Preparations so far.

Spaceship Earth (Picture taken on my visit in 2008)

So as you’re all aware, or for those of you who’ve just stumbled across my blog; I’m going to be working in Walt Disney World, Florida, in just less than four months time (21^st June).  I’ll be located in the United Kingdom Pavilion, in EPCOT. I thought I’d write a quick post on my preparations so far.

So, I received my call for the offer on the 11^th January, and was told I’d have my Criminal Background Check forms, as soon as possible. That arrived later on in the week, and I filled it out straight away.

Two days after my call, I decided to book my flight. I thought I should do it as soon as possible, as I was advised prices would be shooting up pretty soon. I’ve booked my flight for the 19^th of June. Two days before my arrival date. I’m told that it isn’t really that necessary to go before the arrival date, however, I wanted to, just so I can adjust to the time difference (Even though jet lag isn’t too bad when the time difference is behind) and just wanted to have a little chill out at a hotel before a hectic year ahead. Also, I’ll be flying out with Siobhan, who is starting the same date as I am, and will also be staying at the same hotel, so that should be good .

The following week, after the phone call, off Hannah from Yummy Jobs, I had scheduled another call just to confirm that I had accepted my offer and to tell me a little bit about the role, and what preparations I have to do, before going out there. I have to say, she was incredibly informative and so easy to talk to. I think I rambled on way too much, but I couldn’t help myself. I was just so excited about everything. She pretty much told me everything I wanted to know, and answered all questions with all honesty. They’re such a helpful and friendly team.

During the phone call, I was told I’d hopefully receive the Disney Pack later that week. Disney had processed my details pretty quickly. I couldn’t wait to receive it.

The much talked about 'Disney Pack'

Basically, the pack contains the congratulations letter, which made me J and little snippets about the ‘Disney Look’, ‘Earning and Learning’, ‘Living’ and the ‘Housing Agreement’.  It’s all the information we were told about during the interview, and thing’s I’ve read around the internet, but it’s just nice to have it officially written down, by Disney!

A rubbish picture of inside the pack. The mickey picture makes me smile.

So to break it down;

The ‘done’ list (Couldn’t think of anything else)

• Criminal Record Check – Done.  All clear.
• Flight booked – Done, through STA travel
• Disney Pack - Received
• Hotel For two nights booked – Done.

To do list;

Do a comprehensive packing list (Need to do that ASAP)

• Wait for my Visa papers
• Go for my Visa interview at the Embassy in London
• Sort out decent medical insurance
• SAVE!!
• Organise various leaving do’s (Yeah, I’m milking it)

To be continued..(I’ll update it when I’m not so tired – I know I have loads more to do)

Ciao.

Logistical Nightmare

Image found here

Hey, so I thought I’d write on how I came about the title of the blog; ‘Wow, where am l?’ In essence, I have absolutely no sense of direction. It’s actually pretty embarrassing.  Daria, a fellow future Cast member, has already, mildly experienced this during the CRP meet up in Birmingham. Oh and during that meet up, I don’t think I mentioned, but I quickly left Frankie and Bennies to take my Minnie ears back to the room, and when I went back down, I walked into the wrong restaurant. Yes, I know. IDIOT.

 In 2009, I went to visit various European Union institutions and the Council of Europe, as a part of my Law course. We went to Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg.

The River Ille, Strasbourg

The picture of the bridge above is what I tried to use, to guide us back to our hostel, only to find that there were about 4 other almost identical bridges, across the river. I was zooming and playing around. We were panicking slightly, because we had to make it back to get ready, to a meeting in the European Parliament. Luckily, we bumped into some of the other guys, who were on a morning run and casually tagged along with them, back to the hostel.

The Beautiful Gothic Structure, Notre-Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg. First stone laid in 1015 and completed in 1439





Part of the Notre-Dame Cathedral



Oh, there was another incident too – It was the night before leaving, to catch our flight home from Geneva. We had to be up really early, to get on the coach. A few of us decided to leave the club we were in a little earlier than the rest.  One of the lecturers decided to join us. Cut a long story short, we got lost. It was 4am, and we had no idea where the hell we were going. The lecturer was drunk so he had no idea and I almost thought we’d not make it back, so in the end Gaz decided to use the GPS on his iphone, to direct us back to the hostel. Thankfully it worked. So I like to think, the iphone saved our lives.



