Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Visa documents

They finally arrived in Australia!
I received an email yesterday saying my DS-2019 form arrived in Sydney from Florida yesterday afternoon, and they will be express posting it to me with in a day or so, that's some pretty quick mail considering its come half way across the world!
this now gives me the option of changing my Visa interview date to this coming Friday, however that would mean would miss out on my last day of work and a whole bundle of other things so I'm just going to leave it for Tuesday the 2ND of September and hope all goes well
i also have to weigh up my options of getting my broken suitcase fixed or buying a new one, so much to do so little time
in fact, 3 weeks and 1 day to go!!!
***

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Visa Interview

I finally figured out how to finish the application form for my visa appointment and its been scheduled for the 2nd of September, there is 2 appointments available before that but i really don't think that i will receive my documents in time for those so fingers crossed September 2nd will all work out fine!

***

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

EPCOTS food and wine festival

Today i received an email asking if i wanted to "officially" take part in EPCOT'S food and wine festival, of course i accepted the offer, i not only get to represent Australia as a whole at the festival, i also get to represent Melbourne and Victoria as i believe there going to be a main focus
here is what my role in tails...
Australia Exhibit Cast Member Roles

Wine Walk-About
(Guests can purchase a walk-about passport and experience a tasting tour of four Australian wineries. It’s an informal walk-through in which guests can have fun sampling different varieties of wine.)
• Interact with guests as you pour wine samples.
• Talk to guests about key points about the winery, wine flavors and descriptions.
• You’ll talk to small groups of guests at a time, as they wander from one walk-about stop to the next.
• It’s OK if you don’t know much about wine. We’ll take you through a short training class to learn about the wines and wineries featured at the walk-about so you feel comfortable talking to the guests.
Cultural Ambassador
• Interact with guests throughout the Australia exhibit.
• Have short conversations with guests about Melbourne in general and the exhibit icons: the Lane ways, Federation Square, etc.
• You’ll get training for this too, so you’ll be able to share key Melbourne facts.
• Our Disney guests love interacting with Cast members from around the globe. They’ll have all kinds of questions about your life in Australia and the differences you see in your home and the USA. This is a fun role that allows you to share your culture and meet guests from the US and beyond.
• You will also be trained to assist guests in downloading pod-casts to their cell phones and PDAs.All Australian Cast Members will be trained on both roles so their scheduler can move them around within the exhibit.


i was interested to know how the other countries, who aren't normally apart of the world showcase are represented in terms of pavilions at EPCOT though out the festival so i googled photos of it and i think i will be working at stalls like this one, but there was a bundle of different photos so who knows, i also read on Melbourne's tourism website that there will be " a purpose built Melbourne pavilion" so I'll just have to wait and find out!
***

Monday, August 18, 2008

Disney pack has arrived!

I received my official Disney "Congratulations" pack this morning, containing the Disney look book, luggage tags, stickers, more paper work and lastly something that was different to last years pack...


Last time when i arrived at MCO at the baggage carousel there was a bundle of Disney people dressed in bright red shirts waiting for us to collect our baggage, then they showed us the way though the airport, up and down like 20 elevators , OK maybe not that many but Orlando airport is on confusing place, then to a really empty part of the airport that had a desk where they gave us more documents that listed were we were living and schedules etc. and then after about an hour of waiting for a bus we all got on and they took us to our housing areas...


well now according to the documents i received today we now have to make our won way to vista where they welcome us and give us all our needed documents for the first few days, it means we have to pay for our own trip, however they did supply us with a coupon for Mears shuttle bus, but at the same time it most likely is going to cut out a big portion of the waiting time we had to endure at the airport last year, a win lose situation but i don't mind, means i get to do something different this time!


so anyway, there is officially 9 full days left of work in the city left, then i have all of September to do as i please (besides working weekends) before i leave on the 17Th! ample of time to see the Friends, the family and the boyfriend before i jet set off to DISNEY!


I'm defiantly getting excited now, about to book my visa appointment, organising air fair tickets and travel arrangements for post Disney... its pretty much all happening all at once!!


***

Thursday, August 14, 2008

The countdown

So my official countdown is on... but because of the short notice of my program acceptance its not really a long one, i have 11 full days of work left, and i believe one month and 4 days until i leave!!

Ive also added 2 clocks on my page, one for the time in my new home to be in Florida, and one for the time that it will be back home just so i can know the difference without using a calculator...

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Very First Blog

So this is officially the first blog on my brand new Disney blog, by brand new i mean this is the second one i have created. the first was because i participated in the Walt Disney World International College summer program last year from November 27Th until the 8Th of February...

The best summer i have ever had, i worked as a character attendant, once of the best and most rewarding jobs i have done in my life, i got to work at all the parks in all different locations with an array of amazing people, i also was lucky enough to have stayed at Blue Heron Resort (opposed to any of the Disney housing areas) in the master bedroom with another girl from Australia who in the end became someone i could defiantly call a true friend... anyway the list of unimaginable perks goes on and on

So the purpose of this new blog i have open is because I'm returning to Disney!

to cut a really long and detailed story short, after returning from my last program i decided to take a semester off university, get everything in my life back in order, work a bit and then head back to finish off my degree, well instead i found myself wanting so badly to go back to work at Disney and when i found out i could i literally jumped at the chance.

Now after a few months of repeating paperwork, interviews and application forms (all of which were exactly the same as last year) i have been officially accepted to return to Walt Disney World...



And if you can possibly read that blurry part of my email,As a character performer this time, I'm so excited its my true Disney dream coming true! last program i was the voice for the characters and this time i actually get to be the character, my official position that i was offered was the character performer role of Pluto!


i did apply last year to be a character before character attendant but i was told that i was in a height range and unable to perform that job, but whilst i was there i asked a few questions to the right people and it turns out I'm actually the right height and what Disney told me probably was because they didn't have any positions available at the time...


but i don't mind because now I'm going to have experienced both roles in entertainment (by far the best part of Disney!) and i simply cant wait.


However its not only the job itself that is so exciting this time around, its also because this time i will be able to living in the actual housing complexes (hopefully Patterson Court, i saw that being built when i was there last and it looks HUGE) and also i will be there a lot longer then 2 and a bit months... my program dates this time round run from the 17Th of September through until the 6Th of February, so i still get to experience the holidays at Disney (which i think were my favourite part of my last program) but also i will be there for the food and wine festival that runs in September i think at EPCOT, Ive also been asked to work at the Australian pavilion while the festive is running, I'm also so excited to be asked to do that role on top of my other one.


so all in all I'm pretty much over the moon with how everything has worked out, i believe i only have a matter of a month and 4 days until i depart, which really isn't that long considering i still have a visa to obtain, Ive also got about 12 days of work left, because I'm planning on leaving early so i can spend some time with my family before i leave... i think that almost sums it up, i was so unbelievably lazy on the blog i kept last year so this time round I'm going to make a real point of documenting everything, no only for myself and my family and friends, but also for all those other people who want to know everything they possibly can about this amazing experience, epically those on the WDWIP website...



***