Disney CEP part one – the application

This year I am an applicant for Disney’s Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) for the summer 2020 programme. This programme involves living in shared Disney housing and working full-time as a cast member at Walt Disney World resort for two months, with a further thirty day travel period once the programme is completed. The roles available include merchandise, fur character performer, attractions or lifeguarding. This programme is available to students from UK, Ireland and some European countries. 

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The first step in this lengthy process is your initial application. The application process is all done through a UK recruitment company called Yummy Jobs, who recruit for many international programmes including all UK eligible Disney programmes such as the cultural representatives in Epcot’s United Kingdom pavillion.

The applications this year opened on Monday the 8th of July at 5pm, yummy jobs announced this on their instagram just a few hours before! Queue the mad panic! I had my application ready to be submitted when the applications opened, so I submitted at about 8pm after reading it over a thousand times. 

The application itself is fairly simple. You fill in details about yourself, emergency contact,your eduction etc. Education is an important part as you have to have completed at least one full semester at university BEFORE submitting your application, so in the UK this means you have to have completed your first academic year. You also have to be eighteen years old at the time of your application. 

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They also ask for an image which is a good representation of yourself in front of a clear background, mine wasn’t actually against a plain background as you can see but I checked with the team and they said it was fine!

You can list up to five relevant pieces of work experiences and your responsibilities on the application, however you’ll also be asked to upload your CV and a cover letters you can always list more on your CV. I’d definitely recommend listing five things, even if you’re unsure how relevant they are as it won’t do any harm, whereas not listing enough may appear as though you’ve not made effort. Remember work experience doesn’t have to be official employment, you can list volunteer roles and work experience placements too! (I did this).

I’d recommend updating your CV so it is up to date and relevant, as well as highlighting the skills you have which may be useful on the cultural exchange programme/working at Disney World. 

Then it gets to the fun (and slightly stressful) part, the open questions with a 500 character limit. 

Ensure you spend a good amount of time on these – a lot of people hold the opinion that these are the most important part of your application, and the place to show why you stand out. 

Why do you value cultural exchange and interaction?

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After all, this is a cultural exchange programme so you have to emphasise that you want to experience that in such a culturally diverse place as Disney World. I talked of my own experiences with cultural exchange and how I’d love to hear about every guests’ background. 

What is your motivation for this programme?

Here you basically say why you want to do the programme. This is obviously a personal answer which will depend on your own experiences and dreams. 

I kind of used my cover letter to expand on the open questions, I spoke about cultural exchange and expanded on my motivation for the programme as I had so much to say, however I would definitely say to put your most important points in your question answer box. 

Then it asks if you have worked for Disney before, completed a yummy jobs programme, and where you heard about yummy. 

Applications closed on Friday the 16th of August, so they were open for a little over one month. Yummy jobs started sending out pre-screen interview invites on Monday the 19th of August, look out for a blog post dedicated to that next! 

Applications for the CEP in summer 2021 open on https://www.yummyjobs.com in July 2020.