PRE-ARRIVAL PROCESS | PREPARING FOR MY DISNEY ADVENTURE PART 2

*ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN AND NOT OF THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY OR YUMMY JOBS*

Hey there, pals!

In my last post of this series, I touched upon the first five months of my acceptance process since I officially finding out that I had been accepted onto the Disney Academic Exchange Program (DAEP). This time, I will be detailing the final few months of preparations before I fly out to the Walt Disney World Resort!

April 2019

Last time I left you, I was waiting to receive my supporting documents from Central Michigan University (CMU) for my J-1 visa. This part did take quite some time, probably because all of the selected participants were eager to head to the US Embassy to obtain our J-1 visas! But, Yummy Jobs did update us at the end of April with an update of our visa documents being printed by CMU, and that we would receive them very soon.

May 2019

My visa documents arrived a day after I received an email from Yummy Jobs detailing that they had received our documents and had posted these out. This meant I could now go on to complete the visa paperwork and visit the US Embassy. In the email by Yummy Jobs, the international coordinator attached a hyperlink with a step-by-step guide of how to obtain the J-1 visa, so the process is all self-explanatory, although it can be quite confusing at first!

June 2019

Here I am in June, with one month to go until my DAEP, and this month has certainly been the busiest for getting those last-minute preparations in place!

The first major step was the final part of obtaining my J-1 visa, which was to attend my US Embassy appointment. Even though I completed all of the online forms in May, the earliest appointment at my closest US Embassy wasn't scheduled until this month!

My advice: get your online forms done and dusted before the US Embassy appointments fill up, and they do fill up quickly. This is to allow as much time as possible for the US Embassy to send your passport (and hopefully your visa) back to you ready for your departure to the United States. For more information about the process, check out my post all about obtaining the J-1 visa, which will be coming out soon.

My passport with my visa stamped inside came through the post incredibly quickly, and so I was then able to pay the rest of my tuition fee for CMU ($4010*) and complete the hiring portal from Disney. Basically, the Disney hiring portal had all the documents, manuals and forms that we needed to fill out and familiarise ourselves with. I completed the tasks across several days as there was too much information to absorb or familiarise myself with in just one day. Plus, there was no tight deadline attached to this stage, other than completed before my arrival date.

It was around the middle of June when CMU emailed me with my first assignment of the program. This assignment was all about the goals I wanted to achieve by the end of my program. This was perfect for me because I had been thinking about this already for Sheffield Hallam University. During my June preparations, I decided to upgrade my phone, so that I would be able to use my data roaming in the United States without any extravagant costs attached to my bill. Additionally, I began stocking up on my skincare products and buying 'business casual' and casual clothing items that would be suitable for the laundry facilities in the housing complexes, as well as purchasing my medical insurance, which was mandatory for my program and travel insurance, just in case anything was to happen to me while I was travelling to the United States. At the same time, I got an email from Disney to select my preference for housing complexes and apartment sizes, which was very very exciting! Other emails are sent from Disney and additional partners about purchasing bedding and other information to prepare for the all-important arrival. These are nothing to panic about, as they were there to obtain the best advice from Disney about my program arrival.

And so, the last major hurdle was to watch a set of pre-arrival housing videos, which tells you everything you need to know before moving into your apartment. The videos touched upon safety, bus transportation, amenities and policies that Disney housing has in place. These are only short videos that last between 2-5mins and there aren't that many of them either! Make sure you complete these before you leave for Orlando!

July 2019

So, the time had finally come for me to say my final goodbyes to my friends and immediate family before my departure, which was bittersweet because I wasn't going to see them for over a year. But, at the same time, I knew I was going to have the best year of my life! The Friday before I departed, I began packing up everything that I will be taking with me to Florida and liaised with my parents how much money they were going to give me as a foundation before my earnings started rolling.

This preparation process has been a huge rollercoaster with many obstacles in the way, but I've overcome them all thanks to my amazing family and previous participants for their assistance. I couldn't have done this without them!

I'm all checked into my apartment now and I'm so excited to share my journey with you, so make sure you're following my social media accounts (@onceuponhannahsdream) so you never miss an update! Thank you for reading, and if you're due to go on the DAEP, I hope this helped you in some way and all the best for your program - you'll have the most amazing time!!

Have a magical day!

-Hannah

* Costs are accurate as of 2019

DISCLAIMER: this blog is my personal experience on the Disney Academic Exchange Program and in no way reflects everyone's experience! Other programs and future participants on the DAEP may have slight adjustments which may not be reflected in my posts. That being said, if you do leave any questions, I will try to answer them as best I can or cover topics in blogposts :)