruiting requesting Outdoor Foods. I never got a response from them so I hope they got it and put it with the rest of my information. Maybe when my check in date gets closer I'll send another email or call them. At this point I don't really care which park I'm at, although I did request Magic Kingdom in the email I sent. And like I said in the last entry, during my interview I named Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom as my favorite parks so I'm still crossing my fingers I end up at one of those two but really, I don't care too much. Disney World is Disney World, I'm just happy to be there. And from what I've gathered, QSFB cast members can pick up shifts in other locations as the training is all the same. So even if my "base" is at one of the four parks, I could potentially pick up shifts at the other three which is totally awesome. I could be wrong about that but I'm pretty sure that's possible. Also, being the girl that I am, I paid a bit more attention to the costumes Cast Members at the restaurants were wearing and how I'd feel if I had to wear it. o:)

Like I mentioned in my last entry, being big baseball fans, my dad and I decided to take in a Braves Spring Training game at the Wide World of Sports Complex. That was a fun and relaxing atmosphere and I'd love to go back. My dad and I of course both wore Brewers shirts which meant we got a few comments about being in the wrong state. One of the Cast Members in the stadium even said his brother was the Dean of the College of Education at Marquette. Small world, huh?

I also celebrated my 21st birthday in Disney World. We really didn't do anything too special but it was still fun. We spent the morning/early afternoon at Epcot and then headed over to Hollywood Studios and had dinner at 50s Prime Time Cafe. Since my dad had mentioned it was my birthday when he made the reservation, when we got dessert, our "cousin" announced it to the room that I was 21 and had them sing happy birthday to me. Then we went and saw the first show of Fantasmic before heading back to the resort. This was even in our room when we got back!

The picture is a signed photo of Cinderella in front of the castle. Pretty awesome and a nice surprise!

So overall it was a really fun trip. Leaving Disney World is always pretty sad but this time it was a little bit easier knowing that I'll be going back soon for the Program! So exciting!

In other news, my dad made airline reservations for us for August. My check in date is August 22nd so we'll be flying down August 20th. My dad's going to be staying a few days after check in as well to make sure I'm settled and everything before he comes back to Milwaukee.

As of now the most important thing to me is getting everything straightened out at Marquette. I met with the Associate Dean of the College of Business the week before spring break to discuss everything and he said that all I'll have to do is give them some sort of verification that I'm going to be doing the program(like my acceptance letter) and I'll be able to enroll in a zero credit class which means that I'll still be considered a Marquette student, even though I'm not taking any classes. I'll also still get university emails and when it comes time to register for the spring 2012 semester, I'll have a registration date and time on my checkmarq account. And even though Marquette requires that you submit a form verifying that you had an advising meeting before registering or else you're locked out of your time, I'll just be able to email him and he'll be able to help me out which will be great. I really don't want to be locked out and not able to register until the last day! I'm pretty relieved that this process doesn't seem to be as complicated as I feared it'd be. However I still haven't been able to get a permission number for the zero credit class. I emailed the associate dean earlier this week asking when I could give them a copy of my letter and he directed me to someone in the Business Career Center who he said could help me. So I emailed him but he directed me to someone else in the Career Center. Ahh. I haven't emailed him yet but hopefully he will be able to help me and I can get this straightened out soon.

I also got another email from Disney this week. I love getting emails from them. It just makes it seem so...official.

Wow for having nothing to talk about, I wrote a lot. I'm sorry for the long entries. Hopefully I can start using this more and make the entries more frequent and shorter. But for now, my Organizational Behavior notes are calling me.

The application process

Since I waited to start this blog until after I already got accepted, if there's any future CP hopefuls reading this, I thought I'd take a little time to talk about the application process. Basically, there are 4 steps in the application process for the Disney College Program.
1. Attend a Campus Presentation or watch the E-Presentation
The Presentation is an opportunity to learn more about the program and is required for all applicants. If you attend a campus presentation, it's also an opportunity to talk to a recruiter and ask any questions you may have. When I first started seriously considering this program last March, I attended a presentation at MATC and when I left, I knew 100% that I wanted to do this. However, if there is no presentation at your school or a school near yours, you can watch the e-presentation which provides the same information, it's just online. If you're hoping to apply as soon as the applications go up, definitely watch the e-presentation. No matter which you decide to do though, at the end of the presentation, you will receive a confirmation code which is necessary to complete the interview process.

2. Complete the role checklist/Application
This is the step where you select which roles you will be receptive to if accepted into the program. With the exception of the role checklist, the rest is just like pretty much any other job application where you fill out your personal information, past work experience, etc.

3. Web-Based Interview
This was the step that scared me more than any other because the results of your WBI determine whether you will be eligible for a phone interview. The purpose of this interview is to evaluate your personality. It's filled with questions about if you're on time, a team player, reliable, dependable, etc. The questions are very basic and scored on a Strongly Agree/Strongly Disagree scale. However, there are many instances where the same question is asked multiple times but in different words. Such as, "I am always on time." and "I am never late." The purpose of doing this is to make sure you remain consistent with your answers. The best way to complete the interview is to answer honestly(it's easier to remain consistent that way) and answer strongly whenever possible and avoid neutral answers. Immediately after the WBI, you will see your results and whether you can continue on and schedule a phone interview.

I actually applied for the program for Spring 2011 and failed the WBI. This time, I made sure that my answers were consistent and (obviously) I passed. I also think it's important to note that if you do not pass the Web-based interview, you have to wait 6 months before you can retake it. So if you applied now and failed the WBI, you would have to wait until September to reapply even though the applications go up in August. Back when I applied for Spring, I applied the first day they went up in August and had to wait until February to reapply.

