Not Disney Related but...

Something very exciting has happened in the Rose/McCullough household this week, my sister-in-law won a Millie Award (Military Awards hosted by The Sun Newspaper)! She won the Most Outstanding Sailor or Marine award which is amazing and even more amazing is the fact they flew my brother from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, where he is currently serving, to surprise her during the awards ceremony! The reason this was so special for her is because despite being married 18 months, they have only spent 5 weeks together due to their commitment to the Navy and they last saw each other in August :( Ronnie Wood presented her with the award and it will be televised on ITV at 9pm Monday 16th December :) We are all very proud of her and she truly deserves to be recognised for the amazing work she does. You can find out more about the award here: Link

Dreams really do come true....

So I know I've been a bit quiet recently but I've been really busy working loads of overtime and sorting out bits and pieces for my sisters baby shower etc but I have some news!

I GOT THE CALL!!!!!

As you can tell I'm pretty excited right now ! I'm going on April 29th 2014 and will be in Food and Beverage!!! YAYYYYYY !

So basically I had completely given up hope on Disney because I had emailed Louise a few weeks ago to see where current waitlisters stood compared to the new applicants and she had said that Yummy were not expecting Disney to give out anymore dates for our application round :( I took it as an official no and started to think about reapplying in Spring and just started living life as if Disney was not going to happen, I was gutted but at least I knew not to get my hopes up anymore. I let the other waitlisters know too so everyone was at least pre-warned that we would probably be receiving a rejection email soon.

On Thursday 28th November I was having the WORST morning and had even been in tears with frustration about what to do with my life. I had just come back to my desk from our daily team 'huddle' and checked my phone quickly (a habit from waiting for the call for 8 months which had stuck even when I wasn't expecting the call!) and saw that I had a missed call and voicemail from Yummy Jobs (I had saved the number after almost having numerous heart attacks over unknown numbers calling me in the past). I swung round in my chair and said to my friend "Oh my god I have a missed call from Disney" and asked my manager if I could run around the corner and call them. As I walking off of the office floor I listened to the voicemail which was Louise asking me to call her! I was freaking out & shaking loads when I called and was very relieved it was Louise who answered. We started speaking about a picture of Nick during his CRP that YJ had tweeted me after I said they should tweet pictures of them on their programs and I said how happy he looked in it which is when Louise said 'Well how would you like to be that happy and work for Disney?'

All I can really remember saying was 'oh my god yes!' I was so so so happy and felt so overwhelmed I thought I was going to cry and was totally freaking out. Louise told me my date and said I had a really good arrival group and would be sending out an offer letter to me. When I got off of the phone I tried calling my mum, my boyfriend and both my sisters none of which answered their phones!!! I sent a really excited text to my boyfriend with my date etc but really wanted to tell my mum over the phone so text her asking her to call me on my work number ASAP as it was really important. I went back to my desk where my team all started congratulating me etc which was really lovely, I am very lucky to have such supportive colleagues and manager. My manager was just joking about how she was going to tell my mum before I got a chance when the phone rung and it was her! 

The phone call went a bit like this:

Me: "Mum guess who's moving to Disney World?"

Mum: "Who?" (seriously mother?! How many people do you know that have applied?!)

Me: "ME! I just got the call from Yummy Jobs and I go on the 29th April AND I got food and beverage!!!"

Mum: "No! No way! No! *SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM, MORE SCREAMING AND THEN EVEN MORE SCREAMING*"

Then she started crying which naturally made me cry (please bear in mind that at this point I was on the phone on our desk in the middle of the office haha). Telling my mum was probably one of the best moments of my life so far. 

The rest of the day was spent getting lots of congratulations, hugs, cards and even a cute little Minnie key ring! Needless to say my mind was definitely not at work that day! When I got home me, mum, John (the boy) and my little brother Brett got takeaway and toasted my new job with some champagne- Mum made a toast but started crying during the first sentence, bless! I think all of the family will be going for a meal this weekend or early next week to celebrate which will be nice :)

I am so happy that this finally happened and I love my start date :) only 5 months to go!!!! It's actually the day after my sisters birthday but 3 days before my sisters baby is due which is a bit rubbish but we are going to ask the baby very nicely to make an early appearance by about 4 days so hopefully they listen to us :) 

I just can't believe it happened when I least expected it and had given up all hope. I am actually so thankful to have been on the waitlist now because I appreciate having a date even more now and dare I say it has actually taught me to be more patient? I am the happiest girl in the world right now <3

Is it really time for Pre-Screens again ?!

