"A tale as old as time"
                                  -Beauty and the Beast

OK so after some blog neglect in which i have been getting into trouble from multiple sources here we go with the first update from the USA.

I'm going to start from the begging and try not to miss too much out. so as i have mentioned previously i flew out from Sydney at 7.ooam on the 4th of Jan. i was flying Air New Zealand to Auckland. i was very worried about my luggage allowance but the check in lady was very nice and i came just under the allowance. thank goodness for that. so after a nice three hour flight i arrive in Auckland. let me just say WOW what a small international airport. first thing i do is find somewhere to sit and possibly sleep since I'm stuck there for seven hours. they had these cool egg looking chairs and i managed to nab one as soon as i arrived. it is here for the next seven hours where i sit looking at a pharmacy and nap. also i would like to add i resent paying for wi fi in airports take note Auckland and LAX.

anywhose nothing really happened at Auckland. i met up with my flight buddy Suzi right before boarding the plane for LA. Air NZ usually offer a good flight service between Auckland and LAX but the plane had been downsized to an older model so some of the perks like skycouch and USB connectivity where lacking. it didn't bother me all that much but OMG where people angry on that flight. yes we had seat re allocations but seriously people where furious. the flight was fine. the food was good ( I'm one of those weird people that enjoys air plane food) and best of all i had a seat free beside me so i could stretch out a little.

Arriving in LAX i imagined i would be overwhelmed. i was rather very level headed. with Suzi (who is a travelling pro and knows LAX better than Melbourne airport) we set out for customs and immigration. we were lucky and landed in a terminal that was rather empty so there was basically no line and we easily got our bags and breezed through customs and immigration. this is where i said good buy to Suzi as she was staying a night over in LA while i continued onto Orlando. i drop my bags at the international transfers drop and venture outside to go to the American Airlines terminal where i have to check in again. i ask where to go straight away as this place is huge. i grab the shuttle an am there in no time at all. i go to check in and the lady asks me if I'm going back to NZ. i say no confused. she sorts it out and I'm on my way to my gate. i am slightly convinced though my bags may be on their way back to NZ with the little confusion.

so after a slight wait of five hours I'm about to board the AA flight to Dallas Fort Worth, Texas. the PA that due to the flight being full they would like to check some carry on bags to make room. i didn't mind so i checked my backpack leaving me with just my laptop. we board the plane and off we go. the flight was only four hours and wasn't too bad. the plane was indeed full though. i slept pretty much the entire flight and woke towards the end. i had a connecting flight from DFW with AA onto Orlando with 40mins time to make the flight.

Due to AA thinking our flight was running late which we were not they gave our gate away.so we proceeded to our secondary gate in which there was a late departing flight stuck at. they made us sit on the runway for 20mins. finally they allocated a third gate for us to go to. we were told those with connecting flights that they would be held for us as they knew we were now late. it takes forever to disembark off flights as it is. so i race off and start heading for my connecting flight. i notice a girl who was on my AA and ANZ flights we both stop to ask an agent where to go and she informs us our flight left without us. FML. so this is how i met Hannah. we were both stranded in Texas by AA. the agent directed us to someone else who booked us another flight for the morning and gave us a distress rate for the Hilton hotel. so we had to pay $75 for a nights stay for something that wasn't our fault. did i forget to mention that they wouldn't give us our luggage as they didn't know where it was. so we both had no clothes and turns out it was 3 degrees in Texas that night.

The Hilton was lovely though i must say. we both enjoyed our rooms with king beds. our flight was early so we had to be up at like 5am which sucked. we ended up getting to Orlando finally and best of all our bags arrived too! so i chose to get the mears shuttle to the holiday inn which is right across the road from where i needed to check in to Disney on the 7th.

I'm going to love you and leave you now. i will post again later with an update on the first week with training, going to disneyworld for the first time etc.

welcome to 2012

Ohana means family, family means nobody get left behind. Or forgotten
                                                                                                              lilo & stitch


So i have left my home and my friends and flown to Sydney to spend a few days with some family before leaving on the 4th for USA. the 1st was my last day of work where i finished up at 4pm. it will be the last time i work with alot of those people. i will dearly miss them and wish them all the best for the future.

on thusday i had my going away dinner/drinks. thanks to rach, alex, jordan, trista, marlee, alyse, jose, kristen, jack and andi for coming along for some good chats over dinner. special metion to the best people in the world marlee and alex for their gift of Gucci Guilty (a cologne i have been obsessing over for months). the dinner was so much fun and im glad i could catch up with everyone over that relaxed setting.

following on from dinner we hit the pig n whistle where more people from work joined us for some good times. the likes of bre, chris, sam, caru, cj, steve, yvette among others joined to make the night a fun event. thanks to all those that came out with a few coming straight from work.

