The DS-160 Form!

Well I will start by saying how glad I am for the visa process to be over! It was a bit of a disaster from the start but I got there in the end! For now I'll start with the form.

So first of all it was all very exciting getting my visa documents in the post! It came in a big envelope with a yummy jobs stamp on so I knew exactly what it was when I saw it (plus I had been given a heads up from Talie that they were on the way!

Our visa documents were sent out at the same time as the April 8th's arrival group so we got our slightly earlier than you would usually expect them. Me, Talie, Katherine, Annaliese and Olivia decided we would all go for our interviews on the 18th March at 8/8:30am so we could all meet up etc :)

Filling in the DS-160 form was not the funniest thing I've ever had to do and was very tedious- when it comes to you doing it I would suggest you having all your paperwork to hand and your passport etc. Things like listing the last 5 times you went to the state isn't exactly something you know off the top of your head if it goes back quite a while! I ended up putting in my Dad's year of birth as 1958 but then my mum informed me AFTER I completed the form that it was 1957. Now, I'm sure it wouldn't have made a massive difference to my application but obviously I wanted to make sure everything was completely correct on all my paperwork so it meant I had to fill in ANOTHER DS-160 but at least this time it had all my information already in there so I just had to edit the bit I had done wrong. After a million questions asking me if I was a criminal of any sort I finally finished! Filling out the visa form made me kinda feel like this by the end:

After the form had been completed I had to book my appointment which you can now do online! This is  SO much better because as you may have read in other blogs you used to have to call a phone line who charged £1.50 (!) a minute so I was very thankful that I didn't have to pay this although I was planning to use works phone if I did (sorry Jackie if you are reading this haha!). But it is super easy to choose your time now and choose whether you want your passport sent to a pick up location which was free or to your home/private address which was an extra $30! Just as my luck would have it none of the pick up points were overally close to me so after petrol etc it made more sense for me to just have my visa sent to my house. 

Talie very kindly allowed me and Katherine to stay at hers the night before so it meant I didn't have to pay peak time fare into London and leave at stupid o'clock in the morning- plus any excuse for a meet up eh? ;)

I know, I know....

You don't have to tell me how bad I have been with this blog, I am ashamed of myself! After I promised everyone I would keep it going in Orlando I am failing and I'm still at home...oops! In my defence though my life has been pretty crazy since I've found out I've got a place and to kind of make up for the lost time I will write a few blog posts to bring you completely up to date with what's been happening :)

So possibly the biggest (littlest) thing which has happened is the birth of my gorgeous nephew Parker James Robbins! Now I know I'm biased but I'm pretty sure there's no cuter baby in existence (although that will change when my other sister's baby comes, as he/she will be equally as cute). He was a bit poorly for a while and gave us a real scare but fortunately made a full recovery and is completely perfect <3

The day after Parker was born I received my CRB in the post to say I wasn't a criminal! Yay! It's strange because although I knew I had nothing to worry about as I have never been in trouble it was still a relief to get it through and everything be okay! I had visions of some crazy criminal using my identity to commit heinous crimes (paranoia at it's finest) and it was nice to have an official document saying my employer is Walt Disney World!!!!

Time seems to be going so fast it's insane and before I know it I'll be on that plane and with the birth of Parker I am starting to realise all the stuff I will miss out on here. However, I also know this experience will be worth it and the year will go by so quickly and this time next year I'll be preparing to come home *cry*.  I never want to forget how lucky I am to have this opportunity <3

One way ticket to Orlando

I've had quite a few things going on recently so my apologies for not updating sooner!

On the 4th January my lovely boyfriend took me to Disney on Ice at the 02 as a Christmas present which was really really good although I did spend most of the day very jealous of all the little girls dressed as princesses! I would recommend the show to everyone and even John really enjoyed it :) I really wanted these magical looking snow cone cup things but they were an extortionate £9 and I'm trying to be super good with money at the moment *cry* but we had really good seats and the show was amazing so I can't complain really :)

After the show me & John went for dinner at the American Sports Bar & Grill when Talie (hopefully future roomie) commented on my check in on facebook which lead to us planning a spontaneous meet up with her & her boyfriend Will as she only lives about 15 minutes away from the O2. As I mentioned in a previous post we have all met before but I was looking forward to seeing them again as we hadn't seen each other since we got our date!

