15 Things I Learned on the Disney Cultural Exchange Program (Part 1)

So I've been thinking about how I could possibly start to blog about my experience and to be honest, it's a little overwhelming.  And since my go-to technique when facing an overwhelming task is to write lists, I figured that's how I would begin this process.  2015 was a huge year of growth and change for me and I learnt a complete butt-load of life lessons (yes, butt-load is the  correct term here).  I learnt so much about myself and other people and I came out a stronger person.  In fact I learnt so much I had to break this up in to 2 posts!  So here's your first installment: 15 Things I Learned on the Disney Cultural Exchange Program (Part 1).

1. Walt Disney World is both huge and tiny at the same time  

Disney is full of paradoxes, and one that I became aware of is the fact that despite how absolutely massive WDW is (it's like the size of a City!) it's begins to feel small pretty quickly when you live there.  People call this effect the 'Disney Bubble' and over time you realize that it really is like living in a huge invisible dome.  That's both a good thing and a bad thing.  It's good because getting around Disney World is incredibly easy - especially when you're a cast member and you can get just about anywhere without too much hassle.  Signage is impeccable and transportation is both plentiful and reliable.  Cast Members are friendly and helpful and cheerful music is always playing.  It's a magical wonderland designed to bring joy and happiness (and to get you to spend lots of money lol).  But sometimes it's so claustrophobic too.  You run into fellow Cast Members all the time, the crowds can be unbearable and the music starts to grate on your nerves sometimes.  The artificial quality of it all can be too much at times and you just want to spend one day without seeing something shaped like Mickey Mouse!  I made the effort to just get out of the bubble when I could and spent time in regular old Orlando.  It kept me same to not always feel like a perpetual tourist.  One of my favorite things to do was to catch the bus to the Florida Mall and just hang out there because it felt so normal, and that was very important for me.

2. I am so much older than I realized

This is what we call truth.  Oh my Lordy me, I am so much older than I think I am.  You see kiddos, in my mind, I'm still a sprightly young 21 year old, full of hopes and dreams and potential and so on. But in reality, I'm 32 year old and cynical and in need of sleep and coffee and with zero interest in clubbing and drugs and I have knees that creak when I get out of bed in the morning.  It took living and working with kids in their 20's for me to realize this.  I'm not meaning to sound condescending at all here, and I made so many great friends with people in their 20's at Disney, but I became very aware of how much I have grown and changed in the last 10 years or so.  I'm actually amazed at how much wisdom I have -I'm so wise now lol!  So It's not so much a criticism on others as it is a comment on myself.  And I've come to realize that I'm ok with myself and my age and who I have become.

3. It's best not to go in with too many expectations

This is a good lesson for life in general, but something I think anyone considering the DCP/ICP/CEP should take in to account.  I had so many expectations about what Disney was going to be like, what sort of job I would have, the fun I would have with my roommates etc and when those expectations weren't met, I struggled a lot to get my head around that.  In reality, I didn't get the job I really wanted, but I discovered that I'm a very good in retail and sales and that's helped me with my current job and plans for the future.  My roommates turned out to actually pretty nasty people and not the sweet and funny young ladies I had imagined them to be, but I eventually accepted that there were so many amazing friendships waiting for me outside of my apartment.  I wanted so much to work at Magic Kingdom that when I was assigned to Animal Kingdom I was truly devastated - but it turned out to be my favorite Disney park ever and I feel like I squandered my time there a little bit wishing for something else.  If my mind had been more one from the start I could have achieved so much more.

4. American's love Aussies and Kiwis

I sort of already knew this, but working in a Customer Service role just highlighted it tenfold.  People went crazy about it, asked so many questions, took photos and imitated my accent.  You get sick of answering the same questions over and over again ("Australia huh?  You're a long way from home!") and sometimes you will use an American accent just to avoid those conversations.  You'll have days where you simply cannot wrap your head around how naive and unworldly the average American is, but then you'll have moments where you're sitting in Miller's Ale House at midnight, trying to explain the complex rules of Aussie Rules football and having American friends actually wanting to watch a match with you and your heart will be so full of love for those crazy kids.

5. There are some really stupid people out there.

So stupid.  So, so stupid.  Disney Cast Members have a little joke that when people come to Disney, they accidentally leave their brains at home.  It's not meant to hurt or belittle people (and it's not something we actually say to guests) but it is unbelievable how many people fail to use common sense at Disney.  And I get it, truly I do - Disney is big and overwhelming and if you've never been there before and you're corralling four kids and trying to read a map and remember what time your fast pass reservation is and what parking lot your car is in.... well, something is going to fall by the wayside.  As a Cast Member, you just have to get used to stupid questions and assumptions and lack of understanding.

