My Disney ICP Adventures: Pre-summerofalifetime report! SINGLE DIGITS!

[torsie24]

OMG only 180 days! That'll fly so fast!!

Great news on the flights!!!!

 

[Ware Bears]

Just read this all in one go and I am so excited for you!!!

But can you really imagine a jungle cruise skipper with a thick Welsh accent?!

Yes, yes, YES!!! You know I love your accent!!

 

[ariel_]

Magic Kingdom:
• Jungle cruise – I would absolutely love to be a jungle cruise skipper!!! I already know half of the spiel already  But can you really imagine a jungle cruise skipper with a thick Welsh accent?! I’m not holding out much hope for that one haha!

One of my friends from uni was a Jungle Cruise skipper the year before we started and she LOVED the whole experience. She has an Inverness accent so I'm sure you would sound just fine

I am looking forward to following your magical experience - I graduated in June so missed out on this but thinking of taking a break from teaching to do Cultural Representative Programme if I was lucky enough to get on!

Good luck and enjoy every minute!

 

[BethEJo]

Whoooooooooooooah – I haven’t added to this in a while. I blame uni exams, but to be honest, nothing really new has happened with regards to the program. But I think it’s about time for an update now...

Hmm, so what’s happened? As I mentioned in a previous post, I bought my flights and now I’ve also purchased some medical insurance to go with it. Not cheap But all I’ve got left to pay for now are the Visa fees, so we’re nearly there! On the plus side, saving is going well (that’s a new one for me! ), so it’s all looking OK. I’ve been thinking about this, and I’ve decided to take £2000 with me – I just don’t want to have to worry about anything, and am planning on doing a LOT of shopping!! Think I better get me some more overtime then...

Right, what else have I bought...oh yeah, I bought an ICP top! In a previous post, I posted a logo that one of the other CMs had made for us to have printed onto black hoodies. Well, we also did it in white, and I decided to use this to get a t-shirt printed, as I can actually take that away with me. Hoodie + Florida = FURNACE. Big no-no It arrived yesterday, and I am so pleased with it. Here are some pics...

I also started discussing with my parents how I would get to Gatwick for my flight, as it’s not exactly a short journey from where we live in South Wales. We decided that it’d probably best if I caught the National Express from Cardiff direct to Gatwick – but geeee, you should’ve heard my mum when she realised that she wouldn’t get to wave me off at the airport ?!?! I knew I wasn’t going to hear the end of this ! Mum and Dad wanted to come up on the coach with me, wave me off, and then straight back on another coach to come home. I couldn’t let them do that – it just didn’t seem fun, and is not exactly cheap either...but I did manage to convince them to let me book a hotel for the night before the flight. This would mean that I’d be able to (try and) get some sleep the night before travelling and checking in at Disney, and the ‘rents will just wave me off at Cardiff now.

So I went on the hunt for a hotel, and with some great recommendations over on the UK Trip Planning boards, I ended up booking the Yotel. I’d never heard of it before, and for those of you who haven’t either, it’s a “hotel” that does these little, cute cabin rooms that you can just use for a couple of hours. The great thing is, is that they are actually located within one of the terminals at Gatwick, and this was what sold it to me really! I just can’t be cheesed to lug my case around, as with 3 months worth of stuff in it, it’s gonna be HEAVY !! I got one night for around £50 so not too bad ! Here are some pics...

I sure hope there's some curtains or blinds on those windows. Otherwise...AWKWARD!!

Can you tell I like spending?!

I’ve also got chatting to many more people doing the ICP this summer through our facebook group. And I feel that some of us have really clicked – it’s so nice ! Our first ICP meet in Birmingham is now only 3 weeks away, and luckily I’ll then get to meet a lot of my new “family” (as that what it feels like!!). We’ve had a really good response to this meet, and so we should have a fair number. I just hope we can get enough cinema tickets to get in and see “Tangled”! I’ve also been talked into making a big outline of a mickey head on a stick to hold at our meeting place for the Birmingham ICP meet, so that the group can find each other. I’m afraid that people may think I’m starting some sort of Disney protest though!

On this group, a couple of us got talking about what Disney books we had read. I ended up making a list for the group of books all related to Disney, and if anyone is interested, then they can find it here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DnRWEJg2OqWJxlURFE3s9bxD1iH66jWKti68gZ1-1zU/edit?hl=en&pli=1#

I thought this was a good as place as any to post it, and hopefully somebody’ll find it useful. I’m slowly making my way through the list, but I have lots more to go! I wish I had time to read more! I’ve decided to do some reviews soon about some of the books on the list, and I’ll be posting this on my ICP blog (have I mentioned my blog before? It’s in my sig).

