It's Kind of Fun to Do the Impossible - A 12 Month CRP Report

[Windsor Princesses]

Awe man, the application process seems like it was so much more hectic for you!! That's insane!! Glad you toughed through all the waiting and put all the effort into it! It all worked out in the end!!

The new Disney run application process is much smoother from what I hear (I see why they switched). Mine was extra confusing because it was in between the switch over, so half way through we lost our Canada rep and had to communicate with Europe's! It took a whole day to just get an email reply because of the time difference; but luckily everything worked out!

OMG I'm so excited to have found this thread! You're right, there is very little info out there from people who've done the international programs at Disney! I have my Skype interview for the Cultural Rep Program next Friday (July 11th) and I have been trying to research interview questions and get prepped as much as I can. LOVE your colour-coded notes!! I need to do that haha
Can't wait to read more about your exciting experience!! You're leaving for Florida SO SOON!!

Ahhh I am so excited for you!! It sounds stupid, but smile when you're talking to them, it makes you sound so much happier and cheerful. I'm not sure where I put my fancy notes, but if I find them before I leave I'll put some of the questions they asked up here for you. It really helped me to have them ahead of time I was pre-answering them before she even asked them so my phone interview was only like 5 minutes. I found out when I spoke to my phone interviewer at the F2F Interviews that she loved my efficiency.​

 

[Reflections of Earth]

I'm joining! I can't wait to read all about your experience.

 

[Windsor Princesses]

I'm joining! I can't wait to read all about your experience.

Thanks for joining in!! I can't wait to share it with all of you ​

 

[Windsor Princesses]

PACKING UP MY LIFE


Moving day is in just 41 short hours!!
So I have finished packing almost everything. I have managed to widdle down a years worth of clothing so that I could fit it all in one small suitcase and one small rubbermade bin.


I invested in some serious space bags so that I could squish as much as possible into them (hopefully it all fits once I get there).


Originally I had bought some “space bags” from the dollar store in hopes that they would work wonders. Note to self, “space bags” from the dollar store do not work for more than 3 seconds. Don’t waste your money. So I got the real thing and let me tell you, they work wonders!

I didn’t really know what to do with my shoes, but I’m driving down not flying so I didn’t have to get too technical. I just put a bunch of shoes into some plastic bags, threw the bags into a hamper, and called it a day. Ahhhhhh the luxury of driving down.

Although I haven’t actually made the move yet I can’t say if this is 100% true. But from what I hear from other people moving down right now too driving is the way to go! I mean obviously if your coming from England or somewhere else that isn’t conveniently located on the same continent as WDW then driving isn’t really an option, but if you’re coming down from Canada being able to stuff a car full of junk really seems to be taking the stress off of this whole situation.

I’m not keeping my car down there, but my mom and Brendan have both been gracious enough to drive me up, and then drive my car back home. Which means that I can bring a ton of stuff, and then whatever doesn’t fit I’ll just send home with them. Not to jinx myself but this seems fool proof! ​

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Joining in.

What an exciting time in your life! I look forward to hearing about this very magical year.

 

[BOG Obsessed]

Following along, looking forward to reading your experiences!
Have a safe drive to FL.

 

[Angeejoe]

Just found you TR & wound love to follow along! I wish you safe travels!

 

[Windsor Princesses]

Joining in.

What an exciting time in your life! I look forward to hearing about this very magical year.

Thanks for joining in! I can't wait to document everything on here to share with you all on the DIS.

Following along, looking forward to reading your experiences!
Have a safe drive to FL.

I'm so happy to have you following me along on this year long adventure! I leave in just 20 short hours and I feel like I have so much left to do.

Just found you TR & wound love to follow along! I wish you safe travels!