6. There are some really amazing people out there.
In 2015 I met some really fascinating people, like the woman whose grandmother knew L.M. Montgomery, the kid who looked like a super-cute toddler version of Thor, or the American father who was a random Aussie Rules Football fan and totally geeked out over sharing his passion with me.  I also made some incredible friends, like the ones who gossiped and giggled with me at work, drove me to Wal Mart at 11pm because we both desperately needed groceries, or took me to get a pedicure when some stupid guy stood me up and I was feeling sad.  People will spout cliche sayings about the DCP like it's a contest, but this one is true: it really is the people that make the experience worthwhile.

7. The roommate game is is tough
This is a whole blog post in itself!  I don't even know where to start with how crazy the whole roommate situation is.  Sometimes people get the most amazing roommates and everything is sunshine and roses and perfection - but that is extremely rare.
Living with strangers is difficult.
Living with friends is even harder.
Sharing a bedroom with anyone when you're over the age of 12 is a giant pain in the you-know-what!
You want to know a person's true character?  Live with them.  The sweetest person can turn into a psychotic monster if they don't like your placement of the toilet paper.  And being crammed into over-populated and aging apartments while you're adapting to a new country and working 60 hour weeks?  Yeah, it's tough.

8. Living in America isn't all it's cracked up to be (but sometimes it is)
This wasn't my first rodeo, I'd been to the US before so I had some idea of the culture and all, but living in America is very, VERY different from visiting there as a tourist.  Of course there's the fun of driving on the wrong (aka: right) side of the road and the excitement of visiting huge super-stores like Wal-Mart, but that novelty soon wears off and you find yourself having to adapt to daily life in a foreign country.  Despite the fact that you're technically speaking the same language, there will be translation issues.  Their paper money is just weird (seriously, so easily damaged!) and pennies will make your wallet triple in weight.  Adding on sales tax to almost everything is a constant nasty surprise, and remembering to factor in a tip (and working out what you're supposed to tip for) will do your head in.  People carry guns like it's not dangerous and going to the doctor is devastatingly expensive.  There is poverty in America that rivals third-world countries, and yet they speak constantly of freedom and how lucky they are, ignoring the violence on their local news programs every night.  Sometimes it's terribly overwhelming.
But then you chat to someone from Alabama about southern hospitality and you fall in love with their adorable accent.  You discover amazing places to eat and interesting products you can't get at home.  You go to a sports bar, eat buffalo wings and watch hockey, american football and baseball at the same time.  You watch the Oscars live and laugh at yourself when you realize you can't just google the winners.  You buy a bag of chips big enough to use as a sleeping bag and then try to explain to your American friends that we use the word 'chips' to mean both crisps and fries.
You realize that America is the weirdest version of Wonderland ever.

An Aussie in Anaheim (aka: A Trip Down Memory Lane)

I've been trying to get a lot of stuff done around my apartment these holidays in preparation for my hopeful acceptance to the Disney International Program.  I've been going through cupboards, throwing out all sorts of things, selling my worldly possessions on gumtree and facebook selling groups (well not all my worldly possessions, but quite a bit) and finding all sorts of things I'd forgotten about.  yesterday I was going through one of my bookshelves (quite the task given the fact it has been my personal goal since 1992 when I saw Beauty in the Beast to get myself that library!) and I came across all my old photo albums.  Amongst these was the album of my first trip to America when I was 16 including photos from my first trip to Disneyland!  So I thought it would be fun to scan them into my computer (because back in the olden days we used film cameras) and take you all on a trip down memory lane :)

The Entrance and Main Street train station.  I took this photo through the gates because we got there early for rope drop

This sign was such a special moment for me.  I remember getting chills as I walked under this bridge and read this.  I sort of felt it in my soul...you know?

Main Street USA!  And you can just make out Sleeping Beauty Castle in the distance too!

Aw, there she is!  I may have teared up a little bit - the moment I'd been waiting for, for so long!

Me and Winnie the Pooh!  The first Character I met at Disneyland.  Note the date on the little calendar - I'm going to come back to that later.

The first of the three rides I was desperate to experience - The teacups!  The second was The Haunted Mansion and the third was Space Mountain (which was closed).  Sadly I still haven't had the chance to experience Space mountain :( but hopefully that will change soon!

Just chillin' with Goofy in Toontown.  Man I was such a dork!  Check out that classy green-corduroy-jacket-tied-round-the-waist look I've got going on there.  What was I thinking???

