Friday, 17 May 2013

Less than 4 weeks now!!

Hi!! I cannot believe that it is less than 4 weeks until I leave for Florida!! Unfortunately I'm still in uni at the minute, I have my first exam his afternoon and then another one on Tuesday morning and then the last one is next Thursday afternoon! But after that I have 2 weeks to do some last minute shopping!!

Nothing has really changed since the last update but I still have to pay for travel insurance and get a travel money card which I'm going to do when I get home today. 

There's more talk of where people want to live and roommates now because Disney has introduced the DORMS system which for the first time allows ICP's to have a say in where they live. So far for the Canadians who have just when out recently it has worked pretty well although by the sounds of it a lot of people who only linked with one roommate got one bed apartments. 

Thanks it for now! Have a Magical Day!! Only 24 days to go!!

Sunday, 5 May 2013

It's been a while...again!!

Hi everyone!! I know it's been over a month!! Uni is a nightmare at the moment!! Too many assignments, a lab report and revision all to do over the next 3 weeks :O But thankfully after that it's only a couple of weeks before I go to Florida!!! Which is hard to believe, it really doesn't seem long ago when I first got accepted!!

So I had my Visa appointment on the 9th of April and I went to the Belfast Embassy. I arrived about 11am, went into the embassy and I was out within 40 minutes!!! I was so pleased that I didn't have to wait long. The process was quite simple, I went up to a window where I handed them all my documentation, second time I went up to the window they took my fingerprints and handed back most of my documents. Lastly my name was called and I went into the interview room where the lady just asked me a few basic questions like where I live and what I will be doing over in Walt Disney World, that was it!! I received my passport back 2 days after my appointment with my visa in one of the pages.

I have also received several emails from Disney recently, one was about medical insurance which I have now paid off, it was $210 for 3 months and that was the cheapest option!! Another was about the website which gives us a lot of details about what to expect the first few days and this is where we can find the link to pay the Program assessment fee which cost $104.50 which I've paid as well. Also on this website is the hire documentation which is 7 pages which you have to sign and it includes stuff like you will wear your costume properly and any ideas that you have can be used by Disney (something along those lines!).

So everything is paid off now for Disney!! All I have to do now is do some shopping for new clothes, since in Northern Ireland we don't need a summer wardrobe lol :) and I need to get dollars onto a travel card of some kind. Things are starting to seem more real now! On our flight Facebook page there has been talk of getting a group taxi/s from the airport to Vista Way since apparently it's quicker and cheaper.

I also met up with a couple of girls who go to my university and another girl who was over in Belfast for her visa appointment a couple of weeks ago. We met up in Starbucks and literally sat and talked about Disney and Florida for 2 hours!! Honestly it was so nice just to talk to people who will be doing the same thing as me this summer and are just as excited as me! Since I don't like to talk about it much with other friends in case they get bored of me talking about it all the time lol.

Have a Magical Day!!! 36 days to go!!!

Saturday, 30 March 2013

Disney Pack Arrived!!

Hi everyone!! My Disney Pack arrived on Tuesday 26th March :) It contained my letter from Disney, a couple of forms about visa, an instruction sheet helping with the Visa process and an American Sim Card!!!!

My letter from Disney told me that I will be earning $7.80 an hour which is about £5.15 which I'm pretty pleased about :) I'm also really happy with the Sim card since it gives me a USA number and a global number and it's not a monthly contract which means I can just top up when I need to :)

I have now booked my visa appointment for the 9th of April. After I did that I paid my SEVIS fee of $35 which was a simple form that needed to be filled out online. Then I started the DS-160 which is the online form that needs to be filled in before your visa appointment. It took me a good hour and a half to do, thankfully for me it wasn't too bad. It asks you a lot of questions and some of the questions can vary; for example I got asked about my family, like if I had any family in the USA, but some people get asked about how much they expect to earn while in the USA amongst other things. There are a lot of security questions which thankfully I can answer no to all of them lol :)

Overall the visa process has been ok so far, I think my main advice would be to sit down with all the paperwork and take your time when answering the questions, and look at the information given to you from the Disney Pack and Yummy Jobs.

I'll update again after my visa appointment in a couple of weeks, but after the visa appointment there really isn't much else to do before Disney!!! It's just a matter of waiting and getting through the last few weeks at uni!!

Have a Magical Day!! Only 72 days to go!!

Thursday, 14 March 2013

Plane Seat is booked!

Hi everyone!

On Tuesday it was 90 days until I arrive in Orlando which means one thing...we could pick our seats on the Virgin Atlantic flight from Gatwick!!

There's probably about 10 or so Disney ICP's on this flight and we've taken up most of row 39!! So apologies in advance to everyone sitting near us, we'll all be really excited!!

