16 Days!! Zomg!! And Australian Flag Tattoos!!

Ahh I can't sleep and I'm excited so it's resulting in a blog post!!  I figure I should try and get into the habit of posting so that there is still a chance that I will post when I'm over there.  I make no promises.

So for a Fortune 500 company Disney sure like the element of surprise.  I guess it keeps us on our toes. Anyway, last week we got this lovely long email from Disney going through all the important last minute bits of info we need before checking in, when bam out of nowhere, slotted in the middle of the last paragraph of dot points, was a dot point along the lines of

• and your monthly insurance will be deducted from your pay monthly at a rate of $65-$75 depending on the cover you have chosen.

WTF?!  This was the first we had heard about it.  We had paid a $100 insurance fee and figured that covered us, but then they sprang this on us.   Long story short, and a few frantic phone calls later turns out this doesn't apply to us and we don't need to fork out an extra $70 a month.  Which is fantastic because a) the cover was hardly worth the money, basically just the essentials and b) I am getting my own insurance so the Disney insurance would have been redundant.   

But the good news is, it is all sorted!  

To add to all the excitement, last night some lovely Australians who are already doing the program started looking up all the locations for our roles!  So most of us (apparently they gradually release people into the system) know where we are working.  I wasn't sure if I wanted it to be a surprise or not but everyone else was finding out and I got caught up in the excitement.   So.. Drum Roll... I'm working at the TTC which is the Ticket and Transport Centre or something like that.  Exciting!  It's the biggest Vacation Planner spot so hopefully it will be fun, the only thing I'm not sure about is apparently TTC people get a few parade control shifts which I don't think I really want.  But we will see!

Umm, what else, well its 16 days till I leave, which is crazy.  I feel like everything's under control but I'm sure one week out I'll  be freaking out like crazy.

I've sort of, kind of started packing,  I'm aiming for only one suitcase, but I struggle with one suitcase for two weeks, so this will be interesting.

I'm having a Princess Tea Party as a goodbye kind of thing for my school friends for a bit of fun.  Hopefully I'll actually take some photos and upload.  

OHHH and the biggest news ever.  I bought my first ever Australia Flag Tattoos!!    The Olympics are going to be on while we are over there so I figured to show some Australian spirit they may come in handy.  And on that note it is going to be so weird watching the Olympics in another country!  But it will be half the fun.

So I am pretty sure I am rambling, so I'm going to leave this here.  Feel free to comment, ask questions etc etc!  

22 Days.

Only 23 days to go!  Without work or anything though it still seems kind of far away.  Although people from our little Disney group are starting to leave now, so I'm sure time will start to speed right along!  Almost in to the teens!!  We have come along way for the 200+ days.  I'm not even going to be there for 200 days.  Thats a scary thought.  It's actually 198 days until I am back!

The only things left are paying for Travel Insurance and converting to US $$$ but I think I'm too scared to bite the bullet.  Today might just be the day!.  I think I'm going to go with 1 Cover, considering I'm already doubling up on the Disney Insurance. 

There's really not much else going on, but I feel like I haven't updated in forever!

Visa - Ah-proved!

38 Days!!  Eeek!

It actually still kind of seems a decent amount of time away.  Especially now without work, and I think one last week of interning.  Then my interning days are over.   Crazy.

I did get my Visa approved on Wednesday and got it back on Friday (they take your passport, to put your visa in it)  which is great, because I've now booked/paid for my hotel accommodation,  my Disney fees, Disney Insurance all that's left is my insurance.  Just need some time to work out what is the best.

So getting the visa was rather pain free, despite the chronic waits.  I was second last for the day, everyone else's interviews (all 50+ of them) seemed to take at least 10 minutes.  Mine was literally 2 minutes.  Maybe it was the fact that I was practically the last one, who knows.  But it's done, and it's official.  I'm going to America!

