UK Applicants Summer 2014

I wrote mine a few months ago, but i'm going to go through it again soon and change it a bit. I keep banging on about what I would get out of it, and keep forgetting it's a job application, so have to say what I can do for them too! I might add in a bit about roles too - steal the idea from you

MNSSHP is great - with all the dressing up etc, the atmosphere is brilliant! (Plus i'm too much of a wimp for the Halloween Horror nights...ha!) I took time off college to go in October/November...but obviously haven't been able to do that since starting Uni, so we've been in August!

Lucky you! Do you get to share their discounts? I had a Japanese friend who used to work at Magic Kingdom Guest Relations, which was cool, and when she moved back to Japan, she used to send me cool stuff from Tokyo Disneyland, but then she married an American and now lives in Washington, so all that stopped! Bummer! haha!

It's great talking to fellow hopeful applicants though, which will hopefully make it go a bit quicker - I've literally spent years reading up about it, and this past year preparing the application etc, and it's all been on my own, but it's way more exciting now I get to talk to you lot too! ;D

 

Oh wow I wasn't aware of this at all! I suppose I've been stuck watching the vlogs from before the 2011 ICP
But yeah it is a bit daunting! Do you know how many people were partaking in the YummyJobs interview?

Yeah dude, I wrote mine in like January/February haha. It's ridiculous how exciting this whole experience is!!

And yeah I am a bit gutted that uni will cut into visits to Florida, but if I make it into the ICP, that'll be made up for manifold!

The only "discounts" I've experienced were free entry to the parks, and free desserts at the posh Italian restaurant in the Swan and Dolphin Hotel. It was gorgeous tiramisu though!

I couldn't agree more though, now that we're speaking with fellow applicants, it's starting to feel...real! And hopefully, once more people start responding, we'll have quite a few friends to go to the States with!!! *touch wood* (haha I don't want to jinx it!)

 

Yep, I think this years ICPs were the first to have the new interview process. Typical really - i'd much rather have had a phone call first, and it will be a bit of a faff if I have to get to London twice (what are the chances they'll hold a set of group interviews in Southampton! Ha! They probably assume we're close enough to London!) Hopefully it would be worth it though!

I think they have applicants in their hundreds, which is why Yummy Jobs do the pre screening things first (what is now the group interviews) before anyone gets through to see the Disney recruiters. I've spoken to an American cast member who's on the college program now, and she said only 9% of applicants got through on her program....but it might be slightly different for the American CP.

So real! Especially as i've been snooping about on here for a few years now, talking to past applicants etc, feels so weird to suddenly have people applying at the same time as me! If we all get through we'll have to hang out beforehand...especially as we'll be so close once you start at Southampton (that's so weird too, thinking fellow applicants are so close!) although I may be getting a little ahead of myself...not even applied yet! :

 

I am dreading the group interviews! I always feel I am doing rubbish, worrying what everyone else is thinking about my answers or speaking too much or little or if someone says something I wanted to say I feel like its copying if I say it so have to quickly think of something else to say. Its so stressful!

I was speaking to a girl called Jane, she has a blog and a vlog and she is currently in disney working in Magic Kingdom! She was explaining everything to me about the new yummy job process. The group ones are held all over the UK, one in Edinburgh, um few other places in England as well, Ill find the emails from her and check but the face to face ones with disney are still in London. Oh and the whole process of finding out has been sped up too which is great!

Just wandering, for the cover letter, are people just putting that in the "motivation for taking part" or attaching it with their cv or both? So confused about what to do!

I am so excited, hopefully august hurrys up so we can start applying asap!

 

At least everyone will be in the same boat!! If we get interviews, we'll all come on here, and agree an order in which we can speak! haha! Imagine if we all learnt a script, rehearsed it, and delivered it at the interview, each taking it in perfect turns. I wonder if they'd twig?

Now that the group interviews are held all over the country, i'm hoping they'll have one a little closer to home, but most things like this assume Winchester is close enough to London so don't bother coming down here. (It's over an hour by train!) But we shall see!

As for the motivation to take part, i'm just putting it in the box. CVs aren't supposed to be more than 2 pages max, and mine's three, as i've used 2 pages to put down all the experience I have and the skills I've learnt from each place (i'm a student teacher so have been in a fair few different schools and settings) so I don't want to add anything else to the CV bit! I'm sure the box will be fine! Although their title "motivation" is a bit ambiguous! Doesn't really give away what they want you to write does it?!

42 days until applications open...not that i'm counting

 

At least with the group interviews we can all bounce off each other instead of potentially being lost for words like in an individual interview. Ahh this is so exciting!

 

Yeah it would be very handy if there were interviews on the South Coast, but if we have to make it to London, that'll be fine! Just as long as everything goes well
And that number seems drastically low, but to be fair, I don't think many would share that on the forums!

I'm in the same boat as you mate, I heard about it in my second year of A-levels (now in my gap year) and have been waiting for uni to start for what seems like ages! I defo agree, it'll be great to get to interviews with someone to help calm the nerves

I couldn't agree more, I especially dislike it when someone says something that is extremely similar to what you would've said, but they were just lucky enough to be picked first to speak

And that's brilliant, no one likes to wait for too long for such awesome news!!!

For the "motivation for taking part" section, I basically shortened my cover letter to about 250 words, so it is more concise and easier to read. My full cover letter is attached with my CV!

 

Definitely - as long as everything goes well! Do you think it would help if we turned up wearing mouse ears?

If by "someone to calm your nerves" you mean me...I wouldn't count on that, i think it'd be you trying to calm my nerves! haha! Would make it so much more relaxing having familiar faces there though!!