so the last day of work was bittersweet. on one hand im about to start an amazing journey and have the time of my life. on the other hand im leaving my friends and basically family (hence the quote). not seeing kylie three times a week or chatting to manda in reception is something i will miss. leaving my department in the hands of others has always been a challenge for me and no doubt ill freak out over it. i have faith melissa can keep it all together.

the hardest thing was leaving my best friend. truly the best person in the world marlee wiseman. we talk daily and freak when we dont see each other for more than two days. she is a strong, thoughtful, deliciously mean, has a killer sense of humour and is the most amazing person. of all the people i have known she is the best friend that killed me to leave behind. we will email, tweet, kik, and skype often as while i go through a huge life change she is about to embark on a career change which is exciting.

thanks again to 5184 team for all the memories. thanks to those that signed my card (its coming to america) and thanks for the gift. i never expected anything but will take lots of photos with my new camera which i just love. again thank you to marlee for the effort of starting a collection. also thanks to adam who in the last week has become a very valued friend indeed(dont worry mate a mufusa will be in the mail).

im going to try make a vlog before i leave but if not catch you on the flipside aka america.

take care and live life

OMG its so close

OMG can you believe that in 12 days i will be in the U.S.A and in 15 days i will be working for Walt Disney World!!!!!!!!!!! im getting pumped. still have alot to do though before i go. will keep you posted!!!!!!

Quick Update

Life's not a spectator sport. If watchin' is all you're gonna do, then you're gonna watch your life go by without ya.                                                                           -The Hunchback of Notre Dame

So there is only like 35 days till i leave for Disney!!!!!! Almost into the final stretch. Things are starting to feel more real now that uni is over for the year and results are in. I did well considering my care factor after finding out about Disney mid semester btw. Almost everything is booked for Disney. so far:

-flights to Orlando
-flights home
-accommodation prior to the 7th
-travel insurance
-visa
-assessment fees
-picked classes (marketing you and Disney heritage)
-organised going home for Christmas
-new blackberry (bold 9900 and i love her)

I just have to a pay for my flight to Sydney on new years day and I'm done!!!!!! I'm so excited everything is finally falling into place.

So that's basically everything that's been happening. there is tons more but I'm writing this while procrastinating from sleep so cant be bothered going into depth. i will just say i got insanely jealous of Christine Worthington's blog (http://kiwidisney.blogspot.com/seeing) she had 19 followers whilst i only have four. i demand more. so add your mum, your dad, your neighbour.


until next time...

ps. i used to love The Hunchback of Notre Dame cups i received when younger from McDonalds.

neglect

i know i haven't even left for disneyworld yet and I'm already neglecting my blog. shame on me. at least i picked up on this now. i just really hate typing to be honest. this is a nothing post just like my vlog on me saying umm to much but i promise to post Disney related stuff more regularly and about interesting stuff. so stay posted. I'm going to post a vlog about the visa application and I'm going to do an actual blog post on the happenings going on in the Disney Australia and New Zealand facebook group.

so stay awesome and until next time

Vlog 3 Roommate Survey

hey here is Vlog 3. Take a look its my roommate survey.

Also subscribe to my new youtube channel!!!!!

till next time

Pumpkins scream in the dead of night.
                   - “This is Halloween”, The Nightmare Before Christmas

Happy Halloween Everyone

Vlog 2 - Get to know me

And here it is the second blog for my journey to Disneyworld! This is all about getting to know me (even after you watch you will probs still learn nothing). I will do another Vlog and proper Blog post soon. Any suggestions on future Vlogs or Blogs appreciated!!

until next time stay awesome

First Vlog

"We are not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public."
                                                                                                                             - Walt Disney

So i made my first vlog!!! yay for me!!!! so ill link it below. please watch and subscribe. ill be doing both the blog and the vlog while over in orlando. the first vlog is about me opening the welcome pack!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG281IqhPEI

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
                                                                                                                                               -Walt Disney


We have made it. Less than 100 days to go. Check-in at Disneyworld is going to be one of the biggest highlights in my life. i just cannot wait for that journey to begin.

Don't ever do that again! Carnivores, ugh!
                                  -Timon

So I ended my previous blog with the questions I was asked during my Skype interview. So after my interview I only had to wait about a week before i heard back from Disney. I received an email on my way to uni. I was nervous and didn’t want to open it but couldn’t help myself. I was greeted with this email:

I was soooo happy that it wasn’t a rejection letter. I would have been devastated. I was actually on my way to a group meeting so my poor group had to listen to me talk about Disney for an hour but they were super excited for me which was nice of them.

