Hey guys real important question for me here: How easy/ hard is it to get a few days off work on Summer ICP??? I will need to fly back home for a graduation June 18-22 (so it's not July 4th or anything crazy like that). I already bought my ticket, of course I know time off can't be guaranteed and Kristen couldn't give me an estimate of how many days off is normal for the summer program, it depends on my manager-- buuut.... I've heard of requesting "back to back" weekends, is that easy/common to do? because then I'd only be taking one day off, the other four days (Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon) would be weekends. Sorry for all the info dump, and please any answers you might have are helpful!!
When do you arrive? Last summer I found it very difficult to get time off as we were there for such a short amount of time. I tried to request my birthday off and then another day along with that so I could see my parents but they wouldn't let me have it. You can always try and swap shifts with people when you get there or ask your manager about changing your days off to those days. Kristen's right, it really does depend on who your manager is and how short staffed they are when you want to be off.
Oficially summer ICP's cannot get any days off (except their 2 days a week, but can request the back to backs as you mentioned Fri-Mon) and they wouldn't budge for me even in extreme circumstances. As mentioned above shift swapping is your best option for getting rid of your shifts - though you'd typically then pick up one of their shifts for that week which you'd probably be unable to do unless you had an early shift which finished before their late one (or the other way round). There is the option of calling in, though you will get bad points on your record. This becomes more complicated because of visa restrictions. You'll have to fill in a form (collect from Disney international office) for the dates you'll be leaving the country for visa purposes, and if you put in dates for 5 days away when Disney knows you only have 4 days off they'll probably query and refuse the time away and there will probably be repercussions (and know you're not sick if you were to call in on one of the days). Certainly you're very lucky you can stretch most of it over a long weekend with a back to back, so only need special exception for one day. I'd recommend speaking with one of your work location managers soon after arriving to see what they can do about getting you a day off for this special circumstance and getting you a back to back, along with filling in the necessary visa forms. Advice is obviously to get things planned as soon in advance as possible, as it will be easier to get days off in advance. Good luck and hope it works well for you.
Also spotted that since you're Canadian (presumably) visa restrictions on filling in extra forms may be easier or possibly not required possibly making the calling in option more feasable.
hmmm now I'm somewhat worried, but veeery glad I have the back-to-back option. Yes I am Canadian, so I may not need the signature on the DS-2019. I will definitely sort this out as soon as I meet my manager, I'm willing to take any shift and work any extra hours necessary to get that day off- mostly because I already bought my ticket :0. Luckily I am there May 3- July 31, somewhat longer than usual summer ICPs. I'm not sure I'd want to risk the calling-in option, mainly because I wouldn't want to get caught, it would be so embarrassing! I think I'd rather tell them the truth up front on day 1. If anyone else has experience with this, please continue sharing