Yay! I'm so happy you found it because I would love for you to follow along! It's about a 20 hour car ride so I really appreciate your safe wishes. We'll sure need them!​

 

[Windsor Princesses]

MORE OF THE APPLICATION PROCESS

The Face to Face interview process works a little differently than most of the others I have ever been on. We started first thing in the morning with a big group interview. They showed some videos of other CRPs from around the world that spoke about their roles, housing, and the experience as a whole. And then the two interviewers began asking group questions.
Just simple things like who has ever been to WDW before, and then they asked how many times and you had to leave your hand up until you had no longer been to WDW that many times. They stopped asking when it was just me and one other guy left and neither of us even had a rough count of how many visits to the happiest place on earth we had been lucky enough to have throughout our short lives.

After the more generic questions had been asked they asked some fun trivia questions and you could win little things like key chains and pins. I was lucky enough to get chosen to answer one, which resort recently opened? Art of Animation obviously. He decided that the question was too easy so he then quizzed me on which movies the resort represented. Like that could stop a DISer like me! So I raddled off the sections of the resort in the correct sequence of their phased openings (which he noted afterwards) and won myself this beauty!



After the questions were finished they read of a giant list of everyone’s names and what time slot their F2F interview would be held. I, of course, with my wonderful luck received the final time slot of the day which would hopefully be finished before my long (and expensive) train ride home commenced at 6pm that evening.

The actual F2F interview was like most interviews that anyone has ever been in. They ask you about your strengths and weaknesses, and why you think you would fit the job. Everyone came out before me and said they asked them “tell me about Canada” to which I had a wonderful answer prepared. Apparently I was the only one who was asked |tell me about Canadians” to which I had nothing! I mean now looking back, I can think of a million ways to spin my Canada answer to Canadians but I just drew a giant blank. And then after what seemed like 50 hours, which I’m sure was more like 5 seconds my mouth stumbled out, “Canadians are polite”. Yup, I am an idiot. My only saving grace was that not one week later did Tim Hortons make a commercial about Canadians and the first line was “Canadians are polite” so I had that going for me.

Anyway, I left the interview thinking that I was never going to even get onto the opportunity list with that crazy answer, and I could just chalk this whole thing up to just buying one very expensive pin for my pin board.


​

 

[11point5]

Ahhh I am so excited for you!! It sounds stupid, but smile when you're talking to them, it makes you sound so much happier and cheerful. I'm not sure where I put my fancy notes, but if I find them before I leave I'll put some of the questions they asked up here for you.[/CENTER]

Thanks so much for the tips!!

I’m impressed you were able to squish all your clothes into 1 suitcase and 1 rubbermaid container!! The only other CRP reports I’ve read were by guys, and they obviously bring like nothing haha cuz they’re GUYS, but as a girl I feel like it would be so much harder!
Driving down definitely sounds like an easier experience, not having to worry about luggage allowances and carrying your stuff through the airport and everything! Did you just not want to keep your car with you at Disney for the year? Or are you not allowed to do that?

I LOVE THAT PIN OMG!!!!! Even if you didn’t get the job, the Montreal experience would pretty much be worth it for that cool pin! (Although it’s A MILLION TIMES BETTER because you DID get the job!!!!) And politeness is a great Canadian quality (even if it’s so cliché of us haha), that’s too funny that Tim’s came out with a commercial about it right after your interview!! Thanks for sharing your F2F experience, sounds way less intimidating than I was expecting! What did you guys all do during the break between the group interviews and the individual one in the afternoon?

 

[DisFan89]

I am so excited for this report and totally jealous you are spending the year in the happiest place on earth!! Joining in!!

 

[pocahontasgal87]

Hello! following this report!, I always was curious what the CRP was like and excited to see your experience . Funny, I am also from Windsor, ON and my name is also Danielle Im going to disney this Sept, hopefully i'll see you in the Canada Pavilion. Look forward to reading more

 

[katt789]

Not sure if I replied to the packing post or not already but,

VACCUM BAGS!! THANK YOU!!

I'm in the process of packing right now, as I'm moving from a house on my own that I won't be coming back to, it requires a ton of work, and I started to freak out over the amount I was taking/clothing space and such, I didn't even THINK of vacuum bags lol!!