So following on from this I have since booked flights to Orlando. I checked around a bit and was quoted anything from $2400 return to $3150 one way and everything in between. So I am booked to fly out from Sydney on January 4^th at 7.00am. I am flying with Air New Zealand. I have some terrible layovers though. I have a huge layover in Auckland and then again in LA. I don’t really mind as I have a friend in Auckland that has already agreed to come entertain me for the 7 hours I am there for. I will have to clear customs in LA which should take up a lot of time plus I really want a photo with me + a dream + a cardigan at LAX (thanks Miley for adding to my bucket list). I am happy to just chill there anyways so not that big of a deal. I arrive in Orlando on the 4^th at 11.55pm which is actually really good because I should hit the hotel and sleep and reset my sleeping patterns and not be a jetlagged (here’s hoping anyway).


So I still have a lot to do before Disney. I’ll keep everyone posted but I’m pretty well caught up in blogging and will now post as things start happening.


I added the quote because I just saw The Lion King in 3D. It was amazing. It’s one of my favourite movies and it was sooo good to see it on the big screen once again. I can’t wait to own it on Blu-ray (out on 12/10/11). Ill probably see it again and again while it’s still at the cinemas. 

P.S yay for picture

Ok, ready set go

So just to start off my blog is not going to be a pretty as all the others out there. I don’t even know how to add pictures so it will be a whole lot of text. (Unless someone wants to tell me how. hahahaha) My reason is this is my first ever blog. So if you are reading this because I know you then welcome and hi nice to see you you’re interested in what is a pretty freakin amazing opportunity for me. To those that are interested in the DisneyWorld program and want to see what us accepted cast mates go through to work at such an amazing place then also welcome and please interact with me as I’m more likely to post if I’m getting something out of this blog.



I would like to state that I am starting this blog kinda late. Most people’s blogs that I have read started posting way back when they first applied for the program. But alas I am here now.



Ok so to start off I applied for the program way back in June of this year. I had heard of the program before through uni but until this year just thought it wasn’t right for me. So I applied and heard nothing back for a while. I actually applied really late as Disney had held a presentation and interviews and already accepted a whole bunch of people from my uni. So unlike a lot of other applicants I never went to a live presentation (did I miss anything?) and I also never had a face to face interview. So when I heard back from Disney (actually still STB at this stage) in late June they asked me to send them a lot of paperwork like passport copy, role checklist, CV, proof of student status and such. I happened to be on a roadtrip around Australia when I got that email. I got it day 1 of my roadtrip and was going to be away for like 15 days. I was sooo scared I was going to miss my window of opportunity to get the paperwork in. The day I got back from my trip I was running around like a madman trying to gather all these things. So I sent the forms off to STB.



The next time I heard from anyone was about two weeks later. STB informed me they were no longer associated with the program (which confused me but I don’t care that much) and they had emailed my forms off to Disney and they wished me luck. Then a week later BAM I get an email from Disney asking me to either Skype or phone interview on that coming Thursday or Friday. I was soooo nervous. I chose the Skype interview because I feel I come off better if the person can see me and see my expressions (just me maybe?).



So I remember telling my flatmates all about getting an interview. I had Javier as my interviewer. He was so nice and really made me feel comfortable (even though it was a Skype interview). He was having problems with his mic so I could really only hear the start of what he said and the end. It was really annoying! But we persevered and he was so nice and kept repeating himself for me. He asked about me like who I was, what I like to do. Pretty standard interview questions I guess. Then we went into the roles and I was asked specific questions relating to my choices. Like did I have a problem with high spieling roles or performing in a confining costume? We ended with would I be receptive to being only offered a 6 month program as opposed to the year I wanted ( he suggested I select more year combinations as I had only selected one thinking that’s all I was allowed). I said yes but told him I really wanted to get the most out of the program and that 6 months didn’t feel like long enough for me.





This is really long and with no pictures you guys possibly stopped reading long ago. Comment me if you made it to the end and I will continue soon about the rest of the application process.

First Blog

Hi,

To start with my name is Robert. I am 21 years old. I am in my third year of uni studying International Tourism & Hotel Management along with Events Management. I go to Griffith University here in Brisbane where i also live on student accommodation. I have a part time job at Target Brisbane City which i love. So i live in Brisbane but grew up in Bundaberg (yes where the rum is made) which is five hours north. most importantly i have already been accepted to go work and live at DisneyWorld starting January 7th 2012. I'm soooooo excited!!!!!!


So i just wanted to quickly introduce myself but have to dash and do some assignment due tomorrow (eeeep). I'm yet to start so better get to that. ill update regularly in the lead up to my departure for Orlando.

keep checking back

Robert