Two posts in a day! (Well, I wanted to get this blog started!)
This post is going to be all about my DCP application process. I will tell you immediately: It was amazing. It was awful. It was stressful. It taught me so, so much.
As a beginning, I will go ahead and let you know, the brunt of the story has been put in boldface, so you don't have to read all the extra junk I wrote.
I can't remember when I first heard about the program, but I do know that I've known about Disney's various internships for a long time. I hadn't expected to do anything until after I was done with school, but my last trip to Disney World changed all of that.
I'll preface the story with a small bit of back story on this last trip:
My last trip was in January of 2013 and my mom and I decided we wanted to take someone with us, so we asked the son of a family that we're really close to. He's my age (a few months younger) and we're pretty close. We both love movies, especially horror movies, and make-up effects.
Talmadge (that's him) and I were at Hollywood Studios with my mom and headed down to Rockin' Roller Coaster for another ride. Mom had stayed over at the shops while Tal and I went to the ride. While waiting in the queue for the ride, my mom called me and said that, when we were off, to come up to one of the shops on the street because she had met a girl who was on the College Program currently. I said okay and Talmadge and I headed back up the street after the ride. That was when I met Kendyl.
Kendyl was on the program during my trip - Spring 2013, Merchandise. She's adorable and I love her. I got to talk to her for a while that day and added her on Facebook. She told me all sorts of things about the Program and different little tricks. She is truly the one that convinced me to apply to the Program in the first place. Kendyl had said she wasn't sure, but she thought that applications were already open for the Fall, so when we headed back to our resort, I checked on my laptop and, alas, they were not. I got to see Kendyl a few more times during the trip, but other than that, there wasn't a whole lot going on with me and the Program.
While in Florida, I did, however, sign up for e-mail updates for the DCP and began doing a ton of research everywhere I could get my hands on. We returned home on February 2nd, and I was sick...which was no fun. But excitement came back 6 days later when, on February 8th, the applications for Fall 2013 opened up! I freaked out and immediately applied. I was so nervous because I had never had a job before and had to keep asking my mom questions. The application was pretty easy and, afterwards, I was told that in a few days I would hear back if I made it through the application process and was moving onto the step: The Web-Based Interview (or WBI for short.) To my surprise, an hour or so later, I received the e-mail to complete the WBI. I was freaking out and way excited. For a while, that was probably the most stressful part because each question is timed and I was so worried I was going to run out of time to answer the questions.
Before I had started the WBI, I knew that at the end of the Interview, I would find out if I had passed and needed to schedule a phone interview, or if I had not and was done with the application process and automatically rejected. Tears poured from my eyes when I passed the WBI and scheduled my phone interview for February 13th at 11:30 AM. That was a total nightmare.
I woke up early on the 13th and readied myself, having been preparing for half a week and just ready to get this part over with! I checked my phone and my mom's phone to make sure both were receiving calls. I sat in my room, listening to Disney Pandora, when my phone buzzes...with a voicemail. The call had never even rung! I was screaming and upset and my mom and I were both freaking out when her phone started ringing in the other room. We both froze before RUNNING at top speed to the phone. During my interview I had a wonderful woman named Kim. We talked for around 20 minutes and I got to tell her all about alllllll the things I had missed putting on my application - namely, all my acting experience from Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting I had racked up in elementary and middle school! (Note: This was extremely important as I know this is what helped to get me my dream role in Attractions, since there are a lot of scripts!) The interview went as perfectly as I could have hoped for, past the fiasco with the phones, so I will admit it - I was cocky and expected to be accepted almost instantly.
My interview was on a Wednesday, so Thursday came and nothing. Then Friday: nothing. Saturday & Sunday: same thing. Monday, I received an e-mail. The day was President's Day, the 18th. I went into an immediate bad mood, despite trying so hard not to be in one, because I was Pended. I will tell you right now: Pending Purgatory was the worst experience ever, but it also taught me so much. I won't go into detail on how stressed I was, or how many tears I shed, or how many times I cursed everything about the Program and Recruiting...because I did. Being pended was the best thing that ever happened to me.
By the time my wonderful 8 week "pendiversary" rolled around on April 15th, I was fed up with everything to do with the Program and just ready for school to be over so I could think about what classes I was going to take next semester. That Friday was the deadline for Disney to send out answers to all of us that had been pended, so I wasn't exactly hopeful. During the Spring semester, I had classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00-5:15, so my mind was pretty distracted all day on that Tuesday, the 16th. My last class of the day was Theatre Appreciation and I got out a little early, around 4:45 I suppose. I checked my phone and...nothing. Not a big surprise as I wasn't expecting anything, so I walked down the hallway with my friend Kevin and we were standing in one of the side lofts of E building. I didn't remember if I had put my ringer back on, so I checked my phone and there was the little e-mail icon on the top bar. "Oh. Probably just another junk email about a sale at some store that I'm too broke to buy from." When I pulled down the notification bar I saw it: "wdw.college.recruit..." just sitting there. I gasped and told Kevin "this could be something." (Sidebar to Kevin: I apologize for the billionth time for what you went through that day. I'm sorry I'm a freak.) When I opened my e-mail app I saw it...right there, in the subject line, "Congratulations!"...and all hell broke lose. I screamed. Kevin was confused. I grabbed him and said "I'M GOING TO FLORIDA!" (In hindsight, I regret that word choice.) He asked "What!?" I began sobbing. Ugly. Horrible. SOBBING. I was so excited. He had to pee so I left him...and began the calls. Mom cried. Dad just said "I knew you would." My best friend/brother, Sean, was trying to do something at work when I called and said I only had 5 seconds...but as soon as those magic words came out of my mouth nothing else mattered. Tara was excited. So were Maggie and Jason. Everything was going amazing. When I got home, I finally opened my offer letter and discovered the next thing to make me cry that day: I was accepted for Attractions - my top choice of role. My family went out to dinner that night to celebrate. Nothing could upset me...until...
The next day, a part of me died. My best friend and roommate, Carley, was rejected. Now, more than then, I am upset beyond belief that someone who deserved to be in the Program so much was rejected in lieu of people who discuss how to cheat the drug test in Florida (this is an actual conversation on one of the DCP Facebook groups. I still don't believe it.) But I have to give Carley credit: She has handled this situation better than I ever would have or could have. To Carley: I love you so much Gus Gus, and I will always be your Jacques.
Since all of that has happened, a lot has been added: After a huge snafu in Disney's planning, I finally got to select my Arrival Date - August 26th - and went on to find a fabulous roommate & two more suitemates to fill our 2-bedroom apartment in Patterson Court. So, Kristen, Isabel, or Nicole...HI! I love you guys already...and can't wait to eat everything Isabel and Kristen cooks.
It's only the beginning of May, so there hasn't been a whole lot done for the Program on my end yet, but I will be cleaning out my room this summer and trying to figure out what will go with me to Florida...as well as some long overdue cleaning in general.
Well, that's about all I have for now. I think I may actually stop here for the day. I'll try to post more things soon!
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