An Update? Unheard of!

So far I have really failed at regularly updating! I promise i'll try to post more often. Anyways, a lot has happened since my last post. I had found a roommate around September and we had already begun planning things out, when she decided it was best for her not to do the program at this time. I guess that is a risk when you start your roommate search so early, though. Everything worked out because I quickly found a fabulous girl to room with and eventually four other girls to form our apartment. I realize you can only officially pick one roommate ahead of time, but from everything I have been told as long as you and your hopeful roomies wait in line together, they will try to put you together. So we are hoping for a 3 bedroom at Chatham (wellness).
What made me choose Chatham? There are 3 different complexes for us to choose from, and 1 complex reserved for the international students. Each has developed their own reputation over the years. Vista Way, is the oldest of the complexes, and the smallest. In it's defense, it recently had some renovations done and looks a little nicer. For the frugal CP'er, it is the most inexpensive choice. What steered me away from Vista was it's reputation as the "party complex". I've been told it's the loudest, and with nicknames like "vista lay" I decided to pass. Patterson, on the other hand, is the newest complex but also the most expensive. I've seen it described as the "retirement complex" because it is apparently the quietest. While both of the other apartment complexes have bus stops in front of them, Patterson does not, which is something to consider for anyone not bringing a car. Granted, it is literally across the street from Chatham so their bus stop is walking distance, I've been told if your apartment is situated towards the back of the complex, the walk can be pretty miserable in extreme weather conditions. Chatham Square seems to be a happy medium between these complexes. It's not as new as Patterson, but not as old as Vista. It's closer in size to Patterson, but the bedrooms are just a little bit bigger. It has more social activity than Patterson, but perhaps not as social as Vista. So those are the apartment complexes in a nutshell. Unfortunately I do not know a whole lot about The Commons, other than it's reserved for international students and in the same sub as Chatham and Patterson.
I'll probably dedicate my next post to packing! I've been slowly beginning gathering things I want to bring with me, and have a packing list I will share with everyone. Also, i'll talk about what the apartments already come with and suggestions of what you may want to bring. I leave in just under 3 weeks and it seems so unreal right now! It hasn't really sunk in that I am moving away from home for the first time, but i'm sure the nerves will kick in soon.

more purple!

My purple folder finally arrived today! I was beginning to get worried as it's been about 2 weeks since I got my email and others started getting them last week. For those of you still waiting or intending on applying in the future, some people never received an acceptance email and only got the folder! I'm saying this because there were a handful of people that had been waiting for weeks and had not heard a peep from disney, which as you can imagine may lead somebody to doubt themselves. So if you haven't received an email or any sort of notification- just stay patient and keep your hopes high! Anyways, I've been going out to my mailbox like 5 times each day before the mail would actually arrive in anticipation for my folder! What's in it, you ask? Your acceptance letter, of course! Also included is a brief overview of the program itself, earning, learning, living. This is the same information that is on the WDW college program website and already available to you. They provide you with a participation checklist of things that you should accomplish now that you have been invited to do the program as well as an overview of their costuming policies and size availability. You are also delighted with some pretty awesome 3-D glasses to play a disney game online!

I'll be posting a tentative packing list soon for anyone interested!

DREAMS DO COME TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I GOT ACCEPTED TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I was online talking on skype periodically looking out the window for the mailman, when all the sudden I hear "Welcome To Disney", which is the sound I set as an alert if disney recruiting emailed me. I literally jumped out of my skin when I saw "Your Invitation" as the subject! I have officially accepted my role as a Merchandise cast member for the Spring Advantage 2011 program!! It wasn't one of my top 3 roles, but it was the next in line and I am ecstatic! BBB was my second choice but I kind of figured that was out of the running because I am auditioning, but honestly just to be part of this...TO FINALLY KNOW is so overwhelmingly thrilling. The email came at 11:42AM and it was the perfect time because my sister wanted to be the first person I told and today just happened to be a day she is tied up all day but she had an hour in between school and work at that time so I called her immediately! After we freaked out for a moment I ran and told my parents and they were just as excited as me, my mom even went as far as to pick me up, lol.