One of the streets we got lost down, in Strasbourg.



So yeah, I know I’m a complete fool when it comes to directions, but I’m surprisingly not a geographical idiot. I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to that. I love looking at maps and reading about other countries. It’s one of the reasons why I want to do the Cultural Representative Program, so I can hopefully learn about other cultures and countries too. You’ll also be pleased to know, that I’m trying my very best to work on my ability to direct myself to various locations, before landing on Floridian soil, so nobody has to babysit me too much.



So to conclude, scientists need to build some sort of GPS implant, I can put in my brain to help me out. You heard it here first.









A quick Valentines post..

Happy Valentines everyone. I made these beauties earlier. Unfortunately, not for myself to consume :-( ..Oh well, I enjoy making others happy through cake :-D.

Have a great day!

A Big Thanks and a Bon Voyage!

Evening! So I’ve just been spending some time figuring how to put this shiny new banner created by my friend best Catrin, up. I love it. My hooomie, Adam drew the vintage Mickey Mouse, holding the cupcakes , which I’m also putting below. I love that too. Thank you to both of you for taking time to do this. Adam is quite the artist, so I’m proud to say, he personally drew me something; mainly so I can sell it when he’s filthy rich and famous.  I joke, I joke. I love it.

I would like to take the opportunity to say A MASSIVE GOOD LUCK to Amy and everyone else who is moving to Walt Disney World on Tuesday. I am so incredibly excited for you all. I can’t wait to be out there, and  I CANNOT  WAIT to hang out with Amy, try out the resort pools, (since we were informed by a reliable source as to what goes down in the complex pools ;) ), eat lots of junk food, quote lots of friends lines, bake lots of cakes, ride lots of coasters and just have FUN!!  So, Bon Voyage and see you very soon.

Image found here



Today I spent money I don’t have, on Clothes I don’t need. Who am I kidding? I always need new clothes. But yeah, quite a productive day, but I’ve got that horrible feeling that I’ve forgotten to do something important.  Don’t you hate that? Anyways, I’m off to try and remember what I might have forgotten or not. Toodles.

Under the sea..

As I said yesterday, I’d post a picture  of my attempt at a Little Mermaid cake, and here it is.

 I made it for my friend, Catrin’s 24^th Birthday, as Little Mermaid is one of her favourite Disney Movies. And funnily enough, five minutes before I delivered the cake, she was watching it with her family. Oh, and apologies for the messy board underneath. I was in a rush to take a pic and deliver it (All the way, across the road). We went for some lovely food and cocktails the following evening, but unfortunately, we weren't able to transport the cake to the place, because the wind would probably ruin it, so instead, it took some quick sea inspired cupcakes.

I really enjoyed making the Little Mermaid cake, and watched the film about 3 times during the process. Ariel was difficult to make. I tried to make her really skinny, but she just wouldn’t stand up.  I thought up the idea and was really excited about it, googled it, only to find the exact idea had already been created, but it was so much better. Oh well, I’m learning, and very proud of it.

I've had to order more boxes and boards on the internet because I've had last minute cake requests and I just got overly excited by some sugar sprinkles that were on offer, and ordered a fair few different colours, with money I don’t have, I may add. Oh well. Anyone who knows me, reading this, knows how excitable I can get about the simplest of things such as cake sprinkles

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I forgot to mention yesterday that I’d like to wish everyone who’s still on the Opportunity list, the best of luck in getting off it, especially Vicky.  I have every faith that they will. I sincerely believe they all deserve a place.

Off to finish another cake. See you soon.

Image found here

Pilot

Image found here

Hello there! So as you’ve probably gathered, my name’s Elin. I’ve been contemplating on starting a blog for some time now, and it’s taken me about a week or so to figure out how to work this thing out, so bare with me. As I’ve mentioned in the description, my blog is going to be about my preparations before heading out to Florida, and during my time. I’ll also be blogging about my cakes and other things too, occasionally.

