...but I can say with full conviction and accuracy that I, Andrew/Andy/Drew (delete as applicable), am a future participant in Disney's Cultural Representative Program. If you're unaware of such a program and/or what it entails, here is the not-so-brief description; if you have visited Epcot at Walt Disney World in Florida before (it's the one with the golf ball, if your memory needs jogging) you will be aware that half of the park is World Showcase, a stretch of twelve pavilions, each based/themed on a different country. As part of upholding Disney's legendary standards of quality, they have deemed that only citizens of those countries may work in those pavilions, keeping the atmospheres of each section as faithful as possible.
So basically, I'll be working there. As a British citizen, my workplace will be the United Kingdom pavilion. How exciting; the home of tea, ale, fish 'n' chips and memorabilia for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Just like life is here (obviously).
Now that I've got that out of the way, I guess I should explain why this is all so important to me. You're probably reading this because you are about to embark on the application process yourself - God knows how many blogs I scrawled through during mine. Because of this, I expect you'll be able to relate to the following. I first arrived at Walt Disney World at the ripe age of nine - perfect in my eyes as I was young enough to be as free as a child will ever be from self-consciousness and inhibitions, but old enough to remember it all - and thanks to the generosity of my wonderful family, visited annually eight years out of the following decade apart from two. Essentially, the place feels like a second home to me. Hopefully I don't need to explain to you how unimaginably magical, thrilling, transporting or pleasurable a trip to Walt Disney World is - that would save me a good thousand words. As I was saying, when I was about fourteen we were strolling around World Showcase - one of my favourite places in the entire resort anyway - when I came across the concept of people from those countries actually working in those pavilions when I was served by a young girl from Leeds. "Oh my God, how are you working here? I thought only Americans worked at Disney World!?" After she explained the programme and how to find out more information, the next few years were spent sporadically emailing back and forth various organisations, scrawling the entire Internet for every existing word on the programme and dreaming of the day when I could even begin to think about applying.
As life works, other things happened. I turned eighteen, I left school, I began university in Manchester (my home town is near Coventry). I met hundreds of amazing new people, I began a brand new life in an incredible city - I've just finished my second year so luckily I have another year left in this fantastic place. In January this year, me and one of my best friends were having a casual conversation about what we planned to do when university was over. Travel was of course the only option, and as if by magic (!) I was reminded of my many-years-long dream to apply to work in Walt Disney World. I immediately logged onto to the Yummy Jobs website, and found to my fear/delight that for the first time ever I could actually apply to realistically work. The times for the job openings were all after my graduation from university. It could happen! After cycling home, I sat down and prepared my application. CV done, I sent it off. Nothing was to be heard for several weeks until I was told I was successful in the initial stage and I was invited to a telephone interview. It suddenly seemed to feel very real. To cut a very long story short, the telephone interview was successful, as was the face-to-face interview in London with Disney recruiters, where I met some wonderful people who I cannot wait to share my experience with.
Phew.
So it all begins here. This blog is primarily being written for myself to keep a diary of my bound-to-be-amazing year, something I can look back on in decades to come. It's also because I was kind of jealous of all the other fantastic blogs out there, and I find it exciting that just as I have trawled through hundreds, some eager applicants may one day stumble across mine. As I mentioned earlier, I still have another year of uni to get through and yes, while it is pant-creamingingly (is that okay for a Disney blog) exciting to spend my days dreaming of Florida, I am determined to make the most of every day of my final year at university first. There's no point whiling away some of the best years of my life dreaming about future best years! So what I'm trying to say is, this blog won't see much attention over the next twelve months unless anything changes or I get any news from Disney.
Happy reading, see you in a year!
