Friday, March 28, 2014

A Kid at Heart


     So this was yesterday's (March 27th) Luann. This sums up my ideal way to spend a day perfectly and to top it off Toy Story is my favorite movie!!! I not only can see my sister and I saying the same things, we do stuff like that a lot! When I lived in the dorms at the college I transferred from my favorite thing to do in the morning was watching Disney Junior while sitting on my bed eating cereal. If I was really lucky I had Cap'n Crunch! When I do things that I did so often as a kid I remind myself to not stress over school or whatever is on my mind and instead remember how simple and easy going life can be and is. I can say whole heartily that I still get the same satisfaction from doing what is considered "kids stuff" as I did when I was a kid. Therefore I truly am still a kid at heart, always will be, and can totally relate to this comic!!! I hope that you got the same joy of reading this as I did!


Update March 28th: Here is today's Luann and they watched Toy Story and ate Fruit Loops!



Update #2 March 29th: Luann just keeps getting better and better for me! I think that today I will do just as them and watch Toy Story, drink Kool-Aid, and eat some Cap'n Crunch!

 

Saturday, March 22, 2014

My DCP Postcard came in!!



     So yesterday I finally got my postcard in the mail!!!! Now in reality this is not something amazing. Its not like it is an acceptance letter and this is how you find out if you got into the Disney College Program or not. That would be sort of awesome if it was though. So from the outside world this postcard means nothing but if you are a future CP this is as awesome as an acceptance letter from a top school. This postcard is another reminder that you got into the program that you have been wanting to do forever!! It also a reminder that your program, though it may seem far off, is right around the corner and you really are getting to work at the happiest place on Earth, WALT DISNEY WORLD!!! So though it is just a postcard, it is truly so much more for anyone about to do a DCP.



Monday, March 17, 2014

Disney College Program Facebook Groups

    


     With each of programs for the Disney College Program there are Facebook groups that pop up anywhere from a year in advance or a couple of weeks before applications to the next DCP are rumored to be released. These groups are not made by Disney, but rather folks just like you and me who are hoping to do the next program. Disney does have a DCP page but not a group, it can be found at www.facebook.com/DisneyCollegeProgram. Most of the groups are closed and you have to send a request to be added to it. Don't let this throw you off, they accept basically everyone who sends an invite and accept yours within a couple of minutes or hours depending on the time of day. Here are some of the benefits of joining the facebook group of your (hopeful) program:

•Everyone is in the same boat as you waiting for acceptances

-It is really awesome to see that you aren't the only one waiting around refreshing your dashboard every few seconds

•When acceptances start rolling out you can see exactly what roles are being accepted at the time and when the waves of acceptances are

-This was really helpful and neat to see what roles where being
accepted different times. It helps you kind of tell when you might get an acceptance email.

•Once acceptances do go out you can find answers to any of your new or remaining questions 

-There are tons of people in the group that have the exact same questions that you do. If you don't ask you question someone else most likely already has or will. There are quite a bit of CP alumni that are doing another DCP or are just there to help, so all the questions get a pretty accurate answer.

•You can find links to new groups that are just people who were accepted into the same roll as you

-These groups are awesome!! These groups help you find out more specifics about your roll, and what to expect. You also get to meet a lot of people that you could possibly be working with when you get down there.

•This is one of the best places to find roommates

-These groups are where everyone tends to find there roommates for their DCP. This is where everyone posts roommate surveys for others to get to know things about them to see if they are interested in being roommates. Some of the things on it say what your arrival date is, wellness or non-wellness, do you snore, what you like to do, what your personality is like, do you drink/party/smoke if so how often. Just basic questions.

•Its an awesome place to post that you got accepted into the DCP

-When I got accepted I posted on the main Facebook group that I had gotten accepted as a Fall 2014 Lifeguard so that I could inform others like they had been informing me. Within seconds of posting I had tons of people I didn't even know liking and commenting congratulations on my post. It felt really awesome to see all these people so excited to see another person got accepted. It really makes you feel accepted and like you have a ton of friends even though you know nothing about them.



     There are some negatives to the Facebook groups though. Not enough to say stay away from the groups though. They are great, but here is what I found/observed.



•Like any group of people there will be those rude and annoying people in the group

-This goes with anything you do in life. There is always that one person in the mix. Luckily I haven't really seen any of those people except for once or twice

•You can get discouraged when you see all of the acceptances and you haven't gotten yours yet

-This just makes you really anxious to get your acceptance email. Trust though it will come, and it will come when you least expected or when you finally stop refreshing all the time.

•There are A TON of people on there so it is very hard to keep up with posts

-There are 3,450 people in the Fall Advantage/Fall 2014 group and the number is growing all the time. That's a lot of people posting all to one page so there are constantly new post and you can lose track of them.