Ugh, don't get me started about being picked first to speak! One of my university interviews was paired, and the interviewer addressed the other lad first every single time (literally) and I felt like all I was doing was copying what he said! I don't suppose they have time to interview everyone individually though ....I wonder why they stopped the phone calls?

Ok right, I think I need to sort out this cover letter! What sort of things have you written in it? I wrote mine so long ago it'll probably need to be completely re-written now! : It seems to be a bit of a mini-life story rather than a cover letter at the moment!! haha!

 

I don't think mouse ears will harm our chances! Haha
And that's basically what I meant! Just someone to vent our nervousness to, in hopes that that will relieve some of the anxiety!!!

To be fair though, once you believe you have the best answer ever, that you've rehearsed in your head over and over, it is extremely difficult to come up with another answer. That is what throws me off

The only reason I think the phone interviews stopped were because of time! It's gotta be much less stressful interviewing five people for 30 minutes, then one person on the phone for 15!

And this is the basic structure of my cover letter:
What I'm applying for and why
Certain skills that make me perfect for the role
What I'm studying at uni and how the program will help me
Present role at work and any achievements
The roles I would like to work and my top five choices
Lastly, a recap of who I am and why I am fit for the job

I know that sounds like a lot, but they are pretty brief paragraphs, and it all comes to a little less than a page!

 

Yes that throws me off too! You spend ages preparing answers before the interview, and then someone else takes the words right out of your mouth! :

I guess you're right - less stressful for them maybe, but not for us I guess it's better for them to actually meet us as well so they can get a better idea of our personalities. I bet they read these forums and decide which of us loons are too loony for them before we even do anything! haha!

That's brilliant thank you - I think i'll write something along those lines, and attach it to my CV, and then leave the motivation box more or less as it is so it's a bit different (although I will make it less autobiography-y!) Just a bit paranoid the CV will end up too long as school etc always say if it's more than a page, no-one will read it. (But seriously, how are you supposed to fit everything on one page?!)

 

You can't win them all right! for the interview though, I reckon that they just want to see that you have a bubbly personality and are friendly, but professional!

And I suppose there is a fine line with Disney keenos and loonies!!! We'll just have to mask the craziness until after the interviews But honestly, I do actually think that they scroll through some of these forums! Just like some businesses check your facebook and all that but luckily, we only post how awesome Disney is

Not a problem buddy! Yeah my motivation bit focuses on how awesome Disney is and why it will be such a great experience, etc. And my CV is two pages long exactly. The personal statement, work experience, skills, interests, and references. Hopefully that won't throw them off!

 

Reading these posts is making me feel less nervous about the group interviews, I thought I was the few that disliked them. So many people I know find them really easy and enjoy them.

Thanks everyone for their info about what they are doing for their cover letter and motivation box, feeling a bit less confused now!

What roles is everyone thinking of doing?

 

In my cover letter, I said that I would like to do attractions, retail, and food and beverage in that order! Well obviously I said that any role would be absolutely brilliant, but specifically mentioned those August 1st needs to roll on NOW!!!

 

Thats the exact order for me! Attractions would just be amazing, honestly would just love the opportunity to work on one. Yeah I wouldn't mind any of the other roles just that would be top of my list.

Yes it does! I think I'm starting to annoy everyone I know, it's actually all I talk about now. My parents constantly hear about it haha, oh dear, just been waiting to do this program for SOO long.

Oh another question for anyone, is it 2 references we need?

 

Yeah attractions is definitely the biggie! It's defo the best opportunity and would be the most fun

And I know how you feel, most of my family hear it every time I see them the poor guys! But I totally agree, it's taken so long, and it's taking ages to get here

I believe two references is alright, I had four just in case!

 

I've only got references "available on request" on mine...i literally can't fit any more stuff on without rolling over onto the 4th page! I think i'm going to have to do some re-jigging :-\ Then i'll be paranoid about getting rid of important stuff though, and what if I get rid of the wrong things? Argh it's so had to know what they want! I'll leave it until the weekend now, and then have another look through everything (for about the millionth time! haha!)

haha and yes, hopefully if they read the forums they'd only see us in a good light! After all, we'd only be here if we were super dedicated so.......

 

My top three are Attractions, Merchandise, and Entertainment (Character handler or photopass photographer) although I cannot find a definitive info anywhere on all the roles ICps can do and what "titles"/categories they come under. I wonder if Yummy Jobs give us a list if we are invited for interview? Otherwise we could end up talking about a role we can't even do!

My top attractions are Great Movie Ride and Haunted Mansion - would just LOVE something with a bit of acting involved! Would also love Jungle Cruise or Pirates, but apparently it's very rare for ICPs to be put on those.


Anyone looked at housing yet and have any ideas on preferred locations if you get in? (I'm not one to tempt fate, but i've been wanting to do the program for 6 years now, so i've read/looked at just about every single thing possible! haha!) I'm liking the look of Chatham Sq!

 

This seems to have a detailed list of the roles we can do:
http://www.urjc.es/actualidad/california_disney/solicitud_disney.pdf

I really want to do Merchandise, I don't really mind where but if it was in the Magic Kingdom it would be brilliant. Or maybe Front Desk/ Concierge, or Attractions. But any role would do.

 

I think they do give a checklist and is there not a bit on the application process for saying which roles we would be interested in?

Haunted mansion would be pretty amazing as well as pirates! Wonder why icp's don'g get put on pirates.

Yeah I was wondering what to do about that, because my cv will be too long if I add in the references. I'm the same I have been changing and looking over my cv and cover letter all the time.

 

That checklist makes it all the more exciting...even though there are some pretty basic descriptions on there

I'm with you there, pal, Chatham Square seems like the best option! It's among the cheapest, has a bus stop right outside the gates, AND has a recreation complex across the road! It just sounds like a crapload of fun to me