Moms Panel Issues

[WDWTeri]

We're moving the discussion involving the issues being brought up on the selection process for the 2010 Moms Panel from the 2010 Round 2 Finalist thread. After reading that sentence I understand why I wasn't selected!

So I'll start with my feelings(kinda like therapy!. I just want to understand if demographics are involved. Are they just reading the essays or is our reported info to Disney.com being used? Because if it is demographics that somehow screen out 48 year old Moms of two teenager girls that live in New Mexico, who have Fb but not a blog,who loves WDW more than any place on the planet, then just let me know(ok, assuming that is my profile, I'm sure it can be applied to many).

I'm not even sure of all the issues that are being addressed, so let's get it of our chests and move on.

 

[elfab]

Do we know how many make it to round 2? What an amazing adventure for these people! What does round 3 consist of in the phone interview?
Very interested to know!!

 

[Smbdyscrm]

If I remember correctly, 200 made it past the first cut into Round 2 last year. This year, I read 150 were selected, but I have no idea as to the validity of this. Round 2 applicants had another set of essay questions to answer. Probably 20-30 will make it to the phone interviews for Round 3 (32 last year).

Never made it to Round 3 myself, but imagine it would be much like a job interview with the typical questions..."Why do you want to be on the panel? What can you bring to the panel?" etc.

I can't wait to find out who will be our final 10.

 

[Crazy4Disney72]

First of all, let me say I did not apply for the Moms Panel this year, just too many other things going on in my life right now, but I did apply for the first Moms Panel and made it to round 2 and applied last year and did not make it to round 2.

I have no idea exactly how the selection criteria goes, but I would imagine the first applicants they weed out are the ones who did not use proper spelling and grammar in their answers. You can love WDW and be quite knowledgable and enthusiastic about it, but if you can't write properly, they are not going to pick you to be on the panel. From reading the DIS for a few years, I have seen a few posters who would fall into that category. After those entries are eliminated, I would guess there are probably certain things they are looking for. They want a well-rounded panel that is going to be representative of all areas of the country (and weren't there even international panel members this year?) and many different types of family dynamics. Obviously within those limits, they are looking for articulate people who are passionately interested in all things Disney and have the knowledge to back up that passion.

After passing the grammar/spelling area, I am guessing that I made it to round 2 the first year for one of two reasons; I have a special needs child and I have taken multi-generational trips, as I know they are really interested in whole families coming together to vacation at WDW. My answers must have been good to make it to round 2, but I also think they had specific things in mind. Once they had narrowed the field down to the 100 or so round 2 submissions, I would guess that's when the real scrutiny came as far as just how well someone can write, and how personable and relatable they come across on paper. I am sure it was a VERY tough job judging those applicants, especially once the round 3 telephone interviews came around. I was disappointed I did not move on to round 3, but once the final panel was in place and I started reading their answers, I knew that Disney had made the right choice.