After dinner me & John headed over to the Slug & Lettuce to meet Talie & Will & then went to Las Iguanas (ironically where we went after our F2F but in South Bank)  where it was happy hour which made me very happy indeed! We spent the next few hours consuming too many 2-4-1 cocktails & talking all things Disney whilst the boys spoke about their plans to visit & how awful their girlfriends were for leaving them ;) It made me even more excited for Disney and how quickly time is going which means we will be out there in no time! We parted ways about 11pm (9 hours after me and John originally got to the O2) and headed home so Will could get his well deserved kebab he had been pining for all night haha.

All the excited Disney talk made me itching to book my flight so I emailed Louise the next day to see if I should as in the step by step guide it tells you not to until after the visa appointment (although I'm pretty sure this is just to cover themselves incase you aren't successful in obtaining the visa). Once Louise had come back to say that I could go ahead and book I contacted Yummy Travel. 

I decided I wanted to book my flight & sort out my insurance at the same time because you get 10% off your insurance if you pay for them together. I spoke to really nice & helpful girl called Jade who found me the same flight that I had been looking at online flying from Gatwick at 11:15 to MCO with Virgin for £370. I had previously searched the same flight directly through Virgin & it had quoted me £1020 so I would definitely recommend you go through STA especially if you are under 26 :) 

If I'm honest the insurance choosing wasn't very fun, I found it a bit daunting because it's so important but after advice for my boyfriend, family & the guys in our Disney facebook group (don't know what I'd do without them sometimes!) I decided on the Blue Standard Policy as I didn't think I would need the Premium Policy however I know a few of the girls have taken that out so it's completely personal preference but I felt that I would rather save the extra £80 or so that the Premium cost. Altogether I paid £550.26 for my flight, insurance & excess waiver which I thought was pretty good :)

John also booked a holiday out to see me from 28th May for 2 weeks :) Ideally he would come out a bit later but it's just too expensive because of the school holidays (boo) but I'm just happy he's going to be coming out to visit :) We also booked a reservation at Be Our Guest for whilst he's there so I'm hoping I'm not working that night because I am too excited to eat there! 

Everything is starting to come together :)

Twas the night before Christmas...

Just thought I would give a small update as to what's happening CRP wise at the moment :) 

I was sent an invoice through PayPal to pay for my CRB check and I was sent through the paperwork in the post. The envelope had little Mickey heads over the i's in my name which was a really cute touch that I think Louise from Yummy Jobs had something to do with! I have never been so excited to receive/fill in a form to be honest which is pretty sad but I am so eager to do anything CRP related at the moment to make it feel real because it still feels like it's not actually going to happen!

Me and my friend Talie who was from my round of applications and also on the wait list got the same date so we are hoping to be roomies. You can now choose your roommate and preferred complex for Disney Housing (however theres no guarantees) and I think we are going to apply to be in Commons :) There's a few reasons for this on my part; I already have a few friends in that complex and you get a washer and dryer in the apartment which sounds like a god send to me! But at the end of the day I'm going to be living in Disney so would sleep on a bench if I needed to :) I am very excited about sharing with Talie too :) We got on really well during the interviews and I stayed with her when me, Talie, Ashleigh and Jamie met up in July! Me and Talie both brought our boyfriends to the meet up so it's nice that we have all met each other and I'm sure that puts the boys minds at rest a bit too! The fact Talie has a boyfriend as well is amazing because it means when we have down days the other will understand and hopefully eat copious amounts of crap food with the other :)

The guys from the most recent round of applications have also found out when they are going out which is good! :) I love seeing even more excited Disney status' on twitter and Facebook ! So far though I have only heard of me and Talie going on the 29th April from the UK (I know of 1 person who turned down their place and one girl who was moved dates) which seems a very small arrival group so I'll probably email Yummy when they are back in the office to see if there's any one else I don't know of going on this date :)

Anyway, I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas and Happy New Year! I'm planning on making this one very special with my family, boyfriend and his family as I will not be here next year!