I also registered for a Disney Class.  I chose exploring leadership, it will be two hours every week for eight weeks.  It's more a seminar type thing, so its not college level, but I didn't want it to eat into sight seeing, day off times.  I was really tempted to do corporate analysis, which is college level  but thats three hours, for 13 weeks and includes homework and assessments and I don't want that sort of commitment.  Especially since I've graduated and have a job.  I am looking forward to the leadership class.

Apart from all this, the countdown continues...

45 Days!!!

I have been terribly slack in posting anything so I'm guessing by the time I get to Disney this blog will be all but extinct.

Anyway, I was going to post a few weeks back (but got lazy) because I met up with some lovely Sydney Disney people!  We went to pancakes on the rocks and proceeded to have desert before enjoying the vivid festival!  Everyone is super lovely and we never really ran out of things to talk about!  I'm sure I will appreciate knowing  a few faces and not just facebook faces when the nerves kick in!

Speaking of nerves, so far they don't exist - which is good.  I think its still that nice distance away that its still a nice surreal sort of dream but close enough to be exciting.  Once it gets to the packing stage things might change.  I'm at the sorting stage currently, today I went through my wardrobe and tossed out an entire garbage bag of clothes and got my coat hangers in order.  Making room for all the additional american clothing purchases.

I've also decided in purchasing  a new suitcase.  Mines big, but I want a huge one to fit everything I want to bring home.

Hmm apart from that Visa interview is on Wednesday - so it will be nice to get that sorted and thats about it!!


p.s. still no Telstra contract.  rage.

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Resignation and Visa Interview!

Soooo world,

Things are starting to happen.   I officially handed in my resignation - last day 18 June!!  Three more rosters to come out and about 14 more shifts to do!  I've already been sent my exit survey and a list of things I need to do before I get my last pay check.  Mostly washing the ridiculous amount of uniform I've accumulated over the last 3 years.  Thanks Mum!

And in other BIG Disney related news, I've booked my VISA appointment!!!  Yayyyy - although it's still forever away - 20 June.  Kind of wish I had booked it for earlier, so I could get everything else organised, but I have so much stuff going on that it's just going to have to wait until then.  Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly.  So far no one in the Disney group has had any issues so I think I'll be fine!

The Starlight Five Chefs Dinner is next Thursday!!  So finally all the months of (unpaid)work will have paid off and we can see it all come together.  That will be a HUGEE day!  But I'm looking forward to it!

Following that, on the Friday we are all having a Sydney catch up (it was meant to be Saturday originally but a few people including myself can't make it, so there will be one on both Friday and Saturday).  It will be nice to put some faces to facebook.

I guess that is the next week in a nutshell!  Then we are into June and only 2 months to go!!!  Just waiting on my Telstra contract - then we are all set for the next 2.5 years.  Scary!!

Bad Blogger

Ahhh I can't even remember the last time I updated or what I said in the last update.  So for that I apologise (to all my millions of readers).


Anyway my excuse is...  drum roll..  I got into a graduate program!!!!  Wooo!!


This means that when I come back from Disney - 23/01/13 for those of you playing at home.  I will have a job to come back to!  Starting two weeks later!  Screams!!!


Yeah so I will be working at Telstra in their graduate development program.


So that is my excuse as to why I have not updated in forevers!


Anyway I did get my pack - not sure if I mentioned that,  I got it the day I was going to my assessment centre for the grad program.  Which was the first delay in doing anything with it.  Then everything kind of kept piling on and I still haven't submitted my Visa application.  I think I will have to do that tomorrow.


Apart from that nothing else has really happened.  I'm waiting for my Visa approval before i book insurance/accomodation/housingfees etc.  So until then everything is on hold.


Starlight has been getting busier.  The event is only two weeks away so lots of stuff needs to be done.


In more exciting news, now that I know I have a job, I know when I will be resigning from Club Central.  19 of June 2012!  Will hand in my official resignation  on Thursday!




In other news,  I've been stalking disney blogs, and came across a college program one, of a sixty-something year old who did the college program.  SHe managed to update every single day.  Little posts.  If I did a little bit everyday it wouldn't seem like such an overwhelming task.   Haha I doubt I could keep up but maybe I should try.


Anyway that is all for this post!


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