Oof! This has become a mammoth post, but I’ve nearly finished, I promise! Tonight, I received my first email from Walt Disney World themselves, welcoming us to the program!! The email started with this, which I thought was lovely!

And I’m going to be one of those people! Wooooooooo! Random burst of excitement!

It’s almost February too, so we should be receiving our welcome packs in the post from Disney soon. I’m just gonna take that job offer letter and frame it!!

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Hi Beth, seems like your plans are going well. Taryn is waiting for her passport renewal to come back and then she will sort out her flights. She has been so busy with Uni assessments and hasn't been on line much lately. I don't know if she has seen that logo but in case she hasn't could you send me the link .. I would like to get her a T-shirt as a suprise.

Strange to think that there are only 4 complete months until you go now .... as a parent I know I will be a wreck

 

[Pegasus928]

Wow Beth - things seem to moving at a good pace.
I love the T-shirt, the books list you have done, the meet your are planning and the phrase "Can't be cheesed". I think I will make a note of that so I can use more in conversations
I have stayed in a Yotel a few times in Schipol airport and can confirm that they are extremely comfortable, convenient - and private. A much nicer way of spending time in an airport than trying to relax on those hard chairs.
Do you think will be lucky enough to get regular updates when you are there? What sort of hours will you be working - or don't you know details like that yet?

 

[torsie24]

Ooooh Beth!!

How exciting!!

Your meet is going to be awesome! Hopefully you'll make some really good friends that day! (If you do can you request to room with them?)

When do you find out what your role is?!?

 

[disney_princess_85]

Loving your report Beth!

 

[Chilly]

So excited for you! You are going to have the best time.

 

[BethEJo]

Hi Beth, seems like your plans are going well. Taryn is waiting for her passport renewal to come back and then she will sort out her flights. She has been so busy with Uni assessments and hasn't been on line much lately. I don't know if she has seen that logo but in case she hasn't could you send me the link .. I would like to get her a T-shirt as a suprise.

Strange to think that there are only 4 complete months until you go now .... as a parent I know I will be a wreck

Hi Sarah! Yeah, I thought Taryn was being a bit quiet The group has been generally quiet though because of uni exams and stuff so nobody's missed much...

The best way for me to send you the logos would be if you could PM me your email address. I'll link you to the hoody company we have been using, and also to the company I used to get my t-shirt. That'd make a lovely surprise

I hope Taryn can make it to the Birmingham meet, although I know it will be her birthday!!

Wow Beth - things seem to moving at a good pace.
I love the T-shirt, the books list you have done, the meet your are planning and the phrase "Can't be cheesed". I think I will make a note of that so I can use more in conversations
I have stayed in a Yotel a few times in Schipol airport and can confirm that they are extremely comfortable, convenient - and private. A much nicer way of spending time in an airport than trying to relax on those hard chairs.
Do you think will be lucky enough to get regular updates when you are there? What sort of hours will you be working - or don't you know details like that yet?

Can you be cheesed Kenny?!

Glad you liked the yotel - I am so excited to stay there haha!

And oh yes, there'll definitely be regular updates from the World!! I'm not sure if this will be a bit too much, but I plan to give a little update every night before I go to bed, but we'll see how that goes.

With regards to working hours, we're not to sure of that stuff yet. I think the minimum we would work is 35 hours a week with two days off a week, but many work more than this - as there is always spare shifts available to pick up. They mentioned that on busy times though, such as the week of July 4th, then we could be working 60 hour weeks ! At the interviews, they were keen for us to be aware that it wasn't going to easy, but I'm prepared for that

Ooooh Beth!!

How exciting!!

Your meet is going to be awesome! Hopefully you'll make some really good friends that day! (If you do can you request to room with them?)

When do you find out what your role is?!?

Unfortunately, we can't request specific room mates The American College Program participants can do this online before they go, and they can also choose whether they would like a 2, 4, 6 or 8 bed apartment....but unfortunately, that's not the case for us We literally turn up at check-in in the main apartment complex and get assigned a room size and complex there and then. There are 3 complexes that they can place us in: Chatham, Patterson and Vista Way. Chatham is the newest and nicest one, so fingers crossed I get that one

And my role? That's another thing they tell us when we are out there. I think we find that out on our second day, when we go to the "traditions" orientation class in the Disney University. I've heard that Mickey himself makes an appearance to present us with our CM badges!!

I really would love to know what ride I am working on - the suspense is killing me!!

 

[gemmybear83]

Oooh loving your pre trip report! I applied for the year out one back at university but pulled out when I was offered an internship I could not refuse unfortuently!

On our flight to Florida in December there were a few on our flights off to work in Epcot for the year - they were soo excited! Sadly we did not see them in the rose and crown later in the trip!

