Congrats! Now what?

This blog post covers the no-man’s land that is the post-offer stage of Walt Disney World’s Cultural Representative Program applications. If you have no idea what any of this jargon means but feel like you want a slice of that cake, then check out my earlier post ‘So, you want to work at Disney World?‘

OKAY, the face to face interviews are finally done and, if you’re applying for the HRC, so is that dreaded phone interview. This post is just going to run through that weird phase every successful Cultural Representative Program applicant goes through post-interviews. Like, it’s been tough and now it’s over. You called, facebooked and snap chatted literally everyone you’ve ever met and cried loads in public out of excitement. (No? Just me?) You’ve drank loads of prosecco and binge-watched all your favourite Disney movies to get you psyched up. CONGRATULATIONS! You did it! So now what?

The Result

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So after the final interview, you will have gotten one of three results: yes, no or a wait list. The wait list can be both a blessing and a curse. I know a girl from my intake who was wait listed, and ended up being the first of us to start, leaving in March. However, I also know that sometimes wait-listers aren’t placed before the next intake, and end up having to reapply. But chin up if this is you, you made it! You are considered to be up to Disney standard, and if you have to reapply then you are sure to get through all over again.

The Offer Letter 

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The first thing to come through from Disney is the offer letter. This outlines your start date, your role, your wages and the terms and conditions of your employment contract. You have to accept the offer – BEST. FEELING. EVER. – by electronically signing it. The offer letter is removed from the dashboard within 30 days, so you must save and print it ASAP because it’s needed in order to check in at housing. For those doing the HRC: the first thing I received was an email offer letter from Beverley Lewis, manager of the HRC. It stated all the basic information like role, wages and start date. My actual Disney offer letter didn’t come until way way later. Things seemed to work a little backwards for me.

Program Fees

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Once the offer letter has been received, you will then need to pay your program assessment fees. Again, this will be an email from Disney. This secures your participation in the program and an apartment, and goes towards admin, housing events, and cool stuff like that. Mine cost $154.50, which is around £100 give or take a few pennies. This has to be paid within 14 days of receiving the programme fees email and is super super important.

Disney DOC

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At this point, you will also be asked to log into Disney DOC – or register if you haven’t already created an account – and update/complete the information. Obviously, at this point you will not be able to fill out flight, insurance or visa details so don’t freak out at the email telling you that these steps must be completed within 14 days! This refers to the basic information like contact details, passport scans, intended visa appointment location, etc.

The DBS Check

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If you are a UK applicant, the next stage is to complete a DBS check (the fancy new name for CRB). This is to ensure that you don’t have a criminal record or background that makes you unsuitable for working with children or ineligible for a visa. Yummy Jobs will mail the paperwork to you, along with some helpful guidance notes on how to fill the form out. First things first though, you have to submit the DBS fee via the YJ site under the “program fees” tab. As far as I am aware, this is still £60. Once the fee has been paid and the paperwork sent off, expect it to take around 8 weeks for your DBS paperwork to come back. Even if you know you’re clean, it’s somehow still a relief to see that everything’s good!

Flights & Hotels

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So you’re not a criminal and you’ve paid your fees! Awesome! Now you can go right ahead and book your flights. According to the US Embassy website, holders of a Q1 visa can enter the US up to 10 days before the start date of the petition. I chose to fly out the day before mine, and booked to stay in the Holiday Inn Lake Buena Vista purely because it’s pretty much opposite Vista Way. But if you prefer to keep things a little more chilled, you can do. You can get youth fares (under 26 years old) on STA Travel, and Thomas Cook also do some good deals so shop around! Off the top of my head, my flight cost about £480 flying direct from Gatwick with Virgin Atlantic. Once you’ve booked up your flight, don’t forget to provide all the information on your DOC account!

The I-797B Approval Notice

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The next stage is receiving your I-797B approval notice from Disney. This will show up on your dashboard, and will have a two-week expiry date so you need to save and print it ASAP. This is the most important thing of all, because without this you can’t get your visa. SAVE AND PRINT DAMNIT. The I-797B petition is basically Walt Disney World petitioning the government for you to come and work for them. By receiving the approval notice, the US government have already – in theory – pretty much agreed to you coming out to work. As soon as you receive the I-797B, you can go right ahead and book your visa appointment. I didn’t know this, and had the stupid petition sat on my desktop for about three months. Oops.

So if you are HRC like me, expect this approval notice to come through really early. I assume this is because the HRC deal with a way smaller influx of people than if you are just a regular CRP. My CRP friends received their I-797B around two months before their departure date. And just to clarify, you can’t book your visa appointment until you have that bit of paper.

Sorry this has been such a goddamn boring post, but I remember being a bit lost in between all these weird paperwork-y stages, and wondering about what I was supposed to be doing when, and when I would hear about certain things, and from who. I hope this kinda clears it all up for you.

For those of you looking for advice on the Q1 visa application, see my next post here.

Sorry again. Paperwork sucks.