•After a while the Facebook group for your role will seem way better than the overall one

-At least for me it has, because there are less than 100 people in the lifeguarding group for Fall Advantage/Fall 2014. This group is waaayy easier to keep up with and has more of the information I am looking for when it comes to the questions I have.



My main tips with how to approach the Facebook groups are: 

•Do like I did and join the group right before you think acceptances are going to go out or when they start going out

-This keeps you from picking out roommates too early. You don't want to already have a roommate and then it gets really awkward when they don't get in and you do. Joining later keeps you from having to see all of the complaining and whining about "why aren't acceptances out yet" "I'm never going to get in" and other post like that. Those things just bring you energy and excitement down.

•Join the group with the most members to join as they will have the best information

-The more members in the group, the more popular the group, the more information it has.

•Most importantly join your roll's Facebook group

-I can't tell you enough how much you should join your roll's group. This is where you will find the most information for your roll specific questions and meet your (possible) future fellow cast members. There is sometimes even one or two CP alumni in the group that can give you so much information about your roll from first hand experience. If there is a CP alumni in the group there is most likely someone in the group that knows one who did the same roll.


These are just my opinions based on what I observed. In the end it's up to what you want to do. If you love Facebook groups knock you self out, join one early, or maybe even be the one to create your programs group!

If you have any questions just comment below and I will try to answer them as best as I can!

Saturday, March 15, 2014

My Disney College Program Application to Acceptance Timeline


I figured I would give my timeline of when I did each step of the application process and when I got my acceptance.


February 7th- DCP Applications went out

February 10th- I Applied

February 10th- Got my DCP WBI email while I was asleep

February 11th- I did my WBI

February 12th- I scheduled my phone interview(I waited to see if a better time would reopen and it did)

February 20th- I had my phone interview at 7:15 at night

February 26th- Acceptances started rolling out

February 27th- I GOT ACCEPTED AS A LIFEGUARD FOR FALL 2014


February 28th- Paid my $304.50 program/housing fees and picked my arrival date of August 4th, 2014

March 11th- I started this blog!

March 21st- My Postcard came in!!!!




I will continue to update this as more of the paper work and events comes my way. Any questions comment below and I will answer them as best I can.

Phone Interview Part 2- The Last Step towards doing a DCP

      In the last blog post I talked about ways to prepare for the phone interview. In this one I am going talk about my phone interview and how it went. If you want to read Part 1 here is the link. I scheduled my interview for 7:15 at night. My interview was a week and two days from when I scheduled it. I prepared for it all week by watching vlogs, reading blogs, makings flashcards of possible questions, and practicing my answers non stop. My planner was full of more things I could do and a count down of days till the interview. I decided that I would do my interview in my room which is the only room that is upstairs in my house so it is very quiet and I have full cell service up there. About two hours before my interview I started to prepare my space for the interview and get focus and calm. First of all I made sure my phone was plugged up and charging! I clean my desk off of everything. I then spread out all of my cheat sheets and a blank piece of paper for jotting down the interviewers name on my desk. After that I put some of my favorite Disney items around me to remind me of Disney during the interview. Some of the things I put around me were my tickets to the trips I took to Disney World and Disneyland, photos that I took while I was on those trips, my mickey ears, my Woody doll, and some Finding Nemo toys. All of those things remind me just how much I love Disney and their parks and why I want to work there. After I had the area I was going to interview at ready to go I still had about an hour and a half before my interview. So I grabbed a snack and went over my flashcards some more. then when I had about an hour to go I turned on some Disney music and did some yoga. This helped calm me down and get truly focused on the interview. Fifteen minutes before my interview I sat down and waited for the call to come. My interviewer called at 7:19 and the interview lasted for 27 minutes. The following are the questions I was asked my interviewer Danielle. They aren't in the order that she asked me because I could barely remember what they were when I wrote them down after my interview. The first one though was the first question I was asked.

•Tell me a little bit about why you want to the Disney College Program
•Tell me about your past work experience
•How would you handle a repetitive task such as telling every guest in a ride line to watch their step
•If a guest was coming to ask you a question how would you make them feel special
•Have you handled money before
•How are you with memorizing long speeches and talking in front of large crowds
•I had put low interest on character performer so she asked if I have had any dance experience and which audition I would attend if I decided to go to one
•Can you handle standing or walking for long periods of time
•Have you handled any emergencies
•Do you have any life guard experience
•What type of work pace do you prefer
•Do you prefer working with a team or alone 
•Are you familiar with the Disney look
•What are your top three roles
•Why do you want to be a character attendant(my 1st choice)
•Have you had any body modifications
•Do you have a valid drivers license
•Are you currently studding in the United States and a US citizen 
•Could you handle working outdoors in the Florida heat and weather

      After she asked me all of the questions she had I asked her a few questions. I asked her some things about housing and how she got her start in the Disney Company. It was pretty cool because she got her start in the company with the DCP as well. So then I got to ask her a lot of follow up questions about all the program and her favorite parts of Disney. After I was done asking questions she said I would here back in about 2-3 weeks. I then thanked her and hung up. A few hours later I received the following email, and the wait game began.