As soon as I could even contain myself enough to get on the computer I logged in, accepted the role, payed the $100 assessment fee and chose my arrival and departure date. I will be there from January 19-August 5! I'm so excited to start planning everything out and find a roommate and whatnot!

I still plan on auditioning next month so my role may change, but if I end up staying with merchandise I have zero problem with that. Now i'll undoubtably become obsessed with researching all the merch areas and see if I can put a request in with my recruiter.

To those of you who have been accepted or get accepted I can't wait to get down there and meet all of you and to those still waiting I've still got my fingers crossed for you! I will wish upon every star and every 11:11 that you all get in :) I'm sure I will have more updates soon and i'll very likely record my first ever vlog! So be prepared for some possibly entertaining awkwardness, haha!

First Acceptances are out!

So, Tuesday (9/7) the first batch of acceptance emails went out! I happen to be online at the moment to witness the initial pandemonium, and was really excited for everyone but I'm not going to hide the fact that I was silently disappointed my inbox remained empty of a purple email. Since Then, i've been a little (and when I say a little I mean extremely) paranoid because I interviewed on the very first day possible, and haven't heard a thing from disney. People who interviewed after me have already been accepted. I'm hoping this doesn't mean anything bad; I don't know what disney's method is for picking and releasing acceptances and thinking about it probably isn't helping my nerves. The week isn't over yet, though and I'm trying to remain optimistic that I will be accepted by the end of the week.
For those that have been accepted already, they've had the opportunity to log in and do the paperwork and select and arrival/departure date. To anyone curious, the earliest spring arrival date looks to be January 10-May 13 (boo, the spring people are leaving on my birthday!), and the earliest spring advantage arrival date is January 19-August 5. I'm actually kind of surprised because these dates seemed later than previous programs, but I guess disney has a method to their madness! I'd like to get their on the earliest spring advantage date if I get accepted.

Hopefully a happy update in the days to come :)

no news is better than bad news

Today is day 17 since my phone interview and I'm still playing the waiting game! I have become best friends with the 'refresh' button on my email waiting for that glorious purple email to arrive. Earlier this week people started receiving pending letters via both email and snail mail. A note to those who plan on applying in the future- everyone makes the pending letters out to be a horrible thing. Some have said it's like a delayed rejection, but the truth of the matter is it's better than getting flat out rejected, yes? I've talked to some alumni of the program who received pending letters and were eventually accepted. Yes, it sucks you have to wait a little longer to hear your disney fate, but I wouldn't give up hope.
While the pending letters were testing on my nerves, yesterday I logged on to the facebook group to see people have begun getting rejection letters now! To make matters worse it's a holiday weekend so I doubt anybody will hear anything on Monday. I don't quite understand why they are sending out pendings and rejections first but I really hope we start seeing acceptance letters this week. The spring 2011 hopefuls group could use some good news- the rejections have made most of us a little anxious and unnerved. I've been trying to stay confident and think 'disney thoughts' to keep me from going insane.

Hopefully another update later this week with good news, fingers crossed! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE WHO HAS APPLIED!

Phone Interview!

I literally just finished my phone interview! I feel like I can finally breathe, I was a nervous wreck up until the phone rang. My interviewer was Lindsey and she was so sweet and bubbly. First and foremost we went over my application to verify that everything was correct and of course went over the disney look. Then, she asked me about my listed job experiences- what my tasks were, how I liked them, etc. She then asked my about my role preferences and we talked mainly about my top 2 choices. I listed Character performer as my top choice and she wants to make all hopeful CP's aware that they are mostly auditioning for fur characters as they don't accept many face characters, which I understood. She asked about my theater and dance experience and went on to ask how I felt about being in a hot, limited vision, limited movement costume and I said I was okay with it. After that she invited me to an audition and said I will probably recieve more information regarding the auditions within the weeks prior to it.
Next, we discussed my second choice, BBB. She wanted to state that BBB is the most competitive role being that there aren't a lot of spaces available. She asked if I had any experience styling and while I don't have salon experience I do have hair and makeup experience so I told her. She gave me a scenerio question "what would you do if a little princess was hesitant to get made over?"
We very briefly discussed attractions and if I had a problem talking infront of groups. She then asked if I favored any particular park, part of a park, or attraction to work at and I said Magic Kingdom is my favorite place ever, of course. The interview lasted 28 minutes but it didn't seem that long at all. I think a lot of it was her going through the required spiels, haha. For those who are still waiting for their phone interview- the worst part is the suspense, trust me! Feel free to ask me any questions, and Good luck to everyone!