So I'll start off with some wonderful news ! I don't know if you remember from my previous posts but I mentioned my friend Erin who was also on the wait list from the previous application round? Well any way to cut a long story short- she was on the wait list for 7 months when she got an email to say that Disney were no longer considering her for a position :( So reapplied this time and got a no originally but then about a week later received a phone call inviting her to Pre-Screen :D YAY ! Very happy for her as she's been a massive help for me whilst I've been waiting :)

So anyhoo, back to the real reason behind this post- Pre-Screens ! Manchester Pre-Screens were on Friday (which Erin attended) and London Pre-Screens are today ! Very exciting but also scary because that means I'm having to prepare myself for a no because it won't be long until the wait list will fill up again.

I cannot believe it's been almost 8 months since my Pre-Screen and was 6 months on Friday since I found out I was on the wait list- time actually flies ! Friday (the 4th) actually signified another important date for me- it has been 11 months since my Dad passed away which means this time next month it would have been a whole year. Looking back on this year it has definitely been the hardest time of my life and there's been so many times where I've just wanted to wallow in self pity but I'm hoping this year has been sent to test me and make me a stronger and better person at the end of it. Plus a wise man once said:

"You may not realise it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you." 

-Walt Disney

Waiting, waiting and waiting some more.

It’s almost been six months and there’s only a few (that I know of) that are still on the waitlist L as positive as I’m trying to be it is so hard because I’m going through a stage where I just don’t think it is going to happen anymore. Waiting sucks when you don't know what you are waiting for.

A girl from the wait list emailed Yummy to enquire when we would get an update regarding places etc and she was told that Disney normally give out dates in June. June came and went so someone else emailed and was told end of August so I've been trying to think positive by using milestones in this year as check points, for example first it was 'I will have a date by my birthday' (25th August) and that passed so then I was like 'Well maybe by John's birthday' (7th September) and then I said to myself 'Right it's going to happen by the time I go back to work after my two weeks mandatory A/L' but as that is technically tomorrow now (can't sleep so have ended up very late night blogging) I think there is more chance of Mickey actually coming and piggy packing me all the way to Florida haha! The thing is I get that it's hard for Yummy too because they rely on Disney to give them timeframes so they have no control if that timeframe is kept to or not, so I've not wanted to email and keep on at them & am trying to wait patiently :)

There has been some very good news though :) on Monday 2 girls were offered dates starting in January and April 2014- they both really deserve it and I'm so happy for them :) Being on the waitlist is so hard and you can't help but wonder if it ever will happen but at the same time I realise how lucky I am to even be in this position. 

People tell you not to put your life on hold but I can't help but do that as I don't want to spend any of my savings in case I do get that special call but this doesn't mean I've quite got over the fact I've missed out on a trip to Disney this year because of saving so I'm feeling a bit Sebastian toward the CRP right now ;) 

The new applications....

The new applications opened on the 1st August 2013 and closed on the 16th September 2013. I've been in a lot of contact with the new applicants and they are all so lovely! It's so nice to see them all get excited about the apps because I remembered how I felt when I was applying and how enjoyable the process was :)

Yummy have recently launched their new website and apparently the application is a lot more in depth this time round, or so I've been told by my trusted sources ;) There have also been a few bugs with the site but yummy have been pretty on top of things in that department so if you do have any trouble at all don't hesitate to contact them :)

The results came late on 20th September with the results, I had publicly predicted on the facebook group it would be that day they would hear and everyone started to doubt me (and I started to doubt myself) when around 10pm the results started to come through. I was in the pub with my friends but was a bit anti-social on my phone (sorry guys!) congratulating/commiserating everyone. I was so happy for those who got through but gutted for those who didn't especially my close friends :( I hope they all reapply.

But let this be a lesson to you all not to doubt me in future as I seem to have some psychic tendencies ;)

My sister and brother-in-law...

Got married 2 years ago today, which means 2 years ago today I was n Disney at the Wedding Pavilion being a Bridesmaid for my wonderful sister. It was magical and I thought I would share some pictures :)

<3