Hope all is going well!

 

[Windsor Princesses]

Thanks so much for the tips!!

I’m impressed you were able to squish all your clothes into 1 suitcase and 1 rubbermaid container!! The only other CRP reports I’ve read were by guys, and they obviously bring like nothing haha cuz they’re GUYS, but as a girl I feel like it would be so much harder!
Driving down definitely sounds like an easier experience, not having to worry about luggage allowances and carrying your stuff through the airport and everything! Did you just not want to keep your car with you at Disney for the year? Or are you not allowed to do that?

I LOVE THAT PIN OMG!!!!! Even if you didn’t get the job, the Montreal experience would pretty much be worth it for that cool pin! (Although it’s A MILLION TIMES BETTER because you DID get the job!!!!) And politeness is a great Canadian quality (even if it’s so cliché of us haha), that’s too funny that Tim’s came out with a commercial about it right after your interview!! Thanks for sharing your F2F experience, sounds way less intimidating than I was expecting! What did you guys all do during the break between the group interviews and the individual one in the afternoon?

Squeezing all my clothes in was a challenge but I feel really good about it. I brought the perfect amount because I have just enough space to fit everything.
You are allowed to keep your car with you (sometimes I wish I had) but I didn't know if my car would survive the Florida heat and I didn't want to risk not having a car when I got back home.
During the break we all just hung around in the hotel lobby. It was a hectic day, watching everyone come out and tell you how they aced their interview but I just tried to stay positive and keep myself convinced that I would be perfect for the job. ​

 

[Windsor Princesses]

I am so excited for this report and totally jealous you are spending the year in the happiest place on earth!! Joining in!!

Thanks for joining in! It's been such a busy and exciting start and I have met so many wonderful people. I managed to get tomorrow off so I plan on updating like crazy to make up for everything I have missed.

Hello! following this report!, I always was curious what the CRP was like and excited to see your experience . Funny, I am also from Windsor, ON and my name is also Danielle Im going to disney this Sept, hopefully i'll see you in the Canada Pavilion. Look forward to reading more

That is so crazy! I really hope I get to meet you in September, we'd have so much to chat about. ​

 

[Windsor Princesses]

THE OPPORTUNITY LIST

Once our interviews in February finished a couple people got offers that night to start work like literally 2 weeks later (how that even works I have no idea, do they rush visas?) Other than that we were told that we would have to wait until the March interviews were finished. So myself and all the other applicants waited patiently (or not so patiently for some) to hear back. Luckily we have an amazing facebook group so that we could all chat and freak out together. For some it was nice to because they didn’t want to bother their family and friends with their craziness, I found it quite nice because I hadn’t told anyone that I was applying to work at WDW yet. Because of this it was so wonderful to be able to talk to people in the group about everything that was happening so my brain wouldn’t explode with keeping such a massive secret.
Mid March they sent out the opportunity list emails and I had made it!! Obviously I was crazy excited so I finally let my sister and Brendan know, and a few weeks later told my mom as well (yes I left my dad in the dark about it still). Now it was just a matter of waiting and waiting and waiting. I checked my email at least once an hour every day and on the facebook group I got to see everyone I interviewed with begin to get offered positions. I was so happy for them all (especially since at the interview they all seemed way more qualified than I did for this job anyway) but I was still sad because role after role was disappearing.
Our final date to remain on the opportunity list was September 15, 2013. That day came and went and I had still received no email. I was heartbroken. ​

 

[Windsor Princesses]