Merry Christmas !

How cute !

My sister & brother-in-law got me this amazing present for getting the job ! I love him ❤️

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

Yummy Social and the new website

Yummy have launched their new website today!

It's really different to the old one but I really like it and am loving Yummy Social ! It is such a good idea and wish it had been around when I applied (although Facebook and WDWIP Forums treated me well). There's a lot of glitches with it at the moment as it is so new but I'm sure these will be sorted out soonish :) I'm currently trying not to take to heart the fact every time I change my gender to female it changes back to male *cry*

If I get a date I'm just gonna be like....

Jersey!

Shortly after finding out the result’s I went on a Disney meet up in Chloé’s natural habitat ;) When we arrived in Jersey we made our way to Chloé’s where we had a catch up before we went for some delicious steak and cocktails :) We went on to a club which I was amazed was free entry on a Saturday !!! (being from Essex/London area this is totally unheard of) it was really crowded so we went back to Chloé's and talked until we fell asleep.

The next day we all headed out for a group breakfast before we departed back to our homelands. There was a lot of Disney talk and I spoke to Erin and Ryan a lot because they are also on the wait list so gave me some advice and spoke about the people on their waitlist who had already got dates etc which was really helpful :) 

It was a really nice trip and made me feel a bit better about the whole wait list thing and what was even more amazing is the day after we came home I got a text from Ryan saying he got a date !!! He's heading off in February 2014 and I couldn't be happier for him :) 

The Result

We were told that we should hear the result by Mid-April so we spent the following few weeks on our Facebook group discussing our interviews, stressing over stuff we didn’t say which we wished we did and talking about all things Disney. I spent every day trying not to think about it but constantly thinking about what I could have done better and trying to figure out if Sue actually liked me or not, which I was pretty sure I had totally messed up my interview.

On the 5^th April (not quite so Mid-April) I had just got out of the bath when I read a text from Courtney which asked if I had a call from Yummy so I text her back super quick saying no and checked Facebook to see a few people had received calls, my heart sank as I realised that this was it and I hadn’t received the calls. The page was filling up quick with people excitedly posting their dates when someone posted they had got an email about the opportunity list. I checked my emails and my stomach dropped when I saw an email from James- I was convinced it was a no. I reluctantly opened it and read:

Dear Roisin,

Greetings from Yummy Jobs!

On behalf of the Yummy Jobs Team thank you for attending the recent interviews for Disney’s Cultural Representative Program.

We would like to thank you for the time and effort you put into your application and very much enjoyed meeting you and spending time speaking with you in London.

As you are aware the Cultural Representative Program is a highly sought after experience and the quality of applications from applicants in the United Kingdom was very high.

The Walt Disney World International Recruitment Team has reviewed all applications from the interview sessions in London and has now extended its first wave of offers for the Cultural Representative Program with start dates in 2013.

At this time we would like to inform you that you are currently being considered for the additional offers that Disney will be making for arrivals in 2013/2014.  Disney was impressed with your application and will be bringing you further news in the coming months.

In the meantime please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Yummy Jobs Team if you have any questions on your application.

Once again I would like to thank you personally for all of your efforts so far and we will be delivering you further information on your interview results as soon as the information becomes available.

Thanks and kindest regards

So my first reaction was to cry as I had some close friends who had been waitlisted from the previous application round and I had seen how hard it was for them but then after speaking to my mum and boyfriend I realised that I was very lucky to even be on the waitlist and that this wasn’t a ‘no’ which meant I still had a very good chance of getting my dream job.  Around half of us were waitlisted and the other half got dates, some people didn’t post on Facebook and left the group so we weren’t sure was result they got. I was so happy for the guys that got dates and hopeful for us on the waitlist that we would all get dates eventually.

I’ve made a Facebook group for the Waitlistee’s so we could all discuss our feelings about being on the waitlist without ruining the guys who got dates excitement and to support each other.

And so the wait begins….