4. Phone Interview
Like I said before, the results of your WBI will determine if you can schedule a phone interview. This is really the most important part of the application process. They ask you a lot of basic questions about the Disney look, receptive to minimum wage, past work experience, etc. but then they also get into more specific questions about the roles you selected. When preparing for the phone interview, blogs from former/current cps were extremely helpful, but another resource was The Dis. There is an entire board dedicated to College Students and a lot of the topics have to do with the Disney College Program. So when you're preparing for your phone interview, I'd definitely check it out as they have common interview questions for almost every role in the program. They also have some wonderful interview tips that were extremely helpful.

Here's how my interview went. I applied February 17, 2011(6 months after I last applied) and my phone interview was February 19th at 9:30 am. During the first part of my interview, we went over my application where I was asked about the Disney look, if I was receptive to being paid between $7.25-$8.75, if I'd been convicted of a crime, if I had a valid drivers license, etc. These questions were all pretty easy to answer with a yes or a no.
The second part was where I really got to talk.
1. We talked about my past work experience and she asked which job that I've had has been my favorite.
2. The ever important why you want to work for Disney and if I'd ever consider working full time with Disney. This is definitely something you're going to want to have an answer prepared for as it is always asked. I was also asked if I had a favorite park or attraction.
3. Would you rather work in groups or independently?
4. How would you describe your work pace?
5. She of course asked what my top 3 roles were and asked if I would be interested in adding custodial or housekeeping. She made a comment about how I had a good long list of roles at the beginning of the interview. This really made me nervous even though she said there was no right or wrong answer and after I said no, she just said ok and we moved on. It's quite common for interviewers to ask if you're willing to add roles such as QSFB or housekeeping to your checklist as these are roles that require a lot of people but not many people want. If you really don't want to do them, don't be afraid to say no. I said my top 3 were Attractions, Merchandise, and Character Attendant.
6. Why do you want to be a character attendant?
7. What have you done in your past jobs where you've made a guest feel special?
8. How would I instill Disney magic from beginning to end at the entrances? Or something like that. This was a question directed towards Main Entrance Operations.
9. Do you have any cash handling experience? I mentioned working at a fast food restaurant at the beginning and after asking this she was like, "Oh at Culvers', right?"
10. She asked about my experience speaking in front of groups and how it makes me feel. I mentioned most of my experience was from presentations in class so she asked what the longest speech I've had to memorize was.
11. She also asked how I'd feel about doing a job that was repetitive. Then she asked what I'd do if I was interrupted while giving a speech or something.

That's pretty much all I was asked. Overall my interview took about 20 minutes. I actually really wasn't sure how it had went because while my interviewer was so nice, it seemed like at the end she was ready to hang up. I had a feeling that if I was going to get accepted I'd get QSFB because it was on my role checklist and I have experience in fast food. It definitely wans't my first choice but I'm not upset about it. I'm just going to make the most of it. At the end I asked if I could request a work location and since I said my favorite park was Hollywood Studios or Magic Kingdom she said that she had put that in. However I did send an email yesterday requesting outdoor foods at the Magic Kingdom as my work location.

At the end of the interview I was told that it would be 3-4 weeks before I heard anything which is pretty standard but plenty of people hear before that. I was accepted 10 days after my interview. How you are informed of your acceptance also varies. Most of the time, they send out acceptance emails but also some people just receive the purple folder in the mail.

I guess that's pretty much all about the interview process. This is such a long entry but I hope anyone who's reading this as a CP hopeful found it helpful. That is if anyone made it through the entire thing.

I'm off to Disney World Saturday for my spring break. I'm so excited and can't wait to enjoy some warm weather for a change. I'm also going to a Braves game at the Wide World of Sports which will be a lot of fun. I've never been to the Wide World of Sports before and as someone who loves baseball, I can't wait to see a live game again, even if it's not my team(Go Brewers!)

Again, sorry for the novel.

On an unrelated note, Go Marquette!! Beat Louisville!

Let the countdown begin!!

I just officially accepted my offer at Disney. I’ll be checking in August 22, 2011 and I’ll be coming home on January 6th, 2012. So exciting!

Look what I got today!

6 days after being accepted I received my purple folder!
I tried taking a picture of myself with the folder but none really turned out so I'll probably try again tomorrow. But isn't it just the most beautiful folder?

Back to studying for midterms.

"They say if you dream a thing more than once it's sure to come true."

Well hello there. I'm not quite sure how to start these types of things. I guess first things first; welcome! Last Tuesday, March 1, 2011, I was accepted to participate in the Disney College Program for the Fall 2011 season as a Quick Service Food and Beverage Cast Member. I haven't offically accepted my invitation yet so I'm not exactly sure when I'll be starting but I cannot wait. This was my second time applying for this program but the first time being accepted. This blog is meant to serve a few purposes. It will be a place for me to share my Disney College Program experience and hopefully to inform future CP hopefuls about the program. Plus, I had so much fun reading other people's blogs before applying for the program that I wanted to start my own once I got accepted. I hope I'm able to keep updating this throughout my entire program because I'd love to look back years from now and relive this experience.

I've still got months to go before my program so until then I'll be using this blog to talk about the application process, vent frustrations and fears I have, but also to organize my thoughts. I'm also completely new at this so I hope I can get this blog looking a little better before people (hopefully) start reading it. So this will just be the first of many entries to come about the experience of a lifetime.