THE OFFER

On September 16 everyone still on the opportunity list received an email, from our recruiter at Yummy Jobs, telling is that we could either choose to remain on the opportunity list for an undetermined amount of time (so basically anywhere from one day to whenever the next interviews were being held) or we could reapply and begin the process all over again. The email also stated that there was no hint as to how many jobs would become available. With that information I decided to reapply, we only had 24 hours because the deadline had already ended and we were being given a direct link to the application that would only be open for that small window of time.
The days after I received an email from Disney offering me a a role that would start March 4, 2014! I was so happy and excited (especially since I had cancelled my application and reapplied – oops). The only issue was that I had finals that happened at the end of March and one final placement that would happen during the month of April. So the next day at school I spoke with all of my professors and even the Dean of my program and everyone was so helpful and wonderful! They were going to allow me to complete my final placement when I returned home the following March, and every professor I spoke to was going to let me write my final ahead of time before I left. That is until I spoke to the woman who was teaching my class on Classroom Accommodations. That’s right ladies and gentlemen , the woman teaching us on how to accommodate our students so that they are able to be successful in life, flat out refused to accommodate me in any way. And as if she was reading my mind about out 20% final, she informed me that if I did not attend the final it would result in an automatic failure of the class and therefore of my whole program. Thanks Lizzy Star, you’re a peach!
I called my mom sobbing while I walked back to my car after class and she just asked me what I wanted to do, I managed to squeak out “I want to work at Disney World”, and she just said that she knew that would be my answer and to do whatever I need to do to make the dream I have had for 22 years of my life come true.
When I got home I emailed my recruiter at Yummy Jobs and told them that I was accepting my offer for March 4, but that if they happened to have a role that was starting after the end of April that it would allow me to complete my studies and not have to forgo my program.
The following day I was sitting in math class, learning how to teach tiny small children about long division and what not when my phone rang. I had no idea who it was and we aren't supposed to have our phones on us in the classroom so I didn’t answer it. When class ended I saw that my sister had sent me a text that Disney was calling me at home and that she had given them my cell number to reach me! I felt like such an idiot, I had just ignored WDW when they were calling me!! My cell phone wouldn’t allow me to call the United Kingdom, since that is where my recruiter was from at the time, so I just emailed her to let her know what had happened. She emailed me back right away to tell me they had a role for me starting July 8, 2014. After accepting it immediately I proceeded to run outside to join my new group of school friends (that I had just met a couple weeks prior at the beginning of the program) and run around the front of the building jumping and telling everyone that passed by that I was going to work for Mickey Mouse. I must have looked crazy!
So that was my entire application process, from the time I applied until the time I started my program it took 2 years and a whooooollllllle lot of waiting, but so far it was totally worth it!


Now that we have all of the before stuff out of the way, get ready for fun amazing WDW times, and posts with actual pictures!! yaaaay!!!​

 

[katt789]

Oh my gosh!!

I'm so happy that they gave you the oppertunity to reapply right away! And that everything worked out for you! I would have been DEVASTATED if something had come up and prevented me from doing the program, or make me choose between Disney & school, like, one's my LIFE DREAM, and one's going to actually make a really big impact on my future, lol.

So glad you got in and hope you're having a blast down there so far! I imagine you've been super busy! Can't wait to read all about it!

We're coming down Aug 20-24, and will be in Epcot on the 21 & 23rd, I hope we can see you one of those days!!

 

[kimber11]

omg I am so in! I cannot wait to hear ALL about it. I am so happy for you Danielle, what an experience of a lifetime. Needless to say, I am incredibly jealous. I am hoping to one day apply to do the CRP for Canada as well. Right now my kids are still a little young for me to leave for a whole year. I hope they don't have an age restriction. Looking forward to hearing about your experience and all of your adventures. We will be down to Disney in November, I will try to find you in Canada.

 

[abeautybutafunnygirl]

Hello! I'm new to DISboards, and I'm so happy to have found this! I'm also Canadian, and I would love to work for Disney one day. Since I'm starting university in the fall, I'm leaning towards applying for the summer program. Though I would love to spend a year in WDW instead of 3 short months, and I'd also love to work in the Canadian pavilion.
I have a question for you- what date were the majority of people offered to start? I'm just wondering if your date was a major anomaly, because if I do decided to do the 12 month program, it would be much more convenient for me to start somewhere between May-August instead of the middle of a term, so I would take less time off from school.
Anyways, I'm so excited to read about your adventures! Have fun!