Mickey's mailbox!  I love the character houses - so adorable and brilliant themeing (as always)

Now remember how I said the date on the Winnie the Pooh picture was important?  When I looked at that picture yesterday I started to think about dates and how long ago that first trip was.  My first time in a Disney Park was on January 11th, 2000.  If I get accepted into the Disney International Program, I will be starting sometime in early January 2015 - almost 15 years exactly since my first time at Disney!  I might even end up with something significant on my anniversary like Traditions or my first day of training or the first time I get to ride Space Mountain.  I love little things like that, sentimental fool that I am :)

I hope you enjoyed my trip down Memory Lane!

You Gotta Have a Good Back Story

So It's been a while since I updated and I realised I had already half-written this post a while ago, so I thought I’d take advantage of the chance to finish and post it.  A while ago I posted my ‘About Me’ blurb type thingy, but I thought it would also be nice to talk about my history with Disney, and how I came to apply for the DICP.

Being one of the lucky kids to be born in the 80's, I grew up during the 'Disney Renaissance', so my childhood was littered with animated classics like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.  I was also obsessed with a show we have here in Australia called ‘Saturday Disney’, which goes for about two hours really early on a Saturday morning and at the time showed Disney cartoons like Duck Tails, Talespin, Darkwing Duck, Gummi Bears, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh… And the list just goes on and on!  I watched that show well into adulthood, but the cartoons aren’t as good as they used to be anymore. 

When I was very young, friends of our family went to America and on their return gave us a souvenir book from Disneyland.  I remember poring over that book and dreaming about one day going to the Happiest place on Earth.  I was also a super-avid reader and loved The Baby-sitter's Club series, and became rather obsessed with their very first 'super special' novel, a story about the club's vacation which involved a cruise followed by a trip to Walt Disney World.  After that I was hooked on the dream of getting to Disney one day, by whatever means necessary!

My first trip was to Disneyland when I was 16 years old as part of a 3-week cultural exchange program.  I worked for nearly 2 years in my after school job at Pizza Hut with an awful boss to pay for that trip, and it was worth every late night, grumpy manager and the weeks it took me to get the smell of garlic out of my pores!  I only got one day in the park (this was pre-California Adventure) but I knew that my Disney dreams were not going to be satisfied that easily!  I returned to Disneyland 4 and a half years later with my family and that trip was the catalyst for the change of my dream. Although it took a while for my new dream to grow, over the next 5 years I became more and more sure of something: I wanted to be a part of a Disney park - I wanted to be a Cast Member.

Around the time I finished my teaching degree at University, I looked into the possibility of working at Disneyland and even emailed someone at the company.  The response was a simple “Yes we hire international cast members as long as they are eligible to work in the United States.”  Since that didn’t include me, and no further information was offered, I will admit that I gave it up as a silly dream and started a teaching career which eventually led to returning to school to study Costuming.  The idea of one day returning to Disney didn’t die though, and I often browsed Disney sites and even went to the travel agent for information booklets so I could fantasise about my dream trip to Disney.

Fast forward to New Year’s Eve 2013.  I had been invited out to watch fireworks at the beach with some friends, but I was tired and didn’t feel like fighting the crowds, so I opted to stay home, have some chocolate and watch the NYE programming on the telly.  I found myself online, browsing ideas for jobs at the end of my studies, because I had decided I wanted to go overseas.  I was looking into cruise ships when I remembered that Disney had a cruise line, so I looked into that a bit more, watching YouTube videos until I stumbled across a video by a guy called Adande or ‘Swoozie’ about his time working as a Cast Member at Walt Disney World.  The videos were hilarious and in a few he mentioned the Disney College Program, which sparked my curiosity. 

A little bit of detective work later and I found myself at the Disney International Programs website.  Nervously I began clicking through the tabs that linked to the various programs, hoping against hope that there might be a program for people from Australia.  Typically it was the very last tab that I tried that was entitled “Cultural Exchange Program” and under that tab were the most beautiful words in the world: “Australia/New Zealand.”

Thus began my obsession with this program.

A quick read of the eligibility list told me I was able to apply, and I quickly devoured all the official information about the program.  Then I began the search for other blogs and vlogs that could tell me more about the program and let me tell you – there is so much information out there I’m surprised it hasn’t caused the internet to implode or something!  The hardest part was knowing I was going to have to wait several months before I could apply, but eventually in late April, applications opened.  However my excitement was short lived when I realised there would be more waiting involved…so here I am today – just waiting.