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

Beth, I am so excited for you!
I really hope you get time to update whilst you're out there!
And I've been on your blog, which is so detailed and full of excitement

Steffi xx

 

[Linda67]

It all sounds so exciting. I really don't know how you can sleep at night

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

Hi Beth...

I came across this blog about a girl who worked as a skipper on the Jungle Cruise and thought of you. You've probably already seen it, but in case not, I thought I'd post it here for you

http://wdwcpfall10.blogspot.com/

Steffi xx

 

[BethEJo]

Hi Beth...

I came across this blog about a girl who worked as a skipper on the Jungle Cruise and thought of you. You've probably already seen it, but in case not, I thought I'd post it here for you

http://wdwcpfall10.blogspot.com/

Steffi xx

Thanks so much Steffi!

I've looked at a couple of blogs but I hadn't come across that one just gonna go off and read it now....

 

[Rohais]

Really hope you have a FANTASTIC time! I'm soooo jealous! Enjoy every second of it!!

 

[BethEJo]

So...Saturday just gone was the first "meet" for those of us who are doing the ICP this summer. And what a brill day it was too!

I had organised this all the way back in middle of December, and I remember thinking to myself then that the meet was aaaaaaaaages away. But really, I couldn't believe how quickly it actually came around. Now I hate wishing time away, but if those past two months passed so quickly, then I hope the next four do too. And then I hope the next three after that reaaaaaally slow down

The meet was organised to be held in Birmingham, as it seemed pretty central. I completely underestimated how big the city actually was and therefore, there was a lot of getting lost going on when attempting to meet some of the group at the train station. It seems that I have no sense of direction....

I eventually found some of the gang mostly due to one of the girls wearing some Mickey ears and we headed off to the cinema where we met everybody else. There was around 15 of us at the cinema, so quite a good turnout - I was chuffed to pieces, as I kept having this nightmare that nobody would turn up. Dinner for one please....

We headed in to see Tangled in 3D. I absolutely loved the film, and so did the rest of the group. It was a great start to our Disney day! Here we are at the cinema:

I'm the one in the second row making the silly face as per usual...

After the film, a couple of more people joined the group, and we decided to head to the Disney store. One of the girls sweet talked the CM in the shop to give us some Mickey stickers, so that we could all write our names on them, as remembering them was proving quite a challenge. We had only spoken/seen each other through Facebook, and so I only really knew people by their full names I should've done some more Facebook stalking...

We had dinner at Nando's in the Mailbox and then made our way to a Wetherspoons to finish up the day. In my opinion, this was the best part of the day - two members of the group had already done the ICP before and are going this summer again, for the second time. So in the pub, we had a sort of Q & A session with the girls, where we asked them anything and everything about the prog. I hope this helped some people, as I found it really useful!

So all in all, a fab day! It felt quite strange though, because despite this being the first time that I had met this group, it felt like we had known each other for ages! There are also being meets organised for Manchester and London over the next month or too, and I can’t wait!

 

[wickesy]

Sounds like a great meet Beth. Hope the others go as well.

 

[Nubbedy]

Wow Beth, it's my first visit here to your pre-trippie, and it won't be my last. I had heard a little whisper that you were going to be a CM in the summer! You are so lucky and your excitement is contagious. Can't wait to hear all about your experiences.

And I think a Welsh accent on Jungle Cruise would be fab...but I am biased of course!

 

[BethEJo]

Unfortunately, things re: the ICP have been pretty quiet recently, and I still haven't received my ICP information pack Those checking-in first (May 1st) have started to receive theirs I think, but seeing as I am in the last group to check in (June 19th), I guess I still have a couple of weeks to wait. I've already seen most of the stuff in the pack, so it's not as if I need it to get some vital information, it's just that I want to hold the actual Walt Disney World job offer letter in my hands The pack also contains the documentation that we need to start planning for our visas, and seeing that I'm not particularly looking forward to my lovely day trip to the embassy, I'd rather I had it sooner rather than later....

On a separate note, I've been updating the blog (link in sig - shameless plug!) some more, but due to the ICP quietness, most of the posts are just "general Disney" rather than specific to the program. Just my mindless ramblings ! I have started the Disney 30 day challenge though and am currently on day 8. Gives me an excuse to think about Disney some more

And also on the blog, I've added my "ICP Bucket List" (http://beth-john.blogspot.com/p/my-icp-bucket-list.html) - basically just everything I want to do this summer. It's a little extensive and I can't see me completing it, but I'll give it a go! I'm just interested in what sort of things you guys would love to do at Disney/Orlando/Florida? What are your must dos? I'm always looking for new things to add to the list!

I can't believe how much time has flown! The first group of ICPers will be checking-in in less that 2 months! Unbelievable. It's currently 102 days for me - that means it's not long until I can start double digit dancing!!!