The Emotional Equivalent of Space Mountain: Part 1

 If you read my last entry, you know that my application process for the program has been rather eventful.  I thought I would go into more detail about what I went through and the roller-coaster of emotions that I had to endure.

I feel I need to preface this story by saying that you cannot ever be over-prepared for the torture of waiting for updates on your application.  I thought I was prepared and boy was I wrong.  So very, very wrong.

So let’s back up to a couple of weeks ago.  After 14 weeks of waiting, Disney finally sent out emails inviting Australian applicants to interviews.  This should have resulted in me dancing around the house, squealing and singing Disney songs at the top of my lungs...right? 

Wrong!

In case you haven't worked it out yet, I did not receive one of those lovely "Please book an interview" emails.  My mind immediately started racing with thoughts and questions that all revolved around one theme: Does this mean it's all over for me, that the Disney Adventure has stopped before it's even begun?

Well, in a word: No. 

In three words: I'm not sure. 

In four? I don't think so.

You see my friends, this process is not always easy as the lucky, never-had-a-problem, gosh-this-was-simple, applicants would have you believe.  Oh no, not at all.  At this point I felt like I was on the world’s longest train journey and just as we were almost at our destination the train stalled at some stupid town where nobody ever goes!

"Attention Passengers, we have made an unscheduled stop at Frustration Station.  We have no idea when we will be back on our way again, so please just sit back, relax and stew in your over-active imagination's capacity to think up as many worse case scenarios as possible."

See, whilst I hadn't yet received an interview invite, neither had I been made NLIC.  In other words, my application was still open but just hasn't moved anywhere yet.  I’d been suspicious for a few weeks that something might be wrong, since I hadn't received an email about uploading anything to DOC.  I tried to get to the bottom of this through research and emailing Disney recruiting and the answer I got every time was "Keep checking your email and dashboard for updates."  (I will tell you now that nobody can send a vague email that doesn't actually answer your questions like Disney recruiting).  I did what I was asked and remained patient, sure that Disney recruiting knew what they were talking about, yet in the back of my mind this niggling little thought wouldn't leave me alone - a thought that told me something was wrong.

Well when I didn't receive an interview invite, it took me all of 2 minutes on to work out that something was indeed very, very wrong.  I emailed Disney but couldn't bear the waiting so eventually I bit the bullet and made a phone call to Disney recruiting.  It was an international call to their offices in Florida, since that was the only number I had been given.  And if I thought the waiting was annoying, I was about to learn that frustration could reach a whole new level!

Stay tuned for the next installment of my application saga!