Application Day!

It's been awhile since I last posted- but that's because I've been playing the waiting game for applications to open. Today the wait was over! Applications opened this morning and I immediately rushed to get mine started. To those who are concerned about the web based interview- it's no big deal! So breathe, haha. Honestly some people have made it out so it seems impossible to pass but just remember to be honest and consistent with your answers and you should be fine. There are a few timed questions but you should be able to answer in plenty of time.
After I finished I called and scheduled my phone interview. She asked if I preferred morning or afternoon and I took the first afternoon time slot tomorrow (12:30 EST Aug. 19th). I will be sure to update when i'm finished and in the meantime i'm going to look over posts from CP alumni that have shared what kind of questions they ask. I've already started making a little note sheet of things I want to make sure to mention and questions to ask.

So until tomorrow afternoon i'll probably be internally freaking out, but it's so surreal that this entire process has finally started!

Campus Presentation

No, I haven't died. I probably should have mentioned in my last post that this blog will probably be a bit slow until August-ish, when applications open up.

My Mom expressed interest in going to a campus presentation, so we went to one last week at a local community college (OCC). We were greeted by a wonderful campus rep who had me sign in, and gave me a disney sticker (I was admittedly thrilled to be getting said sticker). Once everyone had arrived, the CP rep began her spiel. We played a short trivia game and she gave out little prizes to those who answered correctly. We watched a short clip about the companies disney is affiliated with and she talked about all the glorious reasons why the disney college program is a great opportunity for students. She did brief overviews of what the classes offered are, the housing situation, and the earnings you will be getting. The campus reps shared a little about their experiences. The first girl applied to the college program with her older sister and the ended up rooming together. This little story sparked an idea in my Mom's head that this would be FANTASTIC for my sister and I, but I knew it wasn't going to happen. Anyways, she said she misses the CP a lot and was in the process of applying for professional internships. The other girl worked in the costuming department and said she had a ton of fun. This is a role, that technically I should be thrilled about, being a fashion design student. However, I am most interested in the college program for communcation purposes, and costuming is a backstage role. It sounds lovely, but I am really looking for face time with the visitors. The rep wrapped up the presentation and gave each person interested a confirmation code for when they apply.

I knew most of what was discussed at the presentation just from prematurely researching the crap out of the program, but it really helped my Mom get a clear idea of what the college program offers. If anyone out there who is thinking about doing the college program and has hesitant parents, I totally suggest bring them to a campus presentation because it can definitely open eyes. My Mom is not only probably more excited than I am now, but super jealous. She's already getting ideas of enrolling into a school just to go to!

And So The Journey Begins...

I suppose the appropriate introduction to my journey is an introduction of myself. My name is Becca, and I currently live in the metro-detroit area of Michigan. As a 19 year old fashion design student, I am finally, after years of waiting, eligible to enroll into the Disney College Program. Unfortunately my school's unique scheduling does not allow me to do the Fall 2010, so spring 2011 is my goal!
I have this week off before I start classes again next Tuesday, and i've been using the time to really research the program. I've been quite torn between which roles I want most- there are so many I like! I would LOVE to be a character performer, better yet a face character, but being that my chances are slim at getting face I question whether or not auditioning is really worth it being that my height (5'5) is most common. The BBB hostess is right up my alley since before deciding last minute on fashion design, I had my heart set on cosmetology. I have been to workshops and seminars for both hair and makeup, but no formal training. I hope that is enough though, because I think I could be really great at it. Photopass photographer also caters to one of my favorite hobbies, photography. I took Photography every year of High School and it just stuck as a passion of mine. Really I don't think I would be disappointed with any role (well, maybe a resort role).

Anyways, I will try to post frequently with updates and feelings about the program!

- Becca