So that is how my interview went. If you have any questions about my interview or anything else comment below and I will answer it the best I can.

 

Phone Interview Part 1- The Last Step towards doing a DCP


     This is the most talked about part of the application process. So you've passed the WBI, within a couple of minutes to an hour you should receive the following email prompting you to schedule your phone interview.



     Just like with the WBI you have three days to schedule your phone interview. At the bottom of the email there is a second piece that tells you how to schedule the interview. You will schedule your interview by going to your dashboard and under the following section will be a link to schedule your interview.


 

     The link will have a calendar and a list of available times for each date. You will be very excited and want to do the interview as soon as possible. I myself was willing to do an interview two hours later that day, but I am glad I didn't. Plus, you cannot register for an interview for the same day you're registering just at a later time that day. So even if there is a wide open time later that day, it won't let you register for it and even if you call the help number they will just tell you that you can't register for a same day interview. Most likely the times available are going to be a few days away, if you feel that it is a comfortable enough time for you go for that time. However, time slots do fill up very fast so if you wait around to register the next available date will wind up being two weeks away.
My personal tips for scheduling your interview are: 

•pick a time of day that you will have nothing else going on and can easily have 20 minutes before the interview and 45 or more minutes for the interview

-most interviews only last around 15-30 minutes but there have been some that lasted close to an hour, so you want to schedule the interview at a time where you have plenty of wiggle room

•if you look around the top of a hour they will sometimes release time slots for earlier dates and times that somebody let go of because they had to reschedule

-this is how I was able to snag a week away interview when the only available date was two weeks away, they say they don't release those dates at a certain time but I was refreshing the page for 3 hours and at the top of the hours is when they popped up

*if you are wondering why it took me three hours to do this, it was because there were a lot of other people doing the same thing I was. You have to be quick. It's almost like buying front row tickets to a concert.

•Make sure you pick a date that allows you to prepare for your interview

-A next day interview might seem amazing but you don't want to go into an interview unprepared and it not go as well as it could if you prepared more.

•Make sure you have the correct time zone entered

-This can lead to scheduling a time that is different from the time you thought you were getting.


When you have scheduled your interview you will get the following email:
     Now on to what everyone is most interested in, Ways to Prepare for Your DCP Phone Interview. On this blog I will go over how I prepared for my phone interview, and I will make another on my phone interview itself and what to remember during it then I will post the link here: http://savingmouseketeers.blogspot.com/2014/03/phone-interview-part-2-last-step.html


Here are my tips on preparing for the Disney College Program Phone Interview:

•Look up list of questions that have been seen on the DCP Phone Interview

-You can find these just about anywhere on the internet, below are two of my favorite list.
http://earsonemily.blogspot.com/p/phone-interview-questions.html And http://onegirlsdisneydream.tumblr.com/possiblequestions 

If you notice at the end of the first link the blogger leads you to the second link.

• Make Flashcards

-If you are a flash card person like me, make them and then do practice interviews by yourself or with someone else as the interviewer.

•watch a ton of vlogs

-Just go on YouTube and type in Disney College Program Phone Interview and there are pages upon pages of videos of vloggers talking about their own interview experiences, tips, and how they prepared.

•do practice interviews aloud by yourself or with someone else
-You can do a practice interview in front of a mirror, walking to class, with someone else playing the interviewer, or my favorite choice of in the car going somewhere. By practicing your answers aloud it will help you practice a professional voice and speech (as in how you speak not a presentation) so that you are not saying ums and uhhs as well as slang words you would use with your friends and family. 



•type or write out a cheat sheet to use during the interview
-Write out the questions that you are most worried about or want to make sure you cover all that you want to when it’s asked. This will then be kept in front of you during the interview.
Here is what mine looked like:

I wrote down my top three roles and why I wanted them/would be good at them

This is the question I was most worried about because there are so many right answers to it, so I made bullets of all the things I wanted to get a crossed on that question
this was another question I wanted to have solid examples on if it was asked
they almost always ask about an emergency situation that you have dealt with and your past work experience so I wanted solid examples for these as well
These are the most popular situational questions that are asked in regards to my top role choice so I wanted to be prepared for all of them in case one was thrown my way
 
•come up with and make a cheat sheet of questions to ask your interviewer when you are done

- having questions prepared shows that you have done a lot of research on the DCP and trust in the interviewer to be a great source of information (which they totally are) just make sure to not ask too many questions, I limited myself to about five.



These were a few of my questions
 

 






Remember these tips are just my personal opinion based on my experience with preparing for the Disney College Program Phone Interview. I suggest looking at other vlogs and blogs to come up with an approach for preparing for the DCP Phone Interview that is right for you.


If you have any questions about preparing for the DCP phone interview just comment below and I will try to answer them as best I can.