I am still a bit nervous since this will be the first time that I will be flying on my own but knowing that I'll be sitting beside people who are just as excited about the program as I am and who are probably feeling nervous as well definitely makes me feel more at ease :)

Hopefully we should have our Disney Packs by next Friday and then I can start the visa process!!

Have a Magical Day!! Only 88 days to go!!

Sunday, 3 March 2013

99 days to go!!!

Wow can you believe it?? 99 days until I am back in Florida and starting what I hope will be an amazing summer working for the mouse!! :D To be honest it still doesn't feel real, it might kick in when I get on the plane lol :)

Have a Magical Day!! Only 99 days to go!!

Thursday, 28 February 2013

End of another month...

Hi everyone!!

So today is the last day of February already!! Time is going way too quickly these days lol In one way that's a good thing since it means I'm getting ever closer to going to Disney but I have a lot of uni work going on as well!!

Still no sign of the Disney packs yet, but some one emailed Yummy Jobs and apparently they will be starting to send them out in March!! :D So looking forward to getting it!!

Nothing else has happened really lol but in non-Disney news: My parents and my car insurance came in and this year it's £200 cheaper :O So my monthly payments have gone down by nearly £20!! This now means I can be saving more money for Disney!!! Yay!! :D

Lastly I am nearly in double digits in my countdown to Disney :D On Sunday it will be exactly 99 days until I jet off to Orlando!! It's so hard to believe considering I started counting down at over 200 days to go!!

Have a Magical Day!! Only 102 days to go!!

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Roomate Survey!

I realise UK ICP'ers don't get to pick roomates but I thought it would be nice to do it anyway :)

Name: Rachel
Gender: Female
Orientation: Straight
Birthdate/Age: 9 June 1993 / 19
Hometown: Newtownards Northern Ireland
Major: Physics with AstrophysicsCollege: Queens University Belfast
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Role: Quick Service Food and Beverage
Term: Summer 2013
Arrival Date: 10th June
Departure Date: August 16th
Flying or Driving:Flying
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HOUSING PREFERENCES
Wellness/ Non Wellness: Wellness, I'll only be 20 :)
3 Good Qualities in a Roommate: Friendly, Considerate and Good sense of Humor
Do You Drink?: Nope
DO YOU LIKE TO PARTY?:  Not really tbh! I don't mind going out the odd time :)
Do You Smoke? Nope
Messy or Tidy?: Probably on the messy side but would tidy after myself :)
Do You Like to Cook? Yep!
Night Person or Morning Person? More of a night person
Do You Have a Current Job? Nope
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ROOMMATE Q’s
Favorite Chores? I don't mind doing the dishes
Least Favorite Chores? Cleaning the bathroom.
How do you feel about sharing? As long as people ask, or let me know if they took anything.
Do you snore? Nope, but I do mumble in my sleep I have been told!! Hope my roomate is a heavy sleeper lol :)
What time do you go to bed? About 10:30 - 11pm
What time to you wake on free days? Usually at 10:30am ish 
I PREFER TO SLEEP IN A ROOM THAT: It has to be dark and quite quiet, I don't mind some music as long as it isn't heavy metal hahaha :)
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PERSONALITY
THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU: Funny, loyal and friendly 
ONE GOOD QUALITY: I would say I like a good laugh and I can laugh at myself :)
ONE BAD QUALITY: I can be lazy at times
TOP 5 FAVORITE TV SHOWS: Once upon a Time, Bones, Beauty and the Beast, Big Bang Theory and Pointless
TOP 5 FAVORITE MOVIES: Beauty and the Beast (a no brainer there lol), Lord of the Rings, Star Trek (the newest movie) and really any Disney movie lol 
FAVORITE SONG: Good Life - One Republic
FAVORITE BOOKS: Any Kathy Reichs book, The Christy Miller Series.
INTERESTS:  Piano, Disney, Science
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DISNEY STUFF
FAVORITE MOVIE: Beauty and the Beast
FAVORITE CHARACTER: A tie between Mickey, Belle and Tigger
FAVORITE PRINCESS: Belle
FAVORITE PRINCE: Flynn Rider
FAVORITE VILLAIN: I don't really have one!
FAVORITE PARK: Magic Kingdom closely followed by Epcot
FAVORITE RIDE: Ohh I have so many! Tower of Terror, Soarin', Mission Space, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan's Flight, Splash Mountain, Mickey's Philarmagic, I could go on!!
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN TO DISNEY? 3 times to DLP and 3 times to WDW
WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT AT DISNEY? Making new friends, making magical memories for all the guests and being back in WDW after 5 long years!!!


Have a Magical Day!! 117 days to go!!