A bit about me:  I’m 23, soon to be 24 and have recently graduated from University with a degree in Law. I also graduated in 2008 with a degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice. I’m still open to the possibility of having a future career in law, but for now, I’m focusing on Disney. One of my passions is baking and cake decorating, as you’ll see throughout my blog, in time.

I decided to write a blog because in about four month’s time, I’ll be jetting off, across the pond to live and work for the mouse, in Walt Disney World, Florida. I am beyond excited but equally as nervous.  I applied in August 2010, but had been considering applying since June. Spending sleepless nights just thinking of how amazing it would be to work and live in Disney for a year, it was literally all I could talk about with my friends, so I decided to just go for it. I’m pretty sure they’re sick of hearing about Disney by now.

 I read countless blogs and sifted through so many threads on WDWIP. I knew it was really what I wanted to do.  I had originally heard of working for WDW because a girl I met on my brief stint at Chester University had done the International College Program over summer, in 2006 but I couldn’t do it at the time. Well, actually, I was heading out with an old friend to visit WDW for the first time in Sept 2006 – And got to stay in one of the value resorts, Pop Century.

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Finally, I thought I should cover the application process, but it’ll be quite brief, since countless of other blogs have described it all quite accurately and thoroughly enough.( If you ‘re not interested in the process, skip this until you see a *) I applied August 18^th (Although the Applications were being accepted in June) and I patiently (Well, impatiently) waited to hear back. I was thinking of it every single day, constantly checking my emails. It became quite an obsession.

I got an email on the 6^th of September, inviting me to a telephone interview. I was absolutely ecstatic. We got to pick from a selection of times and dates and picked the 9^th. I wanted to allow myself a couple of days to just prepare for it, instead of rushing straight in.

The 9^th came along, and I could barely sleep the night before. Simultaneously nervous and excited, but thankfully, my interviewer Nick was lovely and put me at ease.  I’ve never prepared myself so much for something in all my life. The interview was far more informal than I had expected, and lasted longer too, but I do tend to ramble on, as everyone knows.  Immediately after the interview, I felt pretty happy, and pleased with how it went, however, as the day carried on, I started analysing everything I said, and I was just a nervous wreck.

Following day, I got an interview inviting me to the face to face interview in the Disney Head Quarters in London, to which I obviously accepted. It was on the 1^st of October which gave me plenty of time to prepare. I had made arrangements to meet up with some of the other applicants the night before, which was definitely a great help in easing the nerves, as everyone else was in the same boat and we all just got on well.

During the interview day, we watched a presentation on the CRP and one of the recruiters, Jill talked us through it all. I saw the presentation beforehand, but it was good to see it again. We were then allocated times to come back for our interview, in pairs. Mine was scheduled for around 2pm but ran late. I had my interview with a lovely guy, Matthew, from South Wales. I thought the interview went pretty well. Hollis, our interviewer was lovely, and Matthew was really good too. I couldn't have asked for a better person to be interviewed with, because we both let eachother answer and listened. It wasn't awkward like I imagined it to be.

15^th was the date I found out I’d be on the ‘opportunity list’. I was completely devastated because I just thought I’d completely blown it, and I’d never get the chance to go. After speaking to a few people, I calmed down. Fast forward 3 months later, and I got call off Hannah on the 11^th of January, offering me a position in F&B for the 21^st June. I was completely over the moon.  It was, to put it simply, the best feeling ever. The wait was soul destroying, but completely worth it (Well, I hope lol).

*If you’re interested in applying, check out  Yummy Jobs – They do various other international programs too, for example hospitality work in Australia, Canada or Switzerland etc, so it’s really worth checking out, if you’re interested in gaining some work experience abroad.  Oh, and they also help out if you want to travel the world too. I can’t praise the team enough. Very, very helpful.

Thank you for reading my first ever blog entry, hope it wasn’t too painful.  I really hadn’t intended on it being so long.  I’ll post up some pictures of my Little Mermaid cake tomorrow. See you all soon.

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